Eli is TWO!!!

On April 30th, our sweet little Eli turned 2!! This little boy (who is quickly becoming a big boy!) brings SO much joy and happiness to our home! He is a rough, tough, strong boy, yet cuddly, sweet and oh so huggable! :) Not one day goes by without this little boy making us all laugh. What a blessing he is to our home and our lives! God is unfathomably good in giving us Eli Lucio and we praise Him for Eli's 2 years of life.

His actual birthday fell on a Saturday, so we were able to celebrate to the fullest. :) Eli woke up to a yummy pancake breakfast. He had two candles on his birthday pancake, which he blew out all on his own!

That afternoon, we had a birthday party for Eli at our church with our dear Fairdale family or as JJ and Eli like to call them, "all their friends" (the majority of whom are over 15 years older than them). Everyone that attended the party has played such a unique role in the life of our little boy that we just could not have a party to celebrate the life God has given Eli without them being invited. We had a nice crowd and we were humbled and overwhelmed at the love shown to our Eli.
Eli's 2nd birthday party theme-- race cars!! Here he is with a race car tattoo, which all the kids got when they arrived at the party.
Daddy and Eli decorating a race car with stickers, numbers, tires, etc...
Of course, the birthday boy had to get some "juicies" on his special day from Ms. Linda :)
The birthday boy's table.
Eli's race car birthday cake, with a track in the form of a number 2. JJ helped me design the cake, as I wanted to keep it a surprise for the birthday boy, and JJ insisted on having a car crashing off the track :)

Big 2 year old just waiting to blow out his candles!

Special prayer by daddy for the birthday boy.

...I guess it got a little long for Eli :)

Eli's new way of "closing his eyes and bowing for prayer" :) He starts off eyes closed and hands clasped, but it gradually develops into this.

Happy Birthday to Eli....Happy Birthday to Eli....Happy Birthday dear Eeeeliiiii....Happy Birthday to Eli!!
Eli tried really hard to blow out his candles, but unlike that morning with his birthday pancake, he was only blowing through his teeth and no air was getting anywhere close to the candles...but he tried hard! :) I probably should have let him try longer, but JJ was there to back up his little brother and help him out!

Here is a video of the prayer and Happy Birthday song:

Cutting the cake...
...and enjoying the chocolate vanilla with mini M&M's in the middle cake!
Our boys could eat cake for every meal of their day! :)

Josh did a great job of putting together a race track for the kids to race on at the party.

It had a cool, long tunnel, plastic streamers to ride straight through and everything! Here are the kids waiting for the flag...

Eli-- focused and in position...
"Go, go, go, go, goooooo!!!!"

Eli making it through the plastic streamers
JJ and Lainey having a little chat on the track :)

Eli took a break to keep flagging the drivers on by! It was pretty chaotic, but the kids had a lot of fun! Here is a short video clip to give you all an idea of what our race track looked like:

Noah was a good fan! :)

As part of our latino culture, we cannot leave the pinata out of a birthday party! Our boys looove hitting it and of course the candy that comes out of it! :)

Here is Eli's first shot at the pinata on video (at times we wonder if he is left-handed :)

Both Eli and JJ did a good job hitting the race car pinata, as did all their little friends...but this pinata seemed to be unbreakable! We went through so many rounds and then, finally went on to include some of Eli's older friends. I think it was Dalton who finally broke it! :)

Eli with his cool sunglasses, which make him look tough! :) He got so many fun toys!

Thanks to all!

Here is a funny short video of what opening presents at a kids birthday party looks like!

And our Chuck-E-Cheese birthday trip tradition continues... :)
Noah was somewhere having fun with Ms. Linda
Very telling of our boy's likes, Eli went first to the basketball game!
"Swish!"
Brave brothers-- "no hands" on the roller coaster ride!
Bowling was a game they went looking for. They always have fun with it! There is a lot of movement in this video (sorry!) but here it is for those who don't mind :)

Football pass
Mami loving any moment of having this active little boy sit on her lap!
Dalton and JJ racing Daddy and Eli

One last video of our boys racing:

More basketballBob the builder ride. Eli loves to sing the Bob the Builder song. He has the tune down, but the words is another issue...so cute to listen to him, though! :)
Skee ball fun with Ms. Linda and Michaela-- quite the competition!!!
Big brother JJ is awesome at this game of aiming the water gun to the target. Eli looks up to JJ so much! It really is a joy for us to see our boys so close in age, living life together, experiencing the same things, liking the same things, being challenged by each other and always having each other's back.
Getting ready for the KY Derby!
And of course, counting up his tickets at the end of the night to get some fun prizes!

It was an eventful day and weekend for Eli, who happily responds to the question, "how old are you?" with a loud "TWO!" His vocabulary is growing every day. We are constantly surprised by the things he says and does. He is wanting to do everything on his own now. The doctor, at his 2 year check up, found him to be very healthy and strong. Eli is our chubby little boy, but he is solid. When he was not even one, I remember Josh putting him up to a basketball rim and Eli holding on with both hands so tightly. Josh let go of him and he literally held himself there for 15 seconds! Just recently, he slipped and fell off a playground set, about 5 feet high, and caught himself with one hand, holding on long enough to be 'rescued.' :) We already see the strength in our little boy's sturdy frame. :) When we look at him, we see a growing little boy, who we pray will soon love Jesus with all his heart, soul, mind and body. Please join us in this prayer when you think of our Eli Lucio.

Te queremos, chiquito!