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reasons I love my husband:

He loves Jesus.

He loves our sons.

He choose me.

He has admitted a few good things about Kansas.

He truly liked my grandparents.

He gets choked up at Little House on the Prairie sometimes.

He crochets.

He is incredibly witty.

He is proud and thankful that I use cloth diapers.

He makes sacrifices for people he does not even know in Honduras.

He is interested in many different things and likes to learn.

He gives the boys a bath most of the time!!! This is a huge, huge gift to me!

He buys me chocolate.

He sings to Jonathan and Elijah.

He makes up songs and is remarkable about rhyming.

He gets into Jonathan's t-ball games, even though he really is not a sports person.

He will stop in the road to pick up a turtle to show Jonathan. And not bring it home every time!!

He got up during the night to give our puppy medicine.

He likes to wear pink shirts. And he looks good in them!

He is an excellent teacher; to his gun class students, to his sons, to me.

He feeds Eli sometimes and wipes his face some of those times.

He takes off work to attend Jonathan's school things.

He reads to Jonathan at night. I love to hear them talking about what they are reading.

He is a dreamer.

He makes the very very very long drive to Kansas so I can see my family and they can see our precious boys.

He keeps us safe.

He tries to drink more water.

He eats leftovers!

He can get to laughing so hard he can hardly talk.

He knows the names of plants and flowers.

He loves to watch TV but is too thrifty to pay for cable so we just enjoy two channels!

He likes to have a snack at night.

He calms me down when I get overly worried about things.

He is patriotic and thankful for the privilege of living in the United States.

He loves ice cream.

He lets me get the mail.

He works very hard to provide for us and to enable me to stay home with the boys.

He compliments my cooking.

He tells me about his day.

He smells good.

He sings well.

He wants to help people truly change their lives.

He lets the house be warm when we need it warm and cool when we need it cool.

He is wise with money.

Happy birthday my Ashley. I love so very many things about you.

Elijah

Just took this picture today and had to share it. He is too sweet!

At nine months Eli:

absolutly adore Jonathan.

is crawling all over and pulling up and starting to cruise a bit.

loves to be outside.

is starting to prefer to feed himself. I fear I clean up more food out of his highchair then gets into his body!

has 6 teeth. and he has worked hard for them.

weighs 20 lbs.

thinks Daddy is incredible. Ashley and I were saying today that we don't remember Jonathan being that into Daddy

this young but Eli will reach out for him and crawl to get him when he gets home. It is quite sweet.

is a challenge to change his diaper. he just wants to move!

really likes music. even my singing!

takes three naps a day.

is still quite a fan of nursing. I am thankful for this.

goes to Sunday school well. they have these little booster seats they sit in and sing songs. it is pretty cute.

really really likes the 4-wheeler and lawnmower. but also the blow dryer and blender so maybe it is just the noise?

puts his head on my shoulder. so so so sweet.

puts everything in his mouth!

is developing quite an opinion. he has been quite a laid back baby so it is different having him get feisty. I say it is the Williams coming out in him! :)

likes his paci to go to sleep.

has clamy hands and stinky feet. This has been true since he was born!

has the cutest crawl. I have told Polly this several times and have tried to think what makes it so cute. I think it is a combination of things. he has big hands. I have thought this since birth. He is loud when he crawls. You can hear him coming. he sounds very determined. He is fast. If he hears the door opening to outside or the water for the bathtub or the fridge door opening, he takes off.

likes to sleep on his tummy. this is something that makes me nervous but he seems to prefer this so I just keep checking on him.

has a mix of blond and red and a little brown hair. still not sure what color it is.

seems to show a preference for his left hand. but I am not sure how soon this is determined.

is such a blessing and is so very very loved.

So far

Wanted to include a few random pictures since it has been so ridiculously long since I have posted anything! Jonathan is in is baseball uniform. I need to get a better picture. One in action perhaps. He is number 42 which was my highschool basketball number. Ashley chose that number for him. I was really touched at his gesture and that he remembered the number.

Well, day six of Ashley's trip is almost done. I had planned to write something every day to keep track of what all we did while he was gone. You see how that has gone! Briefly this is what we have been up to:

Two ball games for Jonathan. At one of these Eli chewed on a cigarette. He even smelled like tabacco. made me sick!! The other game his skin got a little pink from the sun. I felt terrible!

We visited Ashley's grandma and aunt. They always crack me up. they think Jonathan and Eli are quite wonderful which is so good for my heart.

Numerous 4-wheeler rides. Eli loves to go and makes the funniest noises. Jonathan is getting a little too comfortable on his for my liking. He has too much Ashley in him for his own good!!

Ate lunch with Jonathan at school. It is always such fun to go. I like being known as Jonathan's mom.

Got Eli's picture taken, finally.

Both boys have a cough and runny noses. Not fun.

Helped make snow cones at school for all the students since it is state assessment time. Brought back memories of working before kids.

Several walks. They both so love to be outside.

A little work at the office. A few projects at the house.

A little bit of mowing. Lots of laundry.

Attempting to handle phone calls for Ashley.

Eating supper outside on the deck. It was a gorgeous evening.

Survived church without Daddy. the boys did really well.

Went to one of Jonathan's friend's birthday party. Kids are funny when they see each other in a new surrounding.

Practiced batting.

Eli is still gagging a lot on chunkier foods but we did add spinach and black beans to the foods he has tried. so far the only thing he seems to consistently not like is bananas. Loves pears and plums though. tomorrow I am going to try mangos with him.

Cut Jonathan's hair. And his ear. Felt soooo bad. Trimmed my own hair a bit. I have never done that before. Not sure it was such a good idea.

Eat ice cream nearly every day!

Watched some Little House on the Prairie.

Finished reading Farmer Boy with Jonathan.

Felt very grateful for phone calls and text that amazingly work even from Honduras!