Our Little Escape Artist

Ethan can now open doors...I'm not too excited about this new skill.  Our pantry is no longer safe.  Another, not so exciting, skill he has aquired is opening the gate on the fence outside.  I guess we'll have to get a lock.  Anyway, I snapped a couple pictures of him in action this morning...

Front door...

Back door.

 Notice the upside down basket in both instances he uses as a stool.  So ingenuitive.

All in a days work!

I was flipping through a recent Potterybarn Kids catalog when I came across this!  They are so cute and I thought to myself...'I can make those'.  So, today, I headed out to Hobby Lobby and picked up some fabric to give it a try.  The feet and legs were the trickiest parts and I almost ended up with a legless/footless owl!  I spent all of naptime, parts of the afternoon and pretty much all evening putting this thing together.  I'm not sure what I'll do with it, since it's a little girly for my 'all boy' boy, but I'm pretty proud of my 'adaptation' of the pricey Potterybarn version.

My handmade, slightly quirky owl pillow

Close-up





I might just try and make a little companion for this one...maybe that will be Wednesday's project.  But probably not, I didn't get anything else done today (except Ethan's haircut, see below).

Where did my baby go?!?

Today Ethan turns 22 months.  And we got his haircut for the 3rd time, which should have been the 4th or 5th because his hair was ridiculously long and shaggy.  Anyway, I realized as he was sitting there getting his hair cut (very well, I might add), that he is almost 2 years old and this haircut really makes him look it.  He is talking like crazy and in sentences!  His favorite sentence is probably 'I see you' or I want ______too'.  Everything we have he has to have too.  It is definitely a fun stage, until he doesn't get what he wants, but I'll spare you the tantrum details.  I'll leave you with some haircutting pictures.  Happy Monday!

Bye Bye Shaggy Do

Haircuts are exhausting.  This is on the way home.

After!  With some lunch.

Longing for warm weather...

Last week we had beautiful weather and spent a lot of time playing in the yard.  This week...not so much.  I forgot to post these when I took them, so I thought I'd 'will' warm weather to come back.  Please come back!!

Look at all my toys!

His new/used bat

Climbing the slide all by himself

March Madness...

This past weekend, we had a little March Madness of our own.  Jared was invited by an old friend from the Rolla, MO days to play in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament at his church.  Andrew and Samantha live just a little past Indy, so we made our way over on Friday afternoon and stayed the weekend.  The tournament was all day Saturday, but sadly, the guys were out earlier than they had hoped.  Ethan loved watching his daddy play 'ba-ball' and did so good this weekend.  I think he may have traumatized their dog, Gibson and he is probably still sleeping it off :).  After playing basketball all day, we watched basketball all evening, so March Madness indeed!  Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

'Team Rambo' in action!

Ethan with Samantha and Andrew just before we left

Tired boy...only 5 min after we got on the road.

Thanks Hodges for a great weekend!

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