Summer 2014-Update #4

June passed way too quickly and before we knew it July was here! Several years back Eli got one of these build-it-yourself kits for Christmas from Jordan and Addi. He was kind of too young then to use it so I put it away until he was old enough. One night when I had to leave for a little bit, Josh and Eli built the train together. Eli had lots of fun! The next morning he decided to paint it :)

The Saturday after the Fourth of July two of our good friends, Ms. Lori and Ms. Jenn, came over to visit and spend the day with us in the pool. Eli was shy at first but then warmed up quickly to them. We ate yummy food, played in the pool, played basketball, ate more yummy food, and spent lots of time catching up and visiting. It was lots of fun!

Eli has been wanting to learn to tie his shoes for a long time. We've showed him how to do it before, but he lacked the coordination to make the loops and do the wrapping around. This summer it all came together for him. We showed him about 3 times how to do it and by the 2nd or 3rd time Eli had it. We were so proud! I listed all the big kid milestones he's achieved so far (tying his shoes, riding a bike without training wheels, snapping his fingers, blowing a bubble, and reading) to him and told him that my job as a parent was almost done ;) We sent a video of him tying his shoes to all the grandparents so they could see Eli's latest accomplishment! Way to go, dude!

I was washing clothes one morning and came in my bedroom to find Eli watching Toy Story 2 with all his Toy Story friends. These are moments I will remember forever. Anytime he watches a Disney movie and has the characters from that movie they have to watch it with him :) 

He loves Woody and Buzz!

Our zucchini plants are making zucchini like crazy so I'm finding lots of ways to incorporate zucchini into yummy dishes. My favorite is chocolate zucchini bread. IT'S. SO. YUMMY. Plus, it has a vegetable in it :) Also, even though it tastes like cake it's called bread so you can totally have a slice warmed up in the toaster oven with melted butter spread over it every day of the week...if you wanted to that is. It's not like I've ever done that ;)

My zinnias in my flower bed in the front are huge and beautiful so one day I cut some and brought them inside. It was like a vase full of happiness for me :)

My friend Sarah and her family went out of town to Disney World and before they left she told me that we could go out to her house to pick blueberries because they'd be ready while they were gone. Eli and I had fun picking and eating the yummy blueberries. 

On the way back home, we stopped by the library so Eli could get some new books. He's still in the early stages of reading but the Level One books are perfect for him. They're the right mix of known and unknown words. We sat on the floor of the library and read a couple before checking them out and bringing them home. 

I'm very very proud of my beginning reader! I hope he falls in love with reading at an early age :)

Blueberries for Eli

Friday Eli didn't have school, so I wanted to do something fun and get us out of the house. When I signed him in for school Thursday, I noticed a flyer advertising a blueberry farm close to where we live. I'd been to this farm several years ago thinking I could pick blueberries only to find out I couldn't. I was very sad. I went with the hopes of picking fresh blueberries and taking them home and baking all kinds of delicious goodies. But at this particular time, this farm didn't have the "you pick" option. Now they do! I don't know if they are under new ownership, but I'm so glad that they have opened their blueberry farm to the public. There is nothing better than a fresh, ripe blueberry that just bursts in your mouth when you eat it. YUM-O! It's one of the things I think of when I think of summer. I checked their website and saw that for just $1 a pound we could pick as many blueberries as we wanted! If you're not into picking your own blueberries, they also will pick the blueberries for you for $2 a pound. It's a great deal either way!

We got there and the people who run the "You Pick" part of the farm were incredibly nice! They offered us ice cold water and sunscreen and were extremely accommodating. Eli and I chose to get just one bucket because I didn't know how long he would last. Picking blueberries sounded fun to him, but I kind of knew that he wouldn't last the entire time...boy, was I right about that!

The farmers told us to find the bushes with the light green tape tied around them because those blueberries were the ripest. We hurried off to find those bushes. I tried my best to make it as fun as possible for Eli. I purposely led us to some the side of the bushes that were in the shade.

As you can see, Eli ventured away from the shade to some other bushes to pick a few blueberries. He started off very interested in picking blueberries with me. He looked for the big fat blue ones and picked about five of those and then things started to go downhill. I'd love to say that our blueberry picking was idyllic and couldn't have been better, but it wouldn't be the truth. The truth was that I couldn't wait to fill up my bucket because of a certain little two year old that couldn't make peace with the fact that his toes were getting wet from the dew on the grass. Oh dear!

For the next thirty minutes, I scoured the bushes looking for big, fat blueberries and Eli whined about his feet getting wet.

(Dear Son, if you're reading this, I hope that over the years you've adjusted to getting your feet wet. I, too, hate stepping in wet grass, but at certain times, you just have to suck it up. Hopefully, you've made your peace with the dew on the grass. If you haven't, I'm guessing you never leave the house in anything but shoes that cover all your toes. Not matter what, I love you. I'm thankful that you were placed in my life despite your hatred of wet grass :) Love, Your Mother)

At one point, I was holding him on my right hip clutching my phone and camera at the same time, had my purse on my left hip, and had the blueberry bucket hanging from my neck. Whew! I tried to stay upbeat though because I really did want this to be a fun experience for both of us. I kept asking him to help me pick blueberries and even offered him some of the plumpest berries to eat right then, but Eli still wasn't happy. He kept asking if I was all done about every two minutes and trying to climb up my back so his feet wouldn't touch the wet ground. I managed to fill my bucket almost completely to the top and we darted off to find Edwin, one of the workers, to get some ice cold water. Eli posed with "our" bucket of blueberries. He was just happy that we were finally finished and his feet could dry off now!

Edwin gave us some water and that made things a little better. Just to clarify, we went at 8:30 in the morning, so it really wasn't that hot yet. I checked the temperature before we got out of the car and it was only around 80 degrees. Eli never complained about being hot, so the temperature was not the issue...just the dew.

They weighed our blueberries and packed them in a box. Our grand total was only $4.38. Wow! What a great deal! If you live in our area, please go visit them! They are trying to get the word out about this great opportunity to pick your own fresh blueberries and I feel the urge to help them out a little bit :) You know, blueberries ARE a super food and are extremely good for you!

I plan on going back in a couple of weeks to get some more. If I don't use them all this summer, I'll freeze them so I can have blueberries throughout the year. Hopefully, Eli will have a better experience when we go back. I'll just make sure he's wearing boots this time :)

Blueberries for Eli

Eli is a huge fan of fresh fruit, so we are trying lots of different ones to get him used to different textures. He's had all the fruits in the pureed baby food version, but now he gets to try chunkier pieces using his mesh feeder (greatest baby thing ever!). So far he's tried watermelon, peaches, pears, plums, grapes, banana, and blueberries. As you can see for yourself, blueberries are a favorite around our house! Let's hope he doesn't turn blue from the massive amounts of blueberries he's ingesting everyday :)

"More blueberries, please!"