Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Labor Day 2011

Monday we had a great family day right here in our fun little town! The weather was gorgeous and we couldn't wait to get outside! We spent the morning walking the beautiful trail downtown nearby the new Crystal Bridges museum site. We were able to see the museum from a lookout point and it is amazing!! We are so excited for it to open in November, it is going to be a world-class museum, the kind that would be in very large cities, so it's a pretty big deal that it's coming to Bentonville! (Thanks Walmart!) After finishing the trail, we strolled on over to our town square where we had a picnic and then toured the newly remodeled Walmart Visitors Center. Finally we headed to the mall for a little shopping and some frozen yogurt! It was a really fun day and reminded how much I love our town!

Crystal Bridges Trail




 I have no idea what this thing is, it was on the trail...but it's cool looking!

 Views of the awesome museum!


 Picnic on the town square!






 Someone found the pringles!


 Walmart Visitors Center
 Soaking up some more sunshine at the mall
 Ayden finishing every last drop of his fro-yo!
 White shirt+Chocolate Fro-Yo....not the best combo! But he sure is cute! :)

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Ethan is ONE!

One year ago today...

And one year later...My, how you have grown!!





My Dear Sweet Ethan,

Happy 1st birthday!!! I cannot believe our sweet Labor Day baby is one year old today! What a fast and fun year it's been! You joining our family has been such a wonderful experience. I love being the mommy of 2 boys and watching you and your brother interact and play together. You love each other so much! You are such a sweet and happy boy and have been such an easy baby this past year. Here is a little summary of your first year and what you are up to at 12 months old!
- You have been super healthy and made it your whole first year without having any major illnesses or needing any type of antibiotic. In fact, you have only been to the doctor one time besides your well-baby visits, and it was just for a little cold virus that cleared up in a day!
-You are a great eater and a big boy! I am guessing you weigh around 26 or 27 pounds, we will know for sure next week when you go to the doctor for your one year checkup.You are wearing 18-24 month clothes. Not much has changed since last month, you still eat everything we give you! Some of your favorite foods are avocados, black beans, yogurt, bananas, grilled chicken, mandarin oranges and cheese. Oh, and anything sweet!
-You have started going to Mom's day out on Tuesdays and so far you love it!  You haven't shown any stranger anxiety yet, and I'm hoping we'll luck out and just skip that phase altogether like Ayden did!The first couple of weeks you didn't want to nap because you were so interested in all that was going on, but last week you finally settled down and took a nap. The ladies at MDO just love you and I feel so comfortable leaving you there. Eventually you will start going on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Mommy works on Mon and Wed nights so I can nap :)
-You crawl all over, pull-up, and cruise along furniture but aren't walking yet. You will take a few steps while holding our hands, but for now you prefer crawling because you are SO very fast at it. You are very efficient! You can also climb the stairs faster than we can so we have to keep that part of the house gated off! You climb on anything and everything you can, you keep us on our toes!
-You absolutely adore the dogs! Your favorite and most common word is "Andy Bear" and you have learned to smack your lips and "call" him like we do. It's so funny to see you do it!
-You love to play patty-cake and peek-a-boo and have the sweetest little giggle!
-You love reading books and listening to music and will "dance" when a song you like comes on.
-You are not interested in TV in the least, unless Yo Gabba Gabba is on, and it stops you in your tracks! You love that show!
-You have 4 teeth, 2 on top and 2 on bottom.
-You usually still take 2 good naps a day, but sometimes just take one long mid-day nap. You sleep 12 hours in your crib at night and wake up for a bottle about 3 nights a week. There's really no rhyme or reason to it...usually you sleep all night, but sometimes you don't! We won't be weaning you from the bottle anytime soon, that's for sure ;)
-Due to the new recommendations out by the American Academy of Pediatrics, you will be remaining in a rear-facing carseat for another year. We bought you a new comfy carseat that works rear-facing up to 40 pounds. This is a change for us, because it used to be a big milestone to turn the carseat around at one year old (we did it with your big brother). I'm glad we know better now!

From experience with your older brother, I know the 2nd year is a very fun and but very busy year! I am excited to watch you continue to grow and learn and looking forward to all the milestones ahead!



Happy 1st Birthday Ethan Jeffrey! We love you very much!!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Ethan's 1st Birthday Party!

Last weekend we celebrated Ethan's upcoming 1st birthday! His party was about 10 days before his actual birthday, but we wanted to give him his own special party and since our families live out of town, we decided to do it on the same day as Ayden's party. It made for a very busy but special day! I can't believe our baby is turning ONE!!! We did an adorable farm animal theme and Aunt Jenny made an unbelievably cute cake! (I showed her a picture of one I found online that I liked that was a ridiculous $400!) Her version was just as awesome! She is so talented and her cakes make such special gifts to the boys! We had a wonderful morning brunch celebrating with Memaw and Pappaw, Great-Grandma, Uncle Nick and Aunt Brandy, Aunt Amy and Natalie, Emily, and Hannah. Mimi and Pappaw Wayne and Uncle Josh and Aunt Jess and kiddos were unable to attend, but were so sweet to send cards and gifts! Ethan loved his cake and opening presents! (And big brother loved helping him too). It was a special day for all of us and another reminder of just how fast one year passes!



















Ayden's 4th Birthday Party!


Our little superhero had a wonderful birthday celebration last weekend! We enjoyed our first event with family and friends at our new house and getting to use the backyard after all the hard work we have put in the last couple of months! We rented a waterslide for the day and it was a huge hit! The kids played for hours, only stopping to eat, and then getting right back on! The weather was pretty nice for an August afternoon but the shady backyard definetely made it more tolerable! Aunt Jenny outdid herself again making his superhero themed cake! Ayden received many wonderful gifts and had a very memorable and special 4th birthday!