Long Drive to UT

I am happy to report that Ethan and AJ were angels in the car on the way to UT. Brian put Ethan in a diaper in the morning, but with the instructions to "Stay clean & stay dry" "Yeah" said Ethan...and he DID! (all 14 hours in the car) Poor guy wouldn't venture beyond going #1 in public restrooms, but that day will come...soon, I hope. He also got his first taste of 'going in the wild'. I hope he doesn't think this is acceptable behavior that 'the world could be his toilet' but merely for emergencies only. I think only a mom would be worried about that.

Sent from Heaven

I heard Ethan say, "Yay!" and when I peaked in he had given the mop handle to AJ. "Yay, she's helping!" he said.

Ethan loves to watch AJ, and is a strong supporter of her tummy time

I love our kids!

First Girls Night Out

The following story is true....just let your imagination go wild!
Friday afternoon Ethan and Brian went camping! I was so tempted to do 'catch-up' work around the house, but I decided if I didn't start a new tradition now...it'll be harder to start it later. So...I waved to Ethan and Brian until I couldn't see them anymore and then I raced back inside the house, scooped up AJ and our fun night began!
First we went shopping! I had the freedom to look, look and look at everything around me. (It's hard to do that with a little boy who has 'grabby' hands) AJ didn't mind...she just merely mentioned when she was getting a little bit hungry. So we bought what we needed and went to spend a fun-spa-night-at-home...after our dinner & dessert, of course.
AJ lounged in a hot bath, while I massaged her head, hands, feet, tummy, and back. She got a manicure AND a pedicure! After so much pampering AJ asked to sleep in my bed, to which I complied... This was definitely a sleep-over as we both got up for a 'midnight' snack (TWICE!), and then slept in until our tummies grumbled for breakfast.

Seriously, it was much more fun than any 'chores' I had to do!

bathing beautie

First Fathers & Sons campout!

I just sent off my 2 year old and husband to their first (of many, I hope) Fathers & Sons camping trip. Oh, how I would love to be invisible and watch them both!

We were prepping Ethan last night and this morning that he would be 'sleeping outside', going 'bye-bye' with Dad, 'Mom's staying home with AJ', etc. When Brian walked through the door all Ethan had to say to me was, "BYE!" while waving his hand. I barely got a kiss from him as he was running out the door.

I told Brian to take at least 1 picture (sometimes cameras are easily forgotten with all the fun!) preferably with both of them in it. Tonight it's just me and AJ ...another start of fun traditions as moms and daughters...too bad she just fell asleep on the floor.

Memorial Weekend=Beach

This was only a pose after I caught him trying to ride the skim board

He's dragging this out to the ocean!

Friends: Riley, Tate & Ethan

We ventured out to the beach the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Good for relaxing. Bad for potty training. My heart was pumping as I raced with him in tow to the nearest bathroom that was so far away! He hated it, and refused to go (no# 2). I myself was practically sick from the stench. He's not a big fan of visiting any public restroom (don't blame him, but sometimes you don't have a choice) so I think we'll adopt the chant we've heard our friends say with their little girl, "It's not scary, it's not scary" the next time we need one. Because I know the day's gonna come.

Potty Training Journal

Week one, day one: What was I thinking!!! (I didn't even tell Brian my decision. He was thrown into it, just like Ethan, poor guy.)
Week one, day five: He needs more underwear. I need a place to scream.
Week two, day three: Things are SO much better~just accidents here and there, with success inbetween.
Week three, day two: Traveling to UT by car! Fingers, crossed.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

This was a day I was super excited about! Ethan had sung happy birthday to his Grandma Hale, and cousin Trisha the past week and today it was our turn to sing it to him! But in preparation for this fun day Brian and I decorated the house with red, blue, yellow & green streamers (crepe paper). We had them hanging from our kitchen ceiling fan, draping the hallway and best of all we made a curtain of streamers on his door frame. We opened his door so that when he awoke the brights colors would catch his eye. He's usually up before us anyway so waking him up by singing to him will have to wait another couple of years! He loved the streamers! I heard him walk through them and I then watched him turn around and look at them, and then look up and down the hallway at the decorations hanging. This was a good way to start out the day. He was instantly in a good mood. When Brian came through the door with balloons....it was complete!

I think we sung "Happy Birthday" to him +7 times so he would really understand that this was his day. He quickly got the gist of opening presents (because his first gift...from AJ...was a Matchbox semi-truck and a thomas the train engine). He was only excited about his new shirt after I pointed out the monster dump truck on the front.

While Ethan was taking his nap I finished the cake. It turned out so great, I could hardly believe it. It feels good to attempt something you've never done and have success at it. I told Brian that I must give credit to my parents for my confidence in trying new things. I just strongly feel that they were always encouraging me to believe in my ability to succeed. (a great big thank you to Mom & Dad!) Somewhere recently I read/heard (I can't remember) that some things you cannot learn simply by reading about it. Somethings you actually have to do...in order to learn how to do it. Like playing the piano, oil painting, etc. I've just added cake decorating to that list. This is called a Frozen Buttercream Transfer. I'm excited to do another cake...

Ethan looked excited about the cake, and I think he really was excited about Super Why. He even called it "Super Why Treat!" But he certainly wasn't excited about tasting the icing. Maybe he too, was just as impressed as I was that it looked so fun!
We had a BBQ scheduled with our friends at a nearby park (Simmons Family) that we were getting ready for (the cake was coming with us) but we had one more birthday present before we left.

I should realize in the future that even though Ethan is tall for his age, and seems to be very advanced in some areas (I thought for sure he'd pick up on this bike in no time) . . . when the box says "Ages 3 - 5"...maybe it's referring to height. His legs are too short to reach the pedals! So now it's our turn to push and run and push and run this little tyke up and down the street so he can enjoy his bike. I didn't think I was signing up for heavy cardio workouts when we purchased it. Well, he'll grow, and we'll have fun until then too!
When we headed to the park and met our friends I was reminded and grateful about how simple we were keeping this birthday celebration. I watched two other families pack up their kid's monstrous birthday parties and thought "My kid will never know what that will be like! (thank goodness)" It's always great to get together with friends and bond. We had a lot of fun just chatting, eating, and soothing tears (Ethan skinned his elbow on the asphalt).

After Ethan blew out his candles, he wanted to blow them out again. ("more," he said)

At the end of the day Brian asked if I had a fun day. I told him I had a blast! He looked at me and said, "Serious?"
"Yeah."
"Good. I don't think you've had that kind of a day in a long time."
"Nope. But today was a blast!"
Guilt......gone.
Even if Ethan didn't eat his cake.