Life with the Greens

Ethan

2009-11-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

Ethan has been so cute lately. Even in the last couple of weeks he has grown so much. He is talking more and more every day and sometimes we can't help but crack up at some of the things he says.

I thought he looked so adorable in this outfit.

Chris' grandma, "Nana", brought over lunch from In 'N Out a couple of weeks ago and Ethan enjoyed part of a milkshake for the first time. I think he liked it. :-)

In the picture below, he had set up camp by the front door so that he could watch the gardener across the street mow. Apparently it was quite fascinating!

Nana gave Ethan a Little Einsteins laptop computer a while back and although he wasn't quite sure what to do with it at first, he is starting to get the hang of it and is having a blast! One particular activity shows him a lower case letter and he is supposed to find the capital letter that goes with it. He doesn't recognize all of the lower case letters yet, but because they verbalize the letter as well, he is usually able to come up with it on his own and push the correct button on his keyboard. Wow. Technologically advanced at (almost) age 3.

And to close, two quick potty stories for you . . .

The other day I thought I smelled something suspicious and asked Ethan if he'd gone poo-poo in his underwear. As I peered in to check, he replied, "There's nofing in there!" ;-)

Earlier this week, after he has successfully done his business on the toilet, he exclaimed, "I'm so proud of you!" Guess he's heard that a few times!! :-)

Bringing Out the Inner Bohemian . . .

2009-11-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

I needed some new clothes for this Fall/Winter, so I headed to one of my favorite places to shop, Kohl's. They were having one of their gigantinormous sales and I was armed with my 30% off coupon. Amazingly, I was able to find several things that I loved all in one trip. Ahhhhh . . . sweet success. All I had left to do was accessorize.

However . . . I'm not very good at accessorizing. So, I pleaded with my sister-in-law (who is fabulous at it), to help me out. She graciously accommodated my request and totally "hooked me up". Here is one of the trendy necklaces she helped me pick out. I truly felt like I was going back to my Bohemian roots. :-) Very fun!

Thanks MB!

Harvest Time

2009-11-06T15:30:00.000-08:00

Now that it's almost an entire week after-the-fact, here are some pictures from Halloween. Our church had a really great "Harvest Festival" on Saturday that we dressed both boys up for and took them to. It was lots of fun! I bought the costumes about 2 months ago and although Ethan's costume ended up fitting 'just right' (whew!), we almost didn't get Benjamin's 6-12 month one on him! But despite a little "squeezing", I thought the results were delightful. ;-)

One very cool Buzz Lightyear:

And one absolutely adorable lion cub.

It had not been a great day overall, so even though Ethan had been ecstatic to don his Buzz costume on earlier in the week, this time was not quite so enthralling--apparently. So, once dressed, we popped him in the chair with a movie on my iPod while I finished getting Benjamin dressed and ready to go. (If only we can get out the door . . . )

The Harvest Festival at our church, complete with bouncy castle, slide, ball toss, cake walk and other such games, music and candy.

One very cooperative and happy little boy who did very well for staying out past bedtime.

Cutey patootey!!

Between the bouncy castle and Jonah's whale, Ethan was in little boy heaven.

In, out, in, out, in, out . . . over and over and over again. He loved feeling the "inside" of the whale.

Inside, there was a lady telling the story of Jonah and handing out candy. Besides getting to sit inside a whale, you know how Ethan loves a good story, so this was a great combo for him! [Strange enough, he couldn't have cared less about the candy (definitely not MY son! :-/)!]

In the bouncy castle. He was very tentative at first, but got the hang of it rather quickly. Shoes had to come off to go inside, so there was a whole lot of shoes being put on, then taken off, then on, then off, on, off, on . . .

Decorating sugar cookies.

Enjoying sweet success!!

Yum! "Can Mommy have a bite pretty please!?!" Um, "nooooooo!"

Enjoying his cookie while back in the whale yet again.

Benjamin checking out the hale bales.

You're getting very sleeeeeeppppyyyy . . .

Earlier in the week we had met some ladies and their kiddos over at the Marketplace to let the kids run around in their costumes and take pictures. I didn't quite get Benjamin in his costume since I had to wake him up from his morning nap in order to go, but I definitely had one cute Buzz!

Enjoying some pretzels.

And friends!

Soooo close!

2009-10-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

Benjamin is starting to get frustrated that he can't get where he wants to go very easily. I think he does an amazing job scooting around on his bum, rolling from side to side and folding himself in half as he reaches for the object of his desire, but that doesn't seem to be enough now-a-days. He wants it all, Baby.

"I'm in position . . . now what!?"

Usually what happens: a foot gets stuck underneath him and then when he finally gets it out, he falls flat on his tummy and "swims" like there's no tomorrow. When he does periodically manage to pull his knees back up underneath himself, he typically moves backward instead of forward.

This crawling business is hard work!!

Gerber Visit

2009-10-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago we had company again for the weekend. Chris & his sister grew up with the Gerber girls (Kristin & Katie) and the two families frequently vacationed together. Over the years, the Gerbers have remained close friends and I have had the incredible privilege of being included in their "family".* :-)

Dave & Nancy have a grandson named Spencer who is just a couple of months older than Ethan. We hadn't had the opportunity to meet him yet, so their daughter Kristin & her husband Jake gave Dave & Nancy permission to bring Spencer down (from the Sacramento area) for all of us to meet him. It was wonderful to see them!!

Here are Spencer & Ethan playing trains:

Funny how it seems that all boys like to lie on the ground like this while playing with different modes of transportation (cars, trucks, trains, boats, etc.).

It seems that Spencer enjoys a good book! That's something he & Ethan definitely have in common!!

Dave & Chris took the boys in the pool. Benjamin & I decided it was a little too cold for us whimps. ;-)

(*I will never forget my "initiation" with the Gerber/Green families when Chris & I were dating. I went snow skiing with them at Lake Tahoe. All of them had skiied pretty much forever and this was my very first time. They paid for me to have lessons and as I stood up for the first time on my "baby" skiis and fell flat on my back while they were all looking on, I guess I endeared myself to them for good. ;-P)

Culture in Bakersfield!?

2009-10-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

I was so surprised the other day when Chris & I went out to dinner (that's not what surprised me :-P) and afterward, as were walking around the Marketplace we saw sidewalk painting in progress!! Now, I admit that I am pretty "uncultured" when it comes to stuff like this. I've never seen sidewalk art before, so I was especially impressed that Bakersfield had a few of its very own artists creating masterpieces on the asphalt. Wow. It was quite a production! I took the boys with me the following day to check out their progress.

And here are some of the coolest ones up close:

If you can't tell, this is a peacock. It wasn't finished yet, but it sure was beautiful!

I liked this one because it was sponsored by San Joaquin Community Hospital and is a picture of the game "Operation"! Very creative!

You can't see it very well in this picture, but the guy below in the white hat is working on a picture of a man who is shrinking in fear of the giant ant towering above him. And the man in the picture was the exact image of the artist himself!!

Now here's one I think I could do! :-P

These last two were 3D ones--although my pictures don't nearly do them justice! Pretty incredible, but check out these other ones I found online!!! Whoa.

This was how impressed Benjamin was with all of it.

Ethan just enjoyed walking (& dancing) around the fountain to the music of the . . .

. . . belly dancers!!!

I've never seen belly dancers before (like I said, totally uncultured :-P), so this was very interesting. And I thought you had to have a totally toned & fit tummy to be a belly dancer . . . Hmmmmmm . . .

Kern County Fair

2009-10-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Chris & I took Ethan to the Kern County Fair for the first time. It had been years since I'd been to the fair, so this felt like a real blast from the past. :-)

I think Ethan was a little overwhelmed at first . . .

We started out at the special kid's corner and Ethan immediately found the enormous bubble maker.

Then we saw some reptiles and birds.

Ethan loved petting these animals! They didn't move, neigh, bite or kick! (And for those of you a little slow on the uptake, they weren't real either!!)

Some of the animals looked so real, however, that he was a little unsure about getting very close!

Cutey patootey. He was having so much fun . . .

The Turkey Stampede!

Their motivation: a little red remote-controlled truck that had food in the back of it. ;-)

Enamored with the turkeys.

We decided to really live life on the edge and Ethan & I took a ride on an . . .

. . . ELEPHANT!

Her name was "Kitty". :-)
It really was very fun.

One of the main things we wanted to show Ethan was all the animals. He liked the sheep a lot--at least until one of them opened his mouth and made a noise! I guess knowing that a sheep says "baaaa" and actually hearing one say it are two completely different things!

Yeah, he wasn't so sure about that. (Moments later he actually burst into tears and we had to make a quick exit.)

Here he is enjoying a true fair favorite, the corn dog!

I think one of Ethan's favorite parts about our afternoon was actually the little train that you could ride around the fairgrounds on. It was quite a hit!

Talk about starry-eyed . . . ;-)

Checking out the brand new baby calves born earlier that day.

Soooo cute!

Our budding artist.

Cutest Bed Head Ever!

2009-10-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

I just LOVE having a baby with hair. :-)

My Pumpkins :-)

2009-10-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to get some Fall pictures of the boys, so after Ethan picked out his pumpkin, I picked out some outfits, took them in the backyard and tried to capture a few good ones. To no avail . . . Neither one of them would cooperate! I took a grand total of 39 pictures before I finally gave up.

Most of them looked like this:

Hmmmmm . . . "What about a kiss for brother!?" Ethan actually complied. Benjamin, however, didn't want anything to do with it.
"Or a hug??" Well, OK.
How about a giraffe to play with???

Ethan decided that he'd much rather do some raking than sit still for a picture.

So, I tried to get a couple of just Benjamin . . .
Cheeky Monkey.

I do think some of them turned out pretty cute anyway. Oh well. It was definitely a "memory" if nothing else. ;-)

(By the way, this is my 400th post!! Wow. The time sure flies.)

Dinosaurs & Pumpkins

2009-10-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

I love watching Ethan's imagination at work. After he went to bed the other night, I returned to the family room to find this:

It's a dinosaur train!! ;-) I'm sure it is modeled after a very fun program he's been watching on PBS kids called Dinosaur Train! Very cute.

After Ethan picked it out at Grandpa's Farm last week, his pumpkin seems to go everywhere with him. Including Benjamin's jumperoo! It is one very special pumpkin.

Grandpa's Farm

2009-10-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the opportunity to take Ethan to Grandpa's Farm with a "Mommy & Me" church group. He had a blast!! I left Benjamin with my parents to take his morning nap and just Ethan and I went out on this little date. This is the first time I've seen him really enthusiastic about all the animals!! And he has recounted to us every single detail of our visit numerous times since then. :-)

Even though it looks just like a sheep, this is actually a very woolly goat! But I don't think Ethan could tell the difference--especially since goats "baaa" just like a sheep!

Checking out the ducks & chickens.

Waiting with eager anticipation for the pig race!

And they're off!!
It was "Pig" vs. "Pig" vs. "Pig". Guess who won!?! Yep! "Pig"!

This very talented turkey sang "Old McDonald" for us. ;-)

On the Tractor Pull.

Picking out the perfect pumpkin to take home!
Hmmmmm . . . so many choices . . .

"How 'bout this one!?"

Very pleased with his choice.

He definitely loved riding his very own tractor!

Lookin' good!

Taking his pumpkin for a ride.

Time to check the oil!

"Let's see what's under the hood on this thing . . ."

We even got to eat a snack in the barn!

Mr. Bull. He was a little "scary" according to Ethan. (I agreed!)

I was amazed that Ethan finally overcame his fear of getting "too close" and actually fed the goat!! We got some dried corn from a dispenser and although it took some doing to get Ethan to open up his hand and let the goat eat out of it, he did great. He really wanted to feed the goat one kernel at a time though!

All in all it was a great morning. It wasn't a huge place, but Ethan has talked non-stop about all the ponies, the shy llama, the "big & strong" bull, the horse with the blanket on it, the singing turkey, the racing pigs, feeding the goat out of his hand and the tractor. Soooooo precious.

Swimming

2009-10-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

After moving back to Bakersfield, it didn't take us long to make some good use of the pool. Ethan hadn't been swimming since our visit to CA last summer, so true to any new experience, he was a little tentative at first. (We don't call him Mr. Cautious for nothing!) He wasn't sure what to think of that water!!

Benjamin, on the other hand, enjoyed it to the fullest! :-) Here is his first time in the pool.

Grammy & Papa and Nonni were all there to document the occasion.

Eventually, Ethan did decide to join us. I think he was feeling a little left out!

Giggles

2009-10-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Handsome boy!!!

There is absolutely nothing better than hearing a baby laugh. Definitely good for my soul. ;-)

It Won't Be Long!

2009-10-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, at 8 months, this cutey patootey is on the move! No, he's not quite crawling yet (whew!), but he is scooting quite a bit on his backside. In the picture below he started out right next to the couch--over three feet away!!

Quite proud of himself.

Although this picture doesn't quite capture what exactly is going on, Benjamin is starting to get his knees up underneath him some. Even though you can't really tell here, his stomach is all the way off the floor and his knees are partially bent and pulled in. He's getting close!!

This is THE cutest video ever. I was trying to capture his bum shuffling (which I did manage to get a little of), but I ended up getting a whole lot more of his talking & growling instead. Notice he has finally gotten a lot LESS camera-shy (yay!). ;-) He is such a DOLL!!!

Quick 'Stat' Update: Benjamin weighed in at 22 lbs. last week! He is in the 95% for weight and 98% for height.

Sleeping with Style

2009-10-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

Last week I took the boys to visit my friend Rebecca up in Fresno. Although it was a bit chaotic with 5 children (all under 3) and only 2 adults for most of the time, it was so fun to get together with my friend and let all the kiddos play together while we chatted about "life" (between breaking up squabbles and calming crying babies anyway! haha!). :-) Unfortunately for us, however, although the days were full of fun, the nights weren't all that great. :-/ Ethan, Benjamin & I all shared a room and even though I'd thought to bring our sound machines (one to place at each boy's head!), somehow I think Benjamin still knew I was in the room with him and was up almost every half an hour. Ugh!! Ethan did really well with it all, but I think he was still a bit "behind" after two nights of that (he wasn't the only one!!). As I was packing up our stuff and loading the car, I could tell we were close to a melt-down, so I sat him on the bed with my iPod and put on his favorite music. The next thing I knew, this was how I found him:

Awwwwww . . .

Then, a couple of nights ago, I went in to check on him before I went to bed [which I periodically do just to see him while he's asleep :-)] and found him like this:

Legs crossed just chillin' in his sleep. Too funny!! :-)

More Labor Day Fun

2009-10-10T14:45:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend, we had some very special friends come into town for a visit. You've already seen some pics of the good times we had with Matt & Cheryl, but I haven't introduced you to the Butlers yet!! Chris & I met Dustin & Daniella during our Multnomah days. Each couple has two kids now and although we've kept in touch as much as we can, I think it had been about 5 years since we'd seen them. They currently live up in the Sacramento area, so it was a real treat to have them come down for a brief visit!!

Here are their girls: Johanna (age-2) & Callie (age-4)

Dustin & Chris took the three oldest kiddos swimming and Daniella helped watch Benjamin while I helped my father-in-law in the kitchen!

Ethan was pretty excited about swimming. Can you tell??

Here is Cheryl lovin' on the kids.

Johanna (aka "JoJo") loved to love on Benjamin . . . although I'm not quite sure he knew what to think of it sometimes!

We're starting Benjamin pretty early on a laptop . . .

Goodbye hugs.

Thanks again for a lovely visit, Butler family! Let's not wait quite so long until the next time!

Ethan, Daddy & Dinosaurs

2009-10-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

I love the precious every day moments. Here, Daddy is hard at work on the computer, but the dinosaurs still wanted to be right next to him and to climb all over him. Watch out, Daddy!

Glorious, Glorious, Glorious

2009-10-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE the weather we've been having!?! My Grandma came over the other day and her, my mother-in-law & I took the boys over to the park around the corner from us. It was a perfect morning (other than, of course, the fact that Ethan woke Benjamin up from his nap in order to go!).

This was actually Benjamin's first time in a swing! He loved it!! Much more so than Ethan did at this age.

Nonni entertaining.

"No kidding!? You don't say!"

Both of my boys. :-)

[You definitely want to click on this pic and check out Benjamin's sweet expression. ;-)]

LoveloveLOVE this picture!!! It is just so "Benjamin".

And then a few minutes later, I think he was getting tired . . .

Big brother Ethan enjoying the rest of the play equipment.

Laundry Helper

2009-10-09T03:00:00.000-07:00

I am so blessed to have such a great little laundry helper . . . and one that's so darn CUTE too!!! :-)

Random

2009-10-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

I still have so many posts to catch up on and simply don't have the time to do any of them right now! Aaaaaa! So, to tide you (my faithful readers) over, here are a few random thoughts . . .

Fall is finally here!!! In Bakersfield, that usually means the weather is in the 70's & 80's. :-) But I think it's finally safe to say that we're passed the 100 degree weather. Whew! Bring on the jeans & sweatshirts! Ha, ha!

On Wednesday, my Grandma came over and we took the boys to the park around the corner from us. It was a glorious day and we couldn't figure out why in the world no one else was there enjoying it with us! I had been talking with Ethan off and on all morning about going to the park and I finally told him that when Benjamin got up from his nap, we would go. Well, apparently, Ethan decided that he could certainly take care of that(!). After several minutes, I realized that he'd disappeared and I found him in Benjamin's room. Yes folks, that's right. He had let himself into B's room, walked right over to his bed, pushed the various buttons on the Pack 'n Play's noise machine that in turn turned on the music, vibrator, etc. promptly waking B. up from his peaceful slumber. What!?!? I was SO mad, but too stunned to know how to respond! How was I to hit home the point that he was not to do that EVER again, but at the same time, realize that he did it totally innocently!?! I can laugh about it now, but I wasn't laughing then! Wow! Clever boy!

I love having a clothes dryer again. I actually washed sheets and towels today and both were dry by this afternoon.

We took Ethan to the Kern County Fair yesterday. Despite the fact that it has gotten SO expensive, we had a great time. Pictures will be forthcoming, but the best part of the afternoon!?? Definitely our short ride atop the world's largest living land mammal!! ;-)

Lo and behold, Benjamin is actually on a "schedule". Finally. It truly is a beautiful thing. He is sleeping almost 12 hours at night most nights and about 3 hours during the day (2 naps a day: either one at one hour and then another one at two or 1-1/2 hours each). I can hardly believe it. He still throws me a curve ball every now and again (like, deciding to get up at 5:30am three consecutive mornings), but overall, he and I both are getting MUCH more sleep . . . and are much, MUCH happier. Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had an awesome weekend with friends in town last weekend, so watch for pictures of that and Ethan, Benjamin & I are headed out of town on Sunday for a couple of days to visit a friend in Fresno.

I think that's it for now! I will try to be back again soon!

Yummy Goodness!

2009-09-28T08:43:00.003-07:00

We had company in town over the weekend (more on that to come!) and "just for fun" I decided to make a Scottish favorite for dessert for us all on Saturday night. Sticky Toffee Pudding!!! Yum! This was one of Chris' favorite "puddings" we discovered during our time in Aberdeen. I've never made it before, so I had a bit of a learning curve, but all in all, it didn't turn out too bad! And it was a really fun treat to share with our friends and family. I definitely think there may be more of this in our future . . .

New Backpack

2009-09-28T01:00:00.002-07:00

Getting out of the house with two kids sure requires a lot of STUFF. We had just gotten to a point with Ethan where we didn't have to take quite as much with us when we went out . . . then, of course, we started potty training and all of a sudden we had to pack extra Pull-ups and/or underwear, incentives, extra clothing, etc. But between his bag, my bag & Benjamin's bag, I decided that Ethan is now old enough to carry his own "stuff" around! Enter cute, Thomas backpack. :-) It's been a huge hit so far and it is wonderful to have him take ownership of his own stuff: sippy cup, snack, cars, extra clothing, etc. Cool! Now he's all ready for school books!

Photobooth Fun, Part 1

2009-09-26T01:00:00.001-07:00

Introducing . . .

THE GREEN FAMILY!
The Dad
The Mom

Son #1

Son #2

Can you tell we're related??? Ha, ha!

And some more just for fun:

Chris' personal favorite:

Ethan's New Room

2009-09-23T21:48:00.002-07:00

In effort to make the transition to Bakersfield as smooth as possible, Chris & I wanted to make Ethan's new room really special for him. Before we left Aberdeen, I ordered some Cars stuff online and had both grandmas team up to get his room ready for him before we arrived. Even though we didn't get in until 11pm, it was fun to show his new room off to him. Exhaustion was undoubtedly his predominate feeling, but he was still pretty cute as he explored his room and "discovered" all the new things.

Did you catch my favorite line?? It was right at the end . . . "Look at all these toys." Adorable.

The next morning we added a few more beloved characters to Ethan's room. Our friends the Holloways left these two guys behind when they moved back to the U.S. and we inherited them along with their flat. When we first moved in, Ethan didn't have a clue who they were, so we just put them down in the basement. During the course of the year, however, we introduced Monsters, Inc. and Toy Story into Ethan's movie repertoire. Buzz Lightyear & Sully are now favorites and somehow they managed to stow away in our luggage. Ethan was thrilled. (Thank you Holloways!)

Snapshots of Benjamin

2009-09-21T10:21:00.009-07:00

Notice anything unusual about this picture??

Here's a hint. Check out his attire . . .

Yes! Benjamin is actually wearing pants and a sweatshirt!!! We had a small hint of Fall a week ago. It's already gone & we're back to 95+ degrees again, but we hope that the cooler weather is just around the corner.

Benjamin has decided that Bonpa can be pretty fun! :-)

Wahooo!

Benjamin's adorable post-bath hair

Yeah, he still likes his tongue . . .