More Eli Quotes

Now that I've started I can't stop . . . we'll see how long this lasts! :)

• Matea was uncharacteristically sleeping too long (a miracle) the other evening, so Grandma went in and took Matea's pacifier out of her mouth to speed the waking process. Grandma came back in to the kitchen and told us that she took Matea's pipe out of her mouth. To which Eli replies, "That's not a pipe, that's a pacifier! Pipes are underground, silly!"
• On the way home from the library yesterday a gentlemen in a fancy sports car zoomed around us (and then cut us off, but I'm trying to let it go). Eli said, "Whoah, that guy's going fast!" I told Eli that the man was driving fast but not safe and then (I have no idea why I added this) I told Eli that sometimes people get fancy cars and think they are cool driving around in them, and then sometimes drive too fast and not safe. The guy thought he was cool but he wasn't driving safe. And I said that Mommy drives fast on the highway but we drive safe. Eli's response to all of that - "Yeah, we're not driving cool. You can't drive cool in a minivan!" Hmm, can't argue with that, but at least we're driving safe!

Football Girl!

We have a football shaped beach ball that I picked up at the dollar store a while ago for Elijah, but have recently discovered that Matea LOVES the football! She sees it coming and starts shrieking she is so happy, and loves to have us hand her the football and say, "Touchdown Matea!" She giggles and laughs and then shrieks and shrieks! It is adorable! There is a picture of me, at about the same age as Matea, sitting on my Dad's lap with a football and a huge grin, so maybe Matea will grow up to be like Mommy and love football too! Right now it's just fun to see her so excited whenever she sees that football coming her way!

It's football time again! I'm so happy!

Uh oh, the ball dropped. I've still got my eye on it though.

Matea's open for the pass . . . here it comes!

Yes! She caught it!

Touchdown Matea! (okay, technically she's signaling a field goal, but we're not going to be picky)

If only you could hear the sound I'm making! I love football!

Playing in the sun

We have had such a good time enjoying the nice weather and visiting some new parks around here, and I'm going to post more about that hopefully (yeah, sure, that's the plan) . . . but I just LOVE this picture of Eli I took at the park yesterday and wanted to share.

"I'm not wasting MY money!"

This one is so cute, it deserves a post of it's own . . .

In Target a few weeks ago, Eli really wanted to buy this little princess cellphone thing. We already have a bunch of play cellphones, and this thing was a piece of junk and ridiculously priced too, so there was no way that I was going to say yes to his request. We continued on and had lunch at Target with Daddy, but on the way home Eli was still thinking about the cellphone and asked why I wouldn't buy it. I decided to use the opportunity to explain that we use our money carefully and don't waste it on things we don't need. I launched in to the whole money is something that Daddy earns from working hard, and we use it to pay for things we need, like food and our cars, and clothes spiel. And we give money away to help other people and give money to God at church and BSF too.  We want to make sure to sure we don't waste it on things we don't need so we can buy the things that we do need. Eli was asking questions and it was kind of awesome to discuss something important with him and see he was understanding it.

I then said that Eli could use some of the money that he's been saving in his truck bank and come back and buy a toy at Target if he'd like. He looked at me like I was crazy and told me, rather forcefully,  "I'm not wasting MY money!" I guess he really did understand what I was saying after all! Eli's Grandpa Bob is really good with handling money, and Eli's Daddy is not wasteful, and I think we're going to have another man of disciplined spending on our hands. He's not wasting HIS money!

Quotes

I haven't posted any Eli quotes for a while, so I thought I'd rectify that, since he's still saying something goofy almost every day! This is long, but it's been a while, and the quotes are mostly for me and Jon to look back on anyway, so too bad if the rest of you don't like to read. :)

• While playing trains I was told, "The smokestack thing is where you get coffee from. Then you sit in here (pointing to the cab) and drive around and drink coffee." Do you think someone's mother drinks a lot of coffee?!
• We've started the obligatory noticing our penis phase, and last week I was told this as Eli went running down the hall, "Penis! Penis! Penis! Boys have a penis, so only boys can fight!" I'm not even going to comment more on that. :)
• Grandma said at dinner one day that she wished Natey and Andrew lived closer. Eli looked at her with astonishment, as if Grandma had miraculously read his mind, and said, "I wish those guys lived closer too! You are thinking what I'm thinking, Grandma!"
• Eli loves princesses (could have something to do with playing with Lexi two or three days a week), and one day I was informed that when Eli grew up he was changing his name to Snow White. That should prove to be interesting!
• I bought Elijah clothes for Florida and he loved a shirt with guitars on it, but when I showed him the blue and orange plaid shorts that went with it rather well in my opinion, Eli stood there looking at them with disgust and said, "I do not like those shorts. I like that (pointing to the guitar shirt) but NOT that (pointing to the offending shorts)." I couldn't help laughing because he sounded just like Jon when I bought him an orange and red plaid shirt a few years ago. Jon didn't like it, and the aversion for "loud" plaid things is apparently genetic!
• On the way home from Lexi and Tori's one Wednesday a discussion about something led down the path of Eli not wanting to be alone. After reassurances that Mommy and Daddy wouldn't leave Eli at home alone, we then discussed how Eli would never be alone because God is always with him. He seemed to really like that, but then got a concerned look and said, "But God lives at Lexi and Tori's house!" I told him that God is everywhere, but Eli was pretty sure that God only lived at Lexi and Tori's house . Then I could see his little mind working and he declared that God lived at church too, and at BSF, and that he thought God might live with Grandma too. What a compliment to Jeff and Lori though, that Eli knew that God is present, welcomed, and loved, in their home!
• Eli's developed an obsession with saying "It's a secret." It's driving me nuts, so I'm hoping that stops soon. At least it's given us a chance to talk about what is an appropriate secret to keep and what is not. At first though Eli's secrets were cute because he'd lean over and loudly whisper a secret to me at dinner and then tell me not to tell Daddy  . . . who was sitting right next Eli and heard every word. Then Eli would get a sly grin and stare at Jon and say, "I have a secret, but I can't tell you!' Goofball.
• When asked to help clean with Grandma and Mommy last week, Eli informed us that, "Cleaning is boring for me. It just makes me madder and madder. The only way to get unmad is to play!" Too bad it didn't get you out of helping, bud! The funny thing is that Eli is a really good helper and cleans up without even being asked quite often. Who knew it makes him "madder and madder"?!
• Driving to BSF a few weeks ago Eli directed me as to where to turn (he likes to tell me that and I'm reinforcing left and right to him) and then he directed which parking spot I should park in.  Then, as I turned off the car Eli pronounces, "Good driving, captain!" in this deep little voice. I just cracked up, it was hilarious! I have no idea what prompted that, but it was so cute!

Oh our aching backs!

Matea's newfound love of standing (she actually managed to free stand, holding/leaning on to nothing for about 5 seconds yesterday), has also been accompanied by a newfound love of walking around holding hands!  Matea wants to "walk" around the place and isn't content to play in her exersaucer very much anymore. She wants you to be escorting her as she explores and tries to figure out how to get her legs to propel her forward and not just side to side. And trust me, you know when you are leading her the direction she doesn't want! And heaven forbid you sit for a second or try and entice her with her play table. Uh uh, Mom, keep moving! She gets SO excited when she's walking around though that it is just precious. She talks and grunts and screeches happy noises. My back is killing me, but it's so fun to see her learn new things!

Let's get moving, Dad! I've got places to go and things to see!

Easter

We had a really great Easter, starting off with an awesome church service (the choir at Corinth is really good!). Then after church came family time (involving a yummy lunch, an Easter egg hunt, and crafts). What a special day to celebrate our risen Savior and the blessing of family!

Elijah followed the clue to his Easter "basket" and found some new cars and candy in special sports eggs.

At the starting line for the Easter egg hunt!

Finding eggs by "Fred" the rock. I've got all my 49 eggs (yes, that's right, 49, Grandma went a little overboard!). :)

Sorry, Matea, Eli's not sharing his eggs.

Soooo much candy makes me soooo happy!

Eli starts decoupaging his placemat. He liked painting on the glue.

Yep, that's REALLY covered well with the Modge Podge.

The finished products! Top row, l to r: Tori, Noah, Lexi. Bottom row, l to r: Lori, Eli, Missy

Even if she couldn't do the egg hunt or crafts, sweet Matea was still part of our day! Here she is in her Easter finest!

Matea got a new tambourine and maracas for Easter, and loves them!

I'll get eggs next year, Mom, but until then I'll just give you the raspberries!

Dunkin' Eggs!

On Saturday afternoon before Easter, Eli and Mommy and Grandma got out all the egg dyeing supplies and went to town! We had 5 dozen eggs to dye so we had plenty to amuse ourselves with and try out different creations. Elijah liked using the magic crayon, and the first eggs he made were for Lexi (a pink one), and Tori (an orange one). Then Eli died some for himself and then Aunt Lori and Uncle Jeff each got an egg too. He grudgingly agreed to dye one for Matea too, but I had to push that. :)  The biggest hit were the "egghicles" (that's how the package spelled it). We had a kit which came with stickers and wheels to turn the eggs into a police car, fire truck, police car, ambulance, and school bus. Eli had me put on the stickers and then he played with egg cars for the longest time. Who knew a hard boiled egg and some stickers would entertain a 3 year old for so long?!? I was busy dyeing eggs myself and kind of forgot to get many pictures, oops! We had a fun time and our eggs turned out really cool!

Taking out the first egg for Eli (Lexi's is still in the pink dye).

Checking progress is very important to get the right color.

The oh-so-delicate egg transfer! We lost quite a few . . .

Here are the "egghicles" - our police car and firetruck!

Driving our eggs around!  

Posing, er, singing with our eggs! Eli was rather excited!

Holding our favorites up (while Mommy holds her breath and prays they don't drop)!

Mommy's favorites . . .

I can't wait to do eggs again next year!

Easter Egg Scramble!

The day before Easter we headed off to church for the Easter Egg "Scramble" - not a hunt since the eggs were strewn everywhere in plain sight and the kids had to scramble to get their eggs. Eli was given an Easter book and saw an acted out Easter story and then the scramble began. We were in the lower age range which got to go first, and once Eli saw the eggs up the hill he took off, leaving Jon and I in the dust! Eli was really good about getting only his allotted amount of eggs (20), but after the first few he decided to get selective and tried to pick only ones with blue on them. The whole thing didn't take much time, but Eli still loved it. We were there and back within 45 minutes, so it was well worth the time!

He's off!

The very first egg!

A whole field of eggs - they were everywhere!

Here comes the horde! Glad we made it up the hill first and could be choosy!

Walking back to the car with my booty!

I can barely lift it!

The first egg . . .

Chocolate!!

Look at all my candy! I scrambled for a lot!

Standing!

Here is Matea's newest trick - standing all on her own, with no wobbles!

Playing with the fridge farm all on my own!

Matea has been standing by her play table for a few weeks, gradually getting more and more stable and falling less and less. She's stopped leaning on the table now and stands with all her weight balanced on her feet. Now she's a pro and loves to stand and play, and has also moved on to standing by other things and playing. She has really good balance and will just stand there for a LONG time! I think she'll be cruising around this place pretty quickly!

Butterflies!

The butterflies are blooming at the Meijer Gardens again, so last week Mom and I took Lexi, Tori, Eli, and Matea off to see the butterflies and play outside (it looked slightly warm, which is better than not warm at all). :) Unlike last year, this time it wasn't as crowded and there were a TON of butterflies! And they gave the kids a passport book with pictures of butterflies to find. We found almost all of them and the kids loved looking up what kind of butterfly each one was. We only played outside for about an hour since it turned "not warm at all," but we still had a great day at the butterflies!

The most precious butterflies and caterpillars that we saw.

This guy was my favorite.

I found his twin hiding out by an orchid.

The underside of a large leaf made a good spot for a bunch of them

A butterfly outside, wrapped up snug in her cocoon.

The kids showing off their passports!