ODE TO ELI

Here is a video slideshow of Eli. These are some of our favorite pictures from the last few years.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I can't even describe how lucky we are to have Eli. If I only get one child I'm so lucky that this is the one I got. Here are some characteristics about Eli that you may or may not know.
1- He is very loving. He will come up and kiss my arm, cheek, leg, or tummy for no reason at all.
2- He sucks his thumb even though he says that he doesn't.
3- He likes Shel Silverstein poems.
4- He loves to play with my hair or his hair when he's tired.
5- He calls his private parts his "favorite parts" and doesn't know that it's funny. He just thinks that's what they are called.
6- He loves trains, pirates, Backyardigans, magnetix, and running.
7- In true Brough fashion he can TALK...for a long time...about anything.
8- The sea witch from The Little Mermaid really freaks him out.
9- His nightly prayers consist of him blessing that we can have fun...25 times. And instead of asking for things in prayers he says "make sure that..."followed by "we have fun" or "I have sweet dreams" or "we go camping".
10- He is just very loved!

Trying the Video thing

I had to try the video thing. This is from the father/son trip that Eli went on with Stewart. If you don't think that this is the sweetest thing ever you are crazy!




Edit: *the quality isn't the best. He has a really dirty face that you can't see. Next time I'll save it as something different and see if the quality gets better.*

Shootin' the tube round 2

*Check Eli out in the 1st pic. He's funny*

Another round of shooting the tube. Stewart was going to go with my brother to shoot the tube again so I figured that I'd stay home with Eli and just relax. Right before Stewart left, Eli was crying because he wanted to shoot the tube too. I tried to talk him out of it, (since I thought that once we got there he'd chicken out and I'd have to sit there with him) but he was unrelenting.

So Eli and Stewart shot the tube. (I didn't because lets face it that water is cold!) I think Eli is a little risk taker and a party person.

Click on a picture to see it larger.

School Days

Eli is going to go to PRESCHOOL! He has been on a waiting list all summer and I never heard anything until Tuesday. When I found out that he'd got in I was so excited because Eli has put on his backpack many many times and said "bye Mom I'm going to school." Then he'd walk out the door like he really was going to school.


***Here he is ready for anything!***




So we went to the school Wednesday to register him and I really thought he'd be so excited but I was WRONG! On the way over there I told him that he was going to go to school and he said "I'm not big yet." and "I'm getting nervous about this." I told him that this was preschool and it was for little boys and all those "mom things" that you can say but he wasn't having it! Well we got there and he wouldn't look at anyone and kept telling me that he was "shy of those people." After about 5 minutes he relaxed and by the time I was ready to leave he wasn't. All-in-all I think that Eli will really like preschool but I am happy that he's not ready to leave me yet!

Naughty Boy

Here is a conversation I just had with my son:

Eli: Don't go in the bathroom.
Me: Did you make a mess? (as I start to leave the kitchen)
Eli: No I don't want you to see. (holding his arms out in the doorway to block me in)
Me: Eli I have to see so that I can clean it up! (as I step over him)
Eli : (running toward the bathroom door and trying to hold it shut) No I don't want you to see. I'm sorry! (as he runs away to hide in the kitchen)

It wasn't even bad! He had squirted some cloraseptic into the sink. It wasn't even on the counter.

That's what I get for blogging during the day!

I actually have a really good boy, even when he is being naughty!

Care Bear Stare

Eli has been introduced to the Care Bears. He found a cartoon at the library and LOVED it so when we went to my parents house on Saturday I found my old care bear, Birthday Bear, and my Care Bear cousin, Gentle Heart Lamb.



So pretty much all weekend Eli held those animals and watched the care bears cartoon. He gave them piggy backs and made sure they didn't get cold and talked to them and searched for the forest of feelings with them. It was so cute...and also short lived. This morning he came out with his blue dog and hasn't given the care bears time of day today...oh wait I just looked in the front room and the dog and bears are lined up together. I guess there is enough love for everyone!

Eli also had a love affair with Teddy Ruxpin a few months ago. That also was started by the cartoon from the library...luckily I have a Teddy Ruxpin doll too!

Shootin' the tube

Last night we went and shot the tube. It was my first time and it was pretty fun/crazy.


This is the water that came out right before all the people. It was so dark I couldn't judge well enough when to push the button. This is a huge tunnel that runs under I-215 and you block the water off at the top then let it go and it pushes you down like a slide. It was really cold that was the only bad part. If you ask Eli he liked it, but he never wants to go again because the tunnel scared him. He was a trooper and all the girls that were there thought Eli was so brave and cute.



Here is everyone who went. It was a fun time and very wild.
Eli has a head lamp on and that was the best part about the whole thing! Any day you use a headlamp is a good day.

The great game

Stewart and I were pretty much the heroes of his softball game last night. His team won, of course or we wouldn't be considered heroes, and it was MOSTLY because of us.

My part came at the top of the 7th inning. There were 2 outs, bases were loaded the score was tied and the other team was up to bat. The hitter totally sucked hardcore and barely nicked the ball so it went like a foot in front of the catcher! Well the dork starts to get ready to throw it to 1st! Hello touch home! Which I yelled like 5 times as loud as I could. The catcher barely recovered and tagged home in time and got the out. The team that was waiting for their game were so impressed by me. They told their wives that one of the fans just saved them a run because she was paying attention. Yeah I am pretty awesome!

Stewart's heroic time came in the bottom of the 7th inning. He was 1st to bat and got on 1st. The next guy hit and Stewart made it to 3rd, because of his superior running skills. Then the next guy hit a pop fly and Stewart tagged his base ran to home! He made the winning run!

I also was yelling at the guys to wait for good pitches and not to reach for the ball.. when they listened to me they did good and when they didn't they got out. I asked Stewart if he wanted me to send and e-mail to the team and give them some tips but he said no. Oh well their loss.

*this account is all true except it might not have been the 7th inning that sounded more dramatic. I really was awesome though. The other wives were making fun of me for getting all into it but I was around the other teams wives so that's why they were just jealous that my team was going to win and their husbands were the losers

WORST WALK EVER!

So tonight we went on a walk around the neighborhood. Eli was sitting in the stroller some of the time and walking some of the time. Well he got mad at me because I told him that he couldn't push the stroller any more and he started freaking out! (He can't steer it and was going out into the road.) So he's crying and freaking out and wanting me to hold him. It was really embarrassing because everyone that was out was looking at us like we were doing something really mean to our child.

Finally we strapped him into the stroller so he wouldn't jump out and walked home as fast as we could. Well he is going nuts and starts screaming that he is peeing in his pants so we hurry and got him out and he peed in the street! (the good news was that the jammies stayed dry.)

He calmed down a little after that and then said "I need something to stop me from crying." I said "do you need a spank?" he said no. I offered a stick and he said no...he LOVES sticks. So I threw the stick on the ground then he freaked out because he wanted that stick back. Well I was not going to go get it again and so the whole rest of the way home he said over and over "go back and get that stick. Look it's crying." and "that stick wants me, it's crying!" When I told him that I didn't want to hear about the stick anymore he put his hand up to his mouth and whispered that that the poor stick was crying. It was not a good night for a walk!

On the plus side he fell right to sleep when we got home. :)

Here it is: my first BLOG!

Blogging is cool. It's kind of like spying on people and seeing how cool their lives are and how boring your own life is. I thought to myself "Hey I bet that I could make people think that my life rocks and their life is kinda boring!" So we'll see how it works!

For our first adventure I'll take you along on our most recent vacation. We went to Park City Wednesday night and came back today. We had so much fun! Stewart's parents rented a condo for the week and let us come along for a few days! The first night Eli went swimming right away and that was probably his favorite thing about the vacation.

We played cards, ate good food, went up to mirror lake, swam and slept in! It was so much fun to all be together.







See my handsome husband! He is a great fisherman! Usually he catches bigger fish than this though. We let Eli touch it and threw it back in.





Friday we went and rode the Alpine slide and Coaster. They were really fun...well the coaster was the slide was kind of scary! I remember kids coming to school with huge scabs from crashing on the Alpine slide but the coaster is safe and will not come off the tracks so I rode that with Eli and Stewart rode the Slide with him. we aso went shopping at the outlets we got Eli this hat...

Eli is in full fledged PIRATE mode. He walks up to children in stores or wherever and makes a hook with his finger and says "arrrr I'm captain hook." or "arrr I'll make you walk the plank." It freaks the other kids out and is pretty embarrassing. Some days he likes to be called a scurvy pirate and some days I'm the scurvy pirate and he's the good pirate. You really just never know what kind of day it will be with him! :) well you pretty much know it will be a fun one.

OK that's all for now hopefully you wish that
A) you were able to go to Park City too or
B) that your husband could catch fish like mine...and look good doing it or
C) you could play pirates with a cute little boy like me!