Despite Craig's best attempts, Ethan made it to his first birthday

Mr. Ethan turned one today and I can't believe it. I know everyone says that, and I said it on both of Craig's birthdays so far, but I really look at Ethan and see a baby still. Not a toddler. Maybe it's because he's so much smaller than Craig ever was at this age. He's barely big enough to be in a forward facing car seat. We had to put Craig in a big car seat, turned backwards, when he was seven months old. I'm tempted to just leave Ethan rear facing for a while because they sleep so much better that way on long trips.

Robert wasn't feeling well so he stayed home from church today. For a special treat for Ethan's birthday we let him stay home, too, and have three fulls hours without Craig! After dinner, we celebrated with this carrot bunny cake:


I made one like this for Craig's first birthday and I think I might make it a tradition. I'm certainly not claiming to be a cake decorator, but I think it turned out cute. Craig knew it was a bunny, so I guess that's a plus. Here are some pictures of the messy little birthday boy diving into his cake. I wish I could say this was his first taste of sugar, but it's not. I'll be honest.
The blogger video feature hasn't been working right, I've noticed, so I might try to post a video of him squishing it between his fingers at another time. If it doesn't show up, it's because I couldn't get it to work right.

By the way, I've noticed some of you have successfully posted videos in the last few months, any tips on how to do it? Do you use something other than blogger?

NCRM missionaries please read!

I got this in my email today and wanted to post it so anyone who may not be on the mission email list can know about it. Let me know if you want your email sent to Pres. and Sis. Welch and get on their list.

The family of Garth and Melba Welch is hosting an open house to celebrate their 50^th Wedding Anniversary on Saturday, September 18^th from 5:00 – 7:30 pm, to be held at 3910 No. 800 West, Pleasant View, Utah. In case of inclement weather it will be held at the church on the corner of Pleasant View Drive and 900 West. We would love to have you and your family join us for a combined anniversary celebration and missionary reunion.

We are sorry we were not able to get this out earlier. My computer has been down for a couple of weeks and we are hoping that it will hang in there till we notify everyone. We would appreciate your passing this on to others. It is far better to have several notices than none. Hope to see as many of you who can make it.

What do you get a one year old with a million toys and tons of clothes for his birthday?

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything really interesting. I've been waiting to take some good pictures but Robert took our camera to work. So, I figured I would just tell you all what's going on around here and put some pictures up next week. It seems like there's been a lot going on and we've all been busy, but then when I sit to write about it I can't think of anything worth documenting. Craig is using more complete sentences and just beginning to attempt "the, is, and" etc. I love being able to ask him questions and trust that his answers are really answers and not just the first this that popped into his mind. Ethan's walking is more and more confident every day. He's crawling less and less. He also got comfortable wearing his little soft-soled shoes at church on Sunday.

Here's something you can help me with---what do you suggest I get Ethan for his birthday? I want something he and Craig can (relatively) easily share but I'm not interested in just buying him a new toy. A couple ideas I had was a sandbox. I was thinking of using a plastic swimming pool. However, around here you have to worry about things like scorpions and tarantulas burrowing into the sand. So I would have figure out some kind of cover for it. Would that just be too much trouble? I also thought of getting a little plastic slide, but we only have a concrete patio and no grass, so I might just be asking for trouble there. My last thought was a double sided easel and some kids finger paints. I don't know. What suggestions or advice do you all have from your experiences?

Pasta with Turkey and Zucchini

I made this for dinner last night from a recipe I found on the Food Network website. This week, I've planned meals that are lighter, simple in flavor, and easier to make and this was my first edition. I ended up making a lot of variations since I was trying to save money and use what I had on hand so the end product was quite a bit different than the original recipe. If you want to see the recipe I based this on, you can find it here. This is what I ended up making:

Pasta with Zucchini and Turkey (catchy name, I know)

1 bag (12 oz.) Bow-tie pasta
1 medium zucchini, coarsely grated
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 medium tomatoes, cut into chunks
1/4 lb. turkey lunch meat, cut into strips
1/4 lb. mozzarella, cut into cubes
1 cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste

First cook the pasta in salted water. Put grated zucchini in a strainer, mix with the 1/4 tsp. salt, and set in the sink to rest for at least 10 minutes. The salt draws out the moisture from the zucchini and seasons it at the same time. Drizzle the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add the garlic and saute until lightly browned, about 1-2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and let them cook for a few minutes while you squeeze out the excess moisture from the zucchini. Add zucchini to the tomatoes and garlic. Lastly, add the turkey, pasta, and chicken stock. Stir well and simmer for a few minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and fold in the mozzarella chunks. Let sit for a few minutes to allow the mozzarella to heat through and begin melting. I was surprised at how simple the flavors are but how addicting this is, too. As a side note, I used a dash of cayenne pepper when I added the garlic to the oil. It was the perfect amount of spice for me, but too much for the kids. Just a little variation, in case you like a little spice.

The best thing about this was the only I had to buy was the zucchini--I already had everything else. I like that this is versatile and you can easily make substitutions, like squash or cucumber, maybe, or bell peppers, onions, feta, parmesan, ham, shrimp, cilantro, lime juice...anything, really! (Except maybe not all of those things together. :)) Just remember to keep the ratios of dry to wet ingredients the same.

We have walker!

Ethan started trying to take a few steps about two weeks ago but it was really minimal. I thought it would be a month or so before he really got the hang of it. On Saturday, though, I noticed he was starting to stumble with a little more confidence and realized that it was going to happen sooner than I thought. Sure enough, today I think he can officially be classified as a walker. He prefers to walk now and only crawls when he's upset (like if he bonked his head or was pushed by Craig). He's even mastering the art of stopping, standing for a minute, and then walking again. He changes directions, too! I can't believe my little baby is embarking on toddlerhood. I sure love this little boy.

We can all rest easy

I know you've all been losing sleep over my Fairport New York mystery, but I am here to tell you that you can all rest easy. Whoever you are, you don't know your own identity. You see, I "privatized" my blog about 12 hours or so ago and added all of the email addresses of people I know. A few minutes ago I logged on and saw that Fairport New York viewed my blog (and left via many of your blogs) no less than 5 hours ago. So, you are not some pedophile or social miscreant holed up in a basement somewhere. You are a friend or family member of mine who, for some unknown reason, is trolling from a distant zip code. Now I can start posting real stuff again. Once interesting things begin to happen and I remember to get the camera out.

On the other hand, any computer addict worth their salt could probably bypass a blog's privacy setting fairly easily...

Going private

Fairport New York never did step forward, and since the world and the internet can be a scary place, I've decided to take my brother's advice and go private. The reason I didn't go private from the beginning is because I wanted all the people I've known in the past, whether I knew them well or not, to feel comfortable reading my blog without having to announce their presence. So, for those of you out there who I may not know or may not know well, please don't hesitate to request being added. I like being able to network and meet new (normal) people so even if I don't know you, I would like to add you and be able to read your blog, too. I'll leave this up for a day or so before going private just so everyone has a chance to read this. I know Fairport New York will see it. They get on at least twice a day. Also, I'm doing this for your benefit, too. Whoever this mystery person it, they often leave my blog via many of your blogs, too. I guess we'll find them out or weed them out.

I hope this doesn't bore you

I hope that when I talk about couponing it doesn't bore anyone. I'm trying to keep it to a minimum. However, this week I spent a lot of time trying to prefect my system and ended with what I feel is my first truly triumphant, full shopping day savings. So far, I've gotten some great deals here and there on a few things, but I haven't had one of THOSE moments when I'm expecting to pay a certain amount and am shocked when I get the receipt. I've been cleaning out the cupboards the last few weeks so this week I really needed to not only buy practically all of the ingredients for our meals for the next two weeks, but I also had to stock up on several things. Not to mention the box of diapers I needed and various other items that are expensive but I only have to buy them once a month came due this week as well. With all that in mind, picture an overflowing cart and look at the receipt below. The red underline it what I spent and the purple below it is what I saved.
I literally got the chills when I saw that $128.05! Granted, most of the savings came because of the awesome sale the grocery store was having this week, but it took a lot of time for me to go through the ads, find the best sales, and then figure out their system so I could maximize my savings. This couponing thing does take some practice and some time to really get the most for you money, but it is totally worth it to me. People ask where I find the time and my answer is simply that right now, I can't afford to not find the time. Literally.

Fairport, NY anyone?

For the past few months I've had this widget on my blog that tells me the general vicinity of the computers that access my blog. I look at it once in a while and can tell that it isn't always exactly right on. For example, it'll say Pleasantville, UT. I know I have several friends who come to my blog who live in Utah, so it could be any number of then who live anywhere near Pleasantville. And sometimes it changes the location, even though it's the same computer accessing it. Sometimes it says I accessed from Fountain Hills (where we live) and other times it says Tempe. I've been able to assign a person who I know gets on this blog with every location I've seen, except one. And this location comes very often. I've been dying to find out who it is, so I've decided to just ask. The location is Fairport, NY. Now, this could be someone who lives on the East Cost somewhere, or maybe their computer was originally purchased there but now they live somewhere out west. I just know that I cannot think of anyone further east than Indiana that I know who gets on my blog. So, Fairport New York, would you please name yourself? I certainly don't mind if I don't know you. I blog stalk, too. But my overly imaginative mind has been picturing a reclusive, middle-aged stranger in pajamas and slippers who gets on my blog for who-knows-why and I just need that alleviated. Anyone, if you think you might possibly be Fairport, NY, let me know. Thanks!

Funny boys

We had spaghetti the other night and it was Ethan's first time. As Craig just said when this picture popped up, 'Messy baby." Yes, Craig, there is a VERY messy baby right there. But they don't get much cuter, do they?

Speaking of Craig and his language skills, he's been randomly coming up to me the last few days, grabbing my hand, shaking it, and saying, "How are you?" I have absolutely no idea where he got that, but it's so cute and I've been trying to teach him how to say "Good" in response. We're working on it.

A cold stone and a wet boy

While my mother in law was here, we decided to try to a little gelato shop here in town. I've never had much gelato before, but I was thoroughly unimpressed with this place. For the four of us (Robert, me, Cassie, and Craig) we spent $20 for the ice cream! Now, if this was the best I'd ever tasted, that would be one thing. But it wasn't. It had good texture, but the flavors seemed like they were trying too hard to be different and instead of being unique, it was more like buying mint chip and getting amaretto. It was just weird and a total waste of money. Well, I guess not a TOTAL waste. We did have a nice evening together and had fun walking around outside by the pond for a bit. But we could've done that without buying the gelato.

Anyway, the next night we wanted to get ice cream again so we decided if we were serious about it, we'd go all out and find the nearest Coldstone. The GPS took us down the freeway (which was a bad idea at 5:30 in the evening) and finally we found the place: Coldstone University at their headquarters in Scottsdale. Who knew? Of course, they were closed and there was no ice cream shop, so since we were out, we searched again thinking that there MUST be a Coldstone near the headquarters, right? Nope. About 10 miles later, we were in the heart of Scottsdale (a ritzy community) driving down a narrow lane in front of stores like Barney's of New York, Talbots, Saks Fifth Avenue, and We Sell Shoes Made by Chinese Children for $500. Finally, we found the Coldstone after passing a brand new Rolls Royce (the first I'd ever seen in person). Oddly enough, even though we were in an area surrounded by more wealth an affluence than I'd ever seen in my life, that night we only spent $13 for our ice cream. (I guess if you call something "gelato" you get to charge a lot for it so people can pretend it's awesome to justify the expense.)

We had all been in the car for a while, so it was nice to get out and enjoy to warm summer air. After a few minutes, Craig spotted a little park with some other kids and upon further inspection, it turned out to be one of those little splash pads...with some spigots of water shooting out of the ground. I let him take off his pants and run wild. He had a blast getting wet and playing with the other kids. We didn't get home until after bed time, but it turned out to be a great night with great ice cream and happy kids. What more could you want?

A fun visit

My mother in law came to visit for about five days last week. She only lives about two and half hours away, but we only manage to see each other a couple times a year. She doesn't have a car that is reliable and with Robert's work schedule, we have a hard time getting away. Luckily, she has some friends who were coming down here to visit family so she was able to hitch a ride with them. We had a really fun time and it was nice to have someone else around to help out.

We tried to stay busy, but with nap times, we were a little limited. We did get to the Youth Museum one day, we went to the splash pad another day, McDonalds for lunch (they have a play area), and we went for ice cream a couple of times (that's another post). Here, I have pictures of the Youth Museum. It's mostly a big, glorified indoor park but Craig and Ethan love it. They have a little padded area just for babies, too.

Here's Cassie (my MIL) with Ethan and her little Pomeranian Latisha (who is a sweet little dog and a joy to have around--Craig adored her...probably too much).

Summer break

Today marks the end of my first week of summer break. I've been staying busy, but it's weird when something that consumes your time suddenly vanishes. My whole routine gets thrown off. I recently realized that I can be doing more structured reading and learning times with Craig and more involved play time, too. I've slacked on all those things this week, though, and have read about half of this:

and watched ALL of these:


I know, that's a lot of movies in one week. It's just one of those things--once you watch one, you have to watch the next one. That's why I watched the first season of 24, but haven't seen one episode since. Too addicting.

Something productive I did this week, though, is that I spent a lot of time going through sale ads and coupons. My most triumphant purchase this week was at CVS today. Here is what I got:

My total for this purchase was $22 and some change. I'm still learning a lot about this whole process, but seeing as how that box of diapers was normally $23 alone, not to mention the Pull Ups being about $12 normally, I felt really good about this! The milk and syrup I threw in because I had the credit in my Extra Bucks (a thing CVS does to give you money back for your purchases) and they were the only other two things I still needed to buy that CVS stocks.

This coming week should be fun. The golf course Robert works at is closed for the next two weeks and he has to go in for a few hours three days each week, but that's it! His mom is coming down to visit for a few days next week, so we'll be busy. Before we know it, he'll be back to work and I'll be back to school so I really want to try and enjoy this vacation time and take it easy.

First trip to the dentist

Craig went to his first dental appointment recently. I found this place called For Kids Only. They are super friendly, the office is full of toys and colorful things, and the dentist has won all kinds of awards. Since Craig has never been, I wanted to be sure he felt comfortable. I talked to him about it for a week before going. We practiced openly his mouth and letting me look at his teeth. He loves brushing his teeth, too, so I wasn't too concerned. Once we got there, he did well and played with the toys. Then they called us back. Craig started getting very suspicious and antsy. We just about had him calmed down, until the assistant snapped on her latex gloves. I'm pretty sure he associates that with getting a shot. I don't remember much after that. Just a lot of kicking, screaming, and me holding Craig in a way similar to how The Incredible Hulk forced his opponents into submission. At least his mouth was WIDE open so they were able to get in and out. At the end, she wanted to take a picture to put on their "Our Friends" wall. Here is what all the other little kids are going to see on their way to The Chair:

I know Mom, I know :)

The best time to get outside and play is in the morning, as I'm sure you all have experienced where ever you are. The best way to stay cool and keep my little fish occupied is with water. So, the other morning after promising Craig we could go play in the water and discovering that the splash pad doesn't open until 9:00 (which is crazy when it's 95 degrees at 8:00 in the morning) and then having to think quickly, I did what anyone else would do. I went to Target. I found this neat little pool, two squirt guns included, for $15! We went home, set it up, and had a great time. Now I just need to buy a camp chair so I can sit outside with him and not have to be in the water or sitting on the ground.

Side note:
Craig's starting to say some funny things. My favorites are:
"Cool, Mom, cool!"
"Craig do it!"
"Silly [Ethan, Mom, Dad, Kitty, Jay Leno, etc.]"
"Oh, man!"
"Wake up Jeff!"
"Swiper no swiping!"
Those last two are funny because he says them while watching the shows, but also at random times and he uses the hand gestures.

Oh, and yes, he loves Jay Leno. I DVR the Tonight Show and Craig's gotten into watching it with me. If something is funny and I laugh, he laughs too and says, "Silly Jay Leno."

If I had a show on the Food Network

I came up with a brilliant idea for a new show they should do on the food network. They somewhat cater to the home cook, right? That's why everyone tries to make things cheap, easy, and at least "semi-homemade." To showcase the REAL home cook, they should have average people come on as contestants, put them in kitchens that look like this:

And make them produce something that contains all the food groups, is nutritionally balanced, and edible. That's it. Well, why not throw in a couple of kids. And make sure that they're crying and saying things like "Hungry!" and "Food!" Oh, and they're trying to snatch things off the counter like little scavengers.

Needless to say, that is what cooking dinner is like for me sometimes. This is what I produced on the same night the above picture was taken:

Fried chicken, garlic-butter green beans, and cheese biscuits. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but if I had a vuvuzela, you would have heard it from a mile away.

Who's with me?

The grass is always greener...

Ethan's begun to realize that when I'm feeding him baby food and we're eating something else, our food is a lot better than his. Craig has also become interested in what Ethan's eating and occasionally asks for a few bites of baby food. He seems to like it but I know he would never eat it on his own if Ethan weren't eating it, too. They're both in this stage of wanting what the other one has. Toys, food, sippy cups, whatever it might be. It worked to our advantage the other day, though, when Craig and Ethan rejected their food simultaneously. My solution? A swap!

Ethan does not even have his firs tooth yet, but he gummed his way through this chicken and pasta.

Craig thoroughly enjoyed Ethan's pureed sweet potatoes/green beans/chicken mash and even wanted me to get him more, of which he ate over half. Craig's kind of spoiled when it comes to food. He usually won't eat things that aren't properly seasoned (thanks to having a chef for a dad), so this really surprised me. The most important thing, though, is that they both got all the nutrients they needed and walked/crawled away from dinner with full tummies. What more could I ask for?

Arizona Science Center

On Monday (one of Robert's days off) we all went to the science center in Phoenix. It was really neat. I love stuff like this. They had all kinds of things you can see and do. On the first floor, there was a stage you could stand on and watch a weather simulator. When it was a tornado or hurricane, there would be a really strong fan blowing on you. They had lightening, thunder, and a little misting for rain. My favorite, though, was the earthquake. Craig loved that part, too. Here are some pictures of only a few of the things we did there.

This one you just stand and spin. Craig loved it, until he got off and couldn't stand up straight. He just leaned against the side bars with his eyes closed and yelled, "Mama!" I had to hold him until he regained his balance.

Here am I on a bed of nails. Well, they were pretty big nails and not very sharp, but uncomfortable nonetheless. There's another one checked off my bucket list! :)

By the way, Ethan was there, too, but I forgot to get a picture of him and Craig while they were playing in the little kids area. Most of the time he spent happily eating graham crackers in the stroller.

A little adventure

Robert and Craig were hanging out on the patio tonight, waiting for a storm to roll in, when Ethan and I joined them to see what they were up to. I had left the door open and on our way back to the door, we walked under the arbor that houses two birds' nests. I wrote about them here (you'll have to scroll down in the post a little to find the picture of the nests). I thought I felt something hit my shoulder, but I saw a bird fly out of the nest out of the corner of my eye, so I just figured it was a little stick or something he knocked out with his hasty departure. We came in, I put Ethan down to bed, and on my way back down the stairs, I noticed the cat sitting on the landing, staring straight up at the little window about fifteen feet up the wall in our stairwell (if that makes sense).

I looked up to see what she was so focused on and saw this (this picture was taken from the top of the stairs):

So the thing that had hit my shoulder wasn't a stick the bird had knocked loose, but the bird itself as it flew into the house! I called Robert over and we stared at it for a minute, trying to think how on earth we were going to get it out of here since it was so high up and we had no way of catching it...or so we thought. I decided to see if there was a 24 hour animal control number and see if they had any ideas on what to do. The only number I could find was the non-emergency fire department number. Remembering the days of my childhood when my dad (a 25 year retired 911 dispatcher) would come home from work and tell us all the stories of the strange phone calls he got and the funny things the fire fighters would do for people, I figured my call would seem somewhat normal to them and maybe they could give me some pointers. I NEVER expected this:

Dad, I'm sure you're not surprised, but we sure were! The dispatcher told me that he would just send a truck out. It would be something for the guys to get out and do, he said. :) So, these four firemen showed up. I thought they would bring a net or a bird catching device or something...I don't know what they do. But nope. You'll never guess what they did. They used our blanket and broom, scared it into a bathroom, one guy closed himself in with it and caught it in a towel. Then they let it go outside. Here we thought we had no way of getting the thing out ourselves, and these guys came in and proved us wrong. After, I kind of felt silly about calling them. But not silly enough to not go out and take a picture of their truck. I was this close to asking them for a picture with...I mean OF the firemen themselves. Let me just say, what they say about firemen is true. There's a reason they make calendars. I wonder if they've done one here....Don't tell Robert I said that. :)

One really good thing about tonight, if our house ever caught on fire, I know we'd be okay. The response time was something like 2 minutes...and they weren't even in a hurry!

Not Stroganoff

As I was eating dinner tonight, I was thinking how much I loved this meal. It's easy, versatile, cheap, and so tasty. I realized I hadn't shared any recipes lately, so I thought I would throw this up here. Many of you might have something similar in your cookbooks or recipes from your mom...it's not completely, totally original. But this rendition started off several years ago. One night, Robert was craving stroganoff. I don't recall ever making real stroganoff before, so I don't know exactly how this is different. I think stroganoff usually uses beef strips and gravy where this is ground beef and a creamy sauce. Anyway, that night when Robert got his craving, we rummaged through the cupboards and came up with the ancestor to what I made tonight (and what I make at least once or twice a month). Without further ado, here's the recipe for what we still refer to as "Stroganoff" even though it's not.

Not Stroganoff

1 large bag of egg noodles
1 medium onion* diced
3 cloves of garlic* minced
1 lb. ground beef
1 26 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup milk
1 medium bag frozen broccoli
Salt
Pepper
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Italian seasoning
Paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin (opt.)

In a large pot, boil enough water for all of the egg noodles. Sprinkle in about 1 tsp. salt. Add noodles and cook until done. Drain, set aside, and return pot to stove. Drizzle in about 1 Tbsp. olive oil (or whatever oil, butter, or margarine you have) and heat pot to medium-high. Once hot, add onions and cook for about 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add ground beef and brown. Add the whole can of cream of mushroom soup and mix. Pour in milk. Season with salt, pepper, onion, garlic, and any other seasonings you like to taste. Experiment! The consistency should be about the same as a cream soup. Not watery at all...like chowder. Sometimes, if I have it, I'll add cream, sour cream, cream cheese, ricotta, Parmesan, or even a cup of shredded cheese and then more milk if I need to stretch the recipe further. Just make sure you had more seasoning, too. Make sure it has plenty of salt and pepper. If you like spice, cayenne pepper is better than chili powder for this, but use what you got. Add in frozen broccoli and bring to a simmer. Add in noodles and mix well. And you're done!

*If you don't think you can dice the onion small enough to fool your most discerning eater, just use extra onion powder. Also, if you don't have fresh garlic or don't like it, just use extra garlic powder, too. The key is to make sure this is well seasoned.
**Another variation is to pour this into a 9x13 pan, top with lots of shredded cheese and bake until the cheese is nice and bubbly. Or mix 1/2 and 1/2 Italian bread crumbs with Parmesan, sprinkle on top, dot with butter, and bake until golden brown. The possibilities are endless!

By the way, I added this up and if you get your ground beef on sale (I try to not pay over $2 a pound for it) and get the generic brand for everything else, you can spend less than $10 on this whole meal and it could easily feed an average sized family of six (maybe not all boys, but you know what I mean).

Heat Wave

Lately we've been having one of our legendary heat waves out here in the Valley of the Sun. Today it got at least to 115, but our thermometer outside is in a shaded area against the house, so it is always about two degrees or so cooler than the actual temperature. We don't go out in the afternoon anymore. However, a couple days ago it was "normal" for this time of year, which is still hotter than I like to be outside in. Craig, on the other hand, seems born for the heat (but ironically he was born in Montana). He begged me to go outside a few days ago so I let him. I thought he'd be back in within five minutes, but he spent a good 20 minutes out there playing. Here's him outside (my proof):

And here's the thermometer reading (the upper right is the outside temp):

Crazy little boy! Of course, I made sure he drank plenty of water when he came in, but I still couldn't believe he wasn't very bothered by the heat.

I do love a sultry summer night, though.

Brag-about-my-kids Day (cont.)

Yesterday I was going to do a post about Craig and Ethan, but I only got as far as Craig before I had to shut down due to a storm rolling in. It turned out to not be very big, but it was fun. I let Craig go outside to play in the rain. It was actually cool and breezy (what a relief!) so he got on his little trike and road it down the little hill in front of our house, splashing through a puddle on his way. It was one of those moments I wished I had the camera. :)

However, this post is about Ethan and the little things about him that make me smile. He is getting to be one fast little crawler. And he's "cruising" now along the furniture and trying to stand up on his own. It's so funny to me because he's still fairly small for his age so he looks like this tiny baby who's not old enough to be doing all these things yet. Because of his size, I also forget he's starting to be able to handle more real food and less pureed stuff. The other day I gave him a strawberry and he was so cute taking bites out of it and making mess, I had to take some pictures.

He handled it, and many others after it, like a pro! He's 10 months now, and I'm truly flabbergasted. I'm afraid of missing his babyhood. I guess that's why I am doing this post. I want to document him and his growth better than I have been. He continues to be the sweetheart of the house. He's so easy going and easy to read. If he's fussy, it means he needs a nap or a snack. Anything will do, too. Cheerios, graham crackers, bread, fruit...he doesn't care. Even if he's tired, it's easy to distract him if I can't put him down right away. We've just recently transitioned to two naps (yay!) so for about a week it was really hard for him to last between naps, but when I had to push him, he was a trooper. Even when he cries, it's like a sad sound than an actual cry. As I'm struggling with Craig through his "twos," I keep looking at Ethan and wondering if he'll be like this. Somehow, I don't think so. Of course, I'm sure he'll have his tantrums and his moments of testing the limits, but I don't think he'll be as intense and dramatic as Craig. And hopefully not as persistent. We'll see, I could be eating my words.

Yep, Ethan is almost a perfect baby and I am so happy to have him. The last thing I want to brag about him is probably one of my favorite things about him. His poop doesn't even stink. Not really. I'm serious. I usually don't know he's poopy until I change his diaper and even then I can barely smell anything. I just throw his diapers into the regular trash, too, and don't have to go out to the diaper bin in the garage. How did I get so lucky?

My cute little Strawberry-face.

Brag-about-my-kids Day

Lately I have been thinking of so many things I am grateful for about Craig and Ethan so I decided to take some pictures and tell you about them. These are just a couple things, but everyday there are so many things that come up, I could never list them all.
(Side note: the first monsoon of the season is brewing outside...the wind's a-blowin' and it just started raining a bit. I'm excited!)

I'm considering writing to LG and telling them how much I love my washer and dryer--they're so easy, even a 2 year old can do it! Literally. I've taught Craig how to load the washer and dryer, turn it on, select the right wash load, and start it. He just needs me to put the soap in and I have to direct him on what clothes go where (washer or dryer). The best part is, he loves it! I'll be making dinner and if I tell him to take the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer and then point it out so he really understands, he does it! I rarely have to bend over anymore to load and unload the washer and dryer. He really is such a big help and I only wish he could truly understand how much I appreciate it.

I made another great investment when I bought this little contraption that he's using right here:

Originally I just got it to use on the stairs, but he's taken to it like his own personal vacuum. In this picture, he had spilled some tortilla chip pieces from the bottom of the bag so I gave him the vacuum and he cleaned them all up all by himself! And then he chased the cat around the house with it. (It's functional AND fun!)

I have more the share about Ethan, but this storm is really picking up and I'd better turn off the computer and grab a flashlight just in case. I really hope the power doesn't go off. That would really stink. Again.

Coupons!

With a possible weekend getaway looming, a few projects I want to get done, and some bills that are still backed up from our move, I've decided to delve into the whole couponing thing to save some money. I wanted to share with you all my first AWESOME deal. There are many more on the horizon. Yesterday, I got two tubes of Colgate Total toothpaste for $.25 each! I've also added up my receipts for this pay period's food/necessities and have only spent about $35. I anticipate possibly spending only about $15 more for a few things I forgot to buy yesterday, but I feel really good about that. Normally, I spend roughly $450 a month on food and everything, including diapers, t.p., soaps, and other necessities so to spend only $50 in one two week period feels so good. I also know that the longer you're into this, the more coupons you have, the better your system gets, and the more money you save. I'm REALLY excited!

If you want to know where I learned about doing this and the basic things I did to get started, just ask!