A Thanksgiving to remember

For the second year in a row, Bryan's parents came out to celebrate Thanksgiving. Being that we are so far away from family, it was so special to have them here. Brett is a fantastic cook and made an unbelievable feast. Ethan was glued to the kitchen and wanted to watch all the preparations. In addition to Grandma and Poppa being here, we also had our good friends and neighbors, the Dunning and Corris families share in the holiday fun. Ethan was so happy to have his friends Mason and Rowan to play with and the boys were FULL of energy. Eli had his eyes set on Sarah who is a few months older than he and it was adorable to watch the two babies together.

It was a Thanksgiving to remember and such a nice evening where I was reminded of how wonderful my family and friends are and that I have so much to be thankful for.

A visit from Grandma and Poppa

This past week we were lucky enough to have a visit from Bryan's parents, Grandma and Poppa Brett. Ethan was so excited and we had been counting down the days for weeks. It was also a special because it was also the first time that they had met Eli, who quickly won over their hearts. We had a busy week and took Ethan to Knott's Berry Farm which Ethan absolutely loved. At first he was really tentative and just wanted to take everything in, but after a little while we could barely keep up with him running around the amusement park!

We had a wonderful time with Grandma and Poppa Brett and the week flew by. Ethan was so sad to see them go as were we as it was nice to have two extra set of hands to help out!

Ethan and Eli

My good friend Cristy took some fantastic pictures of my precious boys the other week and I had to share. She is really talented and got some great shots of them, which is no easy feat when Ethan could barely sit still and Eli was not sure whether or smile or cry!

These two pictures clearly show how much the boys look alike, it is crazy!

Thanks Cristy for spending the morning with us and taking the time to shoot my boys, I will treasure these pictures.

In other Phillips news, Eli had has 2 month appointment last week and he weighed 12 lbs 6 z and was 24 inches long. He gained over 5 lbs and grew 4 inches in a little over 2 months. Believe it or not, he is still smaller than Ethan was at that age, guess my boys like to eat! He continues to be a happy, easy going baby. He starting to sleep longer stretches at night and will go about 6 or 7 hours before eating, which is fabulous after what felt like an eternity of frequent overnight feedings. He is becoming much more alert and interactive, always smiling and trying to talk to us. He is very outgoing and reminds me so much of Ethan as a baby. He looks so much like Ethan that even his doctor, who never saw Ethan as an infant, commented on how much he looked like his older brother, except he has blond hair and blue eyes.

Ethan is doing great, always keeping us on our toes and challenging us as any three year old loves to do. My favorite thing he does lately is out of the blue, he'll turn to me and say "Mommy, I love you sooooo much". It is one of those melt your heart moments and washes away all those other moments when I am ready to pull my hair out. Ethan and Eli sure keep us busy but sometimes I have to pinch myself that I truly have two happy and healthy boys and am so thankful for that.

4th Picture in 4th Album

I was blogger tagged by my friend Rebecca to post the 4th picture in my 4th album. I only started taking a gazillion pictures once Ethan was born so there was no doubt that it would be an Ethan picture and going back through my first few albums was a trip down memory lane. Here is the picture I came up with, Ethan, at about 5 1/2 months, in his beloved jumperoo.

He absolutely loved that thing and would squeal and jump for hours, never getting tired. We should have known then what we were in for as to this day he is a crazy man who appears to have endless energy.
Okay, Ruth, Breck, Nicole...I'm tagging you!

Halloween

This year Halloween was a blast and like other recent events, Ethan's greater understanding of the holiday made it so much more exciting for him and for us. This year, Ethan dressed up as none other than his current favorite star, Curious George. The morning started off with a fun parade at his pre-school. Ethan was a little shell-shocked when he walked out of the classroom into the back playground to see a crowd of about 100+ eager parents watching. He started to panic at first calling for me, but once he spotted me in the crowd he seemed a bit more at ease and followed the class.

After school we came home to get ready for the big event. Ethan couldn't wait to get into his costume and thankfully the heat subsided a bit or else he would have roasted in his costume.

Eli also got into the action dressing up as a baby, I know it was a stretch but he was a dead ringer! He came along trick-or-treating in the bjorn and slept through the whole thing. It won't be long before he will be tagging along with the big kids running from house to house. The adults could barely keep up with the kids they were so excited.

Curious George meets Scooby Doo

The Red Rail boys minus Nolan and Rowan who joined up with the crew a little later

When we got home Ethan was so eager to examine his candy and ohhed and ahhed over each piece, even though he had no idea what kind of candy it was. All he cared about was that he got candy and to him life was good. Poor Eli looks so sad in this picture, almost as if he knows what he is missing out on.