One Year Milestone

Tomorrow, it will be the one year anniversary of when my Gram passed away.  In many ways, it's hard to believe that it's been a year already and in many ways, I'm ready to pass that milestone.  Tomorrow also marks what I've been calling the 'downhill slide of 2009.'

The pic above was taken about two weeks before she passed.  Eli and I would go to visit her after school and he would have his snack while sitting on her bed.  We would sing to her and tell her about Eli's latest 'firsts' and activities of the day.

Even though she hated being away from her house, she loved being with us and enjoyed our daily visits so much.  Honestly, I loved having her here with us.  I hated that she wasn't able to live by herself anymore but she needed to be closer to us so we could help take care of her.  That's just what families do.

Miss you, Gram!

Mother's Day

My brother came up to celebrate both Eli's birthday and Mother's Day.  He had a few jobs to do while he was in town - including playing with Eli and working on the little red car...but, we had a nice visit.

Eli loves cake!

Raisin' him right - UT is the best football team!  Aunt Kit and Uncle Terry got him this new UT shirt!  Now he's ready for some football!!!

Eli is on a BLASTBALL team this summer.  He got his own glove, bat and mitt.  Uncle Terry was demonstrating how NOT to use it!  Notice my brother's face - funny!

Here is Grandma sporting her new shirt.  It says 'Eli's Grandma' on it.  She loves it!

We were trying to get a pic of Eli with Grandma (while she was wearing her new shirt) but he kept knocking her over...

We resorted to getting out the tricycle for the posed pic but you couldn't see her shirt.  Darnit!

Happy Mother's Day to you!

Eli is Three Years Old!!

Eli loves Brittany! 

Eli's a crazy dancin' fool!

FriendSherry made Eli his birthday shirt!  She did an awesome job!

For weeks, I was trying to plan Eli's birthday party.  He kept telling me that he didn't want a party, didn't want to take treats to friends at school, didn't want presents, nothing.  So, I/we didn't plan anything.

Then, a couple of days before his birthday, he said, 'When's my party?'  UH, OH!!!

We had planned on taking treats to school regardless, but what to do about a party?????  Well, I work for the parks and rec agency and Friday was the night of the party.  We have a DJ, lots of music, cake, friends, etc.  It was perfect for Eli's party...So, Eli was a crasher!

This is the boys doing the "YMCA" - hilarious!

He came to work with me and then Husband came to get him by the time most of the kids had arrived.  The boys stayed for awhile and danced.  Most importantly, Eli had a ball!

Whew - crisis averted!  Maybe next year he will appreciate his party that I plan...

Relay for Life

**  This post can also be found on Daddy's blog **

Last night was the Relay for Life in McKinney.  Mom and I joined the team with my school and raised some money for cancer research.  Thanks to all of you who sent money in memory of Dad for this event.  We appreciate you!

We took Eli with us with the plan that Husband would come get him to take him home when he got tired.  He had so much fun!  He got to sit in a helicopter (so did Grandma and I), play catch with my principal, run around with some of the other teachers' kids, walk with us on the track, dance to the music and see lots of people he hasn't seen in awhile.

For Mom and I, it was a bittersweet night. We were both okay, for the most part, and didn't get too weepy with missing Daddy. But, there were a couple of times that we were both pretty sad and teary - during opening ceremonies when they were announcing all the survivor's names and also when some of the music spoke to us very clearly.  We did better than I thought we would, though, seeing as how it was not too long ago (really) when Daddy died.

Eli made it to just past 9 when he was asking to be carried or just sit down.  So, we called Husband and he came over.  The pic below was taken while we were waiting for Husband.  Eli wanted to sit in the grass to wait.  He was so sweet to snuggle with Grandma!  And, Friday morning, he woke up asking for her!  Eli loves his Grandma!  (And so do I!)

After the boys left, we continued our walk for cancer, visited with more friends, had a hot dog, and registered for a cancer prevention research project before we decided to head home.  There were threats of storms but I'm not sure if any showed up...

Praying for a cure for cancer.

Earth Day

For Earth Day this year, we celebrated by adding some plants to the yard and playing some games.  Eli rode on my shoulders around the yard while Husband mowed and trimmed the yard.

Then, we got out the sprinker and Eli wore his new swimsuit/swimshirt.  He had so much fun!

Trike-a-Thon

One of the events that Eli's preschool participates in each year is the Trike-a-Thon.  They teach bike safety all week before the big event and then, the kids all bring their tricycles, bicycles, etc. to ride in the rally.  They take pledges for St. Jude's as part of it, too.

We had so much fun!  It was funny to see all the kids crash (no injuries) and speed around the 'track!'

Riding next to Eli here is his friend Evan.  (His trike has the big, wide tires.)  Not sure how Eli and Evan were involved in so many crashes that day...

Notice that  he had his name on the front of his bike.  He also had a number on the back of his shirt and a 'license' to wear on his neck with his picture on it!  He loved it!

These are some of his teachers who were at the rally that day.  He loves them so much.  We are thankful for them.  They take such good care of him while he's at school!

After the kids rode for almost an hour, they got to have a brunch that was prepared in their honor. 

New t-shirt

I was awarded a grant this year for my school.  Part of it was shirts for the students who work the post office which we run on campus.  I offered other teachers in the building to buy shirts for themselves and then I went ahead and got one for Eli.  He had to put it on right away when I brought it home.

Of course, he had to take off his shorts while he was modeling!

Happy Easter!!

Eli was so much fun this year for egg hunts and all the excitement. Last year, my parents took him to their neighborhood egg hunt and Daddy had to help Eli get the eggs to his basket. This year, Husband and I were there, too, and Eli didn’t need any help. We had to tell him to leave some of the eggs on the ground for the other kids!

He enjoyed all the events from the train ride to the petting zoo.  Except for the fact that the llama tried to 'kiss' him and knocked him into the guinea pig trough...we were incident free.

Oh, and then there was the visit to the bathroom when he put himself in timeout while I was washing my hands...

Spring Break

As we have done for most of the past 14 spring breaks, Mom and I headed to Missouri. This year, with Gram gone, it was weird to not have her waiting with the garage door open, chicken in the oven and potatoes boiling for mashed potatoes.  Lots of times, there would be apple pie and cookies for us as well.

He tried to pack himself by taking all of our stuff out of the suitcase on the morning we left!  He giggled and giggled when I told him he could ride there in the car and not watch his movie on the DVD player!  (I guess he thought I was joking?)

But, we were able to see some of the family who lives in town and some family that lives not so far away. That definitely made the trip worth it!

One morning, we took Eli to ride on my Uncle Ronald’s tractor.  Eli thought it was so neat to ride so high up and kept asking to go back! I had never heard the tractor honk before and it is really puny.

We mostly enjoyed our visit with Uncle Ronald and Aunt Ruby - they let us 'invade' their house for the week!  Thanks, guys, see you this summer!

On our way out of town, we stopped at the cemetary again.  We had made a new 'topper' for Gram and Gramps' stone and wanted to place it before we headed out.  Eli and Mom posed with it.  I really miss them.

Eli is such a good traveler.  Of course, this time we had our new DVD player and we must have watched THE SOUND OF MUSIC at least 12 times between our drive up and back to Missouri.  But, we like the music and Eli sings along.  That is definitely something to witness!

When we got home, we had some SNOW!  How weird that it snowed in March in Texas...it was nice to see but I was just as happy for it to go!