OG Playgroup and Parks!

Well, it's nice to actually have something to blog about, with pictures, no less! I've been trying to shed my "stay in the house all day like a vampire" and get out and enjoy the nice weather. Ethan has been very happy with this switch. We did venture to Penguin Park a couple of weeks ago. While Ethan had a blast running all over the place, I got stuck talking to a woman who wanted to tell me her WHOLE life story. Do I have "Psychologist" written on my forehead that I'm not aware of? Anyhoo, here's some pics from that "adventure.

Ethan posing with the elephants. He was a little bit hesitant to climb up there, but he held the dudes ears for dear life!

Little onry Ethan. He just looks like he's about to do something bad. Fortunately, he didn't. Perhaps it was because he knew I was watching.


I love this picture because it is one of the few natural pics my son gives nowadays. Usually, you tell him to smile and he yells cheese, looks darn silly, and is typically looking away. Great way to get a good shot. Of course, I had to catch the good pic of him "behind bars' because genius mom told him, "act like your in jail!"

The wobble bridge. Very reluctant at first, but as long as I kept my fat butt off of it and shook him like an earthquake, he liked it!

And the germabus. How many kids have had their dirty paws on that steering wheel, coughed on it, or sneezed on it? I'm surprised I didn't have my antibacterial wipes carrying them around, but I will say, I sprayed him practically from head to toe with antibacterial spray when we got in the car!

Yesterday, we got to meet with the whole playgroup (Minus Emily, Mallory and Chloes :-( at City Park in Liberty. The kids were beside themselves seeing everyone again! I'm surprised Ethan didn't run into a wall at the house when I told him we were gonna see his playgroup friends, because he was running around like a MANIAC! On with the pictures!

Here is the OG gang (plus Luke, who was a second born, but real close in age to his bro) From L to R: Lucy, Luke, Preston, Zac, Oliver, and Ethan.

And here are the first boys in the group. Man, how they have changed since all of them were crawling 2 years ago!

I love this pic because I told the boys to smile, but instead they looked at each other to see if the other one was smiling. Silly preschoolers!


The picnic luncheon L to R if you can follow my lead: Nanthida (mom) Zoe, Lucy, Luke, Zac, Melana (mom) Ethan, Oliver and Preston. Now, see if you can match names with faces!


Ethan, Oliver and Lucy on the wobble bridge. No adults to knock them off. Takes away from the fun.

This pic looks like it should be in a baby magazine. I also just saw a pic of Hallie Barry and her lil baby in this exact same pose on MSN (but this one is much cuter) Zoe and Nanthida.

Introducing the newest members of the clan, Milo. He is Oliver's brother and an absolute dead ringer of Oliver!

Me pushing Ethan and Lucy on the swingset. In the background on the right is a bratty little girl that was trying to gank swingsets from the little ones. I had to set her straight.

One more group pic. These kids have grown so much over the past 2 years (3 for Ethan, Zac and Mallory (not pictured) It is so true when people tell you even in the most hectic of moments with your kid in the grocery store "treasure these moments, because they will be grown and gone before you know it. They are right.

And, I'm very happy to report that Ethan got used to his new big boy bed and sleeps in there everynight. We do have the occasional wondering into our room, but he's pretty easy to walk back to his room and cover him up (mostly because I think he is sleep walking, and trait from his dad.) This is Ethan and Great-Grandma Maxine who bought the bed for Ethan. Thank you Grandma! If it would have been left up to me, he would have been sleeping in his toddler car bed until college!

Twin Beds and Anniversaries

So, it's been a very, very long time since my last post. Nothing too greatly exciting has been going down here lately, just the daily grind, as usual. One big step has happened, though. The big E is FINALLY sleeping in his own bed after 3 very long years of us having a "family bed." I must say, the first couple of months of Ethan's life, him sleeping in our bed was a godsend to me because I could just breastfeed and go back to sleep. Also, itty bitty babies don't move around so much. 2 year olds move a lot around. 3 year olds can knock your jaw out of place with flying limbs in their sleep! The final straw came when John went to sleep on the couch last week because Ethan was moving around so much. The next night, I took it into my hands and laid down the law (I also bribed with Dollar Tree plastic bugs!) And, surprisingly, it worked out pretty well! He, of course, got up a couple hundred times to run around the living room, because isn't that what all normal kids to before bed everynight? Then, he wore himself out, and I didn't hear noises from his room. He was ASLEEP! And, he was super happy receiving his "bugs."

So...we had one of those stellar toddler racecar beds that are super comfortable to sleep on the trunk if you are not taller than 3 feet. My grandma graciously offered to buy Ethan a twin size bed because she didn't like him "being so close to the ground; it's too cold." I just liked the idea because if we have to sleep with him (stormy nights!) we actually fit on the bed. We head to Nebraska and pick out a nice, basic twin size bed, and I dress it up with Lightning McQueen bedspread and sheets. When our precious child walked in to his room to see his surprise, he looked around his room like he didn't even see it. Really? You can't see that your bed has grown? Anyway. Here he was looking like it was going to be a great night!

Don't let that innocent smile fool you. He FREAKED out about this new bed. I don't know how moving from a small cramped bed that has a plastic mattress to a taller, cushy matressed bed would make your world crumble, but his did. I ended up sleeping with him this first twin bed night, because John is on mornings this week. Tonight, we shall see how bedtime unfolds. And hopefully, the promise of some Dollar Tree plastic bugs will win over! Cross your fingers.

John and I also celebrated 6 years of wedded bliss on the Plaza at the Best Western (only the classiest joints will do for us.) We ate at the Melting Pot fondue restaurant. We have ate there 1 time before; we now both agree that we like the cheese fondue appetizer and the chocolate fondue dessert. The "dinner" portion of small chunks of meat that you boil? in the pot is just not too appetizing. Their is something about dipping filet minion in a boiling fondue pot of grease that doesn't appeal to the appetite. But the had some wonderful $400,000 dollar margaritas, so that makes up for everything.

Probably the only picture that turned out halfway decent, the server snapped it of us. She took pity on us when she saw us trying to take pics from the back of the booth, as featured below.

This was a self-portrait with the camera sitting on the back of our booth. (I'm pretty fond of the timer feature on our camera!) Luckily they sat us at the very back of the restaurant in the corner of the room. It was intimate; we weren't around anyone else!

And this one, probably my favorite picture of the night. As most of you know, my child does what I affectionately dub the "stroke face" when he is in distress or just in deep thought (or taking yearly family portraits, whatever.) So, I have now got a shot of his father doing the exact same face. And here I thought I was the one that passed this clever trait on to him!

So, there you have it. A couple of milestones in our little Northweather family. Perhaps I can try to post at least once a month now instead of quarterly!