Remix to Ignition-Part 1

I just read my last blog to see where I left off. It was in JULY! Whew. Do you know how much can happen to a person in nine months? This is why I should have kept up, but I didn't so you get the cliff notes of my life in the past nine months. Stay with me on this, I'm gonna break this up into a few different blogs (because I hate moving pictures so far down the page when arranging the blog!)

Ethan and preschool-he started the actual preschool and the very first day, he told the teacher the butterfly book she was reading to the class was stupid (1st thinking chair moment,) started running up and down the hall because he was bored (2nd thinking chair moment,) and MIGHT have started a fight out on the playground (yet a 3rd thinking chair moment. Glad I paid for 2.5 hours of time outs!) Wow, do I have a great 13 years of education to look forward to. He didn't even last a month, because I was not going to drop 100 bucks a month for my child to hate me and life. That's what public education is for. He is required to go there, and I'm not shelling out Benjamins :-)

This picture right here should have told me what kind of day it was going to be. He wouldn't even make eye contact with me!

Ok, so Ethan's a preschool dropout-next! Halloween! This year, Ethan was Aladar from the movie Dinosaur and it was the coolest costume I've ever seen. I found it at a thrift store in Independence for 8 dollars, and got online to find out it was selling for upwards of 60 to 80 dollars USED! Man, I love a good find at a thrift store!

The mighty...ok, I don't know what kind of dinosaur he was, but he was mighty!

Posed next to his pumpkin that daddy carved for him this year, ready to go out and load up on his favorite breakfast, lunch and dinner-CANDY!

His trick-or-treating partner in crime, Ratatoulle (aka Kennedy.) What better match than a rat and a dinosaur?

Ratatoulle and Aladar in action!

He also moonlighted as Bumblee from Transformers for the playgroup Halloween party because I didn't feel like getting him dressed up in 50 lbs of costume, plu s I had already bought Bumblebee before I found Aladar.

Ok, next up-I turned 30!!!!

I had a great time and am so fortunate to have the group of friends that I do, and my sis even showed up for this occasion of me turning old! I am only really aware of the very first of the evening, after that, things got a LITTLE fuzzy!

Cari, me (yes, that is blonde...it was supposed to be "streaks" it turned into blonde top :-), Bree, Court, and Brie. We started the evening at Houlihans, fabulous food!

Me and sis, Cari. Yep, we have the same mother AND father. We answer that question at least 3 times when we are out together.

Me and the hubs, in one of his rare smile shots!

The group grows larger at Brass Rail! All the ladies in the house!

And we finish at the Pub House, where my reserved husband is singing and dancing. This picture shall never be lost!!

My grandma turned 83 in November, as well. We ate at Ryan's steakhouse (SUCKED) but it was a good time anyway, because her favorite grand kid, Ethan, was there :-)

Thanksgiving we made the trip to Arkansas to see all of John's relatives and had a great time catching up with everyone. It was nice to for Ethan to get to see all his grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins he isn't around very often!

Ethan and cousin Corbin. They are literally a few months apart in age and get along so good that it makes me wish they lived closer together. Here we caught them for a moment playing guns (yes, I know my son has a bat, but he also has a vivid imagination!)

Great-granny Pat and two of her younger great-grandkids.

Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Jesse.


Grandpa Freelan and Grandma Stella.


And of course, Grandma and Grandpa Northweather. If there is one thing this kid will never run low on, it's grandparents! Not a bad thing by any means!

Ok, I'm stopping here. I'll cover Christmas through present on Part 2. And then, I will vow once again to update once a month instead of twice a year!

Preschool, Daddy the Firefighter and a Wedding

Well, it was a fairly busy month here in the Northweather household. First big story on the list is Ethan started preschool (ok, it was summer Parents Day Out, but it got him prepped for real preschool in August!) I was pretty scared for his reaction, but he was a champ. He was mad that I moved his playdough cap and that was the big drama of the first day!

Here he is eating his breakfast before school. His attention is on Go Diego, Go.

Standing in front of church/school. He was wearing his backpack; he thought he was pretty awesome.
And here he is at his assigned chair. There is the infamous playdough that I misplaced the cap on and about threw him into a tizzy. Looking at this, I just can't believe how he has grown.

This is just a random pic thrown in from a Sam's Club visit with my friend, Betsy and her kids. Those shopping carts are big enough to fit three small children, and with the meat display in the back, it's a priceless pic.

Another big thing that happened was Johnathan going to Firefighter school in Texas for Bayer. He is an official Fire Brigade dude, which means he's the guy that has to go back INTO the explosion instead of running out like a cougar (as I would do.) Makes me very nervous, but he wanted to do it!

Ethan pimpin' John's fire outfit. The helmet, very heavy. I think it was bending his neck.

Ok, this looks like a pic out of horror movie. Really, it's just John in his gear and that reflective crap took over the pic!

Ethan and his "girlfriend" Kennedy at her 4th birthday party. He likes the tall gals. They are soaked because a huge rainstorm came through and it was an outdoor party. Perfect recipe for kids to act a fool and play in the rain.

And finally, Melissa and Rusty's wedding. Great time, too much wine, and Lacy actin' a fool. Hard to believe. The wedding was at the Villas of Kansas City, which was a beautiful place to have a wedding!

The B's and I before the wedding. Did I add it was 300 degrees outside and our makeup was melting off our faces?

Longhorn and Ex-Longhorn girls posing pretty. Again, hair falling and makeup melting off. At least by this time, we all had drinks.

Bree and I. Love cleavage shots.

I mean, really, how cute are these two? It's pretty scary when someone makes John look small, but McNally indeed does.

John and I. He absolutely loves taking pictures (and by love, I mean loathe.) His eyes ALWAYS close when he smiles in a picture. It's a phenomenon I can't quite figure out.

The freshly married couple. I LOVE wedding pics paired with bubbles.

The face I make when it's probably time to take the glass of wine out of my hand. But, it was a really fun night and one of the few occasions you'll see me step out in a dress. Gotta love weddings and booze!

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!