Christmas 2011- Part 1

I think I am going to share our Christmas in two parts. I have a lot of pictures to share so I thought I’d break it down.

We started off celebrating the Christmas season with my family. Everyone came into town the week before Christmas to celebrate.

We decorated Gingerbread houses. Ethan loved eating the candy. While Kate really got into it. Look at her fabulous creation.

I get a little serious about my gingerbread housing. My brother… not so much :)

We played lots of games. Santa bingo among a few others. We also did our annual white elephant gift exchange.

We even got to open presents.

Grandma and Grandpa win as givers of the present of the year. A real Buzz Light year! “And beyond!” are the two words that come out of Ethan's mouth most each day.

 

It was fun to spend the week together just hanging out. We even ventured out to Chuck E Cheese one day.

These two were inseparable. Although, Ethan may not look too enthused in this picture because we were interrupting him during Toy Story, he loves Kate! He still asks to play with her everyday. Cousins are the best!

SNOW!

Hey look what I found… my computer. It has been MIA for a few weeks. I have had access to the online world through other means, so I really didn’t miss it. When my computer was rescued from underneath my bed this week, I realized that I did miss it. I missed uploading all of my pictures to it. I was excited when I rediscovered these snow pictures. These actually aren't that recent. They are not pictures from the current snow that we have on the ground. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been willing to venture out in the freezing temperatures. These were actually taken back in October around Halloween when we got our first snow of the season. As you can see below, Ethan loved it! 

Here he is channeling a little Santa Claus. Actually, he just discovered the existence of Santa. I don’t think he really understands what Santa does, but he knows that he exists and Ethan thinks that he is the coolest. He grabs our Santa ornament from off our Christmas tree, and then he runs around the house screaming “SANTA! SANTA!” It is awesome.

I am glad Ethan is a fan of the snow. We got him all set up with skis and boots this year. Hopefully we can make it up the mountains to get him started skiing!

What Can’t a Dragon Do?

Dragons can laugh.

Dragons can play.

Dragons can spot airplanes.

Dragons can play Bocce ball.

Dragons can pick their nose?

Dragons can run.

Dragons can climb fences.

Dragons can cry when the neighbors dog is not outside to play with.

Dragons can pout.

Dragons can pick tomatoes.

Dragons can even mow the lawn.

I’m pretty sure their isn’t anything dragons can’t do.

Can you guess what Ethan is going to be for Halloween this year? He picked it out all by himself.

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday we headed out to pick our pumpkins. We went to Cottonwood Farm up in Boulder. I was hesitant to go to this farm because I knew it was a smaller one. It ended up being the perfect place for Ethan.

They give you wagons to put your pumpkins in. Ethan thought that he had found a new best friend.

Besides the wagon, these were some of Ethan's favorite moments  of the afternoon. He loved sticking his head through the holes.

He enjoyed exploring the straw maze.

And he loved checking out the cool old tractors…

… and waving to the farm animals.

And then finally for the  main event, we picked our pumpkins!

We came home with two perfect pumpkins!

Mornings

Here is a glimpse at what many of our mornings look like.

My son is a morning person. He wakes up with a huge smile on his face and he is always ready to face the day with laughter. I, on the other hand, am not a morning person. I need a few minutes to let it sink in that it really is time to get out of bed. So because of this, most mornings Aaron brings Ethan to me along with Ethan’s books. Then Ethan reads to me while I  get acclimated to the bright light and wonder why I can’t see anything. It usually takes me a few minutes to realize that I have yet to put on my glasses.

If the iPad is ever around, Ethan will forgo his books so he can marvel at the screen mirroring his every move.  This is his favorite and he could sit there for hours playing around with the camera. It is also my favorite because he could sit there for hours playing around with the camera. I’ll take all the extra time in bed as I can get ;)

Technology

He can navigate his way around my smart phone pretty well, and he can handle the iPad even better. He even has a personal best of 85 points on fruit ninja. I give him six months before he starts teaching me about the latest technological invention.

Here he is checking his portfolio on Etrade.

Sometimes I Wonder…

Without fail twice a day Ethan stands at the bathroom door screaming “ba, ba, ba” or in English “bath, bath, bath!” My son loves to take baths. Well showers actually, we gave up on baths as soon as he learned to unplug the drain.

Yesterday, Ethan came inside from playing in the backyard and he was covered in mud and sand. He was in desperate need of a bath. I took him to the bathroom and started to get him undressed. As soon as I took off his shoes he lost it. “Shoe, shoe, shoe!” He screamed. I just let him keep on screaming, because this kid needed to be hosed down whether or not he liked it. As soon as I got his wet and muddy clothes off I placed him in the tub, and that is when the crying began. This was such odd behavior since bath time is usually the highlight of his day. I tried to think of a way to remedy this situation. Then I remembered the shoe screaming from the minute before. I thought I’d revisit that and see if he was still interested in them. I picked up his shoe and he picked up his foot indicating that it was time to put it on. Once the shoes were on the crying stopped, and bath time happily resumed like nothing had just happened.

Sometimes I wonder what goes on inside that head of his… I’m just glad that he happened to be wearing plastic shoes.

Lunch Time

Lunch always tastes better when eaten outside, and when eaten without pants.