Where were you 4 years ago?

This is where I was 4 years ago today. Starting the long journey of bringing my son into the world. Of course you will not see any pictures of Ethan on this day because he decided to make his arrival on the 24Th. So now 4 years later I am working on planning his 4 year birthday.

Kids PBS Day at the Park

I have been telling Ethan and Ella about this for a little over a month now and they were so excited to meet Clifford and Bob the Builder. It was a free kids day put on by PBS where kids were able to meet the characters, go down a huge slide, make crafts, ride a train.... The kids had a blast. The only bad thing was that we stood in line for Bob (who Ethan really wanted to meet and as we got to the front of the line, the switched Bob out for Curious George. Ethan handled it really well and just got his picture with George instead. Ella could not wait the whole time we were in line to see the characters and kept saying that she was going to hug them and give them 5 but as you can see - she made me hold her and was very, very shy.

We had to wait 1 hour and 25 minutes to ride the train but the kids really wanted to so that is what we did. Here are some pictures from the train.During the train ride Ethan was so busy just looking all around and taking everything in. He did not want to miss one thing.Little Miss Ella thought she was a beauty queen -- the whole train ride she was smiling and waiving at the people as we passed. It was so funny - I wish we had a picture of that but unfortunately we missed it.
And finally - the end of the day. Ethan loved every minute of it but here he is hot and thirsty. We are already marking our calenders for next year. The kids had a blast. I can't wait for the state fair this year because I know the kids will really enjoy it.

My little niece.

Here is my little niece taking her first bath and with her first little bow in her hair. Janel has quite a story - she went completely natural and almost had Julianna in the parking lot of the hospital. WOW is all I can say. My guess is that Julianna looks like Janel, well at least more than Faith did when she was born.

Julianna Ruth

Juliana Ruth is here. Altough I don't have the story or a picture my newest neice has made her arival at 2:56am. She was 8lbs 1oz and was born about 30 minutes after Janel got the hospital. I will post more info when I get more.

I told you she makes us laugh.

In my last post I told you Ella makes us laugh all the time. Of course the funniest picture I could not post but I can tell you about. Ella was back in her room and out she comes -- I hear a "clomp, clomp, clomp". I then look and see a very proud little girl. She has undressed herself to only weiring her underwear and then put on purple dress-up shoes and a fuzzy crown on her head. She was all smiles and thought she looked beautiful. Here are 2 more pictures where Ella really thought she was beautiful and one that...

I came around from the garage and found Ella "helping daddy" (although daddy did not need any help). She was just off on her won cutting down a tree. I could not help but laugh.This picture is a bitter sweet one. She looks sweet but boy is she being naughty. It is about 9:30 at this time. An hour and a half after she was first put to bed. Ella has the tendency to prolong her night time routine and comes out of her room over and over and over and over again. She always puts her little head on the hall floor, her bottom in the air, and her feet in her room. After she is finally asleep we laugh about her persistence. Boy are we in for it when she turns 13??!!

Random Ella Thoughts and Pictures

Ella is such a funny thing these days. Everything she says and does just cracks us up -- of course except for her of oh so fun terrific twos that she gives us at times. She is little miss thing as you can see in these photos. She loves to help Daddy outside mowing the grass. Ella got this adorable Tinker Bell outfit for Christmas but would not put it on until yesterday. As you can see she loves it now. She thought she was just beautiful -- and for good reason - I think she looks beautiful also but of course I think she is beautiful.


And Ethan got his glasses so of course Ella needed some -- here they are Mr and Miss Cool.

And Ella trying to put on her charm. What you can't see are those eyes flashing at you behind the glasses.

Random Ethan Thoughts and Pictures

While Blake and I were gone on our trip my parents (who took care of the for 9 days) bought Ethan a big boy bike. Here he is in action. I actually thought I was taking a video of him but... well I am a little technically challenged. Ethan has become a little social thing. He loves having friends over to play now and is getting pretty good about sharing his toys (except with Ella). Here is is with his friend Gavin. Gavin and his sister Nadia came over to play last week. While Gavin was over he hurt his foot and Ethan was very concerned about him -- he kept bringing him toys and snacks and just sat with him.
Ethan loves his trucks and tractors and trailers. Honestly I think he gets this from his daddy. He watches Blake with his truck and tractor and trailer. Yes - I guess you could call us the modern day Clampets! Anyway - Blake bought him some very little bungee cords to attach all his stuff. He loves it.
Ethan just got a new pair of sunglasses -- he is always saying how his eyes hurt in the sun so I thought it was about time to get some sunglasses for his sensitive little eyes.

And finally Ethan still loves his crafts!

Sleeping Beauty

I love going in to check on the kids after they go to bed at night. There is something so sweet about them when they sleep - it is as if all the imperfections go away and they start with a brand new clean slate. Now to the story behind this.

I went in to check on Ella and she had her feet on her pillow and her head toward the bottom of the bed -- When I picked her up and put her head back on her pillow she yelled real loud "I love you mommy!!" It was so precious because she did not even open her eyes - she just knew it was me taking care of her. I love it when the kids just out of the clear blue, with no ulterior motive tell me they love me. I guess that is probably how God is with us. When I came out of Ella's room Blake was in the living room and ask what she said because he could hear her all the way out there. So of course I had to go back in there to take a picture and document the event.

Ella got her first official haircut.

OK - so her hair is finally coming in and was in need of someone a little better at cutting than me - after all we are setting the tone for her first hairstyle. Here are some before pictures. Also very similar to a mug shot.

And some after pictures. Although you can't tell much of a difference - she did have half an inch cut off, light bangs cut, and just touched up all over. It makes it look a little better when she just wakes up and when I put her hair up in a clip. In about a month I am hoping that the back of her hair will grow out some and it will look like the above picture with the little curl but thicker -- she still has so much baby hair and fuzz to grow in.

5 Years Of Marriage

Blake and I just celebrated our 5 year anniversary last week with a Mexican Riviera cruise. We have been talking about going on a big 5 year vacation since we got pregnant with Ethan just 5 months after we were married. I did not think we were going to be able to go on a vacation because as usual things just kept coming up. Blake surprised me for an early anniversary present. He had put some money aside in a separate bank for our cruise. Very sneaky because it is hard to pull one over on me and he did. We had a wonderful time and here are some of the close to 200 pictures we took.Our first stop was Puerto Vallarta. We went horseback riding through the mountainous. countryside. It was so beautiful. The horses road through creeks and even swam through a river. It was so beautiful to see Mexico on horseback. After the horse back we had some time to shop and view the city on foot. We even went to what they call the American Embassy -- Walmart. Yes I know my hat is a little silly but the sun was so intense I was avoiding a sunburn at all costs.

Our next stop was Mazatlan, Mexico. This was my favorite port. It was the least commercialized of the three cities we visited and it was absolutely beautiful. We took a 40 minute boat ride over to an island called Deer Island (Mazatlan used to be just over populated with White Tailed deer). At the Island we were able to play volleyball, do the beach thing, hike and kayak. Here is Blake playing volleyball with all the Mexicans tour guides we had -- they loved having them on their team because he was head and shoulders taller than everyone else.This picture was taken at the top of Deer Island -- this just gives you a glimpse of the beauty we saw.

The only thing I did not like about this day is that it was not long enough. The beauty was just breathtaking.Every night we would come back from dinner and our Room Steward had made a little animal out of towels -- we took a picture every night with the creature he made -- this one was a Monkey hanging from the ceiling.Here is one of the sunsets from the balcony in our room. Our last stop was Cabo and the only pictures we got where actually kind of boring so I am not posting any of those. Our cruise made port in LA on Sunday morning and my very very very good friend, Brie, picked us up and entertained us until we left on Monday. Brie was in our wedding and I have not had the chance to see her since our wedding. It was so good to see such a good close old friend (no she is not old but she has been a friend for a long time). This picture is at the beach near her house.We went out to eat with some other friends of ours from college - Me, Brie, Michelle, and Erin. Erin on the end just had a baby 3 months ago. Avery was born at 32 weeks gestation. She was 2lbs and ? oz -- she now weighs 9 lbs and is just adorable. It is so fun for me to see old friends as parents and Erin and Josh are very good parents.

Here is a picture of Avery -- the little thing just did not want me taking her picture.
It is amazing to think back 5 years and see how much God has blessed us. Thanks to all of you that have been apart of our lives and helped develop our lives over these past years. We love you.