Smiles

I think the best way to describe Ethan is with one word...smiles.

He's not smiling in this picture, but it probably explains the smile in the previous picture...he knew he was up to no good!

His favorite thing in the world...the swing.

He was helping Daddy play the piano and thought it was so funny.

Can't forget our little princess.

Tea Party

We had a tea party at our house today. I figured I'd see how this one went, and if it went smooth I would invite one of my mom's groups over to do it. I think it went fine (except for some terrible-twoness from one little princess) so we'll do another one in a few weeks or so. Boys were welcome to come. We figured at this age(3 and under) they didn't really understand what they were attending...and anyway we had plenty of play time too.
Ethan spent a chuck of time in his exersaucer. He usually gets bored in it quick these days, but because there were several new faces, he was very entertained. Here he is eating the saucer for his cup of tea :)
I picked up some neat hats at the dollar store. I thought they would be good for the boys to wear, rather than crowns. Ethan is wearing the parrot. His little friend, Brody, is not sure what to think about it.

Here is Madeline's friend, Owen, showing up for some tea wearing his sombrero. Apparently it's from the dollar section of Target, so we may have to look into getting one. It was too cute!

Brody's mom, Brooke, brought us some pastries from a local bakery. They were delicious!

One of Madeline's favorite things to play with is the umbrella from my baby shower when I was pregnant with her. She kept telling Owen that it was raining and she would keep him dry. Owen, being Owen, just went along with it.

Every one's favorite toy...the elephant. Thanks Mrs. Diane!

Madeline and Owen played dress up before we ate lunch. Of course, I HAD to get a picture of this! Here Madeline is telling Owen to say cheese. I need to work on "personal space" with Madeline.

Here they are saying cheese!

Pig Tails

Madeline's hair is finally getting some length to it. I put her hair up in pig tails yesterday and it looked too cute! Here she is checking herself out.
This is the face she always likes to make in the mirror.

She didn't see this picture coming...that's why she is actually looking at the camera.

Getting ready for the tea party.

The neighbors'

On a regular basis we visit our neighbors. They live next door to the house across the street from us, and the way their house sits, we can see their backyard from our front door. For quite some time now Madeline has become a regular at their house. They have 3 kids, I think aged 9, 7, and 5. Their oldest, Alyssa is going to spend some time with us this summer being a "Mother's Helper." She's a baby-sitter in training. She is awesome with Madeline and invites us over whenever she sees us going for a walk. Even if she has some friends over, she still likes Madeline to come visit.
This house is almost like the neighborhood hang-out! The kids have many friends, and everyone is always welcomed over. You would think this would mean it's chaos there, but it's not. All the children are always very well behaved and they ALL love to play with Madeline. On this particular day I walked Madeline to the playground, and on our way back there was a bunch of kids outside having water gun fights. Madeline wanted to go over and visit real bad, but I told her that Alyssa, Stephen, and Anthony had friends over and we would have to go play another day. Before I got the words out, Alyssa was yelling hello to Madeline and was asking if she could come over. I was afraid that she would interfere with their fun, but they really wanted her over. I wasn't sure what she would think about these water guns, but I walked her over to find out. All of the kids over there were so cute! EVERY one of them came over and said hi to Madeline (they ALL know her name). They all tried to make her feel comfortable with the squirting water. They would squirt each other and squirt their own hand to show her that the water didn't hurt. It was neat to see how concerned they all were about Madeline not being scared. Madeline jumped right in and played with all the big kids. When she needed more water in her "squirter" she would go over to the hose to have it filled up and if there were any kids waiting for their turn they would insist that Madeline needed to go ahead of them...TOO CUTE! Anyway, I could ramble on forever about her experiences over our neighbors, but I'll leave it at this for now. This family also goes to our church. This is very surprising because there are not many Catholics around here!
This is Madeline talking to Stephen. He has started to really enjoy Ethan. He says that when Alyssa is old enough to babysit, he wants to come over to help with Ethan.
Whenever I take Madeline over to the house, she always wants to go on the monkey bars. I tell her that Mommy isn't strong enough and she has to ask daddy next time he comes over. This day Daddy came over after work and Madeline went right for the monkey bars!

This is Madeline playing "squirters" with Alyssa.

Madeline's 1st Tea Party

Shortly after we moved here we became friends with a guy Doug worked with, Jason, and his wife (Jasmine) and 2 kids (Robert,4 and Jenis, 3). Jason is currently overseas on a one year tour of duty. Madeline and Jenis are 6 moths apart in age, so they have made great playmates!
Jenis invited Madeline over the other day for a tea party!! I was SO excited!!! My little girl going to a tea party?!?!?! Too many dresses to pick from!
When we got there, they started by making cookies. Well, actually the cookie dough was already prepared. They just (attempted to) used cookie cutters to make shapes out of the dough. Here they are working together (or sharing germs...whatever you want to call it)
The hard part...waiting. Not sure what Madeline was saying here, but she was probably telling Jenis which one is "mine."

While the cookies were baking we went upstairs to put on some jewelry. Madeline found a beautiful necklace and bracelet. Of course all you probably see in this picture is our daughter playing the drums!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She loves the drums a little too much. My cousin Nathan says she's starting at the perfect age. I'm not sure what Nate is implying, but there will not be a drum set in our house! (unless she asks of course :) )

I'm sure when Ethan is older he won't want to be reminded that he attended a tea party, so we'll just tell him he was there as the bodyguard. Robert was at school while we were visiting, but my kids were quick to play with everything in his room, especially the drums and the trains. Ethan LOVED watching the electric train go around the track. Every time the train would get close he would grab it and put it right in his mouth. I would take it away, put it back on the tracks, then he would grab it again when it came around. He sure makes me laugh.

Posing for a picture. Notice the drum sticks in Madeline's hand!!

Choosing their plate and saucer. Guests first!

Madeline needed quite a bit of help pouring the (sweet iced) tea. She thought it was like a watering can where you just pour until it's empty.

Time for the delicious cookies!

She loved the tea! Madeline brought her purse from home and when it was time to drink the tea she wanted to wear her purse.
Not sure what she was doing here, but the picture cracks me up! Not sure where she gets her girliness from!

Poor Ethan, he just hung out in the bouncer, on the floor, or stood at the table to watch us eat and drink stuff and can't have yet. He had a great time though!

Madeline and Jenis were singing their ABC's together, but by the time I got the camera out, just Jenis was singing and Madeline was dancing. Madeline was too busy eating her lemon to sing.

Teamwork

I began trying to get Ethan to drink from a sippy cup recently, but he hasn't been all to interested. That is, unless it is Madeline's sippy cup. He could see one of her cups from a mile a way. It's not like she uses the same type of cup every time either. He just knows it's her...and he wants it! Fortunately, Madeline finds it a little funny. The other morning Ethan kept trying to get a hold of Madeline's cup, so finally she decided to help him drink from it. Does he look a little excited about this??? Notice Madeline is showing him how to open his mouth.
He was laughing so hard at her that it was hard for him to get a sip.

Through teamwork, he finally got it!

I asked Madeline if I could get a picture of the sippy cup and this is her reaction. She even put her arm around Ethan...too cute!

Ethan on the move

Ethan is getting more and more mobile with every day. He loves to stand. If he gets fussy, one of the things I can do to make him happy is to help him stand. We took Madeline to the Books-A-Million last week to play with the Thomas set. I sat Ethan down on the floor, but he immediately grabbed on to the table and tried to pull himself up. I helped him get up and he was happier than you could imagine! He stood watching Madeline play with the trains for quite a while. He's going to be a crawler any day. He can go from the sitting position to being on all fours. He scoots his knees a little, but falls to his belly soon after. He almost has it figured out. I keep my camera in my pocket at all times so I can catch it on video!

Our little princess and her ABC's

I just LOVE that Madeline has started to enjoy playing dress-up. We ran some errands on Thursday and she wore her crown everywhere we went...she's such a princess. When she went to her play-date on Friday, she and Mariah played dress-up. This is the dress and jewelry that she was wearing when I showed up to pick her up.While I was chatting with Janette, Madeline made herself comfortable on the floor playing with some Polly Pockets.

After nap time we took a little walk to the playground. Madeline has been so full of expressions recently. In this picture she is making was of her silly little faces. I think she was pouting, but in a dramatic way..it's very funny to watch because it's so out of character. Doug and I have a hard time taking her serious when she makes these faces.

Our little princes loves singing her ABC's lately. On our way to Lowe's the other day she kept singing it over and over and over. Every time the song was over, she would say, "sing it faster!" You can hear Ethan laughing a little bit in this video. Whenever Ethan is crying or fussing in the car, Madeline will sing because it makes Ethan laugh. Sometimes she sings a song we know, sometimes she makes one up.

Ethan at 7+ months

WOW! I can't believe he's 7 months old!! It's scary how fast this time has flown! Here's a little update of things our little guy is doing these days.
Ethan is trying to get around and is using any means possible. He's not crawling, but I don't know how I'd describe how he gets around. He's very close to crawling though...his little chubby legs are starting to creep up under his belly so it's only a matter of time. In this picture you'll see a little McQueen car in his hand. I think this has to be his single most favorite toy. We keep a little pile of "Ethan toys" next to Madeline's kitchen set so that when he's sitting there, he has something to play with. But lately he has been noticing the collection of cars...the red one is his favorite. I try to hide it from him, but he always sees it and wants it! Notice the little bump on his eye? That's a result of getting the car in his hands. He still looks happy though, doesn't he? :)
I've been placing Ethan in the front of grocery carts now. He does very well there and Madeline just walks along my side while we shop. When Doug, the kids, and I went to Lowes this weekend, Madeline saw the "car carts" so of course, we had to use one. I wasn't sure if Ethan would support himself enough in there. I thought he would keep falling forward and bumping his head, but he did awesome! And they both loved each other's company while shopping! Ethan kept trying to eat Madeline, and Madeline found it hilarious.

Today we went to the bookstore, or as Madeline calls it, the "Thomas Bookstore." They have a Thomas the Tank Engine train set there, so she's always more than happy to take a trip to the bookstore. (This is great for rainy days!) I sat Ethan down on the floor next to the train table and he immediately tried to pull himself up so he could see what Madeline was doing. He wasn't strong enough to pull himself up, but once I helped him he was able to hold himself up pretty well. He was so happy doing this!

Easter Egg Hunt 2009

We were supposed to go on an Easter Egg hunt about a week or two before Easter, but it got rained out and was rescheduled for the Wednesday after Easter. It was a beautiful day, so we were excited to have something so fun planned for the day. Madeline, Ethan and I went.

Here is Madeline with her friend, Owen shortly after we arrived. Owen and Madeline are starting to become good buddies. They love to hold hands!
A little bit later they were running (while holding hands) and Madeline tripped over a rock, fell and started crying. I tried to console her, but all she wanted was to hold Owen's hand...so he took her hand and off they went again.

Yes, the tail stayed on the whole time we were there. The ears and hat eventually came off, but the tail was on ALL day.

This is on the hay ride to go listen to a story and find eggs. She's sitting with her buddies, Liam and Owen.

Madeline loved listening to the story. When the lady was done, Madeline asked her if she could hold the book. She sat on the log and read it for a moment before I convinced her to go join the other kids looking for eggs!

I was blown away when I asked Madeline if she wanted to sit on the ground and hold Ethan for a picture and she said "yes." In fact, I was so blown away that I couldn't get a good shot! I was too busy taking in the moment to concentrate on a good picture...lol

Here's Madeline with one of her best buds, Mariah.