Eli

We moved into the house on September 17th and 18th and Eli turned 7 on September 19th. We had a big party with both sides of the family. Luckily, the house has a nice covered porch so we ate and partied outside, away from the boxes that were everywhere.

Since Eli's birthday last year I have had it in my mind that I was going to make a wonky cake. (look for the wonky looking cake. There's no other explanation.) Well I didn't know that I'd be in the middle of a move so I settled on 2 ice cream cakes that tasted fine but were kind of lame.

Eli started first grade again after the move. He was like a superstar. All the kids were so excited for the new kid and they surrounded him when we went to meet his teacher. I felt kind of bad for Eli because he was on A track out in Herriman and right before his break is when we moved. So he started first grade July 26th and will get out the end of May or beginning of June. (not sure) After he'd been at his new school for a month he asked when he was going to get a long break. haha

I was lucky that we moved so I could get a first day of school picture since I am a bad mom and didn't get one the real first day of first grade. Whoops.

Eli is a fun guy and is actually a great help. He has stated cleaning his bathroom and has always tried hard to keep his room clean. He shovels snow like a pro and has his own garden tools...which are the only garden tools we own. haha. He excels in school and his teacher keeps thanking us for moving here. He has enjoyed being the "top of the class" and I have loved seeing him learn.

Most of all Eli is so excited to be a big brother. He wanted a sister very badly but is now excited that he's going to have a brother. After all it will be 3 against 1 (boys to girls) but Eli said I can have the baby on my team. Which means the baby and I will get tickled a lot. When I suggest parents against kids Eli nixes that idea.


All in all we love our boy. It has been fun to see him grow up so much in the past few months. Something about them being away for lots of the day changes them. He has friends and interactions that I (sometimes) hear about after the fact. It makes me sad to not be totally involved in every aspect of his life anymore but it's fun to see him grow up too.

And that is the catchup on Eli. Next I'll catch you up on Stewart...

Birthday Celebration-day 3

I'm supposed to do a birthday party every other year for Eli but wasn't up for it this year. Instead of a big party I took Eli and his cousins to Chuck E Cheese. Eli has been wanting to go ever since he learned "it's where a kid can be a kid mom!"

I have to say that's one of the best ideas I've ever had. Talk about stress free. The entertainment was provided and the kids were so happy and cute.

Eli was very happy with his last day of celebrations. What a great week!

Birthday Celebration-day 2

Eli was a lucky little boy this year. He got to have three days of birthday celebrations. We had all my family and some of Stewart's family (that sounds rude-they were invited but couldn't come) over for dinner and cake and of course-PRESENTS!

The chicken pot pie spells "Eli 6" and you can see that Eli got a FEW presents! We had so much fun with all our family.

Thanks everyone for coming and making Eli's birthday special. He went to bed a very happy boy.

6 year old!

I can't believe that Eli is 6. 6 years ago at this time, I had been a mother for 30 minutes. Stewart was already in love with Eli and couldn't stop smiling. I was starving after not eating all day. I was also SO happy. I thought that Eli was so darling and he was. He had tons of hair and the nurses wanted to put a bow in it because it was so long. They also liked teasing Stewart about how usually the father has more hair than the baby.

This year we had our breakfast in bed donuts. Then after breakfast, the "mailman" aka my mom, dropped a present from Stewart off at the door.

The reason behind this is...Eli asked Stewart to get him the Lego Battle Tank. Stewart promised (what a sucker) him that he would get it for him for his birthday. I had already bought Eli's birthday gifts. So we figured it would be special for Eli to get a present mailed from him daddy. Eli was very excited and was kind enough to stop building it and thank his father when Stewart called.

We went to the aquarium and to dinner with some friends. It wasn't a really exciting day but we are having tons of family over for dinner on Sunday. So tonight, after Eli went to bed, I made his birthday cake. Tell me that's not the cutest thing ever! Well as long as you don't look too closely at the lumps under the fondant. My major mistake was using the rainbow chip frosting under the fondant. My other mistake was not really knowing how to use fondant. I've bothered my friend all week to get her trade secrets and she did give them but I still messed up a little. Oh well I'm so happy with it. I think it's darling and I think Eli will love it when he sees it in the morning.

Kindergarten Baby

Eli started school on August 4th. He was pretty excited about it...if you asked him on the right day.

He was very excited about it when I picked him up but by the evening he had determined that school was boring.

Everyday he asks if he has to go to school today and everyday when I pick him up he's happy and excited and had a great time.

He has made a few friends and likes his teacher. I'm going to be volunteering in his classroom on Tuesdays. I think this will be a successful year!

The Toothless Wonder

Eli has lost 2 teeth since last I posted. Both times I threatened to pull it out myself so he goes and works on it until it falls out. I hate this part of growing up. When that tooth wiggles up in his gum it seriously grosses me out. Not to mention the tooth that's hanging in there all crooked and nasty. Eww.

Lost tooth

Eli lost his first tooth today! It was a drama/trama filled event. Eli was eating an apple and the tooth came out. He never realized that it was loose so he wasn't prepared at all. I heard him bawling and screaming and ran into the kitchen to see him sitting on the floor with blood on his hands and mouth. He said that his tooth fell out. I asked him if he fell and bumped it and said that he was eating an apple.

When I say "said" I mean the kind of talking that is filled with panic, tears, and fear. It was really pretty funny once I realized that his tooth fell out and hadn't cracked or something.

Through the tears he asked, "is it normal for a 5 year old's tooth to fall out?" I assured him that it was normal and that his 5 year old cousin has already lost a few teeth. Once he remembered about the tooth fairy he really cheered up then and the world wasn't so scary and confusing.

I hurried and sewed a little tooth pillow to keep his treasured tooth and more importantly to get the money from the tooth fairy!

Pass the Gun Please

Stewart and I are now permitted to carry a concealed weapon. I know, scary...if you are a bad guy.

This is the gun that I want. Isn't is pretty?!

Side note: Stewart is more in love with me now than ever because I just looked up guns on the internet.

The Plan

Eli's becoming a sneaky crafty little boy. While I was innocently taking a nap yesterday Eli came up with this plan to trap me.

Me1 is me before the encounter. The trap is set with candy in the middle. Notice the rope and pulley system with Eli at the other end ready to pull the rope. Me2 is me caught in the trap.

Before I saw this plan Eli asked if we could go buy the things for his plan. I asked him what he needed and he told me.  I said "no." Eli then showed me the plan.  I was a little shocked to be the prey in this scheme of his!  He then said, "Mom are you ever going to buy me the things to make this plan?" I said "no" and he said, "ok, then just don't eat my candy!"  Hmm I didn't think that I'd eaten that much of his candy!

Don't you love my hair though?! Pretty crazy.

Phone Call

Eli likes talking on the phone. He can't hold still and talk on the phone at the same time. If the conversation is REALLY exciting he runs back and forth. If it's really boring then he walks around and tries to think of thinks to talk about...like the fold out couch. (sorry mom) Here is a video of Eli talking to his friend Anna on the phone. They talked about their Halloween costumes and yes, Eli is talking about sucking Betsy's blood. He's going to be a vampire and goes between WISHING that everyone really turned into what their costumes are to thinking that he actually WILL turn into a vampire. They also talked about what they are going to do when Anna and Betsy fly on an airplane and come visit...they aren't actually coming to visit but Eli thinks they will.

The Best Penny Spent

Saturday night we went to dinner at a new Italian restaurant on post. Outside of the restaurant there was a fountain and Eli asked for a penny to make a wish. I didn't have any because I gave him my last 4 pennies the other day. He then remembered that he had one of those pennies in his pocket!

He ran over to the fountain and made his wish. It went like this: "I wish that I had a pet fish." then as he ran back over to us he said: "I'm going to miss that penny." Stewart and I started feeling guilt because we told him that he could get a fish when we moved to Kentucky. We quietly decided that we would head over to Walmart and get him a fish right after dinner.

You can't see them very good but he picked two cute fancy goldfish. He is so happy and keeps checking on his fish. He gets to feed them twice a day and has named them Swimmy and Fishey. I know, really original. I'm absolutely certain that these names will change. So if you ask me, Eli's penny wish was one penny well spent and he hasn't talked about the penny being missed! :)

Seriously SO Blessed ;)

If you read this blog you might have gotten the impression that I'm a super fan of Eli. If you have gotten that impression you are very perceptive. :) I pretty much feel really really lucky that he is mine and I think that he's the funniest/sweetest/coolest kid around. Sometimes I think that I love my son more than anyone else has ever loved their child and am surprised when other peoples kids do/say things as funny as Eli does. I know, sickening!

So without further ado...
Eli has learned to pump himself of the swings! YES!!! I have tried and tried to get him to master this skill because although I love my son I HATE pushing kids on swings.


This is Eli's new favorite song. You might be surprised about it but I just think that he's going to learn it to sing to a girl that he wants to woo. It's pretty cute to hear him sing a bit of the song.

Eli has decided that he wants to be a LEGO boy. He is a train boy and when I told him that Jacob, his cousin, was a LEGO boy Eli decided that he would be too...but still a train boy...and a Magnetix boy. So Eli's uncle Danny has let Eli borrow his plethora of LEGOs. Eli woke me up at 7:30 this morning when he dumped that whole box of LEGOs out.


Eli has been very quick to point out that the garden in neither his nor Grandpas but is both of theirs because he and Grandpa are garden buddies. If you ever come over and ask to whom the garden belongs you will get this explanation...take that for a warning or a hint.

And to finish this post I will close with this funny thing Eli said a few weeks ago. Eli was freaking out about something that he wanted and I wasn't moving fast enough.
Me: Eli, I said just a minute! Hold your horses.
Eli: (crying) Ok, I will, but where are they? (As he looked around)

***I do know that you all love your kids as much as I love mine! I promise.***

It Really Happened!

Today was an absolutely wonderful day. Stewart commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant (2LT) and he is also graduated! We had such a great time in Logan for this long awaited event. I was so proud of Stewart today. He looked so sexy and cool in his army greens.

He was sworn in by LTC Curtis who was the commanding officer of the ROTC when Stewart was up there. Stewart's mom and I pinned on Stew's gold bars. It was such a neat program and I was a little emotional as Stewart was being sworn in. I think that it's so awesome how he wants to serve his country. Stewart used to want to be a helicopter pilot but now he wants to be in an armor unit. He has said that he will be happy with whatever he gets because he just wants to serve in the army. We will have to wait until the beginning of September to find out what he assesses in but just getting college over and done with is a huge relief!

Stewart gave me a really pretty necklace in honor of my part in his graduation. :) (it's so nice to be appreciated!) His parents and I went in on a shotgun for 2LT Brough because I didn't want to see what it looked like for a 2LT to cry.

It was just a really GREAT day and I'm so happy that it has come and passed without incident.

The first part of this video is the officers oath. Hopefully you can hear it because it's really neat. The second part is the pinning of the gold bars and the third is the silver dollar salute.





Pinning the bars.


A happy mother!


Eli LOVES little Charlie ------------------------------------------Future Aggies!

Eli says: (and does)

Saturday night (or Sunday morning) Eli had a nightmare so he came to weasel his way into our bed. I told him that he couldn't come in our bed and to go back to his bed. He sat down on the floor with his pouty, stubborn face and I continued to sleep. Suddenly, he jumped up and said "I'll give you a kiss if you let me in your bed." He has turned my tricks against me! The only way I can get a kiss from my little boy is by coercion. I told him I'd lay in his bed with him for a little bit but I still wanted that kiss. I got it and we all went back to sleep.

Here is a typical conversation in our household:

Eli: How do you say gremlin?
Me: Gremlin
Eli: I said, 'HOW DO YOU SAY GREMLIN?'
Me: GREMLIN!
Eli: I SAID 'HOW DO YOU SAY GREMLIN?'

This happens at least once a day if not more. It's always different subjects but he is always asking some question that I have no idea what the answer is. It's actually really annoying to have these questions asked and the way that Eli responds to me like I'm an idiot is also annoying.

Eli has told me that I'm gorgeous about 5 times in the weekend! He is so sweet and loving.

His new phrase is "oh snap" he doesn't exactly know when to use it but it's so funny to hear him say it.

Now for the "does" portion of this post. Eli is all about copying exactly what Stewart does. If Stewart lays on the floor, Eli has to lay on it. If Stewart turns his hat backwards, so does Eli. It is so cute to see Eli acting this way and noticing his dad. It's a reminder to Stewart to be good!

Eli wrote me a "thank you note" I'm not sure why he called it a thank you note but he did. It said "L U MO ♥" That means "love you mom."

When I was sewing Eli came and told me to come see what he made. This is what I saw:


We think that Eli is the smartest and cutest little boy ever!

Boy Wonder

Eli is getting smarter and smarter by the day. It's so fun to watch him learn new things and every once in a while teach him something! On Saturday, as I was getting ready Eli was sitting in the hall drawing. I walked by just as he was writing the "p" on this page. He wrote the word "stop" all by himself without asking for help. I was SO impressed!

Eli wrote it about 7 more times and cut them out to give to people. Because honestly who wouldn't want a stop sign written by this cute little boy?!







Later on Saturday we were getting Eli ready to go to a superhero party. On the gift he wanted to write "Eli gave this to you." You can see how it turned out. The "a" in gave is before the "g" and there is no "h" or "i" in this and he didn't write "you" because he had to eat his toast.

"s to
agve t
ELi"

So reading bottom to top says "Eli gave this to"
I thought it was funny!

Eli's game

So yesterday while I was shopping I called my sister Stacy to find out what to get her son for Christmas. She was telling me that I could get him some art supplies because he loves to make things. She was telling me that he made some game for their family to play for FHE. The next week Brooklyn made a game too. I was telling her that I couldn't see Eli making a game.

Well that night Eli came in and told me come and play the game that he made! The game consisted of Eli's stool turned upside down and a bowl and lunch box on two sides of the stool. We threw a toy rocket, and a rubber monkey into one of the things. It was quite the game and I was proud of Eli's creativity.

Building a Bear

Well the thumb sucking is over and for the reward Eli got to build a bear. When Eli turned 3 his Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen took him to build a bear. Eli built a really cute little Buzz Lightyear bear and he has loved it ever since. So tonight we took Eli to go and build a bear. It was so cute. Eli was so excited all day and was very well behaved. (it's SO nice to have a threat! I'm already using Santa Clause.)

So here is Eli hugging his bunny to make sure that it had enough fluff. I'm not really sure why he chose a bunny because there was a dinosaur that he really liked too. I think that he chose the bunny because it was more expensive! When my mom and dad were paying he chose the cheapest bear!





Next Eli got to give his bunny a "bath" He was really cute and brushed it all over.













Out of all the cute clothes that he could have picked Eli chose this fisherman's outfit which I didn't like. There was a really cute pirate costume and an army outfit but Eli decided his bunny was a fisherman. If they would have had a woody costume Eli would have chosen that but they didn't...unfortunately.

So Eli named his bunny "Fisher" and when we got home he introduced "Fisher" to "Buzz Lightbear." Eli set them up like this and had me come and take a picture. It was so cute.





All in all it was a fun evening. Doing things like this with kids is so fun!

Hide and Seek

Eli has reached a major milestone. Yesterday Eli called for me to come and find him. Eli has 2 maybe 3 hiding places that he likes to hit. Well I went to find him and looked under his sheets...no Eli. I looked in his closet and my closet...no Eli. I kept saying, "I'm going to find you" and then listening for the tell-tale giggle. I said "I'm going to tickle you when I find you," I got nothin'! I even said "who wants ice cream?" And he was silent! At this point I admit I was getting kind of scared because I thought that he was kidnapped! (This is the kind of mom that I am...totally neurotic.) Finally I found him hiding between the couch and the cedar chest. I said "I couldn't find you!" He said "I had to be quiet so you couldn't find me." So Eli now can be quiet when he's playing hide-and-seek. That really is a pretty major accomplishment.

BandAids

Hopefully you can see why this post is titled "BandAids" Eli has a bandaid on his lip. Bandaids are the most miraculous cure I have ever seen. As soon as a bandaid goes on, the tears stop and the pain magically disappears...or so it seems. This medical miracle doesn't really do much for me but for kids it's the cure all.

Our other BandAid experience this week happened today. Eli was sucking his thumb and I pointed out that he's getting a little callous on his thumbs just under the knuckle. He pretty much freaked out about it and stated that he wouldn't suck his thumb anymore. I suggested that we put a BandAid on his little thumbs and then he would remember not to suck it anymore. He though this was a great idea since I'm usually the one saying that he doesn't need any BandAids. On a side note, Eli did try to stop sucking his thumb about 1 or 2 months ago but his naughty thumb kept going in his mouth. Those are his words not mine. Anyway, about 4:00 he came into my room SO sad about the callous on his thumb and how they were going to pop open. I explained that they wouldn't but he was SOOOO sad. He just was a little tired and couldn't suck his thumb to comfort himself. He said that he was having a huge temperature. I felt his forehead and he felt ok. Then I realized that he meant he was having a huge tantrum...temper tantrum. He learned that word from "Super Why." *yes Eli watches TV. Don't judge me!

In the car on the way to the babysitters, (we went to the Melting Pot!) he was really sad and said, "I'm afraid this is going to be hard." It was so sad and sweet. I really feel bad that he has a habit that he needs to break and he's only 4!

*don't judge me by Eli's hair either! I didn't get around to combing it before it dried! At least it's clean!

The First REAL Day of Preschool

Today was Eli's first real day of preschool He got to wear his new clothes and take his cool new backpack and he was pretty excited. I wasn't really excited though! I didn't sleep all night and I am a little emotional today. I am the kind of mom (well maybe all moms are like this) that doesn't really like these milestones. I miss Eli when he's not around and even though I like that he's growing up I wish that he could stay a little boy forever. If I could make myself invisible I'd follow him around everywhere then I wouldn't mind him growing up so much.

He did look really cute walking to school.

When he saw that backpack he said "I don't need a suitcase, huh mom?" that means "I really want that but I think you are going to say no." I showed him how you can wheel it or put it on your back like a backpack and he loved it!

Man this is making me miss him! I can get him in 40 minutes :)