Bubbles and Elmo

Eli is getting really good at blowing bubbles all by himself! We bought him one of those no spill bubble containers and he's been have a great time trying to blow bubbles all by himself.




This evening was our Friend, Samuel's, 2nd birthday party and he had an Elmo themed party. Elmo even showed up to play with the kids. Eli has actually never watched Sesame Street or Elmo's world but still knows who Elmo is. Eli use to have a tooth brush with Elmo on it and everytime he saw the tooth brush he would say, "Elmo". So I was very curious what his reaction would be to a life sized Elmo. Eli was very curious when Elmo walked in the door but was not to sure about it. Eli took a little time to warm up to Elmo but eventually had a great time with Elmo!



Eli watching Elmo come in the door.


It's Elmo!


Dancing with Elmo


Birthday boy and Eli dancing with Elmo


Eli got up the courage to actually touch Elmo


The boys decided it would be fun to play cars with Elmo and Elmo played along with them.


Elmo gave Eli a kazoo to sing happy birthday with and Eli could actually use it!


The boys posing with Elmo. There were girls at the party too but the boys were the only ones not scared of Elmo.


Eli lounging on Elmo


Eli having some Birthday cup cake with girls!

Father's day!

I love father's day! I love making Thomas feel special and letting him know what a wonderful father he is. I also just love days that we spend as a family, just the 3 of us. Sunday was a wonderful day. I made Thomas and Eli a special breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and sausage, potato hash. Then we let Eli play around and watch Veggie tales while we got ready for church. Bruce gave a wonderful father's day sermon on the prodigal son and used that father as an example of how to be a father. After church we went to America's for a father's day brunch. America's is Thomas' favorite restaurant and the brunch was wonderful. Eli loved it, he had a lunch of pancake and watermelon and was entertaining out waitress with all of his talking. It is always lovely when you get up to go through the buffet and you hear yelled across the restaurant "Mama, Mama, Mama!" After we all got our fill of the buffet, dessert and Eli was totally covered in it we decided to go home for naps.

I put Eli to bed and Thomas and I were about to take a nap too when Thomas heard Eli crying and decided to go check on him since he doesn't normally do that before falling asleep. Good thing Thomas went to check on him because Eli had gotten his leg stuck between the bars of the crib! After Thomas got him unstuck and we got Eli calmed down (which didn't take long, as soon as he saw the vacuum he stopped crying, Eli is so in love with the vacuum now!), he went down for his nap and I shortly after fell asleep too. Thomas was now wide awake so no nap for him!

After naps we played around the house. Thomas has a new "game' he plays with Eli. They sit at the pool table and Thomas lets Eli roll the ball into the corner pocket and watches it as it appears in the ball return, they do this over and over again. Eli thinks it is hilarious to watch the ball reappear. When you are downstairs listening to this you think the ceiling is going to come crashing down on you! Since there was no way I was going to get anymore rest with all that noise I decided to go up and play with my boys. We all played army men together. Well, Thomas and I would try to set them up before Eli would knock them all down! After playing for a while we were all hungry and decided to go get burgers at 3Bs which is just down the road a ways. They were pretty good burgers and tots. Eli loved the car video game they had there. He is obsessed with cars, trucks and trains right now. We let him play on the car while we waited for food and he came willing to eat when the food came. This place is a nonsmoking, family friendly sports bar so there were tvs everywhere and since the Astros had finished playing earlier all that was on was golf. Eli ate his dinner while intently watching golf! After Eli was done eating he wanted to go play on the car again which was fine since we were the only ones on that side of the restaurant anyways. The only problem is that when we were ready to go Eli did not want to stop playing on the car. He cried, "car, car, car" all the way to the car.

After we got home Eli had just enough time to watch Diego and get a bath (he still does not like bubble baths) before bed. Through the whole day I only remembered to get on picture of our wonderful father's day and that was at the end of the day when Eli and Thomas were watching Diego together.

The Freeman Family Reunion

Yesterday was the Freeman Family reunion. The Freeman family is my Granny's mother's (Grandma Palmer) family. I have not been to this reunion in many many years and Thomas and Eli have never been so we decided we need to go this year. Most of this side of the family lives in Brownsboro and surrounding areas. Brownsboro is located in East Texas about 20 minutes east of Tyler. From my house in Spring google maps says it's a 3 1/2 hour trip.

On Friday mom called me and asked what my plans were for the reunion I told her we originally planned on leaving at bed time on Friday and getting a hotel room in Tyler but then decided it would be better and cheaper to just go up and back in one day. So the plan was to leave our house at 5:30 and either stop in Huntsville or Crockett for Breakfast depending on whether Eli fell back to sleep in the car or not. Then to make a couple more stops along the way to let Eli run around. Mom told dad our plan and dad thought that sounded like fun and decided they wanted to come with us. I asked my mom if dad understood that he need to be at our house at 5 am and she said he did. Mom and dad live in Waller which is about a 45 min to an hour drive away.

So at 5 till 5 my parents show up in our driveway. We get the van all pack with our stuff and the car seat moved into the van then wait for the coffee to finish brewing, can't leave that early in the morning with out a cup of coffee! After we got our coffee everyone piled into the van and I went and got the boy who I thought would fall back asleep because he was laying on my shoulder but as soon as he heard the van and saw Nana and Papa it was all over that boy was awake! How come my plans never go according to plan?! Oh well, we still pulled out of our driveway 2 minutes till 5:30 so we were still right on schedule.

Since the boy was awake we decided to stop in Huntsville for breakfast. Thomas and I were thinking Mcdonalds for breakfast but my parents wanted IHOP. For those of you who went to school in Huntsville you might know why Thomas and I did not want to go to IHOP the service there (when we were in school) was horrible you were lucky to get anything to eat. We decided to give it try with the knowledge we could always walk out and go to Mcdonalds. We were pleasantly surprised with the wonderful service and friendly faces. We had a lovely breakfast where we got to find out way to much personal information about the table of ladies sitting behind us! After our bellies were full and Eli was changed and dressed for the day we piled back into the van. We stopped again in a town outside of Crockett for bathroom and drinks. Then we stopped again in Athens because Eli was ready to stretch his legs for a little bit. Eli did awesome on the trip up there, even though he didn't fall back asleep. He watched the road for a while then played cars, read a few books and then we put on Finding Nemo for him to watch. He seemed to enjoy Finding Nemo. I think I was a lot more antsy then El was!

We finally pulled into the 1st Assembly of God Church at 10:10. Already there were my Aunt Cathy and Uncle Carl, Aunt Brenda and Uncle Jerry Don and My Granny and Aunt Leona. The Church doors were to open at 10 so we decided to get there as early as possible since we would be staying very long. It was kind of exciting to bring Eli since the last time we were up in Brownsboro (which was for my Aunt Mildred and Uncle Henry's 50th wedding anniversary) was 2 years ago when I was pregnant with Eli. So this was the 1st time this side of the family has ever met Eli. They all loved him and I kept getting complements on how good he was being.


Eli Playing cars (tractors) with Nana while eating gold fish while we waited for everyone to show up.


Still playing




Better shot of the tractor action!


Playing with Papa


Everyone one was standing against the wall while we went through who the families were so Eli decided he needed to stand with everyone.


Everyone was clapping (because Uncle Henry forgot to include his son-in-law in his family) so Eli had to clap too.


Waiting paitently


Eli just being cute


Laura and her family finally showed up and doesn't she look nice in that pink shirt!


Eli loved playing with his cousin, London.




Eli kept hugging on his cousin (I don't remember her name but she's London's little sister)


They were all playing chase but there wasn't much room in the church for chase and to hot outside.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of the family but I kept forgetting to get my camera out and take pictures. Eli loved meeting all his aunts, uncles and cousins. I don't think Eli has ever met a person he hasn't liked or tried to engage in play with!

After lunch and visiting (where Eli enjoyed Uncle Ray's home grown tomatoes) We headed for Home. Eli fell asleep with in 2 minutes of the trip home but he only slept for 1 1/2 hours. I was hoping that he would sleep for his usually 3 hour nap but like I said my plans never go as planned! Even with Eli only sleeping for 1 1/2 hours we made it all the way to Huntsville before stopping. We decided to stop at the duck pond since it would be a fun place for Eli to run around and the museum would be open for bathrooms. We played around the duck pond for 30 minutes and then got back into the van to head for home. When We got just outside of Conroe there must have been an acident on 45 because traffic was stopped! We exited and took 75 pasted Conroe. We finally made it home at 5:30. We had originally planned to stop in Huntsville or Conroe for dinner and get our favorite BBQ at McKenzie's but we were all just ready to get home. So Thomas and I decided to order pizza instead even though we had, had pizza the night before. After we got home we just chilled and watched Dora before bath and bed time. We were all pretty tired from our trip. Eli went down for bed very easily and Thomas and I went to bed shortly after Eli. Even though it was an exhausting day it was fun and we enjoyed seeing our family!

Spaghetti

I made spaghetti for home group last night and I made sure to make a lot so we would have plenty of left overs because Thomas and I love my homemade spaghetti. I think we now have a 3rd member of the family who loves my spaghetti. Eli had it for lunch and dinner today and asked for more when he was done.

Mommy's little copy cat

Locking daddy out!

A while back we started taking Eli's stinky diapers out to the out side trash instead of having a diaper pail. One day ELi found out that if he closed the door behind the person who went to the trash can he could lock them out. He locked me out one day but luckily Thomas was home and opened the door for me. From that day on we learned that we need to unlock the door if we step out to trash can because Eli will come behind and shut the door to try and lock you out.

Well today Thomas went to take a stinky diaper out to the trash and I told Eli to go lock daddy out. Eli went to the door and shut it all the way and then turned the lock into the locked position. He actually locked daddy out! When did he learn how to lock a door?!? Good thing he can't reach the deadbolt yet. An hour later I had to take a diaper out to the trash and I heard Thomas tell Eli to lock mommy out and he almost did that time too but mommy was to quick for Eli! I guess there will be no more quick runs to the trash with out Eli or a key!

Popcorn for dinner!

After Eli's nap yesterday it was pretty much dinner time for him. He hasn't been eating much lately so I really hadn't prepped him anything to eat. Eli decided he was hungry and grabbed my finger and took me into the kitchen where he went to the pantry door. I opened the door and Eli pointed to the popcorn maker and said, "Pop" and then made the sign for eat. I asked him if he wanted popcorn for dinner and he said yes (in his Eli way). So I got the popcorn maker out and set Eli on the counter where he proceeded to say, "banana" and signed eat. So while we waited for the popcorn to pop he enjoyed a banana. Eli even helped make the popcorn he poured the kernels in the popper for me. After the popcorn was done we came into the living room to enjoy "dinner" (I didn't think this was a high chair kind of meal). Eli wouldn't even let me eat the popcorn. Ever time I would take some he would take the popcorn out of my hand and put it back in the bowl. When his daddy came home he did the same thing to him to.


He's got his popcorn, his sippy and a good view of the TV, what else could you ask for?


ELi trying to decide which kernel he's going to eat.


Yummy popcorn!


Eli wasn't to happy with me that i was trying to take his picture while he was watching Fresh Beat Band.

Last night Thomas gave Eli his 1t bubble bath. I thought that since Eli loves bubbles so much he would get a kick out of a bubble bath, not so much. Eli was scared of the bubbles! I did manage to get him to over come his fear by showing him how he can play with the bubbles. I still don't think he enjoyed it as much as I had imagined he would, oh well!


A very unhappy Eli standing in a bubble bath. He got happier later.

Daddy's Home!

For the past week Thomas has been in Mexico on a business trip. This trip starts the beginning of Thomas' travel season. At least this trip was only a week long. This morning Eli and I got up and we made it to the gym and then afterward we went across the street to get a smoothie at Jamba Juice and waste some time before we need to head to the airport. By the way never get strawberry wild there neither Eli or I liked it. We should have stuck with what we normally get, it was way to sweet for either of our likings.

We were to pick up Thomas and the arrival area in terminal E and I think for the first time that I have picked Thomas up there it was not busy! So I let Eli run around while we waited for Thomas to get through customs. I even brought a couple of matchbox tractors for Eli to play with while we waited and he had a blast rolling them on the floor and in that big room they would go far. The other people there seemed to get a kick out of watching Eli and his tractors, I think because he was the only entertainment there! We didn't wait long and I saw Thomas coming through the doors and I said to Eli, "I see daddy". Eli looked up at me and said, "Daddy!" then started looking for him. When he spotted Thomas he ran up to him and got in his arms, it was so sweet!

After we got Thomas we stopped for lunch and then headed home to put Eli down for his nap. After nap we were going to go to the YMCA family fun day but since Eli got up so late we decided to stay home and watch a movie together after dinner. But before dinner we all just played as a family. Eli has a new thing that I can get him to repeat words to me (if I have his attention). But there is always one word he changes when I ask him to repeat it, Mommy. I will ask him to say mommy and he will say mama. He will say daddy but refuses to say mommy. We tried to catch the interaction on camera but of course decided to start filming way to late but we did capture some of it.



After our repeating game Eli decided to color. So we all went into the kitchen to color. At some time during coloring Thomas told Eli to go give mommy a kiss in which he promptly did a nice big sloppy wet kiss right on the lips! (but you know I love it!) Then of course I told Eli to go give Daddy a kiss which in turn he went and gave Thomas a nice big sloppy wet kiss right on the lips. After that he just kept walking back and forth between us giving us kisses. I just want to hold that moment in my mind forever. I did manage to get him giving Thomas a kiss on camera.



We have never attempted to watch a movie with Eli before. Since Eli has never been very interested in watching TV we never thought it was worth the effort to try and get him to watch a movie. Lately Eli has been watching almost whole TV shows so we thought we would give it a try. We had gotten Horton Hears a Who through netflix so we put that on. After watching the movie for about 45 minutes I went and made us popcorn and of course Eli had to come "Help". I'm not sure how he knew what popcorn was but when I said I'm going to go make us some popcorn Eli got up and said popcorn and followed me into the kitchen like he knew exactly what I was going to do. I have a popcorn maker where you can watch it the kernels pop so it's kind of fun to watch. After the popcorn was done we all went back to the living room to finish the movie and chow down on the yummy popcorn. Eli loved the popcorn, he would lay on Thomas' stomach and put his hand in the bowl and eat the popcorn. Eli did really well watching the movie he made it a whole hour before getting really restless and I think he only started getting restless is because it was his bed time. Once Thomas got him ready for bed we finished watching the movie and then Eli picked out his bed time story and went to bed. It was a lovely evening and we might have to do movie night again!