Crazy Hair

Elijah's hair is getting very long and I love spiking it up after bath time.  Here's a few from tonight...

My little punk rocker.

Please ignore the runny nose and drool...

I'm sorry you have inherited my crazy hair...it's funny now.  It won't be later.

Max and Elijah

I will post more pictures of my girls weekend later, but I wanted to get these up of Elijah and his buddy, Max.  Max is the son of my good friend Kelly and the boys are 5 months apart.  We recently discovered they had matching vests and decided to make a photo shoot out of it.

I am predicting a lot of ladies in their futures.

Max is doing a great job at looking right at teh camera...Elijah, not so much.

There we go! I think he learned this fake smile from me (you should see the pictures of my "smiles" as a little kid!).  

SO CUTE.

A Whole Lot of Blogging...

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, so brace yourself...

Today we went back to Stony Creek (we were there 2 weeks ago) because we didn't feel like we really had a chance to explore it last time.  

Elijah was excited to check it out again (and yes, he is wearing the same sweatshirt...it's the warmest thing he has at the moment so it's acting as his winter coat).

We were glad that Jess was around to come with us!

Proof my baby is not always happy.

He loves those pumpkins!

Kirk, Jess, and I were on a quest for the perfect pumpkin.  Here is Jess's!

Me with my tall, skinny pumpkin (which is the only one we brought home by the way).

As you may be able to tell by Kirk's face, he wasn't loving the "take pictures with your winning pumpkins" game.

Elijah loves his best pal, Jess!

 Attempt at a family picture: fail.

Blending in.

Elijah Around the House

Here's some typical Elijah moves on any given day...

I think I'll taste this remote...

...and then I will go from this toy...

...to this toy...

...and then I will try to steal mom's camera...

...and I will end up over by the fireplace, which happens to be my favorite part of the family room!

Homecoming 2009

Last weekend, Kirk and I headed up to Taylor twice to celebrate homecoming.  The first time was Thursday where we attended Airband.  If you are not familiar with Taylor, it's a basically a glorified lip-syncing competition with costumes, sets, and choreographed dancing.  It was an incredible show and we enjoyed it all (especially Kyle's performance as a candlestick in Beauty and the Beast's "Be Our Guest"!).  We went up again on Saturday for the football game and to hang out with Mom, Konni, Aunt Kerri, Makenna, and Kelly, and Kyle  who were all in town for the weekend.  Sadly, my camera battery was dead but thank you, Mom, for sharing yours with me!

Cousins Makenna and Konni outside the admissions office (Makenna is a junior in high school and Konni is a sophomore...only a few more years until they are enjoying this campus as their own!).

We got Elijah all bundled up to attend his first football game.  By the way, Taylor football is having its best season since 1999...it was fun to watch a close game for once!

Aunt Kelly did a great job of keeping her nephew bundled in the cold weather! 

It was definitely cold out there! 

The whole group... all Taylor grads and future (hopefully) Taylor grads! Kyle, Konni, me, Kirk, Mom, Aunt Kerri, Elijah, Makenna, and Kelly.

We went to Cracker Barrel after the game.  Elijah's poor chin was chapped from drooling in the cold...but as you can see, he was dressed appropriately for homecoming :).

It's been a long day so I am going to kick back if you don't mind.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I just realized I never blogged about my birthday.  Kirk arranged for babysitters (thanks Pete and Bethany!) and treated me to a great night out.

We went to the Milano Inn which is a great Italian place downtown.

Kirk enjoying his meal, which I now forget what it was.

I got the chicken caccatore (not sure about spelling) and it was fabulous!

My gift! A Silpada watch I had been wanting for a while...it's better in person.

Kirk, I love you! Thanks for making my day so special :).

Uncle Bob

You may remember me asking for prayers for my Uncle Bob who was diagnosed with leukemia back in March. Today, my uncle lost his battle and went to be with Jesus. He will be greatly missed. Please pray for my aunt, Karen, and my two young cousins Will and Adrianna (15 and 11, I think). My family very much appreciates your prayers. Below is a picture of Uncle Bob and his family.

Top 10 American Idol

Inspired by my friend and fellow American Idol fanatic, Mallory, I've decided to make my list of top 10 American Idol performances. I am qualified to do this since I have been watching since season 1. I am including YouTube videos of all the performances in case you would like to relive them (just as I have done for a good portion of my evening). Enjoy!

10. Anoop Desai, "Always on My Mind", Season 8 I know some may not agree this belongs here, but I am a huge NoopDawg fan and I could listen to his smooth voice all day.



9. Nikko Smith, "Let's Get it On", Season 4 Many of you probably have no recollection of Nikko, but I am telling you, he was probably one of the most under appreciated contestants in the history of the show. This video proves it.



8. Jason Castro, "Hallelujah", Season 7, I love this song and I love his version of it even more.



7. Kelly Clarkson, "A Moment Like This", Season 1, Even though I was one of about 4 people who were cheering for Justin to win season 1 (he's from Doylestown, PA! I had to cheer for him!), I can't leave this one out of the top 10. She really can sing, even though she is sort of crying for part of this performance.



6. Clay Aiken, "A Bridge Over Troubled Waters", Season 2, I was a freshman in college when this finale happened. I will admit I was a HUGE Clay fan. I mean huge. I actually cried when he came in second (by the way, you will notice Ruben Studdard, the "winner" of season 2 did not even make my list. What a disappointment!).



5. Blake Lewis, "You Give Love a Bad Name", Season 6, I think I watched Blake Lewis's performance on YouTube in my office the next day somewhere between 15 and 20 times. He is such a great performer!



4. David Cook, "Always Be My Baby", Season 7, Always Be My Baby by Mariah Carey is my all time favorite song. I usually don't like it when someone redoes a great song, but I couldn't be disappointed with this remake.



3. Carrie Underwood, "Alone", Season 4 I was a big fan of Carrie all of that season, but this was definitely my favorite performance of hers.



2. Kris Allen, "Heartless", Season 8, As Randy said, his version was even better than Kanye's. And he's a nicer guy than Kanye too. This video is different because YouTube wouldn't let me embed the live performance into my blog.



And drumroll for number 1 please..........

1. David Archuleta, "Imagine, Season 7, I love David A and this is, for me, the most memorable performance of all the seasons. I had goosebumps when it was over.



And here's a few honorable mention (without videos):
-Adam Lambert, "Tracks of My Tears", Season 8
-Elliott Yamin, "A Song for You", Season 5
-Jordin Sparks, "Broken Wing", Season 6