Tampa

About a week and a half ago we received word that my Grandmommy in Florida passed away. She had a stroke 6 years ago and has not been doing well since then, especially in the past month. So it was not unexpected, but sad nonetheless. I know she was ready to go.
So, we made a quick trip down to Tampa for the funeral. Rachel and Keira were able to head down with Lonnie, Ethan and I. I was a little nervous about how Ethan would handle his first flying experience, but he did a wonderful job!
It was really good to see a lot of cousins, aunts, and uncles that I haven't seen in a VERY long time.

At Granddaddy's house:

The kiddos waited patiently while we finished getting ready for the visitation:

Keira and cousin Lydia:

Our attempt at a cousins picture:

The Willis Crew!

Granddaddy and some of his great grandkids:

Ethan chillin' with Uncle Vic:

Granddaddy was so nice to share his water with Ethan:

Yeah, see what happened to the water?

At the Tampa Airport at 5am. Thank goodness for a convenient play area right next to our gate!

Okay, completely unrelated...

We got back from Florida on Thursday. Our 5th anniversary was on Friday, and we already had our whole weekend planned. So, we went on with the plans! Rachel and fam kept Ethan all weekend so we could enjoy some child-free, stress-free time. It was AWESOME!!!! We stayed at Embassy on Friday night, went to Ruth's Chris for dinner, went to see The Proposal, got Cici's cinnamon rolls for dessert (the BEST in the whole wide world), got massages in the morning, and spent the rest of the weekend just shopping, running errands, and believe it or not, cleaning up and organizing around the house. Although we had an amazing time, we were both very excited to see Ethan at church on Sunday morning! We missed him!

I wanted a nice picture of us at dinner, but never got around to asking someone to take our picture, so we did it ourselves! Ummmm, after about 20 pictures, I decided I just look hideous with braces and there was no hope for a good picture.

This is how we felt after taking so many pictures of ourselves. Started getting a little crazy!

One of our buys while we were out shopping was a kid-sized chair for Ethan. Love it!

So, that sums up where we've been lately and why I've not been blogging. I hope to get back into routine soon! (at least for 2 weeks, then it's off to Florida again, for vacation this time)

16 months

I realize I'm waaaaay late for this, but it's been a busy week or two, so I'm trying to play catch-up now.



Ethan has REALLY blossomed this past month. Especially his speaking skills and his personality. I just can't believe all that he's learned in such a short amount of time!

Ethan at 16 months:

• New words this month: baa (for a sheep), meow, quack, roar!, water, up (pronounced either uppy, or buppy, with a high pitched squeal at the end), baby, Papa (his attempt at Grandpa), poopy, banana ("nana")
• New signs: again, bird


• He is SOOOO into music. Favorite songs right now: Wheels on the Bus, If You're Happy and You Know It. He dances at the sound of almost any music.


• He's become Mr. Personality. He will finally smile and wave at people he doesn't know - a HUGE step for him! He used to shy away from any unfamiliar person (either by nuzzling up close to me or hiding behind my legs). He's starting to participate more in group activities at Gymboree.


• Still LOVES to read! Book after book after book after book after book...


• Running!


• Soooo ticklish!


• Still LOVES to be outside!


• Climbing! He's mastered climbing on top of our bed (which is really tall), the dining room chairs (which are tall, again), and well, pretty much everything else. I guess the only thing left is climbing out of his crib - don't even want to think about that!


• Ethan's dislikes: potatoes of ANY form, eggs of ANY form, ants/bugs, changing his diaper (plays the crawling away game), sleeping past 6am

Well, I guess that's all I can think of. Love that sweet boy!

BUPPY!

One of Ethan's new words lately is 'up.' For some reason, this is what comes out...

Sometimes it's 'buppy,' other times it's 'uppy.' Either way, it makes us laugh every time!!!!

Our Mini-vacation

Okay, get comfortable - this one's looooooooong!

My friend Tiffany from college got married last weekend in Illinois, so we decided to turn it into a little mini-vacation! We went there for the wedding, to the St. Louis zoo, and then took a short drive to Southern Indiana to see my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

It was a bit of a long drive, so we took several stetching breaks along the way. Here we are at the World's Biggest Rocking Chair. Seriously. We saw the sign and just couldn't pass it up!

Our after dinner stretch: (LOVE watching my boys play!)

Saturday morning we went to the St. Louis zoo. Lots of fun!

My favorite "Daddy and Me" picture:

My favorite "Mommy and Me" picture:

Guinea pigs:

Looking at Tree Kangaroos:

For some reason, Lonnie found this extremely funny and HAD to get his picture taken by it:

Finally... the wedding! Tiffany, you were a STUNNING bride! So glad we could share in your special day!

This is pretty much what Ethan did during the reception. He wandered around the open field, watched the other kids play (participated a little bit), and threw his bear around. He just loves to be outside; it doesn't matter what he's doing!

After the wedding we drove 3 hours to see my grandparents in Southern Indiana. It was WAAAAY worth the trip! I am so glad we took the time to head their way; we don't get to see them very often. We certainly couldn't pass up the chance to see them since we were so close by! Grandma and Grandpa, thanks for a great visit; we wish we could see you more often!


At Olive Garden for dinner after church: (eating lemons - yum!)

When we got back from dinner, we had this to deal with:

Awesome. Unfortunately, the TLE at Walmart was already closed for the night, so Lonnie put on the spare tire for us to drive on until we could get to a Walmart in the morning. (I love having a handy husband, by the way!!!!)

We all kept Lonnie company outside while he changed the tire.

Ethan seems to take a while to warm up to people, which was true with my grandparents. But once he warms up, look out! By Sunday night Ethan was very comfortable with his GreatMa and GreatPa, and he was hamming it up! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these next few pictures:

A couple funny stories from the trip:

(IF YOU DON'T LIKE POTTY STORIES, STOP READING!!!!)

• While we were at the hotel in Mt. Vernon, we had just finished getting Ethan undressed and were getting ready for bed. We were letting him "air out" a little before putting on his PJ's. He wandered into the bathroom and we shortly after hear a loud thud and crying (never a good sign). I walk in there and see that Ethan had fallen and hit his head on the floor - no big deal, he was fine. After further inspection, I see a "puddle" on the floor. He had peed on the floor, slipped on it, and fell! Am I a bad mom that I think this is hysterical?
• On one of our stops for gas and bathroom, Ethan decided it was a good time for his "potty" break, too. Once I was sure that he was done filling his pants, I took him to the front seat to change his diaper. Not ideal, but it was a small, dirty gas station, and I figured the van was definitely better than going inside. So we were a little cramped, but I proceeded to change his diaper anyways. Once I undid his diaper and started to wipe his cutie patootie, the uh, poo came unstowed, so to speak, and basically rolled out of the diaper, hit the van floor, hit my foot, and rolled to a stop on the ground. Lonnie and I could NOT stop laughing. The kind of laugh where your face hurts. Oh, poor Ethan - such immature parents. I couldn't help but start singing the "On top of spaghetti" song, and change the words to fit our poo situation. Ahhhhhh...we all need a good laugh on a long trip like that. Good stuff. (At our defense, it was getting late and we were getting a little loopy.)

We had a WONDERFUL time on our mini-vacation. Got us all excited for our BIG vacation next month - Destin! Can't wait!