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.

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.

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.

Sweet Brothers

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.

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

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...

Weekend Recap

We had a very busy, fun-filled weekend this past weekend. So I thought I'd do a little recap. I wrote last year about Halloween and how our family chooses to celebrate, which you can check out here, if you're interested.

On Fridays Caleb goes to Mother's Day Out and this past Friday they had a Halloween party. They all wore their little costumes and looked adorable. Caleb went as a baseball player. He loves baseball, and it happened to be quite timely with the world series going on. Apparently it was a huge hit with all the people in the church offices upstairs.

On Saturday, Charles got up and went to participate in "Jesus Loves Memphis". I stayed home with the kiddos but I heard it was a great time of work, fellowship and prayer with a bunch of local churches, all working together to love this city we live in, by cleaning, building, painting, and I'm sure lots of other stuff as well.

Saturday afternoon we headed to a barn party at my great aunt and uncles house. It was lots of fun getting together with some extended family that we don't see all that often, and Caleb had a blast, once again dressed in costume (this time a bumble bee).

He got the chance to play with some distant cousins and he was the life of the party. Running, dancing, and just generally capturing the attention of everyone in attendance. Shy is one word that does not describe this child. Ethan had a good time too, being passed around from person to person, and he looked adorable in his froggie costume.

Ethan and his Aunt Rachel

Caleb and his Aunt Rachel or Ray Ray, as he calls her.

Sunday began with church and ended with a community Reformation service at one of the local presbyterian churches. I sang in the choir along with several hundred other choir members from churches all over the city. It was quite an experience and the music sounded amazing, if I do say so myself. The paster of our church preached the sermon and was, as usual, outstanding.

So that was our busy weekend, lots of stuff but lots of fun. And now, while we won't be trick or treating tonight, I do have my supply of candy ready to hand out to the neighborhood kids who come knocking on our door. I'm just hoping Caleb is ok with sharing his stash of "treats" that I've been using as potty training rewards, which he's doing very well with, by the way. There will be a post on that coming soon, I know you're thrilled ... potty training adventures, what more could you want?