Easter Day

Although Dave had to work Easter morning at church and go home so he could sleep to work that night, we had a great Easter. I went over to Dave's parents' house. Ethan was having a blast - of course they have a dog! Mom had great food (as always!) and baskets for all the kids. Ethan loved his toys and Gerber cookies (with no egg!). Since Ethan had been up since 6:30am he was a little tired. I rocked him to sleep. In the meantime, Tammy and Jessica brought eggs for the kids to have an egg hunt. They saved a few for Ethan and when he woke up all the adults went outside with Ethan to watch him have his very first egg hunt! Tammy took this awesome picture of Ethan. John was such a good uncle and helped out a lot! It really made up for Dave not being there. I hope your Easter was great too!

A Big Day

Ethan had an eventful day. Let me share with you the details:

1. Woke up to Ethan's gibberish. Got up, changed his clothes, gave him his cup of milk, and let him play a while before Dave got home.

2. Dave came home and played a bit before Ethan all of a sudden decided he was tired again.

3. Laid down, thinking that I could get a little more sleep. Ten minutes later, Ethan decided he didn't want a nap.

4. Took a shower and quickly changed since Ethan was now crying... Sound familiar?

5. Fed Ethan breakfast and got ready for the trip to town.

6. Searched the next fifteen minutes for items that should be in the diaper bag that aren't. Found them in Dave's car.

7. Left for town and went to the Lovin' Oven! Got Joanne's birthday present which was several pieces of cake to choose from. The manager gave Ethan a shortbread cookie (which contains no egg) and Ethan kept saying "mmmm". When he was done with the cookie he stared down a man eating some yummy pastry looking thing.

8. We went across the street to the barber shop to say hi to Roxi. I just found out that she had a shop in town. She is a close friend's sister. She has never got to meet Ethan and I thought it would be the polite thing to do since she could of seen us walk across the street to the Lovin' Oven. Ethan was surprised to see everyone staring at him...

9. We picked up Spud (Ethan's favorite stuffed dog) out of the gutter, now wet and filthy. Wow! We almost lost him!

10. We drove into the post office parking lot. We couldn't drive by without seeing Uncle Ray. We went in the back to see the chicks that came in the mail. The chirping was so funny to hear in the mail room. Ethan kept signing dog. Hmmm... maybe he doesn't know what a dog is...

11. We went to Joanne's and had a blast! Jonathan kept following Ethan telling him "no." It was funny when Eric was doing dishes, Ethan grabbed a fork and ran! Jonathan ran after him, took it out of Ethan's hand, said "no", and ran and put it back. For a 18 month old he is pretty good at taking care of his friends. We had lunch and played some more.

12. The minute I began to drive Ethan fell asleep. I went to check out Josh and Becca's house next. I didn't get past the kitchen. There are a lot of people inside! Everyone is working hard on the staircase and other stuff that carpenters do... :) It's not my house... I have no clue what anyone else was doing... :)

13. When we got home Ethan and I laid down for a nap! Can you believe it? Me neither...

14. After nap, the medication wore off and Ethan was in pain from teething those molars. So... needless to say, it was not a pretty sight at dinner time.

15. Bedtime came quickly and now peace once again... sigh!

16. Ethan is now crying upstairs... Wow, the peace and quiet lasted all of ten minutes.

Up a Horse's Nostril

Wow... I haven't posted anything in a long while. For those who don't know - our family is sick! Really sick...

First Ethan was sick and broke out in the hive-thing. We now know that he is allergic to eggs. So... he looks a lot better now.

Last week I was very sick with whatever the kids at school decided to share with me. It was horrible. I lost my voice and I found out that mom's don't get sick-time. So I was at work every day, planned and executed our school's Open House, and came home to take care of the house and my family. The days I was home Ethan was sick with what I had. It was so not fun.

Today, I got a phone call from Dave letting me know that he needed some medication from the store because he is sick. I was given a list of five different medications! The cashier was looking at me weird! I laughed when I saw Dave in bed... what a baby! I asked him why I didn't get any sympathy when I was sick? I reminded him that I took no medication, worked twice as hard at work, and at home! Men when they are sick... :)

The only thing that has kept me going this week is taking Ethan every day to house sit 3 dogs. On the way to see the dogs yesterday, there was a horse at the gate of a pasture. So, I pulled over and got Ethan out to see the horse. I signed "horse" and held him up to the animal. Ethan then decided to put his finger in the horse's nostril. Well... I guess if I was 1 I would probably wonder what the big hole was on the horse's face too. Anyway, the whole way home today he was signing "horse." But, the horse wasn't there... so sad.

My Big Boy!

Before I post birthday pictures, I had to let you see Ethan's first haircut! Today I got enough courage to cut Ethan's hair myself. I was almost in tears doing it. But, as you can see, no harm done! Afterwards, I just sat back and watched Ethan play... he is so grown up and so handsome.

Austen Men

Crack me up! Becca and I watched Pride and Prejudice last night. I couldn't wait for OPB's Masterpiece Theatre on Sunday to see the next part. I went online to check the schedule and I had to laugh at this http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/austen/menofausten.html! I know Kati and Becca would have a blast looking at who came in first place!

There He Goes!

I had to post a picture of Ethan walking so that family can see! Look at him go! Today I was dog sitting and Ethan just took off and went after the black lab! The lab was afraid. I would be too...

Won Again!

This month's question for teachers on Scholastic's Winning Ideas was "What Are 15-20 Books You Can't Live Without." That was a hard question... as many of you know I have a weakness for children's books. I could never pick so few. So I picked 15-20 Farm and Spring books and won! Check out the article at http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3748973!

Not Just Any Ol' Rash

So, Sunday Ethan woke up with not just a rash but hives! Now it does bother him. Monday we were in the doctor's office for 5 hours. It was so not fun. By the way, I never want to be a single Mom. For those who are, you deserve a medal! To have to get a child itching and wanting to tear his skin off in the doctor's office, to lunch, to the lab to get a urine sample, to Safeway to get medication, and home again was no picnic!

On a sweeter note, Dave surprised me with a "walking" valentine. Ethan walked into class today with a HUGE balloon cliped to him that was playing "You're the One." We were in the middle of Circle Time and when Ethan saw all the children he clapped. It was awesome. I wish he stayed longer. I love my two special guys. Dave also got me a chocolate box and the same kind but tiny from Lil E.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sick and Walking

So I got Ethan up this morning and he was covered head to toe (literally) with a rash. I called the doctor and apparently when a little one has a viral infection they usually get a rash too. Wow. I was surprised at how it didn't seem to bother the little guy. Other than him being irritable from being sick, he did pretty good today. Ethan is now walking all over the place and well... let's just say "We're in for it!"

The Seven Day Experiment

Last night, at church, we finished our Bible study on 1 Thessalonians. It was a great study and I wish I could of gone to all the lessons. Last night we closed with a challenge this week. Every day this week we are to do something special that had to do with the book we were studying. Today's was "Rejoice in God's presence in each place you go."

When I read that, I thought, wow... in each place I go? Do we really do that? I mean do we rejoice in God's presence at the grocery store? At work? While we are doing endless loads of laundry? While we are changing a dirty diper? I think that if we were honest with ourselves we would have to say that we aren't rejoicing most of the time. Do we smile on the outside but are angry at God on the inside?

So, today as I woke up to no snow day, so I was already in a mood. So, I began the day thanking God for the oppertunity to teach His children today. You know... God opened my eyes at the end of the day. Do you know what I saw today? I was hugged for the first time by several children and got a kiss from one. I saw children looking to me for acception, approval, and praise which shows a sign of respect and love. Children were excited to be at school and couldn't wait until the next activity. I came home to a clean house with a husband cooking an AMAZING dinner. My child was asleep and I had nothing to do but sit down and rejoice God for it. I then was able to see my son walk to me on his own and give me a hug and kiss. Later, I was able to talk to a parent that is going to start their child at school next week. Our school was able to bless her and I got to tell her the news... I could tell that she was in tears and touched by the blessing.

Praise God for all that He does... sometimes we don't look at the little things. Aren't the every day blessings just as important?