Peace, Love, and Tie-Dye.

Eli (2nd from left) and his friends at school with their tie-dyed shirts!

The real deal.

"Of course most parents think their kids are cute and special, but Eli is the real deal." -our dentist Dr. Amble

He probably says that to all of his patients, but it still made me proud.

Quit picking your nose!

Where do I begin with this story? On a lovely Saturday morning, a dad and his son were on their way to the grocery store. Shortly after they left the house the dad realized the son had a terrible bloody nose and quickly turned the car around and headed back to the house. The mother was outside planting flowers when she heard them pull up and heard her son screaming... The mother ran to find the boy with blood coming out of his nose heavier than it has before. The parents became concerned at the amount of blood and decided to take their son to the emergency room. When the doctor came to see them she examined their son and asked them if he picks his nose. They parents replied, "Yes, he does." The doctor went on to inform the parents that most of the bloody noses that come into their office are cause by kiddos that frequently pick their nose. The parents couldn't believe what she was telling them. When they returned home, the mother turned to the trusty google.com and found out this is true... yes, the internet provided her more relief than and actual physical doctor. The mother learned that nose picking is the second most common cause of frequent nose bleeding, according to MayoClinic.com. When a person picks within the nasal cavity, fingernails can cause trauma to the sensitive nasal tissue, causing bleeding. Adults may find it easier to quell the desire to pick, but children and babies may be zealous pickers. Usually, as children grow older, they will outgrow persistently picking and eliminate nosebleeds. So, a $100 co-pay and a popsicle later... the little boy quickly learned that nosepicking is no longer allowed...

Take me out to da ball game!

All set for an afternoon at the ballpark!

Matching outfts...

Hollywood!

Eli at the game with Daddy, Uncle Chris and Lukey!

Blastball!

Eli has been playing "Blastball" Monday nights. It has been so much fun to see him grow in such a short period of time into a little baseball player. Like his Daddy, it is a sport that he really enjoys and that is so much fun to watch. I a proud Mama!

Keep you eye on the ball...

Eli's first baseball team. How cute are they?!

Sharks!

I saw this picture on Facebook recently and it made me laugh. When I was little I watched an episode of Scooby Doo that haunted me for years. In that episode there is a swimming pool and on the side of the pool there is a cage with a shark in it. I must have seen this Scooby Doo episode at a very young age, because as long as I can remember; I was afraid of sharks coming out of hidden cages in the pools. Even vents at the bottom of pools scared me. I thought maybe some crazy person may have snuck small wild sharks in there and are going to come out and eat me up!

While I was scared of sharks coming out of cages... in swimming pools... in Minnesota... chlorinated swimming pools... I was very fascinated with them. My sister and I had a subscription to Zoo Books which was a magazine that we got each month and would highlight different animals. I will never forget the day I came home from school and found a Shark edition of Zoo Books! I couldn't put it down. I saved it for years and stared at the pictures and re-read the articles over and over!

Later when I was a little older and would have slumber parties with my friends, we would rent terribly scary movies. I will never forget the night I watched Jaws at my own birthday party in the 6th grade!? I couldn't sleep the whole night. I was sleeping in my sleeping bag and noticed my shadow on the wall that resembled (to me a frightened 12 year-old) of a Great White Shark... in the living room… in Minnesota… It scared the crap out of me!

In High School I discovered "Shark Week" on the Discovery Channel and never missed it! But even as a teenager, I still had this strange fear of sharks sneaking out of cages... in swimming pools... in Minnesota... chlorinated swimming pools... and attacking me. Or in my sleeping bag…

Where I grew up there are tons of lakes. Summer days were spent at the lake... boating, tubing, floating, swimming, etc., etc. Even in the lakes of Minnesota I was afraid of sharks... in Minnesota... snatching me up! Not even just sharks, but some of the large fish people told me they caught in those lakes that I swam in... They scared the hell out of me, too!

It feels good to get this all off my chest. I have told people about this, but I am sure they didn't understand the depth of this random fear of mine. Today, I can go into a pool and not worry about little sharks coming out to eat me... or even the lakes. But I do worry about big fish... and weeds.... eeww! Anyway, funny how a silly picture and remind me of something so silly that I use to worry about.

Thank you for your hard work in our community.

Eli had to write a couple thank you notes at school to different service people in our community (e.g. the mail person, police, firefighters, etc.). But Eli chose our friends, the Roeckeman family…