His first fat lip...

And I am sure there are many more to come! Today at work he was pushing a toy shopping cart around when he fell and his face hit the cart.  He screamed so I knew it must have really hurt because he usually doesn't cry when he falls.  It looked a little swollen so I went to get an ice pack.  He sucked on the ice pack for a minute and when I took it off, I noticed the blood on it.  Poor little guy had cut the inside of his lip!  He's a tough little guy and is fine now, but I still felt so bad for him.  I know there will be many more bumps and bruises, but I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing my baby get hurt!


Last week we went to playgroup where they had Santa come visit the kids.  Clair was nice enough to take photos of all the kids.  Here is Ethan with Santa. 

I had wanted to go get his picture taken with Santa this past weekend, but after seeing his reaction, I think we will just wait until next year.

Snow and visitors

Sunday we didn't get as much snow as expected, but we did get enough for Ryan to have to our new snowblower. We are fortunate that my uncle and aunt gave us their old one, thanks guys! Poor Ethan wanted so bad to go out and play in the snow with Ryan.

He even tried to open the back door!

He also watched Ryan work from the front window.  I love how excited he got each time Ryan came from the side of the house.

On Monday we were lucky to have some visitors.  My grandma and my dad came over on their way back from visiting my grandma's sister.  Every time Ethan sees Grandpa he wants Grandpa to walk with him.  At one point my dad folded his arms to hide his hands and Ethan was trying his hardest to pull his arms apart. We finally had to give him Cheerios to distract him.

Later that night, my mom had some last minute Christmas shopping to do near by so she stopped over before Ethan went to bed. Ethan (and I) loves visitors! We are lucky that Grandma and Grandpa live so close and can come visit often. Aunt Rebecca is now here for her Christmas break, so we expect her to visit soon!

Christmas pictures

I can barely believe it myself, but I have actually sent out my christmas cards!  Thanks to the great coupon sites I use, I got a great deal on photo cards (free!) and so I a deadline to order them by.  Unfortunately I had an idea of what I wanted for the picture but didn't take it in time. I used a cute family photo taken down by the lake for the card, but I still wanted to try out my idea. Good thing I have a blog to post them on now that I finally took the pictures!

He does what we call a "cheesy smile" all the time now.  

Here's a better smile.

Ethan isn't old enough to enjoy many of the activities, but he does love the lights on the Christmas tree. We let him touch it when we first got  the live tree and I think it pricked him because he hasn't tried to touch it since! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

Snow Day!

Yesterday Ryan had his first snow day.  We loved having him home with us. I even got him to do a few small things around the house. I was most excited for him to finally install the cabinet latches so I don't have to worry about Ethan crawling under the sink while I'm making dinner.  Ryan was so excited to take Ethan out in the snow.  Here are some pictures from his first snow outing!

He was not happy getting all bundled up!

Once he got outside, he was much happier!

He even tried to crawl in the snow.

Ethan loved watching Daddy roll the snowballs across the deck for the snowman.

This last week Ethan  finally started crawling on his hands and knees.  He still resorts to his swimming crawl when he wants to go far.

Here's our little cutie! For some reason the day we took the pictures, he didn't mind having the hat on after we got home. Usually he pulls it off as soon as he can. We love the sweater and shirt Rebecca!

Our little reader

I love that Ethan loves to look at books.  I hope that he continues this love his whole life.  He reads in his crib while I am showering and before he falls asleep during nap time.  Occasionally he will wake up from his nap and pick up where he left off! We distract him while changing his diaper with a book. Ryan says the first step of potty training is selecting good reading material! Here are some places I caught him reading today.

in his crib...

on his train table...

 in his bedroom...

on the changing table...

on the couch...

but his favorite spot is on Mom or Dad's lap!

Thanksgiving

Last Wednesday as soon as Ryan got home we took off for Maryland! Ethan did okay, he slept for awhile and got up 10 minutes before we were planning to stop for dinner.  He was not at all happy when we put him back in his carseat. I ended up sitting back there with him to entertain him a.k.a. feed him cheerios, until he fell back to sleep.

For Thanksgiving Day we went to Ryan's grandparents house.  We enjoyed getting to see family that we haven't seen in awhile.  Ryan even got some cooking tips from his Grandma!

Here is Grandma and Grandpa with Ethan!

All ready to go in his Thanksgiving outfit.

He just looked so cute resting on the stairs, I couldn't resist. Don't worry Ryan is holding on to him!

Grandpa with his grandsons Ethan and Tyler.

They were tired babies by the end of the night.

The entire Fisher family made it to Thanksgiving the year!

On Friday we relaxed while spending time with Ryan's parents and his sister Crystal, her husband Jonathan and their son Tyler. They came up from Arkansas so we don't see them too often. That night we went to dinner at Ryan's brother Nate and his wife Ashley's house.  I took some photos and oddly enough they are mostly of rock band even though they didn't play it that much.

Nate showing Tyler how to use the drums.

Ethan tried to get in on the fun!

and he did!

Though he was more interested in chewing than playing.

Everyone joining in on rock band

He really did like the pizza crust!

He's one little strong dude!

We left late Saturday night hoping that Ethan would sleep the whole way home, which he did! Even better he made the transition to his crib without a peep.  We had tons of fun even if we stayed up way too late each night talking.  Ethan is growing up so fast and its awesome that we are close enough to Ryan's family that we can visit often.  See you guys after Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday

Uh-oh

On Friday when I was organizing my coupons before going out, Ethan scooted(he still isn't crawling) around the corner so I couldn't see him. I went to see where he'd gone to and this is where I found him:

Don't worry, he wasn't actually on the step when I found him, I just waited to take the picture! Looks like we need a gate at the bottom of the stairs too. After that I brought him back to the dining room, he disappeared around the other corner. I quietly followed him to see him go into the bathroom. He stood up on the tub and was trying so hard to get his little leg up so he could get into the tub! He must really like bath time :-)
Speaking of coupons, I can't resist to show you last weeks haul. Shaws had this great deal, spend $30 on selected products and get $15 off your next order. I spent 33.68 and have $30 off my next order left. This is what I bought:


Good thing Ethan and I like cheerios and eat at least 1 box a week because I got 18 boxes!

Wordless Wednesday

5 years ago...

Ryan and I went on our first date. It was election day and so Ryan didn't have school and I didn't have to work. We had hung out a couple of times at different singles activities but this was the first time Ryan had asked me to do something with him. (I admit I dropped hints that I was free and wanted to something fun on my day off) Anyways we ended up hiking Sugarloaf Mountain with a picnic at the top. It was a great day had us lost in the dark on the mountain but ended with the perfect kiss. I'd go into details but probably embarrass Ryan, lets just say he had me hooked after that! Here we are at the top of the mountain.
5 years later Ryan is the one with the day off and so we headed out for an anniversary hike. We had planned to go to Kent Falls, but since I had to work in the morning, we decided to stay local again and hike in our backyard (well, actually our across the street neighbor's backyard, but close enough). Ethan loves when we take hikes so much that Ryan should probably use ear plugs to protect him from Ethan's shrieks of delight.
Here is the start of our hike in our neighbors backyard. You can also see part of our little blue house.
Here is the top of the mountain with a view of Secret Lake. Isn't this awesome that we can walk from our house to this?
I wish we had come up here a few weeks ago when it must have been amazing with all the colors.
Here we are at the top of the mountain. Oddly enough I am wearing the same jacket as I did on our first date. Guess that means I need to go shopping?

Its been a wonderful 5 years and I can't wait to see what the next 5 years bring us!

Pumpkins!

Last Thursday we went to the pumpkin patch! We were a little late in the season but still managed to find some great pumpkins. We had planned on carving them on Friday but never got around to it. Seeing as it is now November I don't think we will be doing any pumpkin carving. At least Ethan won't remember it! Next year the plan is to get them earlier in October. We probably looked like dorky parents as we were snapping a million pictures of Ethan and the pumpkins. We think he is just so darn cute that we can't resist. Here are a few of my favorites.




This has nothing to do with pumpkins but I loved this tree in our backyard. It was so bright red it looked like it was on fire. I was so sad when the last of the leaves fell off it.