It's Party Time! part 1

Well, we finally celebrated Ethan's birthday with a little party at the park around the corner. I was thrilled that both the rain stayed away and Ethan took a long morning nap--both important components to a good party. Family and a few friends came and Ethan thoroughly enjoyed himself. The highlights:

~Ethan started off strong with the cake but seemed a little confused by the frosting.

~He has a generous heart and shared his cake with Grandma. Ahhh... :)
~Balloons!

~Feeding 3 little boys that seemed to live at the park.
~Grandpa and Titov battling for the card tossing title(Grandpa won by a single card--Eric, what do you call that game again?).

~Some exciting bocce games (I believe there was a Titov team win and Dad/Grandpa win).

~He is really enjoying all his new toys but the red car is above and beyond his favorite! Read this to mean he gets up in the morning and immediately climbs in.

~Mike and I are amazed that a year has gone by and that our precious son is growing so fast. God, give us the wisdom to care for him and love him. Help him grow up to be a man after your heart.

Cake recap:

Here is his tough guy face:

Happy Valentine's Day!

We've had a lovely day thus far. Thanks to Ethan it started a bit early at 6:30. I think he just eager for the blueberry pancakes. After his nap we bundled up (it snowed on Saddleback last night!) and took a walk down to the lake to feed the funny birds (I guess the ducks and geese headed further south). What a beautiful day!

Sam adds an extra level of difficulty in getting a decent family shot.

Ethan was a little frustrated that I wouldn't let him walk right into the lake. :)

Who doesn't love a little hide-and-seek around the stroller with Dad?Watching my boys walking together makes smile. :)

We had a yummy lunch at Cinnamon Productions (the carrot cake is awesome!) where Ethan tried his first pickle. The instant after this shot was taken the offensive pickle was on the floor.

I know this post is already too long, but ,lastly, Ethan got his new carseat! We have a forward facing kid!
Mike and I plan to top this day off by getting Rice and Spice for dinner tonight! Yum.

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

I can't believe that a year has gone by. Everyone says it goes by fast and that is definitely true! I don't mind that those early days were on fast forward because, to be honest, they were exhausting. These days I can't get enough of my son. Can we slow time down now?

My favorite thing is to watch Mike and Ethan play together. They are rough and loud and love to tumble over each other on our bed. Ethan adores his dad and is sad when he leaves for work in the morning. I'm so glad it's Friday because I think we are going to have a fun family weekend even though we don't have any big plans.

Ethan loves to talk. I don't know exactly how many words he is saying but he is quite good at copying what we say. One word in particular seems to be "diss" which is said as he holds up an item or points to something. I take this to mean "what is this?" and I proceed to repeat myself over and over.

After almost two weeks our son is happy and eating again. It's been rough lately and I've hated to see how miserable Ethan is. He woke up with smiles today and actually ate some breakfast, yay! I say all this to help you understand why we haven't done anything for his birthday. Don't worry there is a party in the works for next weekend. The following pictures were actually taken on his birthday and they are of Ethan playing with the Christmas card my grandma (GG) sent to him. You know it's good when it entertains him for a full 20 min! Happy Birthday, E and more celebration to follow!

A good read

I read a blog called Mama Manifesto and there was a particularly great story in yesterday's post. Enjoy a witty, funny story with Have You Seen My Hat? I've never added a link before so hope this works...http://mamamanifesto.blogspot.com/2009/02/have-you-seen-my-hat.html

And just so I don't hear it from my dad about how there is a post that has nothing to do with his grandson, here are some pictures from 2 weeks ago when Kelly and Emma Hartman came over. Emma is only 3 weeks younger but has recently sprouted. We were trying to get a picture of them standing next to each other to compare their height. Ethan thought comparison wasn't healthy and refused to stand up straight. Oh, and don't you love his new smile where he curls is nose and shows his teeth? I think it's hilarious!

Super Bowl #2

I'm sorry I've been so spotty on posting but we've been hit hard with illness the last couple of weeks. Don't worry, we are on the mend and I'm hoping it will stay that way for a little while.

Well, we had invited some friends, bought the food, cleared off the ping pong table and we were ready for a great super bowl party. Unfortunately, the night before the stomach flu started taking down our family members one by one. We had to cancel the party but we still enjoyed the game just the three of us. Ethan was born on super bowl Sunday last year and it was special for me to watch him sitting with his dad.

Here are my boys one year ago watching the game...