Halloween on Red Rail

So, I know, I am way behind posting these pictures almost 2 weeks after Halloween but better late than never. This year since Halloween fell on a Saturday our alley decided to have a little party prior to Trick or Treating. It was so cute seeing all the kids in their costumes and running around so excited about getting candy. I mean, really, what is better than walking up to a house, saying Trick or Treat and then getting a piece of delicious candy? To the 4 year old that lives in my house, NOTHING!! Every year the holidays are more and more fun as Ethan grasps the concepts.

Here is some of the Red Rail gang attempting to pose for a group shot, not bad compared to prior attempts previous years....
No Halloween party would be complete without games and of course that involved bobbing for apples and eating donuts off a string. Here is Eli "supervising" Cameron while she bobs for apples.

As if getting free candy wasn't good enough, Ethan was thrilled to get a chance to eat a donut, however it was not as easy at it looked!

My two superheros, keeping the streets of Ladera Ranch safe!! Ethan loved the fact that he and Eli were both superheros. The older Eli gets, the more fun the two of them have together, constantly playing chase around the house, tickling and giggling. They interact on a much more "brotherly" level and Ethan was adamant that Eli dress like him for Halloween. When I get Eli in the morning he is immediately looking for Ethan and the same with Ethan, the minute he comes into our room in the morning he looks for Eli. No doubt these two are going to be best buds and will be a force to be reckoned with, can't wait for their teenage years....

Ethan turns four!

This past weekend we celebrated Ethan's 4th birthday, hard to believe that four years have gone by since my 9 lbs 3 oz linebacker entered the world and changed Bryan and my life instantly. It was truly love at first sight and he brings so much to our life. To celebrate his special day we had a firetruck come to his party and give the kids rides around the neighborhood. Ethan woke up so excited and could hardly contain himself.

(This picture of our of order but I couldn't get it to move)
After the kids rode the truck, they all got a chance to squirt the hose and try to knock the plastic fire hat off a cone. They loved it!

As the firetruck came around the corner, sirens blaring, horn honking the look on Ethan's face melted my heart, as he was completely and utterly in heaven. As being the birthday boy, he got to sit in the driver's seat, honk the horn and turn on the siren...a 4 yr old's dream come true!

All in all it was a great day, Ethan had a blast and our special boy is growing so fast. I truly can't imagine our lives without him. He has probably taught us more in four years than we have taught him. We are so proud of the boy he has become, so thoughtful, sweet, curious, entertaining, loyal, sociable, smart. He is so passionate about his interests which continue to revolve around anything related to sports. He has at times challenged us and tested our patience but most of all he has shown us the meaning of family and shown us how amazing it is to be parents and we couldn't imagine having a more amazing son and we are so excited to watch him in the years to come.

We love you our sweet Ethan, hope all your wishes come true!

Many Firsts

It has been quite a while since the last post and we have done so much. We ended our summer with a three week trip back to the east coast to visit our families. It was an amazing vacation and jammed packed with so many fun adventures. Ethan made his fist trip to Fenway Park, the home of the Red Sox, had his first horseback riding lesson, caught his first fish, experienced living in the woods, caught a toad, saw cows being milked, swam in a lake (not the pools he is used to in CA) and did so much more. Eli on the other hand met so many new great-grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles for the first time. Both kids were fabulous travellers, adjusting very well to the time change and all the car rides we made. We had so much fun and can't wait to do it again next summer!

Unfortunately, I can't post any pictures since our laptop crashed the week after we returned home and all the pictures were on the hard drive. Luckily, I uploaded them to the Kodak website so I did not lose them.

Since our return to CA we have been busy with many new things. First off, our little baby boy, Eli turned one on September 5th. I can't believe an entire year has gone by and it still feels like we are newcomers to California and not that we have been here for 2 1/2 years! Ethan and I baked Eli a cake for our family celebration. I am not a seasoned cake baker so was a bit nervous about it, but it turned out fine and what cake isn't good with an entire tub of Betty Crocker frosting on it!

At first Eli was not sure what was on his tray and poked at the cake very cautiously.

However, it did not take him long to realize the yum factor and pretty soon was digging in!

The following weekend we had a birthday party for Eli at the waterpark. Thank goodness it is still sweltering in September and we had a great day.

Looking back at the past year, Eli has completed our family and we can't imagine life without him. He is such an easy going boy and adores his older brother. He is just about running around now and loves to chase after Ethan. He is very smart and if you show him something once he will do it again. He already knows the signs for "more, all done, eat and please". He says mama and dadda and understands commands when you ask him to do something. I think he is going to be a sports nut like his older brother. He gravitates to any type of ball, immediately tries to throw it and when he sees a basketball hoop will throw anything he can find in it! We love him to pieces and can't wait to see what the next year brings. After everything we have been through in trying to add to our family, Eli is everything we had hoped for and more! At his 1 yr well exam he weighed in at 21 lbs 3oz (25%) and is 30 1/2 inches (75%). He is the exact same height Ethan was at this age, just 4 lbs lighter!!

The next big event this month was Ethan's return to preschool. This year, upon his request he is going 5 days/week and staying until 3:30p. He loves going everyday and immediately runs to join his friends when I drop him off. He talks nonstop about the things he is learning and we have seen such a change in his maturity, manners, vocabulary and interests. He has done such a great job with the transition from 3 days/wk to 5 days, it almost as if he has always been going full time. As much as I know he enjoys it, it does make me a little sad knowing that he will from this point on, always go to school everyday and the little boy who gets to stay home with mommy is gone. This "letting go" thing is tough!!

Speaking of letting go, Eli too has started going to daycare as I have begun to build my private practice. He goes to a home daycare very close to the house and we love it. There are only about 4 kids total and they are all close to Eli's age. Even his best bud, Carson from across the street is there! He goes 4 days/week for a few hours each day. The first week was tough, he cried at drop off and pick up. However, after I would drop him off I would hide around the corner and he always calmed down within 30 seconds. The second week, he not only doesn't cry when I leave but reaches for his teacher when we get to the house. Such a relief knowing that he happy while I am out seeing clients. It also helps that he is now facing forward in the car and will just about drive anywhere so he can sit in his seat. Since we turned him forward, he hasn't stopped smiling, laughing and holding hands with Ethan!!

The heat makes us all a little crazy

California summer heat is in full swing and although we have been hitting the pool to beat the heat, there are some days that just getting the energy to go outside is too much. So, we have spent some lazy afternoons around the house which with two energetic boys leads to some crazy times. Toy bins on heads, crazy faces and even Eli exploring the dishwasher have made some interesting yet fun times.

In other news, Eli is officially on his way to walking. He took his first step two weeks ago and now he is walking short distances about 10-15 steps before he realizes he can still move faster crawling. It is amazing to me how much more confident and better he gets each day.

When the cat is away the mice will play

Lately Bryan has been doing quite a bit of travelling which will mostly likely continue in the upcoming months. While it is good that business is starting to pick up requiring Bryan to travel, it is hard for me to be alone with the boys for 5-6 days at a time as well on Bryan to be away so frequently. So, when Bryan is away on these trips I make it my mission to keep the boys as busy and entertained as possible. This past week has been jammed packed. We started off by going to the Long Beach Aquarium with our good friends Cristy, Nolan and Carson. We love the aquarium and had a great time.
Even Eli got a chance to get out of the stroller and get up and personal with the fish. Every time a fish would swim by he would squeal with excitement.

Then Ethan and I had a movie night which has become a fun routine when Bryan is out of town. In fact, whenever Bryan tells Ethan that he is going away, Ethan gets excited because he and I get to have a movie night. He eagerly waits downstairs while I put Eli to bed and then we pop some popcorn and snuggle on the couch. Our trip to the aquarium inspired our movie, "Finding Nemo" which Ethan loved. After the movie I let him sleep in bed with me, a real treat!

Today we went to the Orange County Great Park Anniversary fair, it was fun. There were lots of US Marines there showing off military helicopters, Humvees, cannons and cargo trucks. Ethan was very apprehensive at first and since we haven't really explained the whole concept of military and war, he didn't really get it but still found the helicopter neat.

Eli was not too impressed with anything and hung out in the stroller the best he could, considering it was 90+ degrees out. Poor kid.

After we toured the military exhibits we went over to the other area which was more child-friendly and had a great petting zoo. Ethan was excited to feed the animals and was in awe of the turtle that was there.

All in all it has been a long but fun week. We have all (me included) had our moments the past few days and we are ready for Daddy to come home, but it does force me to be more active and get out and do things that the kids enjoy. I think Bryan just has one more trip the end of July and then it is my turn to go on a trip, albeit with the kids, but we are finally heading back to MA for a long overdue visit. We are so excited and are counting down the days!

Summer has begun!

Summer is in full swing and we have enjoyed doing so much. We started off the month of June going away for the weekend to Lake Arrowhead with some friends. We had been to Big Bear but not to Lake Arrowhead and it was equally beautiful. We stayed in this amazing house which belonged to a friend of one of the people we went with. We enjoyed hanging out, boating and just being in the mountains. Ethan loved riding on the boat and Eli was so wound up he didn't want to go to bed and ended up staying up late to play poker with the grown ups!

The next thing was the end of the year Spring Sing at Ethan's school. It was absolutely adorable. Ethan did great however I think the highlight was seeing his face when he saw that Bryan had come to surprise him. He will continue at school through the summer, though it is more like camp with fun summer activities. He is also moving up to an older classroom and will be getting a new teacher, one that he will have for the next two years until he heads to kindergarten.

Ethan continues to be obsessed with baseball. Like last summer he asks all the time for us to go outside and pitch, play catch or let him throw a tennis ball off the roof and catch it. He has gotten so good hitting with a whiffle ball bat that we got him a youth metal bat. It is much heavier than a wiffle ball bat and took some getting used to, but after a few times out, he is slugging the ball better than ever. We do not allow him to hit with it near the house and he often begs us to take him to a nearby field to play. Not only does he hit the ball, but then he takes off around the bases and slides into home plate. He sits and watches the Red Sox every night before dinner and has started to mimic some of the head and body movements of the players. It is a riot.

Eli has begun walking with a walker and is getting quite fast. It took some practice but within a week or so he is motoring around outside. He can stand alone for a few seconds but is still not completely steady on his feet. He is on his way and although I do not think he will walk as early as Ethan ( 10 1/2 months) I think it won't be too far off. He had his 9 month check up and he weighed in at 18 lbs 14 oz and 28.2 inches. The doctor was very pleased with his weight gain (he has gone from the 7% to the 25%) and Eli will eat just about anything. He is pretty much completely on table food for two reasons: 1) I have grown tired of making tons of baby food and 2) he has started to refuse the purees and wanting more of the real food.

Ethan has also resumed swim lessons this summer. What a difference a year makes. Last year we had to bribe him to get in the water for lessons. Once he was in he was fine but it was getting him to get in the pool. This year, he runs to the edge of the pool waiting for his lesson and can't wait. He is doing great. He can float on his back all by himself for more than 20 seconds and is starting to swim short distances by himself.

Busy, busy, busy

The days are just going by so fast it is incredible. Here are some pictures of the boys from the past two weeks. Eli is a crawling machine, just like his older brother, he started crawling right at 8 months and hasn't slowed down. He is attracted to outlets, cords and just about anything that he shouldn't touch! He has started to pull up on anything that he can get his hands on, which often leads to slipping and therefore he already has a bunch of bumps and bruises on his face. Since Eli was a little baby, Ethan has loved to carry him around and if Eli didn't love it so much I would forbid it but I am not sure who is having more fun, Ethan or Eli!
A few weeks ago Bryan and I went to an 80s themed birthday party which was a blast and the following morning Ethan got a hold of the wig Bryan wore.

For Mother's Day, Ethan's preschool had a very sweet breakfast and sang some songs. It was so cute to see all the kids trying to hard to impress their mommies. Ethan did great and it was so special.

Eli continues to eat everything in sight despite being a peanut. He is such a calm and good natured baby, everything Ethan wasn't! He sleeps great, goes with the flow and just likes to watch the big kids.

It is really so sweet to see Ethan and Eli together. Even though Eli is still little, I can see in the way that the two boys interact that they really enjoy each other and just know that they are going to be really close throughout the years.