Busy Weekend...

Derek and I finally gave our yard some much needed TLC this weekend. Derek started cleaning the garage on Sat afternoon and I felt guilty in the house so I helped until Ethan woke up then he came out to help too! Well, in his own way. Like stomping through the dust pile, trying to play with Daddy's radio, picking grass and flowers from Mommy's garden...but it was fun to chase him/distract him with something else! The only bad thing was that the mosquito's were TERRIBLE! Ethan has 2 or 3 really huge bites - on his face of course! I sprayed him with bug spray, but I didn't spray his face, just my hands and then rubbed it on him...I guess I didn't do a very good job! They looked much worse on Sun after rubbing his face in the night! Oh well, if that's our only mishap, we did pretty good. Then on Sunday I was so inspired that I finally bought and electric hedge trimmer (we've always borrowed our neighbors in the past)! Since our bushes were so overgrown we were starting to loose our house! Well, maybe not that bad, but believe me - BAD! So bad that I did not take before and after pictures b/c it's too embarrassing! I will say that power tools....ROCK! I just hope that my little, a hem, haircuts don't stunt their comeback this spring!!! I'll let you know! Part of me almost wishes they would all die so I can start over... we really hate our 70's landscaping, but don't have the funds for a new yard right now! Anyway, we're both sore now from using a bunch of "flaccid" muscles!

This coming weekend Derek and I are going away to celebrate our anniversary (Oct 6)! I'm excited to get away! I can't believe it's been 7 years already! This year was really challenging for us, especially just learning how to be parents and to part with our selfish ways! I feel like we've really come full-circle now and I am closer to Derek now then I have ever been. We have an amazing bond and beautiful blessing that God has given us. I couldn't be happier!

Ethan and his Doggies

I think Ethan may be starting to "pretend" a little. Lately, he's been crawling around again and he puts his head down and plows into the dogs. He thinks's it's so funny! They don't think it is so much. He even whines like Rocki when he sees them and he sounds just like him! (For those of you who don't know Rocki, he's extremely vocal, to say the least, and whines constantly it seems.) Ethan just loves Daisi, he's always giving her hugs and no matter what he does or how rough he is with her, she usually just sits there and takes it. Rocki on the other hand is actually starting to make me nervous. He's been growling and making some threatening barks towards Ethan lately when Ethan tries to play with him. It's like Ethan's antagonizing him b/c he'll know he'll get a reaction out of Rocki. But he doesn't fear him at all and I'm worried that Rocki's warnings will turn into an actual bite. I really don't know what to do. Rocki really is a great dog, but he's getting older and now has an attitude. I recently bought a soft muzzle for him. He hates it, but it puts my mind a little more at ease, because Ethan doesn't understand that he can't play with him (like when Rocki's sleeping!). Anyway, here's some pictures I took the other day of Ethan and Daisi (notice my nice clean slider...).

Here's Ethan playing doggie!

Splish Splash!

Ethan discovered puddles this weekend and it was so cute to watch him! He not only LOVES water it more of an obsession! He talks about water CONSTANTLY while he's awake. He never fails to play in the dog water bowl if I forget to put it up and now he can lift the toilet lid and thinks that the toilet is big bowl of water for him to play is as well! YUCK! I have recently invested in the toilet locks, not for fear he'll hurt himself, just to keep him from playing in it!

Anyway, on Sat we had my brother's going away party at my mom's. I was over there most of the day to help her set up for everything. This was supposed to have been a bon-fire in the back yard type of party, but since it decided to rain all day, we had to clear out the garage and the half of the pole-barn as "plan-B". Ethan was so sick of being inside all day and after his nap, it had finally stopped raining (temporarily anyway) that we thought we'd see what he thought of the puddles! Of course, he loved stomping through them! He could have played out there all day I think! Here he is in action.

For those of you that may not know, my brother - Nate - has recently decided to join the Army. Several months ago my Nate's wife decided that she didn't want to be married anymore (a long story, but totally heart-breaking for my brother). He's also been struggling to get accepted into a P.T. program, much less pay for any more school as he's working for next to nothing as a tech at the hospital and hanging dry-wall for my uncle on the side just to "live" basically. Anyway, I think he felt he needed some purpose to his life and after many prayers felt this was the path he should take. He's going in the Reserves though (thankfully), and is applying to OTS (Officers Training School) and should he get accepted to OTS, then he'll be full-time in the Army with the Army paying for him to finish school. This has all come about in the past 3wks and he's leaving on Sept 25 so I had almost no time to plan anything for him. We didn't have near the turn-out that I hoped, but considering it was very last minute, with crappy weather, we did pretty good. We had a blast in the pole-barn! One of Nate's friends brought the game "Rock Band", what a riot! I know he had a great time too. I'm going to miss him so much, but I find comfort knowing that he'll be back home in about 7 months, after he completes Basic Training and Tech School. Anyway, thanks for reading. I'm sure I'll be sobbing about him when he actually leaves.....

Labor Day

Okay, so I'm a little behind. We've been so busy that I just haven't taken the time to update my blog, but I do want to share my Labor Day. I had to work on Sat and Sun so I was bummed that we couldn't go anywhere for the weekend, but since I had Monday off we just made the best of our 1 day all together! Derek had a blast just him and Ethan on Sat and Sunday - they had a lot of fishing to talk about at the marina!

Monday I couldn't wait to be with Ethan after being away for two 12 hr days! Even though I'm tired, he just melts my heart with how sweet and happy he is when he wakes up. I sleep with the monitor on next to me b/c I'm afraid I can't hear with our fan on. It will be dead quiet, then all of the sudden "ma-ma, da-da, wah-wah, bye-bye, and his latest is uh-uh" and whatever sweet nothings he's trying to say. I just love it! He'll sit in there and talk for a 1/2hr if I let (yes, I know this from experience!) him - happy as a clam!

Anyway, I digress (as usual!). Ethan and I went for our usual walk and played outside after breakfast. Then we played with Daddy (once he decided to get up!) and had lunch. Then, Derek had a plan all put together to bring Ethan to Grandma Bonnies for his nap so Mommy and Daddy could enjoy an afternoon together! We took out mom and dad's dinghy and cruised Lake Mac for a few hrs catching some great sun and some much needed time together! We stopped at a friends boat after weaving through the marina for a while then decided to head up to the Yacht Club for dinner. Derek cooked these ENORMOUS steaks for everyone! I tried to talk him into sharing one with me, but he had to have his own! I hardly made a dent in mine, but oh-well, they were really good. Then we decided maybe Ethan should just spend the night at Grandma's since we were just having too much fun! She, of course, said she'd love to keep him! After dinner we caught up with Karen and Jen and the Bit! The next day....I actually slept until 9am!! I haven't been able to sleep-in in a LONG time! It was great. Derek and I were over-due for a date and I'm so glad we were able to hang out on what may have been our last dinghy ride of the year :(