Scripture Power

Oh Eli. He was wired today. Which is great for you guys, because I have some good quotes for you. But for us...it's only 7:00 and we're ready for bed.

Eli was crazy today from the moment he woke up. At one point he snatched a pair of scissors and ran with them, then hurled them across the room. That's a good picture of what today was like.

Here's another visual for you:

After our rough morning, we filed into Sacrament Meeting with a few minutes to spare. As we were settling in, Eli began staring at the woman sitting behind us. With concern in his voice, he finally said to her, "Are you my mommy?"

Jeff and I looked at him confused. Then Jeff piped up, "Eli. Your mom's right here."

I gave him a wave. He seemed to acknowledge me and accept that he was stuck with me as his mom.

The meeting started. Eli was uncharacteristically calm. Just as things got quiet, Eli started staring at Jeff with the same look of concern he had earlier. Then we heard, "Daddy? Are YOU my mommy?"

Jeff: "No, Eli. I'm your Daddy."
Eli: "You not my Mommy," Said with a giggle like he realized he was being silly. Then the concerned look returned and he looked at me.
Eli: "Mommy. Are you my Mommy?"

Jeff and I died. You know how everything's funnier when you have to be quiet? We were holding back laughter for about 15 minutes at Eli's mid-church-identity-crisis.

After Eli finally figured out his family tree, he was back to his rowdy self -- meaning he threw Carson's bottle (still full of milk) at the lady sitting in front of us. It hit her back. She turned around. And laughed out loud. And then Jeff and I lost it again.

Disciplining your toddler while giggling is not very effective.

That, my friends, is why I feel like a 3-ring circus every time we go to church. But hey, at least Eli didn't escape our pew and do laps around the chapel like he did a few weeks ago. I'll take pride in whatever progress we can muster.

Here are some other Eli quotes from this week:

While trying to open my lap top:
Me: "Eli! You are not supposed to get out my computer!"
Eli: "My just have to check my emails!"

While at the park:
Me: "We have to go home. Daddy is building something and needs your help!"
Eli: "Oh! Daddy needs O'Toodles!"
(Toodles is a character on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse who gives Mickey tools to fix their problems.)

Eli and I play this game where I sing a song to him and then I'll sing it again with pauses and wait for him to fill in the right word. So this is while we were playing the game:
Me: "Scripture power keeps me safe from sin."
Eli: "Again!"
Me: "Okay, I need your help this time."
Me: "Scripture power keeps me safe from _______ "
Eli: "Carson!"

And finally, here's a blurry video for you to go along with the last quote. We read scriptures with Eli tonight, and he sat so perfectly the whole time we read. Then he spent at least a half hour flipping through the Book of Mormon jabbering about all sorts of things. It was so adorable I had to document it.
(I've been trying to figure out how to make my videos not blurry anymore, but I'm struggling. So I'm sorry for the poor quality!)

Spooky Overload

Here are some garbled pictures from the last week. This is from our neighborhood trunk-or-treat. I wised up and worked Carson's hot dog outfit around a baby carrier so I didn't have to lug him around on a cardboard box.

Halloween night! Eli quote, "I can't see what's going on around here!"

Carson's first Halloween!

It took some convincing to get Eli to leave our candy to go get other candy. I could see him thinking, "Why do I need to go knock on doors for candy when I have a stash right here?!?"

Waiting for trick-or-treaters.

I refused to buy those $1.00 trick-or-treating pumpkins from Wal-Mart. I don't know why I was so against them. Maybe it's because Wal-Mart bags are free? We will upgrade next year.

Eli's first time trick-or-treating. It's even more fun as an adult watching your kid work the neighborhood for goodies.

Rewind. This is from our Cedar trip last weekend. Eli loves anything with wheels. Especially if he can ride it! He spent the majority of our first day there on this toy:

The weather was pretty nice, but I still felt the need to protect my baby from the slight chill in the air.

Boys, boys, boys! Little men are everywhere whenever we get together with the Excells. Many trees are climbed, and many clothes become dirt-stained.

Excell Spooktacular! We had lots of great food. Here's the pukin' pumpkin.

Bryan made spooky spiders.

It's always fun to see everyone in their costumes. Celeste was the girl from the movie Brave and Bryan was one of her suitors.

David and Mary were hippies.

Ben, Tana and Family were ninjas.

Laura was Mary Poppins, Ben was Bert, Caleb a fireman, Coleman a frog, Kaelynn a witch and Tyler a ninja.

Carson experienced the fish pond for the first time.

Eli got an awesome Mickey Mouse night light!

The adults played Bingo while the kiddos watched a movie.

I won the final round and won my most favorite candy.

The next morning it was time to leave. The cousins had one last bonding experience throwing snakes on the ceiling. Luckily Mary's used to having lots of boys around and was in on the fun.

We hurried home to my Grandma and Grandpa's Halloween party. Here's the chubby hot dog with my cousin.

Here's my sister's family ready to party.

Whew. That concludes the Halloween festivities. We dressed up four times. Four. Times. I'm glad Eli's tight pants made it through all the times we squeezed him in and out of them. Happy Halloween! Thanks everyone for the fun parties!

Peanuts and Crackerjacks

Are you ready for 15 pictures of our Halloween costumes this year? Yup. 15. I haven't stared at these long enough to decide which ones are my favorite so I'm just throwing them all out there.

I figured I'd accept that I live in a man house and obliged to a baseball theme. Eli was the star of the show. Costume was hand made might I add. Sheet scraps make surprisingly great baseball uniforms.

Jeff was the dashing ref.

Cuties.

I was a concession worker and Carson was a Dodger Dog. Couldn't you just eat him up?!?

Eli was very uncooperative for pictures.

Carson was alarmingly content to be trapped in his costume/sleeping bag while teetering on a piece of cardboard and mistaking a mustard bottle for his dinner.

Love that Eli and Jeff are striking the same pose.

Safe!

Jeff is doing referee motions. Not beating our child.

Brushing the dirt off of Eli with a paintbrush -- Jeff's favorite part of his costume.

There you go. Costume picture overload. And it's not even Halloween yet. More to come on the Annual Excell Spooktacular!

Curtain Call Part 2

On Monday, I had my first night of being completely caught up on my orders since I opened my Etsy shop. I thought I'd enjoy the break, kick back and relax for a change. When evening came, I got antsy not being behind my sewing machine. So what did I do? I sewed curtains, of course! Here's the latest addition to Eli's room:

Hello cuteness. Sewing curtains constantly has opened my eyes to how much curtains can add to a room. I used to think my only curtain option was white, or maybe a solid color if I wanted to get crazy. Now I know curtains can be fun and completely liven up a room!

I found the fabric for the curtains online (my first Etsy purchase actually). It was exactly what I was looking for! Love them!

I finished the curtains late at night and couldn't wait to put them up. So yeah. If you look closely, that's Eli sleeping in his bed.

I think that was the absolute last detail of Eli's room that needed to be done. His room is still my favorite in the house. I completely love the way everything has come together!

Cookie Boogie

What do you get when you mix Eli, cookie dough, and Kelly Clarkson? See for yourself...

Eli was a hoot today. We went and got slushes from Sonic for family night. While we were waiting in the drive-thru Eli was our stand-up comedian.

 Eli: My want slush.
Jeff: I know. We're getting slushes.
There was just one car in front of us taking forever. 
Eli: Drive your wheels truck!
Me: You tell 'em, Eli.
Jeff: Yeah, truck. Drive your wheels.
Eli: My already said that, Daddy.

 At this rate, you guys will be getting an Eli quote daily. He keeps me laughing all day long!