Halloween Costumes

This year, the costumes were a combined effort of Me, Michael, and my Mom.  Ethan's didn't involve any sewing whatsoever, but all that spray painting was frustrating.  He turned out awesome.  So, without further adieu...

One Green Plastic Army Man

and One Pretty Peacock

Emeree kept strutting around sticking out her chest and clasping her hands together.  And of course, Nathan had to point out that technically, she was dressed as a male peacock.

Michael made the bazooka out of wood and pvc pipes.  It turned out cool, but Ethan didn't want to carry it around so it stayed in the car when we trick-or-treated.  We had 3 different events the week of Halloween - trunk-or-treat, a carnival, and Halloween.  So we tried 3 options for Ethan's face...a green mask, face paint, and then finally...nothing.   My vision was to have his face and hands green like the clothes so that he was all one uniform color to look like a plastic toy.

Pumpkin Patch '12

We usually go to the pumpkin patch with my in-laws.  But they were in Italy, so we had to go alone...sniff, sniff.  Anyway, so that meant we had to take our family picture as 2 pics and we weren't there as long without grandparents to help follow the kids around.  But we did manage to get a few great pictures of the kids.

 It was really calm and there weren't a lot of people there that day.  It was supposed to rain, but ended up getting really sunny about 5 minutes after getting out of the car.  So that was nice to not have a lot of people around in the background of all the pictures.

 Ethan found a really warty-bumpy pumpkin.

Emeree seemed like she was having a conversation with the chickens.

 Water duckie races - Ethan had fun with that.

Pre-School Field Trip

Ethan had his first field trip today for pre-school.  I tagged along as a working parent, but most parents tend to stay for the whole field trip anyway since it's only about an hour long as opposed to school that is 2 hours each day.  Siblings couldn't come, but that was kinda nice to have some Mommy & Ethan time anyway.  And I enjoyed it a bit more without chasing Emeree around. :)

It was rainy and muddy, so we sure were glad to have our rain boots.

The kids all packed in a wagon pulled by a tractor - which was most of their favorite parts.  Or as Ethan kept telling me, it was his "favorite adventure" of the trip.  Falling in the mud was "not his favorite adventure".

He got to pick 2 Apples, dig out 2 red carrots, and 2 potatoes.  He wasn't too happy about pulling the carrots and potatoes out of the ground since that meant his hands were going to get muddy...yep, Ethan hates being dirty, but Emeree would play in the mud all day if I let her.  He also got to pick out a pumpkin to bring home with his other fruits and veggies.

He got to feed some bread to the chickens - there were a ton of chickens!

Ethan's First Day of Preschool

Ethan started preschool last month (yay me for blogging about now instead of in 6-8 months.)  He goes three days a week and he is loving it.  We worked really hard the month leading up to school to get him to write his name on his own (without me writing it first and him copying it below mine).  So now he can write it without any assistance.

Each kid has a job at school that rotates every 2 weeks.  His current job is the abacus.  He gets to take attendance, record the weather and count how many days they've been in school so far on a giant abacus.  The parents can stay for the beginning of school while they do this part and show and tell.  So it's been fun being able to watch him do his job. 

I asked him to show me his backpack - and he just tilted to the side a little.  :)

Just like when he went to nursery the first time at church, he never looked back - no separation problems there.  But I think I had a little trouble letting him go.  It's a co-op, so the parents are trained and take turns working in the classroom.  I just happened to be assigned the first day of school as one of my work days, so that helped me get through the first day of school.  Day 2 was my first day leaving him there.  So Emeree and I went shopping - and guess what?  She is an awesome shopper if it's just her and me.  She doesn't throw any tantrums or try to jump out of the cart head first (even if she's buckled in).  So we are getting to enjoy our "girl days."

Here's a pic of Ethan with his teacher...he was so busy looking at everything I couldn't get him to look at the camera.

"picture perfect"...not so much

So we decided to get a "cousin" picture since all the kids were in town.  We had such plans for cute props and awesome pictures.  But that didn't go as planned.  First off, I wouldn't suggest doing balloons as a prop when the kids are so young.  In my head, this was going to be a great picture.  Maybe one of them all in the air at different heights, or all the kiddos walking away from the camera and we get a shot from behind with the balloons in the air.  Well, here was our best shot with the balloons.  They were pretty much just a distraction.

And of course, my kids were the worst to get a smile out of (mostly Emeree).  Here are 3 pictures as proof that she won't smile (let alone look normal) for the camera.

Flying and a picnic table

Here's some pics of Ethan "flying" from the couch to the beanbag.

And we built a picnic table this weekend...it's so nice to go outside and play puzzles or eat lunch/dinner outside.  A fun change with the nice weather we've been having.

December Happenings

Six months between posts isn't too bad, huh?  Sorry.  Haven't been in a bloggy mood.

Anyway, here are a couple pictures of our cute birthday girl turning 2.  Love that dimple!

We had our ward Christmas Party last weekend.  Emeree screamed again.  The only year she didn't have a fit was when she was 2 weeks old - and that's because she was asleep.  But I think it's cute that Ethan is covering his ears while she is screaming.

They made paper bag reindeer at the party too.

4th of July

Here are some random pics of our 4th of July.  We (actually, just Michael) spent the morning mixing and pouring cement for our back patio, then we headed to Ray and Carol's house for the afternoon and then over to Rick and Debbie's for the evening.  A busy day. 

And since I had to turn on the hose every 10 minutes for Michael, I technically helped with the cement too. :)  We lost our nozzle, so we can't leave it on.  He told me to turn it on for 13 seconds.  So, I counted and only got to like 8 before he told me to turn it off.  Here's the rest of the conversation...

Me: But I only got to 8; I was supposed to count to 13. (Yes, I do talk in semi-colon sentences - I'm just cool like that)
Michael:  That was 13
Me:  Nu-uh - how did you count
Michael:  1, 2, 3...
Me:  "mississippi-lessly"?

**Bonus points to who can guess where that quote came from.  I was proud that I thought of it on the fly.  And it made Michael smile and laugh at me since he knew exactly where I got the quote.

Anyway, back to the pics...

Buddah belly baby is happy that daddy gave her a tootsie roll pop - mom wasn't so happy.  It stained her jacket :(

 Ethan was not at all interested in going down the slip-n-slide, but he did like the spraying water and watching the girls ride down the slide.

And once Emeree saw the water, she was all about trying to drink it.

Eating watermelon on the deck

Over to Grandma and Grandpa's . . . Ethan had fun pushing Emeree up and down the hill in the wagon.

Look at her go!

 Ethan didn't like the "boom" of the fireworks, so Debbie went inside and found a solution.  Fuzzy earmuffs!  Grandma's are great like that!

Emeree's word list

I made a list of the words Ethan was speaking when he was about 18 months, so I guess I should be a good documentor and list Emeree's at the same age.

She's speaking a lot more than Ethan was at this age, and I think it has to do with being the 2nd child...she copies him and us a lot.  She'll copy almost any word we try to get her to say, but I'm only listing the words that she says on her own.

People
Mom
Dad
Dampa - that's for Grandma and Grandpa (Ethan says it that way so she copied the weird word from him)
Lorelai
Zach - Ethan's buddy from nursery and play dates
We've gotten her to say Emma and Ethan a couple times but she doesn't say them much on her own
Ehmo - Elmo
George - when she wants to watch Curious George

Food
Mik - for "milk" although I have a hard time between that and her word oak for "coat" they sound a lot the same sometimes and she gets mad if I give her the wrong one when she's asking for the other.
hot dog
chip
juice
ter - water
cheese
ceal - cereal
a-nah - banana
apple
ret - carrot

Animals
dog
woof - she usually just makes barking noises when she sees a dog instead of saying "dog"
meow - when she sees a cat

Body/clothes
head - usually pats her head and says the word over and over after she bonks it on the table since she refuses to accept that she is taller than the table and should be ducking when she walks under it
teef - when she wants to brush her teeth
hat
eye
nosh - her version of "nose"
ear
shoe
awk - sock
shirt
chin - I know, kindof a weird one for her age
boot
I-per - diaper

Random
heyo-o - this is "hello" when she carries around one of my old cell phones pressed to her ear
shovel
banka - "blanket"
right dere - saying "right there" and pointing when I ask where her pacifier went
book
a-yar - pacifier
star - i use a star cookie cutter to cut shapes out of her bread for breakfast.  she won't eat toast and won't eat bread good if I don't use a cookie cutter
raw - straw
no
mine
hep - help
boo - likes to hide and scare daddy
up - when she wants out of her high chair
done - when she doesn't want her milk anymore and throws it on the floor at the same time with no warning - so she will be on sippy cups for a while to come


I know she says a few more, but I can't think of them right now.

Take me out to the ball game!

We went to the Tacoma Rainiers Baseball game with family from the Otto side last night!  It was so much fun.  I figured we would stay as late as the kids were happy - since the game started just before bedtime would normally be.  Surprisingly, they lasted till the game ended at 10:30 - we had our fussy moments with Emeree and a fat lip and skinned knee with Ethan running through the stands, but all in all, it was a wonderful night!

Ethan played musical chairs and moved between our row, to sitting with the girls, and sitting with Grandma and Grandpa Sanders.

Emeree had fun watching the game and got caught trying to sneak other people's water. 

And right after the game, they turned out the stadium lights and put on a professional firework show!  Emeree loved it, but Ethan looked worried the whole time and kept his ears covered and had his legs locked around my thigh tightly until they ended.  But he never took his eyes off of them.