Eli turns 8!

Was there ever a more adorable, sparkly-eyed baby?

 Our Eli bones sure is growing up. He is a good friend, and sure has a lot of them. There is no shortage of 7-8 year old boys in this neighborhood. He is a good brother, very generous with his things, he still loves building Lego's, he's an excellent artist, and school comes easy to him. He's still as rambunctious as ever, it is hard to get him to settle down when he's excited- which is 24/7. Everything is hilarious and loud and smelly. He's all boy, through and through. He's stayed consistent and predictable his eight years.
The other night I was getting ready to go visiting teaching and he came in my room. He rested his head on me, and I couldn't help but scoop him up into the chair and snuggle and rock him for a minute. He just wanted some cozy alone time, and I'll take it any time I can get it. 
As his big day approached, he mentioned he wanted an Archery party. And he wanted to invite a lot of friends. Hmmmm......

It turned out to be so much fun! We started with a candy game in place of a pinata. The boys had to quickly unroll a ball of candy-stuffed suran wrap before their neighbor rolled doubles and it was passed on.

Then we moved on to decorating bows and arrows.

The bows I sprayed a gun-metal black

Each boy got their own bow and one arrow to name and decorate. I made them out of PVC pipes, foam pipe insulation and string. I had them put a foam tip on their arrows because when I tested the bows the night before I put a hole in my wall! They were a little more powerful than I thought, and I had visions of boys poking eyes out at the party.

I had no voice at the party, so I was grateful to Jon for taking the reigns. I'd tap his shoulder and wisper- "Tell the boys to line up behind the first line"..... I sprayed different color lines in the grass where they could practice shooting at the targets. I decided to scratch the cowboys and indians game I had planned- better to just shoot at targets and not eachother.

It's fun to see Eli feel like a King! (if, for only a few hours. Usually Adren is right there to knock him back down a peg or two.)

The Party treat!

All our party's end with Silly String tag, it's good to end on a high, crazy note. I noticed how the boys looked as they left- Covered in crazy string, mouth's smeared with icing, trying to balance their bows and arrows on their bikes and pockets stuffed with candy. Good times!
The rest of the evening and ever since Adren, Eli and friends have been perfecting their aim. Not bad. Not bad at all.

 

The next day, Sunday the 28th is the actual birthday. Eli feels pretty special this year to get to spread out his day~ Starting Scouts this week, plus the baptism and confirmation coming up. Eight is pretty special!
He loved his gifts~ he's so easy to please.

I made his cake look like a tree stump, complete with a target~ Bulls eye! , his initials carved in and tiny bow. Cute!

The lovely grandparents came over that evening and we cut into the cake and had icecream. It really made Eli feel special to have them over and give him sooo much love.  We sure LOVE our Eli Pie!