5 Years of Ethan

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Ethan is turning 5 years old on February 18. We had his party a few days early because we are going out of town on his birthday. I can't believe he is 5 years old. I was looking back at his pictures and remembering how cute and chubby he was as a baby. He and Ryan look at lot alike as babies.

I have been saying for quite awhile now that Ethan has had the terrible 2's, 3's, and 4's. I am hoping that the 5's will go better. I love Ethan so much, he is my first baby we have a special bond. He is very tender-hearted and sensitive, and can be sweet and nice when he wants to. He does have a naughty side to him, he gets angered and frustrated very easily and is very impatient. But I love him. I love to see him get excited about things and tell me about something he has just discovered or learned. I love to see him care for his younger brother and sister and protect them.

At five years old Ethan's favorite things are his 4-wheeler, play 4-wheeler's, motorcycles, trucks, and the like, Spongebob (this is going on like 3 or 4 years now), playing with friends, drawing, taping things up, working with dad or grandpa, and holding Ryan. His favorite foods are meat (of any kind), loves vegetables (like his dad), and candy (like his mom).

Just want to wish Ethan a happy 5th birthday. I love you buddy!

Okay so Ethan wanted a pirate birthday party this year. Here he is with his pirate's treasure chest cake.
When the kids first arrived they all sat down and colored/decorated their own pirate bandana.


Here are all the mighty pirates sporting their tough bandanas.
Josh, Ethan, Garrett, Porter, Maddax, Cooper, and Ally (tough pirate)

After bandanas we played pin the patch on the pirate. Porter is leaning way back so he can see under the blindfold and pin the patch in the right spot.
I didn't plan for this but after the pirate game the boys erupted into a wrestling match/dog pile. Looks like Cooper is on the bottom. I guess that's just what happens with a bunch of boys.

After the wrestling match we opened presents and had cake. Do you think Ethan was enjoying his cake?
Then the pirates had to go on a treasure hunt to find the pieces of the treasure map so they could find the hidden treasure, aka loot bags, which contained an inflatable sword, which then led to another bout of fighting, sword fighting.
The boys (and Ally) all had a really good time. I asked Ethan if he had a fun party and he said "It was like the best ever" So that always makes you feel good. I am happy that at least for a little while longer I can still be a cool and fun mom in his eyes.

I found this video as I was looking through Ethan's pictures. It is so cute. He and Ally seem so little. I hate for them to grow up so quickly.

The Toad.

5 Months Old

I've been away from the blog world for awhile, and the world in general it feels like. And Nate is getting impatient for a new post. I have had a rough couple of weeks with an eye issue and have spent many hours on the couch. So although my eye is still not better I am going stir crazy and must re-enter the world. Be thankful for your eyes, and that you can see out of both of them.


Okay! So Ryan is 5 months old. Holy cow, my sister-in-law Crystal just had a baby (I keep forgetting to take pictures of him to post.) and Ryan now seems like a giant. I can't believe how quickly time passes. Ryan is growing so fast and he is such a big kid. He is already wearing clothes that Ethan wore when he was 8 or 9 months old. He is still waking up once or twice during the night to eat. But seems to be crying a little less, which is good. Javan has had to take care of him during the night while I was sick so I am happy that he is acting a little nicer.

He is getting better at holding himself up but still can't sit unassisted. He is so soft and squishy, I love to kiss on him.



He has rolled over once from his belly to back. I've been trying to get him to go from his back to belly, but he hasn't conquered it yet. He will spin a circle on the floor trying though.

These were their Christmas outfits and I forgot to take a picture of them on that day. Pretty cute.

This was the best treat he's had so far. He was so excited, his legs were racing. Then he would drop it and just scream cause it wasn't in his hand. The second we gave it back to him he would stop. He loves his sweets, just like him mom. These smarties suckers are the best for little kids because they aren't sticky and if they don't finish it just set it on the counter and it will dry out. This one should last Ryan quite a while.

Ally and Ryan after the bath. Ally loves to help take care of Ryan, she is a good helper.

I let Ethan and Ally play with my old camera. Ethan was trying to take some pictures of Ryan in his walker, and Ryan was trying to get the camera. Ethan is a good big brother and takes good care of Ryan most of the time.

Happy Birthday Javan!

We celebrated Javan's 32nd birthday yesterday. On Saturday when i told the kids we were going to make dad's birthday cake Ethan got all excited and wanted to know what kind of cake we would make. He wondered if it should be the Scooby Doo cake or Spongebob? When I said we were probably just going to make a plain cake Ethan and Ally were both sad. They thought he needed a fun cake like they have on their birthdays.

So we scavenged some toys from Ethan's toy box and here's what we came up with:
Ethan was quite pleased with the result.

Blowing out the candles, with some help.


Opening presents.


Happy Birthday Hun!

Javan's Slideshow

I can't make this work right. Click on the "view all images" and it will take you to the photobucket website where you can view the slideshow if you are interested.

Husband Tag

In honor of Javan, since it's his birthday tomorrow, I thought I would do this tag on him. Anyone else feel free to do it too.

1) Where did you first meet your husband?
I knew him in high school, he was friends with my sister, but then when he got home from his mission we worked at the same motel. I used to ask him to work for me.

2) How long did you date before you got married?
1 year

3) How long have you been married?
8 1/2 years!

4)What does he do that surprises you?
He teaches a good Sunday school lesson. Not that I didn't think he had it in him to to do but he has a real fear of public speaking so I am surprised at how well he does, put me to shame every week.


5)What is your favorite feature of his?
I love his hands

6)What is his best quality?
He's very handy, he can do, or figure out how to do anything.

7)Does he have a nickname for you?
Hun

8)What is his favorite food?
He's great cause he likes almost everything. 7 layer dip is a favorite, fajitas

9)What is his favorite sport?
Is motorcycle riding a sport? How about shed hunting? Because their his favorite things to do.

10)When and where did you first kiss?
4th of July, Mike and Shan's cabin.

11)What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?
Dinner and a movie -- as long as we're together I'm happy.


12)Do you have any children?
3 - Ethan, Ally, Ryan

13)Does he have any hidden talents?
He is very good at his job, I am amazed that the things he does, and like I said before he can figure out how to do anything.


14)How old is he?
32 (tomorrow)

15)Who said "I love you" first?
It was me, and he didn't say it back right away. That's pretty sad.


16)What is his favorite music?
Um, hard rock, is that what it's called?

17)What do you admire most about him?
The responsibility he has taken on with his family, his hard work to provide for us.

18)What is his favorite color?
Brown or black


19)Will he read this?
Possibly

4 Months Old

And we're back. It's quite the process to replace a hard drive and get everything loaded back on the computer and restore old files. I don't wish that upon anyone. I'm still not done but I decided I should do this post while Ryan is still 4 months old.

Unfortunately Ryan decided that he was done nursing. For a few days after Christmas he would just scream his head off every time I tried to feed him. It was so frustrating and sad for me but he is done nursing and just on a bottle now. I still have tons of breast milk in the freezer and sometimes he won't even drink that. I am taking it pretty personally. What have I done to deserve this? So with the absence of nursing I decided to start him on cereal hoping that he would sleep through the night since I would have to get out of bed to make him a bottle now. For the first few nights it worked awesome, he slept for about 6 hours straight. I thought we were really onto something, but it was short lived and he is waking up every 3 to 4 hours to eat. I don't really like this arrangement.

Ryan has become quite the little jabber jaw. He coos, and oohs, and aahs. He is becoming more reactive with Ethan and Ally, smiling when they talk to him (as long as they keep their distance) and laughing when they play little games with him. They think it's quite hilarious when he laughs.

This all sounds really good but he has quite a naughty side too. No one will believe Javan and I when we say he is naughty because he always acts like a perfect angel when were away from home. But he has earned the nickname "cryin' Ryan", which suits him well, and which I am not happy about. He gets this death scream that sounds like his arm was ripped off and he is being beaten with it (that's how Javan describes it). He cries so hard and for so long that his voice becomes hoarse, and you can't console him. For the first few times this happened I thought something was seriously wrong. But now we realize this it what he does. Sometimes it's so frustrating we just have to leave the room and let him cry it out for awhile.

He really is a sweet chubby little guy and I love him to pieces, just wish he wouldn't cry so much. It's not helping out in my plea for another baby with Javan. And to be quite honest, it's also deterring me a bit.

Anyway, enough of that.

Okay, at four months old Ryan weighs 15 lbs 14 oz and is 26 inches long.

His hair is growing fast (on top anyway). We even gave him some spikes for church. Not pictured here.

The handsome little man.

Ryan loves the bath. The second he hits the water his arms and legs are moving a mile a minute.

We broke out the bouncy chair the other day and Ryan quite likes it. He gets excited when the kids run by and jumps around. Sometimes THEY think it's fun to swing him really high, HE doesn't like it as much.

Ally was playing a little game with Ryan the other day where she was running around him in a circle and making lots of noise. Ryan loved it. He was laughing and jabbering the whole time. Here's a little clip of it.

Hard Drive Failure Immanent!

Oh no!! I am in a serious state of panic right now. We got home from work last night and there was a message on our computer that said "Hard Drive Failure Immanent. Back up hard drive immediately." Holy crap, this is my worst nightmare. If you think about it immanent is a pretty scary word. Because despite all your efforts, nothing can be done. What about all my pictures and videos? This is the only record I have of my kids. What if I lost all their pictures? I panicked.

Thankfully I had purchased an external hard drive recently and was able to back-up to that. (I think, I left it going over night and forgot to check it this morning.) I called HP support and spent an hour with them. Thankfully (again), our computer was still under warranty so they will replace the hard drive for free. HP is not my favorite. We have had several other problems with this computer. In my opinion, stick with Dell.

So I might be away from the computer for awhile. They are shipping a new hard drive and then I have to install it in the computer and reload all of our programs on to it. So if you don't hear from me for awhile that is what happened. I hope all is safe and sound in my little external hard drive. You all should think about getting one.

Happy New Year!! (right?)

I am using a computer at work to post this.

Snow Day

On Saturday we went out sledding with Shan and the Redd clan. We went out to Holliday's gravel pit. It was a pretty nice hill. Ethan went down once with Javan and didn't like it very much, he thought it went too fast. So I finally talked him into going down the hill with me. Which proved to be worse. We wrecked half way down the hill and Ethan got a face full of snow. So he was done sledding down the hill.He did enjoy riding the 4-wheeler with Javan and seeing if they could make it up the steep hills in the snow.
Ally loves to ride on the 4-wheeler too.

Ally loved going down the hill on Grandma Shannie's lap.

Harper, Lincoln, Ella, Ally and Ethan taking a break to warm up with some hot chocolate.

A family photo (minus Ryan) out in the snow.

Ethan and Harper taking a ride on an old broken down snowmobile.

The whole group!After sledding we went to check out the biggest snowman ever. Some people from Blanding built it with their tractor. It is huge. Look at the truck to the side of it. The snowman is almost twice as tall. Ethan was amazed at it's grandeur, look at him staring up at it.

Ally, Ethan, Harper, and Lincoln with the giant snowman.My little snow princess.

Merry Christmas 2008

We had a really great Christmas this year. Ethan and Ally were old enough that they knew what was going on and were so excited for Christmas to come. They asked everyday if they could open their presents yet. I'll give a rundown of our happenings from the past week or so. This is a long post, I'll warn you now.

We started off decorating a gingerbread house. Thanks to Grandma Shannie for giving us the kit. The kids loved it, even Ryan. (Can't you tell.)

Here's the finished product. Looks pretty good.

We had the Shumway Christmas party at Grandma Patsy's. We were actually supposed to go over to Monticello for it but it snowed so much and the roads were so bad that the family from Blanding stayed home and celebrated together. Here's Ethan, Ashlynn, Ally and Ella.

Here's a picture of the snow. It just slides down our metal roof and makes these crazy overhangs of snow. Brrrrrrr.... it's so cold. And slick.
Our next Christmas party was at Grandma Heather's. We played in the snow and then had a yummy dinner, and let the kids open their cousin presents. Here's Ally, Kamron, and Ashlynn (and Carter) doing some dancing, feeling the Christmas spirit.
We even had pinata, you know that was a hit. (No pun intended.) Here's Ethan taking a whack at it.
Then we went over to visit Grandpa Kelly and Grandma Lucinda. The kids are always sure to have a good time here.
Here's Grandpa Kelly and Ryan.

On Christmas Eve we went to my mom's house for our traditional soup and scones. Yum Yum! My brother Michael and his family are here for Christmas and my Uncle Rick and his family came down too. The kids got to open their cousin gifts. Here's Ethan, Ally, Carson, Davis, Payton, and Ryan.
Ryan loved his little caterpillar.

Another tradition, that I think a lot of people have, is jammies for Christmas Eve. Here are the kids just before bed and anxious for Santa. It was so fun to see how excited Ethan and Ally were. We set out cookies for Santa and Ethan made sure that we also set out some milk. He insisted on milk even though Javan told him that Santa liked Pepsi with his cookies.

This is the before picture, everything in its place. This is after Santa had come of course.

The kids were so excited on Christmas Eve that I thought they would be up early and ready to go. They didn't get up until almost 8:00. Which was nice for Javan and I. I guess we have few more years until they want to get up at the crack of dawn, and that's fine with me. My Mom and Dad came down to watch the kids open their presents. I think everyone had a good time.

Looks like Ryan sure did.

Ally was really into the opening phase this year. She didn't care much what was inside the package, she just kept saying "what else, mom?" So she got through her presents rather quickly.

Ethan on the other hand was very interested in what each package contained. He wanted to open each one after he had unwrapped it, take it out of the packaging and play with it for awhile before moving on to the next present. His Christmas lasted a little longer.

After we opened presents at our house we went up to my Mom and Dad's for our traditional Christmas breakfast, and to open presents up there. All of us siblings got together and bought my dad some new golf clubs and we got my mom the coolest thing . . . .

. . . . . a leopard tortoise! She has been wanting one since Davis got one several years ago. It is so awesome. Here's the kids and Grandma with her new pet. You can tell Davis -our resident reptile expert-was a little nervous that Grandma was going to drop the tortoise.

Here he/she is. You don't find out the sex for a few years. It is so dang cute.Ethan even got to hold it.

Javan started his own little tradition a few years ago where he gives me the ugliest Christmas sweater he can find. You know the type, with snowflakes, snowmen, reindeer, flashing lights, and all sorts of Christmas decor. And I have to wear it on Christmas day. (Sorry to all of you who really have this type of sweater and love it.) It's actually pretty funny. So I dicided I would also participate this year and found Javan this gem. (Sorry to all of you who have or want a sweater like this.) Unfortunately, Javan didn't get me a sweater this year, he felt I was a poor sport last year and had decided to discontinue the Christmas sweater tradition, but now that he knows I am fighting back, we'll see what happens. Watch for next year's Christmas sweater.P.S. He said the sweater (vest, no less) was actually quite comfy and we might see it on him again.

Here's my little Christmas reindeer.

On Christmas morning Ethan kept saying "This is the best Christmas ever!" Which of course I loved to hear. I am happy that he had a good one. Then after my parents left and we were just home alone he said "This Christmas isn't so fun." When I asked him why such a sudden change of heart he said "Well, there's no people" Ethan is just like me in that we love to be surrounded by people and family. I hate to be left out of anything, and I love spending time with family and friends. That's hard for Javan sometimes. Anyway, I think everyone had a good Christmas. I know I did.

Here's a picture of the living room after all was said and done. Man, where's the cleaning lady?

I hope everyone had as much fun as we did. I wish everyone was here with us to celebrate this holiday season. We love you. Merry Christmas!!