Happy Birthday Eli!

My Eli boy is 8. Remarkable. Eli was a difficult baby. Pretty fussy. He cried so much that when he broke his arm at 15 months, I didn't realize it was broken for a week, because he cried all the time anyway. He's generally outgrown his crybaby phase (although he is known to exhibit the "fire engine" cry still now and then), and grown into a responsible, easy going, obedient young man. I consider Eli on the shy side, so sometimes, I worry about how he does socially at school. I wonder, like your typical paranoid mom, how he does on the playground, if he makes friends easily, etc. One day recently, I was at the school helping in Sariah's class, so I sat with her at lunch in the cafeteria and watched Eli's class file into the room. It was almost surreal. Eli didn't know I was there, and so I sat quietly watching him strut into the room with all the confidence in the world. He stopped at every table to greet who-knows-who, giving a high five here, a smile there. He seemed to know every kid in the room! I guess I'm worrying for nothing. He's doing just fine. I love this sweet boy!

10 Fun Facts about Eli:

1. He has an uncanny ability to say words backwards. For example his backwards name is "Saile", Seth's is "Htes," Sariah's is"Hairas", Liam's is"Mail" etc. He says silly things backwards all the time much to the extreme aggravation of his older sister! In case you're worried about dyslexia, don't. He's a great reader and speller. I think this unique quirk is due to the fact that he can visualize words and letters in his head. I do not share his talent (if you can call it that!).
2. His favorite thing to eat is ravioli.
3. If I let him, he'd eat breakfast foods at every meal.
4. Eli loves to play Wii and his DSi.
5. He's the only child in our home who enjoys practicing the piano on a regular basis.
6. His favorite color is green.
7. He has a terrific memory! He can memorize scriptures and songs easily (wished those skills transferred to math facts!).
8. He's the best playmate! All his younger siblings love to play with him.
9. He likes to sport a little of Dad's cologne on occasion.
10. He's incredible considerate.

We stuck with the impromptu birthday theme, and Eli had a few friends over for pizza and games.

We played a bunch of silly party games like musical chairs, relay race, hula hoop pass, ra-de-da, balloon tag, ker-plop, etc. I was worried that the kids wouldn't be too whooped to play kiddie games, and we had the Wii set up as a backup, but all the kids LOVED the games, and kept asking "What's next, what's next?"

I didn't realize that Ben had to work late the night of Eli's party, so I had to fly solo with 14 kids. That's mad skills people! Seth was a challenge and all the kids who don't have younger siblings were very concerned about what he was doing: "Your baby is on the table dumping all the sprinkles! He'll have to clean that up to learn his lesson." Too funny.

For his special birthday outing with Mom and Dad, Eli choose to go to the aquarium. We ventured out to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. It was a blast.

Checking out the fish below.

Eli is a big Harry Potter fan. This owl looks just like Hedwig, Harry's owl.

I loved the jellyfish.

A great day with our oldest boy!

We stopped by Mimmie and Tompa's after the museum. I love this picture. I think Eli and Tompa have very similar personalities. They both are on the quieter side (for this family anyway) and don't have a great deal to say unless you're asking for their opinion.

Tree climbing in Mimmie and Tompa's backyard.

Eli requested dinner at Max's Opera Cafe. He had a hot dog. Go figure.