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I was yelling up to Eli, to come down stairs the other night. I finally said, ‘Babe, just come down, please!’ When Eli got down to the kitchen, he said, “Don’t call me Babe, ‘cause I’m not that pig!”
The other night Eli said to Mike, “Daddy, when I get bigger, maybe I’ll have to borrow your underwear.”
It’s finally spring, and the boys have been loving being outside. This was our first picnic lunch outside in mid-March. The boys loved being out without their coats. 
Silas loves making Eli laugh….and vice versa.
‘How does that work?’
Silas is a daring boy…he headed down this hill, and I couldn’t help but grab on. He has no fear. I sure hope he gets a little some day. I just hope he doesn’t have this look on his face the day he gets his license.
My littlest guy in the shadows of the bare spring trees.
Eli playing ball with uncle Al.
We had a great time at cousin Max’ one warm March Sunday.
Si loved his ride from ‘uncle.’
Eli takin’ a ride with baby Lilah. Not sure that stroller was up for all those pounds. Both of these babes are in the 95th+ percentiles.
The boys trying to get the snowmobile running. They didn’t succeed….thankfully, but it kept them busy for almost an hour. Who needs toys, when you have an old snowmobile to play with?
Our Easter weekend entailed putting our company to work helping us put up a fence. I’ve been wanting to do this since we moved in. Now I know why I was procrastinating. It was a lot of work! But we got it all done in 1.5 days, thanks to lots of good help.
Silas was enthralled with egg dying.
Eli loves projects….and the little wires used to pick up the eggs.
Easter bunny brought the Jungle Book, and a few other things.
Silas got some new cowboy boots. They were his favorite. I think the bunny was hoping we could pry the winter boots off his little feet and replace them with something a little cooler.
Some egg hunting thanks to anutie Esa.
The new boots got a work out.
Tired boys needing a nap, but with eggs and candy in hand.
The boys love their auntie Esa.
We are so patiently waiting the arrival of spring. The boys enjoy the snow, but aren’t super excited about it. Our adventures outside don’t last real long. Silas’ gloves either come off or get wet, and Eli usually decides a movie inside sounds like more fun. This day, Eli was a snow pirate, and Silas insisted on wearing his rubber boots outside(probably the reason it didn’t last long).
Kind of a Viking pirate, I guess.
The boys are really into coloring and painting. Silas is interested in whatever his big brother is doing, so that makes entertaining him a bit easier.
Our paints were no longer separate colors, but all more of a brown after this day of painting.
Brothers sharing an artistic moment.
After watching Beauty and the Beast, Eli decided he wanted to be a beast. He decided he wanted a beast costume in 10 minutes, and felt I should be able to whip one up. We had to improvise, as I wasn’t ready to sew an entire costume that day. His lion costume was slightly altered to add some horns, some gloves with claws sewn on, and part of a pirate costume made a great-looking beast. While watching the movie, he attempted to transform himself from the beast to man, as it was happening on the screen. His expression when he saw himself as a ‘man’ was priceless.
Silas had fun with the bags one Sunday, and it encouraged me to clean the closet out. :0)
The guys hanging out…they love each other lots!
Mid-January, Eli got pretty sick with wheezing, coughing and a fever. We came home from the doctor’s with his first antibiotic, steroids, and nebs. He wasn’t a huge fan of the nebs, but enjoyed trying to give Spidey some. He was a trooper, and bounced back quickly.
Silas is pretty good at stacking blocks….even better at knocking them down.
The boys got into some shredded paper. Eli had fun pretending it was hay.
Future underwear model? Sorry, Eli, it’s just too cute not to add. :0) (I think he was pretending to be a barn animal).
Santa in January? Eli made a sleigh, had his reindeer ‘ropes,’ and bag of toys one evening. He delivered toys to Mike, Silas, Ollie and me. Such a thoughtful guy.
There continues to be lots of dressing up around our house. What an imagination our big boy has!
The other day we were in line at a store, and Eli was staring at the lady behind us. I had the boys in the cart, and Eli said after noticing the lady had an almost empty cart, “Mom, where are her kids?” I whispered to Eli, “Some ladies don’t have kids.” He looked kind of confused. I said, “Like Aunt Esa, she doesn’t have kids.” He replied, “Mom! We’re Esa’s kids!”
The other morning Eli said to me on the way to daycare, “Mom, why does it take so long to grow up?” One of the reasons he said he wanted to grow up was because then he could use knives. Anyway, I started telling Eli all the reasons he should enjoy being a kid. I said, “You don’t want to grow up too fast.” He said, “Yes! Esa said we grow up too fast!”
Tonight, I was changing into my pajamas. I have put on a few winter pounds, but not to the point where I was self conscious about it. As I was getting into my sweats, Eli said, “Hey, Mom, you have BIG legs!” Entirely innocent. I hope he was just comparing mine to his. :0)
We bought the Polar Express in 3-D, and the boys had fun one night watching it in the basement with their neat glasses. Silas kept them on long enough for this picture. I think the paci really makes the outfit.
Eli was pretty serious about it, and kept them on for the whole movie.
Eli decided to be backwards, inside-out Spiderman one day at home with dad. That costume has gotten more use than most of his clothes.
This poor Rudolph’s nose stopped glowing. Eli was insistent that it could be fixed with a new battery. Well, this toy didn’t have an easily accessible battery compartment. I told Eli we could cut it open and try to fix it, or leave it as it was with a nose that didn’t glow. He chose the more aggressive approach, and we did a little surgery(thankfully most of Mom’s surgery subjects don’t end up this bad). Needless to say we were unsuccessful in fixing it. Eli wasn’t too sad, and I wasn’t too sad about losing a stuffed animal – there are many replacements in the boys’ rooms.
Fun in the tub. It’s a lot of monkey see, monkey do in our house these days.
This was an interesting day. I decided we better get the boys to Santa before it was too late(it was the 22nd). I already had a busy day planned, as I needed to pick up a friend at the airport. We made it to the mall with just enough time to see Santa and get to the airport(so I thought). Thankfully I had asked aunt Sarah to help out, and she met us at the mall. The boys hadn’t had naps, so I knew I may have my hands full alone. As soon as we got in line, Santa went to lunch. By the time Santa returned, I realized that we were going to have to leave to make it to the airport in time. We gave Eli the choice of waiting with Aunt Esa(Sarah) or leaving the mall and returning the next day to see Santa. Of course, he wanted to stay. Silas and I went to the airport and Eli and Sarah stayed in line.
Eli got a little crazy in line with Sarah. Apparently, he was confident he was on the ‘good’ list already. 
Finally, the moment they waited for. Eli told Santa he wanted Spiderman gloves and boots to go with his Spiderman costume. At least this year he didn’t leave disappointed that he didn’t get all his gifts from Santa in person. What understanding a year can bring. :0)
A couple weeks ago, we headed to downtown on the newly opened Northstar light rail. We’re lucky enough to have the light rail come right to us in Big Lake. It took us to Target Field, then we hopped another light rail train to Nicollet Mall. The boys were so excited when the train took off. We pretended we were on “The Polar Express.”
The train horns were a highlight – not as loud as a regular train, but still train-like.
We pulled out the snacks in an effort to keep Silas sitting.
Food always makes trips more fun :0)
Our train with conductor outside. During our ride, the conductor was walking around the train checking on passengers. Eli said, “Mr. Conductor, who’s driving the train?” The conductor explained that the train drives itself! Well, sort of. Apparently the Engineer was controlling it.
Dad and his buddy in the skyway.
We found some people we knew in a downtown hotel.
Mike’s family and siblings stayed downtown for the night, so we met them at their hotel and they joined us for the parade and Macy’s display.
Waiting to see the 8th floor Macy’s display.
Waiting with Paige – they held hands the whole wait.
The guys(and momma) were tired after the 40 minute wait to get in, but we made it through the display…it was neat(a repeat from my childhood, I believe). The highlight for Eli was reindeer trying to push their way out of barn doors.
Elves makin’ cookies.
Dad and Eli ready for some Holidazzle fun. We bundled up, but it really wasn’t too cold.
Si hanging on my back – kept us both a little warmer.
Little Red Riding Hood was a highlight – the wolf came right up to us. Of course Eli’s favorite was “The Wizard of Oz.”
A tired crew on the way home. After all the walking, playing and no napping, we were beat. What a fun, Christmastime day with our boys and family.
