Go Bucks!

Ellie's Uncle Greg & Aunt Kathleen (and cousins Suzanne & Porter) sent her an Ohio State cheerleader uniform to wear for football season! It's a perfect fit (and she looks absolutely adorable!) and Ellie loves to wear it to cheer on her favorite football team...Go Bucks! Thanks Greg & Kathleen!

On another note, we've been working with Graham on saying 'Go Bucks' and 'Go Tarheels'! He says those pretty well. However, the other day we were practicing with him and he started saying something that sounded like 'Go Blue'. Now, I'm SURE he wasn't saying that, but we realized that we need to keep working with him on this! It's very important to train your children properly!! :)

More cute pics

We have finally settled back into a routine after vacation and having lots of visitors. It was a good couple of months, but it's nice to not be quite so busy for awhile! Graham had his 2 year Dr's appointment on the 19th. He weighed in at 30lbs and was 35 3/4 inches long. Which is 75th and 80th percentile. He's meeting every milestone that they asked about and is ahead in quite a few. We're really starting to notice changes in him. He's speaking more and more, linking words together and even a few small sentences. He continues to love to learn, so we try to teach him something everyday! :)

One of Graham's current favorite things to do is feed the cat his treats. Everyday he'll come into the kitchen and start asking for a snack. When I ask what he wants for his snack, he says 'kitty cat'. That means that he wants the cat to have a snack!! He's so thoughtful....right? :) He then put the cat treats on the floor and will get down to floor level to watch Sammy eat them! Sam doesn't seem to mind since he's getting fed!

Graham is also enjoying helping out in the kitchen. I can't mix anything up or wash dishes without him dragging a chair into the kitchen to help out! Sometimes he's a good helper...other times, not much 'helping' is done! We've started a blog....Armstrong Family Fare. It's a cooking blog and I'm enjoying making meals and other baked goodies to share on their! Check it out if you haven't already!

Ellie continues to grow. She's a happy baby most of the time. She used to be a bit camera shy, but recently has begun to warm up to the camera! These shots capture some of her precious smiles!! I love them...they bring us so much joy!

She's Flying!

I love the current stage of development that Ellie is at! She's absolutely precious. She spends most of her time on her belly, don't try to flip her over unto her back! She can pull her whole abdomen off the floor and push herself forward with her legs. She can inch along fairly easily to reach whatever object is in her sight! She's not fast by any means, but she's working on it. Ellie has a sweet disposition. She laughs a lot and smiles instantly when her Mommy talks to her. She loves to watch Graham and adores his attention (however many seconds it lasts for!). It's amazing how quickly she's growing, as it seems to be going too fast!

Graham's Birthday Party

Today, Oct 9th, we celebrated Graham's second birthday. He doesn't turn 2 until the 14th, however Eric's dad was in town and his cousins from Indianapolis were coming to visit today. We decided to go ahead and have a birthday celebration. It was a lot of fun. We told Graham last night that today was going to be his birthday celebration day. He didn't know exactly what that meant, but he knew it was something to be excited about!

We had a nice cookout with hot dogs and burgers. After lunch Graham found a few presents sitting in the living room that were for him! He opened presents (with no problem at all!). He got several great gifts...a new pair of pj's with a bear on them, matchbox cars, Wee Sing Bible songs, The Storybook Bible, a blow-up car that he can sit in filled with balls and his big gift from his Grandpa Armstrong; a train set! Plenty to fill his time in the days to come!

Here's a big smile while opening presents. He actually enjoyed being the center of attention this year!

His sister got all dressed up to celebrate!

Another picture showing how excited Graham was!

Who wouldn't be excited to play with this fun train set?!? Ellie sure wanted to check it out! :)

What goes great with a new train set? Well...a birthday cake with a train on it!

Graham loved the fondant train. He grabbed it immediately!

He really enjoyed playing with the train. He wanted to try it out on his new train track!

The guys finished off the day by raking up the leaves in our backyard. Graham was a big help! It was really nice of Grandpa A. to help us rake up the leaves. It's always a really big job in our shaded backyard!

I can't believe this little boy is turning 2 this week. Where have those two years gone? He's been such a blessing to both Eric and myself. He melts our hearts with his smiles. He is becoming such a little boy...the toddler days are leaving quickly. He talks a lot and his vocabulary is expanding daily. He has an opinion about almost everything and likes to share it openly. He loves his sister and gives her kisses everyday. Each morning when she wakes up he's sure to say 'Hi Ellie or Hi Sissy'. He brings her toys to play with and throws away her dirty diapers. He's becoming quite the little helper. He loves to go to church every week. He gets excited when we pull into the parking lot....and he always points out the steeple to us. He leads the way to his classroom and enters without looking back. But, when we go pick him up he's giddy with excitement to see us.

We pray in this coming year that he'll continue to grow and mature, but mainly that he'll learn more about Jesus. He's learning more each day. He loves his book about Easter and wants to read it all the time. He sings the B-I-B-L-E all the time.....every time you mention the word sing he starts to loudly serenade us!

He's such a good boy (with the occasional two year old tantrum). We love him so much and are proud to call him our son!

Best Buds

Here's a very recent picture of Graham and Ellie. They were hanging out together on the couch. Graham is enjoying having his sister be more interactive. He loves to give her toys, although you have to be careful since he thinks things should be placed on her head!

Graham has started to become quite the helper. He'll take things to the trash can when asked (sometimes not when asked), he placed napkins on everyones plate while we had guests here over the weekend, he put away some silverware for me today, etc. He likes to help most of the time. He's learning to pick up his toys...although that's a daily work in progress!

Ellie is growing like a weed. She had her 4 month checkup last month (she was about 4 1/2 months at the time). She weighed in at 14lbs 11oz and was 25 5/8inches long. The doctor was quite shocked when she walked in the room to see Ellie on her tummy pushing her whole abdomen off of the table. Yes...my little baby is already pulling herself across the floor. I wouldn't call it crawling yet, but she can move from point A to point B when she's determined to do it! And, she's been doing this for a few weeks now (slow down baby girl!!).