First Steps?

I may be jumping the gun, but I think Ethan took a few first steps today! Granted, he fell right after the first steps, but at least he ventured to let go of the furniture and go for it for a second. He's been standing on his own now for about 2 weeks. He'll grab a toy, stand up and play with it for a while, and then once he realizes that he's not holding onto anything he'll sit back down or grab something to hold onto. He's really coming along, and we can't wait for him to really take his first step!

Time to take the tree down!

Andy had to work graveyards this entire week, so I decided I'd take advantage of the time to take down Christmas since I want the house back in order before I have to go back to work. I took down most last night, and then while Ethan napped today I took down the tree. I can't help but sing "I cry the day that I take the tree down" by Michael McLean every year! I hate taking the tree down. It officially means the holidays are over. The Christmas spirit that is so wonderful has left, the pretty decorations are gone, and life goes back to normal. It also means 4 more months of school without any kind of decent break to look forward too! Yikes!

Ethan and the ipod

We gave Grandma an ipod for Christmas, and I loaded it up for her today. Ethan LOVED listening to the Ipod and dancing to the tunes!

Snowed In!

We have had a ton of snow in the past few days, and here is the proof! Colby, I hope you like these pictures since you don't have any snow of your own. It's all the way up to our porch! It's covered all the bushes that we put cute christmas lights on, but oh well! Glad we had ourselves a snow blower to get us out of this mess!

Christmas Day

Once we were ready for the day, we headed down to my mom and dad's house! We opened up presents and had a nice lunch. Mom and Dad gave me a really neat trunk for my living room, and Andy got Itunes gift cards. They also gave us a sandwhich maker/waffle iron! Our last one blew up! Yes, you read correctly, it blew up!

Then it was Ethan's turn. Grandma and Grandpa gave him a few books, a few outfits, and a really neat grow chart that Grandma made.
This is Grandma trying to measure him! It's not working too well though.

After lunch, we headed over to Andy's mom and dad's house! They gave us some cash and a box of oranges. We're excited for the cash, because we both wanted to buy some new shoes!

Grandma and Grandpa bought Ethan this really cute truck, and as you can see in the picture, he didn't want to share with Dad at all!

All in all, it was a really nice day! We enjoyed spending time with both families, and spending time with our own little family!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was so much fun this year with Ethan! We are so happy to have him in our lives! We didn't wake up too early this Christmas because Andy has been feeling under the weather and took Nyquil before he went to bed. Needless to say, he slept in for quite some time! When he did wake up, it was great!

Ethan and I got Andy some garage cabinets, and instead of wrapping them all up, I printed off the pictures of them online and wrapped them up. Here he is looking at what we got him!

Ethan had fun with all the wrapping paper and the boxes, but he also really like playing with his new toys! He got a really cute little Handy Manny truck. The bed of the truck turns into a tool bench, and there are a bunch of tools, and it talks and tells you what to fix on the truck. Ethan really liked this! Santa also brought him an Elmo, a shirt, hat and mittens, Pirtates of the Tub toys, and a shake 'n go car.

Andy bought me a watch, and a bunch of things for my scrapbook room! Ethan gave me an Itunes gift card! I'll be downloading all sorts of fun music now!

Here is Ethan with his Elmo! It talks, and he just carts it around everywhere!

This toy is what Rachel and Gary gave to Ethan for Christmas, and it was the hit of the day. He loved to watch the balls!

This is the Christmas loot that Ethan got this year from Santa Claus!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at my family's Christmas Eve Party! There were a million people there, but it is always so much fun. We have dinner, play games, and open presents from each other, and from Grandma and Grandpa.

I was in charge of games this year, in order to keep the kids entertained after dinner. This is the unwrapping game. The kids had to put on gloves if they rolled a 1 and then they could unwrap the present until someone else rolled a one, and then it was their turn. When it was completely unwrapped, that person got to keep the present! The kids loved this one!
We also played pin the nose on the snowman! This was also a hit!
Here is Ethan unwrapping his very first Christmas present from Jarrod & Emily. It is a darling little race track with 3 cute little cars. He loves it!
Ethan also got a coat and hat from Grandma and Grandpa. They gave us a muffin and jam gift basket, and food for our food storage. From the drawing, Andy and I both got $15 Itunes gift cards! Thanks Em!!

Time

My next door neighbors had a baby a few days ago, and so I dropped by today to see the new little one. Boy, does time ever change a person. Holding him almost brought tears to my eyes as I reflected back on the day that Ethan was born, and what a joy a new little baby is. In my sleep deprived moments, I remember thinking that I couldn't wait for him to be a few months older so that I could get some sleep. Oh how I wish I could go back and not wish away those precious moments when I could hold my brand new baby for hours on end! It's hard to believe how fast they grow. In the past 11 months, Ethan has gained 13 pounds, has learned how to say dog, dada, mama, has learned to sit, to crawl, to pick up food, to hold the phone to his ear, to walk along the furniture, to open the dog door, and soooo much more. Time sure does go by quickly. It's almost hard to remember Ethan being a newborn baby. When I look at him, I see who he is now, and how big he is now, and holding this new born allowed me to really go back to when he was so small, so precious, and so close to God. He has filled our world with such happiness. He claps when Andy walks in the door from work, and my little heart melts as he reaches out to go see his daddy. He is so precious, and such a wonderful gift. I just need to make sure that I enjoy every minute with him, and not wish away any time, because before I know it he'll be asking if he can borrow the car!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

The most wonderful time of the year TAG!

1. Favorite Holiday Movie?
Christmas Vacation of course, I have the entire movie memorized
2. Favorite Holiday Candy?
Mom's English Toffee
3. Favorite Holiday Food?
Cheeseballs and Crackers
4. Favorite Holiday CD?
Michael McLean's Forgotten Carols (it always makes me cry)
Josh Groban's Noel
5. Favorite Holiday Scent?
Welcome Home Scentsy
6. Favorite Holiday Decoration?
My Christmas Village
7. Favorite Holiday Tradition?
Getting Pajamas on Christmas Eve from Mom and Dad
8. Favorite Activity during the Holidays?
Looking at all the Christmas Lights
9. Are you finished with your holiday shopping?
nope, but close!
10. Holiday Pet Peeve
When the Christmas lights aren't straight on houses! Come on people, they have those clips now to hook them in perfectly!!!
11. What time do you get up on Christmas morning?
This year, as soon as Ethan gets up!
12. Favorite Christmas song to sing?
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
13. Did you go to any Christmas concerts?
Trans Siberian Orchestra - we normally go to Kurt Bestor, but this year we thought we'd try something new. I'll be honest and say that I'll be going to Kurt Bestor next year. I love the Trans Siberian orchestra Christmas CD, but I didn't really like their concert.
14. How many Christmas trees do you have decorated in your house?
3 - one in the front room, one in Ethan's room, and one in my room!
15. What food can be found on your dinner table on Christmas night?
Ham, Turkey, cheeseballs, crackers, celery sticks with cheese, rolls, candied yams, and yummy candy and cookies!

I TAG Summer, Lindsey, Tiffany, Heather, and Beth

Ethan sure loves Norma. She's not quite fond of him yet, howeve, his new trick is most certainly going to improve their friendship! Check it out!

Family Christmas Party!

Andy's family Christmas party is always pretty funny! This year, we had a drawing for the little kids and they each got a fun present. Ethan didn't quite enjoy the unwrapping part, but he sure loved the toy from Charlotte.
He also just loved looking at all the presents! These are all the white elephant gifts for the game the adults play, but Ethan assumed that all were for him!

This is the toy that he got from Charlotte, and he played with it all night long!

As for the white elephant gift exchange from the adults, I ended up with pickled pigs feet! YUCK!! I sent them home with Ricky, who believe it or not said he liked them. Andy got a Soprano's cookbook, which is full of Italian Recipes, and I think we'll try some of them!

My Birthday!

Time passes by so quickly. It seems like only yesterday I was learning to drive, and graduating from high school and college. I don't feel old enough to be married and be a mother, but low and behold, I am 31! It's hard to believe!

As always, Andy always make my birthday special. He gave me some things for my scrapbook room, and then we were able to spend the day together! We went shopping, and even had time for a date to go see Four Christmas's. Then we were able to go out to dinner with mom and dad! It was a lot of fun!

Mama, Dada, and Dog

Ethan's first word was for sure DOG. Sad huh? He points to Norma and says DOG, so he even knows what that word means. He has said dadadada since about 6 months, but I'm not sure he associates dada with Andy. A few weeks ago he finally started saying mama, but once again, I'm not sure he knows that mama is me.

Standing by himself . . . Ethan pulls himself up on everything. The other day he pulled himself up to the couch, and scooted along it until he could reach the toy he wanted. Once he got it, he picked it up with both hands and started playing. He stood there for about 20 seconds all by himself before he realize that he wasn't holding onto anything. Then he quickly panicked and sat down! I think he'll be walking pretty soon!

Bass Pro Shop

While in the big AZ, we also visited the Bass Pro Shop! Here are some goofy pictures of us there! Andy, Les, & Ethan outside the Bass Pro Shop

Dad inside the pro shop in some fabulous camo!

Miss Julia in the Pro Shop having a marvelous time!

Leisure World

Suzanne's Grandpa lives in Leisure World in Arizona, which is a big retirement community! We went on a little walk around their lake after Thanksgiving dinner and learned that there was going to be a big garage sale.

(Mom, Dad, and Julia out for a walk!)

So, we came back the next day and found some REAL treasures! The man who drew the original line art for all the Winnie the Pooh books lived in Leisure world and was selling a bunch of his prints, so we all bought them. Here are the pictures of us, with the artist and our paintings! Cool huh?

Mesa Temple!

We went to the Mesa Temple the day after Thanksgiving to see them turn on their
Christmas lights! It was weird to see palm trees with lights, but it was fun. Brooke White from American Idol gave a little speech before they turned the lights on, but considering she's still under contract from American Idol she couldnt' sing!

If you look closely in the background, you can see all the protestors who are STILL mad about proposition 8! Get over it people!Here are the pictures of the fam at the temple! Everyone had fun except for Ethan, who slept through the entire experience!

Andy & Julia

Andy & Les

Colby & Suzanne

Barbara & Blake

Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Colby and Suzanne's house in Arizona. It was about time that we visited, since I have never been to the big AZ and Colby has lived there for 5 years! I was glad to be down there with the fam, but it was weird to only have the 8 of us for Thanksgiving dinner! Colby got free pumpkins from the Veggie stand, so he and Andy carved decorative pumpkins for the table centerpieces! Looks like Halloween doesn't it?
This is us gettin dinner ready to go!

And this is Ethan's first taste of Turkey! He LOVED it!

Ethan after having a taste of some Pumpkin Pie! Don't worry, he didn't waste a drop of that whipped cream, he licked every bit off it off his lips!

Ethan's New Tricks

As Ethan gets older, his little personality is certainly showing more and more. He thinks all the naughty things are funny! For instance . . . he loves to throw things out the dog door, like all his toys, my water bottles, etc. Anything he can get his little hands on. He also likes to unroll the toilet paper. He thinks this is pretty neat. He also will take the vents out of the floor and stick things in the ducts. I have to watch him like a hawk.

Picture Time

It's holiday picture time! I love taking pictures, and so I take for friends and family! I took these pictures today of my Aunt Janet's family! They turned out pretty good I think!!!

Decking the Halls

I know that poor Thanksgiving is not even here yet, but I don't really decorate for Thanksgiving anyway! So . . . with that said, I've been decking the halls! I just love Christmas. It is by far my most favorite time of the year. I love the lights, the decorations, the parties, the family, the traditions, the celebrations, the friends, the food, and the spirit! It's such a great time of the year, and I really wish we could just leave up the tree all year long.

This year is Ethan's first Christmas! My mom made him a stocking to match, and we are so excited for him to experience Christmas this year. I'm sure that he'll love to rip open all of his presents!

Andy has been doing some decking of the halls himself . . . for the past few months. He and his friend Andy have been working on a light program. The program allows you to choreograph your lights to your own music. So, he has spent hours preparing songs for our lights, and he's even got most of the lights up. He has to put up the finishing touches this weekend, and then we'll be good to go. The cool part about the lights this year is that he got an FM transmitter, which means that you'll be able to tune your car radio into the music that goes to our lights! Pretty genius huh? There will be a video to come later!

This leads me to my biggest pet peeve of all time! (Is that how you spell that?) Oh well! Anyway, I hate it when Christmas lights on houses are crooked! Call me crazy, tell me I have OCD's, I know, but it really drives me nuts. So, Andy is always careful to make sure that each light on the roof of the house is hooked in with a clip to ensure that they are all perfectly straight! Thanks babe for helping to keep my sanity! Love you!

9 Month Appointment!

Those who have recently called my little Ethan chubby should be eating their words right about now! I took him to the doc today and he weighed in at 19 lbs. 6 oz! This is only in the 22%. He's 42% for height at 28.5 inches! This basically means that he's fairly average for height, but under the average weight! We were happy to hear that our little guy is doing so well! Ethan had his flu shot also. He wasn't too happy about that, but got over it quickly. They offered me a flu shot as well, so I got one too. I felt just fine until about 30 minutes ago . . . now I'm feeling dizzy! I hope I don't get the flu!!!

First Words, and boy Genius!

I was really disappointed to know that Ethan's first word was dog! He LOVES Norma, but she really can't stand him. He chases her around the house, and she gets up and moves every time he gets close, until she's too tired, then she just growls at him a little bit. Anyway, I wasn't sure if he was really saying dog, or something just like it, but this morning I got him out of bed and Norma walked into the room and he pointed at her and said dog! Now, as a mom, I was hoping his first word would be Mom, but I was pretty certain it would be Dad. What a disappointment to know that it was neither mom or dad, but dog! Oh well.

I guess I shouldn't brag, and who knows, maybe I don't even have rights to brag, but I think Ethan is pretty darn smart! For instance, he loves the night light. He pulls and pulls on it until it comes out of the wall, and when it finally does, he is diligent in trying to plug it back in, like he knows it won't light up until it's back in the wall. Today he was playing with an empty bottle of juice, and the cap came off, and once again, he was intenly trying to put the cap back on. His little hands don't work quite yet, but he sure knows where things are suppose to go, and what they are suppose to do! Anyway, I think these things make him quite smart, but who knows, maybe I'm just crazy, and all kids do these things!

But I Want it Mom!!!

Ethan is a smart little guy. Boy do they learn and pick up on things fast. He wines when he doesn't get what he wants! Talk about a spoiled kid. I blame this thoroughly on the grandparents, and take no blame whatsoever. :)

You've seen many a picture of Ethan staring blankly into the camera. He is fascinated by it. Now that he can crawl, we have a dilemna with pictures, he won't sit still, he has to go get the camera. Here is the evidence . . .

Tub Time!

The tub is tricky these days! Don't get me wrong, Ethan has always loved to take baths, but now he's learned how to let the water out, and keeping him from doing this is almost impossible. He thinks it's really neat!

Tagged by Tiff

8 Favorite TV shows:
1. Friends
2. Clean House
3. John & Kate +8
4. CSI
5. Decorating Cents
6. The Ellen Show
7. Design on a Dime
8. Little People, Big World

8 Things I did Yesterday:
1. Voted
2. Taught 210 twelve year olds how to calculate the density of an object
3. Was proud of myself for checking the tire pressure in all my tires, and filling up the ones that were low.
4. Put Ethan down for a nap, and waited 3 LONG hours for him to wake up to keep me entertained. My husband is gone hunting, and Ethan was super tired obviously!
5. Make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with splenda instead of sugar.
6. Watched Ethan chase Norma all over the house! She doesn't like him, so as soon as he crawls over to her, she jumps up and takes off! It is hilareous.
7. Watched Election Coverage
8. Took down the Halloween Decorations

8 Things I look forward to
1. Getting finished with my Master's degree - only 1 more term.
2. Christmas!
3. Pumpkin Pie
4. Ethan's first steps.
5. Ethan's first words!
6. Having a little girl . . . not anytime in the near future, but hopefully one day.
7. Having some time to get back to scrapbooking!
8. Andy coming home from his hunting trip!

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Cafe Rio
2. The Blue Bayou in Disneyland - if you haven't been, you must go, it's fantastic food!
3. Madeline's
4. Joe's Crab Shack
5. The Roof
6. Chili's
7. Olive Garden
8. Pizza Factory

8 Things on my Wishlist:
1. Go back to Europe, and make out with Andy on the Eiffel Tower! :) Sorry to those of you who hate PDA, but if I'm on the Eiffel Tower, you'll just have to deal with it!
2. Get our basement finished
3. have a maid to do all my laundry
4. never have to empty a garbage again!
5. Go shopping with someone else's credit card :)
6. A class of 7th graders that are perfectly behaved!
7. A 64 Mustang
8. To have a school day from 9 until 2! :)

8 People to Tag:
Maylin B.
Candace G.
Heather C.
Beth
Suzanne T.
Lisa P.
Lindsey H.
Diane D.

Happy Birthday ANDY!

Andy's big 30th birthday was yesterday! I made him a pirate cake, and a treasure map to find his presents! Of course, since we can never wait, he opened his presents a few days early! Oh well. We gave him epoxy coating for the garage floor! Hopefully it will turn out nice.

We got a baby sitter and went out on a date! We get pretty excited about having some time to ourselves! We went out to lunch, and to a movie . . . Ghosttown. It was pretty funny! We had a great time!