Star Wars

Here's a photo from Padawan Jedi Training Camp at Space Center Houston in July 09

Elijah was a little nervous to be so close to Darth Vader. At least we had a light saber for protection...!

Working in the Garden

We planted a garden this summer... Lots of flowers for mommy. Catnip for the Kitty's, Watermelon, corn, tomatoes, cantelope, asparagus, and pumkin. The garden flourished for a while, but has wilted under the extreme heat we've had this summer.

Still, this was a good and fun project for father and son. We'll definitely do it again next year and try to start earlier in the year...!

My Little Jedi

Here's a sweet photo of Elijah wearing his Jedi uniform. The uniform and light saber were birthday presents from Grandma Judy and Grandpa Arno. Oh how Elijah loves Star Wars..!

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Elijah is now 4 years old. Wow... Where does the time fly...? These have been the best four years of my life....! -Love You, Elijah.

-Daddy

A Fun Day at the Beach

Daddy is trying to take more time off this summer for family activities. Here's some photos of our recent trip to Matagorda Beach. It was our first fun event of the summer...! I taught lessons in Bay City all morning and then Monica and Elijah came up and met me. We got a few snacks from HEB and then some sandwiches from Subway and we were all set...!

There's nothing like Ice Cold Watermelon on a hot day at the beach...! Mmmm....

Elijah really put away a lot of Watermelon that day. Here's another action photo of him munching down... He's wearing his favorite 'Finding Nemo' swimsuit and sitting in his Go Diego, Go beach chair

Here's one more watermelon photo with Elijah's beach toys in the background. We did try to build a sand castle, but spent most of our time playing in the water.

Here's a fun photo of Elijah and Daddy playing in the water. We're going to make a tradition out of going to the beach in the summer. I want to eventually take the family to some beautiful beaches in Mexico and maybe one day even Australia....!

Elijah and Daddy July 2007

Here's an old photo of Elijah and Daddy playing tennis back in July 2007. Notice my pony tail... Wow... That does seem like a long time ago...!

Easter 2009 Photos

Elijah had a great time searching for eggs on Easter Sunday. The weather was rainy earlier in the day but the sun came out after lunch and it was an absolutely beautiful afternoon...!

Random Pics of Elijah

Here's Mommy and Elijah being silly...

Here's a self photo of Elijah. What a cutie!

More Pirate Party Pics

Elijah awakened this morning saying how much fun the Pirate Birthday Party was... I was confused at first because that Party was back on Feb 14, a little over two weeks ago... Anyway... that gave me the idea to post the rest of the photos from the Party... I'm looking forward to hosting some kind of fun party for Elijah on his 4th birthday this summer, July 28...! Wow... That's only four months away!

Here's a group photo of the pirate party taken at First Baptist West Columbia

Pirates and their parents... Elijah is devouring a pirate cupcake along with Keegan Coburn to his left... Danyel Lintleman is the Pirate Mommy Host in the white shirt...!

Here's the Birthday-Boy Pirate: Eli Lintleman

Wearing Connor's Shorts

Elijah loves his brother Connor very much. When Connor decided to be in Boy Scouts, Elijah had to have a cub scout shirt to be like Connor. As you can see he's wearing his Cub Scout shirt in the photo below.

This is a funny photo where Elijah decided to put on a pair of Connor's shorts. Sometimes he tries to walk around in Connor's or Daddy's shoes, too. I love it when he does that. Hey, he did a pretty good job matching colors...!

Elijah's ABC's

I think some of those letters might belong to Monica!

OK, he's kinda 'hamming' it up in this photo...


This is my favorite photo of all... Sigh, what a Sweet Boy!
Is it just me, or does Elijah look much older in that photo...?

A Pirate Party

On March 14 Elijah attended a 'Pirate Party' for his friend Eli Lintleman's birthday. It was tons of fun... Elijah makes a pretty good pirate, I think.

Elijah Chadwell, March 14, 2009

There's nothing more fun than smashing a pinata full of candy...! -Looks like a good party to me.

Exploring a New Playground

At first Elijah didn't want his picture taken, but he changed his mind very quickly... We really liked this playground in Richwood off of FM 2004. One neat feature it had was a big canopy over the play area....

We love playground slides. In this photo Daddy is pretending to catch Elijah as he slides past. This day is a precious memory for mommy and daddy of a relaxing Saturday afternoon just enjoying each other's company and being kids again.

Thanks Elijah, for bringing so much joy into our lives. Mommy and Daddy love You very much and consider you a precious gift from God..! -Daddy

Medals and Dum Dum Pops

Elijah loves to wear tennis medals and he also loves dum dum pops. These photos capture him in a multi tasking moment...!

Yesterday was a really fun day. The weather was fantastic and Elijah and Daddy played tennis in the driveway using our pee wee tennis net.

Three Generations Using Laptops

Here's a photo taken in early March 2009 when Granma Judy was visiting. We have here three generations of laptop users... It is amazing to me how proficient on the computer Elijah is at three and a half years old... Daddy not get his hands on a computer until he was sixteen years old because computers hadn't been invented yet. Computers were not really a part of Daddy's life until the late 1980's. Daddy did not own a computer of his own until 1995. And he got his first laptop in 2000.

Elijah's first computer was Daddy's old refurbished Dell Inspiron.

Strawberry Cake

Elijah and Daddy recently baked a strawberry cake together. Elijah helped with the mixing and the decorating of icing and sprinkles. It was a very delicious cake and did not last very long...!

Elijah loves to help out in the kitchen and really loves to BBQ with daddy, too...! One of Elijah's favorite things to do is to sample the cooking to make sure it is good enough for the rest of the family...!

Note to Elijah...

Dear Elijah,

Sorry that Daddy hasn't posted any new pictures in awhile. It's been an incredibly busy past month. Your Grandmother has been visiting the past two weeks and just left for the airport this morning. It was very nice having her visit for a bit.

You have very nice grandparents who love you very much, Elijah.

There's nothing extra special to report except that we all love You very much. I'm going to work on doing a better job of posting photos this month...

I'm also trying harder to just slow down my schedule so we can have more family time together...

I love You little buddy. And can't wait to see you tonight when I get home from work...

Bye for now... Love always,

Daddy

Happy New Year Elijah...!

Dear Elijah,

Happy New Year my son...! I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while but Your daddy has been busy lately. The photo above is one of my all time favorite photos of us to date.

We got a new digital camera recently so I'll be able to post some updated photos soon.

Elijah, this is a crazy time in the world right now. Our country has just elected a President who is going to change our American way of life completely. I'm not sure I'm going to like any of the changes.

Your mommy and I are standing strong in prayer for You, our president, and our country. We are going to do everything we can to see that You grow up with the kinds of freedom and liberty that we grew up with as children.

Elijah, I cherish every moment with You. I love You very much and hope that You will treasure these blog posts as you grow older. It is a joy and a privilege to take time to compose these messages to you and post photos of Your growing up years.

I wish my mom and dad would have taken care to preserve my childhood memories in some way.... But oh well... This is Your time and Your Blog.

I pray that God richly blesses you in the New Year Elijah Chadwell...!

Love Always,

Daddy

A Random Birthday Photo from July 2008

Here's a cute photo that I never had a chance to post... Look for many more updates between now and the new year... I want to clear out my 2008 photo albums, file them away and start focusing on 2009 very soon...!

A Message to Elijah from Daddy

Dear Elijah,

Hey I love this photo. You took it of yourself. Nice job. It was a little blurry but I fixed it up with microsoft office picture manager.

Oh how you are growing up...! You have recently started getting up in the morning an picking out your own clothes and are dressing yourself most mornings...!

At three years and four months old you have really started to take a keener interest in art. You are always making pictures and coloring. You also love to put together puzzles.

This is an exciting time for our family because we just put up the Christmas tree last night. It looks beautiful in the front window... We'll have to post some photos of it soon.

We just had a very nice Thanksgiving and we enjoyed a fun trip to the State Park near our home where we saw about seven alligators...! Daddy has recently started a new job and is very happy with it. Mommy is, too..!

You continue to be a bright shining star in many lives Elijah. You are loved very much...!

Being Your daddy is one of the greatest joys of my life!

Love always,

Daddy

Daddy's Glasses

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I've got to be careful leaving my glasses laying around...