Fall 2020

I'm determined to get updated, but I don't know why these posts take so long to make! Here we are in the Fall, so we're slowly getting there. It will be a bit of a hodge podge post, so hold tight.

There is a duck pond near where we live and we lost Joey for a second.
When I found him he was picking up the ducklings.
I took a quick pic and then let him know he probably shouldn't do that!

I noticed our ceiling fans stopped working down stairs, and one started sparking.
So we had to call an electrician and it looked like we had a surge of some kind.
We somehow got it under our insurance and only had to pay
 a few thousand vs. over 10 grand. Joys of being homeowners.

These two can be so cute together.

We were invited to go camping at Canyon Lake with some of Sam's co-residents and had a great time. We rented a loft so I didn't have to deal with tent sleeping. My kids are terrible to put to bed in a tent. Then we just hung out at the tent camping area where everyone else was.

Eden enjoying the toys everyone else brought.

A rare capture of both me and Sam in a picture.

We all went for a walk on the Canyon Lake Dam.

Eli enjoying a s'more with a giant marshmallow.

Joey and the deer in the background.

Fall started with the boys being in school. Eli started preschool and Joey in second grade. Due to the pandemic school was solely online and they slowly integrated kids back to school. Let me tell you, there were so many times I wanted to pull them out and homeschool due to the running around I had to do to make sure the kids did all the assignments and attended the Zoom meetings at the correct time. I felt like I had to re-teach everything anyway so what was the point of the Zoom meetings? But luckily the kids were able to return shortly. Eli returned in September, so I shot this pic of him:

And here is Joey's picture when he went back the beginning of October:

When they were back in person that meant I could spend more time with this cutie. She has a fun sense of style:

She put a nose and mouth guard around her like a top.

She loves to go swimming. Sadly the pool closes in the fall.

She hardly takes naps these days. Capture the sleeping shots while I can!

Whoever wields the screen wields the power in our house!

My parents came to town and I have zero pics of that. Whoops!
But they allowed us to take Joey to SeaWorld when Eli threw up
and Eden was due for a nap.

Eli is one of a kind. He can have so much focus to do a task,
like coloring every detail or creating things with Legos.

Or have so much energy to run around and be so wild!
We love our Eli.

Joey really wanted to take a picture of this Jeep truck at In n Out.
While the guy could see him taking a picture!

Eli wanted a picture as well, but this time of these kids.
It is a true miracle they all had great smiles and looked at the camera.

Next up, Halloween, 2020 style!

Summer Albuquerque Trip

Welcome to another post that should have been done months ago! Sam managed to get some leave very beginning of August (kind of a feat in 2020) and come to Albuquerque. I love our trips to Albuquerque, and I always thought we were lucky both our families live there. But one thing I realized is that it is so hard to split all of our time between the two and trying to fit everyone in. Nonetheless we still had a great time! We spent our nights with the Hobbs and my kids in true fashion woke up 4am Albuquerque time with excitement! I was still fairly new to pregnancy so this tired momma was, well, even more tired!

Eden enjoying Jeep Grandma's backyard.

I don't care what people say. New Mexico is so beautiful!

We managed to come in time to see Jared and Jenny before they left for the east coast later that day. They loved Eden! I don't blame them 😉. It was nice to see them since we hardly get to see each other as a whole family. We were sort of hoping to end up in Salt Lake with them when we moved for Fellowship, but it was not in our stars, sadly.

Do they look anything alike? Cute!

We also took advantage of everyone there to take family photos. I think they were a success!

Everyone except Chloe (Jared and Jenny's dog).

The original family.


Our not so little anymore family.

Daughter and daughter-in-laws.
(Don't mind my pooch! My body knew what to do as soon as I saw that line on the stick!)

Poppy, the new addition to the Dunlap family.

My favorite photo of the bunch! Look at those cute girl cousins!

We also celebrated Eden's belated birthday with both sets of Grandparents. She really enjoyed being the center of attention!

Eden opening up her new scooter.

She really enjoyed it. Still enjoys it months later!

She also got that birthday outfit she insisted on putting on as soon as she opened it!

May not look like it, but this cake was a fail. 

I should have refrigerated the cake before decorating it, it was falling apart.

 I managed this pic before the neck snapped off. 

The cake was very delicious at least!

Also made a few visits with other people. Not pictured are the Boyacks, who are the only friends we truly try to make time to see! We also stopped by Great Grandma Pitcher's house:

And we had a lunch date with Jacob and Shauna:

We enjoyed the beautiful scenery of New Mexico: 

And the animals!

A nice picture of a grasshopper.

Two hawks on the Hobbs' fence.

A toad-let found near Devery's house.

My parents and sister helped make these cute shirts! Eli requested a ninja puppy:

My mom's friend had a megaladon tooth Joey really liked.
You also can't see it well, but Joey has been sporting that
shark tooth necklace since August.

Cool lego set given to the boys! They sure enjoy Legos, particularly Eli.

Sadly I already forgot a lot of the details of this trip, but I never regret going! Sadly Sam couldn't go in December liked we planned due to the new travel restrictions in New Mexico. One thing about the military is they really can say where you can be at any given moment, even when you have time off. At least we have this trip to remember!

Dear Elijah,

Happy 5th Birthday! Still hard to believe you graced us with your presence 5 years ago, but here we are. I always wonder what kind of person my new babies will grow up to be, but boy did I luck out being your mom! Your personality is one of a kind, and you really blossomed this year. As I would tell anyone, you are a true delight (although you recently have been enjoying annoying your brother on purpose as of late).

As far as physically, you grew a few inches than last year, and we keep track based on what rides you can ride at Sea World (ha!). Dad said you were barely too short for the Texas Stingray today, which means you are almost 46 inches. I'm not sure about your weight, but you are getting really skinny. I think it's due to your limited diet. You are extremely picky. Your diet really only consists of cereal and mac and cheese. You randomly throw up sometimes, and I like to think it's due to your poor diet. But you throw a huge fight when I force you to take a bite of something you don't want. You will store it in your cheeks until it gets really gross for everyone involved, then I cave and let you spit it out. You are one strong-willed child when you want (or don't want) to do something.

But now to the part of the letter where I describe why I think you are a delight. You are very energetic and positive about everything. You easily get excited about things and are very helpful. It doesn't take too many tries to get you to do something helpful. Yet, for a boy with so much energy, you can be extremely focused. I mentioned in the last letter how much you liked puzzles. Well, we moved onto Legos and you can sit for hours just building and rebuilding. You make awesome "corations" and don't like Eden to "bestroy" them. You can do Lego builds a couple years beyond your age on the box. We took you to the Lego discovery center in San Antonio and we enjoyed everything Legos.

Another thing about you that I truly love is how affectionate you are. At the beginning of the pandemic you seemed down, just wanted to play with Legos all day, and didn't want to go anywhere when we had the opportunity to. We were a little worried. However, over time, you started to become so loving and sweet. You love to give hugs and kisses, say I love you ten times a day, tell me I'm the best mom (even though I really didn't feel that way!), and ask for a hug when you get in trouble or think you are getting in trouble. I have a "I Love My Mom" song you made up recorded and will cherish that forever!

You started Preschool this year. I really didn't know how it was going to go between the failed attempt at an MDO program last year and the restrictions in place because of the pandemic, but you are really enjoying yourself! You enjoy telling me who your best friend is that day, what you did, who you played with, and other things. It's really nice to hear you tell me so many things...and I should mention you graduated from speech therapy for a while! You are an extremely bright little boy and very motivated. I have no doubts you will go far in your life if you decide to. You will do just fine in school.

Well, to close this birthday letter, I just want to tell you how much we love you in this family. At times I feel bad about you being a middle child, one of the boys, and a birthday in December, but you don't let it bother you. I'm excited to see what the next 5 years will be like for you and how much you will grow. I hope you continue to be affectionate, happy, and focused: the traits that I admire about you. I love you, Eli!

Love,

Mama