CHRISTMAS WITH THE DEAN'S

Christmas with the Dean's - 2010

Santa's helpers passing out presents!

Sitting with Grandpa and has a death grip on our "favorite" Cowboy Santa toy! Thankfully, at some point, Grandpa found Santa's off button!

Matayah, Ethan, and Kendra

Tayah was sitting nice in the box...Ethan came by and reversed his way onto her lap. Ethan was comfy - Tayah got the giggles.

Yummmmm....Homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning breakfast!

MR. ETHAN HEAD

Buzz Lightyear playing with Mr. Potato head.

Silly kid - wearing Mr. Potato Head's glasses...

JUST FOR FUN

Iowa State Basketball game - Ethan did great...as long as he had popcorn in front of him! He ate 2 of those containers...well, maybe 1 1/2 - of course there was spillage! Oh, and Iowa State won!

Ethan and Mommy making Rice Krispie Bars - Ethan put the marshmallows in the pan...and that's it. He wasn't really into my 'crafty' thing for the day. Oh well, I went ahead and cut out bars with the Christmas cookie cutters anyways...a lot harder than you think!

'On Guard!' Ethan and Daddy 'fencing' with the empty wrapping paper rolls!

December 2010

FROSTY

Ethan was sitting nice and watching TV while Mike, my friend Mo, and I finished up our baking day. Ethan suddenly got up and put on his hat and gloves, crawled back on the couch and continued watching TV. Want to guess what was on?

Frosty the Snowman! Apparently it made Ethan cold watching it, or he was interested in getting into character to watch the program! The things this kid comes up with!

23 months

2010 ANNUAL HOLIDAY BAKING EXTRAVAGANZA

Friday Night....

Saturday morning into afternoon...

Mom...more please! Ethan was our helpful taste tester of each raw ingredient (he especially enjoyed oreos, chow mein noodles, pretzels, m&ms, and butterscotch chips). Ugh...this is going to be a rough couple of weeks - he LOVES "kiki's" (cookies). That and 'no' are his favorite words right now!

Daddy also had to taste test the ingredients to be sure they were consumable. In the end, he mixed all the leftover frosting together and made graham cracker sandwiches. It looks like brick and mortar (the frosting is a dark gray!).

Our variety arrangement of sugar cookies - Mike and Mo were the frosting pros, while I used my accessorizing skills to complete the masterpieces. For the record, each snowman has a different look on their faces to create different personalities! They wink, have their sunglasses on, eyes closed, etc.

These were a last minute fun decision - Spongebob and Patrick (no, Ethan hasn't seen them yet!). Each cookie must have their own personality, it makes them that much more fun to eat!

Saturday night - 20 containers of sugar cookies, porcupines, oreo truffles, peanut butter star cookies, peanut butter balls, pretzel wreaths, haystacks, cheesecake bars...what a day! We even survived the all day blizzard warning - oh, it's cold out!

And no post is complete without the real entertainer of the day...

RIP CAMERA

My deepest apologies are in order for not keeping the blog up to date this past month. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, my loving son decided to collect all sorts of goodies around the house, place them in a bag that he found, and the next morning mommy found wrappers, toys, my camera, and his milk sippy from supper the night before. Needless to say, the sippy leaked (gross) and my camera was sitting in a pool of sour milk. R.I.P 5 year old Canon Powershot - you were good to me! Luckily, this incident hit right before Black Friday, so my very loving husband found the brand new Canon Powershot on a hot deal at Best Buy. It even takes HD movies, so be watching for new and improved (that is, as long as the operator can handle it!). Enjoy the new postings, and I should be back next weekend! Happy Holidays!!!

HOLIDAY PARTY

More Holiday Fun - INVISION Family Christmas Party

Another visit with Santa. He actually gave Ethan a gift this time - a Buzz lightyear lego car thing - He loves it! The office also gave all the kids a gaming card, so Ethan got to play lots of fun things!

I'll throw this one in just cuz he's cute! 23 months old!

SANTA AND CY

Holiday Fun - at the Iowa State University Book Store!

Polar Express Story Time with Santa! Ethan has the Santa thing down - who is that Ethan? 'Tanta - HoHoHo" (usually whispers it). Definitely NOT afraid!

UBS Winter Open House - Mike and Ethan visited Mommy at work that night. Cy made a visit, and Ethan is also NOT afraid of Cy! Who is that Ethan? 'Guy - Go Co-cones!' (as he fist pumps in the air!). Lots of figh fives to Santa and Cy!

Holding Cy's hand along with his popcorn. Our good friend Rita (the director of UBS - my boss, and self-proclaimed 'Aunt' to Ethan) cut to the front of the line of people for Ethan to get a picture with Cy!

BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND

Mike takes black Friday pretty seriously....and so does his son.  Heather?  Nope, I will pay extra for stuff just to get my regular sleep.

Daddy purchased the 5lb paper for all the black Friday ads - Ethan helped in the hunt for good deals! Mike and Jon headed out shopping 12midnight-8AM around Ankeny. Ethan, Jess, and I stayed home and slept like normal people!

Ethan helped mommy with online shopping - she likes Cyber Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday much better than black Friday!

Christmas Decorating - Thanksgiving Weekend

Curious George helping Daddy get everything assembled!

Ethan was the big man in charge of putting the star on the tree. He still points at it to tell us 'star'! He also thinks the stocking are actual stockings, and tries to put them on his feet...we keep telling him that he doesn't have a clue of what is about to happen here in a couple weeks. Mom and Dad might be a little more excited for Christmas than Ethan!

Helping Daddy with the beaded garland...so pretty! We are still working on not touching the Christmas tree - he is doing pretty good, nothing is broken (yet). But, I did put Santa, Cy, Charlie Brown (with Sally and Snoopy), Dora and friends - all at Ethan's eye level to enjoy!

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS...

Our trip to Las Vegas

November 2010

We headed to Vegas for 5 days while Ethan spent time at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Mike had a Healthcare Design Conference to attend, so between being in 'class' all day and experiencing the night life, it was quite exhausting! While Mike and his co-workers were in the conference, myself and another spouse spent a lot of our time playing Black Jack at Hooters (which was right across the street from our hotel). I never in a million years thought I would ever say that I enjoyed Hooters that much! We were so consumed, we didn't even get a picture! They had $3 Black Jack tables, and I discovered I'm pretty good at Black Jack! While we didn't come back to Iowa with the jackpot, we will call it as breaking even. We had a blast and we will probably go back again someday!

VIVA LAS VEGAS

The Fountains at the Bellagio

Bellagio Resort on the Strip

The fountain shows are every 15 minutes throughout the evening, and they are to different songs each time. We watched 4 or 5 different shows, and could've stayed for more!

VEGAS BABY!

Fremont Street (Downtown Vegas - Old Strip)

We found a $2 Black Jack table at the Las Vegas Club and played for 4-5 hours straight! There is NO sense of time when you are in Vegas! Once we decided to kick our gambling obsession, we grabbed a late supper and headed out to the street to watch the light show on the canopy above. There were also lots of street vendors - everything from selling random gifts, to a spray paint artist, and celebrity look-a-likes/characters in costume.

WELCOME TO LAS VEGAS!

Las Vegas - November 2010

Stratosphere - we didn't actually go to this hotel/casino, but it was cool looking from a distance!

Paris - yep, Mike took me to Europe!

Venetian - very pretty resort, also very expensive!

New York, New York - this was right across the street from where we stayed, so we ended up spending some time in the casino and shops area. They had a Ben and Jerry's! :)

MGM Grand - this was our resort. LOTS of walking to get from one place to another - just in the resort! Next time, we will be sure to bring our comfy walking shoes!

HANGIN' WITH THE GRAND 'RENTS

Hangin' at Grandma & Grandpa's House

Nap time with the "sock" family!

Drinking from a cup like a big boy!!! The highchair has been officially retired to the basement in the Dean house. A big-big boy bed is in the works. And potty training has been on mommy's brain...

What a life. Cereal? good. Milk? good. Front row seat for Dora? awesome. Not quite sure why Grandma Marie has him wearing a girl bib...

22 months

ETHAN'S FIRST TAILGATE

2010 Cyclone Football Season

Ethan's 1st Tailgate!

Playing throw the ball into the cup with Dad - this didn't last long, Daddy didn't like that he wasn't scoring any extra "points" for the team!

CHEEEEEEESSSE!

He was spoiled rotten with junk food at the tailgate. The cup is full of puppy chow - the cup was originally meant as a scooper for people so they didn't get powdered sugar everywhere, well, someone filled it up and gave it to Ethan so he would stay away from the bowl!

21 months