Melt-your-heart moments

Okay, so I have a lot of melt-mommy's-heart moments with Eli...he's such a dear, sweet, fun little boy - and I admit I'm a bit on the mushy side (can't you just hear Ryan saying "..."a bit"? That's an understatement!"). But I think today's moment takes the cake! Eli and I have been working on coloring and decorating thank you cards for the birthday gifts he received (yes, they're a little late), so we've been talking a lot about coloring pictures for people we love. Today my precious little man climbed up into a desk chair, found a piece of paper and a pencil, and started to color. This all went unnoticed by me until he looked up and said "Making it for God!" Awestruck, I turned to him and asked "what did you say?" He repeated, very emphatically, "Making it for God!" As you can imagine, I then became a puddle of love-mush on the floor! This was compounded by the fact that just two days ago as we were buckling Eli into his carseat, he said (completely out of nowhere), "Eli loves Jesus." Thank you, Lord, for growing our dear son's spirit and love for You!

SO much birthday fun!

Wow, where to even begin?! Eli's birthday celebration began on Thursday with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese. His favorite part of Chuck E. Cheese? The tokens! Seriously, he doesn't even care about actually playing the games, he just wants to put the tokens in the machines! We played skeeball together, and he just tried to get rid of the balls as fast as he could so that we'd let him put in the next token. :)

By the way, you'll notice that Eli looks like he can't see a thing with his hat pulled down so low - that was all him! Every time we tried to adjust it, he pulled it back down and said "no, keep it down!" Silly guy. :)

He also had fun pretending to ride the monster truck (that was the one thing he didn't want to put a token in!).

Friday (his actual birthday) we headed to Idylwood Beach for some fun in the sun. Eli had the time of his life, and it was all I could do to get him to sit down for some lunch. He hasn't stopped talking about the beach since! This is definitely our new favorite park, and we'll be spending lots of time there this summer! Friday night Eli got free ice cream at Coldstone Creamery, and as you can see he enjoyed it thoroughly. If you're an ice cream lover like Eli (and his Mama!), you should definitely sign up for their birthday club! Saturday was the big zoo day, and the long-awaited feeding of the giraffes. It was aboslutely worth the wait! The giraffes get so close (as you can see from the photos) and take the food right out of your hand. We weren't allowed to pet them (though we were close enough to do so), but you can feel their tongues when they take the food from you. Eli had a great time!

Also at the zoo, Eli enjoyed petting the goats in the Family Farm section. He made sure to pet each and every goat!

Notice the very cool shirt that Mama made for Eli's big day! :) The back has a smaller backhoe and says "Under Construction."

That evening we had a family birthday party at home, complete with "funfetti" cake and Curious George plates and napkins.

It was an exhausting and wonderful weekend! Happy birthday again Eli!

New favorite photo

I'll post more birthday details later (it was a wonderful but exhausting weekend!), but I wanted to share these wonderful photos from our good friend Emily, who is an amazing photographer! The first one is my new favorite photo of Eli - I'm glad you weren't all there to witness the process of getting this gleeful look, as it involved me singing and doing a chicken dance! Nevertheless, it was worth it to capture that expression! Thanks for the great shots Emily!Everyone else, enjoy the photos, and I'll try to post another b'day update soon with pics from Chuck E. Cheese, Idylwood Beach, and the zoo - the giraffe feeding was fantastic! By the way, here's Emily's website for anyone who's looking for some great photos...http://www.emilyweaverbrownphoto.com/

Happy 2nd Birthday Eli!!

It's 12:44 a.m., and Eli is officially 2! (For any who are concerned about my lack of sleep, I'm actually creating this post in advance and setting it to post at 12:44!) We can't believe we've already flown through 2 blessed years with our little boy!! Here's a little photo tour through the past 2 years...

Our brand new baby boy...introducing Elijah James

6 months old and learning to sit up

Happy First Birthday Eli!

18 months old...first visit to Chuck E. Cheese. (To be the first of many!)

Celebrating turning 2 with a birthday sundae at Red Robin.

We are so grateful to the Lord for the two wonderful years He has given us with this amazing boy! We treasure each moment with our son and just enjoy being with him so very much. What a truly incredible blessing you are Eli James! Happy Birthday Bug - we love you!

Ice cream!

April 30th was 31 cent scoop day at Baskin-Robbins, and you know that being the ice cream lover that I am, I had to take my family! Eli was very excited about picking out his own scoop of ice cream...he picked the "rainbow kind" and ate every last drop - with the exception of the bite he so kindly shared with Dada. Eli definitely inherited his Mama's sweet tooth!

Another day at the zoo

We visited the zoo again last Sunday and had a great day. It's really neat to see Eli enjoy different animals each time. The giraffes and bears were the favorites this day. We asked Eli what he wanted to see first, and there was no question that we were heading straight for the giraffes! Eli got a real treat as we watched the giraffes being fed; Eli was sitting up on Ryan's shoulders, and one of the giraffes came over and said hi. Eli was literally just a few feet from the giraffe's face! We learned that you can pay to hand-feed the giraffes, so we promised Eli he could do that on his birthday (yes, we're going back this weekend!) and he has not stopped talking about it! The slightest mention of birthday elicits the following information: "Feed-da-giraffe. As [ask] zookeeper (while signing "please"). Get some yeaves (aka leaves)." He is truly looking forward to his birthday adventure! The other thing we discovered on this trip to the zoo is the "habitat loop" which is a cute little hike through some kids-sized animal habitats and across a bridge with a waterfall. Eli had a great time climbing with Dada, and also watching Dada climb - I'm not sure which of them had more fun! :)

Take me out to the ball game...

A few weeks ago (yes, I'm still that behind on blog posts!) the Mariners had a kids weekend, and we headed to the ballpark. This was actually Eli's second game, but he was only four months old at the first one. Needless to say, he was much more into the experience this time! We all had a great time, and despite missing his nap that day, Eli had a great afternoon - there was just so much to do and see! He discovered a fun new snack while sitting in the bleachers and spent much of the game eating sunflower seeds as fast as we could shell them. He also got to visit the Moose Den and say hi to his old pal the Mariner Moose. He was very excited to see his furry friend again, and came much closer to giving him a high-five. :) Near the end of the game Eli went for a walk with Pa and came back wearing a very cool Mariner's cap that he is rarely seen without these days! Eli has added "Ichiro" and "Mariners" to his vocabulary, and it's awfully cute when he sits in Pa's lap watching the games on t.v. and says "Go Ichiro! Go Mariners!"

A day at the farm

Last Saturday Kelsey Creek Farm held its annual sheep-shearing event. This may sound like an odd thing to go watch, but they turn it into kind of a festival that's really fun for kids. The highlight for Eli was seeing all the farm animals, and he got a real kick out of watching the sheep "get a haircut!" He loved seeing all the animals and took the time to say hello to each of them, both in his language and in their own respective languages! :) Of course, any respectable farm also needs some John Deere tractors, which Eli was quick to find. He really wanted to "dwive it!" but fortunately for us he was content to just look. It was a beautiful day out, so we enjoyed a picnic lunch on the lawn before heading home. It was a great family outing, and we enjoyed the time together.