Chef Ethan

This kid makes me laugh.

Lately he doesn't always want to wear his clothes. But then he'll come up with some crazy outfit...like this one.

He's wearing a sombrero on top of a chef's hat (on sideways) and a chef's apron.

He's quite a little guy!

Big Kids

Well, it's been an embarassing long time since I last posted anything. It would appear as though nothing has really been happening in our lives, but it's just the opposite. Too much has been going on and none of it is terribly interesting. Still, I'll tell you about it because it's my blog! :)

In adult news, Andrew left his employer of almost 12 years for a more family friendly job with hopefully more long term stability. He was an attorney with a big law firm, now he is working banker's hours as an assistant vice president (pending board approval, which I must say because a lawyer's ways die hard) and trust officer. It's been about a month now and it's an adjustment for our family, but so far so good.

In other news, Ethan has graduated to a big boy bed or, as he prefers to call it, his "football bed". He was quite enamored at first....and then we had a rather rough patch. We're still getting over that, but he has at least slept through both naps and both nights without fussing or waking up for the last two nights....so hopefully that little phase is on its way out. I prefer my good sleeper!

His crib converted to a full-size bed which is a great size for his room.
His sports theme is pretty cute, if I do say so myself!

He loves his lamp. It has football motif on the side you see, baseball, basketball and soccer on the other three sides. It has a baseball bat as a base and a whistle as the pull for the light switch. We hear the whistle a lot.

Here's Ethan in his bed being silly.

And here he is posing...ignore the cat rump in the left side of the picture. Our oldest cat really likes Ethan's new bed and frequently sleeps with him (and without him). I think she really just likes that he has a gate on his room that prevents the dog from getting to her.

And then there's Emily. She's doing great in first grade and getting great grades and reading extremely well. She could easily read everything I'm typing. It's pretty amazing, considering that she entered kindergarten not knowing how to read even one word.

She's finished with our little gymnastics adventure of the fall and has moved on to cheerleading through a Christian athletic program called Upward. Every Saturday you can find us in her school's gym, watching little boys and girls playing basketball and mostly watching her cheer and dance and jump up and down. It's pretty cute.

Before the game.

Cheering with her teammates and megaphone.

Pom-poms anyone?

Let's go team! Cheering during "halftime".

Not the best picture, but here's her team cheering on the sidelines. There are two games going on (half-court) at all times, so they cheer for one side for one half and the other side for the other half. She only has about three games left, but I think she's really enjoyed it. Ethan's really been enjoying learning all the cheers she's been teaching him and watching the "big" boys play basketball. He can't wait for his chance!

So that's our life in a nutshell. Lots going on. Lots more to come, but doing well and ready for spring.