Snow...again

Here's a photo of Ethan one year ago when we had last year's big snow. It's hard to believe that he has grown so much in one year!

On a side note, I have been without a computer for a few weeks, so blogging has been impossible. WOW, you never know how much you rely on something until you don't have it! Anyway, we have been in our new house for a little over a month now and are completely settled in. It is literally half the square footage of our old house and we LOVE it! Ben and I have both decided that when we move back home, we would love to to find a house that is just a little bigger than this one (a little more room would be nice :-) Ethan loves having everything so easily accessible to him and us so close. He roams around the whole house and is comfortable even when we are out of sight, which I absolutely love! In our old house, he always stayed close and never wanted to be too far away from us.

During last week's big snow, Ethan and I started to get baby Caden's room ready for him! I think he loves playing in there as much as he does in his own room, especially on the days that Daddy works from home in his office right across the hallway. I love seeing his growing independence and the little boy (no longer a baby, sniff sniff) that he is becoming!

As we have had snow twice now in the past 2 weeks, we have had quite a lot of inside time and a few PJ days. These days are the best!
Of course, we did take some time to get bundled up and go outside and play with Daddy and Lucy! He didn't know what to think of all of the layers Mommy kept putting on him!

Ethan was a little intimidated by the snow at first, but as soon as Daddy grabbed his hand he was all about exploring!

Sweet Picture!

Getting his snow feet!

He even made Mommy open up the sand table so he could get out some toys to play with. Sand...snow...it works the same!

Lucy was absolutely hilarious! We have about 25 pictures of her running and jumping around in the snow! You would think that she had never been out in it before. Even though it's not a great picture, we have also had some great play time with Alex! They are starting to interact with each other in a way that they never have before and Leigh Ann and I just love it!

I also found a couple of random Christmas pictures that I just had to post! These were on the other camera and I didn't even realize they were there until last night.

Mimi and Ethan

Uncle Chad, Aunt Ashley, and Ethan

Christmas Pictures- finally

It's mid-January, but I am finally getting Christmas pictures posted! It has been a whirlwind last 5 weeks. Since mid-December, we have packed up our home(sniff, sniff), traveled back to Georgia and Alabama to see family for the holidays, then returned to Texas and sold our home, moved to our new house(no stairs!!!), unpacked and gotten settled in, began getting ready for baby #2's arrival, and returned to work. Can you say EXHAUSTED! Thankfully, it's all behind us and we are finally finding a new routine.

Even with everything going on, Christmas was magical this year! Ethan was old enough get into Christmas and was quite the little ham. As you can see from all of the different outfits/pajamas below, Christmas was a multi-day event this year!

Trying out Maw-Maw's toboggan.
Yea, Yea, Yea!! Presents!!

This was his first look at Christmas morning! It was priceless! We missed the picture, but as soon as he saw everything his face lit up with a big grin. Then he looked up at me with this look on his face that said "Is this really for me? Can I touch it?"

Testing out the golf set was an all day event.

Then he found his next favorite! He loved his rocking chair!

And, oh yes, a big boy tricycle! We've got some growing to do, though.

Sitting on his little stool, talking on his Elmo phone. Oh, yes, at 18 months we know exactly who Elmo is and we don't even watch Sesame Street!

Getting into the hang of this present thing with Grandad.

Can you say SPOILED!

Thank you Santa Claus, Mimi, Grandad, Maw-Maw, Uncle Chad and Aunt Ashley!

Christmas Pictures

After getting Thanksgiving dinner in the oven, we got dressed and headed to Bass Pro Shop with Mimi for some Christmas pictures. It was awesome, the store was almost empty! Completely different from last year's hour long stand in line.Ethan made himself right at home and led the way to Santa.
First Santa sighting

He walked up all by himself!

The final outcome...no smile, but no tears.

He was in awe of the snowman.

Here, he was having a good ole' time throwing the "snow"

This picture is out of place, but we did wind up with a cute snowman picture.

You just might see some of these pictures again very soon!!!

A Little Snug

Here's what happens when Daddy buys an outfit when he's away on business and Mommy forgets that it's in the closet for almost a year. Last year (I really think it was that long ago), Ben went to San Francisco on a business trip and brought back an Alcatraz outfit for Ethan. He was too small for it then, so I put it in the closet until he was big enough to wear it.

I think he's a little too big now, though.

B'Ball Time with Daddy

Although November came and went without a post, we were still out and about. You will always find Ethan and Daddy with some type of ball in their hands in the afternoons.

Costume Party

Last night, we headed over to our friends, the Burchfiel's, for our Life Group Costume party. We had a blast and the weather was perfect! Ethan loved playing in the backyard with all of the toys and other boys and girls!

Our little dinosaur!

Can you tell that his new favorite thing to play with are volleyballs and soccer balls, not to mention baseballs, golf balls, or any other round object that can be thrown.

Pumpkin Patch

We started out at the Maze!

Off and Running!!

Then we headed over to check out the pumpkins.

Although you can't really tell, this is mid-laugh! He's having a blast!

Wow! What a big pumpkin!

Then we headed to check out the little pumpkins.

Trying to climb on them...Thankful that we weren't caught!

Whoa! Look at all of these pumpkins!

Last, we headed over to the scarecrow for some Mommy and Daddy pictures.

Mommy and Ethan

Daddy and Ethan