Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Mommy / Elizabeth!

Elizabeth balances a full load of PhD classes and teaching, as well as being an amazing mother and wife.  We love you very much, and hope this is your best year yet!

 Love, Jeff, Eliana & Judah

Daddy and his Buddies

Daddy and Eliana, 2010:

Daddy and Judah, 2012:

West Virginia

Our trip to West Virginia was fun and relaxing (well, as relaxing as possible with 3 kids under 3 running/crawling everywhere).

We did several hikes, a few of the gang went horseback riding, and hung out in our vacation house.

Reading was a popular activity

Cousin Bath Time!

Judah enjoyed hiking - because he got to be super-close to Mommy!

Eliana with her uncle & grandma

The Waterfall we hiked to

The 4 of us in front of the waterfall

Eliana & Daddy on a big rock

More reading

We went on a boardwalk hike through some wetlands - I love this pic of Eliana & Hosea

Judah enjoying the walk

The two of us got to go on a hike on our own

Our final hike of the weekend led to a beautiful view, but as you can see
from the picture, we had chilly temps and rain

The girls (+ Judah)

Uncle cuddle time

West Virginia Picture #1

We returned on Monday from a long weekend in West Virginia with the Jones family.  It was a fun trip, filled with hikes and hanging out with 3 cute kids.

Since today is the first day of classes at Ohio State, we've been preparing for that the past couple days and haven't sorted/edited our pictures yet.  For now, here's one picture from the trip.  More trip details and pictures to come soon!

Outtakes

You've probably noticed that we take each of Judah's month-by-month pictures on our living room couch.  Here are a few outtakes from the 11-month pictures.  This should give you a behind-the-scenes look at how difficult it can sometimes be to keep a wiggly baby still long enough to get a couple pictures.

 

Wood Playground

Several times this summer, we've gone to a local playground Eliana calls the "Wood Playground."  It's a cool structure, with lots of slides and passageways.

Here's a cute picture of the kiddos there:

 

Great Grammy & Aunt Michelle

The kiddos were thrilled to have their Great Grammy and Great Aunt Michelle come visit them for a few days last week.  The four of them had tons of fun together while Mommy and Daddy had school, work, and volunteer projects keeping them busy.

Here are a few pictures of the visit:

Watching a movie with Grammy

Eliana enjoying cinnamon toast, a treat Grammy made often
when Elizabeth was little

Thanks for coming!!

Happy Birthday Pop Pop!

A special "Happy Birthday" to the kiddos' great grandfather Pop Pop (Jeff's paternal grandfather).

It's a big year for milestone birthdays.  We'll have a 1st, a 30th and a 60th in the family next month, and today's birthday is an 80th!!

Pop Pop with 3-month old Judah

Pop Pop with Eliana at her 1st birthday party

Happy Birthday Pop Pop!

Sixth Anniversary

Today is our sixth anniversary!

(This picture was taken a year ago during our 5th anniversary trip to Toronto - and it was during the best meal we've ever had!)

Eleven Months

Judah David is eleven months old today!  Hard to believe we'll be celebrating his birthday in just a month.

Judah is as active as ever, enjoying crawling from one corner of the room to the other and everywhere in between.  He is a big eater - he eats everything on his tray, and hasn't rejected a food yet.  He has lately started talking a lot more.  He recently learned the words book ("boo") and the name of his favorite snack food, Puffs ("pu").

Here's some pictures of our handsome 11-month old boy!

 

State Fair

On Tuesday night, we went to the Ohio State Fair for the second consecutive year.  Eliana was much more into it this year, including going on a couple of rides.  Judah enjoyed his first fair too.

In addition, Elizabeth and her dad went to the fair last weekend to see Chicago and the Doobie Brothers.  Here are some pictures from both fair visits:

Before the concert

The Doobie Brothers

Chicago

Enjoying German food; Judah wondering if he'd get any

Eliana and Mommy in front of a cow made entirely of butter

Eliana enjoying her ice cream

Riding the alligator boat ride

Eliana and Daddy before riding the carousel