Ethan's Birthday

Can't believe it, but my little guy is 6 years old now! He has been such a trooper and is doing so well in school. We had a little birthday party for him Friday afternoon with a few friends friends from church and a few friends from school. It was a pirate party (my favorite at-home party theme), complete with pirate hats, a treasure hunt, and "treasure" at the end. It went really well. Trevor was sad to miss it (he was still at school), but he helped me figure out the treasure hunt clues and even hid the treasure for me (in the shed in the backyard...yes, I made them tromp through the snow to get it!) Kevin took his nap through the whole thing, which helped a lot. I told the kids that there was a dragon sleeping upstairs and that they should be careful not to wake it, although Kevin is fairly used to sleeping through all kinds of noise around here. We celebrated as a family on Saturday, and Ethan got his favorite present: a camera! Yes, after pestering me all the time to use my camera (and dropping my brand new one a few months ago), he now has one of his own! I will post more about this later. Happy Birthday to my Ethan...what a sweet boy! (P.S. That's a Cold Stone cake...with all the party preparations, I totally forgot about a cake! I think this one was yummier than anything I would have made, anyway!)

Another Birthday

So my birthday was yesterday...I've reached that milestone age of 34. I never actually thought I would forget how old I am, but I must say I had to do some calculating recently to figure it out. Which is funny because Ethan is constantly reminding everyone how old they are (watch out if he asks you how old you are...eventually everyone will know). It was a nice day...Ethan kept asking me what time my party was. I had to do a little explaining about how adults don't usually have parties for their birthday. He looked perplexed when I told him that, and a little sad. I spent the morning finishing up the laundry and putting up Christmas decorations. I did squeeze in some time to do a New York Times Crossword (my secret addiction). I had lunch with friends, had an hour-long talk with my parents on the phone (they told me my birthday was actually a day earlier in Australia), and put away the laundry. Robert gave me flowers and dusted (best present ever...I HATE dusting). We went out to dinner and had cake afterwards.
Then I went to card class...see my beautiful creations?!















(I did not come up with these beautiful designs, but I did put them together...not sure what I'll use them for yet). All in all, a great birthday!

A Year With Frog and Toad

We went to see "A Year With Frog and Toad" a couple of weekends ago at the Children's Theatre. (Kevin had to stay home with a babysitter.) It was SO cute! We loved it! Ethan was laughing so hard and so loud the whole time. The rest of us laughed our fair share, as well. By the end of the show, Ethan was talking back to the performers. Great cast, great music, great stories...they did a fantastic job of keeping the charm of the books, while interjecting some theatrical magic and pizazz. The whole show and the whole experience was just great! We highly recommend it for all ages.
Here's a link to the CD of the show's music (which we promptly purchased afterwards). http://www.amazon.com/Year-Frog-Toad-Original-Recording/dp/B0001IN0LW
It doesn't do it justice because it just has clips of the songs, but we are still singing the songs around the house and in the car. Did I mention it was great?! I think it may become a yearly tradition.

I love my spoon

Kevin has discovered the wonders of using a spoon. He refuses to eat any other way. The only way I can get him to try new foods is by handing him the spoon...he'll eat just about anything as long as its on a spoon. He's got a bit of practicing to do yet for his aim. (You also get a nice look at his 5 day old shiner.)

Black Eye

Kevin got his first black eye (as I watch his personality emerge, I am sure there are more to come). He and Ethan were taking a bath before church a few weeks ago and things got a little crowded. Kevin decided to try out his sea legs and stand up. He promptly slipped and caught the edge of the tub. Lovely! Our favorite caption for these photos: "You should see the other guy." Unfortunately, they don't caption the color in its full glory...that came a few days later.

Halloween (yes, I know it's almost December)

I'm attempting to catch up on blogging, since it's been a month since I last posted! Sorry, disgruntled blog viewers...I will try to mend my ways. Needless to say, things have been a little crazy around here and I find myself falling into bed soon after I put my own children to bed.

Halloween was great fun...Grandma Sandi came, as tradition dictates. Kevin was a reluctant trick-or-treater...2 houses was enough. (I have to admit, it was a little cold for my taste, as well). The candy was a big hit, though. He revived the leopard costume that both of his brother wore...and I think he wore it well. Ethan was a king...very suitable for his views on the world. If only he WERE king...that would make life so much more acceptable to him. Trevor was, to quote the title on the costume tag, an "Evil Knight." This was our first foray into scary costumes...I'm not sure how I feel about that. I had him omit the scary mask for the Halloween party at church.

The school parties were a success. Robert and I helped out at both the kindergarten party and the 3rd grade party. Lots of fun was had by all!

This just cracks me up

So, we got this damage to our roof and siding from a storm in August. Ever since, we've had the joy of working with insurance companies, mortgage companies, and contractors. Our on-again-off-again contractors have been working on our siding off and on (and on and off) for the past week. I decided to document the stripping of my house with pictures. As I headed to the backyard to take a picture, I spied something that didn't belong on the back of my house:

I don't have a lovely telephoto lens (I am limited to the point-and-shoot variety of camera), but I'm sure you can try to make out what has been etched into the walls of my house by some wise-cracking worker from long ago...just look near the peak of the roof...yes, it says: DRUGS! The guys told me maybe I wouldn't want a picture of that...but it just cracked me up! They told me that they would cover it up and soon as they could, because we wouldn't want the neighbors to get the wrong idea...or ring the doorbell looking for me to hook them up.