Christmas at Grandpa and Grandma Brecht's!

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Brecht's house on Christmas Day! It was loads of fun and food and presents. Elijah must have been really, really, really, really good this year because Grandma (and Santa, but mostly Grandma) got him a LOT of presents!

Here is the play-by-play:

First, Elijah though he'd be funny and help re-decorate the Christmas tree.

Santa? How did this little bitty person bring Elijah such big presents?

Dad, "Hey, don't mess with that!" Elijah, "No, really, Dad, I can reach it!"

"See!"

Elijah finds creative uses for the Mega Blocks and his new school bus...

"Gosh, dad. I just don't know. Both cars look awesome. Don't you agree?"

Elijah and Grace thought that Santa might come two nights in a row... so they watched diligently!

Cousin Kailey was there, too. She much of the day looking cute, smiling, and chewing on the pink Elephant! She was living the dream.

We had a great time in Cincinnati with Gail's family! Elijah had fun playing with his little cousin Sam. Sam told Elijah about yogurt covered raisins!

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FW:

New Christmas presents! Very exciting!

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Elijah cuddles with Papa Bic!

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Baby party!

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Identical gifts. Fight to the death for MY present!!!

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New Christmas presents! Very exciting!

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Elijah at the Christmas train display!

Candy, Candy, Candy!

It's the big day. Candy day. Elijah got dressed up as a tiger. We are not sure how he feels about it, but we think it's a GREAT idea! Look at that kid!

First we went to Rob and Christy's house to be cute and attempt to say "Trick or Treat". We accomplished 50% of our goal. Christy was really nice and gave Elijah candy anyway.

Not only did Elijah discover the glory of candy on Halloween, he discovered the fun to be had when the leaves fall! He kicks, throws, falls, rolls, giggles, and then does it all again!

Halloween!!!

My lazy parents haven't blogged about my situation lately. I have taken daddy's laptop hostage to tell you my tale.

Halloween was about to arrive and we were pumpkinless. So one sunny afternoon mommy and daddy tied my down in the back of the car (in my carseat) and we went to a pumpkin farm!

There were a lot of pumpkins, some as big as ME!!!

If I have learned anything about pumpkins in my time, I have learned you have to check them carefully to make sure they are not squishy. OR a watermelon that has painted itself orange in hopes of a better life.

Yeah, this one should do.

And this one....

Finally, I worked on my potty technique with a local. The cat tells me that if you gotta go on the farm, you just squat. The cat also told me that placement is everything. The right spot, and a full grown person might step in it an do a really funny dance!

I made my dad pull me around in a wagon. He makes a good horse.

AND... THERE...WAS...A...BOUNCE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I jumped!


And fell over! IT WAS HILLLLL...ARIOUS!!!!!!!

And then I taught daddy how to carve pumpkins. He was trying to clean them out with his hands! HIS HANDS!!! I gave him a spoon and instructed him in the proper paths of the art.

All in all, it was a pretty good prep day for Halloween!

Rachel Visits!!!

Our friend Rachel decided to come all the way from snowy Minnesota this week to visit the Brecht's in Dubuque. Elijah decided to turn on the charm. Don't believe me? Check this out!


I'm hiding! Can you see me?




Hey baby, what's happenin'?



1986 here I come!

uummm... I'm not sure what public television is trying to teach Elijah here. If I were to guess, I would think that this is brainwashing kids into some creepy alien army for a hostile take-over of planet earth. All in the form of a catchy song.

Dane Teaches A 1 Year Old to Juggle

Let us take you on a trip in the Tardis back a few months to Minnesota. Dane came to visit for a couple of days and tried to teach Elijah the ancient, secret trade of ... Juggling! Dane may be saddened to know that Elijah has not progressed to juggling bowling balls yet, only torches of fire.

Raw Footage.

Hey all. Since we last posted video of our son, he has grown up a lot! Just the other day he began college. Okay, maybe not that much... but we have some fun older videos we are just getting around to posting. So, expect more soon. Enjoy the progression from the 10-step-walker in May to the opinionated motion machine of today!

Peace,
Josh

Too busy to Blog, BUT....

Hey everyone, Elijah here. My parents are way too busy with Seminary, Piano Playing, and Wineries to blog about how great I am. I figure when someone is as adorable as me, there should be lots of pictures, right?

So, I have uploaded a bunch of pics to Mama's picasa page.
http://picasaweb.google.com/gailbrecht/PicasaUploadFolder#
(See the upper left-hand side bar on the blog page, too.)
No, I can't talk yet. But kids are very good with technology these days. That's what I can already type, blog, and upload to picasa. I can also watch Sesame Street pretty well.

Love, Elijah.

The First Blog in FOREVER!!!

Most of you know that the Brechts have had some MAJOR transition in the last few months. Thus, no new blogs since June. Ridiculous. So here's a quick update with more to come soon as we get back in the habit of sharing the joys found in Brechtopia!

We went to a kick-off picnic for the Seminary at Eagle Point Park! It's high on the bluffs above the mighty Mississippi River. Pretty cool.

When Elijah wasn't obsessed with the cars or other kids running around... or impressing the Catholic nuns, he took time to enjoy the majestic view!

Elijah also wants to do EVERYTHING the Mom and Dad do. So, he is no longer satisfied with strumming the guitar with his fingers. He uses a pick now. Yes, he actually strums decently with a pick. Although, he can't decide if it's more fun to strum with the pick, or throw it in the sound hole and watch Dad try to get it out.

The campus has a food pantry that we get free stuff from once in a while. Left-over Panera Bread, huge bags of extras from Sam's Club or Restaurants, etc. We got a HUGE bag of frozen blueberries. Guess who likes eating Blueberries?

Aqua-Elijah the super hero.

We are enjoying life in Dubuque, IA well enough. Making some wonderful new friends. Elijah is LOVING life in a neighborhood full of kids his age. More to come soon...

Pictures from the farm

Here are some fun pictures from our visit to Iowa!

We practiced walking...

and smiling BIG SMILES!!!

Think Elijah is happy to be here? We do!!

He loved workin' with Grandpa at his desk.

He did NOT love workin' with Grandpa on the tractor.

He got all dressed up in his overalls just like Grandpa Cletus.

Miss you Grandma and Grandpa!!! We can't wait to live closer to you!

First Steps!

We went for a visit to see Grandma and Grandpa. Elijah was so excited to see them that he stayed awake almost the whole ride down to Iowa! He wanted to wait to show off to them that he could take his first steps... at 11:30pm!!! I just took the video on my cell phone, so it's a bit choppy.

Don't believe me? Watch for yourself:

1 Year Portrats

Grandma loves pictures!! She took Elijah to get his portrait taken for his 1 year birthday awhile back. Here are a few of our favorites to share with you!

Happy Birthday, Elijah!! We LOVE YOU!