Boo at the Zoo!

This Saturday Eli went trick-or-treating at the zoo. It was such a fun time! Eli got candy and gift certificates and a huge stuffed animal. The zoo was pretty busy bit it was sooo fun to see all these kids in their Halloween costumes. Eli loves to dress up as a mean peg-leg pirate. I'm so excited for Halloween this year because Eli has never really had a great Halloween before. In the past he has gotten too scared to do much trick-or-treating but this year he gets the whole costume thing. It's so fun to have a child to live through these fun holidays again. I get as excited for Eli's birthdays, Christmases, and Halloweens as he does!

My little boy is a MAN'S MAN!!!

My son rocks. I realized the other day, that my cute little boy is more manly than most of the "men" I see every day. The latter can usually be seen, masquerading themselves as real men:

• Protectors of the environment - They prominently display their hemp, long hair, and trendy brand name outdoor apparel - making them morally superior to those of us who wantonly cut down trees for fun on the weekend and dump our used car oil in pristine mountain streams.


• Wanna be "Gangstas" - Usually, these "hardened thugs" hail from the "ghettos" of Farmington, Tremonton, Bountiful, etc... Their over sized jerseys, gold chains, and sideways ball caps keep them looking pretty fly... for white guys.


• Raging sports fans - "Dude, I know I'm pushing 300 lbs and spend most of my time on the couch, but my team rocks!!! I live vicariously through whatever team is currently kicking butt, so I ROCK!!" You are aware that YOU didn't win the super bowl, right? How about we play a game of one on one right now and you can show me how awesome you are...

There are more men imitators out there, but this list is enough to get my point across. Anyways, back to my son who so masculine that he might grow up to be the next Chuck Norris (who merits a separate post altogether...). For instance:

Check out Eli's war face. If you are a man and you just wet yourself at the sight of a firearm, you now know you are a fake man and should hang your head in shame. For those of you are really concerned, we followed the 4 rules of firearm safety - so go change your under roos and keep reading...

Even when Eli is doing housework, he never forgets that he's a man - notice the boots. Who says "there aren't any more cowboys?".

Eli is capable of surviving harsh conditions with little to no equipment - witness his dance of jubilation after starting a fire with only a nail and a shoe lace. At the right, you can see him surviving the perils of antarctic tundra at a scientific survey base - he lost 2 toes on that trip.

Eli strives to keep himself in good shape - he does a lot of pull ups and kung fu off the couches. It keeps him ready for "the zombie uprising" as he likes to say. Your body is a weapon, keep it finely tuned. Are you "men" listening out there?

Specialization is for insects - Eli does it all, and he does it well. Here he is behind the stick of a UH-60 Blackhawk, ready to insert troops into harm's way. Also, like any good pilot, he's doing a careful preflight inspection of his AH-64A Apache attack helicopter.

Above all, discipline makes a real man - learn from Eli, sissy boys - or he'll kick sand in your eyes and steal your women.

Hide and Seek

Eli has reached a major milestone. Yesterday Eli called for me to come and find him. Eli has 2 maybe 3 hiding places that he likes to hit. Well I went to find him and looked under his sheets...no Eli. I looked in his closet and my closet...no Eli. I kept saying, "I'm going to find you" and then listening for the tell-tale giggle. I said "I'm going to tickle you when I find you," I got nothin'! I even said "who wants ice cream?" And he was silent! At this point I admit I was getting kind of scared because I thought that he was kidnapped! (This is the kind of mom that I am...totally neurotic.) Finally I found him hiding between the couch and the cedar chest. I said "I couldn't find you!" He said "I had to be quiet so you couldn't find me." So Eli now can be quiet when he's playing hide-and-seek. That really is a pretty major accomplishment.

Lucky Me!...Again

I got some more flowers! I think this is one of my favorite arrangements yet! The pink gerber daisy and the roses and the little pink filler flowers are all the same color of pink. There is a baby pink daisy in the back and the beautiful orange one in the front. Oh I love it! Stewart had these sent to me today. I think that my husband is so sweet. He really does take good care of me. All weekend he pretty much waited on me hand and foot and would get mad if I tried to do things for myself! He also ALWAYS opens my car door and gives me the last bite of dessert. What a guy!

BandAids

Hopefully you can see why this post is titled "BandAids" Eli has a bandaid on his lip. Bandaids are the most miraculous cure I have ever seen. As soon as a bandaid goes on, the tears stop and the pain magically disappears...or so it seems. This medical miracle doesn't really do much for me but for kids it's the cure all.

Our other BandAid experience this week happened today. Eli was sucking his thumb and I pointed out that he's getting a little callous on his thumbs just under the knuckle. He pretty much freaked out about it and stated that he wouldn't suck his thumb anymore. I suggested that we put a BandAid on his little thumbs and then he would remember not to suck it anymore. He though this was a great idea since I'm usually the one saying that he doesn't need any BandAids. On a side note, Eli did try to stop sucking his thumb about 1 or 2 months ago but his naughty thumb kept going in his mouth. Those are his words not mine. Anyway, about 4:00 he came into my room SO sad about the callous on his thumb and how they were going to pop open. I explained that they wouldn't but he was SOOOO sad. He just was a little tired and couldn't suck his thumb to comfort himself. He said that he was having a huge temperature. I felt his forehead and he felt ok. Then I realized that he meant he was having a huge tantrum...temper tantrum. He learned that word from "Super Why." *yes Eli watches TV. Don't judge me!

In the car on the way to the babysitters, (we went to the Melting Pot!) he was really sad and said, "I'm afraid this is going to be hard." It was so sad and sweet. I really feel bad that he has a habit that he needs to break and he's only 4!

*don't judge me by Eli's hair either! I didn't get around to combing it before it dried! At least it's clean!

Austenland

Mr Darcy. Ahhh just the name sends my heart into quick palpitations. (Stewart, I do love you best.) I think that any girl who likes Pride and Prejudice knows all about Mr. Darcy and the crush that he can produce in a female. (Maybe in men too. There are such things as man crushes after all.) Anyway I have just finished a book called Austenland by Shannon Hale. It's about a woman who LOVES Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth, *sigh* and hasn't had a normal relationship because she is always hoping for a Mr. Darcy and the men never measure up. She goes on a trip to Austenland where there are actors everyone pretends that they are from the Pride and Prejudice era. She is hoping to break herself of the Mr. Darcy curse.

This was a really funny book so if you are looking for something light and fun I would recommend this book.

I'm afraid the neighborhood is going down the tubes...

Bad news folks:

Becca has given me permission to post on her blog. This is a disaster of epic proportions since the quality of the content will now be well below par.

I still love 3rd grade humor (any joke that uses the word "potty") and my spelling and grammar are about what they were in 1st grade.

I'll bore you with stories of hunting bunnies and that one time I was so awesome and killed a spider for Becca without screaming...

Anyways, I just wanted you all to be warned - Stewart

Eli says:

Stewart: Eli do you know what your whole name is?
Eli : what is it?
Stewart: Elias Stewart Brough. Do you know what my whole name is?
Eli: No
Stewart: Stewart James Brough. Do you know what mom's whole name is?
Eli: no
Stewart: Becca Jo Brough.
Eli (as he looks at me): Becca Jo Brough, I love you.

And that is why my son is so sweet!

Pics of the new do

Here is a before and after. I only want comments that say "that's cute" or "what a good decision." I don't want any, "what were you thinking" or "why did you do that" because as I look at these pics side by side I'm thinking "why did I do that and what was I thinking!" It took me 3 years to grow it so long! When I don't see the pictures of it long I do really like it though. It feels so light.

No more tomatoes!

My friend Jeri has a camera and knows how to use it as shown here: http://huishfamily.blogspot.com/2007/10/homemakey-stuff.html
I on the other hand have a camera. So my pictures of my homemakey stuff (Jeri's words, not mine) don't looks as pretty as hers. I have been busy though. Yesterday I spent the whole day, yes the whole day, peeling tomatoes! It was awful and my nails are still a little orange to prove it. I did make 14 qts of spaghetti sauce and 7 pints and 2 quarts of salsa. I can't actually taste these things yet because I'm tomato overloaded! Hopefully they turned out ok. Canning can be such a pain, but seeing your bottles all sitting on the counter looking pretty is very rewarding and hearing the pop of the lids and knowing that it all actually worked it great. I will not EVER do spaghetti sauce by myself though. I can't wait until Eli is old enough for slave labor!

My day today

Today was a pretty eventful day. Eli got his 4 year old pictures and they were so cute! When I get them I'll have to scan them in so that you all can see them. And I got my hair cut! It was pretty long (middle of my back) and I got it cut to my shoulders. Stewart is so happy! He keeps telling me that he likes my haircut and I keep saying "you better!" I blame him because he asked me to grow it out and then he asked me to cut it. So I blame him for something but I'm not sure what. I guess having an opinion about my hair! I really do like it too so it's ok. When I stood up to leave and saw all that hair though I felt a little panicked and hurried up and left!

I would put a picture up but I went running already so it's looking nasty.

More Eli Says:

Today I was pulling out these cute little Halloween outfits from when Eli was a baby. Eli saw them and was really excited. I told him that we were going to let baby Charlie borrow the outfits and Eli said, "how about we go buy a baby and he can wear this." Eli looked a little dismayed that I would let another baby wear HIS baby clothes. I said we are just going to let Charlie borrow them and he'll give them back. After a few minutes Eli said, "I think that we should go to the store and buy a baby and he can wear this." Which I guess means that he will share with a sibling so that's good!

So if anyone know where we can buy a baby we have 2 really cute Halloween outfits that it could wear.

Eli says:

Some funny things that Eli has said this week:

Talking about his dad. "Dad is grumpy. I'm going to make him laugh. Haa haa haa (this was his fake laugh) joka, joka, joka."
Apparently if you want to make a funny joke, but can't think of one you can just say joka and it's as good as a joke. Stewart wasn't even grumpy.

Eli and Stewart tackled me and Eli said, "TACKLE, tackle, I'm tackling you! tackle," as he bounced up and down on my stomach.

After Stewart and Eli tackled me Eli wanted us to tackle him. So Stewart pinned him down and was kind of laying on top of him. Eli said, "mom let's make a Daddy sandwich." I got on top of Stewart and Eli said "Dad's the jelly. Haa haa Dad, you're the jelly." When I said "no, he's the peanut butter because he's a nut." Eli thought it was hilarious.

"I'm thankful for the Gospel, and Jesus loves me, and my mom and dad." This is his primary program talk that he wrote himself.

We were going to the neighbors and I said that we were just going a little ways away and he said "no we aren't." I said "yes, we are" and he said "OK, I'll trust you mom."

Eli: "I'm not going to church today."
Me: "well you get to talk in the microphone today."
Eli: "OK! let's go!"

Lucky Me!

I have the best husband and son! I came home from the doctor today and Eli and Stewart were leaving. Eli was riding his scooter so I figured Stewart was going to take him to the park. As soon as I said "Hi" Eli said "we are going" Before Stewart said "shh, don't tell her." Then Eli said "we are going to buy you" before Stewart cut him off again and said "don't tell her". Eli said "we are going to buy you flowers.". So I stayed home and the boys went and bought me flowers. Eli was so happy and excited to bring me flowers. Stewart is a good example for Eli because Stewart brings me flowers quite a lot and always opens my car door. We are raising such a little gentleman!