3 Halloweens

I thought it would be neat to see how Eli has changed over the past three years.  We've taken his picture each year in the same spot on Halloween - a bale of hay we put on our porch with pumpkins.  

2010

Fall Fest!

Eli's school had a special Fall Festival today just for the one and two-year-olds.  They had all kinds of crafts, games and snacks, and they even had a hay ride!

 

making a fall picture frame 

stamping with apples and indian corn

riding a see-saw with classmate ava

trying to sit still for a picture with so much going on 

(and a cookie to eat!)

Cute Pics of the Week

Eli (and Piper) this Week

 

Eli & Piper before bed a few nights ago...always wearing a guitar shirt

 

Leaving for school this morning (handsome little man, and again, a guitar shirt)

 

Big Boy Turns 2

Eli turned 2 yesterday!!!!!  It was a pretty normal day - Kevin went to work, I drove to Raleigh and back for a college fair, and Eli went to school.  It was a sweet day though because Eli understood that it was his birthday. We did a good job prepping him by saying it was Eli's birthday and he was going to be two.  In fact, when you ask him how old he is, he says, "two" and hold up about four fingers.  :)

Since yesterday was a regular workday, we just did a little celebration at Chick-Fil-A with some good friends, Tiffany, Ryan and Kaylen, who is Eli's little girlfriend.  We all ate - except Eli who had eaten lots of candy earlier and wasn't hungry for dinner - and let the kids play on the playground which is enclosed.  It was a special "fire saftey" night at Chick-Fil-A, so they had a firetruck and their big cow mascot dressed in fireman gear.  It was great for little guys.  We're having a party at our house this Saturday to celebrate with more friends and family.

Here are just a few pictures of Eli from when we got home:

 

 Eli holding his new tractor from Mimi and Papa

Wearing his new puppy dog jammies

 

Pig Pickin'

Every year during the last weekend of September, Kevin cooks a lot of pork - or BBQ as they call it down here - for his fraternity's annual Pig Pickin'.  This year was no different than the rest...he and his college buddy, Chris, were up at the crack of dawn getting the cooker fired up to smoke 70 pounds of BBQ for 100 fraternity brothers and their families.  

It takes about 8 hours to cook all the meat.  Eli and I hung out outside with Kevin and Chris for a long time - it was a beautiful afternoon.  Here's how E spent his time...

Kevin, Chris and Eli right before they took the BBQ off the cooker.

All of the above happened on Friday; the actual Pig Pickin' event was on Saturday.  It was far too hectic to take a camera to the event, so we only took a few pictures with our phones.  The typical schedule of a pig pickin' day is:

Noon:  Everyone arrives and hangs out for a while

12:30:  Eat!

2:00:  Alumni/Undergrad Football Game

5:00ish:  Everyone packs up and goes home

 Like I mentioned above, about 100 people came this year.  It was fantastic.  It's a mix of old alumni from UNC Charlotte with their families and young undergrad students.  Here are a few more pictures from the day.

sipping southern spirits

eli holding the "Icard Cup".  seriously, they have a trophy called the "Icard Cup" in honor of Kevin saving their fraternity in the late 90's.

and this isn't pig pickin', but it was the night before and eli was "rockin' my baby" as he likes to say.  sweet dreams.

The Next American Idol???

Eli's newest thing is singing.  He loves to sing songs, mostly Itsy Bitsy Spider, Happy Birthday (which he knows from birthday celebrations at school) and Old MacDonald.  Every night after his bath, he asks for "La La La", which means Lady Gaga's song, Bad Romance - she sings the phrase "La La La" many times throughout the song, so it only makes sense that an almost two-year-old would assume that's the name of the song.

I caught him sitting on the steps singing the other day...

You'll also hear one of Eli's key phrases, "Go Mama, go!"  It's not just directed at me, but at anyone that's sitting next to him at any time.  He's moving into such a phase of wanting to be independent.  It's cute, for now...

 

Lovely Lawn

We've lived in our house for almost 5 years (hard to believe!).  In that time, we've spent countless hours maintaining and improving both the inside and outside of our home, so you can only imagine how excited we were when we received a letter in our mailbox stating that we won the "Yard of the Week" contest.  

Recently our subdivision was sold to a large national builder, Ryland Homes, and in an effort to make improvements to the neighborhood, they've started this competition.  Our yard is the second to win this award! It's nice to know that all the hard work, time and money we've sunk into our space is being recognized.   

sign in our front yard

 

 

 

our new patio

my best effort at camouflaging electrical & telephone boxes

The prizes we received are kind of funny, we thought it would be a gift card to a restaurant or Target - we were wrong and no where near close.  We got a free facial at a spa, $50 gift card to a salon and a free car wash.  Kind of weird, but appreciated nonetheless.  :)