It was a party year for Eli this year--his very first one! He'd been looking forward to it for a long time :). We ended up having his party on the afternoon of his birthday so it was a big day for Eli! We had donuts for his breakfast, then he got to go to preschool while I finished prepping for his party. He helped me do more when he got home. I'd spent the night before putting together like 20 gingerbread houses with graham crackers and royal icing. That was the hard part. Eli waffled a bit about what to do for his party. He really wanted a pinata, but we settled on gingerbread houses and a Christmas-themed party. Of course I invited a ton of kids again. I didn't want to leave people out so we invited his preschool class and his Primary class. I thought there'd be some no-shows because it was a busy time, but all but one kid came!
Here's the whole group:
The girls were a big help with helping the kids put their houses together.
We also played a couple of games. This punch-out Christmas tree for a little prizes:
We also had a snowball fight with cotton balls:
That was a hit!
We let Eli blow out a candle in a marshmallow since the kids already had a ton of candy:
(Most of these pictures are courtesy of my awesome friend Mari)
Here are the kids' gingerbread houses:
Natalie's
Nate's:
Lizzy's:
Eli's:
After we cleaned up from the party, we picked up Joe and headed to Eli's favorite pizza place for dinner--Shaker's. He loves the arcade games they have there. We came home, opened presents, and had s'mores for dessert. Eli LOVES marshmallows. :)
He was really sweet about his presents. He got TONS of legos from all his friends and it was definitely a crazy amount for a kid his age. But, he was still so grateful for the little gifts like his very own watch.
One thing he really wanted--a belt!
It was a great day for Eli!
We all are so glad we have Eli in our family. He makes us all smile every day. His huge grin with his dimples by his eyes are pretty irresistible. He wakes up cheerful pretty much every day. Since he's the youngest, he provides us with quite a bit of entertainment, too, whether it's crazy dances and fight moves he does, or things he says.
I've been writing down funny little things he's said in a note on my phone over the last few months:
-One day we were walking into Wells Fargo and Eli really didn't want to go (he hates errands). We were talking about the fact that some Wells Fargos have lollipops they give away and some don't and he said, "If they don't have one (meaning a lollipop) I'm going to hate Wells Fargo forever."
-Eli was talking about when he got a pack of gum and he said, "Remember? It was yester-Sunday at church!"
-Eli pays close attention to music that we listen to, especially the words. One day we were listening to "Believer" by Imagine Dragons and Eli said, "I wonder what he's so excited about?"
-One day, we were driving around and he just said out of nowhere, "Remember that girl whose name is No?" (Meghan Trainor)
-One day at home we had this exchange:
E: Who would you like to play Wii with? Someone that you're in love with...
Me: Dad?
E: No, not a grown-up.
M: You?
E: Yes!
-Here's another exchange:
M: Today is Matt's birthday! He's 11 now.
E: Lizzy is way older than him.
M: Not way older, just a year older.
E: That's what way means--way means one more year.
-Here are some of his cute comments about Jesus:
"What do you like better--Jesus when he's grateful or Jesus when he loves one another?"
"It's sad, he had a crown of thorns."
"My favorite part is when He comes again!"
One day our neighbor friend Zidan was over, who is Muslim. I was upstairs and suddenly they caught my attention because I heard someone say Jesus. They were looking at our little people nativity and Zidan must have asked something. He said that Jesus died. Then Eli says, all exasperated, "yeah but he was resurrected!" They talked about what that meant and that he was in heaven now. The funny thing was the way Eli was talking--like duh--everyone knows this and you should too. I was impressed with his knowledge, though. We'll have to work on tact and kindness before he goes on a mission!
-One day when we were waiting for the kids to come out of school, there were some wasps flying around and Eli said, "I think the wasps are the guardians for that house."
-He loves Harry Potter, especially the killing spell (unfortunately) but he always says, "Avada Kadabra!"
-One day when he won something while playing Wii, he said, "I am a miracle man!"
Eli is smart and is getting better and better at reading. He's starting to try and sound words out that he sees around. He's really good at math. I only recently started realizing that. He play a lot of Sleeping Queens together and he now knows how to add multiples of 5 together up to 50. One day he surprised me by coming up and saying, "24 minutes until we pick up the kids!" The clock did indeed say 2:06 and he knows that we leave at 2:30. I need to keep working with him on math to develop that talent of his.
He still loves playing video games, all things Mario, Ninjago, and Star Wars. He loves playing with his legos and I love watching me act out little scenarios with them. He needs help putting things together but he has a wonderful imagination and is great at pretend play. He loves his friends and begs every day to have Tess and Kate come play after Tess gets home from school. He loves going to preschool and is learning a lot there. He is very excited to start kindergarten and asks about it all the time.
We sure love our Eli.
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