Eli's First Finger Painting Experience--May 4, 2012

As I said in an earlier post, Eli really doesn't like to get messy.  I knew it was going to be a stretch for him, but I thought I'd let him give finger painting a try.  These photos pretty much describe his response!  (If you look at his paper, it looks like he actually did a little mixing of the paint colors.  Nope. I took his hand and put it in the paint because he wouldn't.) 

And then there's Oliver...loving every minute of being messy!

Eli's Gardening Outfit--April 26, 2012

Eli has been a really good helper watering my plants (or rather the dirt around my plants)!  When I bought myself a new watering can, I decided to avoid the constant battle and just buy a small one for him also.  He takes his watering job very seriously and sticks with it until all of the plants "have a drink."  Here he is all decked out and ready to go!

Update:  Since I took this picture, he has figured out that the watering job can be completed without the boots and gloves...a much easier process!

Our BIG Project...a.k.a. Our Basketball Goal--April 20-May 1, 2012

Instead of doing several posts about our basketball goal, I'm going to lump everything together into one enormous post...mainly because I'm getting a little tired of blogging, since I've covered several months in the last week.  So, here we go...

Pat and I have wanted to get a basketball goal for quite a long time.  Oliver loves to shoot around on our neighbors' goals, and honestly, Pat and I both like to play, too!  And since we had a little extra money (thank you, tax refund) we decided now would be a good time to get one.  After much thought and lost sleep (Pat seriously woke up one night worrying about the placement of this basketball goal) the process began.  These are basically the steps involved in building our basketball goal.

1.  Dig a 4 foot hole for the base of the pole.
2.  Fill in the hole because the placement was not quite right.
3.  Dig another 4 foot hole, one foot beyond the first hole.
4.  Fill the hole with 18+ bags of cement.
5.  Be patient while the cement hardens.
6.  Dig out the desired shape of the extended driveway.  (Pat thought we needed to extend our driveway to make it more of a straight edge instead of a weird curvy one, thus adding more space to play.  I agreed.)
7.  Build forms for the new section of the driveway.
8.  Fill the new section of driveway with 40+bags of cement.
9.  Make the cement look like an actual part of the driveway.
10.  Be patient while the cement hardens.
11.  Install the basketball goal minus the rim (to deter kids from messing with it as we waited for step #10.)
12.  Install the rim and net.
13.  Play basketball.

Thanks to Pat, my dad, Wayne, and our neighbor, all of these steps were completed and we now have a new goal!

And now for the photos!

 Pat digging hole number one

 Pat digging hole number 2

 Oliver and Eli playing in the hole, which at this point is a little over 2 feet deep.

 Wayne, Dad, Pat, and Oliver mixing cement

 Oliver taking a turn at smoothing the cement

 Installing the base of the pole

 Dad working on the extended driveway

 Installing the pole and backboard

 Oliver trying out the crank that lowers the backboard and rim to 5 feet, so he can dunk it

 Two cuties

 Eli and Mom watching

 Installing the rim

 The official first shot (or dunk)

Eli's first shot 

A little hang time 

Soccer--April 15, 2012

Another outdoor soccer season has begun!  Oliver is on the same club team again...Go Wheathawks!!  He has the same great coach and teammates and seems to really enjoy it!

Oliver's Hair--April 15, 2012

I have a love/hate relationship with Oliver's longer hair.  Sometimes I think it looks pretty cute, but other times it drives me crazy.  He begged and begged to let his hair grow, but I think this might be as long as I can handle it!   I thought that maybe if I showed him it was so long that I could put it in a pony-tail, he would consider getting it cut.  However, he just grinned and acted like it was no big deal.  

Grass Planting Time--April 11, 2012

Pat has been working so hard this spring, trying to fix our poor, poor front yard.  This winter it really took a beating by numerous football games played on it, by a certain 8 year old and his friends.  Pat has sprayed, fertilized, and done other things that I'm not even sure about.  One of the last steps was to plant new grass seed on the bare spots.  Of course, Eli wanted to help! 

Easter--April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!

Oliver and Eli 

 Oliver trying to get Eli to smile by tickling him!

 Oliver trying to find his Easter basket at home

 Eli found his!

 The cousins at the Diller Easter gathering

 Caroline

 Olivia

 Natalie

Ty

Another Project--April 1, 2012

I'm on the nursery committee at church and have been spending some time lately changing the bulletin boards, labeling things, sorting through toys, adding photos of the kids, etc.  I saw the idea for this alphabet on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a try.  I found different letters at Michael's, Joann Fabrics, Hobby Lobby (which Eli doesn't like going into and very loudly says so every time we walk through the doors), and Wal-Mart.  I also found a couple of old frames at Goodwill that I painted.  Anyway, it turned out to be a fun project, and I think it turned out pretty cute!

(It is a little hard to see all of the letters because I took this photo on our rug at home, but you get the idea.)

Eli's car--March 24, 2012

Last fall, I found this Little Tikes Cozy Coupe at a garage sale.  I had always wanted to get one for Oliver when he younger, but we didn't have the money, space, etc.  So when I saw it at a garage sale for $5.00, I grabbed it!

As I said in an earlier post, Eli is not very interested in trying new things.  Especially things that might be a little "scary."  And, I guess this car was a little "scary" because it rolled.  Anyway, it took Eli about 8 months, but he finally got the hang of driving his car and now he loves it!

Notice how Eli is driving on the grass...the driveway is still a little too fast!