Click Here For Free Blog Backgrounds!!!
Blogaholic Designs

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Easter Picture Outakes

Just to prove that I don't always get cute pictures ...

I don't even know what's going on here...

This is Ethan, attempting to smile ...

"Boys! Look at Mama ... over here ... Ethan!!! Caleb!!!"

Caleb decided Ethan needed some grass for the picture, as you can see, Ethan was just thrilled..

Easter Weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter this year. We sure did! We started it out with a trip to the zoo on Friday afternoon, where we were up close and personal with some wolves.




On Saturday we went to an Easter eve concert at the Levitt Shell, where I didn't have my camera, so no pictures, sorry. The concert was great and the boys had a blast, although it did cause a pretty late bedtime.

Easter morning started with church, and then we headed to my parents house for lunch. Caleb got to see his cousins (my cousins kids) who he doesn't get to see often so that was alot of fun. He had fun "holding" the babies. Have I mentioned that he has told me multiple times now that he wants a baby sister?? Anyways, he got to play with his cousins Greta, Evan and Emily and they had alot of fun together.

Here are some pictures of our day.















And coming up, a ... I have a ton of pictures that never made it to the blog because I haven't posted in so long post.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Blast Off


We've been enjoying all the pretty weather we've been having around here lately. These pictures were all taken a few weeks ago and it's gotten even warmer since then ... like go to the park in shorts and a t-shirt warm... it's been lovely.

Doesn't he look like such a big boy in that picture above? He looks older every day.

We played with bubbles.

We went for a walk around the neighborhood.

Then we pulled out the cardboard box from Ethan's new carseat.

It eventually became a rocket.

It's amazing how much fun can be had with a cardboard box.

Monday, February 27, 2012

My littlest man

Now it's Ethan's turn. I actually meant these update posts to happen consecutively but life got in the way and it didn't happen, but better late than never.


My sweet little Ethan is 14 months old now and cuter than ever. His bright blue eyes and chubby little face just make my heart melt. Here are a few things I want to remember about him at this age:

First and foremost, he is a Mama's boy, much more than Caleb ever was. While Caleb had his moments of preferring me over other people, that's the norm for Ethan. He wants to be with me, or at least in sight of me, all the time.



He loves music and dancing (or bouncing up and down) and clapping his hands.

He loves his big brother. He follows him around and loves playing with him, and is completely oblivious to the frustration he sometimes causes Caleb by messing up his 'big boy' toys.

He's finally walking! He had a bit of a later start than Caleb did, but once he started he picked it up quickly and now he's walking all over the place.


He loves bananas and goldfish crackers. He points to the kitchen when he's hungry and wants a snack, and if given a choice always picks one of those two. He could eat 2 bananas in one sitting if I let him.

He is loud! So very very loud! At times it makes me want to pull my hair out, like for instance when we're in the car and he's in his car seat squealing about something, and there's no way to get away from the noise. But I think it's just his way of making sure he's not forgotten in the shuffle. He wants to make sure we remember that he's there. Don't worry, sweet Ethan, we could never forget about you.


He has dropped his morning nap, for the most part. He still needs it occasionally, if he's had a late night or early morning for some reason, but most days he naps in the afternoon with Caleb.

He loves books, and I love that he loves books. I better not even try putting him to bed without a story first because he will let me know that he needs a book before bedtime. And he will often during the day, find a book and bring it to me so I can read it to him.

He finally got a few more teeth. He got his first two teeth (bottom middle) at around 10 months, and just in the last few weeks got the next two (top middle).


He is a little mischief maker. He loves getting into the TV cabinet and pulling out all of our DVDs, he loves playing in the bathroom and he loves getting into the 1 cabinet in the kitchen that he's not allowed to play in.

He loves playing with balls, and puts everything in his mouth.

He's a sweet, adorable little guy and I can't wait to continue watching him grow into a little boy.



Thursday, February 16, 2012

Little Man

Since I've been slacking on the blogging and it's been awhile since I've posted any real information, I decided I'd do a little update on each of my boys, and to prevent a ridiculously long post, I'm splitting it in two, starting with Caleb. (that was a really long, probably completely grammatically incorrect sentence, sorry) The pictures in this post are from the other night when Caleb asked me to take a picture of him with a sad face. So I did, and then asked him to make some other faces for me as well.

sad face

So, my little man...he's 2.5 years old now, actually 2 years and 8 months, to be precise. Here's a few things I want to remember about him from this age :

I know I've probably said this on here before, but he is so stinkin sweet, except for those occasional 2 year old moments when he is anything but sweet. But for the most part he's a sweetheart.

He loves his brother (E-E) and loves playing with him, although he'd prefer it if Ethan would leave his toys alone... you know how it is.

mad face

He likes giving/getting hugs but not kisses. If you do kiss him, he quickly wipes it off and says "No me like kisses".

He is all about The Doughnut Man right now. Please, someone tell me you know who that is. In case you don't, it's a Christian kids show from the early 90s, and he randomly picked it out from our churches lending library a few months ago and fell in love. You're only supposed to keep these movies for a week, I think we've had it for six (If anyone from the church bookstore is reading this...I promise we aren't stealing it and it will be returned) Anyways, we watch it daily...I can quote the entire movie, and Caleb's close to being able to do the same, and he can sing every word to every song, complete with the super cool 1991 dance moves.

scared face

He goes to Mother's Day Out once a week, and loves it. His teachers are so great, and he has sweet friends he gets to spend time with. One in particular goes to church with us as well and, according to Caleb, is the only person he plays with ... ever. When we pick him up from church or school and asked him who he played with his answer is always either "Helen" or "No Helen here". I'm glad he has such a sweet friend that he enjoys playing with so much!

He loves playing with trains and cars and it's so fun to watch him play. He has a great imagination and very often I'll hear him say something and when I say "what Caleb?" he looks at me, puts his hand up, and says "noooo". How silly of me, of course it was his trains having a conversation and not Caleb talking at all.

tired face

He loves candy. I know this is a horrible habit but the boy has a serious sweet tooth. He says candy is his favorite food, that's healthy, right? And if there's no candy to be had he'll settle for gum. I've gotten some questioning looks for giving my 2 year old gum, but he does great with it, leaves it in his mouth, doesn't swallow it, and just chews away.

He still takes an afternoon nap, which is wonderful. I have to limit how long I let him sleep in the afternoon or else he stays awake long past bedtime, but I just can't give up that afternoon nap yet, even though he might do fine without it.

happy face

He's potty trained! That was a big accomplishment on his part. He's been ready for months, but I waited until I was ready and had the time to be consistent with it, and it paid off. He caught on very quickly and after a few days there were hardly ever any accidents.

He loves reading stories out of his Bible, particularly David and Goliath (which he plays all the time ..."Mama, you Goliath, me David" and then he precedes to find something to be his slingshot, and he takes Goliath down) Jonah and the whale, Daniel and the lions den and Noah's ark.

silly face

We started working on memorizing scripture with him, and I wasn't sure if he was quite old enough, but he's surprised me. He knows Psalm 23:1-3 so far, and it's so sweet to hear his cute little voice reciting it.

His favorite songs to sing right now are the ABCs and God is So Good. And his favorite songs to have sung to him are Tender Shepherd, Baby Mine and Sing, and he asks me to sing those songs to him every single night before bed.

He is learning his letters and the sounds they make, and he has impressed me in this area too. He knows a lot, if not most, of his letters along with the sounds they make. He's a pretty smart kid.

He loves watching movies and playing games on the ipad and completely understands how to work it. While he has lots of kid games to play, his favorites are Cut the Rope and Temple Run, go figure. He's horrible at both of them, but he has fun anyways.

This is getting long so I'll stop here, but that's a little (or big) update on Caleb and what he's up to these days.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Super Caleb



I love this little super hero!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.


Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.



So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. "

1 Corinthians 13

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and while it very different from last year, it was lots of fun!

On Christmas Eve we spent the afternoon with Charles' family; eating great food, opening gifts and playing with cousins. Then we headed to the Christmas Eve service at church. The music was great, the sermon was wonderful and the congregation singing Silent Night in the candlelight at the end was beautiful. From there, we headed home for a quick dinner and to get the boys in bed since they had gone all day without naps.

(My boys with their cousins, Phillip-Giles and Naomi)

Christmas morning was hectic but fun. Our boys are still to young to really "get" Christmas, although Caleb definitely knew it was baby Jesus' birthday. But there was no waking at the crack of dawn in this house. Ethan woke at his normal 7:30ish, and we finally had to wake Caleb at 8:00 so that he'd have time to open his presents before church. They both loved all their new toys!


We headed to church for more great fellowship and another great sermon and then to my parents house for lunch. After a delicious lunch and quick naps for the boys we opened gifts. And once again, the boys loved all their new stuff. We had a relaxing afternoon just hanging out with my family and headed home around dinner time.


On Monday we headed back out to my parents house to get together with all of my mom's family. It was great to see everyone, and Caleb loved being the center of attention. He kind of steals the show when we're around crowds of people. He definitely didn't inherit his Mama's shyness. He did some dancing, played some instruments, sang some Christmas tunes, and just generally strutted around the house like he owned the place. Sweet Ethan just enjoys watching his big brother, and being passed around for everyone to play with and hold, although he's quite a dancing machine too. I'll have to try and get a video of their moves to post on here at some point. After lunch and gifts, the Christmas festivities were finally over after a long weekend of fun, family and lots of food.


We've finally caught up on sleep and after celebrating Charles' birthday today are getting back into the swing of things around here.

I hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Merry Christmas!

I pray that everyone has a very blessed and Merry Christmas!



Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Happy Birthday Ethan


One year ago today, I got to meet my sweet Ethan for the first time. He was so little and absolutely adorable. And now I have this not so little but still very adorable little guy.

Ethan is my serious man. While Caleb loves attention and can be on the goofy side, Ethan is more subdued. He has this very serious look about him alot of the time, like he's thinking really hard about something...maybe he is. But boy does he have a smile, and he's not afraid to share it. If you can get him to drop the serious stare then you get to see a big ' ole smile...with 2 teeth. He got his first two teeth a couple of months ago and hasn't gotten any since. Not that it's slowed him down at all in the eating department.

I love the way he looks up to his big brother. Nothing could make him happier than going into Caleb's room to wake him up in the mornings. He gets so excited! And they love to play together. Caleb is so sweet to him and gets him toys to play with. I very often hear , " come on, e-e" as Caleb heads back to his room to play.

Now for a few facts about Ethan at 1 year old:

*He has 2 teeth.

*He weighs in at almost 22 lbs and is 29.25 inches long. Both of my boys are on the short side...which they get from me.

*He sleeps 12 hours at night but still occasionally wakes up around the 10 hour mark asking for a bottle...then he goes right back to sleep.

*He says Mama, Ba (bottle), bye bye, uh oh, and makes tons of other noises.

*While he is more serious than Caleb, he is also much louder than Caleb. I think it's because he has to compete for the attention around here.

*He's not walking yet unless you count maneuvering around all the furniture in our house.

*He's got straight, very light blonde hair. And he needs a haircut badly.

*The boy loves to dance, if you wanna call it that. He just kind of bobs his head and moves his body to the music.

*I know I've mentioned that he's loud but unless you've spent alot of time with him you probably wouldn't believe me. Very often in our car, you'll hear me or Charles, or even Caleb, saying "Ethan, hush!" You can't hear music or have a conversation when he's busy making noise, and it's not crying or fussing, it's just yelling, and it's loud!


Ethan,
I can't believe how big you've gotten. I remember bringing you home from the hospital thinking you were so tiny because you were alot smaller than your big brother was when he was born. But you've caught up. You are now bigger than he was when he was your age.
You are so happy and smile all the time. I love your smile, it just melts me, with those 2 little teeth and those big blue eyes. You love your big brother so much and he loves you too. I just know that y'all are going to be best buddies as you get older.
Your daddy and I are so proud of the sweet boy you are. You've got alot of personality and we love seeing it more and more every day. I'm so blessed to get to be your Mama.

Happy 1st Birthday Baby!

I love you,
Mama





Saturday, December 17, 2011

Party Time!

We had Ethan's first birthday party today. He doesn't actually turn one until Tuesday, so you can expect a birthday post then, but for today I'm going to share some pictures from the party.

It was a low key, just family kind of party. But Charles and I have pretty big families so it was close to 20 people. We had pizza, salad and cupcakes and opened presents, Caleb got to play with his favorite cousin, and we just had a fun family day.

some of the decorations my sister and I made

my mom's handiwork

birthday boy and big brother

opening presents - Caleb was a big helper

Caleb and his daddy

not sure what to think of everyone singing to him

but decided in the end that it deserved an applause

tentatively tasting the cupcake

He likes it!

sweet blue eyed boy

enjoying his cupcake

"man, that was good!"

Yay for birthdays!

the birthday boy had a very fun day, followed by a very long nap

My next post will probably be all about my sweet (almost) one year old, so stay tuned...