Ethan's New Slide

Here is EJC playing on his new slide from Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Les! What fun!

15 month pictures

Click on the link to the right to see Ethan's 15 month pics. I am pleased with how they turned out, and want to order more - the only one I ordered was P4. I really like the ones of him reading.

I would recommend going to Target - but make sure you have a coupon which you can get online.

Cousin Camryn's Birthday Party!

Ethan's cousin Camryn turns 6 soon, and had her birthday party today! It was fun to go and see everyone on daddy's side of the family. Camryn held up every gift she got, and posed for a picture. Here are some stickers she got from Ethan!

She looked like a princess in her little dress. Here she is showing off her My Little Pony cake, made by her mom!
Ethan had fun running around at the party, getting into everything. As Grandpa Les put it, he is VERY ACTIVE!

Pizza with the Cousins

Mama, Ethan, Auntie Jenny, Ben, Oliver, Auntie Michelle, and Victor all went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for pizza tonight. It was yummy! Grandma and Cousin Ben also made peanut butter cookies. What a great treat!

Here is Oliver being a good buddy to Ethan. It is cute to watch them interact with each other.
Oliver looks like a little model!
Aunt Michelle is recovering from surgery on her knee, so all the cousins were helping her out!

Here are a couple shots from this afternoon. It was a gorgeous day out, so Ethan and mom went for a walk right after school. Ethan was pretty good, but got bored sometimes so mom had to sing to keep him entertained!

Ethan found himself a nice little spot to sit - on daddy's guitar!
I've decided I'm OK with his hair, and we will be going to get pics taken at Target tomorrow. I hope he's cooperative and in a good mood!

When Will Mama Learn?

OK, so Ethan's bangs were really bugging me, and I just had to try cutting them myself! . . . . As you can see, I got a bit carried away . . . .And I ended up running him to the salon for a little fix-up anyway, so why didn't I just do that in the first place?????

After the big haircut fiasco, we played outside and Ethan had fun riding his truck up and down the street. Well, actually he didn't ride it all that much but he liked daddy and mommy to push him on it!

So I had scheduled 15 month pictures for Thursday, but I doubt the bangs will be grown out enough by then . . . .what do you think?

Our first summer-like day

It was a very summery day here today, which we all loved! Ethan had fun playing outside, and especially enjoyed blowing bubbles. Mom got a pedicure so she can be seen in public wearing sandals, and Ethan got his first pair of flip-flops, which make him look like such a big boy!
Daddy had a huge job of raking and bagging up the leaves from the entire lawn. Ethan does not look all amused at daddy's antics below . . . .
After this first taste of summer, I can safely make a make the following predictions about the upcoming months . . . Every evening, Ethan will be in desperate need of a bath, as he always seems to have dirt on his face, hands, and legs as soon as we step foot outside. . . . . coming inside after playing outside will be a struggle, as once we are outside, he does NOT want to come in . . . keeping him contained in the yard, driveway, or sidewalk will be a constant challenge, since he only seems to want to go where he's not supposed to (the ally with the puddles, the road, the garage). Mom is really looking forward to being able to be home with him this summer. It will be so much fun!

A Spring Saturday

We had a fun day outside yesterday. Here's Ethan checking out daddy's new car. He likes to do a bumper-to-bumper inspection of the vehicles every time we are outside to make sure they are in good working order.

Luckily, Ethan had his giraffe boots on so he was allowed to walk through the puddles as he pleased. What fun!
Later, we all took a walk to the park. Ethan did great on the big slide ("Moe! Moe!") but his favorite part of the trip was having wide open concrete in the basketball court to run freely on!
He was very brave walking across the bridge up high. As you can see, mom was a little nervous about the whole thing.

Here's Ethan playing with his new toy from IKEA! He loves it!
Grandma Mary came over tonight for spaghetti, and of course she and Ethan played "piggies!"

Out and About

Ethan and mom had a fun afternoon today after school. First we went to visit Great Grandma Lue. Ethan had fun sitting with her and exploring her house. They played peek-a-boo and Ethan ran around, squealing with delight, half-naked, when I was trying to change his diaper - quite a little show for Grandma!

Then, we went to Target for a little shopping outing, and Ethan scored with a new swing! Since it got up to 70 degrees here today, I am excited to get some more things outside for him to play with in this nice weather.

Later, Grandma Mary stopped by to say hi. Ethan loves sitting on her lap and playing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" "This Little Piggy" and "5 Little Monkeys." Grandma says the rhymes and moves Ethan's hands to act out what she's saying. He LOVES it!

Ethan's new favorite word is "more," pronounced, "moe." He has discovered that this one little word gets him big results. He uses it for everything, from requesting more food, to more tickling, to more "little piggies." We're really working on, "More, PLEASE!" because he can sound quite demanding at times!

Family Outing at Mall of America

Today mom, dad, and Ethan had a family outing to the Mall of America and IKEA. It was a super fun day and Ethan was such a good boy all day long, even though he only got a 1/2 hour nap during the day.

This shark from Underwater World was walking around the mall, and Ethan loved him!
Ethan found this little puppy to visit at Old Navy.
Auntie Kyra came to hang out with us at MOA. Of course Ethan LOVED that! (and mom did too!)

Happy Birthday, Cousin Victor!

It was Victor's 1st Birthday today, and boy does he know how to throw a party! Look at this amazing cake his mama made for him!!
Cousin Oliver is enjoying a cupcake!
Here is Ethan with Auntie Jenny . . . And here is the birthday boy with his mama, Auntie Michelle.
Ethan thought he'd give Victor a little ear tug for birthday luck . . .
We had so much fun at the party!

Out for Pizza!

Mama, Daddy, Grandma, and Ethan decided to go out for pizza to celebrate the beginning of the weekend. Also, mom and dad wanted to treat Grandma Mary to dinner since Grandpa Mike is out in California - and we also wanted to thank her for all she does for us - so we thought pizza would be the perfect way to do it!
Ethan was a very good boy, and jabbered a lot during the meal, while he dined on applesauce, milk and crackers (sorry, buddy - no pizza yet!) He made friends with the people sitting behind us by saying, "Hi-ya!" (think Karate Kid).
Grandma and daddy realized they don't have many pics together. I think this is a "frameable!"

Terrible (I mean challenging) twos - already???

Ethan has been exhibiting some symptoms that he may be entering the terrible twos. For example, he throws his toys and hits when he doesn't get his way, or when he is upset about something. He will hold the toy up in throwing position and look at mom and dad and smile, waiting for us to react. We've tried ignoring, we've tried saying "no" and we've tried time-outs. We are really trying to be consistent with the time-outs in the play pen, but it gets to be exhausting!

I think sometimes it is a problem with knowing what he wants but not having the language to express himself. For example, I have figured out that when he gets a book out of the basket, looks at me, and throws it, he just wants me to read to him. He just doesn't know how to express that appropriately - so I model for him, "mama, please read me my book" and he just gets annoyed with me.

Luckily, he is still adorable and lots of fun. I think you need to wish us luck through the next few months, though!

Swinging at the Park

Between rain showers today, mom, dad, and Ethan took a walk to the park.

Ethan liked swinging the best!

Mud Puddles

It was a beautiful spring day today (notice daddy in shorts in the background!). So Ethan put on his giraffe rain boots and headed out to look for some puddles to jump in!

First, we just explored the yard. Ethan and daddy had been out earlier playing with the neighbor's dog and meeting the mail lady. Ahh, what fun!
Yes, it is definitely family fun day at our house. Ethan fished this old container out of the recycling bin in the garage and loved holding and shaking it while walking back and forth through this long mud puddle. We definitely know how to have a good time around here!

It is even more ridiculous that mom and dad were chasing him the whole time with a camera!
Notice his dirty seat! He fell twice in the puddle, once forward and once backward (still a bit unsteady in the big boots!) so he was quite a sight by the time we were done.
When we said it was time to say "bye-bye" to the mud puddle, Ethan threw a fit and sat down on the ground in protest. Luckily, daddy and mama made him giggle by picking him up between us and "swinging" him back home again.

Full of Smiles

Ethan has been so FUN and CUTE lately!!! By cute, I mean his personality! (well, and his cute little face too!) Tonight he just ran around with a smile on his face all evening.

He is just full of life, giggles, and tricks! He loves playing "So Big!", "Peek-a-boo," "This Little Piggy," and "I'm gonna get you!!!" He loves to watch his cars go down the big ramp, and will kiss pretty much anything on command (stuffed animals, pictures in books, mom or dad, etc.). He is also getting better at knowing what he wants and trying to communicate that to us, which is fun.
How can anyone be in a bad mood with this little guy around? Mom and dad feel SO lucky and blessed to have him in our lives!!