Sledding

On Ryan's fifth snow day of January we decided to take Ethan sledding. So we bundled him up and headed to a local sledding spot. Lilly and I stayed in the car (luckily she slept the whole time because she hates the infant carrier) while Ryan took Ethan down the big hill. Ethan didn't seem to excited about sledding but he did love throwing snowballs at Ryan. He would have stayed out in the snow longer rolling and stomping around but we couldn't keep his gloves on.  He makes a fist when we try to put them on and refuses to open up and ends up not being able to use his fingers at all. Once the gloves came off we packed up and headed home.

Here are a few shots of the yard.  The garden fence is no longer visible and there is another storm on its way. At the rate we are going the snow will still be here in July!

Look at the massive icicle Ryan pulled off the corner of the house!

Ethan's Birthday Party

We had a birthday party for Ethan on Saturday.  We had a lot of fun and were so glad that everyone could make it in this freezing weather!

Here is the awesome cake my brother Matthew made.  I saw the idea in a Martha Stewart Magazine and knew Matthew could pull it off.  I helped a little, placing some of the M&Ms on the cake!

Ethan didn't know what to make of everyone singing to him.

He tried to blow out the candle several times before Daddy stepped in to help. You can see his black eye.

He loved the M&Ms but didn't eat any of the delicious cake!

He got lots of great gifts including this neat hat and toy fish.  He got so many gifts that when we realized we never gave him a gift from us, we decided to save it for another occasion!

Cousin Jack had no problem helping Ethan unwrap the gifts. He took charge and even said Thank you for Ethan!

I even remembered to reuse the birthday banner from last year.  I left it on the shelf in the coat closet and it was still there however the letter h from his name missing. I emptied out the closet looking for it but it was gone. Luckily Rebecca saved the day bringing a new h and matching scrapbook paper as well as the 2nd.

Ethan is 2!

*oops I started this on January 21st but forgot to post it!*

I can't believe our little boy is two today! Here are some things we love about him:

When we tell him "te amo" before he goes to bed he always says "mamo" back at us.

He is too smart for his own good and we have learned the Ethan-proofing is much more extensive than child-proofing.  He finds new ways to get into trouble every day.

He is learning new words every day.  We are amazed at how quickly he is picking them up now.

He says "hereitis" likes its one long word when he finds a toy or book he is looking for.

He knows the almost all the letters of the alphabet.

He loves trains, he can spend hours playing with his train track.  He has a train DVD which he loves to watch but he also loves to stare at the DVD cover.  He sometimes takes the DVD cover to bed with him!

He loves to sort things.  His trains are always sorted by type, engines, coal cars, passenger cars and freight cars.  He also has a toy that he sorts by shapes, star, triangle, circle, square but not the hearts.  He always throws the hearts on the floor!

His favorite movie is still Finding Nemo or as he calls it "Namo" He also like Tomas the Train, he say it with a Spanish accent, ToMAS.

His face lights up when he sees a hershey kiss, we already know what reward to give him when we start potty training him!

He loves to inspect things, sometimes I swear he is reading the instructions off of packages

He is sneaky. The other night he kept turning on the light in his room which he can't reach on his own. Whatever he was using to stand on he put back where it belonged after the light was on.  We had to take several objects out of the room before the light stayed off for good.

He loves Lilly. He sits on the couch with his arms outstretched to hold her. He holds her hands all the time and gives her head butts (his version of a kiss) with a loud "mwuah"

He loves to run laps around the house.  He can seriously run thirty or more laps without stopping before going to bed.

When he sees a camera he says "cheese" but without smiling. If we tell him we are taking a picture he makes a point not to look but will still says "cheese"

He is a very handsome little dude even with the constant bruises he has from running into things or falling.  He is sporting a black eye at the moment from a run in with his toddler bed headboard.

He loves to hide in our closet and when you open the door he has the best laugh.

He folds his arms before eating to pray (sometimes reminding us!) and loudly proclaims "men" when the prayer is over.

We love our little guy and are glad he is part of our family!

Snow!

We had two snowstorms recently and Ethan loved playing out in the snow.

On January 8th Ethan spent 1.5 hours outside playing while Ryan cleared the driveway.  The snow was up to his knees but he still managed to get around!

Here  is the backyard, I love looking at the snow covered trees right after a snowfall.

Look at those rosy cheeks! He did not want to come inside.

He even helped Daddy shovel the driveway.

He had to try the snow, which surprised me because he usually doesn't like to eat cold things.

On January 12 we had another snowstorm.  Ryan had two snow days and on the 13th he finally had a chance to take Ethan out.

He was dying to take Ethan sledding and tried it in the front yard.

Unfortunately Ryan was a little too heavy for the snow and they just sunk.

The next run was better but Ethan wasn't too excited about it and wanted to explore the yard instead.

Here is our garden, you can just barely see the fence which is 28 inches tall

Ethan dragged Ryan all over the yard, Ryan had to carry him, this snow was too tall for him to walk in.

The snow bank at the top of the driveway was taller than Ethan! He snuck back outside later that day when we forgot to lock the back door in just his socks.  He never tries to put his shoes on before going outside but since then he has been trying to put on his snow boots so we will take him back out.  I'm sure it was really cold on the deck in just socks!

Lillian is two months!

I can't believe our little Lilly is already two months old. She is a much happier baby once we figured out she has acid reflux and started her on zantac. She is finally taking daytime naps somewhere other than my arms. The other day I was lucky enough to have both kids sleep from 1-4 pm and actually get some housework done and dinner cooking before Ryan got home. I can't complain too much since she is a great night time sleeper and most nights sleeps 7-8 hours.  She went to the pediatrician yesterday and is now weighs 11 lbs 4oz and is 23 inches long.  She got her shots and was a very sleepy baby today which worked out well since Ethan and I are battled it out during nap time since we are trying to get him to sleep in the toddler bed. After two hours in which: I removed all his toys, blocked his closet with his train table, comforted him when he pulled a lamp down on himself, and returned the train picture to the top of his tall dresser that he climbed up to get, I finally found him like this:

Tomorrow we will try again.

Happy New Years!

We enjoyed a quiet New Years Eve by having Rebecca, Ashley, Justin, Jack and Cindy over for dinner and games. With all the little kiddos it was over long before the ball dropped and Ryan and I didn't even make it to midnight.

We then went to my parents on New Years day. We enjoyed it but are kind of glad the holiday season is over and looking forward to a little bit slower pace.  Ethan has stayed up late too many times and its starting to show! 

 Lilly smiling at her two great-grandmas

 One of my new years resolutions is to be in more pictures.  When I was posting all the Christmas pics, I realized I'm always behind the camera!

 Soon enough Lilly will be able to play with her cousin Cindy

 While Ethan and his cousin Jack already love to goof around.

My brother Matthew makes awesome homemade bread every Sunday. He works at a bakery and has been coming over to teach me how to bake. We've already planned out Ethan's birthday cake, I can't wait!