The Hat

We came across a hat at Old Navy the other day. I put it on E's head just to see, thinking he would immediately throw it off as he usually does. See, the only hat he's really ever kept on his head is a winter hat, and that's probably only because it was 20 degrees in NYC and he's no dummy. Much to my surprise, he happily put the hat on, nodded in approval, and started to walk around the store. I asked him if he wanted the hat, and he nodded and smiled, so to the checkout counter we went.

I mean, really, how could you not buy him the hat after seeing this?

So the hat has come with us to dinner, to the park, and to the store. If he sees it lying around the house, on his head it goes. I'm thinking the obsession might be short-lived, so I thought it'd be a good idea to document it.



I'm really hoping he'll at least like it long enough so it can work as a sun hat of sorts for the beach in a couple of weeks and maybe even for summer, but we'll see. For now, he's all about his hat.

It's Bluebonnet Time Again

I love bluebonnets, always have. I used to make huge bouquets of them and other wildflowers from my grandparents yard. Taking E to take pictures in the flowers is a Texas tradition that I will definitely take part in as long as he'll let me, as corny as it may be.

This year, he wasn't really into it. He loved running around the field, but sitting and smiling for the camera was not interesting to him.

"you want me to do what now?"


"alright fine, but this seems weird to me."


He liked picking the flowers too...don't tell.


Nana and Daddy managed to get some smiles out of him.

And then he was off. I must have looked like a fool chasing him around with the camera trying to get a good picture.

This one looks to me like he's saying, "yo, Ma, I told you I'm done with pictures!"

He then proceeded to crawl around the field, so we called it a day.

Perhaps we'll get another chance for more pictures if we visit Gramma, but I'm pretty happy with these.

Par-tay!

On Saturday, my baby turned two, can you believe it? (this is what he does when you ask him how old he is, we've been practicing).

We've spent quite a bit of time preparing for his birthday parties (that right, plural, parties), and this weekend was our "family" party at our house. Next weekend, we'll have a "friends" party and a bounce house place because there was NO way I was having two parties at the house.

I have to say, I think the party went well. Some of our family couldn't make it, so it was a little smaller than last year. E has had a wicked case of diaper rash, which he never gets, so we were a little sad for him, but it didn't seem to bother him too much. We spent the morning having a little naked time, and Ethan thought it'd be fun to have some pants-less backpack time.

He ran around the house like this for quite a while, and it was one of the cutest things ever.

He also did a little naked decorating.

After naked time, he took his nap right on schedule, which gave me, Cory, and Nana time to do some last minute things before the guests showed up. Luckily, I learned my lesson last year and did a lot of prepping in the weeks before. However, there are always things that never seem to get done on time... no one noticed I'm sure.

The banner.

Snacks and dips.

garland.

"Cake" table. The cake pops are in the blue box in the back.

Grilling the kabobs.

The cooks.

The party.

The spread. There's fruit, chicken, steak, and veggie kabobs. Can you guess my "theme" for the party?

Ethan appreciated the theme.

Cake pop time.

He blew out his candle like a pro. (I told him it was hot, so he blew on it).

Unwrapping presents. It went really slowly at first, you know why? My little OCD boy would pull off a piece of paper and walk it to the trash. We had to put a stop to that if we were going to get everything opened by time he was 3.

Then it slowed down again because he found something he liked, a whistle. He got some great things though: tons of clothes (yay!), trains, a trike, a remote control car, a rocket, books...

Playing in his new sand box from Mama and Dada.

Having a blast in the bounce house from Nana. Bonus, it holds Mama too, so we can have all kinds of fun. We're looking to have more playdates at the house too....any takers?

Lastly, there was pinata time. E was of course excited about the stick, and got the hang of it pretty quickly. He did recruit help to finally get the candy out though.

That was the first of his parties. He goes for his well check on Tuesday, so I'll probably post his stats along with a lot of gushy stuff about him being two and all the things he's up to these days, so get ready. Then next weekend we'll have more party time with his buddies, can't wait!