SNOW!

My friend, Torri, has some AWESOME parents this year who like to try to "one up" the other one during their child's STAR STUDENT WEEK. For those of you that aren't teachers, every week at school we have a kid that is the Star Student. During their week as Star Student, they get to be the line leader everywhere we go, they get to sit next to the teacher at lunch, they get to bring special treats for their class, and they get to do lots of fun things. Like I said, Torri's parents have started doing really big things to try to "one up" the other one. It's kind of funny and the kids are LOVING it because they're getting to experience some really great things. A couple of weeks ago, a parent rented a snow machine and made it "snow" at our school for Torri's class. Since we live in Louisiana, we don't see very much snow, so this was such a special treat for her kids. They played for about two hours one afternoon in the snow and they all went home with such a wonderful, fun memory! 

When school let out at 3 o'clock, I called Diane to let her know that the snow was still out there and for her to bring the kids by so they could play in it. Eli and Marlie LOVED it! Hannah stood out there for about five minutes and then decided that the snow was not for her. She begged Diane to let her go back to the car. We realized that if we ever let the kids go skiing with us, Hannah won't last very long. Marlie and Eli though would have stayed out there until they had frostbite! They kept throwing snowballs at each other, running through the snow, and building snowmen. It was so much fun! 

I love little unexpected moments like this! I love that a regular afternoon turned into something very special for my little boy. I hope I can always make fun memories like this for my little boy :) 

Playing in the Puddle

One of the things my little boy loves is being able to play in puddles. Thanks to his Christmas gift from Zue-Zue (a pair of new rain boots), he's been able to do this a lot more lately. The back of our house is in great need of some dirt, but until everything gets leveled, we have a nice little pond after it rains. One day during our break, Eli and I went outside so he could play in the water. I loved watching him just be a boy and took lots of pictures of him having fun :)

I love you, sweet man, and I know these days of playing in puddles won't last long, so I plan to remember them and treasure them forever :)

Happy 4th Birthday, Molly!

At the beginning of January, we celebrated Molly's 4th birthday. My friend, Dara, leads quite a busy life if you're keeping up with this blog. Just a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated her twins', Meredith and Jackson, birthday. Eli was very excited to go celebrate Molly's birthday. He and Molly are 10 months apart, and I've loved watching the two of them grow up together. 

Dara outdid herself and threw an amazing carnival themed birthday party for Molly. The entire gym of our church was filled with carnival games, carnival food, and two jumpers. There was so much to do! Our first stop was to guess how many suckers were in this jar. It may look like Eli is really concentrating on counting those Dum-Dum suckers, but really he was staring at the huge dragon bouncy house he couldn't wait to jump in.

Eli immediately found Hannah and the two of them stuck together like glue for the rest of the party. If these two ever do date, I don't know if Diane and I will be able to contain ourselves :) Eli's going to have to do some growing between now and then though :)

The food table

The cake table under the "Big Top"

The precious birthday girl!

Eli and Hannah didn't stray too far from the dragon bouncy house, and I managed to capture a quick picture of Hannah, Molly, and Eli. I love all these kiddos so much!

Diane and I got some hot dogs for Hannah and Eli, and we forced helped them eat before they went back to the jumper. As you can see, Eli was more interested in the slinky he found rather than eating. Big surprise :)

The two proud parents, Whest and Dara

Diane and Hannah

Big sister, Whestley, and Meredith

It took a little convincing, but we finally managed to get all the kids out of the jumpers so we could sing Happy Birthday to Molly. Dara made her a cookie cake this year rather than a big birthday cake. It made me have flashbacks of all the cookie cakes I devoured growing up from The Great American Cookie Company. Oh, man, those were good!  

Eli actually ate a cupcake this time before going right back to the jumper. By this time, he was beginning to run on empty, so I knew he wouldn't last much longer without a nap. 

We watched Molly open a few of her presents and then we had to leave. 

Eli picked up his treat bag of cotton candy, which he LOVED, and we headed home. We walked through our door and he immediately said, "Mommy, I'm ready for my nap." He took off his shoes, used the restroom, and before I knew it was sacked out in his bed. Little man was exhausted!

It was such a fun birthday party and we're so glad we were invited! Happy Birthday, Molly! Hope you had the best 4th birthday ever!

Happy 1st Birthday, Meredith and Jackson!

Back in December, we celebrated Meredith and Jackson's first birthday. Meredith and Jackson are Eli's friend Molly's little sister and little brother. My friend, Dara, their mom, planned a cute farm themed birthday party for them. The party started right in the middle of Eli's naptime, so rather than miss his naptime, we opted to go to the party late. We got there right as the twins were opening their gifts :)

Jackson

Molly helping her little brother and sister open their gifts.

Their big gift was matching rocking chairs

After the gifts were opened it was time for cake. Dara always makes the cakes for her kids, so I love seeing what she does every year. This one looks great as always :)

Meredith's smash cake

Jackson's smash cake

The food area

We sang "Happy Birthday" twice, once for each twin, and then Dara and Whest put them in their chairs for their smash cakes. 

It took awhile for them to try the cake that was sitting right in front of them, so Dara helped each one get a little taste of the icing. They weren't really sure about the whole thing as you can tell. 

Like usual, my non-eater chose to play rather than eat anything at the party. He loved the bouncy they had at the party, so much so that right after this picture was taken he decided to nose dive out of it and get a nice carpet burn on his nose.

Even with the nose dive, it was still a wonderful party celebrating Meredith and Jackson's birthday. We love the Shirley family! Thanks for inviting us!