Nana & Bampa's House

Though we're staying home for Christmas this year, we still did some traveling this month.  We visited Josh's family in Washington and had a lot of fun.  Eli loved seeing his cousins and Nana and Bampa.  He recognized them right away.  He's pretty good at remembering, but I also think it helps to have pictures of them on the wall in our house.  It should be interesting to see if he recognizes my parents when we visit them next month.

Eli got to play a lot with his cousins, which he definitely enjoyed.  We toured the Theo Chocolate Factory, which Eli was very sad to leave.  I can't blame him since he got all the free samples he wanted.  He loved the Children's Museum and the cannon shooting at the Pump It Up play center.  We went to a live nativity as well as the toy soldiers in Bellevue.  Most of all, I think we all just enjoyed spending time with family. 

Putting Up the Tree

  

 The Christmas tree is up!  This is only the 2nd of six Christmases together that Josh and I have put up a tree.  We've always been gone for most of December, as well as Christmas, and thought it wasn't worth the hassle.  This time we'll actually be home for Christmas, so this is the first year Eli has seen and helped us put up the tree.  He loved it!  He was so excited that he actually hugged the tree at one point and said, "I love you, Christmas tree."  He wants the lights on all the time, even during the day, and I have to continually remind him that the ornaments are to be left on the tree.  We even made some cinnamon gingerbread boy ornaments together, which he loved doing.  I think this will be a really fun Christmas since Eli is understanding it so much better.

Pretend Play

I'm vaguely remembering what it is like to be a kid again as I watch Eli with his pretend play. Though it was ages ago, I still remember dressing up and pretending to be somebody I wasn't or somebody I hoped to be. Now I watch as Eli does the same thing. His favorites lately are pretending to be an astronaut or pretending to be a gardener blowing leaves.

Pretending to be a gardener with a leaf blower
Accessories: Vacuum attachments

Pretending to be an astronaut
Accessories: Bike helmet, aviator-type jacket, and a cardboard box with frills

Pretending to be a diver
Accessories: Snorkeling equipment

Thanks for Visiting, Harmonica!

On Tuesday we had to say good-bye to my sister Monica who was visiting us for a couple of weeks. We really enjoyed her visit, and Eli began including her as part of the family. He made up this silly chant that included Daddy, Mommy, Eli, and Harmonica (as he calls her). He still tries to include her in his conversation even though she's no longer with us. In fact, when I came home from dropping her off at the airport, he excitedly opened the door for me and asked where Harmonica was. When I explained that she was on an airplane going home, he asked if he could go outside so he could look up and find her plane. Needless to say, he was a little sad that she left.

We had a lot of fun while she was here though. Below are pictured some of the fun things that we did. We went to Space Center Houston (Eli has wanted to be an astronaut ever since) and Brazos Bend State Park, where we love to see the wild alligators. Josh was able to come with us for those. He couldn't go with us when we visited Galveston, but Monica really enjoyed collecting the numerous seashells on the beach and seeing the many jellyfish that had washed ashore, and Eli loved digging in the sand. We went to Hermann Park as well as some smaller parks near where we live. I didn't get any pictures of those, but I know that Monica sure did. :-) And of course we went to Zoo Boo and the church trunk or treat as was mentioned and pictured in the previous post.

It was great to visit with her and give us reason to visit some of those places again. We sure do miss seeing our families often.

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween this year Eli was a cowboy/sheriff. He went to Zoo Boo on Friday with his Aunt Monica and me, and then he went to the annual trunk or treat at the church on Saturday. Daddy came with us for that and dressed up too. Can you tell who he went as?

Eli, of course, loved all the candy and wanted it for breakfast the next morning. He was also too cute for the trunk or treat when he saw a jar of fake spiders that someone had brought for decoration. He burst out into song and sang The Itsy Bitsy Spider, actions and all. There's proof that he actually listens in nursery. :-)

Kids Say the Darndest Things

There is no shortage of laughter around here with Eli's amusing comments. In fact, sometimes I can't help laughing when I know I shouldn't. Eli is one of those kids who loves attention and making people laugh, so I have to be careful not to encourage inappropriate comments. Honestly though, some things are just so darn funny I can't stifle my laughter. He's bound to embarrass me in public...well, he already has, but I know it's going to get worse.

Here are a couple of things he's said that probably aren't as amusing written as when he said it, but they're worth mentioning for remembrance sake.

1. First, Eli and I have a sort of game where I ask, "Are you my baby?" He answers, "Mommy, no! Not a baby, a big boy." So, the other day when I did it, Josh was around.

I asked Eli if Daddy was a baby, and he answered, "No, a big boy!"

Josh corrected him, "No, I'm a man, not a boy."

The next day Eli came to me and said, "Mommy, I a big man." I thought it was so cute, especially when he later called me a "big woman."

2. There's a book about a garbage truck called I Stink in which the garbage truck talks in first person and tells all about what it does. Of course, Eli loves this book, and he has quite the little memory, so he likes to quote things. He'll be playing and then all of the sudden he'll say, quoting the book, "Whoooeeee, I stink!" It cracks me up every time.

3. For Christmas, Eli's Grandpa Grant gave him an Aggie game face stick. It's one of those black chapstick-looking things that you can use to paint your face for games. I've kept it out of his reach because I'm a little hesitant to let him use things like that because of the mess he makes. I don't even let him use crayons that much (yes, even the washable ones) because of the mess. I need to just let go and let him use those things more because it's good for him to learn. Anyway, a couple of days ago he found the stick, and I decided to let him go at it. He painted his face black, and then he came to me and said, "Mommy, I crazy!" I laughed and then thought, Yes, those Aggie fans are crazy. ;-)

Related to the crazy comment above, we were playing outside the other day when an older man came near us and started staring. It was actually kind of creepy to me, so I was about to leave. I noticed that Eli was staring back at the man, so I asked him what he was looking at. He responded, "Man is crazy!" I know I shouldn't have laughed at that one, but he sort of put a voice to my thoughts. Fortunately, the man wasn't near enough to hear it.

4. A couple of days ago Eli and I were walking out to the car when Eli stopped and said, "Mommy, come here." I turned around, and he proceeded to wipe his hand on mine. He pretends a lot, so I thought he was just pretending to give me something. I asked, "What did you give me?" He responded, "A booger, Mommy!"

This Ain't No Tomato

Josh started growing tomatoes, but has ended up with one lone cantaloupe, which I personally think is quite funny. Every time I look at it, I want to chuckle. He started growing tomatoes back in March/April, but we never got any fruit. We got beautiful blossoms, but sadly, no tomatoes. I finally made him throw out the plants because Eli loved to dig in the dirt, and it was making a big mess on the balcony (that he would also track into my house).

However, we started getting this weird plant growing, and for the longest time, we didn't know what it was. Josh said he had taken some of the seeds from a store-bought cantaloupe and planted them just for fun. After researching it online, we discovered that was the plant that was growing. It too had lots of blossoms that just fell off, but one has managed to make it--to my great surprise! I personally hate cantaloupe, but Josh and Eli like it, and it has been amusing to watch this thing grow since Josh's intention was to grow tomatoes (and peppers) but certainly not cantaloupe.

Train Museum

It's been a while since we went to the train museum (Labor Day Weekend), but Josh says I should still post the pictures. We did have a lot of fun, especially Eli! He kept saying, "All Aboard!" In fact, it was very interesting going inside the train cars and seeing how people used to travel. Okay, I know people still travel that way, but it's not as common anymore. Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Changing the switch

Waving good-bye to all the people

The Mail Room

Enjoying the bunk beds

Absolutely loving the toy trains at the end

Proudly wearing his conductor hat they gave him

Eli was not ready to go home. I think he could have stayed there all day. In fact, I had to laugh when I observed all the other families that were there. Almost every family had a child that was crying when they left, and the parents were assuring them that they would come back another time. :-)

Birthday Cake

Another birthday has come and gone for me, and Eli was happy to celebrate with us. It's too bad we don't live near family because he sure would have a blast celebrating the different birthdays. He was excited all day as he waited for the birthday cake. Can you tell from the picture (bottom left corner) that he couldn't wait any longer? :-)

Camping in Corpus Christi

Josh had the week off before starting the fall semester this coming week, so we thought we'd visit another part of Texas that we haven't yet. We made our way down to Corpus Christi, which is about 3 1/2 to 4 hours southwest of Houston. We were excited to actually try camping on the beach. When we went to Destin in April, we camped near the beach, but we still had to walk about a mile or so to get to the beach. In Corpus we actually had a seaside view from our tent.

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite what we were expecting. It was beautiful and the water was warm, but we didn't take into account the wind and its impact on camping. First, it was a feat just to set up the tent. We had to throw all our stuff in it even before it was up just to get it to stay on the ground. Then we had to unzip all sides of the tent so that the wind would flow through it and keep it up rather than cause part of it to collapse. Unzipping it was needed anyway because it was too hot without the air flow. Guess what happens though when the winds can rip through your tent at night? You get everything that comes with the wind, and by the beach, that means sand. It was bad enough to eat the sand for dinner. We roasted hot dogs, and it was pretty much unavoidable to keep the sand off them. But believe it or not, I'd rather eat a little sand than sleep with it. By morning, our tent was covered in sand, ourselves included. Poor Eli woke up in the middle of the night crying because he had sand all over in his eyes. He and Josh spent the rest of the night sleeping in the car and left me to brave the tent alone. I definitely didn't get a lot of sleep. However, had we not had the wind, we would have roasted to death, so I guess it was a blessing in disguise. I know that anywhere in South Texas is going to be hot in August, but it was scorching in Corpus. Needless to say, we cut our trip a little short, but we did have a great adventure that we can laugh about later. :-)

After packing up our camping gear and finding a much needed shower to get the sand off, we went to the Texas State Aquarium. Can you tell we like aquariums? It was a good one. We especially liked the dolphins and sea turtles.

Bye, Mommy!

Those are Eli's words to me when he's about to get into trouble and doesn't want me around. I'll ask, "Eli, what are you doing?" He'll look at me, wave, and enthusiastically say, "Bye, Mommy!" In other words, Get out of here. I don't want you around to see what I'm about to do. I started asking, "You're going bye, bye? Well, where are you going?" That one thwarts his plans sometimes, but usually "the boy" is not to be deterred. He just tells me point blank like it is. He points his little finger at me and says, "Go!" It doesn't get more clear than that. Since I know exactly what he wants me to do, I know exactly what he's going to get into:

T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

Another Year Older

Josh's birthday was yesterday. Since he had to work all day, we just had a low key celebration at home in the evening. He asked for homemade pizza and blackberry cobbler, so that's what he got. Eli and I actually surprised him on his gift this year. That's a first! Josh loves spoiling surprises. He usually guesses and takes all the fun out of it, but not this year.

We also celebrated with him on Saturday morning by going to the downtown Aquarium. It was Shark Weekend, and we thought Eli would enjoy it. We're not really sure what was so "shark weekend" about it (we went once before Eli was born, and it seemed to be the same), but it was still fun. Eli really enjoyed the train and the sharks, but we discovered he's more like his mommy than his daddy when it comes to heights. I went on the Ferris Wheel for Josh's sake, but it's not really my thing (though I did surprisingly well on it this time). We thought Eli would enjoy it, but apparently, it's not really his thing either. He kept saying, "done, done," and he looked like he was going to throw up. Josh keeps saying he's going to raise his kids to do the adventurous things with him since I don't like to do them, but maybe they'll end up being more like me. Poor Josh! ;-) Happy Birthday anyway. We love you!