I'm the favorite now.

Ok, well he didn't come right out and say it....but the bar was raised. hee hee hee

 I've made a tradition. For every one of my nieces and nephews, I make them whatever kind of cake they want when they turn 8. (I still owe Lydia because I decided to do this after she passed 8.)

 He picked "sea creatures" themed. I had made a lobster, clown fish, anenome, sea weed, and urchin spines before our trip.

 I thought with having his help, it would be more fun. Which it was. From filling the cake, to frosting it, to covering it then decorating it. Its a REALLY long process and I usually do it at night. Alone with my Mp3. And all the time in the night.

 He stuck by me the WHOLE time!! He truly was facinated and interested in the whole process. He is well educated in all things under the sea. Which he freely shared. I loved sharing that with him!

Of course there were others with  ideas to create and that was fine. I don't even know what he made. A ghoulish face or something.

If you've got it, use it.

In her case, it was a willing Aunt. and all that gorgeous hair!!! With our trip to idaho, she spent the nights with Ang and everyday I saw her, she had a new do. She loved it!! This was hers' (and mine) favorite.  

 With all her hair down, Ang sprayed it with hair spray to make it more stiff to work with. Silky hair isn't very obediant as far as placement.

 It looked like a rats nest before Ang started twisting and pinning. The sides first (right Ang??) and then worked on the pony at the base of the neck.

 Organized chaos. Simply gorge!

I'm not a fan of huge funky bows in older females, but simple large black flowers really make it classy. (in my own opinion.)

Images in this post are bigger than they appear

Due to Alisha's comment in the previously post, about how much Eli has grown in the picture on the sidebar, I had to correct that. The picture of interest is over a year old. To you family members, you're, traditionally, going to get your own hard copy, but these are for you other readers. I'll post these on the sidebar to update the blog. Here's this years school pictures for all the kids.

 The older she gets, she looks more and more not like me. Bummer. I wish she did because I'd be gorgeous! ;o)

 The biggest change I see in him is around his eyes and nose. And maybe the chin. The eyebrows too. Probably the shape of the top of his head. The jawline, kinda different too. And that's all.

 For some reason, he looks chubbier in the picture than what I get to see on a daily picture. Perhaps this picture caught that moment I always miss. The moment of him holding still. It's really all a blur to me, anymore. (@Mercy: "What has Ashton been up to lately"? Finished his football season and missing it. Throwing the ball in the house and chasing his little brothers down the hall till he can tackle them. . He's been so responsible lately about getting his homework done as soon as he gets it. He is also teaching himself how to write in cursive, something usually taught in the 4th grade. He's still got two years till he gets there. It's pretty ambitious of him. One thing that has me worried is, he faked being sick at school so he could come home because there's a couple kids that pick on him. He thought a good solution was call mom and go home. I've been observing the situation and trying to teach him he can't do that and how to stick up for himself. Other than that, it's still football this, and football that.)

 Our little kernal keeper is not so little anymore, for sure! He definitely looks much older. More angel kisses on his face. A half grown, grownup tooth. But same bright blue eyes and mischevious grin.

Speaking of angel kisses!!!! They just can't keep their lips of this boy! And I completely understand why. I can't either! Such a cuddly, lovey, affectionate guy. (No he hasn't lost a tooth, just a big gap is all). And the red on the head is here to stay! YEAH!

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.)

The little things in life

Or quite literally the little lifes. My own personal little "life" Dylan and I went to go see some of our favorite people who moved away before this little one arrived. We tricked them into accepting a dinner meal to be brought in, to get our foot in the door and be able to maul this precious pink package.

 Dylan had all sorts of questions on the drive there about babies and by the time we got there he knew everything there was to know and was prepared to educate the new parents. He also had one in his belly and it was a girl. (funny, he was "pregnant" a few months ago when they still lived close to us.)

 He found that little Madelynn has a super curl too. Her daddy insisted that she had, the laser eyes, super power, but Dylan thought that was silly. But thought it would be a good idea if she dressed up as a football player and played football with other little babies.

 His own super curl. (Notice the wound below his lips. Results of the previous post below.)

It really was fun to hold something pink and warm and sweet like this. ALMOST caused a craving of my own. But not quite.

Milestones

We went to Desert Industries (second hand store) to look for some pretty prints that jared makes frames for.

 And in search of some possible treasures, Dylan found a little bike w/out training wheels. To humor him, I set him on it and pushed him. To my complete surprise he actually peddled a few times and fell over (in my arms). So our search for a nice picture was abandoned and we left with a bike for Dylan. He was determined to learn how to ride a two wheeler. And if was there mentally, I was there to support him. Although I wonder if it had had training wheels, I would've taken them off to teach him. Probably not because I would use the cold as an excuse to wait till "next year". But luckily I didn't, I put my coat on and spent some backbending painful time teaching him. (It's kind of far to bend down that much for that long. Waaa waa waa. I know. Poor me).

So we tried two different times that day until he was sent crashing to the ground and scraping his lip and chin.

The next day resulted in this video.


It's the little milestones like this where the pride just bursts out of a parents chest. His grin was comparable to the one I had on my face.

Halloween 2011