It's a Wonderful Wumpers!

Well Ethan had a wonderful Christmas this year. What with the arrival of his newest baby sister, he's still managed to be so very spoiled for holidays! His greatest addiction is still Disney Cars, and Mickey Mouse, and he got so very many things for both passions. From a singing and dancing lightning McQueen car, to a Hotwheels Racing track, which amazingly enough I was surprised to have seen him master it! He played gift hander outer at his grama and grampa Christopherson's house. He did so well at giving everyone their gifts!

He even LOVED his Froggie pajamas... I wish I had a video of his reaction when opening these, because it was the most fun we had that Christmas eve, and the pictures just don't do it justice. He's worn them most every night since getting them for Christmas, and is still so very excited that grama Christopherson bought them for him.

He also liked what uncle Dain and Aunt Angie bought him from the Adidas store. He was excited for uncle Dain to help him open it, mostly because Angie tapes all of her boxes before wrapping them! haha... But he waited patiently while Dain made his way through the cardboard.

Sadly we didn't get hardly any photos from grandma and grandpa Porter's, but he got some wonderful things from them too, the biggest hit being the AWESOME fleece blanket that aunt Katie and grandma Sue made for him. It has Wall E on one side (whom he also loves) and Mater and Lightning on the other side, which makes him so very happy. He also sleeps with that nightly!

But the most fun was watching him help baby Maddie open her Christmas Stocking gifts. He would go, "that's okay baby Maddie, I'll help you" as he was opening them one after the other for her. It was a wonderful Christmas for our family!

IT'S SNOWING!

What a wonderful Winter miracle! People had been talking about snow for a week now, and I just didn't believe it was going to happen. Mostly because the weatherman was predicting it!

But we welcomed a white miracle in to our lazy Sunday day! Giving us an excuse to stay inside the house, drink hot chocolate, and look out the windows. It's not often that we really take the time to relax during this month.

So as the snow started to calm down in the afternoon, we decided to take Ethan out in the backyard, to allow him the opportunity to see the snow all over his outside toys. The previous years that we've seen snow, Ethan either was too young to understand it, and therefore didn't really care which way or the other, or he was afraid of it, and wouldn't go outside, because it was too cold for his taste. But finally, our little boy has found his outdoor instincts! He was having a blast, running in the snow, kicking it, and having a "mock" snowball fight with his dad, which really in the end was just Allan throwing snow at Ethan to make him laugh! He was less than thrilled when we headed back inside, because all of our noses were as bright as Rudolph's!

We're excited to see what the rest of the days have in store for us, with this wonderful winter storm, but we're hoping that won't make us feel trapped and cabin feverish! We like to keep on the move!

I'm a BIG Brother!

There isn't anything more precious in the world than our wonderful children!!!

It's official! On November 18, 2008 at 10:45 pm, Ethan became big brother to baby Madelyn! So far he's done WONDERFUL with his new job description! We're excited to share his exciting news with everyone!

Trick or Treat... Smell my feet...!

Well, our Halloween started off kinda fun! Macie decided to come over in her costume for the day! The cutest little bug I've ever seen. We had fun eating candy out of the Trick or Treat bowl, and watching Monster's Inc., which has quickly become one of Ethan's favorite Disney movies! All week long Dylan, another of my daycare kids had been teaching them the songs he'd been learning at school, and so it was a delight to hear both of my two year olds running around singing "Mr. Pumpkin, Mr. Pumpkin, eyes so round, eyes so round - -" and it goes on from there, but I tell you, that was the cutest thing I had ever experienced! Ethan wasn't quite sure what was going on with Macie, since he himself had not donned his costume just yet. For good reason!


That's right folks... He was "Bond, James Bond" - - we felt it was perfect for him, with his blond hair and blue eyes. Plus, we had that Tux from his uncle Dain's wedding, that we felt we needed at least ONE more good use out of. We found him the perfect little pistol, and combed his hair just right, and before we knew it, he was 007 himself! It was so precious to hear him say his key phrases. We worked with him all week on saying, "Bond, James Bond" - - to which he said very well at a few houses while out Trick or Treating. We also taught him to say, "Shaken, not stirred" - - but for some reason he wouldn't say anything past shaken. Crazy kid. He was SO cute though. We took him to Grandpa and Grandma Porter's early in the evening to start off his trick or treating, and he had a great deal of fun. Then we headed over to Grandpa and Grandma Christopherson's, and ended up doing our evening Trick or Treating in the neighborhood around their house, since we felt it to be more trick or treat friendly than the neighborhoods around our house. Ethan was precious every step of the way. He'd run up to the door, ring the door bell, shout, "HELLO!", and then try to open everyone's doors. We must work on knowing our boundaries of door opening I suppose! Then, once the people would come to the door, he'd say, "Trick or Treat!!!" and open his candy bag. It's like he was born to do it! Then he'd graciously thank the people for their wonderful treats, and move to the next house, eager to say his new phrases! He was so full of energy and had such a good time, that it really was a joy to be out and about with him on that night. We stopped by Uncle Dain and Aunt Angie's house TWICE, because of all the houses, they had the best candy (which they stole from our mom and dad's house! haha). Then we spent the evening eating pizza and watching kiddie movies. It wasn't the most EVENTFUL night, but it was a night well spent! We really did have a lot of fun.

Here is Ethan "Trick or Treating" his first house, Grandma and Grandpa Porter's. "Will someone open the door already?!?"

Pumpkins, Pumpkins... EVERYWHERE!!!

Well in the midst of Halloween arriving, we decided that the pumpkin patch was going to be an annual tradition. Though after the rising costs, we might have to rethink this idea. But It was a BEAUTIFULLY sunny day, and I had three two year olds sitting around, and a husband who got off work early, so needless to say, it was time to head out to the pumpkin farms! There are so many to choose from, and even though most will waste time going out to the Roloff's farm, we decided to give our business to Lakeview instead. There were boat rides, train rides, and a hay maze to boot. And even though we weren't there for hours, we had a wonderfully glorious day!

Well it's no lie that our little monster is growing like a weed. Just back in August he had hit the 3 foot mark, for going on the "big kid" rides, and it looks like he's continuing to sprout. Though you wouldn't be able to tell because he of course wouldn't stand straight up against the board. But here's an idea of how big these two year olds are getting, this fall!

The petting zoo was a lot of fun. There were some traditional animals you'd normally find, and some not so traditional ones as well. Each animal on display was for sale, and I found that interesting. Those bunny rabbits looked mighty tempting to purchase at $15, however, I would have no clue how to raise or keep one alive! There were also kittens for sale, a rooster, a couple of goats, and a pig of all things. Most all of the kids were fascinated by the pig, all accept Ethan. He was more scared of it than anything.
For the life of me, I could not get these kids to look at me!

The kids enjoyed being out on the open water while riding the boat to the pumpkin patch. The pumpkins sure are becoming scarce out at Lakeview, probably due to the season and all, but it was fun to let them run around and enjoy the sunshine!

Thankfully they were cooperative enough to allow me the opportunity to get some cute shots of them just sitting on the pumpkins. You know, they really are some cute kids!

More moments where they JUST wouldn't all look at me at the same time. These kids were SUCH stinkers about letting me get pictures of them. Oh well...

This was the best I could get of them... What cuties!
Ethan found his pumpkin... he was ready to go!

They make a good team don't they? The two of them worked SO hard to try to pick up the PESKY pumpkin. Leaving no room for failure! Can't blame them. It was so cute though, Ethan would stand up saying, "oooh, that's really heavy" every time he wasn't able to successfully lift it off the ground.

What can we say? He definately eats his Wheaties!!!

Finally, a moment where we could have some fun with these kids! They had some nice cut outs for the kids to play around in. Hopefully next year they'll be tall enough to stand in there with no assistance. I was attempting to hold them up while Allan took the pictures. But it was a nice and quiet moment where we would FINALLY get some fun shots of the kids, without being totally overpowered by the MILLIONS of field tripping kiddos that were running a muck!

Follow the leader!!! The kids had fun trying to find their way through the maze. The perfect ending to a perfect pumpkin patch day!

Ethan made sure to give his coins for the cause! He loves to support Breast Cancer Research.

Zoo Days - - Fun in the Sun!!!

Meet Ethan's buddy Corbin!













Ethan is ready to see the new baby elephant!

And then there's Miss Macie!















Meet the NEW baby Elephant!














For my dad's birthday, him and my mom decided to take a week off for a "stay-cation" as they were calling it! They spent the week doing local things, and decided that they needed to have a day at the zoo with the kids!! We decided to go on a day when I had the least amount of daycare kids. We looked forward to one of our biggest adventures which would be visiting with the new baby elephant that had been born two weeks prior!

The kids had a WONDERFUL time calling my mom and dad "grandma and grandpa" while we explored the many exhibits around the zoo! We saw monkeys, a polar bear, some seals, and the giraffe was even outside for us to view. Of course there was a line for viewing the new baby elephant, and I must say that despite what people say about the attention span of two year olds, they did remarkably well!!!

They were so excited to be spending a day outside, that it didn't matter that about an hour of our trip was to view something that they couldn't understand the importance of! How often do you get to see a real life baby elephant? I think they were mostly excited about their trip, because they knew how excited we were!

The new baby elephant was AMAZINGLY awesome. It really made me cherish those awesome new baby moments that all us mom's get for a short while! He was just so precious. We had to be quiet, and of course, no flash photography while we went inside to view, and they rush you through, that you don't get to have a lot of time with the elephants, but it was still amazing. I look forward to getting to go back. And since we decided it was time to invest in a zoo pass, I should be able to make it more worthwhile for going! Until baby comes anyway!

Ethan of course loves the zoo! Everything is about what sound the animals make these days. He's just so smart it BOGGLES my mind! He is always asking when he can go back to visit the "animals", and of course we're obliged to take him every other week or so, if even for a couple hours!

My parents had SUCH a good time spending the day with Ethan, and their "honorary" grand kids. We packed up a lunch, "grandpa" made up a batch of cookies, and there were juice and snacks to be shared by all. We ate in the big grass field, and when my dad disappeared to go sit in the shade, the kids wondered, "Where'd grandpa go?" - - then they'd run to where he was sitting, so as to make sure that they didn't lose him. We were surprised at ourselves for making it around the zoo on our own two feet, pulling a wagon, carrying a diaper bag, and having two little rambunctious ones on their leashes, but what surprised us more was Ethan's ability to walk the WHOLE zoo without having to take a turn sitting in the wagon. It really was an awesome day, with GREAT weather. We're looking forward to zoo lights with the grandparents this coming winter, after Ethan's baby sister is born! At the end of our trip, grandpa and grandma decided that it would be beneficial to get the kids little mementos of their zoo trips. Each picked out a small stuffed animal, Ethan picked out a Giraffe, Macie a Tiger, and Corbin picked out a Lion! They all climbed into the van, exhausted from their big days, and slept soundly with their new stuffed animals in hand. Too bad we didn't catch that on film!

Silverwood 2008! - Our big summer vacation!

Well.... We took our big trip for the Summer over to Idaho to frequent a theme park we have been to a couple of times! We went the first summer after we were married, then again when Ethan was only 3 months old. This time Ethan REALLY got to experience the fun of the rides and the water parks. In all truth though, we do not have a water baby! He was not impressed with the swimming pools at the RV parks we had stayed at, but tried his best to have fun dispite his dislike of floating in the pool!
Atleast for a while he did get to have fun with dad playing a few games. I was able to catch a few smiles on camera. We stayed two nights in Spokane at an RV park and got to experience an AMAZING thunder and lightening storm. It lasted about 30 minutes, and even had a National Weather Emergency warning. Imagine having to pitch your tent in that kind of condition! I'm sure many of you actually have had to do it though! But it soon ended, and we were able to enjoy some great weather while visiting. Shortly after our stay in Spokane, we headed over to Athol, ID to spend two days at Silverwood. If you haven't been, I really recommend looking in to it and taking a trip. They have an RV park right across from the actual park, and it's almost like camping in the woods, because they built it right in the trees! Our first day we spent at the amusement park, where Ethan got to ride on a few rides. His favorite being the "Tiny 'toot Coaster" and his least favorite being the Elephant Rides (they didn't compare to Dumbo at Disneyland!). He got to watch dad and aunt Katie and Uncles John and Mikey go on the big 'coasters, and do a few more rides himself. He was also quite fond of the Tilt a Whirl I might add! I think I have a little roller coaster rider in the works! After dinner we decided to head back for another hour to let the big kids hit the roller coasters one more time, while the rest of the park was getting ready to close up! The next day was our big day at the Water Park!!!

The next day we embarked on a BIG day at the water park. It was the part I was looking most forward to, as I wasn't able to go on any rides in my "condition". Ethan was less than impressed with all the water. We took him over to "Polly Wog Park" which was just for the toddlers, and he liked it when we'd run with him through the water (which thankfully was warm!) but as soon as we were out of it, he was back to being upset, because the wind wouldn't stop blowing on him. He does not like to be cold! After that we went back to our sitting spot, and had some snacks and enjoyed the people watching that was taking place. Then mom finally got to go do her special events for the weeked! The Current Pool!!! Allan was nice enough to rent a two person intertube for mom and anyone who wanted to join her! I floated with Ethan for a while (he wasn't as impressed as mom was) and enjoyed the sun shining and the easy flow of the water. It's like floating down the river in a raft! Nothing to stop you! Eventually Allan joined me in the intertube, and we got "fancy" drinks (he sipped his Margarita while mom had a non alcoholic "Boulder Breeze" (also known as a Bahama Mama). The rest of the afternoon was just spent resting on the water, relaxing in the sun, and eventually heading over to the Theme park for one more train ride, per Ethan's request! It was definately a wonderful inexpensive trip for our family. And one last one for a whole year I'm sure!

Our first family portrait! Little Madi is still in mommy's tummy!!!

A Room Fit for a BIG BOY!

Well, when it comes to decorating bedrooms for little kids, this is something we don't take lightly! Ethan's room was our BIGGEST challenge in the house. We did a complete remodel, from floor to ceiling! As you can see, we are so passionate about Disney, in ever aspect, and wanted nothing but the best for our babies. Because we decided to wait and find out if Ethan was going to be a boy or a girl, we remained as gender neutral with the colors as possible, but in the end, we were blessed to find that the room we created was most suited for our little boy! Here is a collection and some stories about the bedroom that was designed for a Mickey Mouse addict! We started with four colors on the walls. A light yellow and red as the main colors, and a blue and darker yellow for the stencil, which yes, we put on ourselves! Though it's not PERFECT, it's perfectly designed for a kid who's parents adore him! Allan also put great talent to use on his light switch and power outlets.

This was definitely a room designed for a Mickey Mouse addict, which luckily for us is EXACTLY what our son turned in to! His favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and he only wants to wear his Mickey Mouse shirts! And though Ethan refused to sleep through the night in his own room, he definitely did as much playing in there as possible. As he turned two, we decided that since we had worked SO hard to perfect this room for our little guy, it was time that he started investing more time in to getting to know his room and love it! So as we approached the birth of our second child, we approached the idea of a "big boy" room for Ethan! This is what we've come up with SO far!

Bunk beds fit for a king, who hasn't had the opportunity to have any sleepovers yet! haha... But he does have lots of daycare buddies who come over and enjoy the use of his awesome big boy room!

He also enjoys the luxuries of his very own play room, with Disney Cars play mat (which is another one of his favorites) and many many fun items that his uncles, aunts and good friends have been so kind to share with him over the past two years. You can also see his special Mickey Mouse rug that sits just next to his bed!!! Though not updated, he does have a wonderful Mickey Mouse fleece blanket that was made for him before he was born. Now we're just working on getting him a sheet set! Also, since these photos were taken, we have added more pictures to his walls, and some fun knick-knacks here and there! It's growing in to a wonderful room full of learning and color!

And completing the furniture in the room, we would not be complete without his very own library. We signed up for the Wonderful World of Reading Disney Collection from Scholastic, which has definitely sparked Ethan's interest in books. He's gotten so many from of course, Mickey Mouse, to Winnie the Pooh, and even as updated as Cars and Wall E. We also got quite a collection of Dr. Seuss books from his grandma Christopherson, who had signed up for Scholastic when I was just a little girl. Ethan loves to look through the books and learn all about his favorite characters. This is actually one rare moment where these books aren't scattered all over the place! We try to capture the moments as quickly as possible. Since this photo was taken, we have added chore posters, days of the week posters, and alphabets for more learning activities. Since he has taken such an interest in learning! We're very excited for our little guy to keep up his interest in gaining as much knowledge as possible. If you ever have a little boy, or an OBSESSION with Disney and Mickey Mouse, we hope these things inspire you for how to possibly decorate your little ones rooms. Of if you want some assistance, we love decorating little kids rooms! Just check our our little Madi's room on her special blog! Who knows, maybe we should go in to business???