Tarpley, TX...heard of it?

Last week we took a long weekend to go see Dave's family in Tarpley, TX. Our trip started out great when Ethan fell asleep on takeoff and slept almost the entire flight...such a good boy! Once we arrived in San Antonio, Dave's family picked us up and we headed to downtown San Antonio to the Riverwalk for some ice cream...Ethan LOVED it!! We also went to see the Alamo before heading out to their place in Tarpley.

While we were there, we went to several little towns to see the sights and buy a few souvenirs. Ethan got a stuffed horse and a tractor shirt, I got some homemade jam and a hat and Dave got a cowboy boot ornament for our tree and some hot pickles...poor Dave tried on a real nice cowboy looking shirt but it just didn't fit...oh well, pickles are a nice souvenir, right?? :)

The one thing we were bummed about was missing Dave's cousin's horse club event on Monday evening. The ONLY day it rained was of course Monday evening...grr!

Mr. Traveler using his suitcase for the first time.


Standing in front of the AlamoCheckin out Cisco and PadreThe goatsFeeding the deerCowgirl MommyEthan tryin out some cowboy boots..he wouldn't wear my hatCheckin out the kaleidoscope with Uncle DougUncle Doug took us to see a real fire truck!!These helmets are HEAVY!! I felt like I needed to hold on to it to not strain Ethan's neck when wearing!!Oh, and using a real fire hose!! COOL!Thank you Uncle Doug, Aunt Peggy, Megan and Sarah for all your hospitality...we enjoyed seeing you guys!!

4th of July

A little late for the 4th of July post, but better late than never. We had an enjoyable weekend as a family, went to the park and also to a bbq @ a friend's house.

We took Ethan to the park on Friday afternoon. I was potentially going to have to work, so we couldn't make too many plans. So, we just headed to the local park after his nap to play for a while. Going down the slide was probably his favorite, but we also did the merry-go-round, rocking horse and swing.
Our attempt to capture red, white and blue...cheesy - but we're cute! :-)
Ethan being a ham with his "pet week" hat from Lauren's

This little kiddo is just really a silly boy these days and I honestly can't believe he's 3 months away from 2!!!

*The other day I spelled out the word "jell-o" (of course because Ethan would want it right then and there...we've resorted to spelling certain things these days) to Dave, and as if Ethan realized I was doing letters, he starts saying his ABC's.

*We are now human jungle gyms...tonight before bedtime, I was laying on his floor and he decided it was free game to step on my stomach and then literally JUMP off onto the floor and laugh hysterically!

*He was playing "peek-a-boo" with Dave tonight (which is basically hide 'n seek) and he yelled out to dave, "I hiding in dining room". I've been trying to talk about the names of rooms whenever it seems to come up, but I didn't realize he'd catch on!

*His newest quest is doing stairs without holding on to the railing. This weekend he'd go to the front staircase landing and go down the 4 steps at the bottom without holding on to anything. Of course, we stood right by him, but let him test the waters.

All for now, we're heading out to TX Friday to visit Dave's aunt, uncle and cousins for a long weekend. So, we're pretty excited to see them...it's been several years now. Look for pictures of our trip. Ethan's hopefully going to enjoy his 2nd plane trip...

More Amusing things..

*Ethan now thinks it's funny to ask for a "timeout". He gets silly at dinner sometimes and kicks his leg into Daddy's leg and when daddy asks him to be nice and not kick, he says, "I want timeout"...ah, to find a way to make a 'timeout' not so appealing?? ;-) Not that he really ever gets a timeout at all, just funny that he asks for them!

*Ethan knows the sounds of M&M's in the bowl now. When I try to sneak a few for a snack, he comes literally running to me! You can't put anything past this kid!

Little Tidbits...

*This weekend we were using the shop vac in the garage and we had to empty the vacuum. Dave did this with a shovel into the garbage bag I was holding...it was VERY dusty. Ethan was watching and all the sudden said, "hot" because he recognizes that steam (similar to the look of a cloud of dust) is hot. Quite observant!

*He is doing GREAT with his ABC's...he knows A-G and then L-Z. We usually say the "H-I-J-K" and then he does a slurred sounding phrase that sounds somewhat like "L-M-N-O-P" with the "P" definitely decipherable and from then on, does the letters very clearly!!

*He knows a lot of the song "Twinkle, Twinkle" and also is catching on to the books we read more frequently, where he's able to fill in the last word or two on every page and some in between!

*Tonight we got him a tricycle with pedals, so we can't wait to try to teach him to pedal, he cried when we had to take him off the bike, so I'm sure he'll LOVE it!

That's it, just a few things that popped into my head that I wanted to share.

Pool Fun in the Backyard

Dave and I bought Ethan a cheap little pool to have in the backyard on those hot summer days. We finally were able to use it last week during the warm weather. He wasn't quite sure what to do at first besides stand there, but we gave him a few cars and a plastic cup and he was more confident. He really enjoyed dumping water on Mommy and hearing her shriek.

Daddy fixed the "Air Dadishers"

Yes, when Mother Nature decided to put on the heat in the Midwest, it was perfect timing with when our air conditioner decided it was tired of running. (really, it was faulty wiring) So, for about 5 days we were off and on with A/C. Finally, after popping 4 fuses, we decided it was time to call in the big dogs to help. But, before that, Ethan was constantly repeating that "Daddy fixed the air conditioner"....or so it sounds in his words, "Daddy fix the air dadishers". A pretty impressive sentence in my book for a 20 month old kid!! Ethan liked the tools, so Daddy let him help work on the vent.

Daddy, I think if you just let me in here to help I can fix it myself

Let me just inspect this a minute..

Father's Day

For Father's Day we decided to head over to Blackberry Farm in Aurora because they were having an antique tractor show and as I think I've mentioned, Ethan is absolutely obsessed with tractors!! Good thing there are a lot in our neighborhood because they're still building houses. So, here are some pics of around the Farm. (Note: we tried to get him on a pony ride, but once he sat on the pony, he wasn't too thrilled about it)

Mommy messed up a bit and we were 45 minutes early before they opened. Luckily Ethan was a good boy and we walked around outside and watched the horse and wagon get prepared to give rides.

First stop, the carousel!

The tractors..

Our own personal train ride

Finally, a horse and wagon ride before lunch

1st Haircut

I decided that Ethan was ready for his first haircut, so we went the morning of Uncle Breck's graduation party so he could look spiffy as ever. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the whole thing didn't take much more than 10 minutes and they had a cool kids slide there to entertain him before the "big cut". He got to sit in a jeep and watch Thomas the Train. The only time he got a bit nervous was when the cape was first put on him. Handsome little boy now!!

The finished product, although we couldn't get him to look up long enough to get a good shot. Finally, a decent shot while gettin ready to go down the slide one last time.

Last Swim Class

Yay...i have a way of uploading pictures, so here goes with all the catch-up material:

Here is Ethan in his last swim class of the session. I honestly can't believe how comfortable he is in the water and all that he's learned from the session. I was going to sign him up again, but decided that it would be better if Dave and I got out to the local pool to keep up on his skills...now, to just find the time.