First Day of Kindergarten!

I can't believe it, but today Eli started KINDERGARTEN!  He's attending Poetry Community Christian School, a place that we prayed so much he would get into.  It just seems like the exact environment we want for our little guy.  We are super excited for him, and I can hardly wait to pick him back up in a little while and hear all about the first day.

He hasn't been at all sad about this- just excited.  We got to meet all the students and their families a couple weeks ago at a class party, so he was just happy to see his new friends again today.  My super late sleeper even woke up HIMSELF at 6:30am today (a good 2 hours earlier than his usual!) because he was so excited.  :)  

Here he is in his little uniform.  I couldn't love this boy any more if I tried!

And here he is walking into the building with his little teacher gift and his tote bag.  By this point he was SO sick of me taking pictures and was just ready for me to leave already!  :)  Neither one of us shed a tear this morning- it was a really happy day.  (I think I cried all my tears out on Saturday night when the realization of the reality of this hit me hard! :) )

And now we have a kindergartener!  We're so proud of our Eli Dane!

Day-to-Day in MAINE!

A few pictures from our trip last week to Maine!  These are just a few from my phone, but it's just so much easier to upload phone pictures to the blog than the regular camera pictures, so these will have to do.  :)

Right after we got to Maine we went to have seafood, and Eli chose lobster claws as his dinner.  Smart boy!

We drove to Bar Harbor for a few days.  Our first stop was the Jordan Pond House in Acadia National Park, where we ate the famous popovers.

Climbing trees on the lawn at the Jordan Pond House.

Hiking around the Jordan Pond.

Being goofy (and cute).

We ate giant bowls of ice cream each night in Bar Harbor.  Perfect vacation memory.

Sand Beach in Acadia National Park!  This is one of my favorite places in the world.

Overlooking Camden, Maine from the top of Mt. Battie.

We wore poor Eli out!  :)  This is a sleeping-in-the-car picture on the morning that we all woke up at 3:45am to go see the sunrise at the top of Cadillac Mountain.  He was so sleep-deprived, but so very cheerful nonetheless!

Running to the beach at Pine Point.

Shell hunting.

Burial at sea.

Pine Point.

We ate so much seafood and lobster in various forms on our trip, but Eli kept saying he wanted "a whole thing lobster."  So that's what he got on our last day there!  Of course, Eric did all the work and Eli just got to eat!  :)

11:00pm on the final plane back to Dallas.  He just couldn't handle being awake any more!  :)

It was a PERFECT trip that we will never forget!!

Day-to-Day, August 1

A few pictures to close out July...

We went to Hawaiian Falls a couple weeks ago with Elizabeth and CJ.  Eli had a blast!

He sits outside on the porch steps and digs in the dirt looking for rolly pollies many mornings.  It's really funny.  He makes them "a home" and let's them "spend the night for just one night," and then he let's them go the next morning.

Digging for bugs in pajamas.  I love this about him.

I took Jacey and Eli to the wave pool last week, and we had a blast!  It had rained earlier in the morning, which I guess deterred a lot of people from coming, and we had the place almost to ourselves!  It was a great day.  I love the way Eli is looking at Jacey here.  He absolutely adores her.

This is his latest super hero "costume-" a chain saw, eye protection, a "gas mask" (the mask from his breathing treatments), and a random pacifier necklace.  

Wars with water squirters.

We met Cheryl and Jennifer (Eric's stepmom and sister) at Turner Falls in Oklahoma on Monday.  We all had a great time.  Eli loved looking for tadpoles and minnows, which is what he is doing here.  

A rare picture of all three of us!

And that rounds out July!