Warning:

Do not attempt to arrange alphabet cards on less than 6 hours of sleep!!! Every so often I'd glance up and realize that the letters were not quite in the right order (even though they came in a stack that was in order). That certainly might hinder Eli's ability to learn the alphabet!

Anyways, if you happened to be up early this morning (or have google reader) I posted about this earlier, but then the post reminded me of these adorable alphabet cards I purchased at Michael's months ago with the intent of hanging them on Eli's wall, so here is my updated post:


"The Letter of the Week"

The ABC song has been on Eli's mind lately (when he's not singing "Guitar Man", that is!) and he has become very observant and loves to point out whenever he sees letters. That is quite often, as he seems to notice the letters on every single sign, picture, book, etc. that we come across. The first letter he can recognize and knows by name is the letter 'O'. He gets sooooo excited when he sees an 'O' and immediately shouts "oh, I see 'O'"! or "oh, oh, there's an 'O'"! like he's just won the lottery or something. And usually the discovery is then followed by "what those letters say mama?" I just continue to be in awe of how his little mind works and I wonder what triggers these obsessions?! :)


So, when I remembered about the alphabet cards, I hung them up a wall in his bedroom while he was playing and so he didn't know they were there. Later I was changing his diaper and he stopped mid sentence and said, "oh, those letters right there! I go check it out!!!" He hopped down and was so excited about these new letters that just magically appeared on his wall that he was doing a little dance (spin around, plop down, repeat). And wouldn't you know it? The first letter he points out is 'O'! After looking at all the pictures, singing the ABC song and pointing out all the O's he could find it was time for us to go. As we left his room he waved at the alphabet and said, "Good-bye cards. Good-bye 'O'. See you later 'O'!"

Lofty Prayers

Lately Eli has been volunteering to be the one to pray for dinner. His prayers are always very sweet and obviously from his heart but sometimes I have to bite my lip to keep from giggling. One prayer went like this:

"Thank you for this burger. Thank you for this burger. I love you. AMEN!"

I know, I know...

its only a TV show! But, I just have to say a few things! (All you Bachelorette fans will understand). After watching the finale last night (and last season for that matter), I must admit that I am actually getting tired of the twists and surprise endings! One twist if fine but this many? Really?! I just want to watch two people meet and fall in love (on national television, in just 8 weeks...I realize this is far fetched but just let me enjoy my alternate reality will ya?!)

I was definitely a Reid fan and was super sad when she let him go two weeks ago (even if he reminded us all of Chandler), I thought he was the cutest, most genuine guy on there, but then Ed began to grow on me and so when she let Kypton go (meaning she was choosing Ed) I was actually excited for them. And then...

That red taxi pulls up. I knew right away it was someone coming back but who? Reid? Yeah! But as soon as I realized Jillian was still going to choose Ed I couldn't help but feel even more sorry for Reid who has now had his heart broken twice in front of millions and who obviously was head over heals for this girl! So sad, so sad. I have a feeling he'll be scarred for life over this one!

Ok, that's all I'm gonna say about that. Thanks for indulging me in this fantasy world of mine. Or at least if you chose not to read this, I don't mind, I can't tell who you are anyways! :) And last night I thought to myself, "I'm done with this show, but this morning I find myself mildly curious...who will be the next bachelor?!" ;)

Typical Days

On any given day, you can find Eli using his imagination. He loves to pretend and use his sense of humor to make us laugh. Sometimes he is playing so intently that I get to just sneak up and watch as his little brain is in overdrive. Unfortunately as soon as he notices us (or the camera) the show is usually over, but here are a few pictures that we've manage to capture.

"Just like Aunty Jen", Eli declared after he got the shower cap on!

Eli's weekly ritual of gearing up for "his" football games

A little pre-game warm up

I have been trying to capture this on video for weeks and this is the best I can do for now. If you are ever here in person, please request that Eli sing with Cowboy Man...you won't regret it!!!! (his performance has been progressing. He now includes most of the words, a few gestures, a big "Yee Haw" at the appropriate time of course, and his latest is the dramatic ending where he hangs his head and walks out of the living room and down the hall for effect. What a ham. I promise if I get a better video, I'll post about it again!)

Mighty To Save

I don't typically use our blog as a place to share super personal feelings. Not for any particular reason, (other than I have an extremely hard time posting anything without a silly picture!) I just haven't. But yesterday in church we sang a song that just hit me right at the core. So if you've ever had a period in your day, week, month or life that you've thought, "why me?" or "where is my life headed?" read through these words. It just made me realize that although my own struggles seem huge to me, my God is far greater than anything that I feel I have to overcome.

Savior, He can the mountains,
My God is mighty to save,
He is mighty to save.

Forever, author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

So take me as You find me,
all my fears and failures,
fill my life again.

I give my life to follow,
everything I believe in,
now I surrender.

(If you want to hear this song, click on the link)

hillsong- mighty to save.mp3 - Adventist Ark Audio track - Connecting adventists from around the world.

Compliments to the Chef!

Almost round

Conquering the dough

Not quite a sprinkle but more like a mound of cheese

Eli had been waiting the whole process to use the "tool"! What a boy!

Mmmmm...the sweet taste of success!

One more thing

Nana & Grandma

While Grandma and Trevor were here visiting we celebrated Trevor's birthday. We were getting ready to go out to eat and Grandma came into the living room with a black and white polk-a-dot dress on. Without missing a beat, Eli comments, "fire dog!"

We all started cracking up! Eli just recently started noticing the Dalmatians in all his fire truck books and got to see one in person up at Hume, so his natural conclusion of Grandma's dress could of course only be one thing...a fire dog!

It's Been A Long Time...

It feels like lately we've been moving at a much quicker pace than is healthy, but I have managed to capture a little bit of it on film (or ummm, digital memory? )


Eli is even more energetic and has turned into quite a dare-devil who exerts his independence regularly (or as one might say...stubborn)! We spent last week up at Hume Lake with Grandma and Trevor (visiting from England) and then Nana and Papa joined us towards the end of our stay. Eli is obsessed with all things sport/games and insists on learning them all! He has developed such a silly sense of humor and never ceases to amaze me!

Eli learning ping pong w/ Nana

Practicing his swing

taking a break from sports to honk his nose

first ride on the motor cycle

touring Historic Folsom w/ Grandma & Trevor

beating the heat with ice cream

"Gee-tar" man lives on and continues to evolve (hat and make-shift guitar; real one was at home)

A Few Eli-isms:

~ One day last week I fixed my hair (blow dried, straightened) which doesn't happen a whole lot and Grant was calling me "hot mama" around Eli because he knew that eventually Eli would repeat it and he thought that would be funny. So Eli did finally catch on and this is how it went:

Eli: "Mama, no hot Mama"
Me: "I'm not a hot Mama?"
Eli: "No Mama not hot Mama...Mama regular Mama!"

Apparently I only fall in the "regular" category as far as 2 year olds are concerned!


~ Eli repeats practically everything we say and has even picked up a few words from Grandma while she's been here. This afternoon I noticed he was using a new word: 'actually'. Quite the word for a two year old! Here's an example of how he used it in a sentence -

"...actually, Eli have some lemonade."