Long Weekend in Salem

We headed to Salem this past weekend for some quality grandparent/aunt/uncle time. Saturday was about the only nice day so Abby, Alex, Jared and I took Ethan to the playground.  And, as usual, he was not ready to go home. 

Jared and Alex in a pretty serious game of tetherball

Ethan decided to join

Racing down the slide

Digging in the rocks

 Saturday afternoon/evening we went out to Grandma and Grandpa Collier's house.  Ethan loves to run around outside especially if the dogs are out running too. 

Hank and Ethan

  Ethan and I stayed Sunday night and on Monday, I had the privilege to do some wedding planning with Abby and my mom.  We went to Centralia to pick out decorations for the reception...what fun!  Everything will be beautiful and I'm looking forward to it!

Sweet smiles!

Just a couple pictures of a smiley boy today.  We met Jared for lunch at Culvers and Ethan wanted to wear his hat.  He looks so grown up!


Snacking at the blocks table.  With a creepy woody, peering over the chair behind him...



Go Cardinals! 

Potty Training...

Last week, I mentioned to Arika (Ethan's babysitter) that I was thinking about potty training.  I figure, if Ethan is willing and interested, I may as well start.  Well, the next day when I came to pick Ethan up, she informed me that he had gone potty in the toilet all day!  He only went twice in his diaper!  She has just been taking him and sitting him down every hour.  Well...I've tried this same technique at home, and nothing!  He just won't go for me.  Stubborn little boy!  Oh well, if Arika wants to get him potty trained, I'm all for it!! 

We have since gotten an Elmo potty seat...still to no avail!  We'll keep trying.

 

I'm Still Here...

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last week.  Actually, last night I took the first pictures since my last post...I know, shameful!  Anyway, this morning Ethan practically begged me to take him outside.  It is sunny here, but still a bit chilly at maybe 45 degrees.  I finally gave in and we bundled up and played outside.  I was hoping to just stay on the deck due to the softness of the ground, but Ethan had other plans.  It was a chore dragging him back inside.  But it was fun.  Here's hoping to spring and warmer temps!

Max really wanting to chase a ball

Sliding/standing on the slide

Time for the big boy slide...head first?

Yep.  And yes, I chose to take a picture of the head first slide instead of catching him, he did fine though.  Just a little mud on the face.

This is what caught my attention last night (and finally made me get my camera out)...

Just playing with the drum...

Superman!

Party Time!

This past weekend we went to Salem to help celebrate a few birthdays.  Both Squibb cousins (Phillip and Timm) have little boys who turned 1.  And Jared's Grandma Woolbright was celebrating her 80th birthday with an open house.  It was a busy and fun weekend.  
Friday afternoon, my mom, Ethan and I met my friend, Elizabeth, her mom and her 2 adorable boys (Sam and Andrew) at the playground.  Ethan and Andrew are only 2 months apart in age and haven't played together since they were babies.  I meant to take more pictures, but it was difficult since we were chasing our boys all over the place :).

Ethan and Sam digging in the rocks...and if you look close, Elizabeth and Andrew are playing in the background

Saturday started the parties!  Caleb (Timm and Kendra's), turned 1 and had a great party with great food and lots of fun.  Ethan particularly liked the balloons all over the place.  Here's a picture of the birthday boy and his cake!  I think he was liking it!

Messy messy!

On Sunday, Callum (Phillip and Amanda's) celebrated his first birthday but we were not able to be there since Jared's Grandma Woolbright's party was at the same time.  Click here for pictures of Cal-Man's party!  Grandma Woolbright's open house turned out great and I think she had a great time visiting with friends and family that she hadn't seen for a long time.  Happy 80th Birthday!!

4 Generations!

And here are just some random pictures from the weekend.  A lot of my family was in town so all the little ones had a great time playing together.

Finley and Ethan riding the somewhat disturbing 'life-like' horse

Uncle David reading/singing to Scout and Haley

Hazel and Ethan

Ethan and Scout...Best buds!

Who Needs A Grocery List?!?

This isn't the video I have been working on, but I took this one this afternoon and just had to share!  There was absolutely no coaching here...all Ethan!



In case you were wondering, he is in his tent that is turned upside down.  It's kind of nice...like a little play pen.  And, again, he is the one who wanted it like this.  Such a funny little kid!

"Ball"

Getting everything organized

Safety First!

Yesterday, after pulling into the garage, Ethan starts pointing and yelling 'ride, ride, ride'.  I couldn't figure out what he wanted...and then I saw my bike with his seat on the back hanging from the ceiling.  He wanted to go for a bike ride (which we did a lot of last summer).  We obviously couldn't go as it was a little chilly and getting dark so I compromised and let him play with his helmet inside.  The first thing he did was put it on and go get on his 4-wheeler!  Enjoy a couple pictures of our safety conscious little boy!

Lets Ride!

So what if it's on backwards!

Daddy & Ethan just watching some TV

And here's a picture of our little Valentine with his Valentine's Day present from us.  I think he will be quite the photographer!

I coudn't get him to hold it up and take a (pretend) picture while I took a picture

Weekend Happenings

As the weekend comes to an end :(...I thought I would post a few pictures from our time.  Ethan got some good grandparent time in this weekend, as my parents came up Friday and Jared's parents come up yesterday.  I didn't take any pictures during either visit (sorry).  I do have a few of the crazy kid we call Ethan.  He was extra hyper Friday night and I took a couple videos to document (which I can't get to load on here!!).  Saturday night, Jared and I went out on a date!  Our church had a 'Date Night' which meant some wonderful youth and volunteers from the church got to watch 70+ kiddos while their parents had a child-free evening!  We went out to a Japanese Hibachi Grill for a wonderful dinner!  No pictures from that night either...sorry.   I do have a few others to share though. 

Wanting to go 'nigh nigh'...or just being craaaazy!

Big boy breakfast.

I have been trying for 2 days to upload a video of the wild child, and it just won't work!  I'll keep trying, but I'm not promising anything.

Tada!!

I have been working on a little project here and it's finally finished!  I have been wanting a headboard for our bed since we got married...5 1/2 years ago!  I looked online for some DIY instructions and found this!  It seemed easy enough so I got the supplies and slowly started putting it together.  My wonderful, smart and ingenuitive husband helped me finish it all up and get it on the bed.

Drilling holes for the buttons

Using spray adhesive to attach foam to plywood and then attach batting to foam (I tried this first in the garage, but it was too cold for the adhesive to work...so the kitchen floor was the spot)

Stapling the batting and fabric down

Now, time for the buttons.  After covering my buttons with the same fabric, we used the holes I drilled and attached the buttons.  The picture on the left is the back side (Jared's ingenuity at work).  The directions said to staple the thread like crazy to hold it in place, Jared thought we could just place a staple over the hole and the tie the thread off on it...it worked great! 

Attaching the legs so we can install it on the bed!

Finished and Installed!

Tada!  Not to toot my own horn...but I think it turned out great!

Best Seat in the House...

Over the last couple of weeks, Ethan has been wanting to hang out in the chair in his room.  He is pretty particular about how things are arranged when he is sitting in that chair.  This morning while I was getting ready for church, I hear him fussing a little in his room.  So, I go in to see what's up and he is in the chair trying to cover himself up with a blanket the size of a hand towel. I helped him by covering his feet and then I sat down on the ottoman...he looked at me and pointed to his door and said 'other room' (in his language).  I asked him if he wanted me to leave and sure enough, he did.  What a cute little weirdo!

I found him like this last week when I thought he had been too quiet for too long.

This morning...
Milk: check, Monkey: check, Blanket: check, Books: check

Is Winter Over Yet??

According to Puxatony Phil, almost.  He is predicting an early spring...we'll just have to see about that.  We had quite a winter storm pass through here (and just about everywhere else) yesterday and last night.  We didn't get the 10-20 inches of snow that was predicted, but we did get somewhere around 7 in (according to weather.com) after the ice pellets finally quit falling out of the sky (those things hurt!).  Anyway, I decided that Ethan and I would suit up and play in the snow...or work in the snow.  I needed to shovel a little path on the deck so Max wouldn't throw snow all over the house everytime he went out and came back in.  Our time spent outside was shorter than the time it took to get dressed.  It's just too cold...

A nice drift on the deck

Suited up and ready to go!

And, just about ready to come back inside

 My snow pictures are put to shame by our northern cousins (Phillip and Amanda) in Chicago.  Check out their snow!!

One, Two, Four, Elmo!

I took a short video of Ethan counting this morning (with a little help).  It was pretty cute!