Pure Joy!

This picture of Ethan just cracks me up EVERY time I look at it.

I took it when we were sitting outside on a warmer day. I had given him Belle's sucker when she decided that she'd rather ride her bike. He was just beside himself that he got to hold the sucker himself.

Mommy MacGyver

I just have to write this down now that I can laugh at it. We headed to Imagination Station today to pick up a toy they were holding for me. We all decided to go and then head to Wendy's for dinner since Belle was begging for it.

I should've known the pee pee dance when we walked in. I debated on just grabbing the toy and leaving and then taking her to the bathroom at Wendy's. I mean she's been potty trained for almost a year now, I over estimated her bladder control. Well I finally decided that I'd ask if they had a bathroom in the store. No sooner did I turn around to take did I find her peeing on the floor. Awesome!!

I ran off with Belle while Nic went to break the news to the owners. The owner was super cool. Belle and I found ourselves in the bathroom where she wanted her wet clothes off ASAP. So we had to somehow get out of that bathroom with both of us reasonably dressed. Thank God I had layered tonight. I had a tank top with a hoodie sweater and then a puffy vest on top. I was able to just take the hoodie and make Belle a skirt. I did look kind of ridiculous in my tank top and puffy vest though. We walked out and the owner saw Belle's get up. She told me to get a pull up out of the changing table and let her play. Ha ha.

As I was paying she just happened to notice my outfit and we both had a good laugh about the "mom moment" and being "MacGyver". Nic on the other hand was ready to buy the store cause he felt bad for Belle peeing on their carpet. They were very nice about the whole thing and I have to figure that it's probably happened before.

Birthday bash!

We celebrated Ethan's birthday yesterday at the park. I was worried it would be too cold, but it warmed up nicely. I didn't however take into account the bees. We had a good time and it's hard to believe my baby is no longer a baby.

Trying to get him to wear his cowboy hat with the number 1.


The boys are starting to get to the point where the size difference isn't quite as noticable. I'm afraid if Ethan could walk it would be ON. Here they are fighting over a toy.


Brody and Olivia had fun playing cornhole


Still not walking, although I bet he could if really wanted to.


Time for cake.


He had no problems with the cake, he knew right what to do. He loved eating it. Belle I remember wanted none of it.


Of course now Belle loves cake and made sure Ethan had some help.


We tried getting a group picture of the kids, but you know how that goes.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!!

It's hard to believe my youngest and my last is a year old. I'm sad, if only for a second, that there won't be another baby in our house. But its exciting to enter a new phase in our family.

A year ago today I was in labor and progressing right along. Read about it here.

Ballerina Belle

Monday was watch day at Belle's ballet class. It was the first glimpse as to what was going on behind those doors. Belle was adorable and did really well. She listened really well and it was fun to see her try to do the moves. Their recital song is from The Little Mermaid. I'll be excited to see what that looks like at the end of the year.

Yummy Apples and Pumpkin Pickin

We decided to head over to Appleworks for the first time. They were having a Highlander festival so it would've been right up my dads alley. We were greeted with loud muzzleloader fires when we pulled up. The kids got to look at the animals, slide down the huge slide, ride a pony, climb on the hay bales and ride a train. Ok so Belle did most of that, but Ethan watched from the stroller.

I didn't really have a plan when we came, but we had fun wandering around and then decided to go get a pumpkin for our front door. We had fun picking out our Charlie Brown pumpkins. Seemed like everyone else was in search for the perfect orange pumpkin when all we wanted were some funky looking ones.

After we loaded down the stroller with pumpkins Nic headed in to taste apples. He came out with a bag full of Honey Crisp apples and dang those were good. You know they are good when Belle asks to eat more. We forced her to take a bite before we gave her the candy necklace and then she asked for Nic's apple. I was impressed seeing how the girl NEVER eats fruit. She was in the store yelling "I want junk food" while Nic was looking around. Yep thats my girl.

We all headed home and had apples with dinner. Yummy!

Climbing the hay bales


All I wanted was a nice picture of the two kids. Did I get it? Nope.











On our way to get pumpkins



Nic was multi tasking pretty well.

Updates

Would've been a better picture if Belle's hair wasn't in her face, but I'll take what I can get.

In Preschool news, Belle has finished up her second week of school. Its fun to hear her recount what happened that day. They have focused on the letter A and the number 1. The theme this week was apples. They painted with apples and did a lot of activities that revolved around apples. Its fun to hear her talk about what they had for snack or what the bible story was about. Belle's papers are coming home kinda sloppy. For the most part I don't care, but today I made her redo a paper. It was an apple tree and they were supposed to trace the circle apples in the tree. Belle just scribbled over the whole thing. So I made her redo the paper when she got home. I realize it's just preschool, but probably best to have her know now that she has to follow directions.

I pulled up today and the director said "Oh that Belle, she's such an artist". Rhonda is just so chipper and I knew she was trying to put a positive spin on things. I guess Belle and a friend (Lexi) thought it would be fun to draw on themselves with the dry erase markers. I asked Belle if she had to sit in the "re-think" chair and she said she did. Oh my little troublemaker. She's always been a "spirited" one. =)

Ethan has just been growing up so fast. He's started saying words recently. It started one night when he said "ni ni" as we were taking him up to bed. That was probably his first word outside of DaDa. Now anytime you give him a ball you'll hear him say "ba". A few other words he's added is Mama (finally), jesse and sissy. He going to be walking soon. He's actually taken a step on his own, but it's kinda stopped there. It's hard to believe he'll be a year old in just a few short weeks.

Belle's very FIRST First Day of School

Well my baby is growing up, she had her first day of preschool yesterday. Her teacher's name is Miss Trish and she is in the Red class. Belle was super excited to go. She's excited to go anywhere. School wasn't new to her, thats what we called it when she went to Parents Day Out. But this was really school.

She started off the morning with M&M pancakes (my special treat for the teachers, a sugar high). She wore her backpack around til it was time to go get in the car line. I thought for sure we'd be the first in line, but we were like 6 or 7 cars back. Apparently there were other kids bugging their moms to get going. At school I just have to pull up to the door and the teachers come and pull the kids out of the car. At first I wasn't too keen on this idea, but I know I'll be thankful in the dead of winter. We hung out in the car listening to "Belle's songs" which is her Veggie Tales cd. She went to Deidra, the teachers assistant just fine. She even told the lady that "thats my Ephan, he stays here". Me on the other hand was balling my eyes out. I really didn't expect to cry. I mean I've taken her and dropped her off at PDO and never once cried. I sucked it back in long enough to get her out of the van, but cried again as I pulled out of the parking lot.

Ethan and I came home and got ready for his play date with Hadley (a couple months older than Ethan). Hadley's mom Krissy is in my MOPS care group and since we both live in Franklin, I thought it would be nice to get together. Ethan is kind of a rough and tumble kind of kid. Seems like he was always pulling up on Hadley, pulling her hair or kissing her (he could very well been trying to bite her, but I like the idea of kissing better). Guess he needs to work on being gentle.

While the babies were playing I got a phone call. Imagine how my heart jumped when I heard "Hi this is Rhonda from the preschool". Im thinking "Oh great, she's peed her pants already or has been put in the 'rethink' chair". But no she just wanted to tell me that Belle is doing fine and that she's making friend and making macaroni necklaces and planting seeds.

We picked Belle up 2.5 hrs later. Miss Trish brought Belle out and said that she did great and that she was really excited to do everything. She came home in her original clothes so whew no accidents. I asked her what they did and the first thing she told me was that they had a snack of "wishies" and juice. They played with beach balls in the gym and something about a froggy necklace. She came home with some worksheets where they practiced tracing lines and writing their names.

I'm excited to see her school pictures when those come, see her report card and go to Muffins with Moms later in the year.

Cheerio Monster

Ethan loves his cheerios. Its the one thing I can give him and he not make too much of a mess. Well he does in fact make a terrible mess, but nothing that can't be swept up. My vacuum is mostly full of cheerios. I know I can plop Ethan in the middle of the floor with his snack trap and have a good 5-10 minutes of him sitting quietly in one spot. If I have to vacuum the floor afterwards, so be it.

And he speaks!!

Ok we've got our first word out of Ethan. I don't know, seems kinda early. I'll have to go look in Belle's baby book and see when she said her first word.

Anyways, are you wondering what it was? "Night, Night". Sounds more like "nie nie". Sure enough the last couple nights Ethan has waved and said "nie nie" on his way to bed. After this occurring more than once and with multiple witnesses, I'm putting it in the baby book as his first word.

Ah, my baby is growing up.

A boy's favorite spot

Yesterday I looked up from my computer to find this. (And Nic I was working, not just on facebook)


At first I kinda panicked. I mean the boy doesn't lay still ever unless he's sleeping. When I got up I found this. Just chillin while he watched Clifford.



Well I thought that maybe it was an isolated incident. Nope, here he is again this morning while him and Belle were watching Wonder Pets.



Of all places. Couldn't he of picked a different and more clean spot to have as his favorite lounge spot.

Picture Perfect Picnic

You may remember this post from last year. My friend Kelly does such a great job with this party she throws for her girls and friends/family. This year's theme was a picnic and Kelly did not disappoint.

Belle had such a great time. She got to play with Jacey this year and I think they had a lot of fun together. Jacey and Belle are about the same age, while a lot of the other girls were older.

Here are the girls last year before Jacey got sick and had to leave. The girls are on opposite sides of the table.


Look how big they have gotten.



Look at these cute decorations.



The girls ate hamburgers and hot dogs on picnic blankets.


Then they played games and went on a scavenger hunt and found a treasure chest.



We ended the night with the girls in their pjs singing karaoke.


Belle is just like her mom, always has to have the sweets.