Storybook Forest 2013

Eli and I went to Storybook Forest two years ago.  I loved it and wanted to take both boys this year.  Daddy came with us too this time! 

We stopped at about a dozen booths and trick or treated.  Eli loved it.  We skipped the hayride, games, and campfire this time.  Instead we went and grabbed some pizza.  Honestly without doing all the things we didn't do I think it's expensive.  Jack had gotten pretty tired by the time we were done trick or treating so we didn't think he'd enjoy sticking around for the hayride and stuff.  I bet next year it'll be more fun for us all!

 Doing a Luigi jump :)

Super Mario Pumpkin

Eli was looking so forward to carving his pumpkin this year.  We didn't do one last year or the year before.  Actually I'm not even sure if we ever have because he was too young to help really.  We got it all ready and I asked him if he wanted to scoop out the seeds.  As soon as he realized he was going to get dirty he was out of there, haha.  I could have bet that was going to happen.

I'm not sticking my hands in there Mom!

We settled on Super Mario for our pumpkin design.  As soon as I started cutting out the template I was thinking what the heck did I get myself into?!  It took me a while to get that done.  Finally I got the pattern traced onto the pumpkin and Eli helped me make the first cut, Mario's nose.  I finished the rest myself.

The Mario template 

The finished product!

I'm so glad it turned out because my triceps are killing me from all the holding, sawing and cutting.  The things we do...

Jack is 14 Months

Over the last month we've been working on reorganizing.  It keeps us all very busy.  While I was working on different things the boys would be going through all the old toys they didn't remember.  I redid Eli's room.  His clothes now hang in his closet, the drawers were too small to fit his clothes (both in size and quantity!).  It's amazing but this kid has 30 t-shirts!

New and improved closet

Nice and neat.  Top shelf holds old clothes/seasonal clothes and keepsake items.

Got new shelf baskets for his toys.

Jack has kind of taken over the playroom so I wanted to organize Eli's room and make it easy for him to find his toys.  He enjoys playing at his desk.

Now onto Jack.  He is adding more foods to his list.  He really enjoys meats, little bits of bacon, hot dog and sausage. Sometimes chicken.  I gave him some soft cucumber yesterday.  I make chicken soup every week and he LOVES the broth.  He loves French fries.  He loves ice cream.  He's thrown up a couple of times with dairy so I only give him a couple of licks.  I'm trying to stay away from grains until he's a bit older. He still gags, scratches his tongue to get whatever it is he doesn't like off of it.  So for now he's still mostly nursing.  If he keeps improving with his foods (and drinking from his sippy cup) I can see starting to cut back on nursings after the holidays.  

He is also becoming more brave with sitting down from the standing position.  He will sit down when he's at the train table or couch, but other things are a little too high up for him and he gets stuck.

He really loves to play peek-a-boo.  He will cover his face, sometimes he misses his eyes completely but we know he means to cover them.  He loves to tickle us and he says tickle, tickle all the time.  Ball is his other favorite word.  

He loves this book with the kitty cats and he said "Jade" when he saw them.

Parkhurst Pumpkin Patch 2013

We've gone to this pumpkin patch every year since we moved here.  I just love it.  They have a campfire going, cornfield maze, tire swing, fun fort, hay bales to climb, animal petting area, pony rides, and hayride.  You get a bring home a small (very small) pumpkin with admission.

Checking out the pumpkins and goards

He made it to the top of this fallen down tree and not sure he liked how high up he was

He spent the most time on these hay bales, jumping from one....

....to the next!

Hi Daddy!  Give me the camera

I snapped a few photos too...

Eli's 1st Parent Teacher Conference

A picture outside of the classroom that Eli painted.

Just wanted to take a few minutes to talk about Eli and how proud we are of him!  JR and I went to his parent teacher conference today.  His teacher Mrs. Blevins started off by saying that his assessment went great.  He knows all his letters and numbers.  

She also asked how long he has been reading for.  Eli has recognized words for a long time but since school has started he's been really interested in reading.  At school they have the book "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?".  We were in target and saw it and he read the whole book to me there.  I got him a couple of easy readers.  He read me "Pete the cats big lunch" the other night.  It's so fun to see him read!!  She told us she was reading a book to the class the other day and she decided to skip a sentence because she didn't think they'd understand it.  He realized that she skipped it and called her out, haha.  She said "wow, you noticed that huh?".  

She said in class he is a leader, loves to do things right, he is always shouting out the answers right away (sometimes before she even finishes the sentence!).  Academically he is doing awesome, he just has to learn how to raise his hand, give others a chance to answer, etc.  Such a fine line because you want them to be involved but Eli does it Jeopardy style (JR's words, haha).  

She said he's great with his friends, plays in every area of the class (as opposed to just sticking to the trains, or dinosaurs). She said he's a bit of a class clown.  He laughs really grand and all the other kids get going which is fun sometimes but again...he has to learn when it's appropriate.  The only other thing he needs work on is his fine motor skills.  Holding the crayons, pencils, and cutting paper.  We are going to start practicing more.  

The teacher wrote to me a few weeks ago and told me that they've been working with him about tattling.  They only want him to come to them if someone is hurt, or in danger, etc.  They want them to learn to problem solve.  She said Eli is doing a lot better in the last couple weeks.  She can see him wanting to come to her and tattle, but then he will go back to his friend and say "hey I was playing with that" or whatever the problem was on his own.  I'm so proud of him.  I can imagine how challenging that must be for him to resist.

Wednesday is Fall break and we have plans to go to the Pumpkin Patch this week.  School is back in session on Monday.

Mama

Earlier this week, JR came home from work and Jack crawled excitedly towards him saying "dada".  

Tonight after bath, I handed Jack to JR so I could get changed for bed and when I came back, Jack pointed at me and said "mama".  Ooh that's so exciting.  I love that he is saying words so much faster than Eli did.  

Earlier this afternoon we were at Grandma's house and Jack was kneeling at my feet, both arms up in the air ready to be picked up.  And he said "up!".  

Playing with his cars.  He loves cars.

Eli is 5 years Old!

We had a fun day today.  Last night I decorated his bathroom mirror with a birthday message and here is what he saw when he woke up this morning

It says: it's your birthday!  We love you Eli.  A little hard to read with the lighting.  I also put a message on the back window of my car and Eli's car door window.

The message on the back window said "HONK, it's Eli's Birthday!".  We got two cars to honk at us ;)

I was really excited to bring cupcakes to Eli's class today.  They sang happy birthday to him and then he passed out the plates at the tables.  I helped the teacher pass out the cupcakes and stayed for a few minutes.  I didn't have much time before I had to go back and pick him up.  His friend Mia made him a birthday card and gave him a lollipop, it was so cute.  

Eli standing up in class while his friends sang happy birthday.

After school we headed to Dynamo Gym where we met up with Grandma.  It was a lot of fun to watch Eli run around and play with him too.  Jack had a great time too.  It was kind of an interesting realization that Eli is one of the big kids now.  He isnt allowed in the ball pit anymore.  Jack really liked going down the slide.

After we played for awhile we came home and relaxed.  Eli got a new video game for his birthday so he played that some.  A present for him had arrived while we were gone.  It was a Mario Kart bedspread and sheet set.  I snuck it into the washer and dryer and set it up in his room.  Once JR got home from work, we brought him in there and he got to see it. He loves it!  I do too, it's really nice.  He opened his other presents and then we made dinner.  I thought it would be fun to get Eli involved with making his birthday dinner.  We made canned biscuit mini pizzas.  He put on the sauce and cheese.  They were yummy!

After dinner we sang happy birthday to Eli and he ate his mini bundt cake that JR brought home today.  We had a fun day!

Yum.  Bundt cake.

Here are some fun facts about Eli:

Favorite color:  Green (for Luigi)

Favorite show:  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Favorite food:  Pizza

Best friend:  Parker (from school)

Favorite treat:  Ice Cream (vanilla)

Favorite book:  Charlie Brown the Great Pumpkin

Favorite toy:  Mario Plush toys (boomerang bro)

Doesn't like:  The smell of broccoli

Really loves:  Playing Wii U

Eli loves that he's better at playing the Wii U now that he's 5.  Haha.  

He has grown up a lot this year.  He handles his disappointment a lot better and has a lot more control over himself when he gets angry.  I have no doubt being in school has helped even more.  He has become very independent.  Every morning he gets ready for school on his own (except when we run behind and I push him along a little faster).  He enjoys playing by himself in his room with his big boy toys.  He is so great with Jack and loves him so much.  He has wonderful manners and is always getting compliments on that.  We have his parent teacher conference next week and I'm excited to hear how he is doing in school.  

Happy Birthday Eli!  We love you!  I am so lucky to be your mommy.

Being a goof :)

 

Eli's 5th Birthday Party

We had Eli's 5th birthday party at Oklahoma Gold Gymnastics this year.  This is the first time we've ever held his party outside of our home.  It was so much better!  

Eli wanted to have a Super Mario Brothers theme for his party this year.  I special ordered these adorable Mario invitations from Etsy.  Eli and I made the cupcakes and decorations.  It was a lot of fun. It was my first time working with fondant and I would definitely do it again.  

We made bomb-omb's, goombas, and star men for cupcake toppers.  They are totally edible.

I used Eli's old birthday banner from his Thomas the train party and added some new Mario font to it.  We had a mario tablecloth, balloons, and water bottles. For the party favor bags Eli and I made Super Mario shaped cookies.  The bags were white and had black mustaches on the front.  Inside the bags were also a super mario sports bottle and a mustache wristband.

Coach Becky helped the kids do all the activities at the party.  They have trampolines, tunnels, ladders, foam pit, slides, three seater swing, and a zip line.  So much for them to do.  Coach Becky helped me set up for the party, passed out cupcakes, and cleaned up.  They completely took care of us, it was great!

The kids had a lot of fun at the party.  Jack was able to crawl around plenty (with Grandma close behind) so he had a blast too!   I was so happy to have her helping me with Jack so I could greet Eli's friends and watch him have fun.

Eli on the zip line!

Coach Becky giving him a push!

Jack having a ball ;)

Swinging fun with buddies Wesley and Gage!

The foam pit!  You can slide down and dive right in.

Hiii-yaaa!  Swing and kick the ball and fall into the pit.

Jack and I enjoyed watching everyone play.

Jack enjoyed the swing!

Blowing out the candle, got it on the first try!!

Eli opening up his presents.  He had everyone laughing at his enthusiasm and expressions while opening his presents.  He would say "Awesome" "Oh my goodness" and my favorite "Oh Yeah!" with each gift.  I feel so grateful to have such wonderful friends and his friends that made the day so special for us.  He got some Angry bird Star Wars stuff, Ninja turtle toy, puzzles, Mario ball cap, crayons, mario kart toy and a plush bowser and yoshi.  

Top left: Eli, Graham, Ava, Kaitlyn, Levi, Wesley Bottom left: Everest, Gage, Evan, Hayden, and Talia