Karate and Valentine's Day

Eli is offically taking karate lessons.  It is so crazy to seem him shy and intimidated...believe it or not, karate lessons are a struggle for him.  He tends to be very nervous.  We are hoping in time, it will boost his confidence!  Over the past month, he has gotten better.  At the beginning of each class, they have to do warm-up exercises.  They usually run in a circle, stop when the music stops, and then do an exercise.  It takes everything for him to run....yes, you did just read that.  My little kiddo that can't stop running just stands there.  This past week, he actually ran with his class....all of the parents cheered for him!  I was doing a little happy dance of my own.

Call me a kid, but I used to love picking out valentines as much as selecting a new lunchbox!  So, I always have to make a big deal about having the kids select valentines.  Jace had to have the Super Hero box which included Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, and Iron Man.  Eli knew immediately that he wanted the Star Wars valentines.  So, a week later we opened the cards to have Eli write on them for his kindergarten friends only to find out there wasn't enough space for him to write on (it was a sucker valentine wrapped in plastic).  So, scornfully, I had him use the label maker to write his "to" and "froms."  Now, being a teacher, I figured I would take a little heat for not having him "write" his own names on his card.....at least he helped type the names into the label maker...haha!!!
Last year, we started a tradition of getting the boys costumes instead of candy for Valentines Day.  Green Lantern has been the "it' movie around our house...so they both got costumes from Green Lantern. 

Happy 10th Anniversary!!

My sweety and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on Feb. 16th.  WOW!  What a wild ten years it has been.  We have visited 18 states (lived in 3), lived in 10 houses, and been to China twice.  I think I have worked in 6 different schools. 

To celebrate our anniversary, Rob had a beautiful piece of glass art made for us.  It has our wedding date on the upper section, then on the sides, it has the boys names and the year we became a forever family.  It is simply gorgeous!!  The picture definately doesn't do the artwork justice.

Family Time During the Holidays

Justin and his little bros

Jesse....the new Thor!

It has been quite some time that Rob has had his kids "home" for Christmas!

Mr and Mrs. Jesse Swanson

The boys LOVE Jesse!

Captian America

Amanda trying out being a Mountain Girl

One of the worst muesum....at least we had a cute photo session.

The gang sledding...the high elevation (9,000) can wind anyone out!

Amanda giving Jace some lovies...they hit quite  few bumps on the way down the hill.  Jace was not impressed!

We were very excited to have Justin, Amanda, and Jesse here for Christmas.  Amanda and Jesse flew in on Christmas night to stay with us for nine days.  We had so much fun hanging out, sledding, going to the Denver Zoo, sledding, and a day of museums.  Jesse had the boys rapped around his finger as he loves super hereos and guns.

Christmas Fun

Jace insisted on wearing "eye"protection while making Christmas cookies!

Eli the big guy....ready for the cookies to come out of the oven.

Eli with his decorated hand.

Jace with his decorated hand.

Family Picture

I am Thor!

Guns...Guns...Guns!!!



Christmas Programs 2011

This year, Eli and his CCD class dressed up as angels for their Christmas program.  You can bet I was there with a camera in hand.....my wild, sweet, little boy dressed as an angel.  I wouldn't miss this for the world. His crew had several Christmas songs that they sang.  The last song was Happy Birthday Jesus.  Such an amazing job was performed by all!

We also attended Eli's Kindergarten Christmas program at his school.  It was great that his program was in the middle of the day, which allowed me to take 1/2 a personal day :)  At his school, they have three kindergarten classes.  Each class had a different type of hat to represent their individual class.  Eli was amazing at listening and following directions!  GO ELI!!!  He really liked the fact that we could pull him from school after his program!

Eli Turns 6!

 

So I have NO idea why this above picture copied three times.....and as you can tell, I have no idea how to delete it!

Time goes so quickly....Here is a picture of Eli celebrating his 2nd birthday while we still lived in Michigan.  He is such a crazy boy! 

This year, Eli started Kindergarten...he was excited at first, but then he didn't think it was necessary for him to go.  Now, he is back on track of enjoying school and has made a few good friends!  Writing is the hardest thing for him...his letters are slowing getting to be normal size..haha. 

He has a love for....

- guns

- Bow n Arrows

- Ironman

- Thor

- Wrestling with his dad

- being silly

- riding the school bus

- bringing home sticks from school...seriously strange but its just crazy Eli

- JibJabs

- Starfall (he rocks at navigating a computer)

- his family

The list is only a beginning of the things he loves.  Eli continues to be an ACTIVE, silly, little boy (who is growing up way to fast).  I never knew I could love a little boy so much!!

Tree Trimming and Other Festivities

Eli is getting so big way too fast!

Little guy Jace enjoying his ride before seeing Santa.

The coolest train...ever!

Improving his eye sight, one day at a time!

I want to ask Santa for this!

Me too!!

The boys had a complete blast trimming the tree.  They even had to get out their stools so they could reach higher on the tree.  After the tree was complete, it was time to assemble the train.  Choo-choo...we only turn the train on a couple times a day...it has a lovely horn that goes off constantly! 

The previous weekend, we went to Bass Pro Shop/Outdoor World so the boys could see Santa.  The entire store was decked out in Christmas decorations...we had such an amazing time!  I was even able to pick up a few surprises for Christmas morning....gotta love being sneaky.

In one of the pictures, you may notice Eli has an eye patch.  He had his one month check-up post glasses.  Even though he has made some improvement in his left eye, the doctor wanted him to start wearing the patch two hours a day.  Eli is so cool with being a pirate for a couple hours a day!