Eli

I sure have loved having Eli home with me this year!  He is in afternoon kindergarten, so we have all morning together.  We read books, do homework and chores, run errands, and generally have "special time agether."  

Here are a few random things about Eli that I want to remember:

He is pretty obsessed with muscles and strength.  He is always planning ways to invite all of his friends over at the same time so they can form an army.  He does exercises to build up his muscles, and comments on nice muscles whenever he sees them.  He loves karate and secretly wishes that a bad guy would come try to steal him so he could unleash his mad skills of self defense.  We have to talk a lot about never using karate moves on other people.  And about not bragging.

Eli to Clayton: We're both really strong, huh?
Ya.
We're both the same strong, huh?
Ya.
But we're just saying that to make each other feel happy, right?
Ya.

He's also "a big fan of girls."  He has had multiple crushes this year, and always lets everybody know about it.  Apparently the girls like him a lot too!  One day he came home and said in exasperation, "Mom, all the girls keep on falling in love with me!"

I asked how he could tell, and he said that they kept on looking at him "with a love face."  I chuckled to myself and figure that was all in his head until I went on a field trip with him.  He pointed out one little girl and said "See mom... she has a love face!"

Sure enough... I turned to see Belle, peeking around a corner, smiling a "love smile" and batting her eyelashes at him!!  He knew a love face when he saw one!

A farewell to scouts

Recently the church announced it's "break up" with the scouting program.  If I am being honest, I have wished for this to happen- usually while searching for lost scout shirts, ironing on patches, or sitting through my 7,000th pack meeting.

But at the same time... I have to recognize the wonderful things that scouting has done for my boys! 

They have learned some great "man skills" from some great leaders.  They have learned to set goals and follow through with them.  They have learned to do hard things, to serve others, and to stick with a task even when it's not fun.  They have built some great friendships and had so much fun along the way!  

This picture feels to me like the PERFECT illustration of what cub scouts is all about!  I can't stop looking at it!  It makes me teary-eyed to think that Eli will never get to have this experience!

I am looking forward to the changes coming.  I have full confidence that the church will come up with a great program for boys and girls.  But I sure am grateful for what scouting has done for our family!