Fun at the Park

Just like in my last post, Eli is getting bigger and bigger all the time!  Yesterday, we went to the "Purple Park" (across the pond from our house--a much desired destination) while the house was being shown.  Yes, all seven of us!  (Mom, Dad, Me, Hannah, Eli, Buddy, and Noah!)  Dad was playing with Eli on the swings and was able to get Eli somewhat comfortable on the "big boy" swings!  He wasn't able to go very high, but it was a pretty exciting moment for him!  (Well, for Gabah too!)  :)

Rediscovering an Old Favorite...

Hannah and Eli Playing Hullabaloo

Standing on his favorite--the drums.

"Fly to the..."

 Eli is finally at an age where he can enjoy games.  He still has some trouble with following rules, sharing, being a good sport, etc. but he's continually getting better.  Two games we've started out with are the Cranium games Cariboo and Hullabaloo.  These were both favorites of Hannah's when she was his age.  I think his very favorite is Hullabaloo where the speaker tells where to step next (color, shape, category, etc.)  Actually, it's not usually "walk to..." it's "hop to" or "spin to" or "jump to" or "fly to" and lots of others.  And then it says "freeze" and whoever is standing on the announced pad wins.  Then the winner gets to do a "victory dance" or bow or do a "victory jump."  Eli's favorite pad to step on is the drum.  He's usually standing on it unless he's encouraged to move to another pad.  It's great to watch him play, and it's also especially fun to see him do his "victory dance."  Luckily, he has several people who love to play it with him--Brent and Hannah.  Even the dogs like to get in on the fun!  (well, they like to lay in the middle of the game pads.  Ha ha ha)  It's great to watch them all play and I can't wait for him to get better and better at playing games!

Buddy is trying to play

Brent and Eli playing together

We're Back!!

Hannah's 1st Grade Class

It's been almost exactly a year since we've posted on here, so I thought maybe we should get started up again!  We've had a pretty busy year here.  Eli is about to turn three in just over a week and next Saturday we're having a pirate birthday party for him.  We've got some other big news--we're moving to Columbia, Missouri in August!  It'll be great to be living near Nannie and Paw Paw.  Hannah just finished first grade and had a wonderful year, and for the past year Eli has been going to the Montessori school where Hannah spent 4 years.  I'll try to keep things more updated, but for now I'm signing off...

A Wonderful Trip!

  We recently got back from a wonderful trip to North Carolina!  First, we saw my cousin, Christy, get married to a great guy, Dustin!  It was a beautiful wedding, and the reception was very fun, especially for the kids who loved dancing the afternoon away!  Eli looked especially cute in his little suit.

After the wedding, we drove, along with Nannie and Paw Paw, to the Outer Banks for a couple days!  We stayed just north of Nags Head in Kill Devil Hills right on the beach!  We saw some beautiful lighthouses, visited the place where the Wright Brothers took their first flight, went to Roanoke Island to see interactive exhibits of the first settlements and an old English ship, as well as interactive exhibits of life in the old times--complete with dress-up areas, enjoyed the great restaurants, and collected some beautiful sea shells!  And, of course, spending the time together as a family was priceless!  It seemed way too short, of course!  But the Weaver clan gets to look forward to a 2-week-long road trip to northern Wisconsin and Michigan in August! 

Future Gymnast???

Eli and I go to The Little Gym together every Thursday morning.  For those of you who do not know what the Little Gym is, it's a 45-minute long "class" where they do group activities for part of the time, and play on mats and other gymnastics equipment (down-sized for toddlers) for the rest of the time.  Eli LOVES going and he's gotten really good at using the equipment!  On Thursday mornings when we get ready to go, he says "GYM!!!"  I'm posting a few pictures on here of him "performing" at the gym.  They may be a little fuzzy because they were taken with my cell phone, but you'll get the idea, anyway...  :)

My Little Clown

Eli is certainly becoming a more active and show-off-y little guy!  As he grows older (I cannot believe we're closing in on 2!), he gets funnier every day.  And he loves to make people laugh.  But, of course, like all toddlers, he likes to do his own thing, too.  He has finally figured out "no," so when I say "let's do ..." he loves to say "no."  Of course at the moment it's pretty cute, but I'm sure the cuteness will wear off really quick.  Another favorite is "again??"  That's pretty cute, too, until he gets upset when the "again" can't happen.  ;)  So, here are a couple pictures of Eli being a VERY cute and funny little guy.  (Yeah--in the third picture, he's wearing Hannah's shoes.  LOL)  I'm also including a silly one of Hannah, as well as a really great picture of Hannah and Eli reading a Dr. Seuss book with Gabah. 

The Games Kids Play

I've really enjoyed seeing the differences between what Hannah liked(s) playing with and what Eli enjoys playing with.  There are some things, of course, that they both enjoy.  But there are some things that Eli loves that Hannah never touched, and toys that Hannah loved that he'll never touch!  One of the things Eli loves to play with is a hammering toy from the 60s.  All you do is hammer the six pegs, then flip it over and hammer them again.  And again.  And again.  He LOVES it!  Hannah's favorite things to do are almost always pretend play/dolls and some art.