Better late than never???

This post was originally written on December 13; I was waiting to download the pics and then forgot all about it! Sorry in advance about the formatting on the pictures; my highschool yearbook advisor would be sorely disappointed! I'll post our more recent happenings in the next day or so, but in the meantime, enjoy some somewhat dated pictures and news!

We've had our first "big boy bed" nighttime injury (there have been a couple of bruises from monkeying around during the day and falling off). As far as we can tell, Ethan fell off the bed sometime Sunday night and hit his chin on the way down. He apparently crawled back in bed and went to sleep, and we found him with a bloody mess on his face the next morning. When we asked him what happened he tells us that he fell off the mattress and hit his chin, cried, and then got back in bed. The only thing we heard was one little cry around midnight that ended by the time I walked across the hall from Ella's room to his door (Ella likes to burn the midnight oil on occasion....and by occasion I of course mean days that end in "Y".) Note the injury and extreme bedhead Ethan's sporting in this picture!

Some of our sweetest moments these days are right before the kids' afternoon naps and when Ethan wakes up from his naps or in the morning. Ella has decided that when we're all in Ethan's bed it's time to pounce on him and giggle. It's hard to read books with two kids giggling like crazy! When I ask if we're done reading since they are distracted, Ethan always says "no, both sit up!" which lasts for exactly ten seconds until Ella divebombs him and the giggling starts again. She gets SO excited to see him when we go to get him after his nap that I have to hold her back a bit so he can wake up before being tackled. He can be really slow to wake up, but it really seems to start him off in a better mood these days. It's hard to stay cranky in the face of this much cuteness!

Last night at dinner Ella was fussing about something, and Ethan looked at us both and said with a tone I'm sure he's heard around here before, "What's Ella crying about?" It had an implied 'now' at the end of that question! For some reason it really cracked me up.

Ethan has become very infatuated with a line in one of the songs on the Raffi Christmas CD from the library. In the song it talks about Santa Claus having a cherry nose. Ethan asked me earlier this week about the cherry nose, then laughed and said "Ethan has cherry nose!" When I told him it meant a red nose, and asked if he had a red nose, he got very serious for a minute, thought, and then told me "I have red tongue..." Now he randomly starts laughing and tells us that he or somebody else in the family has a cherry nose.

This week Ethan is learning "Away in a Manger". Learning means I get to sing the same songs over and over and over again! Sometimes you don't realize until you're singing with a two year old how many of the traditional Christmas carols are difficult to sing because of their range or their vocabulary. He also likes us to sing Rudolph, although he calls it the "red nose reindeer song" when he's requesting it.

Both of our kids are very much in a "I do it myself" mode. With Ella it's food; she'd consistently rather eat finger foods or grab the spoon to do it herself when you're feeding her. She takes a two-handed approach to things she really likes, especially grated cheese. She's also a big fan of pears, carrots, broccoli, and crackers these days.

With Ethan it's anything you can imagine. He wants to do every aspect of his day by himself. He's getting better at climbing up and down from his booster seat and carseat (which means an extra few minutes added on to each errand we run), and he's able to do some of his dressing and undressing. He's been really proud lately that he can put on his socks. The other day he took one off and put it on his hand so he could take some "hot pots" out of his play kitchen's oven.

He is so busy watching and modeling after us these days! He likes to put on his dad's chef hat and "use grilling tools". He also comes running to help anytime I'm doing laundry or working in the kitchen. It's an interesting adventure trying to keep food hygienic and still involving a little helper as much as possible.

Ethan has already gotten quite a bit of play out of his first Christmas toys (the first of approximately 5 Christmas gift exchanges was over Thanksgiving with Brent's family in Ohio). As you can see, this flashlight is a helpful tool that's become his almost constant companion!

Getting a posed picture of the two of them can be quite a challenge these days. Ethan likes to make silly faces, and Ella loves to mess with her brother or investigate the tree! Despite Ethan's dazed look, this is one of my favorites...
In this one they both look a bit like they just got busted doing something they weren't supposed to be doing (touching the tree, perhaps?)

We are thoroughly enjoying (and thoroughly exhausted by) the adventure of the holidays with two little ones. As you can see, it's a wonderful life. A messy, sleep-deprived, mischief ridden, giggle-filled wonderful life.

The sounds of Christmas are louder this year....

So it's time to stop procrastinating until Brent gives in and makes a post....

I always intend to keep up with this so it's less intimidating when I sit down to do it, but I think sometimes my free time is spent recuperating from the little ones in our house rather than reminiscing about them! My sweet hubby is taking us out to eat tonight so I'm using meal prep time to catch up on computer tasks.

Our days are filled with funny sweet little moments, the occasional laughing out loud moments, the pull your hair out as you try to summon up your last bit of patience moments, and the occasional so yucky I'll spare those of you with weaker stomach moments as you clean up something that surely could not have come out of such a little person. We had one of those this morning, which allowed Ella one of her favorite pastttimes---waiting until Mommy is distracted with Ethan, maneuvering to the wipes box, and gleefully plucking them out one by one until she's discovered. This maneuvering is no small task, as she's not crawling yet. She likes to sit on her bottom and scoot around, or rotate around on her stomach around the room. She LOVED the wood floors at her grandparents' house, and pushed herself backwards all over the floor. Ethan has decided that he will help teach her how to crawl. A while back he was crawling in front of her across the playroom shouting "I'm signing crawl....I'm signing crawl!" Ethan has this sign language thing figured out, even if the signs are not official ASL!

We are also pretty sure she's saying her first consistent word (other than dada and mama); it's pretty funny that it's her variation of "pat". This is in response to her absolute love of pulling her brother's hair....she's heard "pat, Ella!" many, many, many times! Now she will lean over to him, start patting his head, and say "pah, pah" over and over.

Ethan is enthralled by the lights, trees, and music of Christmas this year. He asks frequently for the "christmas tree music". I'm pretty sure we must be one of the only families that does a countdown not only each time we light our tree, but also when we unplug it (as this is the main way we've found to avoid whining and/or meltdowns when turning off the "pwetty lights".) As Brent mentioned, he's become a big fan of singing, and will break into music throughout the day. Current favorites include row row row your boat, the ABC's (which he tells me makes Ella happy and offers to sing when she's crying), and halleluh halleluh (which he gets stuck on singing over and over until you help him end it).

I realized this week once again that I should be prepared to hear what I say mirrored back as I repeatedly heard Ethan respond to Ella crying by saying "I'm right here Ella...don't cry." I wish I could say that the sweet tone in his voice on this one was the tone heard most often around our house!

In one of the most recently posted pics in the web album you can see Ethan holding a cord up to his belly. This was in response to him asking me about his belly button and "what's in there?" After he wasn't satisfied with the easiest answer of "nothing" and "your belly is under there", I decided to explain that he used to have a cord when he was a baby in mommy's belly, and that the cord was how he got food. He immediately walked over to the power cord for Brent's laptop and stuck it in his belly button. He still brings that up every once in a while (with one of his most frequent expressions these days---"that's silly!"). Brent has thanked me for not explaining who cut that cord!

It's an amazing (and busy) time of the year, and it's so much fun with both kids being increasingly aware of the world around them. We're just at the very beginning of the journey of making decisions about how to enjoy all the fun traditions and family times and still keep central the birth of Christ. Currently his biggest fascination with the Christmas story is that Jesus slept in the hay around the animals. I get the impression that no room in the inn would have been a wonderfully exciting adventure rather than hardship in his little mind.

Ethan ends most phone calls to family these days with a big hug to the phone (complete with a little "ugh" to let you know it's a "big hug"), so if he was writing this post I'm pretty sure that's how he would sign off. You can all be glad that even though you miss out online on the great hugs, you also get to miss out on the unfortunate sliminess that comes with both our kids' kisses this week as they get over this cold. Hugs and wet, wet kisses go out to all of you.

Dashing Through the Snow

We traveled to Ohio to visit with family and celebrate Thanksgiving (and Christmas) this past week. We had a layover in Dallas on our way up and the second flight was quite bumpy. A little too bumpy for Ethan who got sick just as the flight ended.

There was a good bit of snow on Tuesday and Wednesday at the grandparents' house. The picture above pretty much sums up the enthusiasm level.

We were also able to visit with the great grandparents on the same trip and see lots of family. As the week wore on, Ethan became more and more fond of singing songs for anyone who would listen.

Our flight back on late Friday went much smoother and we even got home a little early. It wouldn't be a family gathering if we didn't come home with colds, so the kids are currently trying to recover. Pictures from the trip are in the photo album.

New Furniture

A couple weeks ago Ethan's furniture came in. He was doing so well sleeping on the mattress on the floor that we went ahead and set up the bed for him. He was very excited about it.

The newness of the "big boy bed" must be wearing off a bit, though, because he no longer insists on being tucked in with both the sheet and blanket regardless of the temperature.

Trick or Treat

Friday evening Ethan and Daddy went out trick-or-treating to a few nearby houses while Ella and Mommy sat on the front porch and passed out candy.

Ethan was pretty shy when it came to asking for candy but not so shy when it came to eating it.

Once we returned home we all enjoyed passing out candy. The street we now live on is much quieter than our old one.

Many more pictures of a princess and a puppy are in our web album.

We recently purchased a twin bed, nightstand, and dresser for Ethan's room. It won't arrive for another week or two. We decided on Saturday morning to take out the crib and put the twin mattress on the floor for Ethan to get used to sleeping on. We weren't too sure how he would react to having a "big boy bed" but it turned out he was very, very excited. In fact, once we got it set up he asked if he could go to sleep. We waited until his normal nap time and has done quite well for naps and bedtime on both Saturday and Sunday. We're still waiting to see how he will handle the freedom of not being caged sometime when he is put down but still wants to stay up.

High Chair

Here's a comparison shot of Ethan vs. Ella around 7 months old. Ella had a much slower start to eating solids but is really into it now. She is pretty much addicted to cheerios. I think it's mostly that she really, really likes feeding herself.

Welcome fall!

And by that I mean, there are no temperatures forecast in the 90's for the next 10 days!!! This morning it was actually in the 60's. Ethan and I went out to play during Ella's morning nap. He walked out the door, stopped, and said "cold outside?" He seemed really confused by that! It was so pleasant. We ran, kicked a ball, he rode his tricycle. I made the mistake of picking him up and spinning him in circles. "Again, again, again!!" It was a dizzy funny morning.

The other thing Ethan says a lot these days that makes me laugh is "what's next?" or "what do now?" He leans his head all the way down to his shoulder when he says it, which he also does when he says, "whhheeeere is it?" about something.

Ella has moved to her highchair (pictures coming) and seems to be eating better in it. It's certainly easier than dodging her legs and arms and timing spoonfuls between bounces in the bouncy seat! I have, however, given her a spoon to let her get accustomed to the process. She makes a bit of a mess with it. Ethan is happy to give lessons on how to use the spoon; it's how I got him to finish his peas at lunch today! He also is teaching her how to sign more and all done. He gets a bit frustrated that she won't do it yet! She appears to not have the dairy allergy that Ethan did...this certainly will make things easier, especially when we're eating somewhere other than our house.

Ella is now using her knees to rotate in circles. She turns around so fast! Lately she really enjoys sitting up in the boppy seat and playing (preferably with Ethan's cars...she loves them).

Beginning our third year of this journey...

I suppose it's actually longer than that, since I told Brent the other day between pregnancy and babies I don't think I've slept through the night in almost three years now. The blessings overflow, and the humor of it all is more obvious when you're sleep deprived, right?

Ethan had his two year check up last week. He was a little trooper, and only got upset about laying on the scale to get weighed. I'm pretty sure the automatic paper towel dispenser in the airport bathroom scarred him a bit emotionally to laying down on any surface away from home. Actually, he's never been a fan of public bathrooms. (My mom would tell you he doesn't get that from me, as apparently I never met a bathroom I didn't want to visit when I was a little girl.) The bribe of a sticker eventually convinced him he could do it, and the rest of the day he told me, "mory (what he calls nurse mary) sticker...brave...numbers (what he called the scale) scared." He is 32 1/4 inches tall (8th percentile), 24 lbs and 3 oz (9th percentile), and in the 85th percentile for his head size. At least it's not still the bicycle helmet cone head he was born sporting. I've never seen such a head shape!

Also last week we took a trip to the child research lab at the University for both the kids to participate in some research studies. Ella did one measuring whether 7 month olds would recognize changing number patterns. This involved being recorded while watching a tv screen. I had my eyes closed as instructed so I wouldn't influence her, but had a hard time keeping a straight face when my sweet girl let out a really loud belch in the middle. Ethan's study was trying to see how much two year olds trust adults to give them labels for objects. In the beginning of the study the researcher would pull out everyday toys/objects and repeat, "what's this...I don't know what this is." several times. When she pulled out the airplane, Ethan excitedly squealed "plane!"; each time she would repeat "I don't know what it is" Ethan would repeat "plane!" louder, as if to say, lady I have told you this repeatedly. For some reason when she pulled out the banana Ethan asked her to turn it on. Maybe too many toys with batteries?

Here are some frequent phrases from Ethan these days:
*What's Ella doin?
*Canyoufeelit? (usually about the air conditioner; he hasn't been practicing to be a pro wrestler!)
*What's that? (meaning "who's that?" about random people in the store)
*Ethan do it (or "I'se do it")
*Touch it? (usually said when it's something he suspects he's not supposed to mess with)

Two!

Saturday morning Ethan woke around 7am. Melissa and I both went in and sang Happy Birthday before getting him out of bed. When we finished, he immediately said "cake?"

Melissa had planned a blueberry pancake breakfast for him (one of his favorites), so that was almost as good as cake.

That morning we visited our local fire station. The visit exceeded our expectations. We got the full tour of the station and they had their dispatcher send Ethan a special birthday alert over their system. They patiently opened each compartment of the fire engine to answer every "what's in there?" question Ethan could ask. They drove the fire engine out of the garage, turned on the lights, the siren, and let Ethan spray the hose. He also got to sit in the driver's seat and turn the wheel. As you can imagine, he did not want to leave.

We then went to the large park in central Austin to ride their miniature train and play on the playground. By the time we made it home the kids were exhausted and ready for lunch and nap.

We then opened presents, ate a dinner of things Ethan likes best, and (finally) had some cake. Melissa made a great monkey cake that Ethan loved. We thought he would giggle with delight when he saw it, but got more reaction from the fire on the candles. It was a day of great fun -- check out the album for more pictures from Ethan's birthday.

Fun with family and friends

We left for Ohio on Saturday morning unsure if we had enough hands for the two suitcases, two backpacks, two carseats and stroller we needed to take. In the end through careful planning we managed just fine -- all the while wondering how we will make the same trip at Thanksgiving with winter clothes taking up much more space and Christmas presents in tow. An airport is a pretty exciting place for a two year old -- an almost endless supply of planes and trucks to talk about.

The kids did great on the trip -- we used frequent flier miles so we were able to get on a pricey non-stop flight for free. This was Ethan's last trip he could fly for free since he is still under two years old. Fortunately, we had an unused seat next to us that he could use which kept me from having to wrestle him for the entire flight. Melissa packed almost a full backpack of cars, planes, crayons, stickers, snacks and assorted other toys. It's a good thing, too, because he had no interest in sleeping.

We were able to spend time with both sides of my family -- and they got to see (and hear) Ethan in a whole different way than they did in May. On that trip he was sick and lethargic. On this trip he narrated every event, played in the pond, searched for cats, ran with his cousins, and checked out all the farm equipment. There's not enough room on this page for all the good pictures we got of both the kids and their cousins, so be sure to check out the web album.

We made a short stop in Dayton to visit with my college friends and their kids. We have all had our kids in the past few years, so they have lots of fun playing whenever we have a chance to get together.

Ella ended up getting a cold with a two days left on the trip. The combination of poor sleep due to the cold and different surroundings meant that none of us (besides Ethan) slept well the last couple nights. We're all glad to be back in our own beds and are sleeping much better.

We got to celebrate Ethan's second birthday a few weeks earlier with both family and friends. He is already a big fan of the "fire" and the "song" and of course, the "cake".

As promised, some randomness...

Ethan is really enjoying pretend play these days. Today I was a tractor, polar bear, and a horse. We built tunnels, forts, and an igloo (which he calls an "eggen", so if he talks about it don't be concerned we were contributing to the delinquency of a minor by taking him to egg houses!) He cooks pasta and soups every day in his play kitchen, and uses Ella as his sous chef/taster.

He loves to play "hide an peek", but seems a little fuzzy on the concepts. Usually he tells you where to hide, or he hides in the some place repeatedly, or he hides and then comes out to chase you.

While we certainly have the end of the day pre-dinner cranky, the most consistently challenging time of the day around here is the lunch hour. Since Ethan just takes one nap, and I've mostly gotten Ella in a routine where she takes a short morning nap and then goes down shortly after Ethan for an afternoon nap, everybody is a bit tired and hungry by mid-day. (I'll raise my hand as the first in the cranky/hungry lineup.) Usually I get Ethan started on his lunch and then start feeding Ella while trying to grab some food for myself somewhere in the mix. This works if everybody is in the sweet spot of just hungry enough. If either kid is not really hungry or starving it makes everything a bit off. Today Ethan realized that I typically respond quickly when he says he's all done (so as to avoid any plates "accidentally" hitting the floor) and tried to exploit this fact when he didn't want me paying attention to Ella. The boy who cried done multiple times then lost his plate of food, and I became the woman who took food away from a child begging for it. One look at his belly will reassure any worried that he wants for food.

Ella has decided food is good again. She thinks peas are okay, really likes bananas, carrots and sweet potatoes, LOVES pears, and has repeatedly let me know that apples are clearly baby poison. Who doesn't like applesauce? In case it's not clear by the faces she makes, she usually throws in a couple gags. She's doing a lot more sitting up (longer times, but as soon as she loses her balance she can't recover) and is starting to pass objects from one hand to the other. She has a truly impressive reach and really enjoys grabbing and pulling. Ethan will frequently back up to her so she grabs his hair and then giggle repeatedly while saying "no hair Ella...no hair!"

Speaking of which, during the Olympics Ethan became fascinated by the athletes with shaved heads. He now feels the need to point out loudly "no hair! no hair!" While this hasn't yet happened while outside our house, it's probably only a matter of time.

Top phrases heard around our house:
*Hereitcomes!!!! (yelled with glee about ordinary daily events!)
*Lookit? (used whenever he wants to see anything of interest)
*Hi!! and Byebye! (used liberally; for example, he tells the water in the potty bye bye and night night)
*Putitindere (applicable in a surprising number of situations around the house)

Nothing says exciting like a medium brown...

Cardamon, actually. Brent painted our bedroom last week/weekend. I love it, and I think the color looks great. After finishing, Brent laughed that we had looked at well over 30 paintchips to choose the perfect medium brown.

Last Thursday we took a little field trip to meet Andrea and Selina at Selina's grandparents' farm. Ethan LOVED the fact that there were chickens, roosters, ducks, dogs, cows, and horses. He and Andrea chased the ducks in the paddle boat, and he ran around the yard checking out the tractors and assorted equipment.

We've had a pretty calm week; trying to have some downtime and take care of packing for our trip to Ohio next week.

I've got many thoughts swirling around in my head these days...many recent reminders in the lives of people I care about that this life is full of joy and sorrow and laughter and tears. How glad I am to know that my God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I have many questions and far fewer answers, but I feel blessed that God has given me this moment, this family, and these opportunities to love the ones around me with everything I have (and often more than I have by the end of the day!) With that in mind, some random things (in no particular order other than as they occur to me) happening in our lives have seemed like things that might make somebody else laugh, or at least know what to pray for when they think of us! Many of them are things I am so thankful for; some are things I can at least laugh at, and all of them are gifts/challenges that just seem to come with this time in our lives:

Okay, I was just now getting to the part where I share actual kiddo stories (for those of you not enthralled by my brown walls) and Ethan woke up early from his nap. This seems right, as Ella took longer than usual to go down for her nap. Too much alone time just breeds laziness, right? I promise to get back to this soon!

I don't think they look like weebles?

Ella had her 6 month appointment on Monday. She's 25 5/8 inches long and weighs 14 lbs, which puts her at the 48th percentile for height and 15th percentile for weight. In an amusing side note that I can only assume promises a future full of great things and many squeals when pulling on shirts, she follows in the lead of her brother and is at the 94th percentile for her head size. She was a bit fussy after the shots, and anytime the rest of the day that she would cry Ethan would look at her and say very somberly, "Ella doctor...medcin shot." He supervised from behind me the whole time, clearly wanting to protect her and yet not willing to risk any chance of getting a needle in his direction.

Lately when we read one alphabet book from the library Ethan does a where's waldo type game that took me a while to catch on; he kept saying, "mushwoom...where is it?" Even when I figured it out and told him it's a moustache, he still tells me about his poppa's mushwoom. This means when he talks about my dad, it's usually about his tractor, love of playing with water, and his mushwoom.

The kids both had fun this week with more guests....they are going to be so bored with just me next week! My sister made a trip over before her semester starts back and there was lots of giggling around the house. Brent and I got a little bit of time and made a run to Target to finish birthday shopping for Ethan. We live an exciting little life, don't we?

Maybe they should hand out sanitizer at the door...

Brent reminded me this weekend that it's been a while since we posted. The kids and I all got a cold after the indoor playscape, so we had a few nights of unsettled sleep around here. Last week my mom came to give me a bit of a break. I did some shopping by myself, got a haircut without constantly handing somebody a distraction, and went for dinner and ice cream with Brent. It was really nice! I will admit to several times excitedly pointing out trains and dump trucks, only to realize there was nobody in the back seat to enjoy them.

Ella decided after getting her cold that she didn't like solids anymore, so we're working on getting her to eat them again. We're already seeing with both the kids what happens when two stubborn people decide to have kids together. Teen years should be fun! With the exception of when she's hungry or tired (admittedly frequent needs) she's such a good-natured baby. She absolutely loves watching Ethan play, and he's starting to enjoy interacting with her more. He's gotten quite good at bringing her toys. She's getting really good at grabbing things and manipulating them to explore, and her preferred positions are sitting up or laying on her tummy looking around. She has her 6 month well-check tomorrow, and I am a bit in disbelief of how quickly the time has gone.

Ethan had SO much fun with his Mamite. They went to the pet store, played with the train table at the bookstore, played in the fountain, etc. I think he's picked up some habits from her, however, as when driving anything (grocery cart, stroller, car, etc.) he always tells me to "turn right" (her typical choice when there is any question of directions...and she wonders why everybody but her thought the GPS was a really good Christmas present!) She also was the potty whisperer, and had Ethan using the potty a good 4-5 times per day when she was here. I wish I could say that it hasn't already become an issue that has potential for power struggles, but any of you that have dealt with pottytraining can feel our pain. Suffice it to say that he has realized the value to getting our attention quickly, postponing bedtime, and most importantly, the joy of the flush.

In a really heart-tugging development, she got Ethan to start saying "wuv you" when you tell him that you love him. Previously, he would never repeat it, and would blow kisses when you told him you loved him.

In just the last two weeks, we've seen an explosion in the amount of songs that Ethan will sing. Granted, many of these involve singing the last word or two of each line, but it's still pretty funny. A sample, and personal favorite around here, is "stinkle, stinkle....STAR...wonder...ARE...uppa uppa...HIGH....diamon....SKY" He also loves counting. He counts to 12 with no prompting, but will not say 7. Won't even repeat it after you. He's really interested in the words/concepts on and off, empty, and both lately, and uses all of them liberally in conversations. If you're around us, you will always know when the "air kish" is on or off; this is admittedly a valuable thing to know in the Texas heat, but you might be surprised how often it switches without you paying conscious attention to it. Everything in our lives gets commentary. Perhaps if I took the chance to be grateful for the everyday things in life more often, I would also feel the need to point out with glee that the air conditioner is indeed on...

Should they hand out helmets at the door?

This week my friend and her little boy are staying/playing with us. Ethan is VERY excited by this, and Ella enjoys watching the little boys play and schreech like monkeys. It's a bit of a madhouse. We're having a lot of fun!

Today we went to an indoor playscape. Imagine trapping a hundred wild animals in a gym and giving them foam and balls to throw at each other and some equipment to jump off of and you'll have a good start at understanding the madness. The boys actually did really well and had a blast, and I only used my firm mama voice with a stranger's kid once. Ella was a bit overwhelmed but held up well. Good thing she's an easygoing one about such things.

How to cool off

It has been a very hot summer. Through the end of July we've had 38 days at 100 degrees or higher. The only way to play outside is to get wet. This video shows Ethan playing in the fountains at a local outdoor mall.

As is usual for his personality, he starts out pretty tentative but really gets into it as he warms up. On this day we also enjoyed sharing some ice cream but I was too busy trying to get my share before Ethan ate it all to capture the ice cream on video.

Going to work!

Every day Ethan narrates Brent's process of getting ready to leave. One morning last week soon after Brent left, Ethan picked up his flashlight and balloon (one must be prepared) and said, "kiss...work...bye bye" (Ella got the kiss and I had to settle for a wave.)

Catching up with the weekend fun

As you can see, the kids had a great time at our playdate on Friday with some of the girls from our Sunday School and their kids. We had 9 kids under the age of 4...and next month is at our house (eek!)

Saturday morning our church had a preschool playday, with different rooms of the children's wing set up as a small town. There was a "beach", library, music room, construction zone, diner, bakery, dress up room, etc. Ethan had a ball! You can see several of the pics in the updated web album. This is one of my personal favorites...Ethan's first milkshake:

The straw never left his mouth!

On Monday the kids and I made a last-minute trip to visit a high school friend that was in the Houston area. We met halfway. I was anxious about how they would handle the drive, but since rural Texas is full of tractors, big trucks, and cows Ethan did quite well. Ella also slept like a champ and then woke up to make faces at her brother. Ethan did his first time on a McDonald's playscape. He was cautious yet giddy. I was not a huge fan, as when he got nervous and I crawled in to encourage him to go down the slide I found that they weren't really made for adults (imagine that), and it was hot and smelled like little kids' feet.

A few random bits:

Ethan has started telling us in the morning that the birds and the monkeys are asleep outside.

Ella has started rolling halfway across the room and then grinning proudly. She has also decided that oatmeal is tasty, and is now eating as fast as I can shovel it in.

Fire Chief

We tried out a sandwich place close to our house called "Firehouse Subs." It's nothing particularly special, but they have a firehouse theme to the restaurant. They do have two big things going for them:

1) Kids meals come with a fire hat
2) Kids meals come with Oreos

Both can be seen in the above picture.

Imagine getting this call...

Ethan made a special call to his grandparents today because he (let me put this somewhat discreetly since at some point in his life he will be horrified I posted this) had his first success story with the potty today! His summary of the event: "put wateh in dere!"

We have no illusions of being pottytrained this early, but consider it one small (joyous) step...

Fun times ahead

Today we had the most extended period of time where the kids "played" together without anybody ending up in tears (I'll refrain from naming names). Ethan got so tickled that Ella would reach out to grab him, and he would tell us what she was grabbing (hair, hand, chin, etc.) He would then circle the bouncy seat talking away to her. She loved it.

I've noticed that Ethan is stretching out a lot of one syllable words into a longer drawl...puhleese would be a common example. Is that the Texas sneaking in, some Louisiana influence, or just the funny toddler language we'll be blessed with over the next few years?

Today we had fun outside with the kiddie pool and sprinkler. I'm sure the neighbors appreciated the squeals of glee and the loud counting to 10 as we jumped (Ethan trying to jump is pretty funny...he grunts and stretches his arms in the sky but his feet don't leave the ground at the same time) around the water.

"Fwends" are "kiand"

These were the words of the day today. We had a playdate at our house with one of my friends and her one year old. I talked to Ethan before they came about how we should be kind to our friends and share (we've been practicing sharing with his toy dinosaur which is very cute but not the full experience, as the dinosaur doesn't protest when Ethan gets tired of sharing his cars!) Ethan walked around a good part of the morning saying "fwends" and "kiand". I can tell you that he is better at talking about sharing than actually doing it. We had plenty of teachable moments! I think we're very close to having more lessons on this, as Ella is more able to grab at things, and she has gotten a good hold of his hair a couple times as he's taken toys away from her.

There were challenges, but they both had fun. When they left Ethan stood at the front window crying "fwends! fwends!" in the most pitiful way.

Our first post

So we're going to try keeping a "family blog" in order to better keep everyone up to date on what's going on in our family. We hope we'll be disciplined enough to update it regularly so you'll want to make a bookmark and check in from time to time.

Saturday morning we went to a local nursery that also happens to have donkeys. Ethan was pretty happy to be there when they were changing out their water for the day -- that process interested him as much as the donkeys themselves.

Our new house has a limited number of trees, so we're starting to think about putting some more in this fall.

That evening we tried to wash the cars and let Ethan have fun in the water at the same time. We couldn't remember the last time we washed either car, but we were certain it had been at least a year.

Things were starting to get crazy at this time last year as we were in the selection process for the new house, fix-up process of the old house, and Ella was on the way. I used to wash my car quite often -- with each major life addition it drops further and further down the priority list.