He's SIX!

It happened.  He got older.  He's SIX and I feel old!  In August Eli started Kindergarten and has made a best friend.  He's got a loose tooth and can count to over 130.  He's reading at a 3rd grade level and loves to tell jokes.  Eli is totally into robots and gears and "anything with electricity".  He got a ton of robot/machine related gifts for Christmas and birthday and enjoys playing with these along with Legos and Frigits.  He is so much fun to spend time with at this age!  He can talk your ear off and stump you with questions you thought you knew the answer to :)

We celebrated his birthday with two parties this year:  a friend party and a family party.  Eli was thrilled to spend his actual birthday with friends AND get a second party :)  We also took him out to Red Robin where he got a free birthday sundae and balloon.  He felt very celebrated this year, and I think I'm finally over the guilt of his thrown-together-at-the-last-minute first birthday party (it was the day after I was released from the hospital from being treated for dehydration when I was pregnant with Anna)!

Here's is photo lineup for age six!

Newborn Eli

1 yr old

2 yrs old

3 yrs old

4 yrs old

5 yrs old

6 yrs old

Happy Birthday to the coolest 6 year old we know!  Mommy and Daddy both love laughing with you and have so much fun as your parents.  We love your tender heart and concern for the needs of others.  We know you will grow up to be a good man!

Robot Party!

Eli turned 6 on New Year's Eve.  I can hardly believe its been a year since his last birthday post!  I'll post another one of those, but for now I'm going to share some photos of his Robot Party.  Eli got really into having a themed party this year and inviting friends from the neighborhood.  We were going to do a joint family/friend party, but when I counted the number of friends he wanted to invite (12!) I figured it was time to do separate ones.  We got some "Robots" the movie invitations, thank-yous, and centerpieces off of freecycle, and the theme for our party was born!

First we worked on decorations.  Eli wanted the house to look like you were inside a robot.  It was a lot of fun to scheme ideas.  Each year we leave the Christmas tree up through Eli's birthday.  On that day it becomes the birthday tree!  This year we covered it in red crepe paper and taped gears to the crepe paper.  We also taped gears on the front door to "show people its a robot party and not just a regular birthday party" (quote from Eli). 

Birthday parties require balloons, so we blew up 25 balloons and on each we drew a robot, gears, or an electrical circuit. 

We also had a silver bowl filled with (silver) hershey's kisses, and even the old computer board from inside the dishwasher (replaced this summer) as a decoration.

I kept the food to a very simple minimum, cake and icecream.  We ordered a cake from Walmart with a Transformers theme - gray with black gears.  Eli was so excited (and quick to point out that there were actually 7 candles on the cake not 6... but I couldn't have it be asymetrical)!

Every good kids' birthday party needs some games.  We did:

pin the antenna on the robot

 

just like pin the tail on the donkey, but with antennae (each child got their own color) instead of tails and, of course, a robot in place of the donkey :)  The prize for this game was silver colored sixlets that I found in the wedding section at Walmart.  I thought they looked like ball bearings!

gear toss

I cut 2 large gears out of cardboard, covered them with aluminum foil, then covered that with clear packing tape.  The pole they were tossing the gears onto was a weighted box covered in aluminum foil and packing tape, with an empty wrapping paper tube covered in duct tape and then stuck to the top.  Each child had as many chances as it took to hit the target, each receiving a prize bag of candy.

and robot freeze

Eli was lucky enough to get an awesome robot for Christmas.  This one dances on command, so we would start the music and have all the kids dance like robots.  When the music stopped they needed to freeze.  If they didn't they were out.  The winner got a bag of jellybeans, by Eli's request.

I wanted the kids to be able to take a robot home, so we did a robot craft.  I found some suggestions online and found all the parts I needed at our local dollar store.  Here's what our masterpieces turned out like:

 

I had so much fun planning this party!  I think all the kids had a blast and will remember a fun time with Eli. We're already dreaming up ideas for Anna's party this summer :)

Pumpkin Patch

 

Halloween is probably the one holiday that I spend the least time preparing for.  I love carved pumpkins but don't like the work.  I like crafting, but for some reason making costumes isn't my cup of tea.  And I don't typically decorate the house because I don't want to scare the kids, and most Halloween decorations are a little scary!  I've been really busy this month preparing for the benefit walk/run we're putting together in our neighborhood, and in typical fashion I have spent almost no time prepping for Saturday.  However, today we got in the spirit!

This morning I took the kids to the local orchard/pumpkin patch.  I dressed them in matching outfits and planned to get some good shots of them (I can't miss the chance, you know!?).

We first looked through the old barn turned market and picked out some decorations for the house.  Eli checked out the antique cider press and was thoroughly intrigued by all the gears.

After choosing some mini pumpkins, dried corn, and a few treats (hot apple cider and home made apple dumplings... mmmm) we headed outside.

  They don't run the tractors to the field to pick your own pumpkin during the week, so instead we settled for checking out the large array of pumpkins they had outside the barn.  The kids had a blast walking through the "maze" of pumpkins and sitting on the "roller-coaster" of rocks.

 

We took home our prizes and spent some time painting them with washable paints.  I'll have to be sure to keep these on the porch in case there's rain before Saturday!  

We still had a little time before Eli had to hop on the bus, so we fashioned a large spider web out of white acryllic yarn and a spider to climb on it from black trash bags.  The kids think our spider looks a lot like a black octopus, but I don't think he's so bad :)

Benefit Walk/Run

Michelle is 15 years old and has been diagnosed with leukemia. She and her family live next door to me. Michelle spent her entire summer at Riley Children’s hospital where she received numerous rounds of Chemotherapy and also underwent a bone marrow transplant. She is finally home with her family, but her immune system is very weak at this point so she will be required to stay out of school for one year while her body recovers and her immune system strengthens. Michelle’s mom, left her job this year to stay home with her daughter during this difficult time.

Our neighbors have decided to hold a benefit walk/run in our neighborhood in honor of Michelle and her family to show our love and support for our neighbor, Michelle. We are asking for each family/individual who participates to bring a monetary donation for the family in order to give them a head start on paying the many medical bills they have incurred over the past year. The run/walk will be for all ages and open to everyone. The walk will be one mile and the run will be two miles and both will end at the park in the adjoining neighborhood. We will have a benefit bake sale, cider, goodies, face painting, bounce house, and more at the park as well. The run/walk will begin at 10:30 am.

If you're interested and you live on the west side of Indianapolis, email me (amoberly@gmail.com) and I'll give you specific details!

Happy Halloween!

Photo Shoot

My next door neighbor is a wonderful friend, and also an accomplished photographer.  She does natural light photography and family portraits around the Indy area.  Last month she did a promotional shoot downtown Indy for a store on Mass Ave, Nurture (if you're really interested in the details, check them out here).  Our kids participated and we got the best photos we've ever had of our kids out of the deal!  Its funny because we were pretty sure they were all going to turn out bad considering the kids never seemed to have a smile on at the same time.  Loree has a natural gift behind the camera and I have seen first-hand the amount of effort she puts into each session she does.  If you're interested in having family or child portraits done or your teenager needs great senior portraits, be sure to check Loree Alayne Photography out! I didn't want to post all the photos up here, but if you want to see the rest, go here.

 

 

 

 

Morning with Mommy

The other day I found myself with an entire 3 hours with just my 5 year old.  His sister was in preschool and his cousin was at home sick.  As tempting as it was to fill that time with all the things I can't do when I have a 3 kids running around, I decided instead to spend that time just focusing on this little boy who is growing up way too quick.  After grocery shopping and picking out a special picnic lunch we headed to the local town park.  We played on the playground and had an impromptu photo shoot guided by Eli.

Next headed out on some trails and found a large field full of wildflowers with some paths mowed through.  The day was hot but beautifully sunny.  We walked around in the "labyrinth" (as Eli called it) for a good long time and I introduced Eli to how to take pictures with my camera (he took the one of me).  Eli wanted to take a picture of every flower we saw. 

 

I am so glad I took the chance to spend some time with my guy - this time is fleeting.... he's at a crossroads in life and is off and running to become a man right before my eyes.

 

 

Bubba

I did not post much this summer, and one thing I neglected to mention was the fact that my brother was home from Italy. He is on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ doing ministry with the students in the metropolitan universities of Rome. He was home this summer for a 2 month visit during which we spent a lot of time just hanging out. He was here to raise support but was able to also devote a lot of time to family. Brian has been in Rome almost 3 years now and only been able to come home for short stays. Anna was only 18 months old when he left, Eli was 3, and our nephew hadn't even been born yet. Our older nephew was 10 when he left, and "Bubba" (as the now 12 year old has called him since he could speak) was sorely missed. Needless to say it was a wonderful time of reconnection with his niece and nephews! By the end of the two months, Anna was practically in tears at the idea of Bubba returning to Rome, but was comforted by the fact that he'll be home in a few months to celebrate Christmas.




On one of the last days of August, we celebrated Brian's last day home. We had a delicious dinner; played Molkky, football and Wits and Wagers; and generally enjoyed our last hours as a united family. As much as we all miss Bubba now, we are proud of the work he does in Rome and look forward to seeing him in a few months! Enjoy some photos of that last day.

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