Our sweet, silly, soft-spoken Pie-Pie is now sixteen. I'm happy to see the curly hair has returned like gangbusters and of course those sparkly blue eyes continue to light up my life.
It really doesn't look like much gift-wise but, some gifts are delayed and enroute. These are lingering Pandemic probs. (He will be thrilled to learn some of the items coming include Mazzy Star and Smashing Pumpkins T-shirts!) And of course it seems to be tradition now to get a note for a trip to Board of Provo with Dad. My 1st counselor and her husband own it, and I would say Eli is a regular customer there, even if he just window shops longingly most of the time.
Cute cake, eh?
Sweet Eli. Will he ever know how deep my love runs for him? Because it is deep and endless for sure. It sure has been pure joy watching this guy grow and develop. Teen Eli doesn't offer much information or details about his life, and is a bit hard to read. One night Jon and I brought him in our room and sort of pressed him to tell us how things are going. I think we all learned that night that communication is important, he is doing just fine, he does feel like he can share with us, there is just nothing real pressing happening. He really struggled with his grades this year, which is not like him at all. It has been stressful for him. I know it is because of lack of classroom time and interaction with teachers. I think he learned the importance of reaching out to teachers and not letting things pile up~ which is an important thing to learn at this age! I hope he also learned that his mom and dad will support him, back him up, fight for him and will hear him out first. Each kid sure is different and it can be work figuring out what they need. There are some nights where he is chatty and just wants to hang out in my room. Boy do I stop everything I am doing and relish in these moments! Eli is thoughtful, obedient and smart and I see him making good choices. Eli's hugs are
the best. He hugs tight with his strong lean arms like he's not going to let go. I love it. He has developed such a passion for skateboarding and spends
so much time practicing over and over. He has a good group of skating friends he enjoys. I've made an effort to get to know them, offer food and welcome them in. It's made us the go-to house, which is just fine. It's fine. That was from a prompting I received when pondering ways to grow closer to Eli. I feel it has worked beautifully. He's even recruited long time friend Enoch across the street into skateboarding, who has caught on quite well himself. As COVID comes to an end we've told the kids they will need to get involved in things to keep busy. Eli says he just wants to spend his time skating. He doesn't show me much, but I know he's good from what I have seen. Adren told me once he wanted to be as good at skating as Eli, but isn't quite as dedicated. I love that he loves it, and have grown to appreciate with him that satisfying sound of the skateboard hitting concrete from outside the windows.
Jonny got him a cool record for his player. They have a lot of the same taste in music, including a lot of our favorite 90's bands. It's fun! They'll ask if I've heard of a certain band and I'll say not only have I heard of them, I have seen them in concert! It makes me wish I kept all of my old concert Tees, instead of using them as painting shirts. You better believe they have taken over the ones that survived. After recently discovering Beck the boys were shocked to hear I know all the weird lyrics to Loser. Our whole household is always listening to music so I am grateful they all have good taste :)
The birthday boy heading off to school. Soooo cuuuuuuute.
We all love Eli, he sure makes our family extra special. He keeps us chuckling with his funny personality, funny voices and sayings. He has an adorable quirkiness we all find very endearing.
I can't believe I didn't get one picture of his big friend party! He wanted to host it on Friday. I filled the island with Pizza, chips, cookies and candy. It looked so festive! I tried to find a movie to have running in the background as kids arrived and didn't want to take too much time searching so I put on Shrek. As more kids arrived, everyone sat and watched it to the end. There was one sweetie pie Paisley and I noticed getting dropped off by his mom. We noted his combed hair, spiffy outfit and present. He was very punctual and got himself a plate of snacks and sat enjoying Shrek. We asked Eli who he was. He told us it was Pablo, a real cool guy. Pablo! He stayed the whole night, until his mom came back to pick him up. I, of course made myself scarce, only appearing once or twice to fill the ice water and tidy up the food station and say hello to the cute boys and girls coming in and out of the house. Even though it was the first weekend in May, all those bodies heated up the house and most eventually went out to the back lawn to sprawl. It was a real sweet crowd. (Of course, many ended up skateboarding.) Paisley was sort of in-and-out herself and would give me updates on Pablo. Turns out he really is a cool guy. Of course Eli's "Lit Homies" gals were there, and I had to chat a little with them, since they have only come over once or twice.
Overall, I hope Eli knows I will move Heaven and Earth for him. I love him to pieces, even when I am pushing him to get a little out of his comfort zone- because I love him to pieces! If you see him, give him a fist bump and tell him he's great. He is forever my Pie-Pie, and for now is SIXTEEN!
