Catching Fireflys

Do you remember doing this as a kid? I do.  It was always so much fun.  Well, Ethan got introduced to this for the first time on Saturday.  We had some family in town and we were up late.  So at 9:30pm, we were leaving my parent's house and saw fireflys.  

Well, Uncle Eldon was the best firefly catcher and Ethan was just delighted!  

Since Saturday, Ethan has been catching imaginary fireflys.  He finds them all over our house, can you believe it?  He catches them in his hand, and then has to show them to me, then off they fly!  It's amazing what an imagination this boy has!

I don't have a picture, but will try to get one soon, of us catching real fireflys and fake ones.

Eve's Baptism

Well, it happened.  Eve turned 8 years old!  I can't believe that she is so big and that old already.  The baptism was wonderful and very peaceful.  It was my first LDS baptism so I have nothing to compare it to, but it was very nice.  The picture isn't the best.  But, I didn't take it, just had to throw that in there.  That glare on the picture is kind of annoying.  But, the people look great!  That is Bianca, holding Dean, Eve, Matt, and Clark.  

We had a great visit and Ethan loves playing with his cousins.  They are a wild bunch when they all get together but that only means they are having fun, right?  Thanks Eve for inviting us to your baptism and letting us be a part of your very special day.  Happy Birthday!

Ijams Nature Park

Mommy and Ethan walking.

Here's a lizard can you see it?

Yep, and that's a frog!

Dan and Ethan looking at some frogs.

Trying to find a turtle in the river.

Mommy and Ethan waving to Daddy.

Oh, look a frog!

Frog!

Flowers in the lily pond.

Daddy and Ethan

Mommy and Ethan

We had a great time!

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs

Oh, more over there.... You get the idea.  They have taken over.  They are in every room in our house.  There are Dinosaurs downstairs, in the playroom, in Ethan's bedroom, in our bedroom, in his bathtub, and outside.  We have dinosaurs in both of our cars and in my purse.  You just never know when a dinosaur emergency will show up.  Trust me, we have had plenty.  Oh and my parents have dinosaurs at their house also.  Granted, they are our old dinosaurs, but still, they are everywhere.  How long do you think this will last?  We got him his first set of dinosaurs for his first Christmas or first birthday, I can't remember which one.  But, anyway, he's now two and a half and still going strong with the dinosaurs!!  Oh, well I guess he could like worse things, like pokeman or spongebob.  

Ethan's Photo Shoot

My friend Kristy took these pictures of Ethan.  I love them!!  Thank you so much for taking these pictures!  I love how they capture Ethan, this is him.  He is into everything and loves to explore.  So every picture was just Ethan being Ethan.  There is no getting him to follow directions so these pictures are fabulous!  Thanks again!  (there are more, I will put them on my Walgreens site for those of you with that password.)

Amish Friendship Bread

So my friend Kristy gave me a starter for Amish Friendship Bread, and today we baked it.  Ethan loved helping, I not so much.  He's great, but wants to do everything on his own, which makes more of a mess!  But, we made it with just a little bit of stress!  It is so good, and I am so glad that we made it.  Oh, and some of you will be getting starters soon! I have three to give away!

Summer Reading Program

So one of my summer memories is going to the library every week.  I think we went on Friday's but I could be completely wrong about that.  We would enroll in the summer reading program and then for every 5 books or so that you read, you would get a prize.  Well, I decided to enroll Ethan in it this year.  He is young, but we read a lot, and we might as well get some prizes out of it, right?  We read our 20 books really fast, and they seemed kinda surprised.  I'm not sure why, I mean it's not hard to read 20 books, we read probably 1o a day.  I was actually kinda a slacker and forgot to write down a lot of the books that we read.  Anyway, I took a picture of his prizes for you!  Ethan loves the duck of course!  Oh, and mom there was no gift card for a free personal pan pizza.  Sad, that's what we always used to get!

Saying prayers

Ethan has started "saying his prayers".  It's so cute.  He finally got folding his hands together and now if you ask him to say the pray, he'll start whispering.  You have to really listen, but you can tell he is blessing people.  Last night I heard him say "momma, dadda, momma, pappa, baby".  That means I bless momma, dadda, grandma, grandpa, and Ethan.   I think it's the cutest thing, and I'll try to get it on video one of these days.

Our evening routine

Since it's summer, we've started a new routine.  We eat dinner and then go outside and play in the baby pool.  Well, Ethan plays in the pool and I watch.  Dan normally does some type of yard work.  Anyway, here are a few pictures of Ethan in his baby pool.  Yes, that's an alligator (the way Ethan says alligator is to click your tongue on the roof of your mouth, then add a nuu sound at the end! LOL), Ethan loves his alligator and while we bought him for the big pool, he goes in the baby pool also.  Oh, and Dan says to say "I wasn't yelling at Ethan in that picture, we were just touching foreheads!"  I don't think it looks like he was yelling, but maybe that's b/c I was there.  

You were wanted..we waited 39 weeks So I totally forgot about this. But, look how little Ethan used to be! I can't get over it. He has grown so much since his first year of life. They grow so fast, don't they? The slideshow is kinda long, but it's so cute, and so worth it to watch! So watch it!! LOL Oh, just click on the picture to get it to play.

Bed Head

Really, just wow! That's all that I can say about this one.  This is after his nap.  The picture doesn't quite do it justice.

New Harvest Park

 There is this cool splash park on the east side of town.  Linnie, Haley, Ethan, and I went to have some fun one day.  It is a great way to stay cool and have fun!  I wish they had parks like this when I was a kid.  No such thing as being to hot to go to the park, with these around!

Haley and Ethan loved getting wet and then running to go play on the playground.  I guess that's the way to do it!  That way you don't stay hot. There are these cool water guns that shoot out water when you point them.  Ethan quickly got the hang of them.  Only thing that's not so cool is when another kid shoots someone in the face.  Not fun. This is Ethan on the playground bridge.  He loved going up the stairs on one side and down the other.  He didn't go on any slides, which is just as well because those big kids had those slides going fast! They would get as wet as possible then shoot down them! Man, they went fast, and I would think it would hurt because they always ended up on the ground in a heap!  

Anyway, this was a fun day and an amazing park to go visit.  We will go back many times this summer I'm sure.  

This is for Grandpa

Okay, here are Ethan's mad soccer skills!!  He's been having me play "soccer" every day with him lately.  I think it started after Dan made us watch the Germany/Poland soccer game.  I guess he liked it! Only a few years to go, and he can really play!

Silly update...

I ate a salad the other day!! I totally forgot to tell anyone!! But, since I haven't been able to eat one since my gall bladder was removed in October, this is a huge deal.  Granted I didn't eat the entire salad, and it wasn't very big to begin with.  But, I ate part of a salad, and didn't get massively sick afterwards!  So maybe someday soon, I'll be able to eat an entire salad.

Kids and their conversations

We (the three of us) went to the splash park yesterday afternoon.  Well, Dan was standing watching Ethan play and this little girl came up to him.  (she was about 6/7)  

Little Girl:  Look at my pretty hair, it's curly!

Dan:  Yes, you do have very pretty hair.

Little Girl: (cocks her head and looks at Dan)  Well, you don't have any hair.

Dan: I know I don't have any hair.

Little Girl:  Well, actually you have a little bit on the sides right there.  (pointing her finger)

Dan:  Yes, you are right, I do have a little bit of hair on the side.

Little Girl: But, you don't have any hair on top.

Dan: Yes I know that I don't have any on top. 

Little Girl:  Well, I have long pretty hair.  

Dan: Yes you do.  

Then she ran off to play!! It was so funny, this stuff would only happen to Dan!

Two Year Olds

You know they sure are funny sometimes.  I often wonder how in the world Ethan thinks up some of the things that he does.  

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The other day, we bought Ethan a little baby pool.  Well, we decided to let him try it out that evening (which has become our ritual now).  Well, Ethan loved it!  But, he didn't want to wear his bathing suit.  I didn't think anything of it, and let him play in it naked. 

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Two days ago, I decide that we are going to go play in the baby pool.  I get my suit on, I put sunscreen on Ethan, and strip him down to nothing.  I told him he could pick his bathing suit.  Did he want the orange one, or the purple one.  (oh and his suits from last year, still fit! YES! They are actually a little big on him.  He has no baby fat anywhere anymore!)  He picked the purple one (his new favorite color), so I get it and start to try and put it on him.  He loses it!  He starts to run around naked, screaming, crying, and yelling "NO PURPLE ONE!"  

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Okay, I think, maybe he wanted the orange one.  Nope.  More running, crying, and screaming "NO ROUGE!!!"  (that's orange by the way)  I'm just standing there dumbfounded.  I mean what do I do?  LOL I couldn't even catch him to put his diaper back on.  I chase him for a few  minutes, he's still screaming and crying that he wants to go in the pool.  Then he does it.  He pees.  Of course he's going to pee.  Want to know what he peed on?  My cooking magazines, our Ensign, and Our Little Lutheran Magazine.  Lovely.  

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After I finish cleaning that up, I go looking for my now quiet boy.  He's in the cat room playing with Chip, still naked of course.  He sees me and says "purple one mama".  So I put the purple on him, no problem.  

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We go outside, start playing in the pool.  Things are going well until he remembers. He didn't want to wear a swimsuit.  He starts pulling at his suit trying to take it off, crying yet again!  He keeps on and on.  So finally, I take him out, take him inside, wrestle a diaper on him, and he runs around crying about the "ool, the ool".  

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I turn on The Land Before Time, our saving grace, and all is good again.  He hasn't had a problem with his swimsuit since then.  So I have no idea what was the big deal.  You know, you don't know what they are thinking.  I was exhausted after that episode and we took a nap together! 

The picture at the top, is of Ethan in his "purple one".  

New Poll

Okay, it's up! Should I buy Ethan a leash for Disney World?  For those of you that know him, you know that he will NOT be content to sit in a stroller.  He likes to walk, actually he likes to run.  He has gotten better lately about holding my hand.  I have to give him a choice, and say "you can hold mommy's hand, or sit in the stroller".  He almost always picks my hand and does pretty well.  But, Disney World is big and busy.  Also, we will have four adults and only one child on this trip, so that's a lot of eyes on him.  My parents are going with us, so they will help with hand holding, I'm sure.  Anyway, I need more input! Thanks!! Please leave comments! Sign up if you don't have an account, it's easy!