Now I know my ABC's !!!!

Lately, Ethan's favorite thing is to sit at the computer and practice his ABC's. In fact, if he sees letters Any where, he wants to sit down and read them. His Nursery leaders were stunned that he knew them, but he and I do do this A LOT.

Couldn't you wear a REAL hat?

Lately, since it's been a lot colder, I've really been trying to get Ethan to wear a hat when we go outside. He's better about it than he used to be, but he always takes the hat off before we're done outside. It's kind of frustrating. The other day Ethan founf a package of his swimming diapers and he wore one on his head FOREVER. He thought it was the coolest thing. Why won't he wear a regular hat, but is thrilled with a diaper?

Tired family

We've all benn pretty tired out what with Matt's student teaching and trying to get everytihg ready for our move. I noticed that it was a little too quiet in Ethan's room the other day while I was packing things up. I walked in to find this.

Hey, What happened to Autumn?

Iguess this is what comes of living in Utah. You get snow really early.

Happy Anniversary!

Today Matt and I celebrate our 4th Wedding anniversary! We've been through so much together. I love my husband so much and I am so blessed to have him in my life. He's such an amazing and loving person and I love him with all of my heart. Eternity is going to be so wonderful as long as we're together.

Helping Mommy make cupcakes

I wanted to make Some Cupcakes for Matt's aunt and uncle and for the Spencers that we could take to them on Halloween night. Ethan, of course, was very eager to help me. The only problem was that his definition of helping me make cupcakes was to eact almost an entire bowl of orange frosting. He was a little hyper that day.

Quick Robin, To the sewing Machine!!

Making Costumes for this Halloween was a lot of work and there were times that I just wanted to throw the sewing machine out the window, but I was so excited when I saw how well they all turned out. Matt actually vacccuum formed the mask to fit his face perfectly and he welded the belt out of steel. He even made the boots himself out of some slippers and foam. Pretty cool, huh?

The hardest part about My costume was losing enough weight to not feel rediculous in a skin tight body suit. I know I'm still chunkier than the real bat girl, but she never had a baby and she's a drawing for Heaven Sakes!

Here's the star of our family. His costume was just a onsie with a badge that I made with Shrinky dinks, and some yellow fabric sewn on. I had to just improvise and make the cape without a pattern, but I think he is just the cutest little robin I have ever seen.

Trick or Treat!!!!

This was the first year we took Ethan Trick or Treating and we were a little nervous that he wouldn't like it very much, but he absolutely loved it! We took him to one of the Dorms on campus because they advertised trick or treating there. It was nice because it was inside and there were tons of doors right next to eachother, so he got a lot of candy without having to go too far. He loved knocking on the doors and letting the single girls admire him. He got really excited at one of the rooms and as soon as the door opened, he just barged right into the poor girls room and we had to politely ask her so send him back out. We also went to see Matt's uncle Brian and Cindy and some old family friends, the Spencers. It was such a fun night!

Relaxing and enjoying the spoils

Here is Ethan unwinding after his wild night out, enjoying some of his trick or treat candy.

Bat Family

Really, the best part about Halloween was that we got to go out and have fun as a family. It was so much fun!

Stupid James Bond

So I work weeks and weeks on a Robin Costume and Ethan comes to me the day before Halloween and tells me he wants to go as DR. No.

Big Boy!

Ethan is just growing so fast. His feet are getting especially big, just like his dad.(hee, hee)

Sign language flubbs

So, Matt and I have been trying to get Ethan to use a little sign language to tell us what he wants, thus reducing the amount of fussing that goes on. One that he has REALLY latched onto is the sign "finished" . It used to be that when he was done eating. he'd just wine until we got him down from his high chair. Now when he's done eating, he just makes the finished sign, which is great fro both parties. He gets down from his High chair like he wants and mommy and daddy don't have to put up with a lot of fussing. I don't think he quite understands exactly waht the sign means though. The other day, I took Ethan to the graocery store with me to pick up a few things. I put him in the cart and strapped him in. Being the active little boy that he is, he really doesn't like this arrangement. Instead of crying this time, though, he simply gave me a dirty look and did the sign for finished. I guess the sign language still needs a little work.

Toothbrush

Ethan's latest craze is brushing his teeth. I have to keep the bathroom door closed because he's constanly trying to get his toothbrush. This morning he discovered that Daddy's toothbrush is even cooler. It vibrates!

4th and 4th

So, My sister In-Law Sara did this thing on her blog where she opened the 4th folder in her pictures, downloaded the 4th picture and then had to describe it on the blog. Then she tagged me. This is what the picture turned out to be. I know it's really strange. It is a long standing tradition that any time a man going to school at BYU has a break of any kind, he starts to grow a beard because BYU doesn't allow beards in the honor code. This was Matt's beard during summer break. He wanted to take plenty of pictures of it before he had to shave it off when school started. I guess he wanted it for stage makeup reference.

Musical Kitchen!

Ethan Discovered that Pan lids make noise when you bang them together. Unfortunately, Matt was trying to talk to his mother on the phone at the time. Sorry Grandma Leavitt.

Sorry Ethan

I know if Ethan ever finds this picture when he's older, he'll probably hate me for the rest of his life. It was just so darn cute that I couldn't resist.

Luau!

So, the Shelves above the toilet have bamboo table placemats on them, which gave our bottles a solid surface to sit on so the bottles don't fall off anymore. I found the cocnut bowls at a party store whish is where I found the lai's too. The shower curtain and mat were a lucky find at Walmart. I absolutely love our new bathroom and I'm so happy it didn't cost much at all.

Don't tell Martha Stewart

So, we've been having a bit of a problem with our bathroom decor lately. Our theme was a rubber duckie theme and it really was a cute idea, but several things happened that made it not so nice any more. First of all, Ethan wanted to play with the rubber ducks in his bath and I was glad to let him since they are bath toys, after all. The only problem with rubber ducks is that you can NEVER get all of the water out of them at the end of the bath, so all of them were growing mold on the inside, so we we had to throw most of them away. Then the Trash can got cracked down the side, so it was no good any more. Then Ethan decided that he wanted to play with the soap dish and the toothbrush holder, which were not meant to be played with and he broke both of them.On top of everything else, the shelf we have for holding various things had metal bars going across for the shelves instead of a solid surface so any time the shelf was bumped in any way, all of the bottles and such would come crashing down, which was pretty frustrating. It was becoming clear to me that I needed to re-do the bathroom to be not as breakable. The big problem is that Matt is Student Teaching this semester and not working, so we are living on a very tight budget. I started looking around and I finally decided on a Hawaiin themed bathroom. I know Martha Stewart would just faint away dead if she saw it, but I think it turned out really nice, Matt loves it, and it is pretty well unbreakable. I found most of the stuff at Party stores since people like to do luau themed parties and the rest I found on clearance at Walmart, since they were clearing out the summer stuff for the new fall stuff.

Goats!

ethan's favorite part of the whole Portland zoo was getting to go in the goat pen and touch the goats. He was giggling uncontrolably the whole time. Unforunately, Matt's shirt looked a little tasty to one of the goats and the goat kept chewing on him. It also appears that there is a goat dying in the background of this picture.

Portland Zoo

Here are some more pictures of our trip to Portland. We went to the Zoo on our visit and I have to say it was the best zoo I've ever been to. Since Portland is so rainy, there is tree cover everywhere in the zoo, which means that we didn't have to worry about overexposure to the sun. Ethan loved the petting zoo and the kid play areas the best.

Ball modeling

While we were in the Science museum in Oregon, we found a kids activity area that Ethan just loved. There were water tables that he just couldn't get enough of and he adored the ball pit. Here he is modeling one of the little plastic balls in the pit for us. The funny thing is that his favorite thing in the whole museum was in the bathroom. They had a sink that was just at his level and turned off automatically when you waved your hands under it. He could have stayed there for hours. I guess that's little kids for you. You spend the money to take them to a science museum, show them all of the cool displays, and their favorite part is the sink in the bathroom. Sigh!

OMSI

Earlier on this Summer, we took a trip to Portland and we finally got the film developed just this week. Her we are with Grandpa Adams having fun at the Oregon Museum of Scienc and Industry. Matt really likes the picture of Ethan in the Space shuttle because he remembers a picture of himself in the same shuttle from when he was a kid. Pretty cool, huh?

Positive Reinforcement

Ethan figured out how to get into the flour the other day and while it was a rather frazzling experience, I felt like it really need to be documented just the same. The funny thing about these pictures is that I was trying to watch something about discipline on TV. If you look in the background of the first picture you can see "Positive reinforcement" on the TV screen.

Albuquerque Zoo

Our family took a trip to New Mexico at the beginning of August and we visited the Albuquerque zoo while we were there. It was a really fun day. Most of the animals were weing VERY cooperative about being seen. Alot of them came right up to the glass so we could see them up close. Ethan really liked the Sea lions.