Dress-ups

Hallie has really been into dressing up lately. She loves putting on one of her dress-ups, and wearing them all day.

The other day she was wearing her dress-ups and asked me where my dress-ups were. At first I told her I didn’t have any. Then I remembered I still have a couple of my old dance dresses from High School. I pulled one down and showed her, and her eyes got big, her smile lit up, and she said, “So pretty!! You put on your dress ups?” I figured, “Why not?” And honestly, I was curious if I could fit in it.

So we both put on our dress-ups, and all our jewelry, and lip gloss, and played dress up.

Hallie loved it!

A sensitive soul

This is the face of a very sensitive boy!

I always knew that Eli was a little more sensitive and sweet than the average little boy.  He has just always had a gentle little soul. He worries about others and thier well being. He is always taking care of his sister, and is so concerend when she is sick or hurt.

In soccer if someone falls, he is over there to make sure that they are ok. (Sometimes a little embarrassing for me).

But yesterday really showed me just what a tender heart he has.

Eli and Hallie were upstairs in the loft watching Lilo and Stitch, the second one. All the sudden I thought I heard sniffles. Not I have a runny nose sniffle, but I am crying sniffle.

I say up to Eli, “Are you guys crying up there?” Eli says back, “No.” With a tremble in his voice. I decided to sneak up there and see what is going on.

I get up there and there is Eli sitting on the couch, holding onto a pillow, red eyes, and big tears rolling down his face.

I look at him and he sees me. I said, “Bud, why you crying?” He hides his face embarrassed and says, “I”m not!” I say, “Yeah you are. I see tears on your face.” He says, “No. I am not. My eyes are just wet.”

So I ask Hallie if the show is sad. Of course she is totally unaffected by the movie. But she does say, “Yes. They took that girl’s mom away.” Eli jumps in with his quivery voice and says, “No. Hallie it was her sister. They took her sister away!”

He was upset because the aliens or something took the sister away. I calmed Eli down, he stopped crying, and I went back downstairs. Hallie came down with me.

About 10 minutes later I hear Eli say, again with a quiver in his voice, “Hallie come here.” Hallie goes up there and I hear him say, “Hallie they brought her sister back. I am so happy!”

I sneak up there again, and sure enough he is sitting there again with tears in his eyes, crying. This time because he was so happy that the sisters were reunited.

That is Eli for you. He gets so emotional and has the sweetest heart.

I love this kid and his sweet personality!

Karate Kid

I signed Eli up for a small 8 session, community karate class.
At first he told me he didn’t want to do it. He literally threw a fit. I tried to explain to him what it was and how much fun it would be. We even showed him videos on the internet so he could see what exactly it was. He still stuck to his guns and said he was not going to do it.

Unfortunately, Eli is a lot like me and gets very nervous in new situations, which I think is the real reason he didn’t want to go.

Finally I said to him, “Eli if you go to karate you will become stronger and tougher. You will learn how to kick and beat up bad people. You know what? You can even beat up uncle Lance.”(Ryan’s brother, who teases Eli relentlessly). He looked at me and said, “I will learn how to beat up uncle Lance?” I said, “Yep. So anytime he bugs you, you can use your karate moves.” He said, “Ok. I want to go to karate.”

Now most of you will think I am a bad mom for allowing my kid to beat someone up, but truth be told sometimes I would like to beat Lance up. So I figured it would probably be more acceptable for Eli to beat him up than me, and we would both feel better. And hey, it was what convinced him to go. So it was a win-win situation.

And guess what? He loved it!! But of course, the very first class they told them they shouldn’t use their karate moves on people. Eli told me that and I said, “Eli there is always an exception to the rule! You can only use them on bad people and Lance.”

On the last day they did a board breaking ceremony. If they broke the board they got their white belt. Eli broke his board with flying colors, and was so proud of himself. I was too.

Tying on his white belt

His buddy, Danny took the same class. He also did a stellar job breaking his board.

While the boys were practicing for their board breaking Hallie and Danny's little brother, Matthew, were dancing and playing together. They were so cute.

Bryce canyon

My parent’s are seriously the GREATEST parents & grandparents!!

A couple weeks ago my dad called me. The conversation went like this:

Dad: Hey, what are you guys doing this weekend?

ME: Ummm… (trying to run through my calendar in my head)…nothing… I don’t… think. (I say kinda slow).

DAD: Well, let me just ask you this. Can we steal Eli for the weekend?

ME:YES!!!! YES!! I mean, I guess…but why?

DAD: Your mom and I are going down to Bryce Canyon from Thursday to Monday, and we wanted to take Eli with us.

ME: Do you guys hate yourselves? I mean, Sure, dad. That sounds like so much fun! But you do realize I have two kids right? Are you sure you don’t want to take the other one too? (Yes, I know I was being greedy).

DAD: Yeah. I am sure we don’t want to take her. Just Eli will be good.

HAHA! I at least had to try!

Let’s just say that was one of the best phone calls I have had in awhile! I LOVE Eli to death, but a 4 day break is nice once in awhile. I think I packed his bag as soon as I got off the phone, and he didn’t even leave for another 4 days!

Eli had so much fun!! But who wouldn’t? (besides my parents of course. :)) He was spoiled rotten, watched movies, rode on the snowmobile, played in the snow, did crafts, played games, played with his cousin, given 100% of their attention, and didn’t have his mom constantly yelling at him!

We had fun too. It was kind of nice only having one kid. I forgot how much easier that is. But believe me, by Sunday night I was ready for my Eli to come home. I missed that kid! He is my buddy and my sidekick. Our house was too quiet and I had no questions to answer.

Thanks mom and dad. Eli loved making the memories and Ryan loved having a little break.

Sledding into the New Year

The last few years we have gone sledding with Ryan's family on or very close to the first day of the new year. I guess we can now officially call it a tradition.

  I am not a fan myself of sledding. Yes, I am neurotic, and I am always afraid someone is going to get mangled or die.

This year was a big step for me. I let Eli go down the hill on a sled all by himself. Yes. He's 5. Yes. Most moms let their 5 year olds sled alone. And yes. Maybe I baby him too much. (I told you I am a neurotic mom). It was one of those mom moments that I felt scared to death and proud at the very same time. I would smile and cringe as he went down.

I smiled because HE. LOVED. IT!! He would go down, walk up all by himself, and then just hop right back on the sled and go again.
And I was proud because Eli is usually so cautious, (kinda like his mom) and isn't terribly adventurous. I never would have thought he would love going by himself so much. Or dare to, for that matter.  But he did. And I was PROUD! He's growing up, whether I like it or not!

Hallie had fun too. She was so funny. She acted scared as she was going down, but as soon as we reached bottom, she would say, “Do it again!”

She also slowly undressed. By the time we left she had taken off her gloves, her coat, and her hat. 

She cracks me up!