Monday, October 29, 2007

Our Crazy Life

How Sweet! This is how we found Ethan and Bruster on Saturday night. Ethan was so tired after church he just feel asleep with his legs hanging off the couch. The true picture of a boy and his dog.
She looks so innocent doesn't she. Aubrey was doing a great job yesterday actually watching Little People on TV while I was cleaning. She did this for about 30 minutes. I should have known it was too good to be true. The next time I looked over at her, she had gotten a pink marker out of Ethan's room and colored all over 2 of the couch cushions and the ottoman. I did not get a picture because I was quickly trying to get it off. I finally did get it off the ottoman with a Magic Eraser. The couch was another story. It did not come off. Luckily, we were smart enough to purchase the protection plan on the couch that covers such a thing. I called today and they will send someone out to try to get it off and if not they replace the cushions. That was a good investment! Oh, after this incident there was more. She got Derek's drink and ran away with it spilling soda all over the floor I just mopped. She is such a blessing!
We got rained out of the Trunk or Treat at Ethan's preschool so we had our own. These are the second set of costumes. Ethan is a fireman and will wear it to his party at school on Wednesday as well. Aubrey is a princess. I found it in some clothes from Gabriella. I was shocked she would keep the hat on.
Ethan getting candy from Ms. Ann in his room. We had a few people over for dinner last night so everyone took a room and Ethan trick or treating. He loved it.
Aubrey got one piece of candy and was too interested in eating it. She did not quite get the concept.

Here is Aubrey this morning. We are having a good morning so far. I am trying something new. I am giving her a basket from her room with toys to play with. This one entertained her while I exercised and showered. She was also sharing with Bruster.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Saturday Morning

Today we made caramel apples and carved our pumpkin. Before this adventure at home, Aubrey and I had some excitement at the post office. As we were waiting in line, she was very good and was saying hello to people and being very friendly. She even stood and held my hand for a little while. We were at the counter, I was paying and she was standing right around me. Well, the lady next to us had to do something to her package so she stepped back and you guessed it - tripped over Aubrey. Both the lady and Aubrey went crashing to the floor. Aubrey is screaming and everyone in line is silent and staring at us. I finished up as quickly as I could and got out. I did ask the lady 3 times if she was okay and she assured me she was. Aubrey did stop crying by the time we got to the car and seemed fine. It was just a very high stress moment. When I got home and told Derek about it he asked if Aubrey really did anything wrong and I said no, I guess not. It was just a strange accident.
Here Ethan is taking the stems off the apples for us.

Ethan enjoying his apple.
Aubrey eating her apple. She ended up shirtless and eating the apple to the core and crying for her apple when I had to throw it out. They both had baths afterwards.
Aubrey was very interested in the pumpkin. She liked playing in the pile of pumpkin guts the best.
Scooping out the pumpkin insides.

Mom helps with some of the scooping.

Ethan does not like to touch the "yucky" stuff, but I made him do it for a picture. Aubrey did not care- she is up for anything.

Ethan has now changed into another costume and Aubrey is still working on her apple. Mom did most of the carving - it took a while. Ethan picked a intermediate design instead of easy this year.

Here is the final product. It is 4 monsters in case you can not tell. Ethan gave me a hug and said I did a really good job. That made it all worth it. Derek cut off the top and took pictures. He also made lunch. He says he is moral support.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Sweet Aubrey

Derek and Aubrey stopped off at Dunkin Donuts this morning after taking Ethan to school. Here is a picture of Aubrey as I was getting out of the shower this morning. She had the box of donut holes and had to have one in each hand. She did share however. We think she had about 10 before I put the box away. We had a cooler day so Aubrey is sporting one of her new fall shirts.
Here Aubrey is being a big girl and drinking out of my water bottle. She does not want help anymore. She wants to do it all by herself. Surprisingly, she did fine this time and did not spill any. We are improving.
Aubrey is into wipes right now. When changing her diaper she has to have not 1, but 2 wipes. One for each hand, of course. We have had to put her wipes out of her reach otherwise she just helps herself all day long. Derek and I were just discussing again how different she is from Ethan. Aubrey is into EVERYTHING! Of all the toys in the house and she wants things she can't have. Some of her favorites are the remote, phone, (cell phone preferably), make-up, Bruster's food, markers, and anything in our nightstands.

Last night we had Parent's Night at Ethan's preschool. It was cute. It was for parents only and we did things that they would do. We colored, made a craft, wrote Ethan a note and had snack. We also got to purchase some of Ethan's artwork as a fundraiser for the school.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Library Story Time

Today we had a Halloween party at Story time. Of course I could not find Ethan's hair coloring anywhere this morning. We will have to save that for Halloween. They were both 50's costumes. Aubrey has a little poodle skirt and looked adorable. Ethan had candy cigarettes velcroed to his shirt sleeve. He also has a leather jacket. Nana and Papa attend the Jolly 60's group at church so Ethan says he is a Jolly 60's guy. Here they are listening to the story time. For those who have been around Aubrey recently you will be as shocked as I was that she sat down and watched and listened for 45 mins. That was a big accomplishment!
Ethan and Aubrey got to both put something on flanel board today. Aubrey put up the 12 cauldron pots right in the middle. She did it so fast I couldn't snap a picture.
This was the puppet show.
Here they are parading around the library. Ethan really had "the wave" down and would wave to anyone looking. He was very serious about the parade.
Coloring a pumpkin while waiting for the snacks.
Aubrey eating a cupcake. She had orange icing on her hand and she wiped it all across her outfit before I would wipe it. Oh well, hope it washes well.
Ethan is very serious about his cupcake. We took in Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin fruit snacks and they were a big hit. All kids love fruit snacks so Ethan picked out a good treat.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Let's Play

This afternoon we headed over to the indoor playground and basically had the place to ourselves. Here are some pictures of our time there.

Ethan on his "sea horse". His was named Rocky and mine was Lightning. We had several races.

Grandpa and Aubrey going down the fast slide.

Ethan doing a puppet show.
Aubrey talking on the phone.
Aubrey crawling through the triangle.
Grandma crawling through the triangle.


We attempted to get pizza before I had to go to church for our Bible study. We tried 3 places only to find out they were all closed on Monday. They were all New York style and someone in Bible study tonight said that was a New York thing to be closed on Monday. We ended up at Pizza Hut which turned our just fine.

Dress Up

I was reading my Family Fun magazine and they suggested buying Halloween costumes on sale for playing dress up. Ethan is really into pretending and role play so I thought he would love this. I was in luck today and both KMart and Target had their costumes already discounted. Ethan made out with 4 costumes. Here are some pictures of his role playing. He has worn each about 3 times today.
Ethan playing Doctor.
A better police outfit than his other one. The plastic suit was ripping. This one has a belt to hold his handcuffs, nightstick and walkie talkie. The walkie talkie really works. He keeps sticky notes in his chest pocket and writes tickets.
Sir Ethan the Knight. He is very brave.
Ethan the pirate. Lamberts - he is really ready to play pirates now!
Grandma made a treasure map for Ethan. She did a good job making a map of our house. She put a sticker where the treasure was hidden. She had a great time playing with the kids. I got spoiled too. I realized last night as I was changing Aubrey that I had not changed a dirty diaper the whole time. What a blessing!
Here is Ethan finding his treasure. As you can tell we were very busy this week with Grandma and Grandpa visiting.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Visit to St. Augustine

When Derek got home from rehearsal this afternoon, we took a trip to St. Augustine. We had a very nice time. It was sprinkling a little, but at least it was not too hot. A few of the places close early, so we will have to go back another time for the tours. We ended the evening at a seafood restaurant called Salt Water Cowboys. Weird name, but excellent food. The atmosphere was neat as well. The ladies bathroom even had a leak in the ceiling. Thanks for the recommendation Denise! Here are some pictures of our time in St. Augustine.
Grandpa, Grandma and Ethan at the fort. The fort was closing so we will do the tour another time. We just walked around it today.

Derek, Ethan and Aubrey sitting on a cannon. Ethan thought they were really cool.

This is where they heated up the cannon balls.


This is the oldest wood school house in the U.S. (if you couldn't read the sign:))

This is my favorite picture. Derek had Ethan pose at the Outhouse. It was hilarious in person.We learned that the Dunce hat was not really for the bad students, but the slow learners. This is what they did with the bad students. They would put them in a tiny little room all by themselves. Ethan had to make sure that it was not a real boy. We assured him that he was pretend.

Aubrey said her first sentence today! She said, "I want to walk." I love that she can communicate more now. It is so nice for her to be able to express what she wants instead of Ah, Ah all the time.

Grandpa's Birthday

We celebrated Grandpa's birthday (a little late) when he arrived on Friday night. I made him a cake, but we did not have any candles. Ethan thought to use toothpicks and pretend they were candles, so that is what we did. Here is a picture of him putting the "candles" on the cake.





We continued our tradition of giving Grandpa a shirt with a picture of him and the kids. We started this when Ethan was a baby. Grandpa is getting quite a collection now, but he still wears all of them. I think he would be disappointed if he did not get a shirt for his birthday.