Eli is FIVE!

I can't believe it (I'm sure I'll be saying that every year)...Eli is five years old! We had a fun day celebrating his birthday on Sunday. We got to have his party on his birthday again this year. It was a Star Wars themed party at Zilker Park, which is what Eli requested. A lot of friends came and it was a beautiful day to be outside. We ended up having to change locations at the park from the pavilion with tables and shade to the grassy area by the playground because apparently the pavilion was already reserved. So, we went with plan B and had a picnic on the grass. It worked out even better than plan A in my opinion.

I regret that I didn't take more pictures, but I did get a video of us singing Happy Birthday to Eli. For the first time, Eli requested to be sung to and wanted to blow out candles. In the past, he didn't like the part where everyone sang to him and all the attention was on him. I guess being five has brought more confidence for Eli!


Speaking of being five, the day before Eli turned five, he was telling us all the things he was going to be able to do the next day. He said, "tomorrow when I'm five, I'm going to be able to run faster and build my Lego sets without any help". You see, the Lego sets are for ages 5-12. I think he was right because he definitely built he new Lego set without help! He also seems to have turned a corner with the whining and behavior in general since Sunday. It's crazy, maybe five is the magic number...for now at least! We are enjoying the positive, cooperative attitude while it lasts. It's great being five!

Eli got some fun gifts, perfect for him. It's been quieter around here lately because Eli has been working on Lego sets mostly, or playing with Star Wars figures, or exploring other new toys. Me and Legos have a love/hate relationship because it keeps Eli focused and entertained for a long time, but there's all those tiny pieces to keep up with. Oh well. Here's Eli in action:

















Addendum: I got a couple more pictures that I wanted to post. One is from our friend Randy that he took at the party. The other is from Eli's teacher, Ms. Bass, from his bday party at school. I brought popscicles for snack time. And I wanted to show you a few lego trucks Eli has put together. He already has at least three more like it!

Beer!

In my first trimester, I drank a lot of drinks other than water. For some reason, water just did not taste good, which is weird b/c that's usually all I drink. I bought some Fresca on a whim and had been drinking it a lot, so naturally, the boys wanted some too. I'd let them have some every now and then.

Since we don't usually have sodas in the house, Jed didn't know exactly what to call these strange drinks from a can, so he called them beer! I thought it was funny, so I didn't ever correct him. A few times after he woke up from naps, he would walk into the living room and say, "Mamma, I need a beer and pretzels". Picture him walking clumsily with squinty, sleepy eyes and a groggy voice. It was hilarious! I wish I could have captured it on video, but he wouldn't let me. Oh well, it's a fun memory nonetheless!

Big news!

Yep, we are pregnant! Perkins baby #3 is due on Oct. 22. It was a bit of a surprise b/c John and I were trying to decide whether or not we were going to have a third and we thought that we'd wait a little while if we did. So, that decision was made for us. Thanks, God!

We're excited, but it's still sinking in that we will have another baby. Eli is excited and Jed doesn't quite get it, but he does say he wants a little sister when I ask him. We'll find that out at the end of May. I'm 10 weeks along now and things seem to be going well so far. Pray for a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby. I did get to hear the hearbeat today at my midwife appointment for the first time! She said it was a fast hearbeat, which girls tend to have. Don't get your hopes up though, Grandpa!

And that's one reason why I haven't posted in awhile. I was feeling really nauseous and fatigued until about the last week. I'm still tired, just not nauseous, which is much easier to handle. So, thankfully, the nausea has ended...hopefully!

Eli plays T-ball!

Eli started yet another sport...t-ball! He said he wanted to play t-ball since he'd already done soccer. The first game was last Saturday. It was hilarious to watch. The kids got confused about which base to run to after they hit the ball. And whenever the ball was hit, our team would all run after the ball that was hit and then pile on top of each other to get it. Needless to say, there are several parents on the field to help direct the kids. It's through the YMCA, so to make it fair, there are no outs, every child bats each time, and every child scores each time. It's a great way for them to learn the game. I'm also impressed with the coaches. They seem to be very organized and communicate well with the kids. Eli has loved t-ball so far. He was excited to get his glove, bat, and the uniform. He's been the most excited about t-ball out of all the sports he's tried. I'm excited about more games to come! Go Eli Go!

Check out the picture with John and Eli. They are standing the same and have the same facial expression...crazy!

What we've been up to...

Sorry everyone, it's been awhile since the last post. Here's a little of what we've been up too lately:

During spring break, I took the boys up to Dallas to hang out with family for 10 days while John was gone with his sister, Courtney, to the Ukraine. Courtney and her family just adopted three kids from there. She asked John to go with her b/c her husband couldn't go back with her (b/c of work) to pick them up. John said the Ukraine was amazing. It was challenging, fun, exciting, frustrating, intense, etc. for all of them.
Eli and Garrett played really well during our visit. They kept begging to see each other the whole time. Here they are watching Grayson's soccer game.












We went to the Nature & Science Center with some friends and hiked on the trail there.











There's been lots of bike-riding!










Fun playtime at home!















Our annual trip to the Zilker Kite Festival. It was a beautiful day!

















And here are some pictures of Eli's last basketball game.

Snow Day 2011

We woke up to snow yesterday! It was a good amount for Austin, TX...maybe an inch or so. I always feel an urgency to go play in the snow when it snows here, since I know it won't last long. So, we quickly ate breakfast, bundled up, and went outside to play. We had a blast for about 20 minutes and then the boys were ready to come back inside because they were too cold. After some hot cocoa, they were ready for more. We built a tiny snowman and Eli did some snow angels. Eli also liked throwing snowballs, which were more like snow clumps. The construction trucks outside also got to do some work in the snow. Boone even joined in on the fun. He was running around and bouncing in the snow like a puppy. What a fun time we all had! I don't think the boys realize that snow in Austin is a rare experience. I think we made the most of it, nonetheless!

P90X Workout with Dad

Good father, son bonding time...

Eli can ride a bike!

Last Saturday Eli surprised us and learned how to ride his bike all by himself, no training wheels! It took him a few times around the cul-de-sac with John barely holding on and that was it. John let go and Eli did fine. We were amazed at how fast it happened! So, it's official, at 4.75 years old, Eli learned to ride his bike!

Eli had another bike that was heavy and smaller that he never liked riding because it was hard for him to get going on it. So, Saturday we pulled out a bike that was passed on to Eli from cousin Garrett. I thought it was still too big for Eli, but apparently not. It's just what he needed, I guess!

Tristan, our neighbor's grandson, was over that day, which helped motivate Eli to ride his bike himself. Tristan is 7, so I think Eli wanted to show off some for Tristan. However, it ended up that Tristan didn't know how to ride his bike either, so he asked his Pop (Mr. Mike, our neighbor) to take off his training wheels after he saw Eli without training wheels on his bike. And just like that, they were both riding around the cul-de-sac without training wheels. It's amazing what a little competition, peer pressure, and encouragement will do!

Jed also joined in on the fun with his balance bike that he got for Christmas. It's a bike without pedals that is supposed to help teach kids to learn to ride a bike. They use their legs for support and to make it go. Do you remember the Skuut bike Eli had when he was Jed's age (the one I backed over and crushed with the car)? It was a balance bike, so I guess it helped give Eli some skills. Eli had also been riding Jed's bike around since Christmas, so I think that also gave him some confidence on the big bike. Maybe Jed will be riding a bike soon himself!

I think I need to get myself a bike to keep up!

Here's Tristan and Eli

MONSTER TRUCK JAM!

The boys have been into monster trucks lately. One of their favorite things to do in the evening lately has been to watch monster truck videos on the computer with Dad. It all started a few months ago when Eli got a book about monster trucks. In the book, they learned the names of many monster trucks and their drivers and some other facts about them, too. Medusa is Eli's favorite, the only truck with a female driver, and Jed likes Destroyer. Grave Digger is a favorite, too.

So, John saw that there was going to be a Monster Jam in San Antonio at the Alamo Dome, and we decided that would be fun to take the boys. We went last Sunday, and I'll admit I was a little excited about it. I never thought I'd be excited about going to a monster truck show and looking forward to seeing Grave Digger and Destroyer and Stone Crusher...ooo, or even Maximum Destruction! It was so much fun though! Everyone should go to a monster truck show at least once in their lifetime. It is pretty amazing to watch giant trucks fly through the air and roll and loose wheels and stuff.

My only complaint about our adventure is the traffic. It took us an hour to get out of the parking lot! We paid for our parking spot online so our parking spot was very close to the Alamo Dome, but that made it a challenge to get out. The boys did great while waiting. Of course we had to drive the truck to the monster truck show, so the were happy to just be in the truck. I felt like we fit right in there with our big truck.

The day was topped off with dinner at a Mexican food restaurant on the Riverwalk. What a fun memory!

I have lots of pictures and videos, and I'll try to tell you the names of the trucks. That way you can be filled in and up to par with your knowledge of monster trucks. At least the boys will be impressed with your knowledge!

Grave Digger on the left & Maximum Destruction on the right






Here's Iron Man








And Monster Mutt. I like how the ears fly when he jumps.






Bonus! There were construction trucks that came out to help the disabled trucks. They also came out to move dirt around and put crushed cars and trucks in place to change the course.





















Here's Grave Digger, The Legend, which is different from the green and black Grave Digger...not sure why. In his freestyle, the truck's body fell apart! The other Grave Digger is below.









This is Grave Digger and Maximum Destruction in the finale. Grave Digger did a flip and crashed at the end, which I missed b/c I was trying to help Jed get down from his chair.







These are some pictures of the races they had at the beginning. I liked the turtle truck. I don't remember that one's name.






















And here's Destroyer, one of Jed's favorite's. Unfortunately, I didn't get this one in action.

Cavity

I forgot to mention that Eli got his first cavity. I have no idea how because I feel like we've tried to do everything right when it comes to cavity prevention. We brush everyday, floss everyday, don't eat a lot of sweets or candy, and don't drink a lot of juice or other sweet drinks. And on top of that, I've never had a cavity and John didn't get one until adult-hood. I'm pretty sure the dentist didn't believe me when I told her we've been doing everything she suggested for cavity prevention. I know that my grandmother on my mom's side had bad teeth, so maybe that's where he gets it? Who knows.
The cavity is filled and all taken care of now. We only had to pay $25 for it thanks to insurance and a credit on our account. Eli did great while he was getting the cavity filled. The mask they used for the laughing gas looked like a clown nose and it had a scent in it. Eli picked orange scent. I got a picture of Eli and his clown nose mask on my phone, but I have no clue how to get those pictures on the computer. The gas did make him smiley, which was funny.
Now the dentist says she's watching two or three other spots for cavities. We'll keep doing what we've always been doing and hope for the best, I guess!

Computer Crash!

Oh noooooo! Our hard drive died a couple days ago, so we lost some pictures. However, John did some magic and saved most of them. The ones we lost were all of the Christmas pictures plus some more I took in early January. Thankfully, the Christmas pictures are on Picasa and on this blog, so they're not totally lost. I had just deleted a bunch of pictures from my camera a day before we lost the ones on our computer, which is a bummer. Oh well! It could have been much worse.

Eli Plays Hoops

Eli played in his first basketball game last Saturday! We signed him up through the YMCA and were curious how 4-5 year olds were going to be able to get the hang of playing basketball. They surprised us with dribbles, passes, and successful shots! Eli really enjoyed playing and also surprised us with his skills. He was aggressive and went for the ball, played some good defense, and he even hit a shot! Eli seems more confident in basketball than he did in soccer. Maybe it's in the genes! Jed really wanted to play on the court during the game, but after we gave him a ball, he was content to stay on the sidelines and roll the ball back and forth. It was so much fun for all of us. I can't wait for more!