What's Eli been up to?

It's never ending with that boy and it seems that nowadays I forget to capture them on camera. I DID however capture this because he came to me for help. He found a box and knew exactly what it's true purpose in life was to be.

 A bird house! Homestyle at that!

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Walking home from picking up Eli from school, I asked him about his field trip that day to a pumpkin patch with his kindergarten class. He told me about the playground, who was in his group, and who the mommy helper was. (I REALLY wanted to go, but couldn't)  He also told me about the pumpkin he got that was now in his backpack. (So I grabbed his backpack and carried it the rest of the way home (Kinda heavy). I then asked him about if he had any homework or a book to read. Same old stuff we talk about everyday.

When he got home he took his coat off and then sat on the floor to take his shoes off. I had walked into the kitchen and came back to see him pouring something into his hand from his shoe. Puzzled by that, I asked him what it was.

Corn! of course! The conversation went something like this.

"Eli, what is in your shoe?!"
"Corn"
"Where did you get it?"
"My friend gave it to me at the pumpkin patch."
"Why is it in your shoe?"(I thought maybe they had a big pit, filled with kernals, for the kids to crawl around in and it just weezled it's way into his shoe. Like a pebble would do on a playground. But Oh no! NOT even close!)
"Because I didn't want it to fall out."
"Why didn't you put it in your pocket?"
"Because if I put it in my pocket, it would fall out. If I put it in my shoes, it won't fall out."

Oh! Ok. That makes sense. Right!?????? (I don't know how LONG they had been in his shoes, but it couldn't have been very comfortable. I guess stuff like that doesn't bother Eli.)

Eli's kindergarten

Eli has been SO excited to start kindergarten. Although now that he's been going for awhile now, he now tells me that he doesn't want to go to school anymore.

 Bummer, I was hoping we'd at least make it a month....

He's got a LONG road of school ahead of him.

A new piano technique I never thought of.

I love the intensity he plays with. And the placement of his fingers. And his over active tongue. And his quick little smiles. And his focused concentration. And the beat of the music. And his joy at sharing. And his face. And his whole person. And this song he was so excited to play for me, but wanted to "practice" first. And his sparkly eyes. And  his.............................................................................................................................

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                                                                                             Everything!

 The sunlight in my Life. Sweet Baby Eli!

Dylan's birthday

*Note: I'm going through Labeling all my posts. And I came across this post that never got posted....over TWO YEARS ago when I typed it. So I'm posting it now. It's got stuff I wanted to remember.*


I haven't really had any "creative juices" flowing lately and I was at a loss for what to do with his cake. I wanted to do a super cute one like the one found on this post....BUT...I didn't.  Simple, obvious, and kind of a perfect canidate for cake wrecks. (and to think i want to try and make a wedding cake.)

Anyways, it still turned out and tasted good. *That's all that matters anyways.

Dylan loved being sung to all day! When grandma and grandpa Lewis called to sing he would light right up. He'd look at me with the "I can't believe they're singing the same song as you mom." And then join in and sing along. He and 'Eli-stomach' (that's his name as of right thissecond) were in the tub. I was washing them and singin' to Dylan. After I finished Eli kept singin' to him. "Happy to you, happy to you...Dylan".

Later that night we went fishing at an (empty) fishing hole with Uncle Coley. It was still fun and seeing the ducks were the highlight.

Dylan got a singing flash light, blocks, and a hunting video game (NOT my idea!!!)

The next morning he asked me, "Haaah day?" And I sung to him again. Same results as were expressed above.

Some things shouldn't come to an end, but they do.

Eli-Otis

I haven't posted about any of Eli's antics for awhile. So I wanted to post before they were forgotten.

 On this particular morning. It was SOO cold out. But he wanted to go out and "enjoy the outside". I figured there wasn't anything wrong with that. Put on a coat and he was good to go. But then he left the house with a blanket. Then he came back for the rest of his bedding and pillow. Then he decided he needed his booster for something soft to sit on. It later became his prop for his pillow.

 Dylan  had to get in on the action as well, and to avoid any unneccessary whining, I allowed him out for a short time as well. But it was SOOOO cold! These pictures do a terrible job at portraying that. But it was C.O.L.D.!

 What I didn't plan on was Eli taking his shoes and coat off, so he "get warm in the blankets". When Dylan started taking his coat off, I decided they had been out long enough.

 He just couldn't understand WHY. But then I couldn't understand WHY he had to go out that particular morning and lay out.
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 Eli came and asked me if he could have the grocery bags after we returned from such a trip. So I let him have them.

 I walked in and found him sitting on the floor with all these bags and scissors. Before I freaked with him having scissors, I asked him what he was doing. "Cutting the handles off". "Why?" "Because I'm making something."

 "What are you making?" "It's for my friends." We had a playgroup date that day. "What is it?"

"A parachute".

He had cut off all the handles. Then cut down each side of the bag so you could flip it open. Then he took a corner and tied it to another bag's corner. After he did that. He had to tie the handles back on for them to hold onto.

The boy is genius. He plans before hand HOW he's going to make something. And how it will work. Any ideas on types of classes to put him in to allow for this kind of creativness to expand? Plus, he's REALLY good at tying knots! Sometimes too good.

It started with just one....

Then two....

 A third one snuck in as well.

 To request that some be put back, was NOT an option!

 Just one more.

 or a few more...

Before I knew it, I (the mom) was standing behind my vehicle, loading a bundle into the back of it.

And that is all.

Before they Rot

We finally cut the cord on the "big ol' pumpkin" and gave him a face. Somehow he became Eli's pumpkin and he choose a "goofy face". I think he looks rather cute! (The pumpkin too.)

 We had a late bloomer with this little watermelon and since the frost came and killed his life support, we took him in and gutted him. Then gave him some eyes. It was the least we could do after taking all that we did from him.

 The middle pumpkin, I believe was Dylan's. And the football....I'll give you one guess.

 Jade and Ash started this Halo pumpkin and I finished it. Mykael and Jade carved their pumpkins at their mom's a few days previous and I think Jade's pumpkin there looks A LOT like this one.

 But hey, if you've got a great idea the best thing to do is spread it. Especially to young influential minds like your little brothers.

Posers. And brotherly love.

How I made a Lego Batman Cake......

I started with the people. Because of the thickness, the more days they had to dry, the better.

 Robbin

 Joker

 Batman

 Batgirl's head

 Ta-da

 Lemon juice and food coloring

 Painting the windows

 We're going for the "building-looks-on-fire" image....It'll come together later.

 One of my favorites, the gutter!

 My all time favorite...trash bag!

 Gluing a thingys that hold the gutter to the wall.

 Tiny details....or big fingers. (like the color on my fingers from coloring fondant?)

 Trash can

 Trash can lid! Hee hee

 :o)

 Most (not all) the embellishments for the cake.

 Ok, so I was messing around with the royal icing and I had seen this done once (on a much more professional and perfect level) and wanted to try it myself. You drape the frosting from an edge and the let it dry. Then do the next layer and so on. Once it drys, you're good but if bumped it shatters!

 The hard part!

 The yummy part

 Squaring it all up.

 Cheeser. Gotta have proof I DID in fact spend this ridiculous amount of time making the preps.

 I was having to freeze and refreeze this cake. It just kept thawing out too fast! So much so that by the time I got the fondant on it, it started drooping and sagging and looking distorted. BUT...it's Gotham..nothing's perfect in Gotham. Right?

 Rice Crispies weren't a problem at all!

 So I bought this "impression mat" for brick pattern. L.O.V.E IT!!!! Totally made the whole cake!

 When I first cooked the cake and "assembled" it, it was WAY too small, so I rushed to the store for rice crispy stuff. Bottom level is just that, while the top (and soon to be shown second layer) was the cake.

 Angelle came over today to see me mess with fondant and try it out for herself. I totally took advantage of her artist abilities and steady hands and had her paint the cracks! PERFECT-O!

 Loving it even more now! Even the droppiness!

 Close-up of Catwoman and my awesome kicked in trash can!

 Batgirl

 Perfect imperfections!

The End!