Sara And Pat

Christmas eve to be specific...

Eli is sleeping...

...so i thought I would take a few minutes to update. Things have been busy to say the very least, work, triyng to catch up with Eli as he runs around the house, and life in general.

Work has been busy for both of us. Sara continues to build her client base, and I am still teaching and running the theater at the HS.

Eli is growing so fast, he turned two just over a month ago. When he was last in to the doctor, she said he was 35in tall and 31lbs. It seems like he is taller every day. He still has a strong obsessions with cars (both the movie and in reality), trains, pretty much anything with wheels really.

He knows his shapes and colors, not pentagon yet, but hes got octagon down. I drew a variety of shapes on his drawing board, as I completed each shape he toldme what it was: star, circle, moon, octagon, oval, square, moon (like a crescent moon), and triangle. I colored them in and asked him what color each shape was with out pointing to them, he go the color to the shape correct, it was so cool.
He loves music, most recently Christmas music. He regularly sings jingle bells while walking around the house, its pretty cute. He seems to come home from daycare with new songs regularly, it is so cool to see him in the rear view mirror singing "If your happy and you know it" and going through the motions.



We took Eli to a petting zoo/ farm on one of our trips north.. not only animals but a playground!



Eli loved the chickens, he would make a loud noise and they all would scatter away from him.


The baby cow was a hit...


The kittens and bunnies, well, he loved them...

we made it out with out him adopting, or hurting either of them... he wasn't exactly nice about petting them.


Eli got to see all kinds of birds and fuzzy things, he had a great time.


Eli has become very nimble, he is very fast.. it seemed like he just learned to walk not long ago. He can get on every piece of furnature we have..


Which leads us to our bump in the night segment of our blog update...
We didn't realize how lucky we were, what a piece of luxury we had. At his age only 2 percent of kids still were in a crib, did I mention he could get on any piece of furniture?
Needless to say the 4:00am thud followed with a door handle rattling "hey I am awake, its dark and this door is still shut" made us go from his crib:


to the toddler bed


when I made it, I finished all of the pieces at the same time, so it would be a quick change over from one bed to the next, and its good thing I did, he definitely had it figured out. The changeover only took 10 minutes or so, getting him to sleep in this new found freedom was the challenge. The first night was hard, like he was 2 months old again. It didnt take long of us just putting him back in bed and he had it.

Eli went trick-or-treating this year as Yoda...


We only went to a few houses, but he had a great time. The chocolate on the ride home was lots of fun...



Eli on his second birthday...

.. I took a bunch of pictures of Eli on his birthday before I had to be off to work. I was in tech week for our main stage show, so we delayed celebrating for a bit, he didn't seem to mind.


Much more soon....

Pat

... and Eli is excited to see you again.

So much has happened since I have updated.

Eli is doing really well, it is amazing to watch him grow and learn so fast.

He continues his love of books, he still regularly climbs in his chair and reads several. Of coarse he is not reading the words, but he knows the stories in most of them well enough to know what he is reading and recognizes the pictures.
His speech continues to improve, it seems like he is learning new words all the time. He is able to communicate most things to us, especially "no"... he is really good at no.
He can open the screen door with out issue, and isn't far from being able to open any door around the house. His goal is generally to go outside and play.



I have started to scan Eli's art projects, they still also hang on the fridge, but I wanted to have them digitally also. Some are from daycare, some are from when he is feeling creative around the house. He loves to color, and not just on paper.

The top of the TV, and the window next to it, have amazing creations on them. He will ask for crayons by name, though he doesn't know all of his colors... he knows the color blue.... the rest are pretty much hit and miss.





We took Eli to see the DeWalt Race car at Home Depot recently.

He was neutral on the car, but the Semi it came on is a different story.

Did I mention our obsession with Thomas the Tank Engine...


Obsessed might be putting it lightly.

We went with Grandma Frank to see Thomas at Huckleberry Railroad near Flint. This seemed like a great idea, and for the most part it went really well. We had to wake him up from a nap to get there on time, and it was super hot that day.


Before our train ride Eli got to play with lots of Thomas toys and see lots of new stuff. By the time we got to the train it was about peak heat, and Eli was super warm. By the end of the train ride he was cooled down and a happy boy again.
He not only got to see Thomas in person...


He also got blue ice cream...

The staff took lots of pictures, they thought Eli covered in blue ice cream was so cute they want to add it to their flier. Look for our son, covered in blue, in an upcoming Genesee County Parks promo.


Not long ago we sold the Barnes house in Lansing. Considering the housing market we are happy with he being sold in just under 6 months. With that moved on, now we can start on the updates to our new house. It needs windows really bad, you should not be able to stick your fingers outside using a window that does not open. We have lots we are looking to do, kitchen updates, more paint... we have projects to last us a long time. Maybe even, dare I say, a wood shop!
I will post pics of our progress as we get there.

More soon...

Pat

"I got a rock" Eli said confidently as he held up two rocks. Hunting rocks next to the barn continues to be a favorite thing.


Eli will ask for apples by name and can eat it with out much help. He has eaten a half of one while shopping at Meijer after requesting it and pointing excitedly.


Playing in the foot stool is fun!


Eli talking on his banana phone.


Playing in Dad's car.


So much has happened since I wrote on here last....

We finished the deck on the house! The deck needed work, lots of work. We completed the railings, to a total of about 150ft. We added about 10x13 on to the south end, this made it so the laundry room door opened on to something. It was kind of like the building crew left for the day and never came back. We finished it over several weekends in a row.


...a grand total of 1071sq ft.

We added low voltage lighting...


There is a light on just about every post, a total of 36 fixtures. It was a lot of work, but it sure looks cool at night.


We have lots planted in the garden. We got off to a late start, but better late then never. While most corn will be knee high this weekend, ours might be 6" or so... we will have a very late August-ish harvest.


We spent last weekend at Boyne at the Edward Jones Summer Regional. It's so nice that Sara works for a company that really values family and wants to include them in social events.
Boyne was beautiful, I wasn't sure what to expect from an off season ski resort, I was really impressed. Eli had tons of room to roam and play, he even had fun at the daycare they had.




They had an inflatable obstacle coarse for the kids and Eli loved it. If the pictures had sounds you would hear squeals of delight. I can definitely see us renting one of those for upcoming birthday parties.


Eli playing on the daycare toys.


Eli discovered his shadow and chased it for a bit, it was pretty cute.


Eli also discovered sidewalk chalk. He played with that for some time, all the sidewalk is now his canvas.


We went into a toy store, and all he wanted was a balloon. He was really confused, and quickly frustrated, when it kept trying to fly away.


Eli's obsessions with Thomas the Tank Engine and Cars are as strong as ever. He could watch both of them all day and be totally happy. Eli can now get on every piece of furniture in the house with out help. He can open the screen doors, and can almost open the big sliding door and the front door. Its funny how we want him to learn so much, yet some things he could not know how to do and that would be fine.


We are looking forward to the rest of the summer, maybe a few more bonfires, a bit more work on the house.... It should be fun...

More soon...

Pat

Eli's language has evolved so quickly, its remarkable to watch. In the past few days he has begun singing along with Old McDonald:
Sara: Old McDonald had a farm...
Eli: E I O
Sara: and on that farm he had a...
Eli: Cow! (it's a cow every time)
Sara: What does the cow say?
Eli: MOO!
It's really cute...

Eli has really gotten good at yes (yeah) and no... no is quite clear and sometimes pointed. He seems to be picking up new words everyday. He is very much trying to tell us things, constantly, most of which we have no idea about. But he will repeat the same phrase over and over, while looking at us thinking "Why don't you understand? "

He continues his nearly unnatural love for Thomas The Tank Engine. His bed time books are now all about Thomas, he will push the others out of our hands in protest. He also love the movie "Cars", and anything with wheels. This includes strollers, tractors.... really anything... especially if he can push it or drive it around.

We went to babies r us today to get him a new potty seat, the previous one didn't work for him so much. As soon as he saw it he yells "Potty!" He has several potty books, so he knows the terms well. On out way through the store he also found a tricycle that he scooted around on for a long time, and a hat. He wore the hat the rest of the day, way really upset when we had to remove it momentaraly to have the check out clerk scan it.



We have been working on completing our deck over the past few weekends. When we moved in we thought it was odd that it just ended, kind of like if you stopped for the day and didn't go back for 10 years. The joists all cut to odd lengths, no railings, and keeping in a fine tradition, we had a door to nowhere. The laundry room door opened out to nothing, a 3ft drop off to dirt. We are really close to having it done, we added 10x13 to be able to reach to deck-less door and are putting railings on the entire deck. It been a sizable, but fun, project. I will put up pictures soon.

School is finished for the year June 5th at 11:55... not that anyone is counting or anything. This year has been really busy, we have had some really good projects we have been involved in, but a bit of shower time sure wont hurt. The next few days are really busy, pretty much back to back and overlapping a bit, but that seems to be a consistent theme at the end of the year. I am looking forward to spending lots more time with Eli and working in the yard. Speaking of, we are just about ready to plant out garden. It has been tilled twice, and we pretty much know where we want everything. I will put up pictures of our progress as soon as there is anything visible.


More soon....

Pat

Eli is learning more words constantly. He seems to try to hold a conversation, that is till he realizes we have no idea what he is saying. He tries to talk constantly, food, TV, and the Nuk are the only things that really pose enough of a distraction to slow him down. He will ask for the TV by name, while pointing of coarse.


Eli has become a huge Thomas the Tank Engine fan. He watches it regularly in Sara's car, and he has some Thomas slippers. Those have become an absolute favorite in the past few days, in fact I think he took one to bed with him tonight. We have been reading a Thomas book for some time now, and every time he sees Thomas on a new page Eli says "peep peep"... its pretty adorable.



Eli has become better at communicating, but some times he just thinks he can get what he wants on his own. He thinks he can get into his highchair by himself, here he is pulling himself up, notice how he only has one toe touching. He is serious about wanting to get up there, now! He thinks if he pulls hard enough he will get up there, and he is right. We would rather pick him up then have him tip it over on himself...




Eli has had this Tupperware bowl as long as he has had toys. We have been putting toys in it for him forever. Recently he has started dumping the toys out and wearing it as a hat. I thought he was pretty cute, he didn't think it was a big deal.


We are in constant amazement at how fast he is changing and growing. He seems to learn new words everyday, and wants desperately to talk with us. Its remarkable how much fun he has become, more so everyday.

More soon...


Pat

I got our tiller to work! Some new gas, and figuring out what does what... and we are off! I got half of the garden tilled, and now that I have half a clue what I am doing the rest shouldn't take long at all. We have lots of plans, maybe to ambitious, for the garden. We are going to have a variety of vegetables, including a small pumpkin patch for Eli. We are going to be able to use the seeds from his first pumpkin. Which I think will be cool, he wont care, just lots of pumpkins.
We are going to put in a few blueberry bushes, and a few raspberry vines... Eli loves both. Those combines with the existing pear and apple trees should be provide a nice selection.


I have done a few minor upgrades to a few things in the house, mainly a few plugs and switches so far.

I added a GFCI to the bathroom, it had none, and it seemed like a good idea. I also switched out the old plug on the opposite side of the sink, they all match now.


I also added a timed switch for the exhaust fan. It seems like one of those things that could be left on far longer then it needs to be, this seems to be an effective solution. (it also has really cool green LEDs) The fan itself is in need of some help. You can tell from anywhere in the house when the timer turns off. Loud would be a definite understatement. A project for another day.


More soon...

Pat

The weather is finally warming up! This seems like it has been a longer and colder than normal winter. It seems like so much has happened since the end of February, time has really gone by fast.


We got Eli a potty chair. We have not started potty training yet, but I guess its good to have one around so he isn't thrown off when it shows up. He thought it was fascinating, took it all apart, stood on it, and sometimes sat on it while we were filling the bath tub.



Eli and Lucky are getting along pretty well. On several occasions when Eli naps on the floor, so does Lucky. This is something Bunny the cat used to do, all the more reason for her to be bitter. She goes into complete defensive mode, swiping at the dog with both paws (no front claws makes for a more comedic battle). Lucky sees this as play time, down in the play position, she will bark... which pisses the cat off all the more.



Eli's speech has improved dramatically, we are communicating, if even on a very basic level. "Outside!" is his current favorite, this weekend I think we probably were outside six or so separate times throughout the day. The dog normally comes along, running circles around us. One of his current favorite things to do is find rocks near the pole barn. There are no eve troughs, so the water has pounded the dirt and reviled lots of small rocks along the sides. We found a small petoskey stone, which I thought was really cool (Michigan's state stone), he was not impressed.



Eli has several hats, this being one of them. He picked it out on a shopping trip with mom, and will regularly wear it around the house. This is an early attempt at putting it on himself, its a bit more "gansta" then his normal look, but it's cute when he is young.

Works has been really busy for me, here is a bit of what we have been working on:


We had our second CACC open house of the year, two days before the Vision 22 Telethon. We were in the gym at the Career Center, which was really nice for the size and the educational content we were able to add in.


The SET Program handled most of the technical elements in the Haslett HS PAC for the Vision 22 telethon "live music" section. We were broadcasting live form the PAC, which we have not done in my time there. It was a really cool experience, for me and the kids. We were out of there by 1:30am, and had another broadcast as a play preview at 1:30pm the next day. We loaded in the set, a decent sized box set (76' of wall), at 10:00am and were ready for the play preview and rehearsal for the main stage by 1:00pm. The telethon broadcast and the HS play were one week apart, both on a Friday. Not to say it was stressful, ..... oh wait ... it was.... so much so I have no pictures of the HS play at all. The end result was several shows in a short period of time, great real world training for the SET Program students, and nice end results on all fronts. (glad its over)

I am on spring break, that being said I think I worked everyday, just not as long of days. Eli went with me for several of the trips, we tried to play after work...


After playing on the swings a while we decided to try and get Eli a haircut. We went to see Uncle Tony in Okemos and get him looking good.

This is Eli right after, in the car. We got him some lunch, and he was a happy (good looking) boy again. He did ok with the haircut, till he got water on his face from the water bottle, it was a quick downward spiral from there. We stood out and talked to Tony for a bit after, Eli was fine by the time we left, no grudges held.


Home is where you hang your dart board.

I never hung it at the Barnes house (still for sale, take a look), mainly due to the really nice hardwood floors throughout. It is hung in our new basement, carpet over concrete, and I cant wait to play. I installed track lighting so you have a clear view of the board.

Spring break winds to a close with the Easter holiday. We went to my parents for lunch and so Eli could find eggs the Easter Bunny hid for him.









As it turns out there were Yogurt Melts in every egg, one of Eli's favorite things.


I don't think Eli entirely gets the Easter egg hunt concept yet, but watch out next year.


More soon...

Pat

It seems like its been forever since I have taken the time to update, going on 2 months is way to long. So much has been going on, work has been really busy for me, but things have been good. We worked on several shows in January and February, completed those and are on to the next. We have 2 more big shows we are working on (and a handful of smaller concerts and such) and spring break is not to far in the distance. We are building one large box set and helping with the Vision 22 Telethon, both on stage at the end of March, with in a week of each other. Needless to say, I cant wait for a bit slower time.
Sara has also been busy at work, she is putting in lots of time and continuing to build her client base. The people at the top think she is doing well, and her hard work is going to pay off.

We are getting settled into out new home... I guess by settled we mean not living completely out of boxes, just mostly. I think spring is going to come and it will be full speed ahead on making this place really nice. Our Lansing house is on the market... want to buy a house? It seems like it took us forever to get everything out, I think I have a genetic code to be a pack-rat. We have some new paint on the walls, and some big dreams for our new house. We are planning the garden out: some fruits, some vegetables, and hopefully a small pumpkin patch.

Eli is doing really well. He is saying more words everyday, he picked up my cell phone and said very clearly "hello" yesterday. He definitely knows what he wants to say, he is effectively pointing and telling us "no" either by shaking his head or sometimes using the word. I took him to a Saturday rehearsal a while ago, he danced and overall had a pretty good time. About 2 hours in he hands me his coat as if to say "okay, we are done here. I am ready to go." I put his coat back and told him it would just be a bit longer. He grabs his coat again as if to say "no, seriously... we are outta here..." It was pretty funny. It is sometimes like he is speaking a foreign language, he definitely knows what he is saying, and will sometimes repeat the same phrase over and over as if to say "do you get it now?" He is doing awesome at daycare. He is there 3 days a week, and they refer to him as their "little rocker". He dances constantly and loves to play a guitar they have there.


Eli using his Mega Blocks wagon as a lounge.


Eli has created all kinds of art. His creations cover the fridge.


Our smiling boy!


Eli in his red rocking chair.


I had this made for the back of Eli's Wagon. It is a fairly close font to the Radio Flyer on the side, but this is reflective. I can't wait to be able to pull him around in the yard, we run out of places to go in the house really quick.


Presenting "Lucky" the newest addition to the family. She is four and a half months old, and a really sweet dog. She is a lab mix, came house broken, and isn't really bothered by the cat. We just got her this week, but already she seems to be adjusting pretty well.


More to come soon.

Pat

We wish everyone a safe and happy new year.

We really are not really resolution people, but there are always things you would like to do different. We moved into a house that could use, well, updating. This is nothing like the Barnes house, as I recall the ceiling was sitting on the floor before we ever started any kind of demo. We will me making lots of improvements to our new house over the next several months, we started with a few fairly manageable ones.

We installed a garbage disposal! I bought the whole under the sink plumbing kit, spent a fair amount of time trying to figure it out. I was trying to over complicate it, it just didn't have what I needed. I was able to leave all of the plumbing on the other side, including the "T". I just needed a straight piece of pipe, the only possible piece that was not included in this kit. It was Sunday, and I had resolved myself to driving all the way into Lansing to pick up the piece. I was delighted to find our home town hardware store was not only open, but had what I needed, and had good service. I had always dreaded the thought of life in a "ville" or "burg"... its not so bad, in fact I rather like it.

To go along with the disposal, maybe the main reason we got it, it our new dishwasher!


The stainless steel, inside and out, an adjustable upper shelf, nylon coated racks, and more loading flexibility then I know what to do with.... all this from Menard's... I hate their theme song, but they have remarkable service.
The overall project took me embarrassingly long, but its all done, works, and looks good.

Much more to come on the home improvement adventure.

Eli seems like he constantly battling some form of a cold, but recently so am I. Considering his constant running nose, he is a pretty happy kid. I recently bought him a ball cap on super clearance. He didn't really like it the first day, but has taken to it and wears it regularly. I think he looks super cute in it...


We are trying to get him on some sort of a nap schedule. He gets two a day, one mid to late morning, and one mid afternoon. The time and length feel pretty random, and we don't always get both. The other day Eli fell asleep while eating. I got up to get something and by the time I got back this is what I saw:

He grabbed his nuk, put his head down and was out. I got the camera, got this picture and picked him up so he could sleep on his pillow. He didn't wake up, I guess he was more tired then I thought.

Have a great day...

Pat

Eli, Sara, and I went to play in the snow. We didn't stay out for long, but wanted to try out the new snow pants we all got for Christmas. We got Eli all bundled up, and out we went.








He lost his balance a few times, but came out of it with a smile.


With a helping hand from Mom it was a great ride.


I am sure we will have lots of fun with the rest of the winter, just thought we would share this fun moment.
Hope all is well.

Pat