IT'S DONE!!!!

Our basement is finally done! Aaron has been working extremely hard in our basement and now we can enjoy it! The only thing he didn't have a hand in doing was the carpet! It was finished on Monday and we started moving this around tonight! Just in time for Eli's birthday party on Saturday!

We found a couch, chair and odoman for $160 on Craig's List and went to get that tonight as well! It's in good condition....it will work for now until we can save our money again to get something else! Here are some pictures of our basement!

Once you come down the stairs and turn to the right, you see this!

Standing in the hall looking into the living room. Behind the couch on the left would be the stairs.

Aaron's HARD work! A guy at the station made the cabinets for us, but Aaron did everything else. Looks great!

Looking down the hall....2 bedrooms.

Happy Birthday Ollie!

The Birthday Boy:

Tonight we got to help celebrate one of Eli's very good friend, Ollie's birthday! You might remember last year we did a birthday party for Ollie and Eli together when they were turning 1. They are 5 days apart and it's so fun to watch them together. They enjoy playing together too. I should have gotten my video camera out and recorded the 2 of them tonight after everyone else had left. They were wrestling and racing and jumping....it was fun! This was the 2 of them at their 1 year party! Look how little they are!
Here they are a year later!

All the kiddos enjoying their cake and ice cream!

Happy Birthday Ollie! We look forward to celebrating many more birthday's with you!

Playing in the Snow

So early today I posted about all the snow we were getting. It was cloudy, blizzardy conditions here. By 3 o'clock this afternoon, the sun was out and things were already starting to melt away. Not to mention that we also did not have electricity. So, we bundled up and went outside to play in it. I have a feeling that by tomorrow afternoon a lot of it will be gone! Here are some fun pictures of our time in the snow!

Eli had 2 pairs of pants,shirts and gloves on!
We didn't have a sled this year, so Aaron used the shovel!

Daddy's shovel was too big, so Eli used a spoon to shovel the snow!
Once we showed Eli that he could eat the snow...he was all about that! (We did tell him not to eat any yellow snow!)
Eli's friend Cambri came over to play in the snow!

Trying to make snow angels! Eli didn't know what to do, but he thought is was funny!

So, the day seemed really long, especially with the electricity going out. But, at least the weather got decent this afternoon to allow for some fun!

Baby Names...

Aaron and I were discussing baby names today. We were just talking about how when I was pregnant with Eli we had already figured out some names we like. Haven't even really thought about it this go round! So these were Eli's suggestions!

Barney
Elmo
Baby

I think we'll be looking elsewhere for name suggestions! Got any????

Snow

This would be why I don't have my carpet in the basement done! They came yesterday and it's down there and somewhat laid out, but NOT done! They obviously decided that their safety was more important than getting my carpet laid! I guess I can understand that...but man snow always ruins plans! So I guess we'll wait until Monday to get it finished!

And the snow would also be why this dog gets to come inside today! Poor Paco! He used to be an inside dog, until we had Eli! They were allowed inside to sleep, but that also changed when we moved. Paco has always had Bailey or Jake out here, but as you saw in the previous post, we don't have Jake anymore. So, I convinced Aaron to let me put Paco inside last night to sleep and then again today! He has to be confined to the laundary room, but he doesn't mind! Eli loves it! And as you can tell....Paco is showing some gratitude as well!!!

Good-Bye Jake

So last summer we lost our Great Dane, Bailey. We quickly replaced her, not by my choice, with another dog named Jake! He started out being cute, but he has grown SO much and is WAY too big! He's chewing the bark off our tree, he's chewed Eli's swing completely off the swing set...just to name a few! So today, we are giving him away. Don't worry, he's going to a nice family that lives out in the country. They even said that we can have him back later when he gets older... I don't foresee us wanting him back, but it's nice to know that's an option! So for now, we're saying good bye to Jake.... I'm wondering how I'm going to explain this to Eli!

My Family

I love my family! My mom grew up in Wichita with 1 sister and 2 brothers. They all got married and started famililes of their own, in Wichita. I am the third oldest....there are 12 of us grandchildren. I LOVE big famililes! I am always so jealous of my friends that get together with their big famililes for holidays. We used to do that and I miss them SOOOO much! Notice before I said we "used to".... everyone has moved away! My mom's sister lives in Florida with her husband and 3 kids. (I don't have a picture of her b/c she wasn't here visiting! Sorry Kandi!)This is my uncle Bert and Eli. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and 5 kids. (Well...all but 1 has gone to college,etc.)
This is my Uncle Brent. He lives in Texas with his wife and 2 kids.

This is my Grandma. As Eli called her, Grandma Sherry! She used to live in Wichita until I was in college, then her and my Grandad moved to Pennsylvania. We missed having you here Grandad!4 generations
The grandmas with Eli!

Everyone was not here visiting for a pleasent reason. My great uncle passed away and the funeral was on Saturday. I was so happy that my Grandma got to come with my uncle though. I haven't gotten to see her since Eli was 2 weeks old! It was so good to see everyone...I just wish EVERYONE could have been here. The last time we were all together was for my cousin Rachel's wedding....which was 4 years ago. That was sooo much fun to have everyone there!

I know that people grow older and people move away. That's how life is, but I don't like it. Not at all! I wish we all still lived in the same state and saw each other way more than we do now. It was very hard for me to say good bye to my Grandma. I miss having her around so much. Every time I go to Wichita I think about how if they still lived here, I would be calling them and going to see them.

I hope that I get to see them again sooner than later! I am excited that we may be making a trip down to Texas this summer to see my uncle Brent and his family. I want to do something fun with Eli before this new little addition comes!

We LOVE you all and MISS you more than you know!

(If one of you wants to plan a reunion.....I think that would be awesome!!!!!)

One Last Adventure

Well...today is Friday. The weekend is almost here which means that my spring break is almost over. It makes me sad. I love working and I refreshed to go back to work. BUT...I LOVE my Eli and spending time with him. We've had so much fun spending the week together. We've made each other laugh so much and I will definetly miss him when I go back to work.

So, today we had one more little adventure! We went to play with friends this morning, then we went to the farm to see Grandpa Tim. Grandpa Tim works out on a farm during breaks from school and during the summer. So Eli was more than excited to go visit him out there today. I thought he'd be interested in the cows. Nope, I was wrong. He saw them and talked about them for a second...then he saw this:

That's right...a TRACTOR!!! He was done with the cows and wanted to ride on the tractor. So, what Eli wants, Eli gets! Grandpa Tim took him on a ride on a tractor!

Then he got to ride on the 4-wheeler.

To clean up, Grandpa used an air blower to blow the dust off!

Thanks Grandpa Tim for letting us come see you! Eli had a blast!

Cora's Playground

Check out this article on the Newton Kansan about the McClenahan's! You still have time to donate to help out for the playground.

Also, there will be a story on the news tonight about Cora's playground. You can watch Channel 24 (Fox) at 9pm or Channel 12 at 10pm!!!

Eli's Jacque!

This is Eli's Jacque:

Jacque is our neighbor from across the street. Jacque and her husband, Daryl, have known Aaron since he was born. Now we are lucky enough to be neighbors with them!

Today we went to visit Jacque at work. She works for Hartman Arena, the new arena in Park City. It's great. I can't wait to go to a concert there. We got to see all the back stage stuff, locker rooms, etc. We even got to see the dressing room for opening acts....Alan Jackson is coming March 28!

This is one view of the arena!

This is the office cat, Charlie! Eli kept calling him Wallace, which is Jacque's cat's name at home!

Thanks everyone at Hartman Arena for letting us come and see the place! It looks great and you have an amazing group of people working there! Especially Eli's Jacque!

** So Daryl doesn't feel left out...we did go see Daryl's work too! We took him some lunch, but he's a busy man (a tax man!) Thanks you guys for letting us come and check things out! Eli loves you both!

Entertaining Myself!

Yesterday I was cleaning house and this is what Eli wanted to do!

He had a couple of books and some toys and played in his bed for about 30 minutes! It worked out nice for me! When he was done, he got out and helped me clean. He really is a good helper and LOVES to do it!

Song

I usually listen to Christian music in the car. A lot of the times I listen to 99.1, but lately I've had people give me a few cd's with awesome songs on them and I've been listening to those. It has started to be part of my devotional time on my way to work. Eli and I drive to Grandma's house and sing songs. Eli even knows some of the words and it's so cute to hear him sing them!

It helps me focus for my day. I've even noticed that through out the day I'll be humming a song from that morning and it just makes me feel relaxed and know that God is with me as I'm working with these precious little 5-6 year olds. I say a little prayer for them and the day and move on...

So, today I was listening to one of the cd's and for some reason, this song really stuck out to me. It's called, "Your Name." Here is the chorus:
Your Name is a strong and mighty tower
Your Name is a shelter like no other
Your Name, let the nations sing it louder
‘Cause nothing has the power to save
But Your Name

It really made my heart sing...how true are these words.
He is my strong and mighty tower
He is a shelter like no other
NOTHING has the power to save, but HIS name.

I am so thankful that I have God in my life.
I am so thankful that my husband has God in his life.
I am so thankful that we are raising our child to know God and pray that he will also someday make the same decision that we have.

Vote For My Papa!

Eli's Papa is running for school board in Newton! If you live in Newton or have relatives/family in Newton, tell them to get out and VOTE!!! How can you resist this:

Look How Much I've Grown!

The last time we took Eli to the zoo was on Father's Day. We tried to take a couple of pictures at the same place so we could see how much he's changed or grown! To me, he still looks the same, just older!!

June of 2007:

March 2008:

June 2007: I know this picture is gross, but Aaron insisted!

March 2008:

We're going to the Zoo....

Today we went to the zoo. We decided to go in the morning so we could make it back for afternoon nap! Plus, I figured it was going to be packed with it being a nice day and St. Patty's Day! Boy was I right! Here are some pics of our trip! Might be on picture overload!

And one of Eli's favorite places at the zoo -- The petting zoo (or as he calls it, the farm!)

I couldn't resist: Some tiger sunglasses and a cow!

And this was the line to get into the zoo when we left:

Happy St. Patty's Day!