Halloween Parade

Today at Hannah and Ethan's school they had a Halloween Parade and a Halloween party at lunch.  Parents were invited to attend the parade.  Hannah (Strawberry Shortcake) did SO GOOD and Aunt Jenn even had them do a little "5 little pumpkin" story and Hannah did so well.  Hannah's good buddy Judson is the shark in front of her. Precious!

Ethan (a monkey), on the other hand, was not having any part of it.  He was crying when they came in and after he saw me, if was all over!

Poor guy!

Andrew was the cutest little thing in his class as a sock monkey.  As they strolled the babies in everyone in the audience was commenting on his sock monkey costume. So cute!

Marley was a strawberry and Hannah kept calling her HER strawberry.

My newest little niece was a bumble bee.  Hannah and Marley have both been this bee the past two  years.  It was so sweet to see her all dressed up. She did so well during the parade, too.  She came out just twirling. Adorable!

And here's a picture of my two sweeties before Ethan decided to completely melt down.

Looking forward to more festivities tomorrow!

The Beach and Smores

I know the beach and smores don't really go together, but when you live in Texas, one day it's warm enough to go to the beach and the next day it's cold enough for a campfire.  So, on Thursday we played beach outside.

When Wes and I were in Destin we bought this umbrella to have on the beach with us and every since we brought it home the kids have loved it and Hannah frequently asks to "play beach" with her chair and umbrella. 

There was a drastic change in weather from Thursday to Friday. It was coooold on Friday evening.  While I was out running errands Wes asked me to pick up stuff to make smores.  When I got home the kids were having a campout. 

Wes got a wood stove to warm his shop a few months ago and I think he was excited to put it to use!

Ethan was cracking us up because he just walked around with a HUGE marshmellow in his mouth all night.  We kept having to get him to spit it out so he could breathe!  Here is Hannah being silly, and this is how Ethan looked all night. 

This was so fun and I look forward to the days that we can have real campouts in the backyard.  Right now I think the kids are too young and it would just be miserable to try and all pile in a tent and actually get some sleep. Until then, I'll settle for smores on the back porch until bed time!

Ride that horsey...

Hannah - 19 months:

Ethan - 17 months:

I guess we need to get Ethan the cowboy gear so he fits the part!

Playdoh!

Today we did something that Ethan hadn't ever done (at home)...playdoh!  I'm sure he may have done this before at school or church, but it was fun for me to see him do something new.  He really enjoyed squishing it.

After cutting it and playing with it for a while, he started eating it and we had to move onto something else - ha!

Hannah always loves playdoh and has actually been asking to play with it for a few days and we haven't had any.  I bought some today and as you can see, we don't have the "no mixing colors" rule at our house!

She said that this was a campfire with stones around it.  I thought that was pretty creative for a 3 year old...especially one that has never been camping to see a fire!

Love these sweeties and to my family - I promise I'm going to make it a goal to start blogging more often.  I'm hoping for twice a week, but I'll be lucky to get at least one posted!

Park

Today after Hannah and Ethan got out of Mother's Day Out (Ethan calls it cool in attempt to say school - so cute!) we headed to a nearby park.  It was such nice weather and we were the ONLY people at the park.  I was a little worried because woods surround this park and it's not fenced.  Since Ethan is a flight risk everywhere we go, I wasn't sure how well this would go, but since nobody else was there, it was easy to keep an eye on him.

How cute is this little guy in his blue jeans?!

Hannah had fun as usual and climbed to the top of everything there was to climb.  I think I've started a trend with her because every time I pick her up from school she says: "mommy, where are we going?"  Tuesdays can make for long afternoons since when I pick them up they have already napped and it's only 2:30.  Ethan typically naps again when we get home, but it's hard to keep little princess entertained for hours before daddy gets home.

Love park dates with my little ones - especially when we have the park to ourselves!

Update

**For some reason my signature is appearing at the top of my blog entries instead of the bottom, and I don't have time to figure out how to fix it!**

Back to the post...

It seems like the kids are just growing up by the minute.  I don't have time to blog much anymore, but I  want to be sure I have as much recorded as possible about what the kids are doing at what time.   Ethan is 16 months now and will be 17months on October 19. He is learning SO MUCH, so quick these days.  He is really starting to talk alot more and communicating alot better.  His teeth bother him A LOT when they are coming in, but it usually just lasts a day or two.

Common words you will hear him say regularly are:  daddy, mommy, milk, puppy, woof woof, paci, snack, out, outside, vroom, ball, apple, tractor,  shoe, cheese, Mickey, go, bye-bye, bath and diaper . He LOVES shoes and will bring me shoes multiple times a day, back into my lap and want me to put them on him.  It can be anyone's shoe and he's been known to steal shoes at playgrounds and bring them to me, too.  It's cute trying to see him stand up from my lap and walk in daddy's shoes.   He also brings me books all day long and sits in my lap to read them.  We usually make it halfway through the book before he's up getting a new one. 

Ethan LOVES cars and trucks.  He calls everything with wheels a tractor.  Anytime he sees a big truck driving by he just stares.  Definitely a new thing for us with a boy.   He doesn't sit still for ANYTHING, except food when he's really hungry.  He's always on the go either running or climbing.  The climbing has slowed down just a tad, but he still darts for any opportunity he has to a flight of stairs. 

Ethan is getting better at being dropped off at Mother's Day Out and church.  He definitely went through a stage of separation anxiety, but he seems to understand now that we will always pick him up.  He's definitely my clingy child.  Multiple times a day he walks over and hugs me and wants to be held for a few minutes before he's on the go again.  At any given time, no matter what he's doing, if I ask for a kiss he will run over and kiss me. MELT.MY.HEART.  The sweetest thing about him is that he MUST kiss you on the lips with a big wide open mouth.  Last week I had strep throat so I was avoiding giving him kisses on the mouth, but it was hard.  He was insisting we kiss on the lips.

Ethan is definitely ALL BOY.  He loves being outside and being dirty.  It's a miracle if we make it through lunch wearing the same clothes.  He likes to rub his food all over the place and he's the first one to spot a mud puddle to play in.  I love this about him, because he also has a tender side.  He will place his sippy cup on the table when he's done drinking, he loves to clean up and often puts all his cars back in the bucket they go in and he loves for doors to be closed.  So even though he's all boy, we have hope that he will be a tough, SWEET boy!

Now on to Hannah...what a JOY she is to us.  We have overcome the terrible two's and most days are very pleasant with her. If she ever has a cranky day it's because she didn't get enough sleep or she's not feeling well.  Hannah loves crafts of any kind.  She's such a sweetheart and will always tell us how much she loves us.

Hannah can be very shy and timid around people she doesn't know.  It just reminds me of the sweet spirit she has. She is typically so well mannered and says yes mam and no mam.  She seems to be more well mannered with other adults rather than me and Wes, but we'll take that.

Bedtime is somewhat of a struggle and we often leave her closet light on for her until she falls asleep.  If we take the demand of going to sleep away from her, she does much better.  Her sleep has regressed ever since we took her pacifier away in February, but I guess we had to do it sometime.

Hannah is in school 2 days a week and she absolutely loves it.  From what I hear from her teacher (Aunt Jenn) she really is a good kid and takes direction really well.  Maybe Aunt Jenn is just charming me, but every day I seem to get a good report about Hannah's behavior.  She really is such a sweet, good kid.

Hannah started dancing and she loves it.  Her favorite part is tumbling, which may be taking after her momma.  That would make me happy, but we aren't pushing anything.  We may take a stab at some sports in the spring and see how she likes that.  I k now it's hard to believe, but I was a tom boy and into sports when I was a kid, and I see alot of those same traits in Hannah.  I'm not sure if Hannah actually likes dancing or the socializing part with her friends and cousin Marley.  Whatever it is, she definitely looks forward to going each week. 

Her biggest thing right now is playing baby and mommy. 4,000 times a day she says: Mommy, you be the mommy and I'll be the baby.  It's so funny to me because when she says that, nothing changes except she calls me momma instead of mommy.  It's still sweet and I love these times with her.  It seems like Hannah can carry on a conversation about anything.  She tries to say any word imaginable and the long words come out extra funny most of the time.  I really am trying to keep these memories stored up in my head.  She's growing up so fast and I'm beyond proud of the young lady Hannah is becoming. What a precious gift from the Lord. 

Seeing these pictures make me so happy.  They weren't easy to get and honestly, I didn't get any award winning photos, but the personalities behind these pictures just melt my heart and I'm overjoyed to be called mommy to these two little ones.  We struggle to get through some days and there are some times by bedtime that I can't wait until both are tucked in their beds sound asleep. But overall, I wouldn't trade my days for the world.  I feel so blessed to be able to stay at home, cleaning up messes, wiping runny noses, fixing lunch that they don't eat, collapsing after a trip the park because I ran wild and debating with a 3 year old all morning about what to wear.  I wouldn't trade it for anything.  This is the life I dreamed of forever. A huge thanks to Wes for partnering with me in this crazy life and helping make it all possible.  Thanks to my sweet Jesus for the abundance of blessings he pours out on me every day, especially through these sweet faces.

Back to the grind

Wes and I enjoyed a MUCH needed vacation to Destin, FL this week.  We left the kids with my mom and although it was really hard to be away from my babies, I knew they were in great hands.  It was so relaxing and we enjoyed ourselves so much! On the first night we ran to target at around 8:30 to grab some beach things and we were laughing at how we haven't left the house together at 8:30 in over 3 years!  We enjoyed not having a schedule and doing our own thing and actually sitting at a restaurant and eating instead of trying to entertain two little ones!

We were gone from Wednesday to Sunday. On the way to Destin we stopped in New Orleans. Neither of us had ever been there and we just wanted to check it out.  We weren't there at night, but we walked around Jackson Square and got to see some jazz bands and eat a little brunch.  It was fun to see a new place.  

While in Destin we enjoyed some fun restaurants with super yummy food.  We of course loved sitting on the beach most of the day.  We ate at a restaurant that was connected to our hotel for lunch a couple of the days and it was such a pretty view. 

One evening we went to a place called the Harbor Walk and it was a fun little boardwalk with lots of little shops.  This is also where you rented jet skis, went parasailing and took boat cruises.  While we were there that night we saw a sunset dolphin cruise and that sounded like fun so we went back the next night and made it on time for that.  

It was SO COOL to see the dolphins so close.  We are geniuses and forgot our nice camera on the cruise and our phone pictures don't do justice  to how beautiful the sunset and dolphins were. But...one afternoon Wes took his camera into the water and got so close to the dolphins.  It was so neat to be laying on the beach and just see dolphins swimming around.

We had a really good time at a piano bar one night that was within walking distance from our hotel.  It was a fun, new experience for us and we had a really good time.  Between laying on the beach, staying up late, sleeping in, eating great food, seeing the dolphins and enjoying some alone time, we didn't have much time to think about the kiddos (although I really thought of them like crazy the entire time). We sure were happy to see them when we got home, and they enjoyed their white sand from our fun trip!

Thanks Granna and PawPaw for taking such GREAT care of our babies so we could enjoy ourselves.  We had such a great time that we may be calling on you more often!