Happy Birthday, Eli!

Eli turned 12 this last year! It was wonderful to have Jonah baptized and Eli ordained in the same year. Eli was excited to get the priesthood, and he's taken his responsibilities seriously. Despite his shyness, he's gone out to collect fast offerings every month, and he is a counselor in their quorum presidency. (I'm writing this in January, I'm sorry to say. Teaching leaves me little time for extras like blog posts.)

Anyway, Eli had a Nerf birthday. He picked out some fancy Nerf guns to go along with the sizable collection he already had. That evening we had a birthday dinner with the Summers family, and then we all had a Nerf battle in their backyard. (I don't have photos but plenty of video footage.) It was a lot of fun.

Here is a somber Eli with our kitten, Ash.

Now he's happy.

I sure love this boy. Eli and I spend a lot of time together at school. He's in my homeroom and English classes and we eat lunch together. It's been a great thing. I have to brag and say he is certainly one of my smartest students.