April Fun

We finally started having some nice weather in April and we took advantage of it when we could!  Even if it was simply a walk down to the mailboxes, we found a way to get some outside time.  The boys love riding in their new wagon!

 But there's always time for fun indoors as well.  Ethan has always loved this tunnel, but he has started pulling it out so Carter will play in it with him.  Carter LOVES it!  He just gets so excited whenever he sees it and they love playing together inside.

 In April Carter started holding his own bottle--yay!

 But sometimes he doesn't quite understand the concept!

 This was just Ethan being silly one day.  I was actually impressed with how close he came to fitting in that bin.

 Another way we spend time outside when we have good weather is by going out and enjoying our backyard.  Seriously, I don't know how I've lived without one up to this point!

 Run, Ethan, run!

 Carter went through a short phase where he threatened to start sucking his thumb, but he's given up on it at this point.  He loves sitting on a blanket and watching Ethan play--I'm sure he's dying to get in there and play with him.  They are such good buddies!

 This day I had just finished pressure washing our back patio and Ethan decided to celebrate my hard work by breaking out the sidewalk chalk...awww, the joys of parenthood.  As soon as you finish something it's undone again!

 Carter started really experimenting with holding himself up and Ethan was always more than willing to get down on the ground with him and help him learn!

 He finally started pushing himself up onto his knees!  Although, this was the best picture I could get.

 Dinner time antics!

 This was just a funny one because Ethan looks like he's missing a leg.  He keeps trying to get into Carter's toys and gets stuck.  It seems like he wants to do everything that Carter does these days!

April was filled with fun with our sweet boys!  I'm glad they are turning into such good friends so we can all have fun together!

Easter Sunday

It was so nice to have Tristan here to celebrate Easter with us this year! Since church doesn't start until 1:00 for us we had the whole morning to relax and enjoy each other. Tristan set up another egg hunt with empty eggs to pass some of the time.

Ethan checking out Carter's basket

Finally digging into his own basket. He wanted those donuts right away!
What's inside?
Carter checking out his toys
Happy baby!
After church we headed over to my parents' house for dinner with my mom and dad, brother, aunt and cousin. My dad had another egg hunt for Ethan, but we didn't get any pictures of it. Needless to say, his piggy bank is now full of pennies (and nickles and dimes and quarters) and we had enough candy after 4 egg hunts to last us until next Easter!

We tried to get a good picture but it just wasn't in the cards. I also wanted to get a picture of the boys in their matching suits, but that didn't happen either...oh well!
The best part of the day was spent at church remembering the good new of our Savior's resurrection. What joy it brings to our hearts to know He lives!

Getting Ready for Easter

Well, let's start this post with a picture of this little guy! I feel bad because we haven't taken nearly as many pics of him as we did of Ethan, but I heard that was the way it would be! As you can see, he desparately needs a haircut, which will happen the next time Tristan is home.

We didn't get around to dying our Easter eggs until the day before Easter this year...I still feel like we aren't unpacked and settled so we got busy with a lot of other projects and it kept getting put off. But the important thing is that we did it! Here they are all ready to dye eggs (don't they look thrilled?).
Carter's all ready to pitch in and help!
Doing an egg dying tutorial
Ethan trying it out
Then we headed over to Grandma Bernard's to have an early Easter dinner with her, Aunt Tennille and Aunt Desiree. Grandma even had an egg hunt ready for Ethan. He really got into egg hunts this year so it was fun to watch.
That was a tricky one!
Running to get one
Ethan's stash!
After that we headed over to LBA park for our ward Easter egg hunt that evening. We had a great time and it was fun to get to know some people in our new ward.
He found two at once!
And, of course, you can't go to LBA for an egg hunt and not go on the toys! Even at night!
It was fun to watch Ethan enjoy some of the activities that we do to celebrate Easter. It's fun now that he's getting older and actually gets excited about them.

Potty Training

The week before Easter we decided to take the plunge into potty training Ethan. We got him a potty when we moved here in June and were very casual about it. We basically just encouraged him to sit on it, and most of the time he only used it right before getting into the bath. Tristan had been wanting to do it for a while and I was dragging my feet because I was dreading it. Our friend, Jill, sent us the 3-Day method after using it with her son who is about Ethan's age and we decided to try it. We figured the worst that could happen is that we spent 3 days on it and still had to keep working on it.

The first day we started out with a "ceremony" where he received his undies that he helped pick out. He was excited about finding some Thomas undies.

Look at that cute little bum!
The 3 boys, ready to hunker down for 3 days of potty training.
The next part of the ceremony was to "throw away" all the diapers in the house. We didn't really throw them out. We just packed them up later!

Since you have to devote 100% to potty training, you can't really go anywhere for the 3 days. Tristan really took over, spending a lot of time coming up with things to keep us busy. One day I had to run out and grocery shop, so Tristan and Ethan planted our broccoli and cauliflower starters.
Ethan did a great job. We did have some accidents, but never at night and never at nap time! By the end of the 3 days, he was pretty much trained--even going #2 on the potty! We still constantly remind him, but he usually does great! I can't believe he's such a big boy already!

St. Patrick's Day

So since I was totally lame on Valentine's Day, I decided to try to make up for it on St. Patrick's Day. It also happened to be Carter's 6 month birthday, which was all the more excuse for some fun. I had a few errands to run in the morning but we had a great afternoon together.

My two lucky charms!

An all green lunch (sour cream and onion Pringles). There were also green spinach rotini noodles, but I didn't get there in time!
Carter James--6 months old
Then we colored leprechauns (I had to teach Ethan what they were!).
And we made shamrock prints using a bell pepper!
Ethan just started taking big bites out of it in the middle of our project! He loves them and apparently thought it was rather handy to have a snack right there waiting for him!
Carter was over hanging out on that blanket that you see in the background. After a few minutes of working with Ethan I looked up and found that he had moved all the way to the kitchen floor. I'm not exactly sure how, but I'm guessing barrel rolls. He's rolling like crazy right now! Oh and I guess he lost a sock in transit, too!
PBJ for dinner (that's how we roll)! He also had green peas and a rainbow fruit salad. We were going to make key lime cupcakes, but we just ran out of time!
For dessert he got to eat a few of the Skittles and one of the Rolos that the leprechauns left for him.
We had a lot of fun celebrating St. Patrick's Day together and celebrating 6 months of Carter in our family!

Settling in to the New House

So while Tristan was at work in February we decided to move--again. We had wanted to find a rental but had temporarily given up on the idea. Then a few of my friends sent me a listing for a great rental house, at a great price, in a great area. I went to see it and the rest is now history. So we packed up and moved at the beginning of March. We've spent most of our time just settling in and trying to get unpacked while entertaining the two boys.

Some things never change. First night in the new house and he's still sleeping on the floor!

Carter got to start solids! It was so funny because Tristan was holding him and mixing the cereal and Carter just started helping himself and using the spoon on his own. You think he might be a little bit ready for solid food?
I love the uncertain look on his face as Tristan give him the first bite!
Reaching for more
Carter kept trying to grab the spoon when in was put into his mouth! Maybe he'll start feeding himself sooner rather than later!

Ethan came to help!
This kid loves cereal!

Moving to a new house meant moving to a new ward and a new nursery for Ethan. Fortunately, he really likes the new nursery. Well, his second Sunday in nursery I arrived to find him sitting on one of the nursery workers' laps crying. Apparently he fell into a wall and got the bruise on his forehead and then a few minutes later fell into a table which gave him a black eye. Poor kid!
Other than that, we've been doing the normal things...like snacking and watching Curious George...
...and Carter, well, I think he's teething. He is chewing on EVERYTHING. Not so happy in this picture.
A little happier now! He was being funny and just holding the teething ring in his mouth with no hands, but, of course, once I got the camera out he wouldn't do it again.
We are so grateful to have more space in our new rental home. I'm sure there are many adventures to come and we break it in!