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

HALLOWEEN ZEBRA

TRICK OR TREAT!

We tried to teach him to say 'trick-or-treat' but at almost age 2, the only thing on your mind is the candy! Ethan was a pro for his first trick-or-treating experience! He was not shy to walk up to someone's door - he would take just 1 piece of candy - and gently put it in his bucket - and head to the next house! By the end he was so excited he was running all over the place (and touching everything on people's porches). We were out for about an hour, and then we headed back so we could hand out candy at our house for the rest of Beggar's Night.

A tired and thirsty zebra!

AUTUMN

Like Mother Like Son! Mommy and Ethan eating leftover popcorn from the night before for breakfast - that's right, snuggling in the snuggie!

Ethan almost 22 months

A new take on spaghetti - take handfuls and rub it all over your chest and belly and tuck the noodles into your diaper. Then for the finale - the whole tray falls on the floor with noodles and sauce everywhere!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

In lieu of carving or painting pumpkins, we decided to create Mr. "Pumpkin" Head! We found a kit at the store of Mr. Potato Head parts intended for pumpkins - we created a scary monster pumpkin! Ethan was NOT happy when we tried to tell him what parts went where...he really wanted the arm to go where the mouth goes (see above) and the mouth was not for the pumpkin - it was for Mommy (see below). We left the pumpkin on the table for a few days to see if he would keep interest in it - and he played with it each day. That left Mommy hunting for all the parts around the house! Saturday the 30th was our 'trick-or-treat' night, so we retired Mr. Pumpkin Head to the front step for everyone to enjoy!

END OF SUMMER

The Des Moines Farmers Market

For those that haven't had a chance to go to the DSM Farmer's Market...this gives you an idea of what it is like. Lots of people and local vendors for blocks and blocks!

October 2010

Ethan and Mom's favorite vendor is "Lotta-Pop" popcorn - Ethan is quite protective of his popcorn! Just like his mom...

21 months

More popcorn once we got home - I think all he ate that day was popcorn and french fries!

Posing with the new dishwasher - we are working on getting him to show us his big muscles!

Howdy partner! Yep, this is our son with his purple cowboy hat and purple phone - he has quite the imagination!

IMAGINATION

JABBER TIME

OH, JUST ANOTHER DAY...

We sat down after supper for some serious coloring time. Daddy printed out some SpongeBob pictures and we colored everything - the paper, the chair, the table, mommy....

Here we take coloring very serious...

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And here we think coloring is funny!

Ethan has a new love...licorice. He now actually says "no-no" to M&Ms to get licorice. He also discovered that if you bite off each end, you can blow through it - so then we play with it, drop it, and fight the dog for it. For a treat that is to be mess free...it's quite messy!

Ethan posing in front of the "new" fireplace. Mike re-faced the fireplace a few months ago, and I realized I never got a picture of it! This was as good as I could get with Ethan running around! Next time...a picture with our new dishwasher!

21 months

CLAY COUNTY FAIR 2010

The infamous duck game - click on September 2009 to see Ethan play this same game at 9 months old!

Big smiles for the Merry-Go-Round!

Boat ride with Kendra and Matayah!

MY FIRST BOAT RIDE

BARN ANIMALS

2010 Clay County Fair

Grandpa's Barn was new this year...it was sort of like a petting zoo.

Here Ethan is climbing the fence to get in the pen with the "quack-quacks."

The "mechanical cow" that you can milk - Mike was enjoying aiming at the "audience."

The KICD train depot - LOTS of choo-choo's

FUN TIMES

Daddy & Me time...

Always goofing around!

20.5 months

A new take on "so big."

I was going through all the baby clothes and reorganizing. Daddy thought it would be fun to try on some old clothes. the sweatshirt is a 12M while the pants are 2T (what he is wearing right now). As inspired by the Klinge family blog - where did the baby go? :)

The real one's are so much more fun!

Pudding goatee - with the look we get oh so often these days!

SATURDAY MORNINGS

On our way to the Farmer's Market Saturday morning. He always keeps us entertained :)

20 months

Noooo Mommy (I was trying to give him a kiss/pose for a picture)

HAHAHAHA GOTCHA!

WHAT'S GOIN' ON...

Well, we are back again! The back to school rush is over and things are finally back to what we consider "normal" - for the time being, that is. Mike, Ethan, and I are ready to enjoy our 3 day weekend with some close family bonding. I'm sure we won't want to return to work on Tuesday!!! We are hoping to enjoy this beautiful weather this weekend - Farmers Market in DSM on Saturday morning and then a picnic at the park for lunch - we won't bring Maggie to clean up the mess, I'm sure we will go ahead and feed the ducks instead (Ethan is sort of obsessed with "quack quacks" and "bob-bob" (Spongebob) right now). We will see what the rest of the weekend brings - probably household projects! Here's what's going on with us...

Current Mike Dean DIY House Project: refacing the fireplace with slate tiles

Current Heather Dean organization project: cleaning and inventory-ing Ethan's closet

Current Ethan Dean project: go through his toy box and leave toys everywhere

Today's Major Purchase: We re-bought our house (we completed our mortgage refinance this afternoon)

Next Major Purchase: Dishwasher (our current model is apparently setting kitchens on fire)

Scheduled vacation: Mike and Heather to Las Vegas in November (Ethan to Grandma & Grandpa's)

Scheduled fall activities: CYCLONE FOOTBALL!

Ethan's new discovery: Climbing on top of the dining room table and point to each light bulb in the light fixture and yelling "BALL-BALL-BALL"

Mommy and Daddy's new discovery: cleaning up REAL kid puke for the first time. Wow, not quite sure how he could generate that much for such a little guy.

Ethan's new trick: real kisses and "eeeeezzzz" ("please", although he doesn't say it quite enough yet!)

I will try to be back to the blog sometime later this weekend with updated "20 month" pictures!

LITTLE GUY, BIG PERSONALITY

All grown up! He has even learned how to put mommy's flip flops on correctly and walk in them!

Despite is shoe walking abilities, he has yet to master walking (well, running) barefoot. Yep, huge bruise on his forehead - I think he learned it's heads up when you are running in the house - or better yet - no running in the house!

19 months

The whole gang about to make their trip up the stairs to bed. Oh, what an adventure EVERY night.

How can you resist that face?!?!? :)

This is actually supper one night - no, he isn't suffering from my cooking, he just didn't get a nap that day! And yes, he is wearing a 5 year old little GIRL's basketball t-shirt because he got so dirty playing at daycare that day. In the winter time he will come home with pink stripe socks!

MORE ADVENTURES

BIG HUGS! Maggie isn't much of a hugger, but she sure does let her lil' bro do pretty much whatever he wants!

Ethan got to spend a day with Natalie and Brody for lots of fun and FOOD! The face - frosting. The hands - a squished cupcake. The tummy - happy! :)

Natalie was brave enough to let the boys finger paint with dyed vanilla pudding. They had a blast and the finished work is a true masterpiece!

19 months

YUMMMMM

DINNER TIME

Mmmm - sweet corn! Definitely a homegrown Iowa boy!

So sleepy...but don't touch my sippy cup!!!

18 months

TP DISCOVERY

Every kid has to have their toilet paper moment...

Uh-oh, I better put it back... oh no, how did this work?

Oh, what's this thing? (he had just thrown a piece of TP in the toilet - then he waved when we flushed it)

18 months

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS...

We headed to Spencer this past weekend - it's getting more and more interesting each time we travel with Ethan. This trip he was quite entertained with Mommy's empty cup from the gas station. Take the straw out, MAMAMA (Mom needs to hold the cup), then put the straw in, hand the cup to Ethan, and repeat.

Then when Ethan decided the previous game was done, he figured out that if you hold it by the straw and swing it back and forth, you can get some good distance on flinging the cup and being left with just the straw...yet another Christmas/birthday idea - plastic cup and straw.

So tuckered out he could barely make it in the front door! He literally came inside with Mike, laid down, and fell right to sleep. Mike had to push his legs in the house. Turns out, the poor baby didn't feel very well - his 2 year molars are coming in...

Still asleep even after we tried waking him up from the rug and sat him up on the couch. His head just bobbed up and down and side to side. That is one thing about Ethan, when he is tired, there is no waking him up!

18 months