Eli is 12!

 Eli had a fun birthday this year. He had a party the day before his birthday. 

It was a crazy day since we were also helping Natalie move into her new apartment but I managed to get the graham cracker houses glued together and then his friends came over to decorate them. 

We had about 7 boys come and they had pizza, had fun decorating and then running amok (probably because of all the candy and the Dr. Pepper I gave them :). They played some hide-and-seek in the dark, played outside in the snow for a bit, and then played jackbox games. 

Some of the houses:

The next day was his birthday. We had cinnamon rolls and took it easy in the morning. We ended up doing a birthday lunch since our ward party was that night so we went to Outback and Natalie met us there after work. That was fun. Then we went right over to the high school since Sam was in the finals at his wrestling tournament. From there we hurried home to make the food we needed to bring to the party. I was supposed to bring 75 baked potatoes (with someone else bringing 75 too). I knew that was way too much but I did what I was told. I don't think they even dipped into my box at all. Oh well. We stayed for a bit at the party and then headed back home to finish Eli's celebration. Natalie came over and we opened presents and had dessert. He got to play the new Zelda game he got too. Hopefully it was a good day for him.

I'm so thankful for Eli:

He brings so much fun and happiness to our family. He's a deep feeler and also so creative. He loves cooking and has learned how to cook so many more things. He also makes sure the presentation is good too. He will often make dinner, which I really appreciate. He is getting better and better at his musical abilities. He still plays the cello in Orchestra and is getting better and better at the clarinet in Band. I love listening to him mess around and learn how to play new songs. He is starting to care more about his hair and what he wears and I like seeing his style come through. He got new glasses and I love the new look. He is getting braver, too, and was jumping off the rocks at Dierkes this year. He is also got up wake surfing. I loved recently watching him conquer the obstacle course in the Twin Falls pool that is pretty hard to stay up on. He also got braces this year and was really brave about it and handled the pain pretty well. He's strengthened his friendships and is good about having them over to play or going to their houses to hang out. He went to a birthday party recently of a kid that I didn't really know and when I picked him up everyone loudly said, "Bye Eli!" He is well-liked. I love what a good friend he is. He's getting better and better at baseball and even tried cross country this year. It was rough at times but I was proud of his determination to finish his races even if he was last and he had some good races too. He is still an excellent student and we often get glowing messages from his teachers about him. I love our one-on-one time together since we both love eating out and singing together to songs :). He gives the best tight hugs. He is an awesome brother to all his siblings. We love him and can't imagine life without Eli!