Closer to Summer

Such a big boy eating a snack on the patio on his picnic table!

Eli and Ellie - tree huggers of their generation!

Playing with his blocks.  I walked into the playroom and found him building the tower and the ramp under it for his cars.  I would say this is a dose of the Strauss genes:)

Eli and his 'cheese' face

We finally went to the toy store and used Eli's birthday money to buy a new Thomas wooden train set.  I can honestly tell you that he played with this for hours....and when he took a nap, I played with it for another hour.  There is something so completely fun about putting the tracks together and getting all of the pieces to connect.  There is also something about that one piece that doesn't fit that causes you to start over that I really love too!

He loves his tunnels!

Saturday morning play date with Ellie!

While Ben was gone for Father's day weekend (don't feel too bad for him, he was loving Bonoroo and hanging out with his best friend), my uncle posted a photo of my grandfather (Harold Strauss) and thought it would be a nice addition to this blog.  My grandfather was a HAM radio operator and also worked at Universal Electric in Owosso, MI.  It's amazing how much I can see of my dad and brother in this photo, even with my grandpa's head down.  He died when I was two years old, so I have no real memories of him, but this was a pleasure to see.

Eli and I walked to the village coffee shop and had a sandwich wrap for lunch.  Not sure he's ready for the big boy chair just yet:)

And it finally warmed up enough for the water table!

And we ended the weekend with frozen yogurt!

We welcomed dad back and took him to Los Tres Amigos for dinner!

And playing in the park...

Exploring in the flowers

An Elijah Stubbs original color drawing

An Elijah Stubbs original water color painting

Yesterday (6/23) was FINALLY a hot summer day that we have been asking for!  We broke out the pool and had a water day!

How cute is this kid!

Spring Time!

It appears there are no secrets in our house!  Eli is as chatty as a two year old can be and repeats EVERYTHING!  I can't believe the words and sentences coming from my son's mouth.  He's counting to 19, he is saying things like "mommy take the vacuum out" (meaning....mommy vacuum the house again with me?).

The most recent "funny" story about Eli starts with a simple stroller ride over to the Wiacek's house (Grant's house).  We were heading over for a playdate/dinner date and when I pulled Eli out of the stroller......found bird poop in his hair.  I had a hard time believing that's what it was, but there was confirmation.  My question  is how did the bird get only Eli directly on the top of his head?  Needless to say, Eli had no idea what had happened, but when I said something to my friend Lea about it, he started saying "bird on head".

Below are some new photos from the last couple of weeks.

Mowing the lawn with daddy

Dustin and Aubrey came for a visit and we headed to the Ironwood Grill for dinner.

Aubrey and Dustin rolling Eli up like a burrito

Eli "fixing" his Dyson vacuum.  There's the Strauss side in him:)

This is a little piece of the playscape at the park where you can put on a show.  Eli and I use it as a place to order food.  I always order ice cream and Eli always responds with 'thank you!'

Hanging on the monkey bars like daddy!

Eli got a sand table from Grandpa Strauss for his birthday!

This is sand on a plate, a craft Eli completed in 'school'

I think most people are aware, but Eli is obsessed with cleaning.  Here, he's cleaning my flowers I had just planted.