HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

We headed to Ames for our annual tradition of watching the fireworks on the 4th of July. Our good friends, Matt and Mo, joined us this year. Ethan was all about being like Dad - mostly because Dad was in control of lighting the sparklers and such. He even had to sit on the tailgate just like Dad! This kid is just always on the go - until we force him to sit (like in the car seat), then he is out! He slept in until 9:30 the next morning.

The night before we had done some sparklers and snakes out on the deck...what a blast (no pun intended)!

Look Mom! I'm not afraid!

Ooooohhh - 2 at once!

NOOOO! Again! (the sparkler burnt out and he wasn't happy when that happened!)

'cank u' (thank you) - he says

Daddy finally got Ethan to understand that you need to wave it around a little bit - that is until he waved it a little too hard and burned a hole in Dad's shirt! hahaaha! (No one was hurt, so we can laugh)!

We really had to emphasize - NO TOUCHING - so he poked the flaming snakes with his burnt out sparkler. Hey, we are trying to go for 'parents of the year' ok?!

FREE HAIRCUTS

Ethan has been blessed with his parents' thick, fast growing hair...it's ridiculous what we spend on haircuts for a 2 year old! So, Mike - my creative, confident, and spontaneous husband - decided to venture out and buy some clippers so he and Ethan can play 'Barber' in the middle of the living room. And being the prepared father that he is - he bought suckers too!

It turned out well! We will see how this goes in the future.....

POTTY TRAINING - THE ATTEMPT

So....it was on my to-do this this weekend to attempt the 'cold turkey' approach to potty training. Ethan hasn't shown interest in the potty at all - it's been a fight ever since we started talking about it. But, he's approaching 2 -1/2 years old, so it's time we get more serious about this. My thought was, just put him in underwear and when he goes in his pants, then he will get it. HA - Ethan continues to outsmart his mom! No, it didn't work - he could have cared less when he wet his underwear AND when he peed on the dining room floor, but I guess you don't know until you try! Mommy's patience is being tested, that's for sure. New goal for the weekend - just get him to go ONCE in the potty! Here is a synopsis of what 'just sitting and not concentrating' looks like in our bathroom...

KLINGE FAMILY VISIT

Our great friends Nate, Kelly, and Miles (and Cooper the dog) made the trip from Chicago to visit the DSM/Ames area last weekend. Miles and Ethan are the same age, so it was fun to get the boys together and have some play time. We also discovered they both just love the camera and popcorn! Our main event was heading out to an I-Cubs baseball game...

AVENUE OF FLAGS

Memorial Day 2011

Favorite Dean family kid pastime - playing in the flag trailers!

Well, I never said I was a professional photographer...I realize now, its a societal norm to take pictures of a group when they are all looking towards you! This is the ONLY picture I got of the 5 Dean grandkids!

Kaleb, Matayah, Ethan, Kendra, Kevin

SUMMER IS HERE!

To celebrate the 'beginning of summer' - we get out and about much more freely than we do in the winter time. This does require some car time - Ethan doesn't mind...he tends to keep himself entertained!

Zonked - a fun and busy Memorial Day weekend has all of us exhausted. He snuggled up with his hippo pillow pet and slept from Dickens (10 minutes out of Spencer) to Ankeny - GOOD NAP!

Pile 'o' Dinos! Ethan's new found toys to expand that big imagination he has! The dinos say "AAARRRR" and Ethan says "AH,Bite! Ouch, it hurts! Kiss it!" (after he has stuck his finger in the dinosaur's mouth).

Getting ready for the Memorial Day parade in Spencer! He is wearing his "Eyes" and blowing on the pinwheel works much better than picking the white dandelions and trying to blow those (he usually ends up eating them - yuck!).

May 2011

MOM'S DAY

Mike surprised me and took us all to "Whatta Dish" - a pottery painting shop in Valley Junction in Des Moines - for Mother's Day. We had lots of items to choose from - but Ethan and I decided to each paint a small plate. Then we painted a cupcake plate together to keep up the entertainment. Ethan did an awesome job and painted a great plate for me to hang up in the kitchen. So, once we were done painting, the shop glazes the dishes and fires them in the kiln. A week later we picked them up and they totally cool! The nice thing too is that they are dishwasher safe, so we can actually use them! Unique artwork from your child is the absolute best mother's day gift EVER! And, now I am addicted to the pottery painting place - next time, date night at Whatta Dish.

Before...

Finished product! I actually like Ethan's a lot better than my own (in case you didn't figure it out, mine is the flower one!). His coloring, which is layer upon layer of paint all mixed together, matches the kitchen way better than my dish! Then the cupcake looks really good too for having Ethan's help with it! It's sort of girly, but I don't care!

TULIP TIME

We headed to Pella with our friends, Brock and Tonia, for the Pella Tulip Time! The flowers were beautiful, the town was beautiful, and the food was GOOD! The only thing to compare it to is Veishea at ISU - roads closed off, cheap food vendors everywhere, little shows and attractions all around. We hit up the food vendors - awesome chinese, chocolate covered strawberries, ribeye sandwich, and of course, Ethan had his hot dog and popcorn! THEN, we found heaven - Stroopwafels. Go find a dutch bakery right away - they are delish. It's a flat little sandwich made of a soft waffle cone type taste and warm caramel. YUM!!! Can't wait for next time!

To end the night, we found a spot by the ice cream shop to watch the nighttime parade. All the floats were lit up - including Thomas the Train and a super fun ice cream truck (Pella Windows' float - our friend Brock assisted in the creation of this float!).

BEING GOOFY

Every once and awhile we will head out to West DSM to the furniture mega store just to look around. Plus, they serve free cookies and lemonade! Ethan is a smart little guy - aren't you supposed to dunk your cookies? This is Ethan dunking his chocolate chip cookie in his ice water - and he did this to finish off the whole thing!

Apparently Ethan and Daddy didn't have anything to do....So, they got out the wrapping paper and tape. Ethan loved it! Daddy helped him up and he grabbed the empty paper roll and paraded through the house. They always say that you are the best toy your child will ever have - I'm just a little worried that Daddy may teach Ethan to think too much.....

FOR THE RECORD...

For the record...those chairs that Ethan uses to develop his 'creativity' have officially been chucked into the basement. I told him he wasn't mature enough to use them properly, so we will bring them back next year. Yes, I used the word 'mature' with my 2 year old. Oh boy.....

HAPPY EASTER

The Easter Bunny visited Grandma and Grandpa's house in Spencer! He left Ethan some golf clubs and a hippo pillow pet. Not to mention plenty of eggs to hunt for! Let's just say he was more content hitting the eggs with the golf clubs! Maybe we will think egg hunting is fun next year...

Easter egg hunt at Great Aunt Carolyn and Great Uncle Doug's house. It was such a nice day to be outside and enjoy the backyard! We had to coax Ethan along - he got distracted with a stick....in which he would hit eggs with!

OH! There's candy in here???

Ethan and Grandma Nancy

BUBBLES! He tries so hard to blow bubbles but he ends up blowing air up into his face (like he is getting hair out of his eyes!). Then little Aliviah (purple stripes, red hair) - she would try to blow bubbles by sticking the whole wand in her mouth - she had bubbles all over her face! AH, gucky!

OH, JUST A REGULAR DAY

One of many pouting moments....

We went to a birthday party today - Ethan managed to sneak over and get a total of 3 cupcakes (he probably only ate a total of 2). He got really mad when he went over for a 4th time and it was time to go home. He screamed for cupcakes all the way home. We put him down for a nap - he slept for about 3 hours! He woke up fussing and asking for cupcakes. Ugh - I can't win for nothing! Well, we don't have cupcakes, so he just had to be mad. Then he started asking to go to Kim's house (daycare). Ugh - I really can't win! So, Daddy jumped in and chased him with a piece of string cheese - to the point where Ethan was yelling "mine cheese!" Ah, situation averted! Are you exhausted??? I sure am!

Daddy and Ethan decided to put together 2 model cars today. Ethan really likes to "crash" things - oops! Maybe not age appropriate! Ethan is playing nicely (for now) with his jeep they put together - a chip clip is sitting in the drivers seat. I'm not entirely sure what his obsession is with chip clips these days!

Something was funny - but caught this rare smiley moment of father and son!

Random funny moment - Ethan is quite animated (not sure where he gets that from!), Ethan will pretend sneeze (just yell A-CHOO), and a very sweet "a-me" (excuse me) afterwards. But, when he actually sneezes, he doesn't understand saying "a-me".

Did you know chairs are not for sitting? They are to assist you in climbing onto the counter to get the candy that is sitting on top of the microwave. I'll have to post a pic of the top of our fridge soon - it's packed! We are in real trouble when he gets taller and uses a dining room table chair to reach up there!

Ok, mommy must be nuts. Chairs ARE for sitting. Would anyone like to venture a guess as to what happened next? Yep, he jumped from this position onto the ottoman. I told daycare, if I get a phone call that he has broken his arm, will NOT be surprised. Cross your fingers that we hopefully can dodge that sort of injury!

Oh, Ethan. Age 2, my favorite.