Working the system

Last night when Elliott was not being a good listener at bath time and I was struggling to be patient, he warned me: "Mommy, if you get upset, you will be on Santa's naughty list." Well played, son. Well played.

A Star Is Born

Elliott's Christmas program went very well. They sang Suzy Snowflake (I'd never heard of it!) and couldn't have been any cuter.

Thankful for a moment to catch our breath

We broke with Thanksgiving tradition this year and accepted an invitation to join some family at the beach. We so desperately needed some time away from the stress and chaos that has filled our lives lately, and I'm happy that we could go. The weather was nothing but blue skies all weekend!

The only ones crazy enough to get in that 65-degree water were insane people, polar bears, and toddlers.  Elliott didn't actually swim. He would run out to the water and let the waves chase him in. But he fell down a few times and got submerged! Fortunately the air temp was around 75 so he never got too chilly. BRRRR!

Singing in the rain

I drink your milkshake!

Dear Daisy,

It was an honor to be with you during your last moments today. It was one of the hardest experiences of my life, but I wanted so much for mine to be the last touch you felt and the last voice you heard as you drifted off to sleep. I must have told you a hundred times that you were such a good, good girl.

And I meant it. Your whole happiness in life was to be near us. You just lit up like the sun when we walked into the room, even after 8 years in our family. We would laugh at how your whole back-end would wag, not just your stubby tail. And then the sound of our laughter would make you even more excited.

You weren't always the easiest dog to love, what with your smelly farts, your pestering, and your escape-artist tendencies. But you balanced it out with the kindest, sweetest, most eager-to-please heart that I've ever known. EVER. That light in you is the reason why I had to rescue you all those years ago at the shelter. I'm sorry that we weren't always as patient with you as we could have been. I'm sorry that you didn't always get as much attention as you probably wanted, especially in the past couple of stressful months. But your good and faithful heart never held a grudge for a minute.

I got a book for Elliott so that we could talk more about doggie heaven. It says, "There is a beginning and an ending for everything that is alive. In between is living." We had almost 8 good years of living with you, and I like to think that you had 8 good years with us. You are loved and will be missed.

Friday Night Lights

We went to see Uncle Brett play in the first round of the state championships on Friday. (See him? He's #64.) We're so proud that his team made it so far and that we got to go see him play. 

It wasn't too cold but it was much windier than we expected. Elliott and I spent most of the time snuggled together. No complaints from me! 

A sad milestone

Today was the Halloween parade at Elliott's school. He has been waiting to be a knight in shining armor for weeks now and was just beside himself to get to wear the costume today. But when we started to leave for school, he said that he didn't want to go. Then he started trying to take off his costume. He didn't believe me that today was parade day. He wailed, "I will be the only one wearing a costume. I don't want to be weird."

And my heart just broke. He has so much personality and I've always felt that a huge part of my job is to make him feel safe to be himself, confident enough to do his own thing. Every child feels that need to conform and that social anxiety at some point, but I really thought we'd have more than 3 1/2 years of freedom.

The good part? Once we got to school and he saw the other kids, he was so proud to be a knight again. But when all the other kids took off their costumes later, he said, "No, thanks. I'll keep mine on." And he wore it until this afternoon.

Fighting crime is hard work

Is today a day that ends in Y? Yes? Then Elliott is probably dressed as Spiderman.

A gift from the hospital...

and it's not MRSA. I couldn't resist this giant dinosaur balloon in the gift shop.

Go Bama!

Elliott, intrepid explorer & photographer

No need to remind me.

During dinner tonight, Elliott announced, "I used to be a baby. But then I growed up." 

Gulp. Sniff. Gosh, I appear to have something in my eye...

Beach Fun!

We went to the beach for a week during the break between semesters. Uncle Bryan came down for the last couple of days to provide Elliott with the beach snacks he has come to expect! And luckily the jellyfish only showed up one afternoon. The rest of the time we saw cute sea creatures, like this dolphin family.

A Plague Has Befallen Our House.

Eric has had some sort of respiratory virus for a couple of days and finally decided to share. I started getting sick last night and Elliott came to our bed this morning and croaked, "I'm having a hard time talking." Poor baby! These photos of jellyfish from the beach last week are meant to represent how yucky we feel. :)

Buckle up

Trust me, you don't want to see Elliott and Breanna driving through your neighborhood.

Yippee!

Today was the last day of the summer semester for Mommy. So get ready for more scenes like this!

I am not OK with this.

Elliott's school recently sent home these pictures. I refuse to accept that my baby is this grown-up. End of story.

Just another day at the office...

Cabbage Patch Kid

 Elliott got to work in the garden with his Pawpaw a couple of weekends ago. He came in sweaty, filthy, and thrilled. He was sure to tell us "I've been working so hard" for the rest of the day!

The Birds

Elliott likes the lorikeets at the zoo. Mommy's not so sure.

Future Gymnast?

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to the best Mommy in the whole world!

Couldn't have said it better myself

Today Elliott's teacher noted on his day sheet that when she asked him if he wanted to be a superhero, he replied: "No. Because Elliott is the best!"

Maybe we should work on being humble.

Some much-needed levity

Sorry for the long silence. Between Mommy's finals, Easter, the bad weather, and a house with 4 extra people for the past few days, things have been pretty crazy around here. We had 18 people for Easter this year. It was so wonderful to have everyone over! 

Now that you're a big boy, go mow the lawn!

Elliott has been daytime potty-trained for a while now, but we've still been using nighttime Pull-Ups just in case. Because he hasn't had any nighttime accidents in a really long time, we went cold turkey last night and he wore big-boy underpants to bed for the first time. I'm happy to report that his bed was dry as a desert this morning! (Except for his drooly pillow, of course!)

Flying High

Last Sunday was a great day for flying a kite!