Playing with the Parnells

We're so glad my cousin, Heath, and his wife Caitlin stopped by for a few days on their way home to Arkansas. It's always great visiting and catching up with them. They brought their sweet dog, Chloe, too. We took her to the dog park for a little bit one day. Enoch really enjoyed watching the dogs run around. Heath and Caitlin are so good playing with the children. We were all sad to see them go and look forward to their next visit.

Helping With Dinner

Abby's been enjoying helping with dinner lately. She especially enjoys helping me snap green beans. The smell of fresh green beans brings back memories of snapping beans with my Granny in the summertime. She doesn't really care to eat cooked green beans, but she's been more willing to try them lately since she's helped prepare them. She's also been known to sneak a few bites of the raw ones. She's also helped prepare a chicken to roast a few times. I know, you look at the picture and wonder how we could let a little person touch raw meat like that. I figure let her do it so she won't be grossed out by it when she's a grown up like I am. We're VERY careful that she doesn't put her hands in her mouth and I wash her hands very well afterwards. I even get the nail brush out. So, not to worry, no salmonella sickness around here.

Abby's 4th Birthday

This is Abby's 4th birthday. Last year Abby had an Ariel themed pool party and she had such a good time that she wanted another one this year!

Friends and family came to celebrate with Abby. Andrea enjoyed making the Ariel birthday cake. I think she did a great job.

The kids played several games in the pool and we all enjoyed the cake!

Abby's New Closet

Abby's been asking for a new closet every since Enoch got his. Pops and Nana did a beautiful job making a new shelving system for Abby's closet. She's able to be much more independent now that she can reach her hanging clothes. She can neatly put away her own clean clothes and pick out her clothes for the next day the night before. It's so nice to see her taking on more responsibility. Thanks, Pops and Nana, you did a great job! Are you starting on the master bedroom closet next?

Strolling Around Radner Lake

Radnor Lake is such a beautiful place! Even on a hot day, it's nice and cool on the road that is mostly covered by trees. We had grand ideas of enjoying a family day here. Unfortunately, children don't always act the way we want them to. Abby was having a pretty rough time. There are trails that go up into the woods. We parked her bike and went up on the trails, it was amazing, her attitude completely changed when we were in the woods and she decided to pretend she was Goldilocks. We were looking for the three bears house. She was perfectly fine the whole time we were in the woods, as soon as we got back down to the road, though, she went back into meltdown mode. Maybe next time will be better. :)

The Alesso Visit

Elijah's sister, Cyndi, and her three children came to visit from California for a few days. We had such a great time together! Abby was especially excited to have her cousins spend the night. The kids played so well together. It was nice to have enough children to play some fun games like Duck, Duck, Goose and Freeze Dance. One night the whole family played a really fun game. We used Snoogle (my pregnancy pillow). We each took turns pretending that the pillow was a different object. Everyone else had to guess what object the snoogle was. Even the grown ups had fun acting. It was so sweet to see the kids teaming up and helping each other, too. We hope the Alesso family will be able to come back again soon (and bring Casey next time)!

Enoch's 1st Birthday

Enoch's 1st Year Video from Elijah Manor on Vimeo.

We had a great time celebrating Enoch's 1st Birthday.

Andrea's parents, Aunt, and paternal Grandparents came to our house along with our good friends the Guinness family and Talley family.

We presented Enoch's 1st Year video that I've been working on the past couple of weeks. I think all in all I put in over 40 hours preparing and putting together his video. It was hard work, but it was well worth it!

Andrea made an amazingly delicious healthy carrot cake for everyone and a special little one just for Enoch. We also had hot dogs, black bean salad, and lots of fruit.

As I mention at the end of the video... Enoch, you are truly a blessing from the Lord!

What Would You Do For A Combo Meal?

Chic-fil-a had their annual dress like a cow day. This year we did it and got three free combo meals!

My sister, Alissa, let me borrow two cow costumes for the kids. Abby and I had fun making cow masks and putting together a costume for me. Fun times.

Daddy, we're proud of you!

Congratulations goes to Elijah! 

Elijah got nominated and accepted to be a member of the ASPInsiders.

"The ASPInsiders is a select group of international professionals who have a demonstrated expertise in ASP.NET technologies and who provide valuable, early feedback on related developing technologies and publications to their peers, the Microsoft ASP.NET team, and others."

Also, recently a huge website posted an entry about the Top 20 developers to Follow on Twitter and his name was in it!

He's listed as #18 alongside developers that are highly respected.  As for the other 19, some have podcasts, some work at Microsoft, some write the technologies that Elijah uses, and others have blogs.

What an honor!  Our family is so proud of Elijah and all his hard work. 

We're also thrilled for him as he received a wonderful job offer not too long ago. He is using cutting edge technologies that he has been speaking about for the past few months. God is so good to provide more than we could as or imagine.

He was also mentioned in a video that was posted recently on Bytes by MSDN. Scott Hanselman, a Microsoft Principle Program Manager, mentioned Elijah as one of the answers when asked who he goes to for sources of technical information.

Many developers read Scott's blog, listen to his podcasts, and he recently co-authored a book about ASP.NET MVC (which is one of the main technologies that Elijah's been focusing on the past year or so).

The question about Elijah starts at the 3:34 minute mark and his name is mentioned shortly after that if you want to skip directly to that part. You can watch the video here.

We are so proud that Elijah has been recognized by such a leader in his field.  All his hard work over the years is really paying off this year.

Father's Day Times Two

This was my first Father's day with both Abby and Enoch!

They presented me with these two special books...

• Dance me, Daddy
• Daddy Hugs

I love being a daddy and I love my two precious children! Thank you Andrea, Abby, and Enoch.

4th of July

We had another great 4th of July! This year Enoch was able to participate in the 4th of July parade in our neighborhood. All the kids decorate their wagon, bike, tricycle, etc... and we all make our way up and down the main road.

At the end of the parade we are all awaited with watermelon! Then we headed to the neighborhood pool party with hamburgers, hot dogs, cookies, and swimming fun!

Swimming Lessons

Abby has been taking swim lessons from our next door neighbor, Michael.

We're so thankful to have a pool in our neighborhood. Our other neighbor across the street, Mary, has been learning to swim with Abby and Michael, too.

Abby has done well and enjoys the lessons, but going under water is not her favorite part. Maybe next year will be easier.

Big Girl Bike

Abby and I went around to what seemed like a million garage sales surrounding our neighborhood in search of a big girl bike.

We found the above pink Barbie bike with training wheels, helmet, pads, etc... for $20!

As you can tell, she is very excited about her new bike :)

Enoch @ 11 Months

Enoch just turned 11 months.

He is now crawling on his hands and knees (instead of the inch-worm crawl), he has started to wave goodbye, he is clapping his hands, and he can also "give you a five" if you hand out your hand to him.

As long as he is holding something, he can take steps (like if he is holding my hands or the couch).

We love Enoch and he continues to brighten our day.

Ford Focus ZX3

After several weeks of not having a second car, I finally bought a commuter car!

In the meantime, I've been carpooling or just taking our family van.

I was looking for a small commuter car that has a history of being reliable and one that has good gas mileage.

I had my eye on the craigslist website for about a month and finally ran across a smoking deal.

I ended up getting a Ford Focus ZX3 as you can see in the above picture.

A big thanks goes out to Kevin Talley for giving the car his stamp of approval.

In Memory of Granny Skelton

My maternal grandmother, Lura Mae Skelton, passed away at age 93.

The funeral was a sad, but wonderful time to remember her life and all she did to help others.

She was such a hard worker. I remember helping her pick vegetables from her garden in the summer time, and swinging on the front porch swing. She'd make scrambled eggs, and chocolate gravy and biscuits. Yum!

I'm so thankful to have had such a wonderful example of a Christian woman in my life. Can't wait to see her again in heaven!

Having Fun With Aunts

Andrea's sisters were in town and they had some very special time with Abby and Enoch.

Abby enjoyed Alissa painting her toenails and having tea parties.

Anna and Abby made puppets and a house for them to play in. Abby continues to play with and enjoy the puppet house even after Anna left for home.

On numerous occasions, Abby has asked if she could get on an airplane to go visit Alissa or Anna.

We are so glad that she loves her Aunts.

Bye Bye Saturn

Elijah's car needed yet another repair. The repair was going to cost almost as much as the car is worth. We've repaired it several times and this little car has lasted a long time, but we decided it's time to let it go. So for now, we're trying to make it on one car. Thankfully, Elijah has found someone he can ride to work with if he needs to, but most days he just takes the van with him. It's actually been a good excuse to make myself stay home and not be so busy. It's nice that his job is flexible enough that if he needs to, he can work from home. We're keeping our eyes open for another little commuter car, but it's nice to not be in a big rush.

Mother's Day Times Two

This is Andrea's first Mother's day with two children!

Abby and Enoch made a special card with their hand prints and they both wrote inside the card. Abby wrote her name and Enoch expressed his love in scribbles :)

Abby and I printed out a huge picture of her and Enoch and we also made a key chain version so Andrea can always be reminded of her loving children.

To top it off, Abby got her mother a huge set of flowers to display on our kitchen table.

Andrea, you are such a great mother to our children. I enjoy watching you interact and play with them. You have so many great ideas of creative and educational activities to do with the children. May God continue to bless you as you mother our children.

Enoch @ 10 Months

Enoch is such a joy to our family. He's started pulling up a little bit and eating table foods. He doesn't seem to be as interested in his bottle anymore. He loves to watch Abby run and play and to laugh when she laughs. He follows us around, crawling from room to room. When I think of Enoch, I think of his smile and his laugh. What a happy little guy!