The Week of St. Patrick's Day

Baked by Mommy and Ethan.  Decorated entirely by Ethan.

 Ethan combined these ingredients to make cake for the birds

Ethan is getting the hang of his new balance bike.  We are excited to be a bike riding family this summer!

Ethan Tiger

Ethan loves having his face painted.  I love that he always wants to be a tiger.

Face painting during our trip to the PDX Children's Museum last week.

Vacationing in Tucson and Southern California

Everything Was Awesome!!  Just like the Legoland song.  Our vacation beginning in Tucson to visit Jason, Cherie, Carly (9) and Drew (6), and our next leg in Southern California and Legoland was fantastic.  It was so special to have a taste of summer in February with my brother's family!  80 degrees everyday.  The beautiful desert in bloom.  Amazing swimming, hiking, food....  Tucson was really a good time!

The drive from Tucson to Carlsbad, California was really interesting. Legoland was tons of amusement park fun!  Watching Ethan drive a tiny race car solo was a definite highlight.  We hit a rocky, surfer beach before leaving Carlsbad and going to San Diego where we went to a park on a pretty lagoon.  Ethan was exhausted by the time we flew home but the man riding next to us still complimented us on how good he was.  

Jeremy and I are grateful and excited that this vacation will hopefully be one of Ethan's earliest memories with his family.

   The Sonoran Desert

Good times at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum!  The humming bird exhibit was especially wonderful.  We saw a humming bird sit in his nest less than 3 feet from us.  The museum has other animal exhibits, a cave walk, walking trails, beautiful desert landscaping, and many hands on things.

Filling holes in the decorative mining cart with rocks in the rock pit.

Discovering beautiful gems and stones in this rock pit area is Carly's favorite part of the Desert Museum.

Ethan had his first sleep over spending 2 nights in Drew's room and 2 nights in Carly's.

Drew is currently really into stuffed animals.  This is Rammy.

Jeremy freshly shaven and playing pinball at D&D Arcade in downtown Tuscon

Drew and Ethan sitting in a firetruck at the Children's Museum

We love them so much!!

Welcome to Legoland!!

Waiting for Emmet to open the gates.

Legoland is full of cute things made entirely of Legos.

Legoland is ideal for kids Ethan's age or just a little older.  He was able to ride almost everything including a dragon roller coaster.  It was adorable to watch him have so much fun.

A fierce knight in shining armor in our hotel room.

Playing before we fly home

Ladybug Sand Castle

Riding the shuttle to the San Diego airport next to Dad.  Such a big boy traveler:)

Bon Voyage Auntie E

Auntie E moved out of Vancouver at the end of February with her eyes on a sunnier location.  Tucson perhaps??  We are going to miss her!  Thankfully we have some great memories to keep us going until we see her next.

Valentine's weekend we made a double layer, chocolate cake from scratch to sweeten up Auntie's departure.

On a trip to Cannon Beach with Auntie we had snow, hail, rain, and sun!  Crazy weather but a really fun day trip.

Showing off his hot cocoa mustache.  Ethan loved to explore Auntie's food whenever we would visit her apartment.

Greeting Spring

Rather than Brushing....

One morning in January, Ethan comes running out of the bathroom like this.....awesome!

Weekend in Seattle

We have a tradition of making waffles or pancakes every Sunday.  It's the kick off to Jeremy's weekend.  When I was a kid, we had the same tradition.  Bill would make huge pancakes and we would smoother them in heated maple syrup.  Yum!  Ethan and I went to Seattle in mid February to visit Grandma and Papa and attend Lu's baby shower.  We played at a fantastic park on the sound, watched the airplanes fly into Payne Field, helped pick up pine cones in the back yard, and on Sunday morning, Ethan helped Papa make the pancakes.

 No shells in that bowl!  Ethan is a pro:)

 Lu's shower was lovely and I am so thankful I was able to go.  I love spending time with Jeremy's cousins and his Auntie Lynette.

Showing off his Cooty Bug

Monday Morning Playdates

Twice while I have been at yoga, Coleson has come over to play with Ethan and Jeremy.  Coleson moved recently so this is a real treat for Ethan.  Here they are playing with plahdoh.  I believe outdoor, foam sword fights rounded out the play date.

The Exuberant Chef

 The sad-face-smile that has since ceased

Smile For the Camera

I am so behind on posting things that this phase has actually passed.  For about a month whenever I would start to take pictures and ask Ethan to smile, he would do this funny thing where he put his hands near his face and frown.

Christmas

I realize it was a while ago.... 

Ethan and I went to Spokane prior to Christmas proper.  We visited Papa Dan and Grandma Colleen.  One night we drove around looking at exceptional Christmas light displays.  Ethan's favorite was a choreographed light show where snowmen threw snowballs and insults at each other.  We appreciate Papa Bear and Nanny T visiting us for a gift exchange too before Christmas Day.

We celebrated Christmas Day at our home with Grammy and Grampy.  We rounded out the season with a trip to Pasco..  Whew!  That is a lot of Christmas...

He's just so cute!  

 Playing doctor at the Children's Museum in Spokane

 Building with Grandma Colleen

 We had a day of light snow in Spokane.

Ethan loved helping Grandma Colleen move the little bear from room to room.  Each day he gets closer to finding Christmas.  A nice tradition Colleen has had with her sons since and now we are a part of:)

Ethan was beyond excited, dancing around, when he unwrapped Spiderman.

When did they start making puzzles so weird?  All the pieces that aren't border pieces are the exact same shape!  It made for a good laugh when the puzzle was complete but the picture was a little wrong.

 Our little Christmas elf loves Christmas.  He decorated almost the entire tree himself.

On Christmas Eve we left the reindeer an apple and for Santa there was lemonade and chocolate pudding per Ethan.

 Ethan dictated a letter to Santa.  He requested blueberries and asparagus:)  Here he unwraps blueberries from Auntie E.

 Grammy reads him "The Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly" after it is unwrapped

 I want to be in pictures with Ethan too!  Here he fake sleeps rather than smile.  Oh well.  That's how it really was:)

 Grammy made her first Gingerbread house!

 If Ethan had his way, the underside of our table would have been as decorated as the tree.

Coleson's family moved right around Christmas.  They gave us a great loft bed and this kitchen!  Ethan and Daddy make a few slight repairs.  Thank you Coleson and Danielle!