New Experiences...

Eli wanted a skateboard for his birthday...I love that he takes risks and tries new things (like chicken liver...see this post).

So before we went to dinner the evening of his birthday we took him to the skate shop and he picked out the different components of his board.  They built it while we were at dinner and we spent the rest of the evening through sunset like this...

Happy 7th Birthday Eli...

 Eli requested a coconut "Man vs. Wild" Cake from our friend Mallory...

 Then we were off to the Japanese Steakhouse for a fun, entertaining dinner!

 Eli loved the experience.  He ordered shrimp with a side of  chicken livers for dinner!!!  When we asked what made him order chicken livers he said on episode of Man vs. Wild...Bear Grylls said that liver has more protein than steak.  He liked the shrimp better than the chicken livers.  He said maybe the livers would taste better purple (like Bear Grylls ate them) instead of brown:)

 Will was a little unsure of this "steam engine"...

Happy Birthday Eli we love you and pray for a wonderful year ahead!

Eli is 5!!!

yes...this little boy in the pictures below

Eli at 1 year old...

1 1/2 years old with cousin Gus...

on his 2nd birthday with his brothers...

3 years old...

4 years old riding his big boy bike...

and here he is today at 5 years old...going on 15...

so on his birthday we took him to Hershey Park to celebrate...

and he decided that he was big enough to ride the Sooper Dooper Looper with his Daddy (I am convinced that he would do anything with his Daddy) and that's exactly what he did!  The video below is of Wes and Eli on the ride...

the video below is of when he got off of the ride...the quality is horrible but his face is priceless!

Eli we love you and are thankful that God placed you in our lives.  

You are the best helper

...a lover of God's creation ...

...the best "lookin book finder"...

...the pull up machine...

...creative lego builder...

...a great big brother (finally)

...the master puzzle builder...

...the "how does it work" engineer...

...a "fisherboy"...

...and a spunky little boy that loves to make you laugh (even if most of the time it has to do with the word butt).

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Eli at the Piano...

Below is a video of Eli practicing for his piano lesson...

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Eli...

I love how his eyes tell a story in this picture and how the chocolate on his face tells another!

As he was playing outside...I couldn't stop staring at these curls emerging from the bottom of his hat...

Wow, look at those eyes!

This is classic Eli...

Eli's Heart...

Christmas Tree Decoration (the 2nd time around)...

So when my dad was here last week, he helped me take down the Christmas tree and we placed it outside. A little later, Eli went outside to play. My Dad called me to the window to see what Eli had been working on...



Eli had taken all of the various toys laying around the yard and "decorated" the tree in his own creative way. He even found a shovel and some standing water and watered the tree when he was finished.