Merry Christmas!

Pay It Forward

The other evening, I had the pleasure of taking Luke to his first movie. Our local Fox theatre, (which is an awesome historic theater!) has special $5 movie nights - plus buy one get one free! Can't beat it! They were playing Cars 2, and of course, Luke is a huge Cars fan. Even so, I'm not sure who was more excited to go - him or me! He was so cute and sat in his seat like a big boy holding his McQueen and Mater cars throughout the movie. I was a little disappointed in the movie as it was a lot more shoot 'em up bang bang than I was expecting, but we still had a great time.

One of the most memorable things about the movie night, however, happened when we were getting our tickets. I got to the window to pay for our tickets and handed him my debit card. He apologized and said he could only take cash on movie nights. I did not know that! Frantically I started rummaging my wallet for cash but could only come up with $1. There was a man with his two teenage daughters standing in line behind us. Without hesitation, the man slapped his money on the counter and said "put them with us". I was incredibly touched. Apparently, so was the cashier. He handed them their tickets and change and the man looked at it and put his money back on the counter and said he didn't think he was charged enough. The cashier just gave a sweet smile and said, "Yes, it's right". He only charged them for 2 people!! I have to admit, I've been feeling a little Bah Humbug lately...just feeling overwhelmed with life. But this encouraged me so much and inspired me to pay it forward! I hope we all have an opportunity to do so this Christmas season.

Forgetful Mommy

The other day I had just left the house with the boys and realized I forget to tell Chad something, so I quickly called him. As soon as I got off the phone, a little voiced piped up from the back seat.

Luke: Who did you call, Mommy?

me: Daddy

Luke: Why did you call Daddy?

me: Oh, I just forgot something.

Luke: Oh. (pause) Did you forget a coupon?

The boy knows me well. A little too well, I'd say!

A Little Late, But...

Here are some pictures of our little monkey and cowboy this year. It happened to be my parents' anniversary that weekend, so we took pictures of our cute people and then went out to dinner. My kind of Halloween!

In other news, Luke has mastered #1 AND #2 and has moved on to teaching others.

Fall Pics

These are some of my favorite pictures and activities from this month. It's been a crazy busy couple of weeks, but we managed to squeeze in some fun time, too!

Our little pumpkin-eater.

Luke's expression in this picture cracks me up.

Riding horses and feeding a baby calf at the Drake farm. Luke loves visiting Dan and Karen's house!

Pumpkin Patch!

Jumping into hay was a major hit.

Trying to get a happy smiling Luke picture was not such a big hit.

This one cooperated though!

We also watched a lovely sunset while we were there. So pretty! I love fall!

V for Victory!

We've had some proud accomplishments around these parts...Child #1 is {partially} potty trained! We started about 2 months ago, and he didn't seem quite ready, so we put it off for a little while and started again this weekend, and just like that, he got it! Well, he got #1 anyway...#2 is still a work in progress, but we will celebrate this victory! My favorite part is that he didn't even need bribery or rewards of any kind. Being able to wear his "underwears" and get to flush the toilet after he goes is the only motivation he needed. What a kid!

Child #2 didn't want to be showed up or left out, so he decided to start crawling today! He's been going backwards for a week or so, and just couldn't seem to get the hang of going forwards. Then, today he just took off and went without any struggle whatsoever. I'm convinced he's been practicing in his crib. Mostly, I'm thankful that I got to witness it. God gave me the little gift of Adam crawling on a non-work day for me! And though Chad didn't get to see it, I did just happen to be on the phone with him at the exact moment it happened, so at least he got to hear our happy squeals. However, within an hour of learning to move, this child managed to pull a large plant down on himself and spill the soil, and try to eat a power cord, so...let the games begin!

Everything

Our youth group did this skit in church today. I wish I had a video of our kids because they did an awesome job. Here is the one like it that's on youtube. I can watch it a million times and it is so powerful it gets me every time. Please watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=cyheJ480LYA

Eigstis are Cool

Last weekend we celebrated Great Grandpa Eigsti's 86th birthday. Here are four generations of handsome Eigsti men!! Good thing we've added two more men to the mix. It turns out there aren't a whole lot of Eigstis out there. Anytime we say our last name, no matter where in the world we go, we are pelted with questions and comments. Eigsti..."how do you say that? How do you spell that? Where are you from? What country are you from? What origin is that? I've never heard that one before! That's a weird name. That's...different." Yes, truly, we have heard all of these questions/comments and many more not mentioned here. You don't even want to know how bad telemarketers have butchered it. We get it. We're a rare breed. Let it go.

Yes, this is our family. In true form. One child with spit up covering 90% of his body, the other child who has recently decided that using his "zoned out" look is the way to go for pictures. At least 50% of our children are happy. We must be doing something right, right? The truth is, before these pictures were taken, Luke just came to the realization that he will have to say, spell, and state his country of origin every time he says his last name to someone for the rest. of. his. life. He looks exhausted, doesn't he? Can't say I blame him. I had a moment like that as well when I decided to marry into it! :) Just kidding. I'm proud to be an Eigsti!

Farmer Boys

Luke and Jonathan: A Day at the Farm...the Dialogue

Luke: Let's go look at Grandpa's cows.

Jonathan: Ok.

Luke: {doing cow call [aka mooing] to bring them to the fence}

Jonathan: ewwww! That one is peeing. I hope it doesn't pee on us!

Luke: That's a black one. It's a baby cow.

Jonathan: Is that one a baby cow?

Luke: No, that one is the black one. (clearly the expert on the situation)

Luke: They go in the barn when they hot. Grandpa feed them hay bales with the tractor. John Deere tractor.

Jonathan: ooooohhh.

[This is the conversation as I remember. It was very educational...and awfully cute that the cousins were having such a grown up conversation. I was too busy snapping pictures to think about getting video.] ages- Luke 2 1/2, Jonathan 3 1/2

Adam is 6 Months Old!

I don't know how it happened, but somehow our babe is already a half a year old. Actually, next week, he'll already be 7 months old! But I just managed to get him to the doctor this week for his well baby check. He weighed in at a solid 19 pounds 2 ounces! He continues to be as easy going as ever and smiles all.the.time. His bottom teeth (seen pictured below) came in without any sign of irritation from him. Let's just keep that up, ok Adam?

We started foods and his first bites were carrots which he was not too sure of at first. But he has quickly developed a love for all things edible."Here, let me help you Adam"

We love this smiley happy baby and are so blessed to be able to soak up all this chubby baby goodness every day!

Sunday Lunch

The other Sunday after church we headed over to my parents' house for lunch and the boys got in some good playing time as well! Grandma put Adam on Luke's shoulders and Adam seemed to know instinctively that this was a cool thing to do. Every time she did it he got so excited and beamed his big smile.

Cheesin' at Grandpa

I have pictures of me as a babe in this rocking chair, too!

This was the day that Adam {finally} discovered that he has a tongue and is sticking it out ever so slightly in this picture.

This looks so sweet with Big Brother holding Little Brother's hand. But really the Big was keeping the Little from touching his toys. Whatever, still cute.

Working on sharing!

Adam's Dedication

A couple of weeks ago, we had Adam's dedication at church. Grandpa has done this for all of his grandchildren so far, and on this occasion did 2 grandkids (Adam and Hannah) at once!

The babes who were dedicated

The verse selected for Adam's dedication: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise." Psalm 111:10 Basically, this verse is saying that the only way to become truly wise is to fear and revere God. Our prayer is that we will teach Adam to love, fear, and serve God!

This picture was the best (of many taken) of the whole crew of cousins.