Today at church Eli had already eaten the fruit snacks, the pretzels (or prencils as Caroline calls them), and some goldfish. He was insisting that he was starving. Has anyone else seen a snack bar at church? Should there be one that is supported by tithes? In any case, I told him to go and get a big drink of water. He insisted that he wasn't thirsty, but starving! I told him his only option was a drink of hunger-quenching water. He kept whining. I told him that I was going to march him out and call Dave to come and get him, he would go home and right to his room - this was after much complaining.

"What?! You are going to send me home and to my room and never let me eat again? You want me to DIE?!

No, E, I just want you to stop complaining and whining, realize that I can't do anything but what I am suggesting and sit quietly.

"What?! You really want me to DIE?!!

So now everyone who sits near us in church thinks I want Eli to die or that I said something to Eli to make him think that I was trying to kill him.

My friend asked me later what I had done to make Eli so mad when he stomped out of Sacrament Meeting (she had seen him stomp out). I am only guilty of wanting him to live! I had finally convinced him it was in his best interest to drink up.

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Tonight, playing this new fantastic game called Pickleball, (thanks for the new addiction that we can't play immediately Shorts) Eli was great at it but not sharing the court time with any of us adults. I tried to explain to him the rules, going to a certain point, sharing the court - yada yada yada - "What?! You don't want me to play with you ANYMORE?! You don't want ME anymore?!

When we got home, Dave spent some time talking to him about his behavior. He was sent straight to bed but asked if he could write something down first. This is what we found, taped to the sheet next to him in bed:


Did I tell you about the time in Target when I let him open a pack of Pokemon cards before we paid for them? After they were opened he came across some Mario Galaxy Cards. He decided that he wanted those instead. I told him that we had already claimed the opened cards and had to buy them and because of that we would not be getting the Mario cards. While hanging his head in deep sorrow he said, "I make the worst choices, I am such a bad decision maker!"
After we had checked out and were at the car he said, "You all get in first, I don't deserve to get in before any of you. I make such bad choices. I deserve to be last."

Let me defend us. We don't say things like this to him. We try to never generalize with Eli. We do say things like, " You are right, you were too impatient and didn't make a very good choice in this instance." or "Yeah, you are being naughty RIGHT NOW but you aren't naughty all the time. In fact, you are pretty awesome most of the time." Where he gets all this negative talk and crap I do not know.

Someone, please help. I really don't know what do with this sweet boy who has a great disposition all the time, but apparently rarely when I am around.

Here we go again!

Here we go again. Eli has his first day of 2nd grade. 2nd grade!!! What happened to kindergarten? E was excited for school to start. A class of 27 (way too big!), 17 are boys! There were many joyous reunions that morning. Friends he saw only 2 days previous greeting each other like it had been 2 years. I don't know how bones did not get broken.














We are still trying to find our groove, but my expectations for that are not high. I don't think that we ever found our groove last year - when to do homework, when to veg, when to play and when to eat.















It is weird not to have him around all day. We all miss him. Not that he is ever around long - he is a social butterfly.

So far so good. He likes his teacher, likes what he is learning and loves to be with all his pals.

How can you not love this 2nd grader face?














Caroline began a new dance program. She calls it her "temporary" dance. Contemporary. She asked how she was supposed to keep up her ballet and tap skills if she would be going to dance with bare feet from now on. I don't know. I mean, what if SYTYCD 2022 doesn't think she has good enough technique? But she loved it her new dance.


She is also beginning soccer. She is so excited and has practiced every day. It is her fallback to SYTYCD, I guess she can always try out for the USA Women's Soccer team.







We bought some soccer cleats with pink in them but there were too big. I asked her to try on Eli's old shoes and she said, "That is a good idea and if they fit we won't have to buy new shoes!" What? This coming from a kid who threw a HUGE fit in Target that day over something ridiculous that I would not buy.

















She was showing me her jumping skills. Who knew that cleats helped you jump? Joey came out in E's cleats and had to get in the jump action. He actually has an impressive vertical for a tiny sport.

















Many of you know about Caroline's lack of pants and short wearing. She hasn't worn them in 2 1/2 years - excluding leggings that go under dresses. Thus the skirt at soccer practice. I asked her if we needed to go shopping for a black skirt or if she would wear soccer shorts. She said she would only wear Eli's old soccer shorts and only for soccer practice and games. She also asked that I don't ask her to wear shorts or pants any other time.


btw - I have new plaques that are about to go up in my shop. If you want to take a look, go to we chirp.

Agents and Roberts

Caroline and I just finished watching last night's SYTYCD. She calls the dances fashion dances, fancy dances or comtempo dances when she doesn't know the names. The one that won her over for the night was Brandon and Janette's Wade Robson number. I told her they were robbers and she insisted that they were agents because it was definitely agent music. They must be looking for the "roberts". So all you roberts out there, watch out.



On another note, I had Eli's portrait taken last week for a gal's photo project. Stacy is turning 28 this year and as a spin-off of Justin's 30 strangers dealio is doing a portrait a day of age 1 - 28. I love it. Eli was her age 7. How lucky for us he just had his birthday! Check out the photos here. I highly recommend Stacy and her photog abilities.