What I Love About You

Who spends their Friday night cleaning up computer files? Apparently, me! :) At some point in 2009 I had started a file called "What I Love About You" for Ethan. I've decided to add a few current ones to the list.

• Running naked down the hallway after a shower
• Your cute butt - the cutest in the world! Even cuter in Paul Frank monkey undies!
• How you've already memorized the Birthday song
• How I can get you to do almost anything with the mention of "bugs"
• Your big blue beautiful eyes and lashes
• How you wake me up in the morning with "cock-a-doodle doo"
• Writing your full name with only lines
• Your great big bear hugs
• When you say "no" to bad words or a raised voice
• How you love to eat cookie dough just as much as your Uncle Jason
• How you sing in the car and rock out to the rap of Humpty Dumpty
• That you can spot bananas a mile away in the grocery store and have to eat one on almost every visit
• The funny things you say everyday like "Mommy, you have whiskers on your armpit!" Yes, being a mom means not always shaving every day!
• How you set the table with the spoons, forks and knives, sometimes crooked and out of order, but done.
• How you somehow know what AAA, AA, C and D batteries all look like and know where to get one if we need one. You'd get the screwdriver too if you could reach it! :)
• That you love chicken and think most meats are chicken, including the clams in Clam Chowder (your favorite soup)
• How you are very specific with requests. My organized little man.
• Your love of books and how you enjoy reading them to me (summarizing)
• That you know what it means to match an outfit
• Your polite manners

It All Began With Slide Rock

14+ years ago John and I met online, when online meant AOL and Prodigy. We were in the Arizona Room on AOL talking about the famous Slide Rock in Sedona, Arizona. In all these 14+ years we've never been, until yesterday. It wasn't John coming along for the fun, but my friend Jen and her boys, Ethan's best friends, Carter and Hudson. Thankfully, we went during the week which meant 100's of people visiting instead of 1,000's. It was a good 2.5 hour drive. The weather was beautiful. The water was COLD, but the slides were fun! The boys preferred catching minnows over sliding, except Hudson who was the pro rock slider. He'll be doing the White Water Rapids and cliff diving one day! Ethan, Hudson and I slipped on the rocks multiple times. I took two falls and splits. No broken bones and I saved the camera both times. So, enjoy our videos and pictures while I recover from the pain. Let me know when you want to brave the rock slides with us! :)

My Friends

We were driving home from swim class and after I had made a call home to John, Ethan decided it was his turn for the phone.

Ethan: Mommy, I want to call my friends.

Mom: Which friends?

Ethan: My friends, Mommy.

Mom: You want to call your friends on my cell phone?

Ethan: Yes.

Mom: Ok, which friends? You have a lot of friends.

Ethan: I TOLD YOU MOMMY, MY FRIENDS!

Mom: I give up. Who are you talking about?

Ethan: Hudson.

When did 3 year olds start wanting to call their friends on the cell phone and have a conversation? :)

One of the Good Things In Life

Yesterday, Becca came over in the morning. We were both child-free. Becca offered to help me make Ree Drummond's Cinnamon Rolls because I swore to her I never could make anything turn out requiring yeast as an ingredient. My mom has said for years I need to learn to make a good pie dough, too. Dough of any kind just scares me!

So, I figured if we were going to the trouble of spending 3-4 hours making one batch of rolls (50 of them), we might as well double the batch! 10 sticks of butter, 6 cups of sugar, 9 cups of whole milk and a few more ingredients later (notice I listed the delicious but killer foods first) we had turned out 100 rolls, equivalent to 13 baking dishes! You do the calorie count. These obviously are meant to be enjoyed while you pretend they aren't some 600+ calories a roll (I'm just guessing). The best part is you can freeze them and give them as gifts. I've already given away half of them and the report is everyone LOVES them. John and Ethan gave me the thumbs up, too. Clearly, Becca was a good teacher!

My pictures cannot even begin to do the whole project justice so I'll include one, but then you have to jump on over to Ree's site for the full on recipe and pictures.

Donald's House

Mom: Ethan, where do you want to go to lunch today?

Ethan: Donald's house.

Mom: Do you mean McDonalds?

Ethan: Yes.

Mom: Pulling up to the drive thru. Ethan, what do you want to order? Nuggets or hamburger?

Ethan: Hamburger. No pickles on it. No mustard. No ketchup. No cheese. Clean, mom.

Mom: I'd like a hamburger happy meal, plain, with a white milk.

Ethan: Mom, roll down my window!

Mom: Rolls down the window and gets ready to pull forward.

Ethan: NO PICKLES ON IT, OKAY LADY?

Independence Day

We were trying to decide what to do for 4th of July when I saw Cactus Bikes was hosting a bike parade at the local park with the Grand Prize being a new bike. Carter and Ethan had got new bikes this year and Hudson was borrowing from Ethan while learning to ride. The goal became "win a bike for Hudson!" Before I knew it, Jen and I had bought bags of decorating supplies and tools from ribbons to electrical and painting tape to zip ties, dowels, streamers, flags, pinwheels, bows and garland. Corey in the meantime had designed and assembled rocket pieces to attach to 3 bikes - one for Ethan, Carter and Hudson. The boys spent 2 days painting, cutting, wrapping and taping up their bikes. The houses were a disaster zone from paint tracks all over to zip tie pieces here and there, hot glue drippings and burns. We're not sure how easy disassembling these bikes will be as they've got to have at least 20 zip ties plus holding them all together and honestly the boys want their bikes to be rockets for forever. I guess when they naturally start to fall apart, it will be time to undo our beautiful projects. Not only did the kids decorate their bikes, we decorated their helmets, made USA t-shirts and cut capes for all of them.

So, on 4th of July we got the bikes registered with #'s 10, 11 and 12. Off everyone rode. Our bikes proved to be a big hit, not only with the owners of Cactus Bikes, but with the police, fire department and general public. A photographer from the Arizona Republic was snapping up pictures which ended up both online in a slide show and in the newspaper. Cactus Bikes and a local radio station surveyed the bikes and we were called into the Top 3. The crowd's applause determined the actual winner. Our applause was crazy and it wasn't just coming from us moms and dads! Mission Complete. We won the new black Giant bike, a $185 value. I'm not sure all the kids understood it, but Hudson was happy to be riding on it and Ethan and Carter could've cared less. They were all just happy sucking lollipops and riding their rocket bikes in the 100 degree weather. Next year, John has to come up with some amazing design. However, I have a feeling Grandpa or I will be executing it for the group. :)

Inside or Outside

Today it was outside. We had to cool down before the 4th of July Party in the park (pictures to come!). Ethan has been swimming so much between swim lessons and swimming with his friends. He's getting more adventuresome all the time. He loves jumping into the water, doing cannon balls, diving for rings, floating in his floatie and squirting water with one of the many "water sprayers." He even jumps off of Grammie and Grandpa's water fountain (video to come!) and it's not a little jump!

Our Trip to the Children's Museum

It's hot in the summer so we've either been in the water or looking for indoor activities. The Children's Museum had just put up a new 3-story climbing exhibit (very cool!) so we spent a few hours climbing, making forts, riding bikes, painting a castle, racing cars and working ball puzzles! And yes, I went to the TOP of the climber with Ethan. It's amazing I didn't get stuck since there are some really tight spaces.

Ethan's 3rd Birthday Party

We were excited for Ethan's birthday party following our trip to Turks and Caicos. The Monster Truck theme outdid the "digger" theme this year, however most of his toys were diggers and he loved them all! It was great to see so many of his little friends together having fun playing games, tattooing themselves and spending a lot of time on the water slide! The monster truck cake was a big hit, too. Here's to our big boy whom we still call our baby even though he's 37 inches tall now and potty trained.