Merry Christmas!

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Today is Grandpa's 60th!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!
Today is my dad's 60th Birthday!! Unfortunately he had to work today so we celebrated Friday night. It is hard to beleive that just 59 short years ago he was about the same age as Ethan is now. Hard to beleive but time really does fly. We are so happy to wish him a happy birthday and are looking forward to many more! We love you dad/grandpa you are the best we could ask for.

I'll Help you grandpa!

You got the coolest gifts!

Happy birthday I love you!

So this year I had the great idea to do a photo Christmas card and thought costumes would be fun... next year I will know. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get 2 adults 1 baby and 1 dog to all be looking at the camera and smiling with no red eye? Well I can tell you it is harder than you might think. So after many many attempts we finally settled on the photo that will be arriving in your mailboxes this week. Pretty good but Max has a wild eye that no amount of photo shop would fix and it seems to be the best picture we could get of everyone else. Here are a few of the runners up, I left out the very best ones for fear of someone calling child services or the animal cruilty hotline. Maybe next year we will go with the picture of Ethan with Santa.


No more smiles from Ethan

(or Max)

"Just because I look like Santa

doesn't mean I'm holly or jolly

to little boys."

This is the winner:

Maybe Santa didn't need Rudolph's

red nose with this glowing eye.

My snowman hat from grandma.

My first picture for mommy.

Last but not least it may seem a little like the Hallmark commercial with the recording card but I swear he says HO HO HO, or something close whenever we show him Santa. You be the judge...

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

Eleven Months Old Already!

So I thought in the spirit of Christmas I would give you a little 11 month update on Ethan in the form of a familiar song. (The 12 Days of Christmas if you can't figure it out. Silly I know, but hum the tune in your head and let yourself get in the Christmas spirit just a little.)

The 12 Update Facts of Ethan:

12. Hours a night sleeping

11. Be nice to Max reminders (per hour)

10. Da Da Da Da's (O ma ma ma ma's mind you)

9. Steps by himself he's taking

8. Digital pictures mommy's snapping

7. Temper Tantrums

6. Central and Lateral Incisors (teeth)

5. Diaper Changes

4. Snacks a day of Gold Fish

3. Feed myself meals

2. Daily Naps (for 2 hours each yipeee!)

1. Happy Toddler Most of the time

Anyway that pretty much sums up what Ethan is doing now except that today he started signing "More" and "All Done" while he was eating. Hopefully we can keep this up and maybe lessen the out bursts he has when he wants something. (Hey a mom can hope right?)

It has been 11 months since Ethan was born and I continue to be amazed by all of the things he is doing. He is such a little ball of energy and we have so much fun with him. In the last month I think the new thing that Ethan has taught me, is to have patience with the mom at the groccery store with the full cart of grocceries and a child screeching at the top of his lungs because sometimes its ME!

I love this little guy more than I can say, and thank God for him every day!

Come on mom this is NOT a real Turkey

I'll ripe your stuffing out you silly bird!!

I love setting up the Christmas Tree!

My Very Own 1st Christmas Ornament

Ethan being dedicated to Jesus

As you can see Ethan is a little more steady now, but he still

doesn't want to walk unless someone is there to catch him.

A Day to go down in History!!

Yesterday while we were outside visiting daddy and grandpa Ethan took his first steps!! We didn't have the camera then but 5 minutes later we went inside to see if he would do it again and were so happy to get this on camera. Take a look!!

Now the real fun begins!

Happy Halloween...from the 10 month old!!

So with a new baby comes new family traditions. Here are some pictures we took with our friends this year when we visited a pumpkin patch. Ethan was so excited by all of the pumpkins that he just couldn't decide which one he wanted to make the perfect jack-o-lantern. I was too busy watching my "little pumpkin" and thinking how much fun the holidays are going to be with someone that gets so excited about the little things.

Uncle Adam Comes Home In...

Finally I am returning to blog again. Seems the last month and a half have been so busy I haven't had time to sit down and do any playing on the computer. I have been feeling guilty about it and have talked to several people that have asked when I am going to post something new, so I have finally taken the time to add a few things. One very exciting thing that is coming up soon is that my brother is coming home for Christmas!! He is in CA at Loma Linda in dental school, and hasn't been home since last Christmas. With Ethan being born almost 5 weeks early it worked out that Adam got to see him before he left, but he was all hooked-up to monitors, and wasn't able to be held yet, so Adam has never seen him in person since he came home, and has never held him. Even though he is no longer a cuddly little newborn, he has matured and grown and is trying to learn to walk by the time Uncle Adam comes home so they can play together and enjoy the time when they get to really meet for the first time.

Can't wait till you come home Uncle Adam. I love you already and can't wait to see you and get to know you. --Ethan

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