Post Birthday Party

Are you ready for a whopper of a post? I sometimes think about splitting up posts sometimes so they aren't so huge, but then it would require coming twice to the blog instead of once... so this one is just going to be big! I'll divide them into individual posts for you :)

BIRTHDAY PARTY AND THE ENSUING RECOVERY
I think we've finally recovered from the weekend festivities. Birthday parties are something I really look forward to, but am also glad when they are over and I don't have to think about them anymore.
We've been lucky in the past that we've never had a birthday party rained out before (though living in sunny AZ could have helped our "luck"). This year the streak was broken with a complete day of downpour! All in all, it rained almost 7 inches on Saturday! So, what was supposed to be a relaxing day at the park where there would have been lots of room for the kids to run and play turned into a small chaotic festival in our house. Don't get me wrong, we still had a great time, it was just a little cramped and crazy. Thanks everyone for your support!
We started off with Recycle Scategories where everyone had to list an alternative use for some specific recycled items such as a catsup bottle, a toilet paper roll, a plastic bag, etc. Then we did bowling with pins that were made of recycled juice bottles filled with rocks (Eric's been bringing them home from work for the past several weeks). For prizes we gave out those reusable grocery bags you can buy from the supermarket. I had thought of other games, but they were more conducive to the park scene, so we just bagged them.
Eric started the grill during a light rain part of the day only to find out five minutes later that the gas had run out. We resumed our "BBQ" in our already-full kitchen... just in time to beat the heavy downpour of rain that came.
Everyone was so great to bring "recycled" presents as we had requested. Ethan got a lot of fun stuff... everything from a Noah's Ark Little People set, to a bug box, electronic toys to puzzles to a baseball hat, to tractors, blocks and a mini piano. It was fun that everyone wrapped their gifts in recycled stuff too. It's nice to have a change in toy selection, but great too that people didn't spend a lot on the gifts.

Our pride and joy... the cake was eaten next. Eric knows that for the kids birthdays I go a little crazy about making a fun cake. I decided that next to making a cake with a recycle symbol (how boring would that be?), a tractor cake would be sort of along the theme of my party. It was green at least and sort of represents gardening. It was a team effort to make the cake on Friday and Saturday morning, but it turned out pretty great.

Kudos to Eric who even attempted the John Deere symbol in icing on top. I was ready to just forget it, but it turned out amazing!...

Of course it could have looked like a tractor heap and the kids would have still liked it... They sure liked sticking their fingers into the frosting.It tasted as good as it looked too. I did a half and half cream cheese and butter cream frosting... it was very hard to work with, but delicious! Having the party at the park would have also facilitated clean-up, but fortunately for me, my friend Paola stayed behind and helped me clean the kitchen while Eric played with our kids. It's amazing how much easier it is to clean when you are talking with someone and when you don't have kids running around! We finished cleaning, mopping and vacuuming later in the evening and were very proud of ourselves for going to bed with a clean house.

HIS AND HER PROJECTS

So this is the project I've been working on for the past month... a playmat for Ethan's Birthday. I have loved doing it, but am very glad it is done too... This is Eric's project:One night I'm in bed and Eric is downstairs getting some water. I ask him if he's coming and he says that he'll be just a minute because he has a surprise for me. About 45 minutes later (after I've fallen asleep and woken up again) he's still down there, so I go to investigate. It turns out he sort of ran into a small frog (above) when he was going to get water. He decided to catch said frog and it turned into a 2.5 hour surprise chase! The smart frog first hopped under the dishwasher. It was there I found my Honey trying to probe the frog out with a metal hanger. After contemplating removal of the dishwasher, Eric decided it would be better to go look outside for another frog. We turned out the lights in the kitchen and Eric wandered around outside our house for 20-30 minutes trying to find another frog. Coming up empty-handed, he came back into the house where we discovered the frog had emerged from under the dishwasher. Eric tried to catch it again, but this time he hopped under the oven. Brilliantly, while Eric was trying to coax it out from under the oven, I covered up the holes under the dishwasher with hotpads and a towel so he couldn't go under there again (I was really afraid that if he did go under there again, the dishwasher would end up sitting in the middle of our kitchen). The frog finally came out from under the oven (I think being poked by a metal rod had something to do with it) and tried to go under the dishwasher again. He landed in the towel and we finally caught him. So, we were supposed to go to bed at 9:30 and finally got in bed about 11:45. That was a surprise alright! After determining that our frog was a Spotted Chorus Frog and deciding that keeping a wild frog was not the best idea, we kept him until morning until we could show the kids. We then released him into the backyard. What an adventure! I bet he'll think twice before trying to come into our house again... We're still not sure how he got there, which issue is a little disturbing because if a one inch frog can come into our house, I wonder what else might try.

THE OTHER STUFF

Are you still with me? I'm almost done. Just a few quick pictures of Ethan's hobby... pouring water over his head, gasping for breath and then smiling and doing it all over. And, to finish, I've been bested by a novice shopper! We went to the grocery store for some frozen wings (because I wouldn't let Eric buy them at a restaurant). He found some on sale for $6.99 (they were regularly $8.99). They rang up $7.99 and we told the checker that they were listed for $6.99. I ran back and got the tag to show her. The manager walked by, looked at the tag and told the checker that the tag was three months old and just to give us the wings for free! Now, Eric, who has been "scolded" multiple times by me for not finding the cheapest item or for not checking prices as the items are scanned, is holding this one little incident over my head to prove he is the better shopper. Does that seem fair? :)

Easter and Our New Addition

I know, all my blog titles seem to be baby related! I guess we're just getting geared up for August... even though it is still so far away. We did get a new addition this weekend. I traded a photography session for this sweet playground set:


The kids love it and we've only had it for one day! We are so excited for the rest of the time using it. It came from a great family whose children are too old to enjoy it. It was well cared for and the lady was genuinely sad to get rid of it because they'd had so much fun on it. She was glad to see that it would be used, but it was interesting to me to see that she'd had so many memories with it and I hope we can add our own great memories to it. I'm looking forward to "sending" the kids out to play while I prepare dinner sometimes or when it is too hot for me to do anything but sit inside, but they want to play.
We had a fun Easter weekend. We decided to do candy and Easter Bunny stuff on Saturday. Elia and Ethan both got a little basket and book from Grandma and then a few things from the Easter Bunny. We didn't want to go overboard on candy, so I bought some candy, and then icy pops, marshmallows, toothbrushes and underwear for Elia and flipflops for Ethan. I know, underwear doesn't sound too exciting, but she needed it and when there is tinkerbell on it, Elia is sure excited about it.
Ethan couldn't stuff enough chocolate candy eggs into his mouth. We told him to slow down and eat them one at a time. He did better after that. All I can say is that it's a good thing our kids like to brush their teeth!
First off was an egg hunt at the church:
Our pals, Channing and Chloe:

Elia and Eric "cleaned up" the "big kids" area after they were done and their good spying found them a few extra eggs.

I got this cute recipe about this divinity that ties into the Easter story and Jesus. We made it this morning with the kids and talked about the real meaning of Easter. You make it and put it in the oven. When it is done, it is hollow like the empty tomb:

It's a boy!

No, we didn't find out the gender of our unborn child, but on Saturday, we took Ethan to get his first haircut... maybe now we won't get comments such as, "How old is she", etc.:We took some video too, but I didn't feel like editing it tonight. If there is anything interesting, I'll include it next time... so more pictures will have to do:There is no turning back and we've got a ponytail in a bag to prove it. Ethan didn't want anything to do with his cut hair, so Elia held it for display:Eric and I finally agreed that it was time and though we miss his curls we both really like his new haircut. In large part due to the two suckers and multiple animal crackers he was given, he sat pretty still during his first cut. I'm very glad I didn't attempt it myself. I like his hair even more the day after...

So, that is the exciting news for the week, but it was also fun to get to go to the Children's Museum with "Papa" last Wednesday. I had forgotten what it was like to only watch one kid at a time! Elia was feeling a little crazy after the museum. She's always coming up with new ways to amuse us (and herself). Here is her latest:

One last note, Ethan is really picking up on how to be polite. Whenever he asks for something and you give it to him he says, as if it were one word, "Thankyouwelcome". We think it's pretty cute.

After having heard several things during Conference this weekend about how we can improve ourselves, there is much work to be done! :) So, on to a new week. Happy living!

Rain, rain come again

Last week was full, both of stuff to do and rain. I had my ultrasound on Monday... baby looks good, but, for those of you who are going to ask, we still don't know what gender it will be. We also got a new refrigerator because our old one had a leak with the ice maker. That was a lot of work to have to pull everything out, put it in the deep freeze and then put it back in after. I've also been trying to put up shelves and get more organized. Eric and I went to a friend's house to help them move in on Saturday and seeing her house and remembering how cute it was before made me even more motivated to get decorating. I am having a nightmare of a time picking out curtains, but I am one step closer... I actually went and got a few to try out. Wish me luck! It also rained many days last week. I know our grass was happy, but we were all getting stir-crazy, and I thought, "What do we have raincoats for anyway?" The kids ran through puddles, floated sticks down the gutter, helped me pull weeds from the cracks in our driveway (the pile below is purely weeds we pulled from our driveway cracks),and before I could stop them, they laid down in the puddle (see video). So much for raincoats! Elia about lost her jeans and Ethan didn't like the floating dirt that looked like bugs and if you wait to the very end you will see his cute reaction to the bubbles in the puddle.

They ended up muddy from head to toe, but it was actually very nice to not try and keep them clean or from stomping in puddles and to actually get those weeds pulled. I just had them strip down in the garage before I carried them up to a nice warm bath.

Here is our personal eye-spy game. Can you find Elia? This is how I found her one afternoon during her nap:

And, last but not least, we are getting ready for Ethan's birthday on the 18th! I decided to have people bring "recycled" gifts... meaning something Ethan would enjoy from either the Goodwill or from their own collection. Then, I just sort of got carried away and decided to make it a whole "green" themed party. It isn't that I am ready to chain myself to a tree to prevent it from being cut down, though I do think it is important to protect the environment, but the idea sort of snowballed and it has been fun to think of eco-related party games and center the party on a theme. I am far from an environmental protection pro, but it should be fun. Oh, and one more funny thing, I was finishing up the invitation today and I started to wonder when Earth Day was. I looked it up, and it is April 22nd. Honestly, it is just so coincidental that I would plan this kind of party for Ethan's birthday and it is the weekend before Earth Day. I guess it was meant to be! We'll let you know how it turns out.

Brothers, Bugs and Babies

I can't believe how green it has gotten here... just in the last couple of weeks it seems like everything has put out their leaves. Our backyard went from skeletal to bushy it what seemed like two days.
We are very excited to plant our garden this week. Our garden box is full of dirt and the plants are in the garage. Hopefully they will go into the ground on Monday. It is our first gardening experience in Texas, so we'll hope all goes well. I'm especially looking forward to fresh tomatoes! Our neighbor knew I was going to do a garden and came over with the name and number of her mother who has a truck and said that her mom would be glad to help me get a truck full of dirt. This was a huge blessing as having the dirt delivered would have been more than the cost of the dirt! The woman was super nice and happens to be a master gardener which was also great because when we went to the soil store there were like 5 different kinds of dirt to choose from!
Eric and I also watered and put "weed and feed" on our lawn for the first time. Our lawn has a lot of recovering to do, but we're cheering for it. We have also seen an increase in bugs. We have at least one mosquito hawk in our house each night and we caught "Karen" the caterpillar:
And "Mark" the roly-poly:

I was going to keep the caterpillar and have him turn into a moth, he will be a giant leopard moth, but he wasn't eating any of the variety of leaves I gave him and I didn't want to kill him, so I put him outside and he escaped. Oh, well... maybe next time. :(
Here are a few pictures Elia took one afternoon. I thought they turned out pretty well, so I wanted to share...

And, the fun part are the videos. This first one demonstrates exactly why Elia has a brother. He doesn't even know what he is arguing about, he just likes to say the exact opposite... if he isn't doing that, he is copying her. Either way, she rarely takes it well.

This next video shows how Ethan walks around the house maybe 50% of the time... on tippy toes! He has amazing balance and is so comfortable doing it... maybe he just feels he can see better. Who knows!

Aren't little brothers great?

Oh, I almost forgot to mention why I put "baby" in the title. On Monday we go in for our 20 week ultrasound... And nope, we're still not going to find out. We're excited to see the baby though! I'll try to scan some pictures for next week's blog and you guys can try and guess if it is a he/she. By the way our name thoughts are Hannah or Liza if it is a girl and Will if it is a boy. Of course, these aren't set in stone, but we both like those names.

Cruising

Life is just cruising along here in Sugar Land. I can't believe the year is almost 1/4 over! Where does the time go?
I was about to start the blog by saying that not much was going on, but then I thought about how the kids have both been sick, Ethan is on steroids, we bought a pass to the Children's Museum, did our taxes and Elia is really getting into bike riding... and then I wondered which I should start with! Life is never dull is it?
So, the kids have been sick, I think it is probably the flu virus... Elia was sick first and stayed home from church last week with a fever... then Ethan got sick and when he gets sick, things are just complicated because of his breathing problems. I ended up taking him into the doctor (Yes, I finally found one... after 7.5 months here, it was about time), who put him on two medicines in the nebulizer machine, a steroid and an antibiotic. It seemed a little overkill, especially since I really thought it was a virus that wouldn't respond to antibiotics, but the doctor said he just wanted to make sure he got everything. So, this week we kept Ethan home from church. He kept pulling at his polo and saying, "church shirt"... he was not happy about staying home from church! Maybe next week, we'll all make it.
This week I also splurged and bought a pass to the children's museum. We used part of our tax return money for it and I think we'll get a lot out of it... especially this summer when it will be too hot to do much else.
I was also proud of myself for completing our taxes... and pretty early too! My eyes were really opened to what I'll have to do next year when I really have to do taxes for my photography business.
Last, but certainly not least, Elia is really excited about bike riding. Eric was anti-training wheels and he had Grandpa take the wheels off before they even gave it to her. I was a little skeptical, but I had no luck changing Eric's mind. We bought a little bike from the Goodwill and took off the pedals so she could learn to balance. She wasn't too keen on this, especially since she has this fabulous pink bike that Nana and Grandpa gave her for her birthday. So, we've been helping her with it and it hasn't taken her too long. She is still far away from riding completely by herself... but she can balance and pedal. She is getting a lot better at steering, though she needs work on that and on getting started too.
Of course, Ethan gets included too. He and his little bee helmet that he loves to wear even when he isn't riding, but really, it is too small for his head...
Enjoy the video. I combined the one of Elia riding and Ethan's cool trick (assisted by Eric).

A visit from Grampy and Yia Yia

The day after we got back from Utah, Grampy and Yia Yia (in case you are wondering, that is Greek for grandma) came for a visit. It was a whirlwind of five days. On Thursday we hit some of the free museums downtown (The Museum of Fine Arts and the Health and Science Museum). On Friday we drove to Galveston and played in the sand. Eric couldn't join in the fun, but he helped us get ready...Ethan has a love-hate relationship with these boots. He wants to wear them all the time, but hates them because they are a little big and sometimes fall off.

Ethan was so mad that I wouldn't hold him or stay with him on the beach because I wanted to wade in the water, so he sought comfort from Grampy.On Saturday we went to the Houston Arboretum... Eric and Elia resting on Sunday afternoon. The love sac in front of the window is one of our favorite resting spots. We got lots of extra rest with Grampy and Yia Yia. The kids sometimes bothered them in the morning instead of coming right to us. I love Elia's position in this photo...

On Monday we stayed around the house and dad, as helpful as always, helped me build a new box for our soon-to-be vegetable garden, helped fix our shower curtain rod and shower head. I specifically didn't make a "to-do" list so he could be on vacation... but I think he can't help himself. It was such a nice relaxing visit... though it was too short! We can't wait for our June visit!

Thanks for a great visit Dad and Yia Yia! I love this picture of the two of them.After they left, it was back to normal... or semi-normal, seeing how Eric was gone for all week to Atlanta. I got a lot of stuff done around the house last week including spending about three hours sorting and filing our stacks of papers. I hate paperwork! Does anyone have suggestions on how to deal with it? It is so overwhelming to me. Eric wants to go paperless and scan everything. What do you think?

Well, about one more month until Ethan's second birthday. We are seriously debating putting his hair on the chopping block... literally. So, the debate is whether to trim it... maybe 3 inches off the back (make it less mullet-ish as people think it is), or go for a classic little boy haircut with short sides and back and longer top (kind of like Eric's). Any opinions?