Christmas Eve, part 2

Jon and I had the fun opportunity to host his family (the immediate one. . . not the extended one) Christmas. It was a fun time with all the boys (big and small) and all the food. We had lasagna, garlic knots (thanks Kelley!), and a yummy salad (thanks Carolyn!). Logan made sure we all ate quickly so we could open presents. Ethan was incredibly excited about his Toy Story 3 movie that he wanted to watch it immediately, but he waited until the next day (he was very patient!). After we opened presents, we partook in some yummy treats and watched the boys (once again, big and small) enjoy some spontaneous wheel barrow races. It was so much fun to watch. It started out with all the boys (minus Braden) riding Jon like a horse at the same time. It was a fun night full of laughter and good times!

Lemoore Christmas

Christmas Eve was a busy day for us, but so much fun! I love Christmas time! This year, we celebrated Christmas with Jolie's family with a Christmas Eve Brunch. Of course, as tradition, we drove to Lemoore in dense fog and made some yummy crepes (did I say yumm!). This year it was just Jon, Ethan, and I, my parents, and my brother and his family. We missed Dustin and his family, but understand that there is just so much going on that it just isn't always possible to get everyone together at the same time.

Ethan's big gift was a retro red radio flyer tricycle. Complete with tassles and a bell. Ethan had fun trying to lower the seat himself.

Ethan is still trying to get the hang of it. He loves the bell and sitting on it. Soon, he'll be tall enough to reach the pedals.

My brother, Bob, and his family. . . Jeannie and Ryan.

What could this be?

presents!!!! Ethan wanted to open everyone's gifts this year.

Our elf is growing up (I think we were missing the hat this year).

We were all stuffed and ready for naps by the time our time in Lemoore was over. We had so much fun spending time with family, but we had to head home to get ready for Christmas Eve at our house with Jon's family.

Snowman Sundae Night

Just before Christmas we were able to gather together with Jeff, Kelley, Cooper, Logan, Matt, Lisa, and Everett. We had all been wanting to get together, but were finding it incredibly hard with our busy schedules. I was so glad that we were able to have them all over for a snowman sundae night. We had so much fun!

Ethan loved eating his snowman. . . believe it or not, he devoured it!

Logan was quite proud of his snowman. . . complete with snowing sprinkles!

Cooper was excited to show off his snowman.

Everett munched on his cheerio snack. . .

Like, I said, this was such a fun night for us all. I hoping that we can do this next year and start a tradition.

Gingerbread Making Time

Last week, we spent the week doing Gingerbread Man activities and reading different versions of the story. Ethan LOVED making Gingerbread cookies! We did all the baking and decorating when Jon was home. It was great family time! This will definitely be a family tradition!

Ethan loves to roll out the dough!

Ethan helped decorate this star.

Yummmm!

Jon's creation. . .

fun times!

A Gingerbread Christmas

Our church hosts an annual event for the children of the church and the neighborhood to come and make gingerbread houses. This year was our first year to go (Ethan was old enough). We met our friends' Josh, Steph, and Abi there and we had a blast!

Ethan's finished product.

Mommy and Ethan working hard on the house (gingerbread latte in tow).

Daddy's turn to help. . . so much fun!

Abi started eating her house parts as soon as we sat down. . . I'm not sure about the face Ethan is making, but he started in on the candy not to much later!

I just want to note that this brought in nearly 400 children. . . and used 120 pounds of frosting. . . seriously. . . it's an amazing event!

Our little Family Thanksgiving

Each year, we set aside a time around Thanksgiving, where we spend it as a family (Jon, Ethan, and I) and have our own family turkey dinner. This year, we added to our tradition and made it the night we also decorate the tree (since Ethan is now old enough).

Dinner was great. To find out what he had visit our other blog. We even ate on our good china and place mats. Well, Ethan ate off of his plate and created his own place mat out of his napkin (his idea!). Ethan even got to try sparkling cider for the first time. . . he loved it!

After dinner was cleaned up, we brought out the Christmas Ornaments and lights. Ethan LOVED every minute of it! We almost couldn't keep up with how quick he was going. We did end up rearranging some of the ornaments after he was asleep, because they were all on the same side of the tree! Some even were on the same branch.

This will definitely be a tradition that we keep year after year. I have other things that I wanted to do, but I think we will wait until next year to try them out. . . we just ran out of time!

Our favorite ornament!

Ethan LOVED decorating the tree. . . this is the only area where he put them!

Ethan even let Daddy help!

Ethan likes to make sure that if it goes in the outlet, it gets plugged in.

(Thankfully that's all he tries to put in. . . good thing they are all covered!)

Happy Late Thanksgiving everyone!

Fall fun!

Our leaves are finally beginning to fall! Yay! We are all so excited to see the beautiful yellows, oranges, and reds outside our front window! So, this past weekend Jon decided to mow the lawn right before it started raining (yay for rain!), and Ethan was obsessed with helping him! He found his shoes, and stared out the window for a long time, until I finally gave in (it was cold and he was getting over a cold). Let's just say that he was sooooo very excited to go and help daddy rake up the leaves! He even has his own rake. . . which actually worked, until he decided daddy's broom was bigger. . . and better.

If you look closely at the above picture. . . the rain had begun and ground was getting wet.

our lil' goofball

Things are awfully busy around here. . . but I thought I would share some pictures of Ethan's shenanigans. The yellow glasses on his face are on loan from Mr. Potato Head and the hat he got for his birthday. We have way too much fun around here!

Fall zoo adventure

We love the zoo. My friend Steph and I decided that we needed to make a trip that way with our little ones (who really aren't so little anymore). It never ceases to amaze me how each time is a different adventure with Ethan. This time, we took the wagon (which they spent a whole 30 minutes in!), and walked around splashing in puddles and helping push/pull the wagon. Even this time, they were making animal noises and trying to say their names. It was great! The kids did so awesome that we decided a treat out to lunch was in order. Let me just say, that I have given up feeding Ethan a propper lunch when their are tortilla chips or french fries involved. . . nothing else matters.

Oh, and let me just say we saw the COOLEST blue bird (see bottom row of collage). It was a large bird and so very friendly with the most amazingly beautiful RED eyes. I say friendly, because it just walked right up to the kids to say hi. . . which sort of freaked them both out, but it was amazing. We couldn't find a single sign that said what it was, but it was cool!

We are looking forward to our next zoo adventure!

Our little Tiger

It seems like I have so many Halloween pictures and activities, I just might have to stop soon and move on or else we just may never get to Thanksgiving. . . ha ha ha. But, I thought I would at least show off our little tiger.

This year, Ethan was a cute little tiger with a nice little growl. . . it was too cute! We went to Clovis Hills Harvest Festival with Jeff, Kelley, and boys and then to the Bridge's Pumpkin Patch. So, he got to show off his cuteness 2 nights in a row. We had a blast!

Ethan did some golfing to earn himself some candy.

Our little Tiger and his daddy.

Trunk or Treating with his cousins

Post bounce house shoulder ride on daddy. . . fun stuff!

Right after we put it on. . . he didn't seem to want it on, but I think he decided it wasn't so bad after all!

Halloween activities with Ethan

We've been trying to add some art and other projects into Ethan's weekly routine. I had been wanting to start this during the summer, but unfortunately I was too nauseous to really get anything accomplished. (For those of you wondering, I am still nauseous but am taking drugs to help control it. . .). Ethan is having so much fun doing art projects and cooking that it is so much fun to see the look of joy and accomplishment on his face when he is working and then when he is showing off his creations. It's awesome!

Ethan's finished finger painting his pumpkin and gluing the face on.
"Nose"
We made sugar cookies to distract him from daddy painting the office room, which will be switched to Ethan and the baby's new room. He loved rolling out the dough.
and cutting out the pumpkins. We were icing them, he licked the frosting off of his. Too cute and so much fun!!!!

One last trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Last week, my friend Steph and I worked our schedules to fit in one last trip to our favorite pumpkin patch after Bible Study. It was a quick trip, as we were all hungry and getting tired.

Best Friends!
I think they were trying to kiss here. . .
straw + wheelbarrow = hours of entertainment for the two.
Ethan found every hole in the hay maze to climb through.
Ethan and Abi worked hard carrying baby pumpkins to a nearby picnic table. Such a strong boy!

That's all the pumpkin patch pictures for this year! See you next October Pumpkin King!

Sacramento Trip

We took a whirlwind trip to Sacramento last weekend with my parents. It was an overnight trip with stops at Apple Hill, IKEA, Old Town Sacramento, the train museum, and a train ride. We were hoping to get to the capital, but there just wasn't enough time (and it was incredibly wet!).

Our first stop was Apple Hill. Apple Hill is a series of apple farms just East of Placerville. Some of the farms are small and others are huge! One of the smaller farms we went to was filled with colorful flowers and each person was given a freshly cut and corkscrew sliced apple. They were so delicious! We even got to try a Liberty apple at one of the farms. . . they were delicious! Some of the larger farms had so many people, you could hardly drive down the road to get a parking spot. We were so glad we started early! By the time we left, it was pouring down rain. . . perfect time to go and check into our hotel - the Embassy Suites in Old Town - my favorite! We then headed to Fat City for a delicious dinner . . . it just took a quick walk in the rain. After that, we fit in IKEA. . . making it the quickest trip the large store. . . 30 minutes (we had no choice. . . they were closing). Then, off to bed. . . we were exhausted!

Sunday morning, we slept in - which was great, because Ethan let us. We started getting our breakfast at the Embassy Suites' amazing breakfast feast, when the fire alarm started going off, along with these incredibly powerful fans that sucked out any smoke. . . it was like a hurricane inside the building. . . even more funny when you were heading out into the winds and rain to wait for the firemen. Ethan enjoyed watching the firemen in action, but he still whimpers whenever he sees a firetruck. Once that fiasco/adventure was over, we went to try to save our food and finish our breakfast in peace.

Then we headed out to buy our tickets for the train ride. That was so much fun. . . Ethan loved every minute of it. It was all decorated for halloween. We even had a visit with the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter - Ethan was a tad scared of them, but not scared of the strange man walking by with a "scary" hand. Ethan was willing to give that a high five!

Our next stop was the train museum. Ethan was so excited to see even more trains! He loved every minute of it, although I think his favorite part was when we got upstairs and they had a section of Thomas trains that kids could play with. He spent probably 30 minutes there, before we had to pry him away. He also enjoyed watching all the model trains go around their tracks.

By the time we left, it was well past lunch time, so we stocked up on salt water taffy, bought Ethan a milk, and headed to Elk Grove for lunch at Noodles and Co. I have been craving their whole grain Tuscan Pasta since our road trip last summer. (Side note. . . Fresno totally needs one of them. . . I think they would do exceptionally well!).

Our trip home was amazingly smooth, with the exception of lots of rain. We had wanted to fit in a quick trip to the capitol, but the weather was quite wet and windy, so we opted to head home.

It was a fun and exciting trip!