Teeth and Toddlers!

We hit the ground running Wednesday from the dentist to playgroups! Ethan's second dentist appointment was yesterday, even though it was his very first teeth cleaning (the first visit they just get them used to sitting in the chair and count their teeth. Good idea so they aren't terrified of the dental chair like many adults!) He was a champ and wasn't scared a bit. They polished his pearly whites all up with "strawberry" and the dentist checked the chip on his front tooth that he got at a year old (backstory: he sleeps with us, he woke up, sleep crawled to the end of the bed, fell off before John and I even realized what was going on, smiled at me the next morning, and that's when I realized he looked like Floyd off of Dumb and Dumber. Ok, the last part is exaggerated of course, but it freaked me out that he had just got his cute little teeth and now will have to live with this chip until it falls out!) Whew, let me breathe now. Ok, couple of dental pics:

This is the dental hygienist, Debbie, who was MY hygienist when I was 6 years old until I was 18!
And this is Debbie's husband and dentist, Dr. Jerry, who also was my dentist, of course, from 6 to 18 checkin' out the E man's chompers. The bright light made this picture a little hard to see, but you still get the idea.

After the dentist we went to playgroup, where we threw one of our own, Emily, a Happy Job party (we look for any excuse to throw parties and eat!) She is going to be working at Liberty Hospital and she is the first of us to join the full-time work force. I have a pretty good feeling I'm next in line since I only have one kid and he goes to kindergarden in 2 years! Anyway, it was great and we were actually able to get a couple of decent shots of the whole group with my camera that has a timer (LOVE IT!)


We were actually able to shove all the kids to the other side of the room to get just a mommies pic and toast Emily (she's the one in the red sweater in the back.)

And then, of course, here is the whole group as it stands now. You know how hard it is to get all those kids to look at the camera at the same time? It's impossible! One of the girls, Megan, is ready hatch her second, and everyone else, excluding me, has 2 kiddos. I want to give you an idea how much this group has grown. Below is a picture of us when we first all got together 2 years ago and each had 1 child:

And below is us today, all with 2 kids, or incubating the second one, except me of course:

Pretty big change in just 2 short years, huh? But, that's how we roll! We'll miss you during the playgroups, Em, but we will definitely have evening playgroups, even if it's just for the mommies :-) Good luck on your new job!

And Megan would probably kill me if she saw that I posted this, but I think her little tummy is so cute! She is literally due next week. Then their will be 11 kids up from the original 6. Wow. It's still amazing to me how fast our little playgroup has almost doubled!

Excuse me while I kiss the skylight!

We had a busy week here at the Northweather household! Wednesday we had a small playgroup at Zona Rosa and the kids got to run some energy off (always a good thing.) Emily and our crew went to catch some lunch at Jason's Deli afterward (great pastrami sandwiches!!)

Ethan, Preston and Mallory in a leaf. Yep, just a leaf!

And what play area would be complete without a large bear and a honeypot?

Ethan and Mallory looking precious at lunch. (seriously, what were they plotting?)

And partaking in their favorite part of the meal: FREE ICE CREAM!

Friday and Saturday, of course, I always put in my 8 hours (total, that is) of hard work at Longhorn and catch up on the weekly gossip with the LH posse. In addition to this, I also did a paint job that had a bathroom with a skylight that reached to Heaven with my mom (we both are not fans of heights) so that was great fun climbing ladders we both despise! There was a little fun to be had in light of all the "work" I was putting in, though. I took Ethan to a Parents as Teachers event where the kids got to do creative things? I guess is what you would call it. I caught a couple of quick pics, but it's hard to keep track of your munchkin when there are a million other ones running around like banchees!

Aahh, yes, the wonderous fun of shaving cream smeared on a table. Not sure what this teaches kids, but Ethan loves to make messes, so it was up his alley!

We made "snow angels" which I thought was a super cute idea and I'm going to hang it in his room so he can see how big he was when he was (almost) 3. I had him draw a face on it, and believe it or not, this kid can draw a face. Now, it might look a little scary, but he does the eyeballs, nose and mouth! Love my little boy genius!

Here he is super involved in stamping. He actually enjoyed this a lot more than I thought he would, so Momma will be making a trip to Michaels to get her boy some stamps now!

And that about wraps it up. I will end with saying that, as I write this blog, my boys are asleep in the front room and I got a nice candid shot that neither are the wiser to. I love sleeping daddy/son shots:

History Has Taken Place!

So here I am on a Wednesday morning, and if I was asked to name our president, I would say Barack Obama. Is that strange to anyone else?

I will admit, I'm scared and kind of excited all at the same time. I was never a Bush fan, Senior or W, and for that matter I was really never what I considered a Republican. This election, I did vote for McCain. (I actually voted for the first time in my life, not something I'm proud of!) I didn't choose him because he's Republican or any of that party nonsense, I really began to like the guy and his ideals. It took me awhile to come to that conclusion, after watching the news, reading articles on the net, talking with my crazy Republican husband :-)

But, such is life. This would have been such an historical election either way. We either gained an African-American president, or a woman vice president. Either way, Ethan's first presidential election will go down in the history books, and his baby book for that matter! Even though I voted McCain, the day that Obama was elected, I did have Ethan pose for a photo op with the computer:

Do I hope he fails miserably as a president? NO! Why would I want to live in a country that is going to go to shambles? I truly hope he has what it takes to turn this country around, and I will gladly admit I was wrong! I raise my cup of hazelnut coffee to the 44th president of the United States. Here's hoping you can at least half-way fix us!

Fun Run = Hell Run!!!

I was starting out my Monday with every intention of getting soo much done. Other than my early morning computer session which I'm beginning to treasure while Ethan still snoozes, I was getting my grocery list done, checkbook balanced, get laundry caught up, you get the idea. Then, I get a call from my friend, Bree. They are going to this "Fun Run" place where there are thousands of inflatable slides and play areas. I resisted, but then got hit with a second friend Brie, so I printed off a coupon (this place is 7 bucks, dude!) and headed there with an eager Ethan.

HOLY TOM CRUISE AND L. RON HUBBARD, DON'T GO ON A SCHOOL HOLIDAY! This place was an absolute madhouse, full of crazy kids running off energy that shouldn't even be legal! And with Ethan being such a short lil guy, keeping track of him was practically impossible. I think I had six anxiety attacks while there because I kept losing him in those large inflatables! (not a great place for a high strung mom!!) But, in between anxiety and nervous breakdowns, Ethan had a great time and I got to visit with the mommies:

That's right, ladies. Line your daughters up, because my son is helping Kennedy do the laundry!

So, after staying there for about 5 hours (and that is no joke) we headed home, ate lunch, took a well deserved nap and THEN headed to Los Compas to meet the same above-mentioned friends for some mexican food and margaritas. (ok, the kids just got the food part!)


The world-famous (or at least, Liberty famous) fishbowl margarita. I can finish one of these on my own, but I wasn't looking to be laid out on the floor that evening! These are the killer B's (Bree and Brie) in the pic, and Keenon :-). Thanks hubs, for being my DD!

This would be our clan of goofballs we call our children: Kaden, Ethan, Kennedy and Keenon. Let's just say, we were the family you do NOT want to sit by in a restaurant! At one point, so desperate to talk to other adults, we were ordering the kids to go under the table and play fort! LOL, I think it was a gathering of the parents of the year nominees!

And seriously, who can get through dinner without hittin' someone up on their 2-way! Obviously, not these kids!

As far as my Monday chores go, I got the dishwasher loaded. That wasn't even on my list of to-do's! Wow. Quite an accomplishing day, but at least there was a margarita squeezed in there. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have 2 days worth of stuff to catch up on!

The catch up blog...what makes my life tick?

Ok, so quite frankly, if you are reading this, chances are you know me, somehow. My OCD personality is going to require me to catch you up on my life in this first blog, and from then on I can move on to fun, everyday stuff, which will most likely always include my son, Ethan.

I am 29 (the big 3-0 hits this year; still coming to grips with this aspect.) I graduated from Winnetonka High and DeVry (yay for lifetime student loans!) At DeVry, I met the man I would marry, Johnathan Northweather. We did not get along while he attended DeVry, and I was a faculty assistant in some of his classes. We "re-met" at a mutual friends party a year later, and something clicked this time around. We dated for 2 years and then he FINALLY :-) popped the question at GoJo's (or rather, in the parking lot in the car!)

We married on April 26, 2003 and bought a house in Liberty, MO, which I consider my hometown. John came from Belton. So he had quite a drive to see me when we were dating :-) We've been in the same house for 6 years and love it here.

We knew we always wanted children, just didn't realize it was going to be so hard getting there! But, after 2 years of trying, the pink lines showed up on the stick, and my stomach began to protrude!!

And on February 20, 2006 at 2:57p John Ethan Phillip Northweather made his entrance in the world (on his due date and with no induction!) He has been the complete focus of our world ever since!

I am a stay-at-home mommy now to Ethan, who turns the big 3 next month! It's a big switch from the full-time work force, but it's something that I will never get back, so I treasure it. I have my AAAHHHH days, but who doesn't?? I do work a couple days a week at Longhorn Steakhouse, and have had that gig since Ethan was 6 months old. I'm sure I'll be there until Ethan is in Kindergarden, at least.

So here is a very small collage of Ethan through his life thus far of 3 years:

And there you have it. In 8 years, I feel I've accomplished a lot, so far. I know there is so much more to come, which is scary and exciting all at the same time. Ethan will be starting Kindergarden in 2 short years! Stay tuned to the next installment of the ramblings of Mrs. N!