December 2008

December was such a fun month! Here, Ethan shows me a whole new use for Christmas stockings...
...helping Mommy decorate the tree.


Santa visited the local fire station, and Ethan got to check out the engine up close

AAAHHH, finally, no tears when visiting Santa. He finally seemed to understand that this guy brings him cool gifts, so maybe he should warm up to him!

Visiting Santa at the Bass Pro shop

shooting a Red Rider BB gun with Daddy's help.

This year I decided to participate in an Adopt-A-Grandparent program through my Mary Kay business, raising money to put together gift bags for residents in a local nursing home. I raised enough to give away 45 bags, and Ethan helped me hand them out to a few of the seniors. This was one of the most rewarding moments for me as a mother, seeing my little guy bring smiles and joy to the residents in the nursing home. He hugged and said "Merry Christmas" to every0ne he saw, and then walked around the rest of the day telling everyone that he "made people happy at the nursing home." I will definitely be doing this again in the future, as it totally took me back to my roots as a social worker in a nursing facility and I felt that Ethan finally "got" what Christmas is all about!
Making our annual gingerbread house on Christmas Eve.

Leaving cookies out for Santa.


Grandma was able to come spend the night with us Christmas eve so that she could experience the excitement of Christmas morning with us...Santa was very good to Ethan this year!

November 2008

Ethan and I tagged along with Daddy one day when he decided to go hunting. We dropped him off and spent the day at Crockett Park, a park I used to go to as a child. We had the whole place to ourselves.

helping Mommy make bread

Daddy's first deer of the season

Halloween 2008

Ethan and I went to the straw maze again this year with Marcie and Joshua Meighan. This may have to be a tradition, since the boys have a blast, and it's free!here are the boys in '07...wow, it was much colder this year!

picking out pumpkins

Ethan has an obsession with dragons lately.

Here he is playing dress-up at the Playroom.

...and here he is in his Halloween costume that he totally picked out on his own.

we had a meltdown around dusk...I think Ethan was just tired of waiting around, and wanted to go get his candy already. We headed out a little early, but there was no calming him until we did.

...yeah, I'm happy now!

Seaworld, San Diego- Oct.08

The day before we left San Diego, we went to Sea World. It was only for a couple hours, because they closed early, but it was really cool! We just wish we had more time to explore! We will definitely have to go back one day and take in everything!
There was a Sesame Street amusement park there, and Ethan loved riding the Elmo ride.

He especially loved the zebra!

We were able to go to the Shamu show. It was right at nap time though, and Ethan was starting to get very testy. He insisted on sitting one row in front of us because he was mad. Once the show started, though, he really did enjoy it!

Daddy trying to tame the wild beast...

touching the starfish

looking at the manatees

Ethan and I went to the Children's Museum that was just across the street from the hotel. It was very artsy, but definitely a great place to get photos. Ethan had fun even though there was really not much to do.
painting a VW bug

playing with clay

we drew a chalk outline of Ethan...notice he's drawing red hair on himself.

playing on the climbing wall

Bye bye San Diego! We sure will miss you!