I hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas Season as we did. We have so much to be thankful for! My brother made it home on one of the "blizzard" days we had before Christmas. I was supposed to go get him in Detroit, but couldn't even get out of my driveway! He ended up taking a bus from Detroit to GR that didn't end up leaving for like 5hrs after his flight got in! What a long day of travel for him...but he made it and we were all
sooo happy to see him! He's solid as a rock, but the Army otherwise hasn't corrupted him! He's the same easy going, laid-back Nate! He went back to San Antonio, TX early this morning. I haven't heard from him, so I hope all went well on the way back. He'll be there learning how to be a Combat Medic for the next 4 months and then he'll be home for good...assuming he doesn't get deployed :( It was so nice to hang out with him, I didn't realize how much I'd missed him!
On Christmas Eve, we had got together at my mom's for Christmas as we've done for the past probably 10yrs. She made a wonderful ham dinner with all the "
fixins". It was AWESOME and we all ate way too much! Ethan decided not to take a nap despite all of my drastic efforts and pleading...so he was a bit cranky. I thought he'd really get into tearing open the presents. Boy, was I wrong! I couldn't believe it, he wanted nothing to do with opening presents! He just wanted to do his own thing. He'd play with the toys once they were opened, but didn't want any part of opening. So, we just let him walk around while we opened. Then he got really tired and crabby, so I put him to bed at mom's while finished opening our presents and letting our enormous meal settle. We got Ethan up around 10pm to go home by the time we got him in the car, he was wide awake. He was so cute on the way home, he had point out every lighted house he saw as a "
baum-
pam". So cute! Derek and I have a little Christmas Eve tradition that we always drive through Sunset Bluff after we leave my mom's. The entire neighborhood puts out old-school
lumineers (white paper bags filled with sand and a lighted candle). The rule is you have to drive through the neighborhood with just your running lights on. It's so pretty and almost magical feeling. Now they have a bunch of deer that live up there and they're pretty used to people b/c everyone feeds them so they're usually out trying to eat the bags so that just adds to the wonder of the night! Unfortunately, this year, almost
no one had them out! I guess they decided since it was raining and windy not to try to keep them lit. We were so bummed! When we got home, we put Ethan back to bed and to my amazement, he went right back to sleep! Then Derek and I exchanged gifts to each other. It was really nice.
Here's some pics from Grandma Sue's and Papa Rich's!
Snuggling with Grandma Sue
Ethan shoving in some puffs!
Papa Rich loves flannel!
Nate and his bald head, oh and his MP3 player too!
Christmas is always a all day event at the Eade's! They go all out for Christmas and this year was no exception! Mom always has coffee, bagels, muffins, crackers, coffee cake, etc... for breakfast, then we dig right into all the gifts and takes most of the morning to get through them all. This year we started a little later and before we realized it, it was 2pm and we weren't even done yet! And poor Ethan hadn't even had lunch yet! We finally got him fed, wrapped up Christmas and he got down for his nap around 3:30 or so! Brian and Sara got a Wii , so we set that up and played some bowling! It was so much fun! Bonnie put on an AMAZING spread this year as well. She really out did herself. She made ham, pork tenderloin, mac n cheese from scratch (it tasted just like Boatwerks if you've ever had theirs....to die for!), mashed potato's and gravy, green bean cass (0f course) and many deserts! Once again, we stuffed ourselves! We had so much stuff to bring home that we hardly fit it all in the truck! Ethan, once again, just did his own thing, we all took turns opening his presents....he made out like a bandit!
Ethan and Grandma Bonnie
Well, at least Grandma was excited to see what he got!
I'm not sure who's having more fun with the Play-dough....Ethan or Uncle
Bri and Daddy!
Here we are on way to Kindermusik today! It was sunny (YAY!) this morning and I always feel bad looking back at Ethan while he's squinting and turning his head away from the sun. So, today when we left, I found his sunglasses and put them on thinking they'd probably only last until we got down the driveway! But, to my surprise, he left them on the whole way there (class in Zeeland)! He looked so stinkin cute, I quick gabbed a picture while we were at a stop-light! For those of you who don't know about Kindermusik, it was created in Germany (as you probably guessed by the spelling) and there's been lots of studies on development and music and how beneficial it is for our growing babies and toddlers. I first tried it when Ethan was around 6mos, and he really seemed to enjoy it. Ever since the class, he's just always loved music! Yes, I know ALL kids love music, so I don't totally attribute it to the class. I just really enjoyed that it was something outside of our house and around other mom's and babies. Unfortunately, it's not very cheap, not unreasonable, but kind of on the expensive end. So, with the economy etc., we decided to take a few months off, I figured Ethan was getting older and we be getting out and about and stuff. Recently, I started thinking that maybe I was doing him a great disservice, but him not being in daycare. Don't get me wrong, I would NOT trade what I have in my mom and my mother-in-law for anything in the world!!!! We are INCREDIBLY spoiled! (yes mom's we know it and we love you to pieces for it!) But, I was just concerned that he wasn't getting the socialization. I have play dates here and there with my friends and their kids, but everyone's busy and the playdates aren't as frequent as we would all like. Anyway, I popped to sign him back up this winter and last week was our 1st week. I was a little worried how he might do. I thought he'd be clingy to me and want me to hold him all the time instead of playing with the other kids. Much to my surprise, he ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! His class is actually pretty small compared to the last one we were in. There's only 4 kids and they're all boys! They're all about the same age so it's great! We've been learning about "pretend" play, which I've never really done with Ethan yet. They had to "walk" like dogs and "wag" their tails, "Sit" and "rollover". It was so cute! Of course all of the mom's had to participate too (not that cute, I'm sure!!). Anyway, that's our newest adventure!
This Ethan's new favorite thing. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES watching Baby Einstein or "ein-nine" as he calls it! He's always been way to busy to sit in front of the TV or watch anything for longer then a couple mins. But all of the sudden he'll sit and watch the entire baby Einstein. It's so fascinating to me to watch his expressions as he watches, he'll even try to repeat what their saying. I got him a portable DVD player for Christmas (best $50 I spent this year!) and he puts it on the 2nd shelf of the end table (so it's right at eye level) and sits in his little chair and watches them!
