King of the Jungle

Ethan is officially in love with the concept of Halloween. Last year he was too young to really get it but oh boy does he understand it now. I took him to the mall in the afternoon to Trick or Treat at the stores and at first he was intimidated but soon got the hang of it and would walk into each store saying "more candy please". I had to keep reminding him to say "Trick or Treat" first. His costume was a riot but the lion's mane made it a bit top heavy and kept falling in his face. This evening we met up with some of our neighbors and the boys headed out to tackle the neighborhood. It was a riot watching these little munchkins all jockeying for position around the door and flocking to the candy bowl when someone would answer the door. After each house Ethan would come up to me and say "more candy Momma", ahh these kids learn quick. Now I can only imagine how much Ethan is going to beg to eat all of his candy, this should be interesting. Here are some more pictures from the festivities of the day.

Mr. Bo Phillips and Red Sox Nation

We have a new member of the Phillips family, Bo, as in Boston) the fish. This past weekend, Bryan took Ethan on a "secret mission" and returned home with a fish. Ethan picked out the fish and tank. He loves it and says good morning and good night to Bo everyday. It's his little buddy and the only pet he can have given Bryan's allergies.

On another note, we are celebrating the Red Sox World Series victory last night and are disappointed that we can't be in Boston to truly enjoy it but it is still sweet.

The weather is slightly improving but the air quality is still poor and supposedly the air is not clear until 7 days after the fire stops burning. Unfortunately, the Santiago Canyon fire, the one closest to us, is still burning so it may continue to be some time until we are able play for long periods of time. We have been doing a lot of indoor activities to keep Ethan and his friends busy, even carving pumpkins on the kitchen floor. Ethan wasn't too into the pumpkin carving and wanted nothing to do with scraping out the inside, can't say I blame him, I don't like it either!

Wildfire Update

The wildfires here in Southern California are unbelievable. Thank you to all our friends and family who have called or emailed to make sure we are okay. Fortunately we have not been in any immediate danger. The closest fire to us is about 15-20 miles away and as of the latest report it appears to be heading away from structures and moving towards the mountains. From our house we can see lots of smoke but not any flames. There is ash on our cars and the air is very thick from the smoke which means we can't be outside much as the air quality is so poor. Ethan's school closed early on Tuesday and was closed again yesterday as they could see flames on the hillside in the distance. Bryan's office is about a few blocks away from Ethan's school and he and his colleagues have gone up on the roof of their building to watch the flames. Apparently this is the closest any major fires have come to this area in a long time and some of the worst the state has seen. This is all new to us as we are used to just a good old snowstorm! Anyways, we're fine, a bit stir crazy from having to stay inside, but lately that is okay since we have our Boston Red Sox to watch and by the way they're playing things are looking good.

Pumpkin Picking California Style

So we made our yearly trip to the pumpkin patch this past weekend, though what a different experience than what we are used to. Somehow pumpkin picking on a warm, sunny 80 degree day felt a bit odd, but fun nonetheless. Ethan loved running around the pumpkin patch looking for the perfect pumpkin. We have yet to carve/decorate them and plan to do that with some neighbors this weekend at a pre-Halloween bash.
Ethan also had his 2 year physical appointment today and here are the latest stats:
Height: 35" (74%)
Weight: 31.5 lbs (77%)
Head: 19.5" (75%)
Although, he has dropped down quite a bit from his days of 95th percentile in weight and height he continues to be growing on the same slope. All in all, he is a healthy, active and happy toddler, not to mention he didn't even cry when he got his flu shot and after it was over said to himself "Yay, good job Ethan!" What a character.

From then to now..

Today is Ethan's official birthday and as all parents do, Bryan and I have been reminiscing about the past two years and how much Ethan has grown. Two years ago at this very moment I was still in labor with my gigantic baby. Who knew that I would be delivering a 9 lb 3 oz baby boy and how much our lives would change in an instant. Well, I won't bore everyone with all the mommy moments of the past 2 years but wanted to share some past and present pictures, time sure flies.

October 2005

October 2006

October 2007

Ethan turns 2!!

Yesterday was the big day, the day Ethan has been looking forward to for months. The day he gets to eat cake and have people sing Happy Birthday to him! We woke up Saturday morning to find it raining. Poor Ethan started to cry when he looked out the window. (It has literally rained 3 times since we moved here in April, so of all days right?) We assured a crying Ethan that we would still have his party but since the grass was still really wet, we decided to move it indoors.. kind of. We set up the table and chairs inside our garage and opened it up to the alleyway. I know, pretty tacky but it ended up working out fine since most of the kids who came lived on the alleyway so all the kids could just run around and play in the alley. It was a pretty crazy day. There were about 12 kids ranging in age from 4 months to 4 years old.

We had a fun activity where the kids each got to make their own stuffed animal and create a shirt to put on it. Very Build-a-bearish and quite the hit.
Ethan was very aware that it was his birthday and when a friend would arrive with a present, he would run right over to grab it. It amazes me how fast these kids pick up on these things! Ethan loved all of his presents and woke up at 5:30a this morning begging me to take him downstairs to play. Since today is Bryan's birthday, he was allowed to sleep in (which means to 8a). I had to draw the line this afternoon when Ethan wanted to take his tractor, his garbage truck and toy barbecue in bed with him for his nap. He is in absolute heaven with his new loot though I am not sure if he understands that his birthday only comes once a year.

I, on the other hand, am okay with that. Planning these parties is a lot of work, not to mention trying to secretly buy a present and cake for Bryan. It was all worth it and seeing the smiles on the faces of the two men in my life was priceless!

Visitors from Beantown

Last month we were lucky enough to have a bunch of visitors. Meme and Poppa came first and it was so nice to see them, it had been a while. Ethan was a bit shy at first but it did not take him long to get comfortable and show his personality. It wasn't long before he was begging to help Meme cook Matzo Ball soup and for Poppa to play catch with him. We did a lot of fun things but most of all we enjoyed just hanging around, playing and being silly.

After saying a sad goodbye to Meme and Poppa we quickly got ready for our next round of visitors, Uncle Ben, Aunt Karen and cousin Oliver. Ethan and Oliver had a blast and hadn't seen each other since April. They ran around the house chasing each other and were inseparable. We were on the move with them, going to the Long Beach Aquarium, the water park, walking along the cliffs in Laguna Beach and just playing. It was so much fun and we sure miss them. Next time we see Oliver he is going to be a big brother:) Here is a clip of Ethan and Oliver playing around the house, please ignore the talking in the background, wasn't planning on posting this on the web.

We had such a great time with all of our visitors and miss them already. We are looking forward to our next visit in November when Grandma and Papa come out for Thanksgiving. For now, we are gearing up for Ethan's 2nd birthday party this weekend. Stay tuned...

Cyberspace here we come...

I've decided to take the plunge and enter the world of cyberspace and create a blog. At first I was very hesitant but after reading some of my friends' blogs, I got hooked. It is such a great way to share our lives with our family and friends who are so far away and also fun to keep a scrapbook of our little man. I am still very new to the whole blogging world so it may take some time for me to get the hang of it but I will soon post some recent pictures of what we have been up to.
While you are waiting here is a video clip of Ethan that is hysterical, quite the character!