Birthday Boy!

Friday was Ethan's 3rd birthday!  I can't believe our little guy is THREE already... doesn't even seem possible!  We wanted to give Ethan a little surprise first thing when he woke up so Thursday night Troy blew up a bunch of balloons (5 giant trash bags worth) and we were going to wake up early and put them in his room before he woke up.  Little did we know... getting them from the trash bags and into his room quietly was going to be an insurmountable task!  We woke up at 6, brought the balloons upstairs from the garage and emptied the bags into the hallway.  Then we were going to "push" them into Ethan's room so as to not wake him.  Well, the ceiling fan kept "pushing" them back out of the room, and even after turning it off the only way to get them to stay in there was to carry them into the room.  All was going well nonetheless until about 10 minutes in, when some little feet started wiggling and the birthday boy's head popped up!  That was at 6:20am... a good hour before he normally wakes up!  So, we got an early start on the day!!!

Ethan enjoyed some early morning playtime in the backyard with Daddy (it was nice and cool even), while I made some special birthday pancakes for the little guy.  We sang "Happy Birthday" and Ethan blew out his candles, then we enjoyed our breakfast. 

Once Gabby and Peepaw arrived, we headed to the mall to go to Build-a-bear.  He made an astronaut monkey!  Although he wasn't too sure about actually building the monkey, he warmed up to "bathing" and combing him after a little encouragement from Mom & Dad.  Before we left the mall, he also got to spend some Mickey money (a Disney giftcard) and he chose to buy a helicopter.  He also enjoyed riding the carousel and the train.

After the mall and a good nap, he opened his presents and then we went to his very favorite place to eat "three-birds" otherwise known as Freebirds.  He gobbled up all his quesadillas and then we headed over to the yogurt place for some ice cream. 

What a fun and busy day of celebrating our BIG 3 year old!  Happiest of birthdays to our sweet boy!  He is so funny, so talkative, and so strong-willed!  His laugh is contagious, he is incredibly sweet, and he is pretty darn handsome!  He is also smart as a whip!  We are so blessed to be his parents xoxo

First Family Vacation

Last month, we went on our very first family vacation and we all had a blast!  We went with Gabby & Peepaw and the dogs and we all piled into Peepaw's truck before the sun was even up on Wednesday, September 17 and headed down to Port Aransas.  We were expecting rain all week, so we were pleasantly surprised when we enjoyed 3 days with no rain at all and 1 day with just some light morning showers.  It was pouring when we were packing up to leave on Sunday though!

Ethan LOVED the beach!!!  He had so much fun splashing/kicking the water, jumping over the waves, throwing the wet "quick sand", building sand castles, driving his dump truck, flying his kite, feeding seagulls, swimming in the pool, fishing, eating, riding the ferry, playing at the park, watching ships/dolphins, playing with Gabby & Peepaw, and just exploring everything!  We had a busy few of days!!!  So busy, that our little anti-napper actually took good naps every day we were there :)

Here are a few (okay, a lot) of pictures from Ethan's very first vacation...

 Day 1: Hitching a "ride" to the beach with Daddy

 Day 1: Family Photo (first time to see the beach for Ethan)

 Day 1: Jumping waves with Mom & Dad

 Day 1: Kicking & Splashing

 Day 1: All BOY!  Throwing wet sand :)

Day 1: Such a handsome beach bum

Day 1: Enjoying his Gabby & Peepaw

 Day 2: Relaxing in his beach chair

 Day 2: Molly doing the same!

Day 2: Daisy's a swimming dog

 Day 2: Daddy caught him a fish from the ocean with his bucket!

 Day 2: Flying his kite!  We had the beach to ourselves!

Day 2: So excited about his kite!

 Day 2: Burrying Ethan in the sand

 Day 2: Hanging with Mommy

 Day 2: Feeding fritos to the seagulls with Gabby and Dad

 Day 2: Exploring the marina at dinner with Peepaw

 Day 2: Riding the ferry boat

Day 2: Playing at the park

 Day 3: Cruising in the pool

 Day 3: Cannonball!!!!  Ethan learned quickly after watching Daddy & Peepaw :)

 Day 3: Look at this little dolphin under the water!

 Day 3: Fun in the pool with Daddy!

 Day 3: Shark bait

 Day 3: Watching the ship come in

 Day 4: Digging & dumping at the beach

 Day 4: Daddy dug up a crab!

 Day 4: Busy, busy boy!

Day 4: He could do this all day long!

Day 4: Mom caught a fish with lil buddy's fishing pole!

What a fantastic week!  Even mom and dad got to relax a little, thanks to Gabby & Peepaw entertaining the little guy!  We will treasure these memories forever!

Toofies!

On August 12th, Ethan went to the dentist for his first big boy cleaning.  He did so good!!!  He sat in the big chair all by himself (after being able to bring this "big mouth" doggy back from the waiting room).  Then he let the hygienist brush, polish and FLOSS all his little toofies!  Ethan thought it was funny when Erin was polishing his teeth because the brush was striped like a zebra and she told him the zebra was going to tickle his teeth :)  After his cleaning, he let Dr. Jenny count and look at all his teeth with a tiny mirror, and she gave him a little gold coin in exchange.  He was able to "buy" a new bouncy ball from the machine in the waiting room with his coin and he was so proud.  What a big boy!!!

Schulenburg Picnic

Last month (August 3rd) we drove to Schulenburg to surprise Julie & Wes as they rode on a float in the festival parade for Julie's 45th class reunion.  Ethan had a great time watching the parade with his cousins, and consuming ridiculous amounts of candy.  After the parade we went to the picnic and Ethan enjoyed dancing to the music and playing in the park with Dominik & Anthony.  It was a great day!!

And here is a little video of Ethan enjoying the music while eating his lunch:

I will be playing catch-up over the next week or so... please forgive the tardiness of many of these updates!

Sunday Funday

We spent several hours today at Zilker park celebrating sweet little Kai, who would've been 3 on Friday.  So many people were there to celebrate his birthday, and we were happy to be a part of it!  This park in downtown Austin, has a miniature train (which Kai loved) and so some close friends of the family had arranged for free rides today in his honor.  Ethan loved riding that train too!  He also enjoyed a cupcake, playing on the playground, "driving" an old firetruck, playing in Barton Creek, and eating a snow cone.  It was definitely a great time!!!

Waiting for the train

Family pic on the Zephyr train

Riding the train

 "Driving" an old fire truck

The dolphin is wearing his hat since Ethan didn't want to!

Wading in Barton Creek

Ethan had so much fun playing with the little dogs in the water!!

Enjoying a snow cone to cool off... only blue, of course!

AFTER the snow cone :)

Hope everyone has a great week!