Eli the Clementine Thrower

I went grocery shopping yesterday afternoon. Throughout the time at the store, Eli went back and forth from saying "hold" because he wanted to hold whatever I was putting in the cart and "hold you" because he wanted me to take him out of the cart and hold him. Needless to say, the trip at the store took longer than I was planning.

I came home feeling rushed to finish a meal I was making for a friend and not having time to put most of the groceries away. Ben was stuck coming home on the train - the signals went out systemwide, so they weren't letting the trains go due to safety reasons (his 25 minute ride home took an hour and a half). I tried to get Eli to eat dinner while I was cooking, but he finished in record time and was not interested in staying cooped up in his booster seat for very long.

Once he was free, Eli pulled all of the clementines out of the box and started throwing them around the kitchen like they were balls. He thought it was SO fun and was laughing so hard. Then he had fun putting the clementines in a pile and stacking and compiling the groceries that were still out.

These pants are pretty big in the waist! They were falling off of him all day long, poor guy.

And no, we don't drink Coke - I bought it for a Cafe Rio pork recipe that I'm hoping is better than my other attempts. What I really crave is a true Cafe Rio burrito, but I'll have to settle for this, 1,200 miles away from the nearest location. :(

Eli was in such a good mood last night! We picked Ben up from his late train at 7:15 p.m., then came home and ate dinner while Eli continued throwing the clementines and running around us while we ate. He didn't get to bed until 8 p.m., and gave me the nicest gift this morning - Eli didn't start yelling Boppy until almost 8 a.m.! (I think he was up earlier, but played quietly in his crib for a little while) That was the nicest thing he could have done for his tired, third-trimester pregnant, still-battling-a-yucky-cold mom.

It's now 9 a.m. and all we've really accomplished is reading books, eating breakfast, and getting Eli dressed. I'm still in my sweats and enjoying a slow, happy start to the morning. Sometimes you just need days like this!

Enjoying the Fall Afternoon

Ben, Eli and I are all kind of under the weather this weekend... we seem to have the cold that everyone else we know has. So we took naps after church and woke up feeling like we needed some fresh air. Here is Eli, in the cute sweater my mom knit for him, carrying his rubber duckie and Cars sippy cup.

Watching the trains go by...

No matter how many trains we see, Eli is excited for EVERY one.
He says "HI!" to all kinds of things - trains, trees, his duck, stuffed animals, cars, etc. We love it.

Playing on the golf course near our house - there were tons of pretty leaves that had fallen from the trees.

Eli thought it was hilarious when Ben threw leaves at him - he would run away laughing

More leaf throwing :)

Love those Pumpkins

Yesterday we were out in the front playing near the pumpkins. Eli was making all kinds of silly faces...

Some happy...

Some crazy...
I asked him if he wanted to walk down to see the trains passing by - he said, "YEAH!!" and clapped his hands (just as I mentioned in an earlier post).

We can hear the train when we're outside, so as soon as we heard the bell ringing we ran over to watch the el train.

We watched a few more trains go by (they run pretty often in the late afternoon) and then headed back for more pumpkin time.

I love the Fall weather!! It's crisp, but not TOO chilly to be outside without a coat (at least for a little while).

Love this boy.

We still need to carve our pumpkins!