Thanksgiving Day

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Tim's family at his aunt's house. We had a good day eating and visiting with family.

Ethan with his great grandmother- aka Little Mamaw

"Little boy table"

The kids played after we ate

and the men did this

Family pics

Two Brothers Playing Together

Riley is a great big brother to Ethan! They are finally getting to the point where they can play together and entertain one another.

Halloween

Last week, Riley and Ethan dressed up for storytime. Riley enjoyed getting to wear his monkey costume. After his storytime teacher read books about bats, all the parents handed candy out to the children.

Riley's friend, Eva.

Saturday night we let Riley treat-or-treat in our neighborhood. It was rainy and yucky outside so he only went to our neighbors house and 2 of his friends houses.

Riley wanted to be a monkey because he LOVES monkey. My friend, Christin, let me borrow the costume.

We dressed Ethan as a polar bear because we call him "Our little snowbear."

Dum, Dum, Dummm

Anyone who has talked to me in the past year knows that I have really wanted to get Riley a playground. Tim and I decided to get him one for his Birthday. The boxes came on his Birthday but we didn't tell him about it because we wanted it to be a surprise. The instructions said it would take about 7- 10 hours and that must have been for 2 people. Tim built it all by himself and it took about 2 weeks- totaling about 24 hours. So a lot of labor and love went into building it.

For 2 weeks we kept all the blinds closed. Sometimes he would see pieces of it when we were driving home but I told him his daddy was building a shed. Last Saturday, he was looking out the window in our bedroom and it saw it. He was so excited! He has wanted his own playground for a long time. Thankfully, we've had some beautiful days so we could get out and enjoy it! Riley loves it!!
 

Right now, Riley's favorite part is the glider. He can swing on it for about 30 minutes at one time.

Ethan likes his car swing.

Ethan also likes to crawl around on the ground and eat the grass.

A Bad Fall

On Saturday, Riley was trying to take his coat off when he tripped and fell straight onto his chin in the kitchen and busted it wide open. As soon as I saw it I knew we would be going to the ER to get it stitched up. Riley was crying pretty bad and Tim and I hated to see him so upset and in pain. Tim's parents came to the ER so that they could help us with Ethan and help calm us down. He ended up getting about 5 stitches. The doctor and nurses at the Children's ER at the Medical Center were amazing! They gave Riley a rubber duck and a red ambulance. The toys helped calm him down and he held tightly onto them as his doctor put the stictches in. Today his mouth has been a little sore but his chin hasn't been bothering him. I was just at the ER with Ethan so now I hope we do not have to go back for a long, long, long time.

Monkey Joe Party

We had a Birthday party for Riley and Ethan with my family last weekend. I am so glad we were able to celebrate their Birthdays with them!

Riley had so much fun playing with his cousins!

My Beautiful Grandmother

Ethan enjoyed diving into his cake again.

A visit from Monkey Joe

Ethan was not feeling well at party. Early Sunday morning I ended up taking him to the ER because he had a high temperature. When we got back home, we took him to our pediatrician and found out he has croup. We had some rough nights with him and at times it was very scary. This is the first time Ethan has ever been sick and I haven't ever had to deal with an illness this seroius. He is beginning to feel better but he's still coughing and not feeling himself. I am looking forward to seeing his smiling face again.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

One year ago Ethan enter this world.

I still cannot believe we've been able to love on him a whole year. Today I've been a little sad because I am realizing the time with my boys is going by too quickly. My babies are growing up. Ethan has brought love, joy, and laughter into our house. We call him our "Baby Snowbear." He isn't walking yet but I think its only a matter of time before he gets the hang of it. He has 3 teeth and his fourth one is going to pop through any day. He can say da da, ma ma, hi, bye bye, and ball. He puts small objects into his mouth all time and he's very quick to get into things. He loves music and he loves to wave his hand to the beat of the music. He has just learned how to clap. He also loves his big brother!

This evening we had a Birthday party for him at Papaw and Little Mamaw's house.This is the cake I made for him. I don't think that I have the gift for making cakes but it sure is filled with lots of love!

At first, Ethan didn't know what to do with it.

But it didn't take him long to realize it was fun to eat and make a mess with it.

Ethan was covered in cake by the time it was over.

After his bath, Riley helped him open his presents.

I feel so blessed to be Ethan's mom! It has been such a fun year! I'm looking forward to this next year. I just hope it doesn't go by so quickly. I am trying really hard to sit back and enjoy this time with Riley and Ethan.