4th of July

Eli likes to eat pickles- so do I.

Our 4th of July weekend was great! Friday night Cesar and I had a date (thanks mom for babysitting). We went to City Park and listened to the Colorado Symphony Orchestra give a great performance. I loved the patriotic music and watching all the people. It was super relaxing and there was great weather. Then we went downtouwn and ate at the Cheesecake Factory. We ate outside and enjoyed watching all the people, horse carriages, and pedicabs pass by. The food was great and the dessert was even better! I love going on dates with Cesar!

On Saturday we went to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival as a family. Eli did really well sitting in the stroller (lately he has hated being in the stroller). We enjoyed walking around and glancing at the art. We saw a guy scuplting a block of ice into a swan. Then we went to the main stage and listened to music while eating our picnic lunch. Eli of course danced to the music and was so cute! At one point Eli and another young boy went to the front of the lawn right by the stage and started dancing. I heard several people comment about how cute they were. It was a lot of fun!

Sunday after church we were invited to lunch at a family's house from our ward that had just blessed their baby. It was nice to socialize and relax outside. In the evening we went to my parent's house and had dinner. My mom made a jello dessert that looked like the American Flag and we also ate apple pie- a very american dessert. Eli's cousins are very good with playing and taking care of him when we are at my parent's house. I know Eli loves all his cousins!

Cesar's Birthday

On Father's Day we celebrated Cesar's birthday at my parents house with our favorite strawberry dessert! My parent's gave Cesar a BBQ grill. We used it the other weekend and had great tasting hamburgers. It was fun and a learning experience since neither of us had really BBQ'ed by ourselves before. We managed to not set anything on fire. There was a lot of smoke though.

On his actual birthday his mom and her foster kids came over for dinner and banana dessert (another favorite).

We have really been enjoying our extra family time this summer. Cesar is just taking two classes during the summer and working three days. Next semester will be a different story though- I think he will have school or work every day.

Things that Eli does

Eli has been growing up and changing so much lately. I just wanted to write down stuff so I can read it in the future and remember. (He is 1 year and 8 months.)

-He counts from 8-13. I often count the stairs with him when we go up and down and he sometimes says 2, but usually starts at 8! At the library today he saw the number eight and said "eight". I was suprised that he knew that.

- He says please when he really wants something.

- He is still a great sleeper! He never wakes up at night and often has a three hour nap.

- We bought him a potty the other day and he sometimes sits on it, but usually with his diaper on.

- He knows and likes Elmo. I knew he liked Sesame Street, but didn't know he loved Elmo. Today at the library he saw an Elmo book and said "Elmo" and loved looking at the book. We checked it out and he loves it at home too.

- He gives kisses sometimes when we ask and when he feels like it.

- He puts his hands together when we pray and starts talking so softly and nicely. He sometimes says "Amen".

- In sacrament meeting he waves his hand like he is conducting the music when we sing. He also lip sings when we listen to music.

- He loves to dance and has good rhythm.

- He loves playing with his toy cars. He says "cars, trucks, and cycles" for motorcycles. He can play with his cars for a long time. He loves to look at the wheels and park the cars in a row.

- He loves looking at books. Sometimes when I'm reading to him, he tells me to shhhh, so he can read to me! He jibber jabbers and sometimes says a real word or too. When I get out of the shower sometimes he has gone through most of the books on the shelf and they are all layed out around him on the carpet.

- He knows how to close the doors at home, but can not open them yet.

- He loves fruit- strawberries, grapes, blueberries, oranges, apples...

- He has sooo much energy.

- He likes going to nursery at church.

- He has never really liked taking a bath. He doesn't cry or anything, but he just doesn't love it. He usually brings a couple of toys in the bathroom and when I put them in the bath water he doesn't like it. He would rather I just hold the toys for him and he picks one to play with at a time.

- When he eats cheerios and has two floating in milk on his spoon, he says "eyes".

- He loves the book "Black Beauty" and kisses the horse on the last page.

- He loves his cousin Ivaras and says his name over and over when I tell him that we are going over to his house. He has started to say grandma too.

- He never cries when I leave.

Swimming Fun

Eli had so much fun swimming when we went the other day. It was a challenge to keep him in our arms because he just wanted to jump out. He loves watching the older kids swim too. I think we will be spending a lot of time at the pool this summer!

Second Hair Cut

Before

During
After

3 Dates in 1 Week

Cesar and I had three dates last week. This is pretty unheard- we actually usually only have one or two a month.

#1 Tuesday night double date with Mark and Tiffany. We went to a nice restaurant and bowling downtown. It was a lot of fun. We had fun watching the Nuggets game at the bowling alley, talking, walking in perfect weather down 16th Street, and more. Thanks to M & T for the invite and using some of their gift card on us and thanks to my mom for babysitting Eli!

#2 Saturday morning breakfast at Dozens. We had yummy omelets, potatoes, and toast and great conversation. I really like going out for breakfast and Dozens is a great restaurant. Thanks to Valerie for taking care of Eli!

#3 Saturday afternoon massage! We went to the Denver School of Massage and got massages for $12.50. It's a great price. We both had really good massages and felt so good afterwards. I had been wanting a massage since before Eli was born and finally got one! Thanks to Sandra for babysitting Eli.

Timber!

Two trees were cut down in front of our house. I don't know why, but we were sad about it. One of the trees was actually the tree where Cesar taught Eli how to say "arbol". It was interesting to see it all happen and very loud.

Here is Cesar and Eli's reaction.