Summer Rewind!

Our summer seems to have flown by this year.  Ethan's able to do so much more everyday, and it's a lot of fun for Chris and I.  It's also keeping us very busy!  He has now mastered climbing on the table, kitchen counters, into the kitchen sink, and two days ago I found him inside the dryer!  (See pictures below.)  

Ethan has a blast popping bubbles with his buddy Dylan.  He absolutely loves to be outside, and requests "ou-side? ou-side?" several times a day. 

 

We loved going to parks with friends to feed ducks and turtles, and of course to climb on EVERYTHING!

Ethan still loves the beach.  We went with a small group of friends and he had a great day. 

Story time at the library.  What do I say about that?  Well, we're doing better...it's been about 4 weeks since we've last been kicked out for not sitting quiet enough.  So, we're making progress! 

Ethan loved taking Chris to the park and showing his daddy how he can blow bubbles all by himself!  

The highlight of our summer was going home to see my brother, Tristin come home from his mission in Puerto Rico.  He had never met Ethan before, so it was exciting for all.  Ethan and Tristin immediately bonded, and it was less than one day before Ethan followed him around the house calling "T! T!"

And here's our little monkey, very proud of himself for climbing in the dryer!  

Happy Halloween!

Picking out a Halloween costume this year has been quite an adventure!  We started out borrowing this absolutely adorable skunk costume from a friend here in Jacksonville.  Unfortunately, the costume didn't quite fit (at 18 months, my son wears 3-T clothes!).  So I put Chris in charge of finding the perfect costume and we began a nearly endless search for a costume that Chris liked.  

After searching at 3 different party stores, 2 halloween stores, Target, Old Navy, The Children's Place... (you get the idea), Chris found "the one."  Meet Captain Ethan, the Mighty Toddler Pirate King.   

As you can imagine, Ethan loves to yell "BOOM!  BOOM!" as he uses his sword to hit everything in sight.  Fortunately for Inca and my furniture, the sword is made of foam!

He and Chris had a lot of fun picking out the perfect pumpkin to make a Jack-o-Lantern too!  I think Ethan checked out nearly every pumpkin on the field and gave several the sword test to see how durable they were. Finally, he found one that met his expectations and strict standards.  
We went to a Trunk-or-Treat activity for our church this past weekend also.  Ethan had a lot of fun getting candy.  When Chris would prompt him to say "trick-or-treat", Ethan decided he'd rather get right down to business, and just ask "Treat?"  When the candy was put into his Thomas bucket, he'd immediately dig in it crying for "candy, candy, CANDY!"  I found it amazing, since he's never really had candy.  In fact, I don't think Chris or I had ever even said "candy" to him before the Halloween activities this week.  Amazing how quickly he can learn about candy, but how he still doesn't understand that "don't climb into the kitchen sink" means he should keep his feet on the floor! 

So, I know it's been about 2 months since the last post, and it's honestly because I think we've just been keeping so busy with play dates, library story times, and going home to visit my family and see my brother come home from his mission!  I did take lots of great pictures though, and I'll post them all soon!  

Five Fabulous Years!

This past weekend was our 5 year anniversary!  It's hard to believe that five years has gone by so quickly!  Since Chris was down in Miami with the Coast Guard, Ethan and I packed up in the car and headed down to see him!  We went out to the Everglades, since Chris had never seen them and has a fascination with alligators.  

We spent a lot of our time at the Everglades Holiday Park, and driving around the 50+ miles of roads going through the Everglades and Indian reservations. 

While I was all prepared to see alligators, wild hogs, snakes, and deer, I didn't expect to see peacocks, but we saw quite a few at the park!  

I am definitely very lucky to have such a great husband who loves Ethan and I so much!  

Batting Down the Hatches...didn't I do this a few years ago?

I don't know if it's just my luck or what, but right before we moved away from Jacksonville (3 1/2 years ago), we got hit by four hurricanes.  Actually, Chris was safe in Mississippi while I was stuck here alone for all four.  Now, after coming back to Jacksonville only 4 months ago, I am experiencing deja vu.  Chris is down in Miami, where Tropical Storm Fay barely brushed him with a few gusts of wind and about 3.8 inches of rain.  Ethan, Inca, and I are up here in Jacksonville, where the meteorologists predict Fay will hit as a category 1 hurricane on Thursday.  Now I am trying really, REALLY hard to remember why we thought it would be a good idea to move back here.  Did the previous four hurricanes not teach me that when Chris leaves, the hurricanes come?  

Chris has called several times to make sure we are okay.  Despite his insistence that I get plenty of sleep tonight to be able to handle everything the next two days, I find myself up at 12:30am completely glued to the weather channels to track the movement of the storm.  It's not that I'm worried, it's just this darn storm has changed course so often since this past Sunday that I'm curious to see where it will go next.  A category 1 usually just means a lot of rain and winds strong enough to knock down tree branches or power lines.  It's more of an annoyance than anything dangerous, especially if the power goes out.  

Fortunately, we are as prepared as I feel we can get with plenty of canned food, water, dog food, flashlights, candles, batteries, and a healthy supply of movies and books to outlast the bad weather.  We are also fortunate enough to have wonderful friends among the Coast Guard wives and in our church who have called or stopped by to make sure we will be okay or invite us to stay further inland with them.  (We are only 10-15 minutes from the beaches, but not in the evacuation areas for anything smaller than a category 4 hurricane.)  

Hopefully, I'll wake up in the morning and the storm will have changed direction or died down....we'll see!! 

Back to Reality

Okay, as many of you know I have become addicted to the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer.  It all started about 8 months ago, thanks to a great friend (thanks, Joy!).  I was very excited to get the newest, and apparently last, book in the series that came out last Saturday.  I dove right into reading it and finished it early Sunday morning (thanks to my wonderful husband who put up with my nightlight in bed all night).  Without ruining it for those who haven't finished it yet, I won't say much.  But it wasn't quite what I was picturing, and felt ambivalent.  So, as with all of the Stephenie Meyer books I've read so far, I decided that I needed to reread it.   I just finished my second go-around.  I am pleased to say I now love the book, and am only sad I don't have a fifth book to wait for.  But.....there's always the movie coming out!!!  I wonder how many times I'll have to see that!  (Poor Chris....he's already sure I'll have to drag him to see it at least once.  He still doesn't get why I am in love with a series about vampires and werewolves....Oh dear...how do I explain?!)  

    

Playing Tourist

My mom and brother came to visit for two weeks and we had a blast. We took off to Orlando, St. Augustine, and explored around Jacksonville. Mom also watched Ethan so that Vincent and I could go to a movie and then again when Chris, Vincent, and I went to see the new Batman movie. Thanks, Mom!

Meeting an astronaut at NASA

Petting the sting rays at Sea World.

We found this really neat kids park at St. Augustine in between seeing the San Marco fort and the St. Augustine lighthouse. This park was built as a memorial to a little girl who passed away. It was perfect for kiddos Ethan's age...he played there for about an hour going on the carousel, going down slides, and chasing his uncle everywhere.

We went to the Museum of Science and History here in Jacksonville. It was a lot of fun too. While Ethan didn't understand all of the exhibits, he loved being able to touch and explore everything.

Pudding Paint!

Every time I sit down to work on a craft activity for me, Ethan is trying to climb in my lap and help.  So, I decided that we should figure out a way for him to do his own craft!  I knew finger paint would go straight in his mouth, so we improvised!  Pudding Paint! We made vanilla pudding, divided it into a couple bowls, then added food coloring  to each bowl for a different color "paint."  

He had a blast painting until.....

he discovered how great it tasted!  

Then more ended up in and around the mouth than on the paper!  

 

My little Picasso!

Happy Birthday Chris!!

Chris turned 31 this past Sunday!  

I think Ethan may have enjoyed the birthday cake most of all!

We celebrated by going out to Clark's Fish Camp Saturday night.  It is a very interesting place...and lots of fun.  When you enter the restaurant, stuffed dead animals surround you.  Literally!  They had lions, giraffs, zebras, a bear, otter, baboon, elk, deer, birds, alligators, and so many more I can't remember.   During dinner you can eat outside on the dock where alligators and turtles swim under you waiting for scraps.  (Can you believe I waited over an hour to eat here?!?! ) 

Featured on the menu are mouth-watering entrees such as kangaroo, alligator, ostrich, antelope, rattlesnake, frog legs, and turtle.   Chris decided to try fried alligator tail for an appetizer.  He seemed to like it.  I lost my chance at the mother of the year award though-- I let poor Ethan eat it before I would!  He absolutely couldn't get enough, so after I ate my required "I tried it" bite, I let him have as much as he wanted. Then I ordered a safe shrimp dish for my dinner.  

Happy 31st Birthday, dear! We love you! 

Fishing...Sort of.....

Ethan got a fishing pole and life vest from my friend Jenna for his first birthday (Thanks, Jenna!!), and Chris couldn't wait to take his son on their first fishing outing. I knew Ethan would likely be more interested in either getting in the water or playing with the worm than he would be waiting for a fish, but I decided to tag along to get some pics.    

"I got it!  Let me hold it first!" 

Luckily, Daddy caught a fish quickly and Ethan couldn't wait to get his hands on it! 

 

"Um, Dad, my hands are all gooey now.  You'd better get that thing off my fishing pole." 

He soon decided that fish were a little too slimy and icky, and let Daddy handle that part.  

 "Here's the fish!"  

It was so big it's good that Daddy was there to reel it in...a whopping 3.5 inches!

"Dad, I can do it!  It's my pole anyway!"

I'm not sure who was supposed to be fishing, Ethan or Chris.   

 Ethan and Chris were frequently fighting over the Go!Diego!Go! fishing pole. I guess the boring black one we brought was not nearly as cool.  By the time we left the pond, I felt like I had twin 1 year olds and decided a cartoon fishing pole would be perfect for Chris for Father's Day! 

 Ethan eventually got bored watching Chris fish with the Diego pole, and so he and I went off and found this beautiful blue heron hanging around the edge of the pond. 

All in all it was a great time.  Ethan and Chris caught three fish, had lots of laughs and giggles, and definitely had the daddy-son bonding time that they both needed.  I enjoyed relaxing by the pond, thanks to the security of Ethan's life vest (thanks again, Jenna!!!).  We can't wait to do it again!  

The Yummiest Chocolate Cookies EVER!

Okay, so if you're like me, you can never find "the" chocolate chip cookie recipe and end up with numerous little puddles or bricks when the timer dings.  Worry no more! This "Neiman Marcus" recipe is the answer.  I've since thrown away all my brick and puddle recipes masquerading as chocolate chip cookie recipes. 

I know, you're thinking you've heard that promise before, at least that's what I thought when my mom called with this recipe and promise.  Well, I suspended my skepticism long enough to try them, and they were amazing!  Thanks mom!!!

Here's the email she forwarded to me: (intro and all)

An urban myth is a modern folk tale, its origins unknown, its believability enhanced simply by the frequency with which it is repeated.  Our signature chocolate chip cookie is the subject of one such myth.  If you haven't heard the story, we won't perpetuate it here.  If you have, the recipe below should serve to refute it.  Copy it, print it out, pass it along to friends and family.  It's a terrific recipe.  And it's absolutely free. 

Ingredients:

# 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

# 1 cup light brown suger

# 3 tablespoons granulated sugar

# 1 large egg

# 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

# 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour

# 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

# 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

# 1/2 teaspoon salt

# 1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder

# 1 1-2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds).

2. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds.  Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.

4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 Tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased c

ookie sheet about 3 inches apart.  Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle.  

Bake about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges.  Bake a little longer for a crisper cookie. 

Yield: 2 dozen cookies.

Okay, so now you have it!  We obviously left the espresso out, and they were perfect!  Those of you who can cook (yes, you Courtney, Debbie, Kirsten, and probably many others too!), are no doubt thinking that it is silly to get excited about a chocolate chip cookie recipe.  What can I say to explain the huge rush of victory I experienced after years of puddle and brick results?  (Ahh, the little victories of a housewife!)  

If you're still not convinced, I gave a cookie to an expert taste tester, and the pictures below speak for themselves as to his impressions!

Yeah!  Mom can make real cookies now!

Wow, these are good.  Do you have some more?  

Hey, they're all gone.... and I'm pretty sure you ate more than I did!