Girl's Weekend

My mom and sisters and I went to Chicago last weekend. We left of Friday morning and met Molly at our hotel. We then drove into downtown Chicago. We spent the afternoon shopping. We ate dinner and went to the the Broadway musical, Wicked. It was so fun. The costumes and sets were so elaborate and the music was very fun. We crashed when we got back to the hotel, but we were up bright and early for another busy day of shopping. We had great success at Ikea and other stores in Schaumburg, IL. We went out for dinner and went back to the hotel for games and girl stuff. We had a car packed full of stuff, unfortunately we did not take any photos of this. Sarah was especially successful at Ikea with new furnature. Click here to see photos from our trip.

Elliott at Saugatuck Dunes

Here are some pictures from a Sunday afternoon hike with the Schreuders.  Click here.

Halloween 2008

We had a busy day visiting people on Halloween. Grace had a pumpkin costume that she wore for part of the day. She also had a princess costume that she wore. Elliott was a police officer for Halloween(costumes compliments of Nonna and Papa)! We visited Great-grand parents during the day between naps. Then we stopped by the Hallelujah Party at church before going to our friends house for dinner. It was a very fun day. Click Here for some pictures of the kids in their costumes.

Elliott's Bible Story

This evening Seth asked Elliott if they talked about Bible stories at school. Elliott replied, that they did. We asked which story they talked about today, expecting a short response, but instead Elliott told us this. "We learned about Abraham and Sarah. The visitors told Sarah she was going to have a baby and she laughed and said, 'I am too old.'" We proceeded to ask what the baby's name was and Elliott said, "Isaac." So we asked Elliott what this teaches us about God. Elliott responded this, "Well God said, 'Let's call them babies and give them to everyone'". It is so fun to see Elliott learning, maybe not fully understanding, the stories of the Bible. This also taught Seth and I how important it is for us to teach these to children. They are so hungry for knowledge at this age and they can remember so much, it is amazing!

Smiles

Grace

Peek-a-boo and the johnny-jump-up got a couple smiles and laughs out of Grace.

Pictures are up!

I am so excited because the kids photos are up on the photographers website for online proofing. They turned out very cute, but I realized it is much more difficult to get two kids to be cute at the same time.  Click here to view. 

Elliott's Jokes

Monday

My work outside of the home is done for a while. Now, I have so much to do at home. I have to do a lot of cleaning today and this week. I did find some pictures of the kids on Kari's(the photographer) blog. Check them out!
View some of the pictures.

Picture Day!

Today Grace and Elliott were photographed. Grace's six month pictures and Elliott's 4 year. It went pretty good. Grace got a little fussy. I am hoping that some of them turned out well. As soon as they are on the website I will post the link. Otherwise there is nothing new here. It is Friday and though most people are looking forward to the weekend, I am not. I have to work. I will be working my 24 hours worth of work in the next two days. I guess it will be nice to get out of the house, away from my normal responsibilities and I am very thankful for the work. Seth will be home with the kids. Those are long days for him, but it is a great way for him to spend quality time with Elliott and Grace.

Well, I am excited to tell you that with the help of my brother-in-law, I learned how to post a link to more photos. On my previous post check out the Pictures and Links and you will see pictures from this fall.

I am sorry to report that I do not have any new pictures to post today. We recently set up a new computer and Seth has not downloaded the program for photos. That is on the list of things to do this weekend. Look for new pictures next week. We have a busy weekend. We will be going out for dinner Friday night for a friends birthday party. Saturday we have been invited to a neighbor's house. these are some neighbors we do not know very well, so it will be great to get to know some new people. Right now Grace is ready for a nap. Have a great day!

Pictures and links

I am officially a Discovery Toys Educational Consultant. I am so excited to be selling these quality and educational toys. I grew up playing with the toys and games from Discovery Toys and I can't wait to bring them into my own home for Grace and Elliott. Check out my website: http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/eclayton

Here is Gracie sitting up. I think she was so happy to have a little peace and quite while Elliott was at school.

This is a week of milestones for the Claytons. Elliott went to school on Tuesday for the first day. It was very exciting! Elliott loves school. This is Elliott on the first day of school. Grace is sitting up on her own now. This is going well, except when her big brother gets a little too close and knocks her over. We have had a few bumps. The kids are getting so big, sometimes I cannot believe it. I will be working this weekend so Seth and the kids will get to spend some quality time together.

Summer is officially over! We are getting back into a routine after a very busy summer. I thought this would be a great time to post a blog. Elliott is in school and I am finally getting some time to get things done.