My Eli

Finally, the kid who raises his hand every Sunday in Primary when they ask who has a birthday made it to the LONG-awaited December 14th.  How can you not be excited to celebrate with a kid who's been talking about turning four for nearly as many months?

What makes Eli Jonathan Eli Jonathan:

1. His infectious enthusiasm for everything.

2. His non-stop energy that both entertains and exhausts.

3. His hilarious albeit odd ball sense of humor.  His goofy nicknames and made-up words keep us laughing every day.

4. His big brother and best frienemy, Benito.

5. His wrestling buddy, Millie, who puts up with his antics all day long.

6. His action figures, whether Star Wars, superheroes, or Toy Story.

We had a little family gathering on the big day, and here's a peek at what made the birthday boy happy as could be:

His own Luke Skywalker! 

A chalkboard piggy bank that he could color himself



Millie thought it was real and couldn't keep from petting the little piggy



"Welcome to my house!" says Luke Skywalker from his Tattoine home

There's a funny story to this cake:  Ever since Stephen's birthday in September, when we were talking about "Daddy's favorite cake," Eli has been telling me that he wants a lemon cake for his birthday.  Three months and many reminders later, I wasn't about to forget.  So I'm baking his lemon cake an hour before the party and up comes Eli to ask why it's not a Star Wars cake.  I told him I thought he wanted a lemon cake and that I wasn't sure I knew how to make a Star Wars cake anyway, when he says, "Why can't you be a super mom?  Super moms can make lemon Star Wars cakes." 

Well, that was it.  The gauntlet had been thrown down.  I grappled to find any kind of connection between a yellow-brown lemon bundt cake and Star Wars.  The only thing I could think of was Luke's home planet of Tattoine, where he lives in the white adobe house on those sand dune type cliffs.  Liz showed up just in time to help make this whip cream beauty come to fruition.  Cake Wrecks, here I come!  But at least I was a super mom for a day.


Can you tell what Eli is into right now?  He is the echo of his older brother's interests. . .



Eager to eat their Yoda cake pops, courtesy of Aunt Kristi

Elefante Blanco

Look at the gems we scored the other night at a white elephant party with friends.

I knew Stephen had an inner Jane Fonda just waiting to come out



He just needed the proper neon headbands, hairbands, and legwarmers
(the little pink chug bottle completes the workout look)



As for me, I scored with a soon-to-be bestselling book called Mistakes Men Make

Mesh tank tops out of style?  Really?

The kids getting in on the white elephant goodness

What she wore

A little package showed up at our house yesterday for the littlest someone in our house. It contained a Christmas dress for Millie (Thank you, C & K!) to debut at church today, especially fitting as it was her first day in nursery. (Can I get a Hallelujah?!) It's the first time she's worn something other than Chucks on her feet to church in a very long time, because it's the first time she's had something fancy enough to go with those little dress shoes somebody gave us. I found the red coat at Goodwill this summer and love that something so cute cost me only a couple bucks.

Anyway, here's to eighteen months of brassy, sassy cuteness from Miss Amelia. 

Miraculous moment of still.  Maybe it's that branch in my armpit.

Speak softly, or scream loudly in my case, and carry a big stick.

Running, running, running.  I'm always in a hurry these days.

Eat your stick-loving hearts out, big brothers!

Lip-smackin' good kisses.

Making the most of it

Halloween on a Sunday = a bit of a drag.

No parties,

no trick-or-treating,

no gigantic bag of candy,

(which I'm sure most of you are thinking is a good thing,

but not in our house where we use those bags of candy to motivate our kids

for pretty much the next four to six months

to do anything and everything we want them to do

from eat their vegetables to clean their rooms.)

So what DID we do?

Got the kids to church early for their primary program
after their being up late for the ward trunk or treat the night before. 

Made cookies for a baptism.

Went to said baptism.

Watched a few Halloween movies.

Invited ourselves over to Grandma and Grandpa's house,

where the boys end up having a grand old time answering the door to trick-or-treaters with Aunt Kymber, eating yummy food, drinking apple cider, and mooching candy off their grandparents.

Our stir-crazy hooligans at Grandma's house.  Can you tell Mills hates the hood?

This is seriously the nicest costume any of our kids has ever worn.  Would you believe it's a hand-me-down?

Our little chick

Eli was hilarious answering the door and talking to the trick-or-treaters.
"That mask scares me!"  "Are you supposed to be a witch?  You don't really look like one."

Star Wars and Spies

Are we already to the age of goofy-faced photos?



Theme of the night



A number candle -- pretty exciting.

Daddy can't resist trying out the spy goggles

Bennett Andrew hit the big numero seis a few weeks ago, and we had a small family party to celebrate.  He's taken an interest in all things Star Wars the past few months, a testament to the power of marketing and peer influence, since he hadn't seen any of the movies.  Despite Stephen's vehement vow to never buy our kids toys again--due to their habit of losing, breaking and leaving them out--what's a birthday without at least a few fun gifts? 

Speaking of Mr. B, let me tell you what he's been up to lately:

1. Growing like a weed.  I can't keep up with his feet and legs, so don't be surprised if you see him wearing floods or holey-toed shoes.

2. Rocking the soccer field.  Boy, does that kid love to play.  He's made some fun friends on his soccer team and learned a lot about ball control and game strategy this season.  I get exhausted just watching him play as he defends the goal, covers the midfield, and tries to score goals or help somebody else score a goal on offense.  Talk about a workout.   

3. Reading like a pro.  I'm amazed at how well he can read and how quickly he seems to have figured it all out.  Feels like overnight.  I've always been a sucker for reading books, but having my own kid read to me even better.  Love it.

4. Struggling with Primary.  It's so funny because Benito is all about the rules at school.  We get glowing reports of his behavior, he frequently comes home with stickers or toys or other rewards for obeying, and he tends to hang back and be a little shy.  Then comes Sunday.  Gone is listening, gone is  sitting still, gone is following the rules, and gone is being quiet or shy.  Granted, his primary class is full of long-time friends, friends that don't see each other as often as they used to, so when they do see each other they want to talk and play.  It's like "Cheers" or something, a bunch of old guys hanging out at the bar.  B is a bit of leader, too, for good and more often bad in Primary, I'm afraid, something that definitely disappoints both me and Stephen.  We know he knows how he should act.  He chooses otherwise. 

5. Taking after his daddy.  Bennett loves watching sports with Stephen.  He can identify the different college football teams by their colors or mascot, he always roots for the winning team, and he likes telling us all about a great pass or touchdown that we missed.  It doesn't matter the sport, either.  If it's a competition he'll watch it, just like his dad.

Pumpkinville

Ah, Farmer John's.

How we love all the funky variety pumpkins

that grow in your coastal patch.

My boys love your tractor.

Your teepee.

Your corn husk hut.

And your hay.

Oh, and your wagons.

I love that you have actual pumpkins growing on the vine.

And towering corn stalks that make me want to play hide and seek.

And charging by the wagon, rather than the gourd.

Any excuse to visit Half Moon Bay is nice, too.

Vines and more vines

Pumpkins are a whole lot heavier than they look

Sometimes I wonder why I let my chilren dress themselves.
 A bright red reunion t-shirt, red socks and Thomas tennis shoes.  Seriously?

Mills, a little less angry that I won't let her climb to the top with her brothers

Miche Millie

When we found out we were having a girl--while pregnant with Millie; no surprise announcements here--Stephen's first comment was, "She'll be a tomboy for sure."  I assumed he meant the influence of two older brothers but later came to learn that HE wanted/hoped our baby would be a tomboy.  "She'll play soccer and basketball," began his vision that I kinda mentally faded out of and therefore can't remember in its entirety.   

Not only does Stephen love sports (see last post), but he also likes to take credit for his youngest sister being a tomboy, saying how he trained her to be that way from a young age.  She is twelve years his junior and was his "little buddy" growing up, he did coach her soccer team when she was younger, and she does love to watch sports like her older brother, but I wonder just how much of that is his influence.

Whenever Stephen and I talk about our early dating days, he claims he was most attracted to me when I was wearing sweats and a ponytail (go figure; if only he'd told me that at the time, I could have saved a whole lot of time and effort), "that just worked out kind of look," and mentions how he liked the fact that I grew up playing all kinds of sports.

Up until the past few months, we hadn't seen a whole lot of girl in our little gal.  Superheroes, cars, legos, lightsabers, and Wii remotes topped her happy list.  And though she still chooses these boy toys over babydolls, we have noticed a touch of feminine shining through her fiesty, toughgirl armor.

Exhibit A -- Bracelets
Anything that's round, stretchy, and under half a foot in diameter gets greedily grabbed and shoved onto her wrist or ankle.

Exhibit B -- Shoes
Happy to put on, or come up to you like a little puppy dog so you can help her put them on, and take off her shoes all day long, Millie walks around the house with at least one shoe on at almost all times.

Exhibit C -- Purses
Anything with a strap gets flung over her shoulder as she heads for the door, saying "Go! Go!"  Maybe it has less to do with being a girl and more to do with leaving the house, in which case, smart kid. :)

I hosted a Miche purse party about a month ago and earned some credit toward a few purses of my own.  When that package showed up at our house, guess who quite literally took her first steps to try and get to those shiny, new purses?  Daddy's little tomboy, that's who.  I cracked up and then waited a little too long to try and capture it on film.  By the time I grabbed the camera, she was back to crawling mode, but of course she still had a purse on her arm.

Defeating the Evil Empire

As a Bay Area born-and-raised sports fan I have bought into the Northern California vs Southern California rivalry. Which primarily means Giants vs Dodgers and Lakers vs Warriors, but also extends to Stanford vs USC. So when one of my Nor Cal teams beats a So Cal team, you know I have to rub it in. If any of you outside of California don't understand the importance it is somewhere in between Utah vs BYU and Red Sox vs Yankees.


For many years Stanford has lagged as USC prospered in football. But the times have changed and the Evil Empire has fallen. That empire has infamously been supported by USC finding many crafty ways to cheat. But their cheating days have been curtailed as they have been put on probation this year and are not eligible for a bowl game. To emphasize that point the Stanford Marching Band in a goofy and amusing parody spelled out WIN, and then SIN and then CHAOS to talk about USC's rise and fall as they have broken the rules.


Julianne and I got to go to the game on Saturday October 9th and witnessed the 4 year old stadium sold out and packed for the first time ever. Of course, over a third of the fans were cheering for USC, but that didn't stop us! The game was actually very exciting as both teams traded scoring each quarter. Stanford actually couldn't stop Matt Barkley (quarterback for USC) and Stanford's turnovers made the game a lot closer than it needed to be (I had predicted to Julianne that Stanford would score more than 31 points and win by 2 touchdowns). But Andrew Luck redeemed the Cardinal in more way than one. The first came toward the end of the 1st half when Stanford's running back fumbled and a USC player scooped up the ball and started running. All of the sudden he got walloped by a Stanford player and fumbled it. It happened so fast the guys next to me in the end zone seating were trying to find out who made the hit. All I could see was a number 2. It happened to be Andrew Luck #12, the quarterback. His hit actually landed the USC player on crutches by the end of the game. I have to say that was the hardest hit by a college quarterback I have ever seen and my second favorite by a typically non-tackling football player. Check it out on You Tube:



Andrew Luck nailing the USC defender from out of nowhere:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF9PFJI_t5I



So what was my all-time favorite hit? BYU's Punter hitting Chris Carr from Boise State. Check it out:



My favorite college football hit of all time Matt Payne against Chris Carr:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHWSTwMLrW0



Well, as I said the game went back and forth with USC taking the lead with about a minute left. But that was enough time for Andrew Luck to lead the team downfield and set up the winning 30 yard field goal. Check it out:



Game winning field goal by Nate Whitaker


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x4MhYcEBQo



Final Score: Stanford 37 and USC 35. You should have seen the dejection on all the USC fans and the Stanford fans jumping for joy. It kind of makes up for all those years of getting pounded by the team Julianne and I affectionately call the Evil Empire. For more Stanford football highlights check out this link:

http://www.gostanford.com/sports/m-footbl/stan-m-footbl-body.html


Go Stanford!

Safe from the bears

 While we were busy packing up camp, the kids found another use for the food cupboards.  
If only there were two more shelves, we could have fit little Millie and Peyton in there.

Good times in the redwoods

Tentin' it up

In the spirit of Stephen's last post on camping, and the fact that we're heading off to the redwoods again this weekend, I figured I'd show you the kids' favorite summer toy. It's no wonder we got the camping bug in August...

Millie finally getting a turn inside the boys' favorite hangout

 

When in Rome... drink out of your brother's water bottle

Who me?

Oh, yes, it goes outside, too

Best $9 we've spent at IKEA

Stephen's favorite summer hangout

Okay, so these shots have nothing to do with camping

but Cynthia and I were cracking up at how three boys

found a way to share one costume

Ward Campout at Lehi Park

Putting up a 5 person tent by yourself can be a time consuming thing especially when your two boys are off swash buckling with their friends:




Keep in mind this was before they got all hyped up roasting hot dogs and making s'mores

James Bankhead almost got the hang of using my camera, but his mom swooped in to help take a few photos of our succesful tent raising (I did forget one set of poles for the tarp, but it worked out in the end---there was lots of wind that night, but thankfully no rain)

Good times at the Ward Campout

Saturday morning the boys got to help with Michael Evans Eagle Project. Bennett and Ethan Lamoreaux did a great job filing some rough edges for the posts that were going to be cemented in for building a giant trellis to provide shade for an outlook area with benches. Daddy helped with some of the filing and then got to help use the power auger and do some grunt work.

This is how the boys spent a couple of those hours while Daddy was getting some "exercise" doing manual labor.

The boys loved the playgrounds at the campsite and begged to stay longer so they could play on them. Overall Camp Lehi was really pretty and a great place to camp. We look forward to going again.