First things first... Happy Birthday Ethan! I can't believe you're 5!
We ended up having a little party for him the day after his birthday, hoping we'd get better weather, but as you can see, it was a little bit chilly still. Oh well, it was still a lot of fun.
Widowed no More!! My imaginary husband has come to life! He has unburried himself from his mountains of books and endless tests and is peaking his head up just in time to see some sunshine. We've got two weeks and counting before he hides himself again, but we'll take it! What a blessing to have the first year of dental school behind us.
So much for New Years Resolutions. I am just excited to finally have a minute to share some of our more memorable moments over the past few months. And since pictures tell a thousand words, we'll start there... In no particular order.
Yes, she can actually take a picture that looks like this. This child has got a big
noggen. Like in the 97% big. She is in the 50% for weight and 68% for height. So a little top heavy to say the least, and it has been taking it's toll on her sweet face. In one week, she made at least 4 falls that she really made count. She had two goose eggs. One on each side of her forehead that looked like horns, had a scratch by the side of her eye, and fattened her lip twice. Accident prone; need I say more?
Carter started solids and has really enjoyed sitting at the table with the rest of us. He gets fed at least 3 times per sitting. Once from me, then Ethan, then Autumn. He never goes without.
I splurged and bought myself the first pair of high heels since I think middle school, and Autumn LOVES them! It's pretty sad when your almost 2 yr old can walk better in them than you do.
And Carter at 6 months old. HE IS SO HAPPY!! He is such a good baby. He is finally sleeping through the night now, and our sleeping
arrangement has finally worked itself out, so that makes him even that more adorable. WE LOVE YOU CARTER!
I had to put this in here because now that summer is here, this will be a lot more common at our house. This is after I passed over it once with the shower. DIRT, DIRT, and MORE DIRT! It makes a mess but it keeps them in one spot and for the most part, pretty content. It's my double edge sword. Let me just expound for a moment. ETHAN has been digging in the mud so that he can find worms to torture and disfigure. and then put in his bug catcher, and I was sick to death of the mud, so I told him NO MORE MUD. He could dig in the dirt, but no more mud. He tried a few times to sneak some water outside, or turn on the hose, but his plans were foiled by yours truly. Then, his clever little wheels got turning, and the neighbor came over and told me that Ethan had just PEED in the dirt. I put him in time out and explained that when he needs to go to the bathroom, he needs to come inside,
yada,
yada,
yada... When I asked him why he did that, he said he wanted to make mud. How genius is that? Always one step ahead of me.
OH, my sweet ETHAN. Never a dull moment when this kid is in the house. He makes me smile EVERY day. I love how Autumn is "brushing her teeth." We have had to pretty much lock them in the bathroom to get any brushing done. Ethan escaped the other day and I don't know what exactly happened, but he came running back to me with spit hanging to his belly button and tears in his eyes, and
apparently in all the excitement of his escape, he fell or something, and his "
toof brush went down his
froat, and it hurt." I laughed until I had tears in my eyes. I'm still laughing. Now he knows why we stay in the bathroom to brush our
teef.
My boys! I can't believe I can say that now. I never thought I would, to be honest with you. They are just so cute. Carter is
Ethan's, RIGHT HAND MAN. Whenever we take Ethan to school, Carter becomes his show and tell. He likes to tell the kids all the new things Carter is doing. He is such a cute brother, and very protective. Just like BROTHERS should be.
You have probably noticed the trend in most of Carter's pictures, but HE LOVES HIS FEET! They can entertain him for hours. Same with his hands. You should see him get anxious. His hands and feet do there own little dance. It's pretty funny.
For Spring Break in March, we thought it would be FUN and relaxing to go see family in UTAH. Don't get me wrong, it was nice to see family, but it was more WORK than FUN. For Corey and I that is. The kids had a blast! This was one of the FUN moments. Carter and Riley got to meet each other for the first time. They are 10 weeks apart. Oh the times they'll have. Look out world, here they come.
These two are partners in crime. This was a wretched week to say the least. And I even turned 30 in the midst of it all. They have this thing with lotion and chap stick. Ethan likes to wear it, and Autumn, well, she likes to say, "Taste good." I had just bought a new bottle of lotion for my face... GONE! Then they found Corey's stash of lotion... ALMOST gone. Instead of
kickin' some butts, I got the camera out instead. You see, to save the hair on my head and my sanity these past few months, I had to make an arrangement with my children. When situations like this one arise, and I have the "I'm gonna kill ya face," in their sweetest of voices, I have told them to just say, "MOM, WE'RE ON LOAN." I'll tell ya what, it has saved lives, and has turned my frown upside down.
Autumn: The thief. If it's missing, check her
onesie. Ethan caught on to this gig too, and whatever he didn't want me to know he had, he would put it down her shirt, and if he knew I would be really upset, he could blame it on Autumn. HE IS SO SMART!
And yet again, another typical ETHAN thing. This was in the thick of the sickness at our house, and both Autumn and Carter were doing
nebulizer treatments. Ethan decided he wanted to be the green eyed man, and this is how he did it. We got a good laugh. He is just so cute! So happy the sick season is over too, might I add. (Should I knock on wood?) We had it bad all winter. They know us very well at the Dr's office. THANK YOU DR KAUFMAN FOR ALL YOUR HELP!
He's awesome, and Ethan especially,just LOVES him!
This too was very memorable. We have the missionaries over to eat at least once a month, and Ethan and Autumn wanted to see what it would be like to "Walk in their shoes," so they literally put them on. This was, of course, after Ethan snuck under the table during dinner and tickled their feet. We actually ended up pulling out the video camera because it was so funny. He got all of us rolling! We'll miss you Elder Perky and Elder Schulz.
Autumn is a book worm, and this is how she reads books to Carter. No, she doesn't like to tease.
OHH, the ATTITUDE. She LOVES to color and she LOVES to paint. And if you don't get to it fast enough, this is what can happen. Actually, I didn't think it was going to get this out of hand, I mean, I was in the room while she was doing it, I was just sleep deprived and loading the dish washer. See what happens. TWO STEPS FORWARD, 10 STEPS BACK. And so goes the story of our lives.
I wouldn't have it any other way. Yes, we have our challenges but WHO DOESN'T? Life is meant to be enjoyed, and lived, and loved, and experienced, and that's what we do best.
Happy Memorial Day! We decided that it would be fun to have a BBQ with some friends for Memorial Day, and guess what... It was! Ethan wasn't feeling very well so I took him to the doctor today, and he has strep again, for the 4th time in less than a year. Poor kid.
I BEGGED my parents to come out and visit, so they did! We had so much fun. Grandpa John had a blast entertaining Carter while the rest of us played at The Amazing Pizza Machine. It's a must do for kids. It wears them out. Parents too. We all had a little snooze in the car on the way home. Except for Grandpa, of course. He was our designated driver.
Ethan and Corey took first place at the indoor race track at the Amazing Pizza Machine. It was so much fun!
We also went to Mahoney State Park while my parents were here, and we had a BLAST! They have this huge indoor hamster cage and the kids just went nuts! It's big enough for adults, so Corey and I got to chase kids through the maze. I felt like a kid again. My knees didn't, but my heart did. It was a lot of fun.
It also has a couple of slides, and Autumn was queen of hunting them down. She loved the slides. They were a little scary in my opinion, but a lot of fun.
We also went to the Pedestrian Bridge. It's the first Pedestrian Bridge in the United States to connect two states. It crosses the Missouri River, and connects Nebraska and Iowa. It sways in the wind though. It's a really neat place to visit, and isn't that far from our house. Corey and some of his school buddies rode there bikes from Village Green down to the Pedestrian Bridge and then all over tarnation after that. It's also not too far from the Old Market. It was a lot of fun.
After Church on Sunday, we grabbed the kids kites and went down to Ethan's school to play on the play ground and fly kites. They had a blast.
I just had to put this picture in here because, let's face it, HE'S CUTE! And I love the outfit.
I don't know what kind of Super Hero he is trying to be here, but whoever he is, I thought it was very unique. Notice the princess shoes on the hand AND feet. Underwear over the pants, sunglasses, and a chain saw to boot. AWESOME!
She was deceived. They were playing chef outside and there was a kitchen bowl outside that had "mud cookies" in it, and she couldn't resist. Poor kid.
