holiday recap

So I started writing this long winded boring post... and I thought, nobody will stay interested enough in this thing to finish reading this.  So instead of tons of paragraphs, pictures and bullet points will solve my problem...

::  I took Birthday donuts for Ethan's birthday to his class on the Friday after his birthday... isn't his little class cute?? 

::  We started off the weekend after Ethan's Birthday at his Nana's and Papa's house in Longview...

::  We celebrated Birthdays - Ethan's and Faustino's with cake and presents... Ethan loved his cake - it had Elmo and Big Bird in a car and a truck... he was beyond excited!

 

::  We celebrated an early Christmas with my family... I was a bad mommy... and took no pictures of the festivities... **note - I gave my dad Omaha Steaks... this will make sense later in the bullet point list**

::  We enjoyed seeing our extended family and Ethan had fun playing with his second cousins.

:: We got ready for Christmas... we wrapped, we shopped... Ethan didn't feel so hot one day, and I couldn't resist a sickly Ethan picture.  Pathetically cute.  He perked up that afternoon...

::  Then we had the curse of the "bad things happen in 3's"

::  1.  The day before Christmas Eve, Faustino had to have 2 root canals.  Poor guy.

::  2.  Christmas Eve morning, my dad had a heart attack.  I was very upset.  Heart disease runs in the family.  It is scary.  Scary... but he is doing great now.  Looks like he won't be eating any of those Omaha Steaks.

::  3.  Remember the weekend before... we went to Longview... I took the Omaha Steaks...the steaks that were in the freezer in the garage.... welllllll.... I can laugh about it now, but the door to the freezer didn't shut all the way.  So our garage smelled like rotting meat, and I discovered it Christmas Eve afternoon.  So Faustino and I threw away 6 trash bags full of rotting meat.  The smell still lingers... ewwww...

::  But we managed to play in the snow

::  Ethan isn't really a fan of the snow.  But enjoyed pointing it out.  Snow! Snow! Snow! Pointing out every window...  too cute.

::  And Santa came to visit

::  And Ethan got more trains.  Which he loved.

::  And I got a camera.  After the whole freezer incident, I probably deserved coal.

::  But I am seriously excited about my camera.  I love my camera.  I really, really love my camera.  Now I need to learn how to use it...

::  We had Christmas evening at Grammy's house

::  Ethan learned how to play his new harmonica

::  And we had a very Merry Christmas

 

 

::  Faustino was on call the day after Christmas, so Ethan and I drove to McKinney for Christmas with extended family.  And amazingly, Ethan had only a 30 minute nap, and not a single melt down.  He helped unwrap, entertained us with his harmonica skills... and then he got into mischief... all boy.

 

 

 

:: And since then we have kept a low profile.  Ethan has played with his new toys and I have worked on figuring out where all this new stuff will fit organization...

:: And now, it is New Year's Eve.  Happy 2010. 

:: And thank you, God, for a healthy baby.  I will never forget last new year, at Cook Children's... with our poor, sick little Ethan.

 

::  But so this post doesn't end on the sad, sickly photo's of Ethan's allergic reaction to antibiotics we gave him for an ear infection {don't get me started on the topic...}  Let's end it with a cute Ethan photo...

no, ethan. our tree does not need a hammer taken to it...

Is this a boy thing or what??? A little construction work on our tree while I was putting in my contact lenses this morning... He seriously was going for the baseball and knocking it around.

I'll be back later with "Christmas Round 1" weekend recap...

Turning 2

Baby boy Ethan is not a baby anymore.  He is two.  I have been teary all day, because now he is a little boy... really.  Not a baby at all...

I think back to this

And this

This time last year, he wasn't even walking...that happened on 12.22.08... and now he is jumping... not to mention talking -- stringing 2 - 3 words together for cute little sentences...

But, back to turning two...  I didn't give him a party.  Why do I feel so guilty??  He had a blast tonight with my in-laws and pizza, cake, and ice cream.  But I still feel guilty.  I think it is because we have been invited to so many fun parties for Ethan's (and my friends' children) little friends.   And it is a time for the mother of the birthday child to show domestic goodness.  And really, my target cake (which was good, by the way) does not show any sort of domestic goodness.  I made no banner.  I baked no cake.  I came up with no witty themes... darling invitations, memorable goody bags. 

But I remind myself.  None of it really matters.  Because Ethan had a good time tonight... and this small family party was the right choice for us... and then we will go to Longview this weekend and have a small family celebration there.

And next year, when he can ask for a party, and name off individuals that he would like to invite to the party, we will have a party.  Is anybody else out there holding out on the mass birthday party for toddlers?  I feel like one of 3.  or maybe 4... 

oh well, right?  who cares?  this is the last time I am giving it any "air time"

So this was tonight...

And then we tried to take a family photo... this is ethan being forced to sit down... and standing up...  i am scared to say it but... "hello 2's".... the power of free will!

Happy Birthday, Ethan.  You are such a blessing to us.  We love you so much... I could go on and on... you will always be my little baby boy, even though you are growing up and turning into a little boy more and more each day.

little rudolph

seriously - how stinking cute is this? 
 
he put the dot on his nose and then insisted it stay... i showed him in the mirror how to do "antlers" but he didn't quite master it... he wore his nose all the way to Babe's to celebrated Daddy's birthday.  I think it fell off in the parking lot...

here he is with his cousin Sierra

In other news, we have our tree up at last!  Faustino picked out a nice one for us and Ethan is delighted with it.  Faustino did the lights, I did the ornaments... However, i need a topper... and I need a garland of some sort... and I am really in need of a creative solution for my display of received Christmas cards... last year I fought the double sided tape on the door frames and really don't want to do that again.  If you have a display solution... i would love if you left a little comment with it...remember... i don't have much space...

also... word on the street is that my oven will be fixed tomorrow... 15 days of no oven has got me stumped on dinners... and i know that it really shouldn't, i mean, come on... how often do I really need the oven for dinner... but when you can't have it...

what have I been up to?

Of course I have been busy... but with what??

Well, hmm... we don't have any Christmas decorations up... I haven't sent out cards yet...

I haven't been baking because our oven is broken (wait - would I have baked if it were working??)

We did go to the museum and Ethan made a new friend...

My sweet mother-in-law helped me assemble shelves in the garage to contain the "stuff" i seem to always be bustin' at the seams to contain...

I have cooked dinner, cleaned house, done laundry... organized junk... reorganized junk...

WHERE HAVE THESE DAYS GONE??? Why don't I have massive amounts of "ta-da's" to show for my effort?  Does anyone else feel like this???

Here is the lone picture I took during the week at the museum of my precious son and his new friend:

And then that was the end of this post... except, if you don't hit the 'publish post' button... then it doesn't post...

So... between then and now, still not that much exciting to report except that I lost my voice and then had to substitute at Ethan's school... for 4 year olds!  Yes, that is right, 4 year olds and no voice!  God does have a sense of humor... It was actually very fun... and they were very cute kids.  And everything I saw with the kids' learning confirmed my decision to send E to school here.  I feel so blessed that we have Ethan in such a great place for these early years...

And today was Faustino's birthday... who was post call and slept most of it!  I set up our Tivo to get Amazon on Demand movies for his birthday... and really, I am just crazy for Tivo... what a wonderful invention... so we had a really wild evening -- chinese take out and the new Harry Potter movie...and a toddler running around!  Sound fun?  Isn't that what everyone dreams their birthday to be?? 

On the agenda for Sunday:  Christmas tree and decorations (or a too-a as Ethan refers to them...I swear, he used to say tree much better than that)

Have a wonderful weekend!

music class... this year and last year

Today we could take pictures at our music class because it is the last day of the semester.  So after I loaded them on the computer, I started comparing last year's photos to this year... I am amazed at how much he has changed.  Last year he wasn't even walking until the week of Christmas!  My sweet little baby really isn't a baby anymore...

And now, playing with the same instrument last year...

wow! So tiny!

Last year with our music friends

And this year with music friends... (we are missing AnniePearl... perhaps we should have a retake)