Thanksgiving Feast

Eli had a Thanksgiving Feast at school today. He has been so excited about it all weekend. I went early to help decorate and set up the cafeteria. When his class came in, I could tell something was wrong with him. I went over and hugged him. He leaned into me and started crying. He kept telling me nothing was wrong, but I could tell something was. I asked him all the regular questions, he wasn't sick, nobody had hurt his feelings, etc. Finally he told me that he was tired and he just wanted to go home. So, we left about 30 minutes early and in the car he told me that his ear was really hurting. I called the doctor and made him an appointment for this afternoon. He has a little bit of a fever and just looks pitiful. Hopefully he'll be better by Thanksgiving, otherwise, we may be eating frozen pizza at home =)

I didn't make these little turkeys, but they sure were cute!

A couple of weeks ago, Eli brought home a "Family Project" to decorate a turkey. We used candy, feathers, beads, buttons, cereal, pretzels, and foam shapes to decorate ours. His teacher, Mrs. Bankston, hung them all up on a bulletin board outside the classroom.

Poop Shoes

A conversation with Eli:

Eli: Mom, I wish our town only had houses that my friends lived in. I also wish that there were no cars and all the people walked everywhere.

Me: Why? I wouldn't want to have to walk everywhere.

Eli: Well, then all the kids could run and play in the street and everywhere and we wouldn't have to worry about cars hitting us. I also wish there were no dogs.

Me: Then we wouldn't have Harley. Why do you wish there were no dogs?

Eli: Because there wouldn't be any poop anywhere on the ground. When I'm an inventor, I'm going to invent poop shoes.

Me: That sounds gross, what would you do with poop shoes?

Eli: Then I could just step in the poop and I wouldn't have to worry about looking for poop because I'd have poop shoes. They would be silver like a robot, but they wouldn't be robots.

Aww, such imagination....

Eli's Pre-K and Soccer Pictures

Eli chose between what I picked out and what Johnny picked out to wear for his school picture. My choice won =) He also chose which pose he wanted. Such a handsome boy...

On soccer picture day, it was pouring rain. We took his buddy David with us because his mom had to take his sister to her cheer camp at the same time and her husband was out of town. David is sitting on Eli's right in the group picture.

Zoe's First Haircut

Zoe and I have had a pretty productive morning so far. We have taken Johnny's clothes to the cleaners, gone to the post office, CVS, dropped off the water bill and gotten Zoe her very first haircut. And I might add, all of this was done between 8:00 and 9:15.

I have been wanting to get her hair cut for awhile now, and had planned on Johnny going with us. However, he's been so busy at work, he told me to go ahead and go without him. She sat very still and did so good. She had about and inch cut off just to even up and shape it a little. The lady that cut her hair was very patient and sweet with her. She saved some clippings for me and we got a little card to take home.

Play Phone

I just overheard Eli having a pretend conversation with his Grandma on his play phone.

"Grandma I'm not a crybaby."

"Mom, Grandma said she was going to whack me in the face."

"No, Grandma I don't wear diapers."

I said, "Eli, Grandma wouldn't say those things to you.  That's not very nice."

His response was, "I know Mom, you know I'm not really talking to Grandma, the phone's not even real!"

Write that down too

Dinner conversation with Eli tonight:

Eli: How many more bites do I need Mom?

Me: You need 5 more GOOD bites.

E: When I have kids, I won't care if they have small or big bites.  It won't matter.

M: I'm going to write that down and remind you of that when I come to visit you and my grandkids.  I will tell them that their daddy once said that it didn't matter how good their bites were.  They could have 5 more tiny bites if they wanted.

E: Well it won't matter, and you're just kidding.

M: No, I really am going to write that down so I can remind you when you're a daddy.

E:  Well, you really are just kidding, so write that down too.

First Day of Pre-K

Eli started Pre-K today.  We had the chance to meet his teacher, Mrs. Bankston, this past Friday and he got to see his classroom.  So, other than finding out he was missing one of his immunizations, he was very excited all weekend.  He had to get a shot on Saturday.  Nan bought his backpack and lunchbox for him.  He has to take a snack everyday, so he gets to use the lunchbox this year.  I thought I was going to cry when we dropped him off, but I managed to contain myself for the most part.  I teared up a little when we were walking away.  He, however, dove right into the Play-Doh and just told me good-bye.  He's such a big boy.  I cannot believe how fast the past four years have flown by.  Before I know it, Zoe will be starting school.  For now, I'm just going to relish this time I have alone with her in the mornings. 

First Annual Tomasino Cousin Camp 2010

Johnny's parents and one of his brother's family came to visit the next to last weekend of July.  My sister-in-law and my 3 nieces stayed for the week after everyone else went back to San Antonio.  We had so much fun hanging out and getting to spend time with them.  Zoe started walking while they were here and the twins loved being able to help her practice.  Eli was in heaven with the girls.  He is like the mother duck and they just follow him around and do whatever he tells them to.  Sometimes he can't be bothered to call them by name, so he'll just say, "Cousins, come on cousins!"  And generally they come running.  We did this last minute, but will definitely plan ahead and do it again next summer.

• 6 nights and 7 days of cousin fun
• movies and camp-outs in the living room in a tent, on an air mattress and the couch
• 2 afternoons of bowling
• 2 trips to Half Price Books
• swimming
• a day at Wet Zone
• an afternoon in the sprinkler
• lots of yummy home cooked meals
• story time at the library
• bugs, snakes and spiders at the library
• samples at Costco
• a nap here and there
• homemade cupcakes to decorate
• the moms were even able to sneak away one night and go to a movie =)

June Catch-up

Swimming Lessons

Eli took swimming lessons the first two weeks in June.  From the beginning, he was nervous about putting his face in the water.  That however did not turn out to be the thing that stumped him.  He did great with that.  He would dive down and get things on the bottom of the pool, with his hand being held.  Floating was his near downfall.  The lessons were at a woman's house.  She has taught for over twenty years and is very good.  She is no nonsense, safety first.  There were only five in the class, one of which is his friend.  The lessons were each thirty minutes long.  Parents are only allowed to watch the last ten minutes on the last day, to keep the amount of distractions down with the limited time she has.  

He did great and was excited to tell me all that he had done for the first five days.  I'm not sure what happened on day six.  He cried and told me he was "not going back anymore."  Ms. Katrina's rule is that if you come in crying, you go first.  If you start crying during lessons, you go next.  I could hear him screaming from the front yard.  It was very hard as a mommy to not walk back and grab him out of the pool and hug him.  I really stressed to him that I trusted Ms. Katrina so he could too.  He was not so sure =)  By the end of the class, he was successfully, but not happily, floating and swimming with his hands stretched out and holding on to her. 

                                            Floating with Ms. Katrina

                                              With his buddy David

                                                      Happy boy =)

Face in the water

                      The whole class (Ainsley, Eli, Lilly, David and Hannah)

VBS

The third week of June we had Vacation Bible School at our church.  Since I volunteered, Eli got to participate in the preschool program and Zoe went to the nursery.  He had a lot of fun and loved singing the songs.  By the end of the week, we were all 3 so exhausted, but had had soooo much fun!

Birthday Girl

On the 30th, Zoe turned 1!!!  We just had cake and a few gifts at home.  We decided to give our family one more year before asking them to travel here in April and June for birthday parties.  Zoe will play with just about any toy, but her new favorite is baby dolls.  When we go down the toy aisle at the store and get to the babies, she goes nuts and tries to stand up to reach them.  It is adorable.  She hugs and kisses them and pats them on their backs.  She is such a sweet girl!