2011- What a year for my family

Yesterday my Uncle Richard's father died. Uncle Richard is Aunt Jane's husband. So much heartache in such a small amount of time. This year he has seen his brother-in-law (my dad) die suddenly, his wife (my Aunt Jane) get diagnosed with cancer, and then his mom died in May on his birthday and now his dad died after a complication from a hip replacement. Please keep my aunt and uncle in your thoughts and prayers.

The LAST Potter!

Harry Potter tickets bought!

Babysitter booked!

Am I a dork??

YES

We are ready to break ground!

Okay finally after MONTHS of trying to figure out our budget and what we want  in our house we are ready to start building. We never could find the 'exact' plan we wanted so our builder drew our plan from pictures of plans we liked. I will try to take a picture of our house plan and post it. Our driveway is graveled and the grader has cleared out more dirt from the building site. I met with our builder yesterday and we decided the plan needed to be flipped (again!) and that we need to cut down the dirt about 5 feet. I am ready to see some block in the ground.

Date night

Josh and I had a date last week.  We met my mom and step-dad in Asheville at Olive Garden for a late lunch and then they took the boys while Josh and I went out. We decided to go see a movie since that is a rarity now days. We saw 'Bad Teacher' with Cameron Diaz... vulgar but funny. We stopped at our favorite Thai restaurant and had thai tea (love this stuff) and shared sushi.  We finished off the evening with a trip to Target.  

Ummmm... Food!

Kellie and I had lunch at this restaurant in Asheville called, Blue Water Seafood. They are only open for lunch but the cuisine was amazing!  They also have a fresh fish market... too bad I don't know how to cook fish. We both had the Po Boy special, a sandwich of fresh blackened fish with a yummy sauce on french bread, topped with lettuce and tomato. We need a re-run of this place.

http://www.bluewaterseafood.net/main/

Eli's 15 month checkup

Eli weighs 27 lbs (75%) and is 32 inches long (75%). Let's see... what can Eli do now? Well, he can run, and tries to jump (he gets no air). He is saying lots of words and putting some 2 words together. He says and signs "thank you", "more", and says 'please'. He can point to his eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, head, belly, toes, ears and follows 1-2 step directions. He imitates almost everything and can tell you his name, has occasionally held up and said "one" when asked how old he is. He can point out pictures in books but often does not sit still long enough. He makes it through 'Llama Llama Red Pajama" (his favorite) and "Brown Bear"... but he is so rough of all the books. Isaac was always so calm but this boy is rough and tough. He loves to eat! He runs to his highchair frequently saying "bite", "eat". His favorite food is spaghetti but he loves anything with pasta. He is not a picky eater and will eat pretty much anything you put on his plate. He tries to use a spoon and a fork and gets food in his mouth; however not without a mess! Today I was mopping the floor and he brought me a book and said "book", I told him to take it to Brother that Mommy was busy. He took the book to Isaac and of course Isaac read it to him. I told Eli to tell Brother thank you so he ran over to Isaac and gave him a big smooch on the cheek! So sweet! It is so fun watching him grow :)

Another scare...

This morning after breakfast, Isaac and I were hanging out in the living room when we heard a scream. I ran to the hall (which is pretty much in the living room) and grabbed Eli. He was standing beside the one electrical outlet in the house that had a cover missing (yes, I had taken it off to vacuum and hadn't put it back on) and his pin wheel that he was playing with was laying in the floor. As I was holding him he acted very drowsy, with his eyes shutting and not focusing. I told Isaac to call 911. They were going to send an ambulance but I decided that he really didn't need one because he began to become more alert.  Isaac also called my mom and my step-dad (he is a nurse) and they headed over to the house. I took Eli outside to the car trying to decide if he needed to go to the hospital. He began to play in the car, pushing all the buttons when I realized he was okay! I did call the pediatrician and took him in for a check-up. He is completely fine but it sure scared me. What am I going to do with this wild child!

Beach 2011

We took a family trip with Josh's family to Holden Beach this year. We stayed at the gated west end of the beach at a house called Eden West. The house was very nice with 5 bedrooms... the living room had plenty of space to seat our family of 20, plus each bedroom had it's own bathroom.  Everyone had a great time. Josh went fishing with his brothers. Eli absolutely LOVED the sand and water.. plus he was the youngest family member by about 9 years and as you can imagine was spoiled rotten by everyone. Isaac had fun boogie boarding, catching minnows and crabs and playing with his three cousins that are his age. I enjoyed sitting in the sun with sand on my toes, reading my book by the ocean. We cooked a few nights; one of the best nights was when we grilled the fish the guys caught and had a fresh shrimp boil. The kids and adults alike were fans of Sunset Slush (an Italian ice shop) on the beach. Everyone got along pretty well to be caged in a house together for a week... plus there were plenty of hands for Eli. Josh and I were able to sleep in a few mornings and we even took a midnight beach stroll through the tidal pools. We are very blessed to be a part of a wonderful, Christian family where love abounds!

Eli digging :)

The boys minnow farming

The Allison Avatar Boys: Braedon, Gabe, Bryce, Isaac

New car

Well.... I was right about our insurance... They cancelled our comp and collision.  I finally searched around until I found an insurance company that would give us full coverage (however we are paying for it!). Our rates increased by 400 bucks! Josh's car ended up being totaled out so we went shopping. He wanted either another Civic SI, Subaru, or a BMW. I went with the BMW b/c it is an automatic and I can actually drive it! We bought a certified pre-owned 2008.. Josh is in love!