Busy weekend!

We seem to have crammed a lot into this weekend. We started off planning to go to the Johnson County Fair parade, but went to the zoo with friends instead. We had a good time and it was a perfect day for the zoo. We're having some pretty low temps for July and it almost feels like fall.

Belle got to see the dolphin show this time and I think she really enjoyed it. She even got to ride a pony. Mr. Ethan was perfect as always. He's such a good sport.





Belle was adopted by a new family while we were there. You could not pry her away from her friend "mermaid".



That night it was cool enough to start a fire and make smores. Belle had never had a smore and loooved it. However it presented quite the problem when it came to bedtime. She didn't go to sleep til after 10.



Today we headed to the fair. Belle wasn't quite sure of the animals after a goat "maaaa'ed" right beside her. She got to ride the carousel, drink a lemon shake up, get her face painted, and play a game where she won a ball.





Nic had a willing participant in getting free goodies out of the vendors in the exhibit hall.



Ethan loved looking at the animals, but he got pretty cranky after riding in the stroller for awhile.

Side By Side Comparison

I've noticed that Ethan is looking a little bit more like Belle. I always thought that he had a look all his own. But there was a picture in the last post that really reminded me of Belle, so I tried to find a picture of Belle at about the same age. I think Belle is a little older in this picture, but you can see the similarities. Atleast I can.

More handmade goodness

You may remember this post and the goodies my friend Ariel made me. Well a couple weeks ago I got a quilt she made for Ethan. It's gorgeous, and certainly something he'll have forever.

For now it's hanging on the back of the rocker in Ethan's room, but I seem to find it missing quite often. I think Belle wants it for herself. She'll lay it on the floor and say she's having a picnic or she'll lay under it and try to get her brother to come find her.

I've really enjoyed Ariel's blog and it makes me want to start quilting too. Maybe one of these days. If I only had more time to do my many hobbies already. Shoot, I just wish the kids would allow me to do my hair in the morning.

Check it out, Ariel even put his name in the quilting.


Ethan has started making this face again. He'll scrunch up his face and breath in an out of his nose. Silly boy!

Our Fourth of July weekend without fireworks

I've been so excited for the Fourth of July to come. I was looking forward to going to the Masonic home, setting up a spot and then hitting all the food vendors before sitting down to watch the fireworks. Last year Belle FLIPPED out and we had to leave. I believe it was because we were too close to where they set the fireworks off. I thought she'd be better this year since she's gotten over most of her sensitivity to sound. Well we'll never know.

We ended up heading to Ohio earlier than planned and went to a family reunion on Saturday in Cincinnati. Belle was up all day swimming and never got a nap and by the time we got home, she was losing her mind she was so tired. So no trip to fireworks, not even able to set off some in the yard.

I was really impressed with how Belle handled herself in the water. Last year she was really scared, but this year she had her shark. She loves going swimming with that thing.

Aunt Gail, AJ and Belle getting ready to hit the pool


Belle seemed to attach herself to Nic's cousin Emily for quite awhile in the pool. Notice Nic in the background playing full contact pool basketball. He is quite literally black and blue from all that fun.


Nic took Belle up the slide and she was none too happy about it. In the end though she kept saying it was "so fun", but never did want to go down again.


The kids and I finished up the weekend in Troy where we met my friend Megan from high school. It had been 5 years since I saw her last. Her daughter was about Ethan's age I think.


We met at the park and the kids got to play together. Afterwards we left the kids with their grandmas and went to K's for lunch so we could actually carry on a conversation. =)

Seth(14mos), Elise (5.5yrs), Belle (3 yrs), and JJ (7yrs)


The birth buddies even got to see each other. Seth and Brody were born on the same day.


Does this look familiar? Ethan is just returning the favor.




And look what Ethan has started doing this weekend. It started when I found him clinging to the side of the crib standing up screaming. He had a death grip on the bars and didn't know how to get down.


Whew!! That was a long one.

Oh and look at what happened to Nic when they set off fireworks at his parents. He said it flew at him and hit him the stomach about as hard a paintball gun. I guess he taught my niece and nephew a few new words. =)

A Man on the Move

Ive meant to get Ethan on video for a long time. He's been creeping for awhile now. No actual crawling though. He's all over the place, but of course as soon as the video camera comes out, he stays in one place. But you can always lure him with food.

He loves eating, which is such a relief since Belle is so horrible to feed. He loves drinking out of his sippy cup and picking up food to feed himself. He had a grilled cheese for lunch the other day and he loooooved it.





You can find Ethan in all kinds of places these days.






Ethan had a lot of fun getting into Belle's stuff while she was away at the grandparents.



He always insists on crawling through this toy.



This is what he does when he's supposed to be sleeping, he'll practice pulling up in the crib.



Remember those little fish Belle got from church? Yea, we're the biggest suckers of all. They now live in this aquarium that sits on Belle's dresser.

Silly Girl

Belle's favorite new pastime is to have me take her picture with my laptop. Silly girl.

Dedication

We dedicated both kids at church on Fathers Day. Belle was the oldest one up there. When she was born we had just moved and didn't have a church. So when it came time to dedicate Ethan, we thought it was important that we did them both.

I had worried that Belle would say something embarrassing while we were up there. She's not shy and well you just never know whats going to come out of there mouth. Like Saturday she was telling my parents that "I have spanking. Not listening. Mommy said so." Translated means " Mommy says I get spankings when I don't listen." It was hilarious, you had to be there.



Ok, I got way off topic. Belle was actually pretty good, just antsy, like usual. Ethan was good if you don't count his constant jabber while everyone else was getting prayed over. I was afraid he'd grab the mike right off Pastor Scott's face. Instead Ethan went after his nose while he prayed over him. Wait, uh, I mean I didn't see that. I kept my eyes closed the whole time. =) I did wonder if people were out in the audience thinking we were weird when the pastor asked "what name do you give this child?" and I said "Ethan Amadeus". That middle name is pretty different, but I love it.



Belle went right to the pastor too, no hesitation. Which is not unlike her either. And she didn't say one word when while the pastor was praying either. She was right by his mike so if she had, all would have heard.

Silly Safari

The church had a Dock Party to wrap up the week of the Crocodile Dock VBS. They had a cookout as well as games for the kids to play. They also had a show called Silly Safari. It was a goofy guy showing the kids all kinds of animals. It was pretty entertaining. He had a baby fox, a baby alligator, a bunny, snake, bullfrog, and a crow that swooped over everyone's heads. Belle was very much into it at the beginning, calling out the names of the animals. About halfway through though she joined me and Ethan in the back and rolled around on the floor.

Touching a snake


Bouncing some of her energy out.


And I had a moment of impaired judgement.

VBS fun and a funny Belle quote

Belle just ended a week of Vacation Bible School. I think she had a lot of fun. She walked in on Monday and thought it was a birthday party, maybe with all the decorations. She had one incident where she had to use her back up pants, but was good in that regard the rest of the week.

As you can see, getting a picture today was not going that well. Her tshirt was so huge that I rigged it with a safety pin and a bow. Just in case you were wondering why she had a bow on her shoulder.

As soon as we came home from VBS, Belle made her way to the bathroom. You know what she's doing when she turns on the fan and shuts the door. Well I was making Ethan a bottle when Belle ran out of the hallway with her pants around her ankles. She was saying "Mommy, Mommy, color poopy!! I have special poopy!!" Crazy girl.




In other news, Ethan is mobile. He's semi crawling. Its more of dragging that he's doing. He'll use his arms to pull himself forward, but not really an army crawl either. He's starting to try to pull up as well.

I keep telling myself that I need to get him on video so I'll try to get a video up in the near future.

Honey Do List - Part Two

Here is some more of Nic's handy work. The porch is finished and we just installed a fan and porch swing. I love my new porch swing. My in-laws were so kind to get it for us. Like Nic said "it feels like home now".

You'll notice a few of Belle's birthday presents. She got a new play house from Mamaw and Papaw and she got an outside table and chair set from Mimi and Poppy.

Honey Do List

Poor Nic has been bombarded with a long Honey-Do list.

Build a porch - check
Install fan and swing on porch - check (pictures to come)
Build kids a swingset - check

The kids have been enjoying their new swingset. Nic decided to freestyle and just build one from a picture. We saved quite a bit of money doing it that way. I'm glad I have a handy husband.

The festivities

Its become a tradition to go to the Strawberry Festival parade for Belle's birthday. Its a good parade considering we'd have to go downtown for a decent one around here. The fair parade here in town is just a bunch of tractors in a row.

She just couldn't contain her excitement.



She even got the pageant wave down.



Ethan loved the music. He was such a good boy the whole time.



Then the parade was over and the kids rode home with their candy and loot.


My Grandma sent this cute apron for Belle's birthday. We used it last Friday when we made some funky technicolor cupcakes.

Birthday Girl

Can you believe Belle is 3? Its hard to wrap my head around. There just isn't anything baby about her anymore. She's turning into a little lady.

Birth (what a crappy picture of me, but it was already in my photobucket)


1 year old


2 years old


3 years old