What we've been up to

Well, not much really. This week, I've been slowly dying. Okay, I'm being dramatic, but something has me out of commission, and hopefully the doctor will diagnose what that "something" is. In the meantime, it's been really hard taking care of my ball of energy when I'm curled up trying to ignore the pain.

What's the solution to that problem? Lots of outside time. I swear we spend most of our day in the backyard. It's great for E because he absolutely loves it, and it's also great for me to get some rest. When I'm not sick, it's also good because we've been working in the backyard trying to make it look halfway decent. Ethan helped plant some bulbs last week (and then he dug them up again just for fun), and hopefully we'll actually see something start to grow. We've also fenced off an area for compost, and we're contemplating a vegetable garden. When you're always outside, you come up with a lot of things you'd "like" to do, so we'll see.

Here's some pictures of some of things Ethan likes to do:

Play some football.

A rare shot of him being nice to Avery.

Waving at the neighbors. A lot of them like to come by and say hi.

Hopefully we'll start doing some more exciting things soon, but I have a feeling there will still be a lot of outside time. I'd really like Ethan to have more playtime with other kiddos, so we're going to work on that too.

Wordless Wednesday

Because I've been severely lacking in posts...

Outside

Our little man LOVES to be outside. Whether it's cold or hot, he'll stay out there for hours if he could. I'm not too fond of the cold, so we hadn't been outside as much as he liked, but since it's warmed up we're out there at least once a day.

When I uploaded these pictures the other day, I realized they pretty much sum up some of Ethan's favorite things.

Bubbles. He loves them. He'll go to the cabinet where we keep the bubble machine and ask, "bubbles?" I think his addiction to bubbles might put us in the poor house.

He's also learning how to use the bubble wands himself. Too cute.

Running. The kid loves to run. He'll start at one end of the yard, give us a sneaky grin like he's saying, "You ready for this?" and take off, usually giggling along the way.

Sticks. Who knows what's with the sticks, but unlike bubbles, they're free and they're everywhere. He likes to pick a stick as soon as we step out the door and carry it around the whole time. He can find a stick-like object almost anywhere we go.

That's our Ethan. And yes, he's wearing Christmas pajama bottoms in the backyard, don't judge.

Another Video

This is actually one of my favorite Ethan videos EVAH. A while back, E learned how to say "Oh" in front of everyone's names: "Oh, Mama," "Oh, Dada," etc. Well one day, this song came on, and Ethan started to "sing" along. He loves his Nana.

Christmas 2010

Thought I'd share a video from Christmastime to go along with that belated holiday post.

Merry Christmas Y'all!

Huh, guess I'm a just a tad late on that. Whoops. Please accept my apologies. I thought about skipping it altogether since I'm so behind, but I figured that wouldn't be good. Almost all of my computer time lately has been spent making the first two years of the blog into a book, and I've finally finished. Doing that reminded me that I used to really like updating the blog, and it's a great way to keep track of memories, so I'm resolving to get back on it.

Anyway, back to Christmas. We spent the 24th-26th at my aunt and uncle's house in Georgetown. It was really nice to celebrate Christmas with all of our traditions like we used to. Christmas Eve was spent decorating the tree. My family has always decorated together on the 24th. It actually used to be because Santa brought the tree, but has since evolved into decorating it as a family and leaving it up until the Epiphany.

Me and Gramma

Decorating

The tree all finished.

We spent the night at our house that night so we could spend Christmas morning at home. Nana came over and watched Ethan open his stocking and a few presents.

Bed head.

Oooh, a stick.

Back in Georgetown, Ethan had a plethora of gifts to open, but he wasn't too interested. He liked playing with things, but not opening them. He got a new tool bench and tools, kitchen stuff, a tricycle, some books, some sticks, and a ton of other great things. A lot of the pictures didn't turn out well, so I only have a few.

One of his favorites was the Weebles from Aunt Paula

Playing with his new tractor.

The next weekend, we drove up to Southlake for our Christmas with the W side. We arrived on New Year's Day, and first celebrated Cory's birthday (which was the day before). Afterward was our Christmas morning, which included lots of laughs and good times.

The birthday boy

Some of us were hoarding our presents.


Elecee thought maybe she was getting a gun. Or maybe they were garden ornaments.

Mad and Gray helped E open his presents.

Ethan enjoyed some quality time with cousin Kerry.

It was a nice Christmas, and it's even nicer revisiting it a month later ;)

NYC: Part 2

Okay, to continue...

One of the highlights of the trip for me was Rockefeller Center. I watch the tree lighting every year on t.v., and have always said that next time I go to New York, it will be in December so I can finally see it in person. I'm so glad we made it happen, it was definitely a beautiful sight. Luckily, it wasn't terribly crowded on the night we went either, so we found a spot to stand right up front where I could admire the tree as long as I wanted.

Walking up to the tree.

Back the other way toward Saks, where they do a beautiful projection on the store front along with music.

Ethan was enamored with the angels (which my grandmother thinks have been there since she lived there in the 50s. I should check on that, because that would be crazy cool.)

The tree.

My mom, E, and I.

More decorations on our way back to the subway.

Another favorite day for Cory was when we went downtown. We had a book with a walking tour of the Wall St. area, and it was neat to hear all the history and admire the architecture. And of course, see the bull.

It took us a long time to get this picture. We had to fight a whole tour bus of people, but thankfully, a lot of them preferred to get a picture with the other end of the bull. (????)

The Flatiron building.

On our last full day there, we decided to do something we have never done there, and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. We took the subway to Brooklyn and had lunch before walking back over. By the way, if you ever do it do it this way. There are much better views walking toward Manhattan.

Just beginning.

The view.

Family shot from the middle.

One with Nana.

One more shot, almost at the end.

We actually decided to let E walk across instead of ride, and he loved it. He made it the whole way, and loved looking at the cars underneath. He was pretty popular too, being the only toddler walking across that day.

And that's it, our trip.

NYC: Part 1

That's right, Part 1, because we have a ton of pictures from our trip a couple of weeks ago. So, here goes...

My mom's roommate from college, Michael, was here visiting in November. He is an actor in New York, who recently finished his tour of Phantom of the Opera, so he was heading home. He mentioned that we should come up and visit him now that he's finally home, and that he would be happy to have us stay with him. Ha! Little did he know we would take him up on it and invade his apartment a few weeks later. I'm kidding, he was actually really excited to see us again (I think).

I was super scared of the plane ride with Ethan being a lap child and all, but he pleasantly surprised me. We had to bring along the car seat because Michael was picking us up from the airport, so we thought to bring it to the gate and just see if we could get an actual seat for E. We got lucky and got one, so he slept on the plane for about 2 hours, and spent the rest perfectly happy in his seat. I actually got to read a magazine and have a soda in peace, it was truly amazing. However, I did have to deal with a few side-eyes from other parents as they paced the aisles with their kids while mine slept like an angel. Eh, I got over it pretty quickly.

We arrived and headed out to dinner with Michael after getting settled. The first thing Ethan did?

Why, he found a stick, of course.

The weather the whole time we were there barely topped off at 33 degrees. Freaking cold I tell you, but we were sufficiently layered and no one complained too much. Ethan spent the first half of the week being worn in an Ergo I borrowed, and the last couple of days we broke out the stroller. I think he preferred being worn more, and the bonus to that is he's been extra snuggly with us ever since.

Mom and I have been to New York several times, but Cory had only spent a day there in his teens, and of course this was Ethan's first time, so we did a perfect mixture of touristy stuff and regular hanging out while we were there.

I'll try to tell the rest in pictures, and hopefully you don't get too bored.

Cute row houses in Harlem

Bethesda Fountain in Central Park

Michael, Me, Mom, and Ethan (asleep in the Ergo).

Cory, me, Mom, and E in front of the fountain

Strawberry Fields

Ethan taking a stroll in Central Park. It took him awhile to get used to wearing all those clothes. He stumbled for the first few minutes after being let down.

The Dakota, where Lennon once lived (and died in front of). Yoko still lives there, as well as Jerry Seinfeld and other richey riches.

Cory had the best cookie of his life here. Cookies are very important to him, so this was indeed a highlight of the trip.

In Times Square.

Still in Times Square.

Grand Central Station, where we also had great NY pizza at Two Boots.

Empire State.

In front of Macy's. I'm a big fan of Christmas, so I have been dying to see NYC at Christmas. Beware of lots of Christmas decor pictures to come.

Inside Macy's.

Columbus Circle/Time Warner Center.

Huge snowflake in the middle of an intersection on 5th Ave.

Pretty, huh?

FAO Schwarz, which I prefer far more than the huge ToysRUs in Times Square. We bought Ethan a great (stick) wooden push toy.

Ethan in his new Pea Pod. We needed something easier to haul than a Pack n Play, so Cory found this on Craigslist. I was skeptical, but Ethan fell asleep in this like a champ. After the first night, he even fell asleep while we were like 10 feet away watching TV and talking. In the morning he would just pop his head up, peek out the window, and say "Mama" to wake us up. Too cute.

Strolling in Riverside Park.

Leaves are fun.

A playground in Riverside Park. It was deserted being 28 degrees and all, but E didn't mind the cold at all.

Me and Micheal in front of the Washington Square Park Arch.

My favorite building, the Chrysler.

Grand Central and it's HUGE wreath.

Of course, we saw the Rockefeller Tree, but more on that next time...