one year older...

Quote from Will: "Daddy." (This is Will's FIRST and ONLY word. I've tried EVERYTHING to get him to say "mommy". No luck.)

Quote from Ethan: "Daddy, IS THE MAN."

Yesterday was Jon's birthday. My whole "lame mom" thing with birthdays carried over to a new low: "lame wife". I didn't get Jon a present, nor did I do anything out of the ordinary for him. Well, actually, I did make him breakfast. By about 1:00, I was feeling super guilty about neglecting the special day, so I suggested and agreed to go on a hike with him. We hiked the "Y", which ended up being perfect because of the gorgeous weather.

Happy Birthday, Jon.


Yep, we are pretty lucky.

"no, i'm four"...

Ethan celebrated his third birthday the other day. However, he's convinced he's four. Yep...I don't get it, either.

Yet again, I was a lame mom and didn't plan anything. However, lucky for Ethan, the Grandparents stepped in. It was an all things THOMAS birthday (shocking, I know), complete with the much anticipated Thomas cake...the one he has been talking about for literally months. He saw a picture of it at a grocery store once and was determined to have it for his birthday. I toyed with the idea of just baking a cake (one similar to Will's!) and sticking a train on top. Then I remembered his memory, and knew it would never fly.

(Yes, the cake is on the ground. We had to follow him around to get him to pay attention to the "much anticipated" cake...he was too busy playing with his new train.)

What a fun kid.

i felt all thankful...and emotional

Ethan and I made these turkeys. Ethan is thankful for: Feathers, Thomas, Percy Video, and Helicopters. I'm thankful for: Jon, Ethan, Will, and ON DEMAND (the best and cheapest babysitter).


Thanksgiving this year was, as always, wonderful. It was full of great food, reflections of blessings, fabulous shopping, fun company. You know, the works.

Before we left town to stuff our faces, I made a quick stop at the gym. While there, I caught the last few minuets of a Thanksgiving themed "Saved by the Bell" (yes, with the dreamy, Zack Morris). It was really touching. I got kind of emotional. At the gym. Totally embarrassing. And pathetic.

them crazy doctors...

Will had surgery the other day. Yeah, something about a normal procedure after birth--gone wrong. Poor kid.

Here he is about to go into the Pre-Op waiting room (he clearly had no idea what was about to happen), where we sat for FOREVER. We got to the hospital at 7:40 am, and he was finally taken into surgery around 10:15. Not so good on a one-year-old that had not eaten since 8:00 the night before...or a mom who was dying to go the bathroom.


His recovery has been, surprisingly, really smooth. Tough kid.

i loathe potty talk...

...but please bare* with me (I promise there was absolutely no pun intended. Only after I wrote it did I realize: a. it was funny, b. that it was actually a pun, c. incorrect spelling of the word.)

...then I laughed...and then I decided to keep it.

Anyhow...


After five, yes FIVE, long hours (half Friday night, half early the next morning) of sitting like this, we finally got some results. There was a lot of jumping and celebrating. A lot of high fives and high hopes for the future.

However, turns out, it was a one time deal. On Sunday I put him there (in front of the tv, of course) in hopes we could repeat the past. Nothing. On Monday we went to the store to get "potty treats". We got home, set the whole thing up...again (yep, you guessed, tv and all), ready for another try. After sitting there for a bit, Ethan was excited because he thought that just by sitting there he had earned his treat. I explained to him that he had to actually have "wet" (for lack of a better word...I told you, I absolutely LOATHE potty talk. Always have. I know, nerdy.) in there. I, being the genius that I am, had a great idea to give him a sippy cup of juice, you know to help speed up the process. After I handed the cup to him and started to walk away, I glanced back only to see him secretly dumping the cup into the potty with a "Ha, I'll get you, Mom" face.

Yeah right. Nice try, dude. No treat for you.

Oh and it's been a few days, and...still not treat. Oh well. He won't the first kid in Elementary school with diapers. Or, will he?


*...not knowing if it the phrase was: "bare with me" or "bear with me", and after a quick deliberation, I did some research. Turns out it's the latter, bear with me. Hmm, who knew?!

thomas and a spider, soccer, and a wedding...

October was a crazy month and since it's the middle of November, I've finally decided to post. We went to Thanksgiving Point a few billion times (corn belly's, j. crew sale, etc.), had some birthday parties, Jon's Grandpa passed away, went to Logan a bunch of times, had a lot of visitors, went to a museum, and a bunch of other really fabulous things.

Halloween happened...




soccer ended...


Hillarie and Mark got married...




...the end.

my son, the bully? no...

I don't know where it is coming from, but Ethan has turned into quite a bully. He has been kicked out of nursery, put on "time-out" in nursery for making another boy bleed, gone up to a random kid and in his words, "kicked that crying baby", and a number of other unmentionable things. We have been scrambling trying to figure out what's going on with him.

The other day we were driving to Josh and Layne's house for dinner. In light of our recent battles with this aggression, we were talking to him about good behavior. After a long spill about being nice, Jon said, "Ethan, we know you can do it."

I piped in with, "I know you can do this Ethe. I know you can. I know, because you are Superman."

Very annoyed, Ethan countered, "I am NOT Superman. I AM a kid."

Smart kid, actually. He's already figured out: if you keep expectations low, there's less disappointment in the end.

Ok. Point well taken.