Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was so much fun! Ethan was a ball, and loved everything he got! He asked Santa for a train, and the popup tent has been a big hit! He also loves his tool bench, and has been hammering away at it non stop!

Grandma and Grandpa A gave Ethan a buzz light year! He LOVES buzz! Grandma and Grandpa T gave Ethan a really neat video game to play! He jumps on his mat while we play the Wii, and then he thinks he's playing right along! Grandma T pulled out her old costumes while we were there for Christmas and Ethan found the Super man cape! He wouldn't take it off, and had a great time flying around the basement!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we went to the annual Bateman family Christmas party! We always have a fabulous dinner, then have the kids act out the Christmas nativity, and then open Christmas presents from Grandma & Grandpa and the drawing. This is Cayman, "playing" with the toy that Ethan got, and below, Ethan playing with the toy that Cayman got. He wouldn't put it down!



Andy and his brothers would always make a fort to sleep in during the Christmas break. This is our version of the Christmas eve tent! We had a great time1

Yikes!

my pictures won't load today for some reason! Cute Christmas pics and details on the way as soon as this little bug is fixed!

Santa Pictures!

Santa paid a visit to the International Association of Machinist Christmas Party! Ethan LOVED santa and didn't want to leave his side to let other people get pictures. You can't tell by his facial expressions though. It is like pulling teeth to get this child to smile in a picture! I think he must get this from his dad!

Ethan & Julia

Colby, Suzanne, and Julia were in town this last week for their Christmas visit. Ethan & Julia had a great time playing with each other. I think that they older they get, the more they'll enjoy each other! We had a fun time going shopping, visiting Santa Claus, riding the train, enjoying Christmas dinner, and presents, etc.

Ethan, Elmo, & Shrek

So, first, notice the stinkin' cute pajamas! Andy bought them, and we call them his incredible jammies, since they look a little superhero-ish! For quite some time, he REFUSED to wear them. Then one night when he was just about asleep, because we got home late, I put the jammies on him without him knowing, and when he woke up in the morning, he decided he LOVED them, and REFUSED to take them off!

I finally got the jammies off, but them he REFUSED to put his pants on! Needless to say, my boy is picky when it comes to his clothes! Excuse the unmade bed, but this is what he did as I got ready for the day. He gave elmo some "gasses" and some "shoes"! He was quite proud of himself, adn happy to sit in with Elmo for a picture!Shrek is also another of his "buddies"! He likes to play pretend with Shrek and Elmo, and cuddle them, and feed them! So, he insisted this day that Shrek was hungry and needed a ba-ba! Super adorable huh?

Ethan & Honey

Ethan loves his Grandpa! He lovingly refers to him as "honey"!

My Birthday

This year, Colby and Suzanne were in town for Christmas on my birthday, so we had a great Christmas dinner, a fantastic birthday cake, birthday presents, AND Christmas presents! It was a fun day!

Bye Bye!

The new phrase of the month from Ethan . . .

bye bye, see you in a minute! Oh my goodness it is adorable!! He says it to EVERYTHING! Now that I'm a mom, I realize that the bathroom is no longer a private place. Ethan has to be in there with me, and he makes sure that he waves at the toilet as it flushes and says bye bye pee pee, see you in a minute!

Beaded Bliss Design

Lately I've been trying my hand at making jewelry, and have really come to quite enjoy it! Several people have asked me to make them items, so I've started a jewelry blog. Beaded Bliss Design by Leslie!
www.beadedblissbyleslie.blogspot.com

I have watch bands, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, lanyards, bookmarks, baby bracelets, and more to come!

Eventually, I'm going to shoot for online payment/shipping options, but for now, if you see something you'd like, email me at lesallen916@gmail.com and we'll work something out! Here is a little preview . . .

Ward Halloween Party

I had to borrow these pics from Candace! Thanks!

Andy's Birthday

Happy Birthday babe! We LOVE you!

Notice sneaky McGee over there inching toward the cake! He kept saying yummy cake over and over again. I had to keep telling him that it was daddy's cake and we had to wait for him to come home to eat it. It's amazing that the cake actually lasted until dad came home!

Happy Halloween

Delicious and Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

12 cups water

1 chicken boullion cube

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 packets of country gravy mix

5 carrots sliced

1 onion cubed

1/2 lb. chicken cubed and cooked

1/2 package of Country Past homemade style egg pasta noodles

Add all together, mix, and simmer for an hour!

Pumpkin Patch

Here is our little guy in his halloween costume! Andy picked it out for him this year! :)

Ethan loved driving the tractor at the pumpkin patch! In fact, he had to drive EVERY single tractor that there was!

Mr. GQ

Too Funny!

This weekend, Andy started decorating the house for Halloween. I should have taken some pictures of the decor, so I'll do that this week. Anyway, Ethan was outside with us, and found a nice chair in our hedge!
This cracks me up . . . he often puts on my shoes and walks around the house. He doesn't wear Andy's, just mine! Anyway, here is a nice shot with my high heels, and some LL Cool J pants! What a twit!

St. George Trip

We spent UEA break down in St. George, and had a great time just relaxing. Really we didn't do much but take Ethan swimming and shopping! I bought me a great black and white polka dot jacket. One of these days I'll have to take a picture of it, because it has Leslie written all over it! We also drove out to Mesquite to swim and go to the seafood buffet. Believe it or not, the St. George pool was nice and warm and the Mesquite pool was freezing! So cold even, that we only put our feet in even though we were decked out in our swimsuits! We didn't take hardly any pictures of this extravaganza, but here are a few at the St. G

eorge mall on the toys, and another of why you shouldn't let children eat licorice!

Too Cute!

Ethan doesn't like to wear pants, so often just sports a shirt and the diaper! This particular day he also had to sport the sunglasses, but he would ONLY wear them like this, not over his eyes! He got mad when we took them off of him, and made us put them back on!

The other part of the story is riding "the horse"! Whenever he sees Norma laying like this, he runs over, calls her a horsey, and starts making horse noises! Luckily Norma doesn't care too much!

This picture isn't great quality, because I took it on my phone on a bright sunny day, but it still captures my little man's attitude about any type of ball! Football's are his favorite, but he loves to throw and "play catch" anytime he sees a ball of any sort!

When We're Helping We're Happy!

Funny story . . . My mother-in-law calls my father-in-law "honey", so Ethan thinks that Grandpa and honey are the same! So, he often refers to my dad as "honey"! Too cute!

Anyway onto the real blog, Grandma and Grandpa T tended Ethan a few weeks ago. When we got to the house to drop him off, Grandpa was out working in the yard, and Ethan of course wanted to help! He's such a good boy!