Cornelius Chronicles

I am thankful for so many blessings. I am thankful for cheesy grins and baby cuddles. I am thankful for sweet children who play kindly one with another. I am thankful for hair bows that are way too big for their own good. I am thankful for wiggly little boys. And I am thankful for handy husbands and inquiring young minds. I am thankful for my family and the many blessings they bring.

This is the face of an innocent child who would never even think of something naughty, let alone do it. Or is it? My garden doesn't stand a chance against my two busy boys. After turning it into his personal sand box and climbing wall, (Yes, I did find Loyd scaling the chicken wire behind the tomatoes.), I'm not sure my poor plants can survive the abuse, let a lone give fruit. Xavier wasn't far behind his big brother on tormenting the garden. He decided to cut out the middle men (aka Vegetables) and go directly to source and eat dirt. Boy, did he eat a lot of it. He decided to have this little snack in the few minutes it took me to put him down to get Loyd buckled into the van so we could go to story time at the library. I'm so glad cleanliness is such a high priority for my boys. We decided this week that Xavier has the best morning routine out of everyone. Each morning I make him his own personal recliner out of a couple of pillows on the floor. Then, he get...

Xavier still refuses to walk, but he is totally cool with riding one of his scoot cars. He LOVES scooting around the backyard on his rocket and cruising through the house on the Dora car. He is definitely a car man. Now that he can get out of the house on his own I have an incredibly hard time keeping him inside. If the back door opens he is gone. He loves to play outside with Bekah and Loyd. It's fun to see him explore nature on his own. He crawls through the grass, eats the dirt and harasses the cat with the biggest smile you have ever seen on a kid. Bekah and Loyd are good to play with their baby brother outside too. They like to turn him into one of their obstacles as they ride their bikes. They ride wide circles around him and his scoot car. They also show him how cool it could be if he would walk. He could do awesome things like hold a bucket and still keep moving or actually be a contender in a game of Red Light, Green Light. Oh the possibilities! They are read...

Bekah was pushing Xavier on the swings at the park yesterday and having a wonderful time doing it. I thought I would take this opportunity and open payroll negotiations for when she is old enough to baby-sit. After all, why not settle job specifics while she's in a good mood? My starting offer was for a dime an hour for baby-sitting. Bekah , with all her savvy business skill, counter offered with 5 cents. After all, 5 is a big number. Realizing I was dealing with a business mind far beyond my abilities, I conceded and we agreed to the hefty sum of 5 cents and hour. Do you think I should get this in writing? Nah, I'm sure she'll totally remember and be ok with our financial arrangement in 10 years, when she is finally old enough to baby-sit. In other news, a new park opened up nearby. It is quite possibly the most awesome park ever. The kids had a blast. We had to peal them off the toys to go home after they had been there for 3 hours playing. Their favorite ...

1 Pink Fairy + 1 Adorable Giraffe + 1 Unhappy Robot = Way Too Much Candy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don't worry, our Robot eventually warmed up to his costume and gave us a smile.

This last week Dustin went to Washington D.C. for a Project Lead the Way conference. While he was away we kept ourselves very busy. We tried to think of something fun to do every day and I got some of my craft projects done. On Monday, we had story time preschool at my house. We learned all about big and little and the kids had a fun time painting their big and little Halloween pumpkins. On Tuesday, after we dropped Bekah off at preschool, the boys and I went to the park and then to the library for story time. I think they liked playing at the park best. Wednesday was Xavier's 1 year old well baby visit. He wasn't brave at all. Every time the doctor or the nurse would look at him he would try to burrow into my chest and cry. He was especially woosey when he got his immunizations. Poor Baby Xavier. On Thursday, the boys and I decided to walk around our little neighborhood while Bekah was at school. If you walk every square inch of my neighborhood you will have walked a...

A momentous event took place this past week. Grandma C. took great pity on us and our perpetually wrong dates on the pictures and she sent us a camera. Thanks Grandma C! We are loving our sleek new camera and the great pictures it takes. Now future generations can rest at ease and know the dates on the pictures are actual and true. :>) Here are some pictures we have taken with our new toy. Loyd was my first subject with the new camera. He's such a cute kid and I couldn't pass up this moment where he was actually sitting still. Dustin took this shot of Bekah and he is quite pleased with how it turned out. She's growing up to be such a cute little girl. Check out the baby blues on this kid. I can't get over how beautiful his eyes are. Why is it that little boys always get the prettiest eye color and the longest, darkest eye lashes? Even Rebekah got in on the fun and took a few shots herself. So, here is what a 4 yr old deems photo worthy.