Happy Fathers Day!

I must start by saying that Eli is totally convinced that he has the best daddy in the entire world, as he should be :) There are some things in life that will never get old, and watching my boys together is definitely one of them. I'm so very thankful to have such a kind, loving and devoted husband and father to our sweet boy. We had a really special day today celebrating our extra special daddy! We went to church, then packed a picnic lunch for afterwards. We 'enjoyed' a hot & sweaty lunch in the shade, and let Eli run around for a while. He did a lot of playing and very little eating, but the boy had some new territory to explore!


The heat didn't seem to slow him down one bit!
He was NOT excited when it came time to head home. He was filthy, tired, and probably hungry, but he would have gladly stayed and played for hours.

We came home and re-fueled, and then headed back out to Nana and Pop-Pop's house for dinner. Nana was so kind to feed us a delicious dinner, and Eli loved his special play time with Nana & Pop-pop as always.



We had one tired boy tonight! He had a full day of fun, and thinks that everyday is Father's Day anyways. I can't wait until he grows up and his truly able to appreciate what it means to have such an amazing father.

Father's day is always such a hard day for me, as I want nothing more than to spend it with my dad, or even be able to call him up and tell him how much I love and appreciate him. I'm thankful for the 21 wonderful Father's Days that I was able to spend with him, and always use these harder days to reflect on the great memories that we had together. I will forever be blessed by the legacy that he left.

Bare Bottoms & Baby Pools

We've been so busy recently that I feel like we've done enough to fill an entire summer! Our trip to Virginia was so much fun, and just what we needed. We played hard, relaxed, and spent some amazing quality time with family. My family can't get over how much he changes each visit, and they just love him to pieces. He made us laugh hysterically, he slept unbelievably well, and he learned so many new things. And most importantly, he was SO good in the car that it just blew me away. I was really anxious about making that drive alone, but he certainly made me one proud mama!

This weekend has been full of college baseball. We had some of Danny's senior baseball guys over on Saturday to watch the Coastal/South Carolina game, and then we went out to watch the Clemson game that night. We've also been spending a lot of time outside, but have been getting creative with ways to stay cool. We tried out the sprinkler one day, and that night decided to get our boy a baby pool. It was the best $10 ever spent! We went with a smaller pool that way we could bring it inside in between uses. It's made for a lot of fun inside & outside!

Daddy blew it up before church yesterday morning, and we couldn't keep him out of it!
Yesterday after church he took a dip in his new pool. It was so hot that Danny & I would have been in there with him if we could have fit.
He talked to the ducks, and watched his bouncy ball float around in the lake after he threw it down the hill. Lesson learned!
We don't have any pool toys yet, but our beach toys work just as well.
And what's the best part about getting out of the pool? Running around in his birthday suit after! Yes, I'm aware that he'll hate me for this someday. But it was too cute to pass up!

This picture just about sums him up these days. I wish I could just hit freeze and have him stay this age for a few more years!

We had a fun church picnic last night at a beautiful Rec center on the water. Lots of good food and fellowship.
Poor Eli couldn't get in the pool, but he still had a lot of fun watching and walking with his daddy.
Had to show off his new monster truck!

We're gearing up for a long week this week, and I'm just praying that Friday comes quickly! Danny has 4 night games this week, 2 of wich are in Charleston. We're just trying to make it through the next 2 weeks, and then we'll have a much needed break from baseball for a while. At least I think we will :) Then we can really focus on getting ready for the biggest wedding of the year! July 10th is my best friend's big day, and Eli will be making his first wedding debut. We're hoping that he'll just make it down the aisle, and not cause too much of a disturbance! I'm dieing to see him in his tuxedo.

Virginia Zoo

Eli and I are in Virginia this week, and have really been making the most of our time here! We were very sad to come without Dan this time, but he is super busy with legion ball this week and weekend. When I found out that he would be in Charleston all this weekend, I figured that I would brave the 8 hour trip and come spend some quality time with family. My best friend Danielle is getting married next month, and it worked out that she has a big shower this weekend that I could make. It's been a huge adjustment getting use to being home and my mom not being here. It's just not the same and we all really miss them being here! I now know what my mom felt after my move to South Carolina.

We've really enjoyed taking Eli to do some fun 'new' things. We spent the afternoon at the amazing VA Zoo yesterday, and I think Eli absolutely loved it. Other than the fact that it was 95 degrees and as humid as ever. He really didn't seem to mind the heat, and never made even the slightest fuss the entire time. It was cute to see his little mind working as he took in all of the animals that he already 'knew' from his books at home. He practiced all of his animal sounds, and even learned a few new ones. I just wish we had a zoo even half as nice as this one close to us, or even a zoo at all for that matter! I can't wait to go back in the fall when it's not quite as hot.
Taking a water break with the Elephants
Crazy monkeys!


It didn't take him long to get brave and wet!

Riding home in his birthday suit. I wasn't prepared for the water play, but he didn't seem to mind.

We just can't wait to get back to the zoo again soon!

13 Months

Well, I blinked and another month flew by. But what a fun month it was! In the midst of all the birthday madness, I forgot to do my monthly update last month.

So, here’s what Eli is up to at 13 months...
*Running too fast, climbing too high, and falling too often
*Some of his new favorite foods are: meatloaf, eggs, pancakes, and watermelon. He goes crazy for fresh zucchini and squash, and will still knock anybody down who gets in the way of his blueberry eating. He is such a great eater, and for that I am so thankful. He will truly eat anything that we put on his plate.

(Stuffing his face with a roll, and politely offering some to mommy)
*His newest and most used phrase is, “Ohhh No!’ He also still says dog and duck about 100 times each day. Dada and ‘dah’ are said far too many times to count, and usually WAY too loud.
*He’s finally starting to do a little sign language, but I really just concentrate on getting him to say the actual word. He knows more, please, thank you, & all done but prefers to whine & yell when he wants ‘more’ and get very impatient instead of asking ‘please.’ We’re making progress though!
*He had his first encounter with the concrete in front of our house, and has the battle wounds to prove it. His daddy has had fun making up different stories for each person that asks what happened.
*He still LOVES to read books
*He still loves to dance and now tries to sing
*He’s extra ticklish these days which we absolutely love. We never get tired of that laugh!
*He’s wearing size 12 month clothes, size 4 shoes, and weighed in a little over 20lbs at his 1 year visit.
*He has the sweetest little voice, and we love hearing him carry on conversations with himself (not that we'll ever know what he's trying to say).
*He's become an excellent basketball player, with no encouragement from his father of course.
*He's still taking 2 good naps each day, but is finally to the point that he can skip a morning nap and survive until the afternoon. He just loves his bed to pieces!
*He went swimming for the first time this weekend, and loved it! We’ve all been dieing to get him in nana & pop-pop’s pool. His little feet never stopped kicking the entire time!





We've got some exciting things going on in the weeks to come, so there's sure to be a plenty of pictures on the way!

Trying to Keep Up

We have been so busy lately. We had a successful garage sale at our house last weekend, and will be helping out with another one this weekend at Danny's parents house. We're hoping to sell the rest of what we didn't sell last weekend. We're also transitioning from the end of one baseball season to the beginning of another. The month of June will be somewhat of a whirlwind, but I'm sure it will be over before we know it. Danny was asked to help coach a legion team on the island, and we felt it was too good to pass on. Even though I think we could all use a break! My only request was that we try and find time towards the end of summer for a family vacation, my goodness we're going to need it!

Eli has been congested, drooling absolute buckets full, and running a low grade fever off and on for well over a week. If it weren't for the excessive drooling I would have thought he had a cold, but he's most certainly working on some teeth. I'm hoping that it's his one year molars, because boy am I ready to get those behind us. I haven't bothered to take him to the Dr. because he's still been his usual happy self despite his congestion and other symptoms, and has still be sleeping well. This too shall pass.

I know I say it often, but this boy keeps us laughing ALL of the time. He is such a mess. Danny and I love sitting down at night and talking about the funny things that Eli did that day. Sometimes we even re-enact them if one of us missed it. I can tell that Danny is just loving these days with Eli, as he's becoming such a little boy and is learning SO much each day. I've been doing a Bible study on Tuesday nights, and they just play hard the entire time I'm gone. Danny loves Eli's new basketball hoop, and gets just as excited everytime Eli makes a basket. We're working on many new words, and trying our best to interpret what we call 'Eli language.' He knows many animal sounds, and has learned which sound goes with which animal.

Speaking of animals...this boy loves animal crackers. So much that he took it upon himself to open up a bag and have a few before lunch!


Here's my little laundry 'helper'


I found a few videos from Mother's Day that I forgot to post.

He's very into crawling around the living room on his head.


He also loves to take a rest in the middle of the floor and saw awwww. He's such a mess!


We have another really busy weekend coming up. With a total of 3 graduation parties to attend and the big garage sale, we're sure to be exhausted come Sunday night!

Champions!

Last night we had the pleasure of cheering on our guys as they took home the 3-A baseball state championship title!! Of course we thought they were already champions in our book :) Karissa(Trevor's wife) and I were so very fortunate to have wonderful friends step in to watch our kids so that we could go and support our husbands. I can't thank you enough Amanda!!! We would have been so upset if we had missed this game. These guys may never get the opportunity to coach in another state championship game. They really deserved it, and we were so proud to be able to witness it!

It was definitely an 'on the edge of your seat' kind of game. We started out with a 3 run lead, but quickly gave them 7 runs after multiple errors. We went in to the 7th inning needing to score 4 runs to tie it, and that's exactly what they did! I've been to more baseball games than I could ever count, and played in hundreds of softball games, but never one as exciting as this. We went on to score 3 runs in the 8th inning, and were able to hold them to 2 runs and that is how the Eagles got their title! It was a nail-biter, and I couldn't stop shaking for the last 2 innings. I truly can't imagine what I'll be like as a parent when it comes time for mine to play in big games like this. Oh wait, a nervous wreck! After last night, I'm thinking I wouldn't mind having another boy ;)
the coaches doing what they do best
The fans storm the field!



Daddy had to let Eli try on his new medal!

Geez this thing is heavy!

This & That

Here's a little bit of what we've been up to, other than the big party! We loved that some of our family from out of town were able to make it to celebrate Eli's birthday. Eli loved his time with cousins Chase & Jacob, and got lots of love from Aunt Katie & Uncle Charles. We can't wait until baby Luke makes his big debut and joins this crazy bunch :) Eli has been the youngest cousin for quite a while now, but that will soon change.

Not so easy to get these 3 to sit still for a picture! We sure do make some pretty handsome boys in this family!

After the party madness was over on Saturday, we decided to spend a relaxing day at the beach on Sunday.

Eli jumped some waves, then ran from some waves, and then ran some more just because. He loves being able to roam freely at the beach. He'll sit down just about long enough to eat some lunch or grab a quick snack. Boy was I glad to have some extra hands for once!
My boys :)
MiMi taught Eli a thing or two about sandcastles. He was interested for about 5 minutes or so.
He loves being outside!
We enjoyed every second of our time with Mimi and Papa Tom, and we were so very sad to see them head off to Texas. But what an adventure they're on! We can't wait to get out to Texas and visit them in the fall. But until then...we're counting down the days until July when we'll get to see Mimi again!
Eli loves his new Elmo that he got for his birthday. He carries it around with him all day somedays. It's been a huge hit in our house. Thanks Billy & Amanda! Amanda even found an Elmo book titled 'SOOO Big!' He just loves it.

Even Papa Tom showed Elmo some love!

That's all for now!

Mother's Day

I'm so thankful to be a mother to this little guy. He's given me two wonderful Mother's Days in his short little life. I couldn't help but think about my very first Mother's Day last year. Eli was only 10 days old, and we took him to church for the very first time. Even though I was still recovering from surgery, and was running on very little sleep, I was so overwhelmed with joy to finally be called a mother. This mother's day was pretty low key. We went to church, and I was on nursery duty in Eli's class. I wasn't sure how he'd do with me in the same room, but he could have cared less until the very end. When he's really tired, he gets extra jealous when I show attention to other kids.

I had the privilege of cooking a Mother's Day dinner for my wonderful mother-in-law and father-in-law last night. She's always cooking for us, so it was nice to be able to give her a much needed break! We had a fun night together, and of course Eli was a ham the whole time. He was running on very little sleep, and is getting another tooth, so it was nice to have nana and pop pop to play with and distract him for the night. Nana helped him mow the lawn after dinner. Then gave a few horsey rides before bed :) I got some pretty cute videos of him too! He lauged hysterically for about 30 minutes straight while using a bottle of tylenol to press the buttons on his train book. I know, it doesn't take much.(And yes, the lid was secure on the bottle!)






He had a blast playing fun games with his Nana!


Couldn't leave out this picture of Eli & his MiMi from last weekend!



I feel SO blessed to not only be a mother, but to have such a great mom and mother-in-law. I don't know what I'd do without them. My mom is truly one of my very best friends, and I feel so lucky to have that kind of relationship with her.