Dance Class

Ethan was in a creative dance class all of last school year, and in May, on the last class day, they had all the parents in for a little "show."

He was in the class with a couple of his buddies, Dax and Audrey, and he also made a few new friends.  Mostly, they danced around to silly songs, and did some galloping and jumping.  By the end of the class, we were pretty impressed at how well all the kids learned to listen, follow directions, sit in a line, and wait their turn.  Most of all, it was good for Ethan to do something without me in the room.  

It was pretty cute to watch all year, and I think he really enjoyed it.  He's now in the next class up where he's learning to tap dance too.  Here are some pictures from his last day:

following directions, finding his dot

The Airplane Song

Waiting for his turn

Shaking his egg

Pretending to be a dinosaur, eating his food

Doing the circus obstacle course

Lego Fest

Ethan is now a Lego kid.  It all started when he went to a Lego themed birthday party for a friend, and they sent him home with an awesome favor.  He especially liked the MiniFigure he got, and has since started collecting them.

When we heard about the Lego Fest that was coming to town, we really wanted to take him, until we saw the price of the tickets.  Fortunately, a friend got us some for free at the last minute, so we jumped on it.

Ethan had a blast checking out all the Legos and sometimes building random things.  He's not really into all the building quite yet, he tends to just like random pieces and the little men.  I'm sure we have lots of building to look forward to, though.

First stop, checking out the Duplo animals

So many Legos

One of his favorite things, a minifigure

making a tile for the art wall

He loved all the littlest pieces the best

Lightening McQueen

Superman

Parts that move are also his favorite

What we added to the art wall

Chewy

Egyptian?

This vacuum thing really caught his eye.  He didn't want to give anyone else a turn.

So happy

Who needs to build when you can just lay around in the pile?

That was our last-minute Lego Fest Adventure.  I think it definitely hammered in his love for these things, and he's now putting various Lego sets on his Christmas list.  Can't wait.

Beach Trip

We headed down to Port Aransas this April for our third annual beach trip.  I look forward to this trip every year, and I think Ethan is starting to look forward to it as well.

We spent the long weekend with my mom, as well as my uncle and his family.  We lounged, we swam, we built castles, we ate, we had fun.  I did not, however, take a ton of pictures.  Ethan still talks about wanting to go back to the tent at the beach.  Me too, buddy, me too.

Here's some evidence of the fun we had:

Easter Egg Hunt

Yes, I'm still behind, but I keep finding more things I want to blog before I'm all caught up.

This is the third year we've gotten to participate in a little egg hunt with our moms group.  I love it and so does Ethan.  He was very into it this year, but he did want to open every egg as he found it.

Waiting for the fun to start.

Ready, set, go!

He found a nice little collection of eggs to build his stash.

 

 

 

Enjoying his finds.

On Easter Sunday, he woke up and searched for his basket.  It was in Harvey's crate this year, and Ethan needed a little help finding it.  Once found, he dug right in.  We spent the rest of the day with my mom and grandmother and had a little Easter dinner.  A little different this year, since we all couldn't be out in Bastrop together as we usually are, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Enjoying his Word World Easter Basket.

"I'm free!"

That's how Ethan says he's three.  The kid had quite the birthday weekend this year.  It started with his party on March 31 which we celebrated with all of his friends and ours.   We kept it simple this year and just rented out a park and pavilion.  It started at 10, so we had breakfast tacos and donuts for everyone to enjoy while the kids played on the playground. 

We went with a WordWorld theme this year since Ethan is pretty much obsessed with the show and watches it every morning while he eats breakfast.  I had fun locating supplies on craigslist since they don't make anything anymore (we even had some sent from Arizona), and I made a few other decorations.  Since Paula was still staying with us, I also recruited her help for the cupcakes.  We made all the fondant toppers in the shape of WordWorld characters, and I have to say they were my favorite part.

The park

The banner using the WordWorld font

The food

The favors

Decorations

The kids' table

The birthday boy

The cupcakes (unfortunately there was a slight humidity problem that screwed them up a little)

Blowing out the candles

He chose the dog cupcake (his favorite character)

With two of his favorite people, Nana and Paula

With Mommy and Daddy

His variation on the slide

Getting tickled by a buddy

After nap, looking at all the presents.

The next day, we had family over to do a little celebrating.  We cooked burgers and had more cupcakes and opened more presents.  It was a nice, low-key celebration that wasn't even really planned.

Birthday candles, take 2

Another dog cupcake

Finally, on his actual birthday, Ethan woke up to balloons everywhere.  I really wanted him to know it was his real birthday and to make a big deal about it (my mom always made it a big deal when I was a kid, and I loved it).

Playing with the balloons

I love this next picture because it's how he looks after he wakes up almost every morning.  Pant leg up, Gus tucked under his arm, walking down the hall. 

In the hall

Then we had pancakes for breakfast and headed out to the bounce house to meet some friends.  He bounced himself crazy all morning and then decided he wanted Amaya's for lunch, so we all headed there afterward.  Then, for dinner, we went to the cheesy fry place as Ethan calls it with Nana, Paula, and Don, which is another of his favorite eateries.  We ended the day at my mom's so we could open presents with her, my grandma, and Paula. 

Candles, take 3

And he had a blast opening presents.

So, that was the extended birthday weekend.  My baby is three.  He's so much fun, so sweet, and so smart, and he says the funniest things.  We love him to pieces for sure.