Funny Ethan

Ethan says the funniest things. I love listening to what he says and how he says it.

Yesterday when we went sledding we went to the same place we went last year. Last year there were people there, this time there wasn't anyone. After a few slides Ethan said to me: "Everyone isn't here." (See how cute?) I smiled, "You're right, no one is here! We are the only ones." After getting home and sitting fown to lunch we asked Ethan to say the prayer. In his prayer he included: "Please bless no one on the mountain." Which I am sure he didn't mean "no one". I think that he took what I had said but wanted to bless people on the mountain. It was so sweet.

Trent is really busy. He works 9-10 hours every day and then has meetings or visits for his calling or home teaching at least 4 days a week. We also work a side job a couple times a week. Between those things it seems as though Trent is rarely home with us where we can all relax and just play. At least a few days a week Trent comes home and has enough time to eat dinner and talk some before leaving again. The other day as Trent headed off to another meeting Ethan smiled and waved, "Good to see you Dad! Thanks for coming over!" As if Trent doesn't live here. Hahaha. We died laughing (and so did Ethan, he loves it when we think he is funny). Now we say it all the time when Trent has to leave. (And as a side note, life is busy but it is good. I am grateful that Trent has a job that he enjoys and that he has the opportunity to serve in his calling. I am only telling the above as a backdrop to Ethan's story, not to complain.)

Family Fun Day: Mountain Snow Fun

It probably goes without saying, but it doesn't snow much here in Albuquerque. Maybe two or three times a year and it all melts off by the next day. Snow was predicted for this weekend and when we woke up Saturday morning, saw a tiny skiff in the backyard and snow clouds over the mountain, Trent and Ethan decided that we were going up. We bought a sled and drove the hour or so to the top of Sandia Crest. The trees were snow covered and beautiful. Logan slept through the sledding but woke up at the end in time to get to put his hands in the snow.

 Trent writhing in pain after he hit a rock (and cracked our new sled...)

 Holding snow for the first time. His face kind of looked like this the whole time...and then he put it in his mouth. Go figure.

When we got home we built our first fire ever in our fireplace. Ethan and Trent drank hot chocolate and played Go Fish. It was a great way to spend the cold afternoon and warm up from the morning.

 Boys love fire ;).

Saturday night it snowed again. We let Logan crawl out in the snow as Trent was leaving for a meeting before church. He loved it...for about 40 seconds. Then he held up his cold hands and started crying. Haha. It was fun for the boys (all three of them ;)) to see the snow! 

Mowing the lawn

As I have mentioned before, our grass is coming in and we are so excited! There are still some grass-less spaces but the grass was so tall in some places that we had to cut it so that it didn't get too stressed. It was kind a milestone for us ;).

 I can't believe that someday this will he his job!

Family Pictures!!

Our neighbor Luke took our family pictures a week ago. Trent helped them install an irrigation system so he took our pictures. They turned out amazing. Here are some of my favorites.

 I love this smile. This is his face most of the time. True joy.

 I love Trent's face when he is laughing hard!

My favorite of our family

This week...

Every Friday Ethan and Calvin have a play date and we switch which house they go to so Jen and I can get some things done. After about an hour and a half we then go over and have an adult play date too. Why should the kids have all the fun? This week the boys played with Jeffer and Cal's Halloween costumes. I can't believe Ninja Turtles are back!

Ethan and Logan love to look at and play in this big mirror that was propped up against my bedroom wall. This week Logan got up on his knees and was pounding it with his hands. I heard a crash and turned to see Logan laying on this:

Literally laying on top of it. I didn't see it fall but I am positive Logan was in front of the mirror. Yet he didn't get hurt at all and ended up on top of it. I was so, so grateful he was okay. I really believe he was protected. It was a big miracle to me.

Halloween

We had a ward Halloween party on Wednesday and trick or treating on Thursday. Our primary presidency was in charge of the Halloween party so I got to help make the prizes (gold, silver and bronze pumpkins!) and help set up. We made it really simple and I think it was a success. We had a family theme of "roads". Can you guess what we are?

I am a road runner, Trent is a Rhodes scholar, Logan had the picture of Rocky Balboa taped to his back and was Rocky Road, and Ethan has a fork on his shirt, so a fork in the road. It was kind of fun to have people guessing what we were all night!

My boys

Logan is developing quite a little personality! He loves to crawl away from us as we chase him but he turns around every three steps or so to check on us while he giggles like crazy. He "escapes" after I change his diaper and crawls behind the glider chair and won't come out until I look in another direction when he then will come charging out and try to get out the door before I can grab him. His laugh is hilarious, the main characteristic being the gasping/laughing sound he makes as he draws air in. He eats like crazy. He still won't eat fruit but he loves just about everything else, especially yogurt. The other day he drank (guzzled) half of my green smoothie and then cried at me until I gave him the rest from the blender cup. I then had to convince Ethan to share some of his because Logan still wasn't satisfied! He used to cry whenever I left the room but now he is getting more independent. He sometimes even leaves the room I am in and I have to go after him to see what he is up to. On Monday of this week Ethan woke up early and came into my bed to snuggle. Ethan and I fell back asleep but after about 15 minutes Logan woke up. After nursing and playing some with Logan we went back to my room where we crawled into bed with Ethan. Logan insisted on getting down. 30 minutes later I woke up again to Logan talking! He had just crawled around and played while Ethan and I had slept for another half an hour! It was awesome. And much needed.

Ethan is getting to be such a big kid. He is three and a half years old today. He is talking so well and can tell me about what he did at preschool and nursery. He is very clever and can remember everything, from what I have said to where I have put something. He also remembers everybody's name. From his friends, to their moms, to our neighbors, he always remembers and calls people by their names. It is pretty impressive. He is so excited to have grass to the point of being protective of it. He tells everyone that comes over that we can't walk on the grass. He checks on the grass every day and shoos away the birds that come to eat the seed. He LOVES to take care of Logan and even helped feed him this week while I made Ethan's lunch. He is SO FULL OF ENERGY. People comment on it all the time. But he is also super sweet and thoughtful. At the pumpkin patch while Jen and I were getting things out of the car Ethan grabbed Charlotte and put his arms protectively around her so that she wouldn't run out in front of the cars driving by. He randomly tells me he loves me almost every day. He also has been completely potty trained for over a month now. Whew.

This week I have thought a lot about how my boys will be grown before I know it. I have really tried hard to imprint in my memory what it feels like to have Logan hold my finger while he nurses or how Ethan's three year old body fits perfectly in mine when I lay next to him, my face against his head and his back and legs against my stomach and upper legs. I know I will look back someday and wish I could be back here to experience this all again. Some days I am exhausted. Some days I don't know what I will do with the remaining fifteen minutes before nap time. Or like today, sitting alone in sacrament because Trent is up on the stand, I am drained by one kid that is climbing in and under pews and another one that refuses to nap even though he is exhausted. But overall I am happy. These two boys are everything to me. They make my life worth living. I cry when I think of all the things that could happen to them. But I am hopeful and grateful that I can trust Heavenly Father's plan for them.

Gravel = Gone

We got rid of our gravel! A few weeks ago I overheard a friend mention how she needed some gravel. I told her she could have what was left of our gravel after we had finished putting some back into our yard. They have some gravel in their yard already which conveniently matches the gravel we gave them! They are also a little stressed financially so this was a win-win for all of us: free gravel for them and more space for us!

 The gravel used to be on the concrete in front of those french doors.

Our grass is coming in! I cannot wait until we can play on it!

With such a small backyard having the gravel gone makes such a big difference!