Little Cutie Ethan Monster

Well, no surprise I didn't get around to posting this past weekend. Didn't see that coming, did ya? Anyway.

I've been having a lot of fun listening to Ethan learn to talk lately. It is so sweet to hear his little voice trying so hard to form words. It makes me cry, though. I want him to be little forever! This stage is so darn cute. One minute he is driving me crazy getting into trouble and in a split second he'll look up at me and attempt to say please, but it sounds like "Pease," and my frustration melts away. I hope he doesn't learn to say too many things correctly for awhile. I want to enjoy the cuteness awhile longer.

"Gi-un wobot," (Giant robot...as in the robot from The Iron Giant. Easily his favorite movie. He requests it every day and even goes up to other moms at the playgrounds and tells them about it. Cracks me up. I love watching other people smile down at him as he tells them about it, then see him trot away to go play.)
"Coo-key," (Cookie. He has quite the sweet tooth, this one.)
"Mah-na," (Banana)
He also says "Pease"and 'Tanks" before and after most requests, unprompted. Makes me so proud.
"Pah-kee," (Pancake)
"Heh, whe Peddy," (Hey, where's Perry? A catch phrase from their favorite TV show, Phineas and Ferb.)
"Poosh." (Push. Unfortunately Katie is not very interested in using words to solve problems these days and he learned to tell on her.)
"Ho be," (Help me.)  So CUTE! I love that he's starting to make sentences with this phrase: "Ho be, Dad-dee." (Help me, Daddy.) "Ho be miwlk." (Help me milk.) "Ho be suck." (Help me stuck.)

Such a cute little guy. I can't believe he's almost 2!

Sorry for the lack of posts...

...but we've been moving. And it totally sucks with a 3.25-yr-old and a 22-month-old. I really hate moving. The disruption in routine is probably my least favorite part. Sometimes I wish I didn't care about being organized and having a clean house, or even about showering everyday. Sure would save me a lot of time. I am hoping to catch up on the blog (or at least post a few fun holiday pictures) this weekend. Until then, this quick recap will have to do:

One of Katie's favorite things to do is walk around holding the boulder from the little dump truck The Lavin's gave Ethan for his birthday, and (using it as a microphone) call out, "Wel-commmme to the new houuuuse!" Hilarious. They both love the stairs. And now Cousin Kiera has figured out  how to climb them. Rats! Ethan has been talking up a storm and other people are actually beginning to understand him. Mommy both loves and hates this.

 

These two have been getting in a lot of Phineas and Ferb marathons while Mommy unpacks.

And 'The Best Cousin Ever' is walking up a storm!

Walkin' in the Rain

 She's her mother's daughter, alright. Katie loved walking in the rain like a big girl. This was the only umbrella we had so Mommy and Daddy were soaked. We didn't mind too much, though. How could we? What a cutie. This was actually the same night we went to see Santa. (See below.)

Visiting Santa

Tonight we thought we'd try visiting Santa real quick. There was literally no line and Katie was really excited when we walked up to him. With very little encouraging she sat in his lap and discussed what she wanted for Christmas. (She wants presents...in case you were wondering.)

Ethan was another story. He held on tight and didn't really want to get too close. He cried the second I started to set him in this very young Santa's lap. (He seriously had the the most youthful voice I've ever heard.)

 I tried to get Daddy in the picture, but he was busy helping the photographer get Ethan to smile. He really wasn't interested in smiling while he was next to Santa. He did give him a low five between takes, though. That's progress, I guess. Don't I look thrilled? And check out the frump on Ethan's face. Too bad because Katie looks so adorable.

Here we are with my arms trying to hold Ethan without being seen so we could get a decent picture. Well, we gave it our best shot. I am very seriously considering submitting these photos to Ellen's Bad Photos with Santa.

Ready for the Book Advent

If you follow any "mom blogs" or are on Pinterest, then you've probably heard of this. It's a fun way to keep track of the days until Christmas. 24 books all wrapped individually. (Actually, I think some/most people pick out 25 and read a special one on Christmas night, but I had trouble picking enough age appropriate books for a 3-year-old...not to mention a 20-month-old). Unwrap one every night. We'll unwrap ours at bedtime. I can't remember if they are supposed to be numbered, but that's what I did because I wanted to follow a certain order with some of the books (ie: make sure that sequels were read in order). I pulled them out of my teaching supplies from the depths of the attic with some help from Trav the other night and am pretty excited to read them again. It's been a while...

Summer : Water Table as Fall : Rice Table

I love that Pinterest helps me access the crafty ideas I have stored away in my brain from the teaching days. (Seems like it was a lifetime ago I was in the classroom, not a mere 2.5 years.)

Ya know the ones that are so simple they are brilliant? Colored rice is one of them.

 These two wasted no time digging right in. (Frank and Hagrid supervised, of course.)

 They thought it was such a blast.

Goofball.

Ethan tasted it, naturally.

 Katie just wanted to fill every bucket, holder, scoop, and shovel with it.

 They were so excited they even shared the toys!!! (For a little while anyway.)

 Mixing it up was the most exciting part.

Here's Ethan carrying around his tiny little cup of rice.

It's his favorite thing to do at the table now.

And because I never make something without first considering how I will manage it (a blessing and a curse) I made this pul polka dot cover to keep moisture and dirt out. Now if I could just figure out how to get the kids to keep the rice inside the table. That'll be the day. I should have taken a picture of the carnage. It was amazing. I think they literally lost half of the rice in one session.

(For a quick reference I will post the measurements/ supplies in the comments section when I am motivated enough to search for it in the abyss that is the office desk. I'm not in the mood right now.)

Rugged Maniac 2011

Brace yourself, folks. I think this may be the first post EVER that isn't about the kids. Don't worry, you're in the right place. Just branching out a little because this was too much fun and I don't want to forget it.

So, back in August (?) Martin found out about this obstacle course/ race called Rugged Maniac 5K from a friend. When Trav asked me about it my exact response was, "You know I don't run."  Ha. Never thought I could run and enjoy it.

I originally said yes because I didn't want everyone else having fun without me (no joke- I'm that juvenile). Then I thought about it and figured it might be a good way to boost my weight loss plan, which was stalled at the time. After I checked out the website I FREAKED OUT and recruited Laura so I would have a buddy who wouldn't leave me in the dust. She recruited David, and Trav talked Matt (our old college roommate) and his girlfriend Amber into going, too.

Just for the sake of record keeping: When I first started training I could only run a half mile and my lungs hurt for hours afterward. By Nov 5th (race day) I had been running 3.25 miles in 35 minutes and doing Pilates afterwards. I thought I would be able to jog the entire race with all of this training under my belt. Silly me. More on that later.

 After a loooooong drive out to Buckeye, AZ, here's Martin. (Pre-race)

Here's "Team Tutu" pre-race ...

 ...and post-race.

 The group at the end... getting ready to go get our free beers and rinse off in the showers. (We're missing Shanlyn in these pics because after forgetting her inhaler she had to walk most of the course and finished about 20 min after us. I'm still feeling really guilty about it...)

 The suit was a hit.

 

Muddy person pyramid.

We rocked! I was really frustrated at first because the first mile had a LOT of uphill sections. Stupid me I trained on the sidewalk in and around my neighborhood. Aka: super flat ground. The guys made it look effortless to get up those steep hills and here I was 3/4 mile into the race and I had to walk because my lungs hurt so much. I was so angry. I worked my butt off, puffed away on my inhaler for 3 months, and I was worried I was going to be miserable the whole time. But then it leveled out a little more and the obstacles became more fun. Thinking about it, I  guess the course was designed with the most uphill sections at the beginning because (unlike me) most people start off strong. My middle mile is my best. Anyway. I stopped cussing about half-way through and was thrilled to get down in some nice cold, muddy water for a crawl under some logs. After cooling off, I was much happier and I enjoyed the rest of the race. I use the term "race" loosely because none of us were really going for our best time.

I did every obstacle (not all of them well, but I did them) and Trav was very supportive. He even pushed my ass (literally) over all three of the vertical walls. Thanks, Honey. And he didn't once mention how fast he could have done it on his own. I really appreciate that. Afterwards we all drove back to Gilbert for some Buffalo Wild Wings.

And when we finally got home I just had to document the bib numbers on our arms. Don't we look buff? Haha.

Here are the results:

1193rd place: Travis: 55:47 (718 out of 1026 men)

1198th place: Melissa: 55:50 (479 out of 1047 women)

1201st place: David: 55:52
1209th place: Laura: 55:56

1211th place: Martin: 55:59
1226th place: Matt: 56:23
1227th place: Amber: 56:24
1895th place: Shanlyn: 01:12:52

Just for reference... 1st place was 21:07, 2073rd (last place) was 23:52:53