Shhhh...Angel Sleeping

Dina & I went to the movies and got back late on Thursday night. I went to check on Eli and he was sleeping on his back looking soooo cute. Usually he sleeps on his stomach. Dina took these photos.

Myrtle Beach

We try to take a yearly trip the week before Christmas to get away from all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays and just spend time together as a family. This year we went to Myrtle Beach, S.C. Our favorite things are spending time at the indoor pool, playing in the sand (if it is nice enough) and just hanging out together in the condo. Check out our album link for picasaweb to see more photos of our trip.

Meeting Noble

We had the tremendous blessing of meeting Noble Richard Gray on Saturday, December 8th. He was such a happy boy, smiling at us all. He was so cute the way he sucked his thumb. He and Eli enjoyed parallel play which is normal at this age. They are 42 days apart (Noble being older). We hope they will grow to be great friends just as Ethan & Nora Jane are now.

Kisses from Heaven

Eli loves to give kisses. If you make a kissing noise and he is in the mood, he will open wide and give you kisses. He happened to be in the mood while the camera was on and we got this wonderful shot. I love his sweetness!

Merry Christmas

We hope this holiday season finds you and your family well. We have had a wonderful year. The beginning of the year was filled with anticipation as we awaited the arrival of our son. He was due March 22, 2007. He had other plans and came into our lives on February 24, 2007. The birth experience was something we never could have aniticpated with an emergency c-section and a rough start for our little guy. By the grace of God he is a perfectly healthy boy and we are very blessed with our guys.
Eli loves to be around people and he smiles at everyone. He will be 10 months old on Dec. 24th and he is pulling up on everything and cruising the furniture. His favorite things are his brother, the cats and anything he is allowed to put in his mouth.
Ethan is still attending Oak Grove Montessori School and is starting to learn to read. He is very excited about his ability to spell some words. He takes Judo & Piano at his school. He continues to make us laugh with the things he comes up with and his silliness. He recently put Kevin in his place by reminding him that even though he is big and strong, he is not as big and strong as God.
Kari still enjoys her job at the school and now gets to take Eli with her. He does very well in her office playing on his own like he does at home.
Kevin is still loving his job at Woodland Christian Camp. They are constantly involved in new projects and renevations. He keeps very busy and I am very proud of his work ethic.
Some other highlights of our year were spending time with family, having Kari's Dad & family come and stay in the basement twice this year, having Dina Forehand come live with us after summer and meeting Viviana & Noble Gray in April & December respectively.
Please know that you are in our thoughts often throughout the year, even if we don't contact you. Remember Christ and his wonderful birth this season.
Love,
Kevin, Kari, Ethan & Eli Jarrett

Eli is 9 months old

Eli turned 9 months old on Nov. 24th and he is crawling, pulling up and even letting go and trying to stand at times. He still smiles all the time and loves to be around other people. He is very busy and trying to get him to sit still for a photo is nearly impossible. He loves banging two objects together to hear the sound it makes. He still only has the two little teeth down bottom that he got when he was only 4.5 months old. He is trying to get more, as he is grumpy sometimes. Our greatest desire is for him to sleep though the night, but we know he will not be waking up in the night, every night when he is 10, so we try to be patient. Ethan still loves his baby brother and is very good with him, but he does occasionally act like a baby to try to get equal attention.

The Best Birthday Ever

I turned 32 today (no I'm not afraid to tell my age) and it was great. It started with a pancake and fruit salad breakfast lovingly prepared by Dina. Then I got a great card from the Gray family (Bear & Honey included). After taking Ethan & Nora Jane to school (we sang Bible songs on the way), I had a great day at work. Kevin said he would come and have lunch with me. What I didn't expect was for him to bring me presents (one from Alaina who is currently in Guatemala) and one from him. He also brought a cake for me from Publix (cream cheese icing, my favorite) and candles - which he lovingly transposed to make me 23. He even got Ethan out of class to come and eat cake with us. After work I came home and got ready and was treated to the movie Enchanted by my great friend Melissa. The movie was so cute. I am now home and hope to have a good night sleep and remember to enjoy every day as much as today.

My Photo Album

I have created a photo album on picasa web that you can access at any time. I try to upload albums often. Since I don't want to put a million picures on my blog, you can go to this website and see all of the pictures I have taken (www.picasaweb.google.com/karijarrett). I also put the website as a link on "my favorite links" at the bottom left of my blog page. It is titled "photo album". I know I am a genius with the titles.

School Photo

To see Ethan's school photo, go to www.mccphoto.smugmug.com and click on sessions. Click on the Oak Grove folder. He is in Primary 2. The password is OG.

Future Montessori Student

In the Montessori invironment, children work in the "sensorial" area of the room. This is where there are materials that help them use their senses to learn. Eli wanted to do just that when I was feeding him Oatmeal the other day. He ate some, but kept wanting to touch it. I thought, "why not". So here is the messy result of my future montessori child at work!

7 months old and sitting up!

Eli has been practicing sitting up for a while now and he finally has it down. He still falls over sometimes, but for the most part, he is doing great! He is 7 months old today. Time goes by too fast. His favorite things are the cats, eating food and playing outside. He especially likes going on a golf cart ride before his afternoon nap.

Panama City Beach, Florida

We had the pleasure of visiting the sugar white sands and emerald green waters of the Gulf of Mexico for vacation this year. Dina was with us for the first part of the week, so we were able to go on a boat trip by ourselves (Kevin & I). That was great. It was great having a friend along for our vacation. Eli loved the beach (his first time) and Ethan always loves it. Ethan was pretty brave in the water this time. He loved jumping the waves on a raft with dad. We all got to go to the zoo and on a pirate ship while on vacation. It was a great time.

Labor Day

Labor Day at Woodland is always fun. We have family camp. This is a time where families come to enjoy the camp atmosphere and spend quality time together. On Friday night, we swam in the pool with the Gray family, then Kevin, Ethan, Kevin Gray & Nora Jane spent the night in a boxcar. Saturday, we continued to play at the camp, roasted marshmallows by the campfire (yes, we at smores) and Kevin & Ethan slept in a cabin at the Heritage Camp. On Sunday we enjoyed worship with all of the families at the camp, then we ate a meal together. Sunday night, we all slept at home. Monday we enjoyed a picnic at the pool with the Gray family and we really enjoyed the pool. We knew Kevin would close the pools on Tuesday, so we wanted to make the most of them. Eli was exhausted, but wouldn't fall asleep with so much activity, so Kevin put Eli under his shirt to help distract him. He slept nicely in there, but they were both pretty sweaty.

Ethan was so proud to bring home a Katydid that we found at the pool. It is missing two legs, so we thought we would rescue it. We needed something to bring it home in, so we used our empty "Famous Amos" cookies box. It looks like we are doing an ad for "Famous Amos" because Ethan wanted his Katydid in the pictures. He affectionately named him "Toad". All in all, it was a great weekend!

I love my walker!

Eli loves playing in his walker. I can put him in it and he is content for quite a while. He scoots all around the kitchen and squeals!

Men at Work

Kevin & Eli worked hard tonight vacuuming the house. Eli loves watching the vacuum move and hearing the loud noise.

Girlfriend!

We went to Ethan's back to school picnic for Oak Grove Montessori School and Eli got to spend some quality time with Olivia Freeman. We call them our future montessori children. They were so cute and interested in each other. He likes his

"older" woman.

Growing up is hard to do!

Eli went on Monday to his 6 month well check-up. He got two shots:( That was not even the worst part. He has a bad ear infection and ulcers all in the back of his throat. He is such a trooper though. He only complained a little. He weighed 14lbs. 4.4oz. and was 27" tall. I took these pictures before bedtime last night and he was sitting up so well. He was very excited when Gabbi decided to pay him a visit.

I can hold my own bottle!

Eli is still very much a breast-fed baby, but he gets bottles upon occasion. He was so proud when he could hold his own bottle.

Dina

We are so happy to have Dina Forehand hanging out with us while she finds a job. She is such fun to be around and a big help. Both of the boys love her very much.

Clean Sweep

Before & After


Before & After

Before & After

Kevin & Ethan went to Lake Wedowee on Friday night. I decided to do a Clean Sweep on Ethan's room while they were away. First, I moved everything to the living room, then I put the things back that I wanted in there. I really enjoyed getting rid of so many things we don't need. I think his room looks great now! By the way, there are already toys on the floor:)

First Day of School

Ethan started back at Oak Grove Montessori School on Tuesday. He was very excited about seeing new friends and having his good friend Nora Jane Gray in the class right next door. Mom is excited that we will be carpooling with the Grays on a regular basis.