10.31.2012

He wants to eat your blood...

Watch out for our vampire...
St. Therese Halloween Bash 2012


Ready for Trick-or-Treat.  We made our way to Lloyd center mall, where he got quite a bit of candy and we were able to stay dry, then went to a few houses on our street in which he banked quite a bit of candy as their aren't many kids in our neighborhood so all the old folks gave him handfuls.

This past weekend we joined Halls and Campbell's for Hyatt's annual pumpkin carving party.  I think Jeff came away as the creative winner (two headed pumpkin) of our family for sure but everyone did a great job and had as always had a good time.






 Aaron drying his Frankenstein pumpkin.

And one random picture....We went to the mall last weekend and while walking by Brookstone Ethan wanted to try the leg massager.  We couldn't get him to get out of it and he told us it was SOOOOOO Comfy!

10.13.2012

Let the fall fun begin...

Well it has been over a month since I last blogged, life has definitely kept us busy.  Ethan has been doing awesome in school and has had lots of practice with writing his name, letters and numbers, as well as learning to sound out words and sign language.  He really enjoys his school classmates and teacher and has even made friends with some of the older kids that he is in extended care with in the mornings.

The last weekend in September Ethan had a fun-filled 2-day sleepover with the Springer's (Peyton's family) while Jeff and I flew to Albuquerque, NM.  It was much greener than we were both expecting and we both loved the sunshine.  We also took a tram ride to Sandia Peak, the world's longest tramway, which had a beautiful view once the clouds dispersed.

 These two are just like brothers...love them both.
















Two weeks ago the school had their annual Jog-A-Thon and Ethan ran 20 laps...thank you once again to all our family members who were able to help out with a donation.  Hope you enjoy with the Thank You card and picture Ethan made for you.  After the Jog-A-Thon there was a family fun fest at the school and Ethan and Peyton spent most of their fun between the bounce house and the jumbo slide. 
    


 Here are some school pictures that Mrs. Brocka sent us in her weekly email.


He also had his school pictures taken. His face has thinned out a little bit from his preschool picture but he has the same cute smile.

Ethan has also started a Tae Kwon Do class a couple of weeks ago and seems to really enjoy it. 



Guess what team our boy cheers for...Go Ducks!!!


And finally...today we made our way to the pumpkin patch.  It rained yesterday for the first time in months and is supposed to rain several days next week so we decided it would be best to go before there was too much mud.  Now we have the house decorated, pumpkins are bought and ready for Hyatt's pumpkin carving party, and will just need Ethan to decide what costume he wants to complete the Halloween fun.







9.15.2012

Week 2

First full week of full-day school for Ethan and he did great.  I think it might have even wore him out a bit.  Last week he only attended 2 days of school and then we took my mom back to Utah so this was his first full week of school and already has learned so many new things.  Each day he comes home to tell me all kinds of fun things they did and learned, including the Pledge of Allegiance in sign language.  Ethan and Daddy seem to be adjusting well to their morning routine, with Daddy even taking Riley to work with him one day as Ethan told him that Riley would be lonely at home all by himself. 

Each day at school the kids start out with a green card and as long as they have good behavior they get to keep the green card all day, however, there are other card colors as well and there is also a time-out chair.  Wednesday of last week and Monday of this week Ethan got a couple other color cards and had to sit on the time-out chair for being too loud and talking too much (big surprise there..haha).  When I picked him up on Monday I asked him how his day went and noticed that he hadn't eaten all of his lunch.  He proceeded to tell me that he wasn't able to eat all of his lunch because he was talking and then lunch was over.  I suggested that maybe he could talk less and that way he would be able to eat all of his lunch and he probably would get to keep his green card all day.  He said, "that's a good idea mom, I think I will try that."  Silly kid.  On Tuesday when I picked him up he came running out saying, "Mom, you were right, I didn't have to sit in time-out today and I got to keep my green card all day."  And he did the same the rest of the week.  I think he is on to something there...heehee.  They have also started learning to read and he and I have been reading several books each night having him read certain words in the story to me and adding a new word each night. 



Last weekend when we took my mom home, we stopped in SLC to drop Jeff off to hang out with his brothers and help with a bike race for his brother Steven, hang out with my brother, Doug, pick up Jeff's sister, Lori, to ride down to Hurricane with us, got to finally meet our newest niece and nephew, Falon and Corban (I don't have a picture of Falon), and we also had breakfast with my Grandma.  It was the fastest trip to Utah we have ever made and Ethan did awesome.  We have made that trek many times with Ethan and it is an awfully long (18 hours) ride but he made the best out of it and only got a little restless just before we were getting ready to get out of the car for the day.  It was fun to see our family, even if it was for only the day.  We made the most of our time and took Ethan and cousin Avery up to Zion National Park to ride my dad's shuttle bus as I only got to see him for a few hours.  We also played at Hurricane's new splash pad and then Ethan and I had to run through the Las Vegas airport to make it to our plane (new experience, haven't ever had to run before).
My Grandma Caldwell and Ethan
 Ethan and Avery riding Papa Steve's shuttle

 Aunt Lori, Grammie Hadley and Taylee
 Ethan laughing as he moons the waterpark every time the bucket of water falls on him.
   Taylee cuddling with Papa.

We dropped Jeff off in SLC and he, along with his brothers, George and Brian, and their wives, Brittney and Lexie, surprised his brother Steven, coming to be his race support for his 5th LATOJA bike race, Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  They were the Angry Birds crew handing him food and drink supplies while he rode his race with a personal best time of 9 hrs 24 mins.   












And finally...Our lifesaver friends, Kit, Melinda and Thomas, have helped us out once again with Ethan getting a new bike.  He now has a 16" lightening McQueen bike, which he tells me is the "fastest bike ever."