Ethan's First Bike Ride

The following day, Ethan had preschool again, and both John and I had to work. Ethan told Jane that he didn't want to go to her house, that they needed to come to our house so he could ride his bike. After I finished work, and came to pick him up, the first thing he wanted to do was to go ride his bike. Unfortunately, it was way too hot, so we had to wait for the sun to go down a little bit before we could get him out on the sidewalk. 

 Lincoln got to inherit Ethan's trike and spent a little time learning all the rules along with Ethan for bike riding.

 He wasn't quite tall enough to reach the pedals, though, so we might have to review them later.

I tried to get more pictures of Ethan riding his bike, but they all turned out to be blurry! I can't believe how fast that kids is! I might have to beg Ethan to go out for another ride soon so we can properly document all the bike riding.

Ethan turns 4!

We woke up early on Ethan's 4th birthday and headed to the best place around here to get donuts!

 Ethan of course went for the vanilla sprinkles donut, and told me that Lincoln really wanted the vanilla with coconut sprinkles. To me, it looks like Lincoln wanted the entire case. Do you see how he's protecting his bounty?

 We got the donuts home intact (Ethan held them on his lap for the ride home, so that really is an accomplishment), and Ethan got to blow out his candle on top.

 Lincoln wasted no time in devouring his donut. 

 Although both of the boys seemed to prefer the others' donut, so we practiced our sharing and everyone was happy.

 Everyone wasted little time talked and mostly just cramming.

 These were my donut selections. Oh, anything with almond paste will make me swoon. I will have you know though, that Ethan enjoyed the old fashioned donut for lunch though. Breakfast and lunch of champions, right? Maybe that's why he didn't take a nap later...

 This is how he felt after eating the donut, I didn't think the "crash" would happen quite so suddenly.

 He made a quick recovery though once he noticed the pile of goods, just waiting to be opened.

 The rest of the day, I dedicated to making this masterpiece! I am very proud of my first solo-attempt at working with fondant. Never a good idea to do in a pinch, but I certainly am not going to make this kind of an effort just for the sake of practicing, it was far too much work!

 That night we had a few friends over to enjoy an obstacle course.

 I was planning on having them hold hands as a train to get through, but decided they probably would enjoy just racing through better. I think themes can be a little too much effort sometimes. They sure are cute, but a lot of effort.

 I didn't get pictures of it, but we did have railroad tracks up to our door (made from duct tape) and a detour sign to lead them to the side gate. There there was a sign that said, "Give us your loudest CHOO CHOO and the conductor will open the gate." Then where they came in, there was a railroad crossing sign. 

 Dinner was fabulous! (I can say that, because John did all the BBQ-ing) He made tri-tip, hot dogs, and grilled corn, and Jane cut up the fruit for fruit salad, and I opened the container of potato salad. I was too exhausted after all the cake-making. 

Evidently red is the best color for blondes. Maybe there was a little more theme-ing going on!

 Then it was present time! I was amazed at all the kids' willpower in looking at the pile of presents.

 And if there was any theme at all to his presents, it went with the party theme! I don't think we need any more Thomas paraphernalia.

 And he loved every minute of it!

 The boys were all so excited to see all the train and car things! Grammie Pammie sent a whole package of goodies, with a new coat, blanket, and lots of cars things.

 Jane brought about a million presents for Ethan to open, including a huge art easel with a giant roll of paper along with markers, paint and chalk. She also got some super cute dress-up clothes, including a bee costume for Lincoln. I'll have to get pictures of it all sometime.

 The big present from us was this super sweet orange "specialized" bike. Ethan was so excited and wanted to ride all around from then on.

 We finally persuaded him to get off the bike for the cake. 

Here is a somewhat extended version of our Happy Birthday song!

 Ethan got a drivers suit of Lightning McQueen from Papa Rex and LeeAnn. He was so excited about it that he wanted to wear it to bed that night, even though it was about a hundred degrees in his room.

UPDATE: Jane got a great picture of the easel in use later this month. He is starting to love coloring! I love hearing him explain what he is drawing!

Ethan is one spoiled boy, we were amazed at all the generosity of everyone. I don't think we need to buy any presents for Christmas now, there isn't anything he could need!

Ethan goes to Preschool

I cannot believe it! My little boy is old enough for preschool now! He has been so excited to start school, he's asked more about school in the past 4 months than he has asked about his birthday in the past week.

 Such a handsome big boy!

 He definitely will have the coolest backpack around, so that will give him a head start. 

 Mrs. Perona is so awesome! She had some new friends in the side yard to meet all the kids as they came in. Ethan went straight from the bunnies, "Poopsie" and "Sweet Pea," inside to put his backpack away. He was totally fine. I, myself, wasn't even prepared to get a little teary-eyed. But if you know anything about me, then you will realize just getting teary-eyed and not having full blown tears is a pretty big accomplishment. Good luck little man!

Happy Labor Day!

John did what a lot of people don't do on Labor Day and that is, WORK! We were lucky enough though that he was able to finish a little bit early so we could still enjoy some fun times with friends. We got to visit what we call Camp Webster and do all the fun things that that entails. 

Anthony brought a shotgun, so the big boys spent some time shooting clay pigeons.

 The kids spent a lot of time on the beach in the mud/sand,

 Or if you look very closely you can see the kids on the zip line. Who has a zip line on their property? Geniuses I tell you. Or is it Genii? So much fun!

 We had some wagon rides.

 And spent lots of time on the slide going into the river from the dock,

 and of course, what everyone does on the Delta, boating!

 Of course, the food couldn't be left out. The Hiatts converted us all to veggie stix. They certainly must have changed them, because I remember them tasting like styrofoam, and they pretty much just tasted like potato chips -- although maybe I was really hungry ;) 

 Look how cute their family is!

 These guys love the camera, and wagon rides.

 Janelle took us on the "Jungle cruise,"

 where there was a little time for more posing,

 But most importantly there was time to go FAST!

Thank you Websters for inviting us all out to the camp! And thanks VanDykes, Hiatt's and Tuckers for all the entertainment! What a great way to spend an evening!