Generations

This weekend was my Grandpa's birthday so Bob and I and the kids piled in to the car again on Friday and went to Idaho for a little birthday party rendezvous with my parents. We had a fabulous time playing on the farm and hanging out with family. Avery and Ethan kept everyone busy. Gram and Aunt Amy were great to play with Ethan and follow all his helpful directions on what to do as they played.

Avery won the hearts of everyone, but seemed to have a special connection with my grandpa. They would smile and gaze at each other. It was so adorable. My grandpa's eyes would light up like a little boy at Christmas time.

We took the usual farm tour and even ventured out in to the pasture to pick out our favorite cow. A family tradition. We missed the hay wagon at feeding time, but still took pictures and Ethan had to feed the horse.

It was nice to spend some time with my grandma too. We always stay at her house and seem to gravitate to the kitchen to sit around the table and eat and visit. I even did a little cooking for the family to try out a couple of my Christmas gifts.

A highlight of the weekend for me was to take a 4 generation picture. I was able to do this with Ethan when he was little and took the opportunity again with both kids. I think we're a pretty good looking bunch!


4 Generations on my Mom's side.


4 Generations on my Dad's side.

Fancy A Laugh?

Bob and Ethan had Avery side-splittingly laughing last night. Kids find the craziest things funny! It was a great way to wind down from a long day...If you fancy a laugh watch this.

(Sorry about the shaking camera I tried to get a better angle and was laughing myself.)

We sure love this little beauty!

Happy Holidays

We have had a great holiday season and hate to see it end. We took a 2 week vacation to my parents house, played at home and partied with Bob's family. In between all of that we did a little more "moving in" and organizing here at home. Ethan keeps asking why we are off our 'cation' and refuses to let me take down our Christmas tree.

We had a wonderful time in Washington and were able to see and play with all of my family more than usual thanks to the 2 weeks we were there and to Avery and Ethan who are a real draw for visitors!

Ethan loved opening Christmas gifts and is already ready for another round. Santa was good to us all!

Here are just a few of the greatest pictures from the
Holiday Season...

We hope your holiday was as wonderful as ours!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

We have been getting in the mood for Christmas this last week.

We made sugar cookies. Ethan and I have so much fun baking together. He loved cutting out tiny mitten, boot, and tree shaped cookies.

Watched A Christmas Story. Bob loves this movie...I lost my best cookie maker to watching it this year.


Shoveled snow. I'm not sure how much help Ethan is, but he loves to go out and play in the snow while Bob shovels.


Visited Santa. Ethan was still a little nervous this year, but warmed up to the Jolly Old Fellow and told him exactly what he wanted for Christmas. It may have helped that Santa was at Cabela's...one of Ethan's favorite places to visit.


And dressed for the occasion. I made Avery a new Christmas dress. I think she's a real cutie!


We also shopped, shopped, shopped...if this doesn't get us in the mood nothing will!

Our MVP Turns 3!

Ethan had a great birthday week...the finale was the party with family and friends this weekend. We were excited to welcome 32 family and friends over to see our new house and celebrate Ethan's birthday. We were so happy to have the room to gather in...what a blessing it is to be in our new home.

Ethan loves baseball so naturally that was the theme for our party. We decorated with lots of baseball stuff, had baseball cupcakes, baseball party favors, concession style foods and a few baseball gifts along with many other wonderful presents.

This is one lucky kid...

A big glove, batting gloves and a helmet!
Finally, he's been waiting so long!





A real baseball hat, just like Dad's.





A drill set, much like Dad's.






A great big gun, like Nathan has.








Another Handy Manny Fix It Right Project to build...Why use the tiny screwdriver it came with when you have a power tool? What a guy!



These are just a few of the fabulous things Ethan received. Thanks everyone for making his birthday so great!!!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Wow, where did the time go? Our little guy turned 3. He's grown up so much in the last month. He has the best personality. It's fun to see what makes him laugh, what he learns by observing and to hear of his grand plans. He loves being a big brother, watching TV and movies, baseball, airplanes, tools and helping mom and dad.

Ethan got to open a few gifts and was thrilled with the Handy Manny stuff Aunt Emily, Aunt Nancy and kids sent.
He loves to play with his tools and pretend to fix things. I was amazed to watch him work for about a half hour building the little race car by himself before asking for help. What a grown up boy!



Ethan and I had so much fun building the race car. He's a very handy guy!



We had our friends come over for a special lunch (Sponge Bob Soup, Ethan's Choice) and cupcakes. We've missed seeing our buddies every day and are so glad they came to celebrate with us.

The kids loved playing together and even tried out the back yard a little. It makes a great T-ball field!

For dinner we had another special meal-hot dogs (again Ethan's choice, Bob and I had a hamburger) and a few more presents. Avery gave Ethan a game. One day they will have a ball playing it together!

Bob and I gave Ethan part of his gift tonight...his very own baseball shirt and pants. He looks so cute in them! They will be perfect for the party!





Ethan loved all the phone calls and birthday wishes. He was very gracious and is excited to have people over for his party...he was a little disappointed it was just the 4 of us singing Happy Birthday when he blew out the candles. The kid loves a good party!

Happy Birthday Ethan! We love you!!!

On The Move

Thanksgiving is a wonderful day...to move!
Yep, we loaded up the Uhaul on Wednesday afternoon and unloaded it Thursday morning...We had a great crew of helpers. Mary and her 4 kids were amazing, they saved us so many trips in and out of the moving van! Thanks to Bob's brothers I didn't have to try to move any of the heavy stuff!

We started by loading up our storage unit... Avery didn't want to be left out of the fun so I bundled her up and let her watch each trip in and out of the truck!


Ethan was so happy to be reunited with some of his toys. He rode his bike in, out and around the truck while we loaded up the other things.

Unfortunately, the moving van broke down in front of our old apartment so we had to unload everything we had just loaded and move it to a new truck...we were so grateful it was only the storage unit stuff! After loading up all of our belongings we ran to the annual Pie Party. It was loads of fun to spend time with family and then drive 5 minutes home.

We spent Wednesday night in our new house...on the floor! We were going to have a slumber party in the master bedroom, but Ethan wanted to sleep in his own room so he and Avery slept in one room and Bob and I in the other.
Thursday morning we had lots of help unloading. We were amazed at all we had crammed into our little apartment. We are all very excited to have more room!

We are grateful for family and the big help they were in the move and for the fact that we had a fabulous Thanksgiving feast without having to cook a thing!

Thanks to Amy, Bekah and Ava the old apartment is empty and clean...good bye Cracker Jack Box...you were a good home!