Our Annual Trip to Washington (Part I)

We always look forward to our annual trip home to Washington to see family and friends. This trip was especially fun since Ethan is now walking around and a lot more interactive! We were so thankful that our family friends, Tom and Julie Boyer, invited us to house sit for them while they were on vacation. They have a great house with a large back yard, lots of toys and all the baby accessories we could ask for (they babysit their grandkids during the week). It was so nice to have a place spread out and make our home!

We got in on Thursday and I got to spend the day on Friday doing girl stuff with Kelly. Then Saturday we kicked off our trip with my brother's wedding. We only got pics of Ethan on our camera, but I'm waiting for more from Sean. Ethan did o.k. at the wedding, but he was pretty tired. Luckily Tom and Julie had this portable high chair that we used, which was perfect for a snack break!

We ended up leaving the wedding a little early since Ethan was jet-lagged and grouchy, but we decided to make the most of the day and invited Rich, Allisha and Skyler out to the Boyer's for a play date. I didn't get any pictures of the boys together, but they had a great time playing on the porch/playground!

On Sunday we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa Walker's house before church. My dad had been busy garage sale shopping in preparation for our visit. This car was one of his finds and Ethan LOVED it! Good find Grandpa!

We spent Labor Day with Aunt Kelly, Anderson, Shina and Mack. Kelly wanted to take Ethan to the Hands on Children's Museum for his birthday present. The boys had a great time and it was the perfect gift! Thanks, Kelly!

Me and Ethan exploring the puppets

The things moms and dads make kids wear in order to get a good picture!

The trains were definitely a hit! We had a hard time getting him to look up for a picture!

All the boys playing together...

Mack was such a good sport, especially since the two littler boys hadn't quite mastered the concept of sharing or "turns" the way he had!

At first, Ethan wanted nothing to do with the lighthouse. But then he realized how handy it was for playing peek-a-boo and he was hooked!

I love how both Ethan and Anderson are looking at Mack with such concern and Mack is just having a good ol' time! These boys aren't sure what to think about their older friend who is a Hands on Children's Museum pro!

He loved "shoveling" the rocks at the sorting pile.

Visiting the farm
They had a tree that you could "pick" apples off of, which Ethan thought was pretty neat!

He made a quick stop and tried to make friends with the girls who were playing doctor...they didn't really pay him much attention, though, so he gave up and moved on pretty quickly. Look how sad he looks!

Another train set! This time he dug in with his dad.

Ethan's love for cars, trucks and other vehicles really came out on this trip home. He even has a "car" noise he makes while he pushes them around! Maybe all the cars he played with at the museum had some influence on him. He was fascinated by the lights on the ambulance.

Aunt Kelly and Anderson take the wheel!
We ended our visit by making a trip to the water table. Ethan loves water, so this was right up his alley!

It was sure a great start to our vacation. Thanks to Kelly for the great birthday gift to Ethan! The boys had a great time. More pictures to come in part II!

Oh What Fun It Is to Be 1!!

I can't believe it's been a year since this moment! A year ago, sweet Ethan joined our family.

Weighing in at 8 lbs. 10.2 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long, Ethan was a lot bigger than we expected!
He has been such a sweet, good-natured baby from the beginning!

One year later, here we are, celebrating our sweet boy on his first birthday! He has grown SO much. At his one year check up he weighed 24 lbs. 4 oz. and was 31 inches tall!

Here are some things we have come to know and love about Ethan:

• He is a great sleeper! He slept for 5 hour stretches starting at about 2 months and he started sleeping through the night at 6 months. He still sleeps very well, usually going to bed at 7:30 and sleeping until 7! We love that!
• He loves to eat! He is eating a lot of the same foods as us now and is great with finger foods. He especially loves cheddar bunnies (kind of like gold fish), yogurt, any kind of fruit and green beans.
• He laughs and laughs and laughs. He is so fun to play with and is just silly!
• Ethan LOVES books. Sometimes the apartment will get quiet while I'm out in the kitchen and 9 times out of 10 I know I'm going to find him in his room pulling books out of his book basket. He spreads them out all around him and just flips through the pages.
• He started walking about a month ago and is just taking off!
• He loves to "help" out around the house and prefers helping us to playing with his toys.
• He has recently started saying "Dad-dee" with purpose (it's sooo cute)!
• He uses baby sign language for "milk", "more", and "all done" on a regular basis. He just started using the sign for "eat" recently. We are still working on more signs.
• He is very social and dives into playing with other kids. He loves to watch other kids, too, and definitely is adventurous on toys and playgrounds.

We were so excited to celebrate Ethan's first birthday. Time for presents!

We found this collapsable tunnel on clearance at Target (I love that place!) while my mom was here visiting, so she decided to get it as a birthday gift for Ethan. He was so excited about this new toy.

Brave boy!

Opening his present from Grandma Bernard...He noticed the balls right away. He loves to chew on and play with any toy that includes balls.

Playing with his train
His present from Grandma and Grandpa Walker. He can't wait for dad to put it together!

So much fun!

Time for more fun with the tunnel!

We decided to just have a low key day and invite our friend Becky over. Tristan BBQed burgers and hot dogs and Ethan got to try his first hot dog. He though it was o.k., but wasn't overly impressed. Whenever Tristan is out on the porch doing anything, Ethan is glued to the windows watching him intently! He loves his daddy!

Learning how to grill
Time for cake!

This is about as into the whole cake thing he got. I think he just wasn't that hungry and we waited too long into the evening. He sure did enjoy licking the frosting off of his fingers, though!

Getting a little goofy leads to....

...this. I think this was the main reason why the cake didn't go over so well. We waited until after dinner and he was just tired from all of the partying! Poor guy!

After dinner we decided to open the last of the gifts--the ones from us and from Becky. Now, I promise you, I was NOT torturing him. He was just done for the day. It was a busy and overwhelming and he was ready for bed!
In true Ethan fashion, he was more interested in the packaging than the cool snap cubes from Becky...whatever makes him happy!

Looking at his cool animal book

An elephant book from Becky

His own cell phone! I really just thought this would prevent him from going after ours and the t.v. remote. So far it has worked!

Another book!! He especially likes this one because of the "touch and feel" parts!
Finally figuring out the whole unwrapping thing...All in all, Ethan was a trooper and a very happy birthday boy! He was definitely spoiled a little!

Despite all of the festivities going on, we managed to get out for a quick drive earlier that day so Ethan could give his forward-facing car seat a try!

Trying to figure out why things look different all of a sudden...
He really loves facing forward. I can't blame the kid...at least now he can feel the AC better in the car and see what's going on! Here's our BIG 1-year-old!
It was a fun day! We can't believe how fast this first year has flown by! We're so grateful for our sweet boy!

Home Alone!

The day before Ethan's first birthday, Tristan and I had our first baby-less date!!! Ethan was being a silly, silly boy that night so we had to take some pictures!

Here he is with our dear friend, Becky, a.k.a. "the babysitter"...we're not sure she REALLY knew what she was in for!
Tristan took me to The Melting Pot for an early birthday/anniversary dinner. We love going there, but only get to about once a year. It was nice to get to be alone on a date and actually focus on adult conversation--especially since Tristan was getting ready to work for 3 weeks straight! We really appreciated the help so we could have our first post-baby date night!
Ethan did great for Becky, but then again, he was in good hands!