Rexburg Rindy News

WE'VE MOVED!!

2010-08-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

Virutally and in reality! We moved to Des Moines, Iowa so I figured we should move on here as well, RexburgRindys sounded funny for a family in Iowa with Alaska plates. Yes we get comments on it all the time. So here's our new blog, as I will no longer be updating this one:

IowaInspired.blogspot.com

be patient with the new blog, it will get cuter/more interesting as time goes on.

Thanks for moving with us!

The CRUISE!!

2010-07-06T01:10:00.000-07:00

I finally got pictures of our Alaskan Cruise posted! There were too many to put them individually on here, so check out our slide show in Picasa!

The Boss

2010-06-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

Chase has learned that whenever someone looks at him and asks a question, he nods his head and the result is usually good. Except when I ask him to change his diaper, then he runs away yelling, "No no no!"

This morning's example:

After repeatedly asking to watch KungFu Panda and me telling him no and him asking, "Why not?", I firmly reminded Ethan that I am the boss and I said no. "No, you're not the boss anymore!" he tells me. Alright, then who is the boss? "Chase." Ok, then ask Chase. "Chase, do you want to watch KungFu Panda?" Chase nods. "He said yes!!!"

I'm not sure I like this new skill...

The Last Month

2010-05-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

We've been pretty busy these last few weeks, and it's not going to slow down for a while! We are moving to Des Moines in July, we fly to Utah on the 23rd and stay there for a week before driving cross-country to Iowa. We also have to be out of the house we are renting by June 15th, so we'll be relying on the hospitality of Eric's parents for the month before we move (thanks guys!).

But here's whats been up this last month... WARNING- LOTS OF PICTURES:

Eric's little brother Matt graduated High School! We were excited we got to be here for it, congrats Matt!

Chase is cheesier than ever, everytime you hold up a camera he makes this face and says, "Cheeee!" I seriously could not get him to make a normal face.
He was on the run after stealing Ethan's toothbrush and backpack...he wants whatever his brother has.
More cheesy-ness.
Ethan singing "Following the Leader" and following Chase around the house.

Eric went on a fishing charter with his dad and brothers. He had a blast! I don't know if it was good or bad-- good because he's been dying to go and really enjoyed himself but bad because now this is what he really wants to do every weekend!! :)

I had some dental work done (I know I look terrible-- but I didn't feel terrible yet I was still numb :) but Eric thought this was hilarious because I seriously felt like I was smiling a big, normal smile. Nope! Luckily it was only on one side...

My little Hat Lover.

Just today...

2010-05-10T23:21:00.001-07:00

Just today, a normal day of the week, a lot of things have happened that I know I will want to remember. So excuse me for using my blog as a journal for a few minutes, but this is the only way I'll know where I wrote it down.

Just today, Chase is WALKING!! It's actually been a process over the last 2 weeks, but today he is walking and able to stop himself, turn, and continue walking in the opposite direction without falling. Yesterday was the first day he could stand up from the middle of the room and didn't have to pull himself up on furniture. Today he learned how to blow a kiss (slobbers on his hand then flings it in the air and says MA!) but he also learned to climb out of his crib. When he woke up from his nap Ethan walked in and Chase really wanted his sippy cup, and diving to get it he fell. After lots of snuggles and a sippy of his own he was back to his normal wild self. His new words are go, cheese, mouse (for Mickey Mouse), and he can sign "eat."

Just today Ethan started to pretend more than normal. All before bed he kept insisting that his name was Chase, and he showed me how well he could walk, and climbed up in Chase's crib and pretended to sleep. Not only that he wanted me to call Chase Ethan. Today Ethan found my high heels and walked around in them constantly, no matter how much noise they made in the kitchen or how many times Chase tried to take them from him. I'm sure Eric would have died if he saw it, but I thought he was pretty hilarious! Today Ethan and I started trying to memorize a scripture-- this kid has amazing memorizing skills when it comes to songs, so I figured why not apply it to something useful? We worked on Moses 1:39 and although I think it will take a while before he can say the whole thing by himself, he can fill in most of the words when I pause. I am going to try to work on a different scripture with him every week, and this will help me too!

Happy Birthday, Boys!!

2010-04-30T12:36:00.001-07:00

The boys had their birthdays this month, and boy did we celebrate! Chase turned 1 on the 17th and Ethan turned 3 on the 20th. I decided to let Ethan have a friends birthday/playdate in the afternoon, then we did a family birthday that night.

Most of my friends that have kids his age have girls, so he was a little outnumbered gender-wise. But he loved it. We had a Cars themed party, because Ethan is obsessed with Lightning McQueen. We played some games-- a bean bag toss (the kids mostly ran up to it to throw the bags in the holes) and a prize walk with music, and then we made candy cars out of gum packs and life savers, and decorated cupcakes. It was pretty fun, the kids seem to enjoy themselves! These were the only pictures I took of that morning, then my camera died.

That evening we had the family over for dinner and cake and ice cream. I made lasagna and Eric made the cake-- isn't it awesome??! I was so worried he wasn't going to have time to do it, he insisted on it being a 3D Lightening McQueen cake instead of a decorated sheet cake. We had baked the cakes the night before, but he didn't start decorating it until 2 pm and the party was at 6:30! But he did such an awesome job, Ethan loved it! Mom (Rindlisbacher) made a bear cake for Chase, and he kept growling at it. He loves bears. My dad took the pictures because I couldn't find my camera charger, so these are all from him.

(You can click on the collages to enlarge them)

The Cakes

The Guests and the Presents

These were some other pictures I got from my Dad's camera. I just downloaded Picasa and I love the collages you can make with it! I'm not very good at it yet, so I'm sure they'll improve as I practice more.
My babies are getting so big!! (At his 1 year appt Chase weighed in at 22.6 lbs, and Ethan weighs 27. Yea.) Chase is now in an upright, forward facing car seat and loves it. And he's starting to take some steps on his own, so it won't be long now until he'll be walking and unstoppable!

Breakthrough!

2010-04-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

Ethan went potty three times this morning! It wasn't fun and he sat and held it for a long while but between morning and nap time at 2 he went three times and no accidents in his pull-ups! We are making progress!
Small, but it's progress!!!

Morning Entertainment

2010-04-15T08:57:00.000-07:00

I love waking up and finding a moose outside, because I know it'll keep the boys entertained for a long while. I told Chase it was a moose so he kept pointing and saying "moo!" Ethan kept it up with "One, two, three, four, five foots, lots and lots of foots! Chase, do you see him?!" It's pretty fun to watch, this is one reason we are going to miss Alaska.

On the other hand, you may have noticed the extra 6 inches of snow we got dumped on over the last 2 days. Where did spring go? This is one reason I am NOT going to miss Alaska :). Not that Des Moines holds a much better promise, weather-wise.

Progress Report

2010-04-12T23:22:00.000-07:00

So this is Ethan's progress as of Sunday night.

(Nothing fancy, but functional.)

Don't be fooled, he gets a sticker every time he sits on the potty, not every time he goes in the potty. Then every time he has sat 3 times he gets to watch a 20 minute episode of Dora the Explorer. It is seriously the best motivation you could give this kid, he loves that show.
I'd say this weekend was successful in 2 ways: 1- he went #2 in the potty twice and 2- he doesn't run the other way every time we mention going to sit on the potty. He happily goes and sits down everytime now, because he knows he'll get a sticker, but he just doesn't know what to do once he's there. We sit for 10-15 minutes, read stories, and talk about going potty, but I just don't think he gets it because he never went. The two times he went #2 we noticed he was about to go and ran him in there.
Over the weekend I kept him in diapers, so his misses weren't really accidents, but today we went and got him some "big boy underpants" and Resolve. Now we're in it for real. We had 2 accidents this afternoon-- again, he doesn't tell us when he has to go, just after the fact when he's wet. Help! Anyone have any suggestions?

As a side note, Chase was a pretty good sport this weekend. He thinks he's pretty hot stuff when he gets to ride Ethan's bike, and every time I get out the camera now he gets this cheesy grin on his face. He has added a few words to his vocabulary: Buh bye while waving, scoot (scoo), car, and he can sign all done while saying "da da" in the same tone I say "all done." He'll be 1 year old on Saturday!!

Wish me luck

2010-04-09T10:22:00.001-07:00

We started potty training today. I just woke up this morning and decided to do it. No more putting it off, no more excuses, we're doing it. Ethan helped me make a sticker chart, got lots of sippys with water and juice, gathered fruit snacks and jelly beans in a treat bin, and explained the process to my little man. No turning back now, this is it. Wish me luck.

Monster Man

2010-04-05T23:46:00.001-07:00

Chase has done some serious growing and expanding this month. And by expanding I mean the area he is able to reach and get into. I constantly refer to him as a monster man, he climbs up on and gets into everything!! The coffee table, the fireplace, Ethan's bed, you name it he's there. He's just figuring out how to climb DOWN off things safely, not head first. Here are a few examples caught on film:

Trying to copy Ethan

Not so happy when the bike struck back

Mohawk!

This is how he stood for a good 10 minutes, making me very nervous. I went and stood behind him after I took the picture :)

On the other hand, he is such a smart boy and figures things out so quickly. He will imitate almost anything we do, and he's just started picking up on some sign language, like "more". I know you're not going to believe me, I wouldn't believe me either, but yes, my 11 month old talks. He says Mama and Dada, No with a perfect circle to his lips at the "O", Coo coo when he sees the Cuckoo clock, and will repeat you clearly when you say Matt. He loves to follow Ethan around and amuses himself with the funniest things. Today he found a plastic egg and kept hiding it under the flap at the bottom of the couch, then reaching back in to find it. He probably repeated that 12 times before he stopped. Gotta love boys!

Easter Eggs

2010-04-05T23:28:00.000-07:00

Concentrating. Coloring eggs is serious business.

When I went to go get the crayons, Ethan decided more eggs needed to go into the coloring cups. Two of them went into the yellow together.

Sticker eggs

Egghead

We went to both sets of Grandparents houses for egg hunts and had a lot of fun, but forgot to take pictures.
Hope you all had a Happy Easter!

Name Change?

2010-03-22T23:47:00.000-07:00

Summer is fast approaching-- and so is our move! We are headed to Des Moines in August for Med School, and we're excited! But our blog says we still live in Rexburg....
I realize this creates some confusion. So I'm wondering-- should I change the title of this blog? Or just start a new one with a new name?

If so, any ideas on a new name?
Iowa Indlisbachers?
Just kidding. But seriously, any ideas?

Fun with Graphics

2010-03-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

As a few opportunities to create logos have come my way, I've been delving back into my graphic design experience. I'll post some of those later. But the more I work with these design programs the more I realize I am limited in how I am able to use them. So these overlays by Vol. 25
caught my eye- I think they'd be fun to work with and learn new things in Photoshop! My friend Amanda posted about a giveaway for them and so I'm entering for the giveaway as well-- but I promise if I win I'll share! :)

Funny Boy

2010-03-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

Ethan has been cracking me up lately with the things he says. Here are a few favorites from the last few days, I figured I should write them down so I'll remember them:

*After eating breakfast this morning and spilling milk all down his front, I took off Ethan's shirt and went to get him a new one. He ran away from me, so I asked him if he wanted a shirt on and he said, "No, I'm a naked boy!"

*Eric's parents have been out of town, and his Opa (Eric's dad) is pretty much his favorite person. They are coming back tonight, and I was telling this to Ethan, to which he replied, "I see Opa first, and Chase go see Grandma." Shows where his priorities are!

*The other day I was eating some tortilla chips and I asked Ethan if he wanted some. His response: "No, I'm good." Where does he come up with these things?

*Eric taught Ethan that when you ask him how old he is, instead of saying 2, he now says, "I'm almost 3!"

Gotta love it!

Help Wanted: Toilet Training

2010-03-02T09:51:00.000-08:00

Potty Training. Oh boy. I need to crack down on getting Ethan potty trained, but I need some help. I've been reading Toilet Training in Less Than a Day and it's a technique I want to try--basically you take a day and remove all distractions (including siblings), put the potty in an easily accessible place in the house, show them how to use the potty properly by demonstrating with a doll and even have them check to see if they are wet/dry and reward the doll for dry diapers, and then just encourage and reward and stay positive while they try it themselves. Sounds good, but maybe a little too idealistic that it will work in one day. Right now Ethan adamantly says "NO!" every time I tell him it's time to go potty, and is freaked out by diapers that pull up and down. Any suggestions? Any other books that you've read that helped? Anyone want to come do it for me?

Double Digits

2010-02-17T13:37:00.000-08:00

Chase is now in the double digits (in months of course) and I don't know where my baby went! He's way more self-entertaining at this age than Ethan was, mainly due to the fact that he's crawling, but he also has an older brother to keep him occupied. He has such a little personality and is in a cling-to-mom phase, loves to eat and gets into EVERYTHING. He's such a happy guy with the cheesiest grin, and we're so lucky he's part of our family!

Happy 10 months, Chaser bug!

Knock 'em Down!

2010-02-15T00:06:00.001-08:00

Every time the ball hit the pins on his turn, Ethan would yell "Knock 'em down!"

They didn't have a ramp for Ethan to roll the ball down, so we had to help him push it. Let's just say next time we'll make sure to go to a place with a ramp.

Eric showing off his mad skills

My mom is out of town so we took pity on my dad and brought him along. He was a great help with the kids and I hope he had some fun too!

The music was a little too loud for Ethan's taste.

Aren't kids bowling shoes so tiny and cute? I forgot they come with Velcro :)

Yes, it's sad but true. Ethan, with bumpers but without a ramp, beat everyone but Eric. And even that was close. We'll blame it on the 2 little distractions we had with us (Chase was there too although didn't seem to show up in any pictures) :)

Taking A Chance

2010-02-14T23:39:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday night, still technically Valentines Day, so I thought I'd post this tonight. But at the same time I'm taking a chance that Eric won't check our blog until after tomorrow morning. We had a crazy weekend so we agreed that we'd celebrate Valentines on Monday. He works nights and is at work right now, so I set up his surprise tonight and he'll get it in the morning when he comes home.

I love you sweetie, Happy Valentines Day!

Ok I have to applaud my creativity here, we didn't have any toothpicks or skewers, so i used spaghetti noodles! I was pretty proud of myself...:)

Hope you all had a great Valentines Day!

Ethan has a follower

2010-02-10T11:28:00.000-08:00

Chase was going as fast as his little legs would carry him.

But he was no match for Ethan's bike.

Time with Ethan

2010-02-07T22:22:00.000-08:00

Tonight after I put Chase to bed and Eric left early for work, Ethan and I had a few rare minutes to hang out together, just the 2 of us, where I didn't felt like I had to be doing fifty other things. I love that little boy so much, he amazes me everyday with the things he comes up with and what he is able to do, I am still awestruck by how fast kids grow and learn. With Ethan's humble beginning and bleak outlook on his life and abilities, I am always silently thrilled when I find he has learned new phrases on his own, copied an action he wasn't able to copy before, or demand he do something by himself even when he knows he'll need some help. He struggles everyday to do what is normal for other kids his age, and works so hard to accomplish what he wants. He doesn't know he's any different, or that things are harder for him, so I try to treat him that way. He is occasionally stubborn, belligerent, and ornery, but he has the biggest heart and mostly wants to express his love for others and his enthusiasm for life.
Ethan's therapists help me understand and celebrate every triumph, every step toward him being able to live a normal life, and I'm so grateful for their expertise and guidance. They also put into perspective that Ethan is very high functioning, and to an outsider he may not seem to have any usual struggles. I know that this is because of a loving Heavenly Father who loves him and us very much. I know that Ethan will continue to grow and improve and impress everyone with everything he can do, and I need to not take the time we have together for granted. Tonight we just played Memory, but it's a memory I'll not forget soon and try to repeat as often as I can.

Us Lately

2010-02-02T23:47:00.000-08:00

Chase: crawling, sometimes with his left leg out like a pegleg, at his 9 month checkup last week he weighed 20 lb 5 oz (50th percentile) and was 30 inches long (90th percentile), laughs at everything Ethan does, makes a squinty-smiley-oh-so-cheesy-face when you do it at him (see picture below), loves food, is eating more real food, weaned to formula, sleeps 12 hours a night but only takes 2 naps a day, 45 minutes each, loves to carry around a Little People donkey (also in pictures), screams if you take it away at naps, wants to do everything Ethan does, loves his mommy.

Ethan: talking talking talking more and more every day, cracks us up all the time (ex: at the store the other day he started saying what we say to him when he's in trouble, but to Eric: "Daddy, look at me! Look at me! 1, 2, 3. Time out!"), loves Thomas the Train and Lightning McQueen, jumps off EVERYTHING- the coffee table, the fireplace, chairs..., doesn't eat much but will eat almost an entire box of mac n cheese by himself, trying unsuccessfully to potty train, loves to play cars, likes it when his friends come over to play, terrorizes his brother, enjoys going to therapy- physical, occupational, and now speech too, always wants juice, always calls Chase "Chaser", copies everything we say, loves his daddy and his grandparents.

Jessica: having fun with calling in Activity Days (8-11 year old girls), works about 5 hours a week at a cooking school and learns a ton!, just started training for a half marathon, shuttles kids around, tries to cook and clean but usually only gets one of those done each day rather than both, enjoys reading and blogging, wants to go snowboarding before this winter is over, appreciates her amazing husband and loves her boys!

Eric: Works nights at the hospital, sleeps days, has weekends off (yea!), already planning fishing trips for this summer, does some tutoring on the side, getting excited for Med school, looking for housing in Des Moines, IA, does so much for his wife, is reading Ronald Regan's autobiography, teaches amazing Gospel Principles lessons each Sunday, teases Ethan incessantly, very politically active/opinionated, loves his family.

Mobile.

2010-01-03T23:49:00.000-08:00

My little Chase-man is now mobile! He's not completely crawling on hands and knees yet but he can definitely get where he wants to go. I wanted to get it on video to post but my computer isn't recognizing my video camera when I plug it in, so a series of pictures is the best I could do:

He loves these star shaped veggie puffs, he'll go anywhere for them!

The flash on the camera distracted him.

He's into everything! Gotta love it!

Christmas and Good News

2009-12-27T23:54:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you had a great holiday. We spent the holiday with Eric's family and it was a lot of fun- we enjoyed spending time together, relaxing, and eating a lot of good food! Here are some pictures we took--

Christmas Eve we ate a great meal and then played some games. Ethan went fishing...

and uncle Matt helped him catch prizes!

Chase wanted to open his Christmas eve present-- PJ's!

I LOVE this picture of Chase but it wouldn't let me flip it...
This was the first present he opened on Christmas morning and he was SO excited for it! He cried when Eric took it to get it out of the package and stared at him until he gave it back. He loved playing with it-- thanks Grandma and Grandpa Stastny!

Chase also like the way soft bear from Grandma and Opa Rindlisbacher, it was bigger than him!

Ethan wanted to play with Chase's toys- most of them were louder and had more lights than his :)

Christmas Pajamas! Gotta love Ethan's cheesy grin...

As for the good news: Eric applied and was accepted to the Podiatry program at Des Moines University in Iowa! He was even offered a partial tuition scholarship! He accepted the invitation a few days ago, so it's official we will be heading to Iowa next fall. School starts the first week in August, so we'll probably leave Alaska mid-July and pick up our stuff in Utah on the way there. It's a 4 year program and then about 2-3 years of residency, so wish us luck!

Behind the Beard

2009-12-09T23:35:00.000-08:00

At my parents Ward Christmas party, my dad got chosen to play the part of Santa. Have you ever seen my dad??? He is about the skinniest man alive and they chose him. Maybe cause he's so jolly, I don't know. So Ethan and I crashed their party for a bit so he could have a chance to sit on Santas lap. My mom was curious to see whether or not Ethan would recognize his voice.

He was really excited as we were waiting in line and kept asking to see Santa, but when it was his turn he turned timid and didn't want to sit on his lap. But the candy was too tempting to ignore. As he turned around to sit on his lap, my dad started talking and Ethan turned around, recognizing his voice. But then he saw the beard and got shy again.

The whole time he was on his lap he was leaning as far away as possible from him. But at least he sat there and didn't freak out like last year!

Merry Christmas, Santa!

New Glasses

2009-11-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

We finally got Ethan's new glasses in last week! He's had glasses since he was 9 months old, and this is only his third pair. Pretty good track record for a kid, I would say! Here is a picture of his new glasses, they took a while for me to get used to but now I think they are pretty cute. They are wider and sit farther away from his face, but I think they make him look a little older. Everyone who sees him thinks he's at least 3, sometimes 4. At first he didn't like them-- the prescription in them is a little stronger than his last ones-- but I think he's used to them now. What do you think??

Old:

Not the best picture, but the most recent I could find with them on...

New:

(sorry I couldn't flip this one)

And here are some of Chase and Ethan playing in Ethan's tent today.

They crack me up when they get together, gotta love boys!

My little sister got married!!!

2009-11-22T23:11:00.000-08:00

That was over two months ago, but Jayme's photographer just got her wedding pictures edited and posted. Here are some my favorites of the pictures she took, if you want to see more click here. Jayme you are so beautiful and I love you so much! Congrats again Jayme and Cody!!

Picky Palate Giveaway

2009-11-16T14:22:00.000-08:00

If I link about this giveaway, I get an extra entry. Early Christmas shopping, and I love her website! Check it out:

http://picky-palate.com/2009/11/16/toystore-giveaway-out-of-the-toy-box/

Ends November 18th.

{ FIRST (real) SNOW }

2009-11-09T23:56:00.000-08:00

Simple Pleasure

2009-11-08T21:24:00.000-08:00

I love how entertaining a simple cardboard box can be to a 2-year-old.

Ethan is sans glasses because we lost them for a few days. I thought it wouldn't be a big deal because his new ones were ordered a month ago, so they should have been here anytime. But when I called the optometrist, the company they had sent it to lost his order, and it could take up to another 3 weeks to get them in. Frustrating! Good thing I found the other ones under the couch yesterday.

Best Halloween Costume EVER

2009-11-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

This year Ethan got to dress up as his favorite cartoon character-- Swiper the Fox! For all of you less informed individuals, Swiper is the antagonist from Dora the Explorer who always tries to swipe Dora's stuff. If you ask Ethan what Swiper says, he gets excited and says,"Ohhh Maaaaan!!!" Pretty cute. Eric's mom helped me make the costume, we just adapted it from an existing pattern for a reindeer and edited the hood, and it looks just like him! Thanks for all the help, Grandma!!

My cute little fox.

Saying "Oh Man!"

We didn't get a good picture of the tail, but that was the best part. Someone at Trunk or Treat thought he was the squirrel from Ice Age (haha).

For Chase, we used Ethan's Halloween costume (well, sweatshirt :) from 2 years ago-- a pumpkin! It was pretty big on Ethan but it fit Chase pretty well. Don't they look alike?!

Ethan 2007

Chase 2009

Brothers!
Happy Halloween!!

Pumpkin!!

2009-10-31T10:09:00.000-07:00

Last night Eric ditched me for work-- they had to inventory the whole OR-- so I called my dad and he came and carved a pumpkin with me! My little bro Josh just left to attend a soccer academy in Georgia for the rest of his high schooling (crazy, eh?) so my parents are empty nesters now. It's a good thing they have us for about another year! :) So I figured they had missed out on the pumpkin carving this year. We had fun and got a little goofy taking pictures. Ethan had to go to sleep before we did it but loved it this morning, especially when I lit the candle inside.

Which did you see first- the moon or the witch?

Hello, Alaska

2009-10-28T13:16:00.001-07:00

This is what we woke up to. Welcome back, snow.

Find the Ptarmigan!

2009-10-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

Eric went ptarmigan hunting with his brother Jason this weekend. They took lots of pictures and when he came back he made us find the birds in the pictures-- those things are so hard to spot!

Here's a ptarmigan on the ground.

Now he's on the snow-- can you see him?

There are 2 in this pictureAnd three in this one.
If you click on the pictures they get bigger.

Anyway, we had fun trying to find them, and Eric and Jason had a lot of fun hunting. They limited out at 10 each and came home with 20 birds. We are cooking them up right now so we'll let you know how they taste!

Chase's idea of fun

2009-10-14T23:46:00.000-07:00

Bouncing

Sitting up (almost on his own)

Eating everything in sight. Duck is his new favorite.

Scentsy Party!!

2009-10-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone in Anchorage-- My mom and I are hosting a Scentsy party this Thursday and would love to see you there! I am going to start selling it, so come help get me started!

If you aren't familiar with Scentsy, they are wickless candle warmers heated by low wattage bulbs that make them safe and long lasting. They come in lots of styles and there are lots of scents to put in them so come find your favorite! Bring a friend with you and get a free gift!

Details:
Thursday Oct. 15th
7 P.M.
Karin Carter's House
(email me for directions)

EVERYONE is welcome, call or email me with questions. Hope to see you there!

Surprise Visitor

2009-10-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

We looked out the window and what did we see?

A MOOSE!

I saw him walking through our yard and ran to get the camera. When I came back I found that he had made himself at home in our backyard. Ethan enjoyed watching him and kept checking back to see if he was still there. I let him go out on the back porch to look at him, and he kept wanting to go down in the yard and throw leaves at him (we had been outside raking the day before--it's definitely fall). I didn't think that would be a good idea :)

Give me an excuse, PLEASE!

2009-10-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

Is anyone having a birthday in the next week or so? Anyone having a bad day and just need a pick-me-up? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Bummed because you missed your favorite show? Because I REALLY need an excuse to make this cake!

Its called "The Ultimate Chocolate Layered Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Birthday Cake" and its from a food blog called Picky-Palate. I want to make it. But I can't justify making it just for my family because we will eat it all.

Lately I've been finding some really good recipes online from food blogs, and my top two sites are Picky-Palate and The Pioneer Woman. Anyone have any other good food blogs/sites they like? I need more ideas! And people to cook for! :)

Sad face

2009-09-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

Ethan does a really silly sad/mad face on command. It reminds me of that YouTube video of the little boy in the high chair doing the evil look, because he can't hold it for very long without laughing. Pretty funny. I couldn't get a very good picture because he'd hold it for a second and then want to see the picture of it right away.

He got shy and wouldn't do it anymore. It's pretty hysterical in person.

On another note, Chase has started sitting up really well on his own. He can hold it for about 10-15 seconds before he starts to topple over, but I bet it won't be too long before he's doing it for good! Also he's started scooting around some when he's on his tummy, he mostly rotates around in one spot but the other day I found him under the coffee table.

As you can tell he likes his fingers

Starting to fall...

And face plant!

But still one happy kid :)

Eric's Amazing Birthday Cake

2009-09-26T22:32:00.000-07:00

Created by Eric's Amazing Wife. Isn't he one lucky man?
Happy 26th Birthday Eric!!

Hiatus Rationale, and an update

2009-09-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

So I'm blaming my lack of blogging on several things- no camera battery, wedding stuff, and Grey's Anatomy. I blame the last one on my sister who let me borrow the first season, and now Eric and I are hooked. We found a website online where you can watch full episodes, its pretty dangerous. We are already on the fourth season!

But maybe I should stop giving excuses and just give an update. Sorry, my camera is out of battery and I keep forgetting to charge it so no pictures this time.
Ethan and Chase were both weighed yesterday-- Ethan came in at 26 lbs 6 oz, which is the same as he was at his 2 year appointment 5 months ago. No surprise there, that kid never wants to eat. But Chase has gained yet another pound and a half, and now weighs 17 lbs 14 oz. When is he going to slow down?! He's going to be too big for his car seat in another couple months.
I've been having more fun with my boys the last few weeks, Chase just all of a sudden seemed able to interact and became a lot more fun. He is able to roll over onto his stomach but can't roll back, so he gets frustrated because he doesn't like being on his tummy for too long. He eats rice cereal really well, and we've just started introducing other vegetables like squash and green beans and he doesn't mind those either. I think he just likes food in general :) Its funny how much I've forgotten and had to relearn about when and what foods to introduce, when he'll start solids, its been 2 years since I've had to think about this stuff.

Ethan is becoming such a talker, that's really fun too. He's started joking around more, and thinks its funny to call me Mommy Monkey. Sometimes when he does things he will say what we would have said in that situation-- like if I ask him to go give Chase a toy, he'll walk over and put it in his hand and then say "Thank you, Ethan". He's pretty hesitant to go down stairs, so I always remind him that he can do it on his own, and once he gets down the step I usually say, "See you can do it! Good job." So now whenever he navigates stairs by himself he looks up at me and says, "See! Good." with the same inflection I would have used. When we ask him to, if he's not in a shy mood, he can make a really funny sad face. He can never hold it for too long before he starts laughing because he knows we are going to laugh too. Oh and every time I ask him where something is, like one of his toys, his automatic response is "throw it downstairs." At bedtime his favorite story to hear is about Noah's Ark, when Eric asks him what story he wants to hear he always says the animals and boat story.

The boys keep each other entertained too. It's interesting how much Chase watches Ethan. The other day in the car Ethan kept making this funny noise, and every time he did it Chase would burst out laughing. It was pretty cute.

Well tomorrow is Eric's birthday so hopefully I'll get the camera charged and ready so next post I'll have some pictures to go with it :)

Outta town

2009-09-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a while since I posted, I was in Utah and Idaho for a few days for Jayme's wedding. Now I am back but have been catching up on other things, and I didn't take any pictures while I was there (sad!) so I don't have much to post about. BUT Jayme's Alaska reception is tomorrow night so I'll try to take pictures there and post about it this weekend. :)

A Family Foto Frenzy

2009-09-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

Jayme was kind enough to take an hour out of her wedding preparations to take some family pictures for us this week. Well, its not as easy as it would seem. Or maybe it doesn't seem easy to get a toddler and a baby to be good and look at the camera for an hour but I was trying to convince myself otherwise. So I think we ended up with about 3 pictures total where we are all looking, and then a bunch of cute ones that I wouldn't have printed but are fun to look at. Then just a few funny ones. Hope you enjoy them!

This is one of the only ones where we are all looking, including Chase.

Sad faces

We love Ethan!

Chase decided to smile for once! Not so good of the rest of us, but he's so cute!

Eric trying to keep Chase awake :) He was pretty tired

Towards the end Ethan would run to Jayme and then run back at us, sit still for a minute, and repeat.

Which ones do you like?

Some of Eric's Thoughts

2009-08-28T14:41:00.001-07:00

Let me explain a little something. First off, I have tried to stay out of politics for the last few years because it did nothing but upset me and I really didn't feel like I could do anything to make a difference. With that said, I begrudgingly starting researching about health care because it impacts me directly as I want to become a doctor. I started my research by questioning first hand the Doctors and Surgeons in the Operating Room at Alaska Regional Hospital where I work. The question I asked the docs was, "What would health care reform (like it reads now) do to you?" In EVERY case the doctors have told me it would damage or ruin health care as we know it. Most expect their average yearly income to be cut in half due to reduced compensation for procedures. Tell me how a doctor who has spent his life 10 years plus....studying and working to practice medicine is supposed to get by on half of what he make now and still owes on average $150,000 in medical school loans. I will take a break here so you can listen to one of my favorite messages about health care reform......watch the video below.

After watching that....ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'll let you decide if that sounds like the direction we want our county heading in.

To change the tune just a little bit. Medicare was started in 1965 and was allotted a budget of 50 million dollars. Not 45 years later Medicare now has a budget of 400 billion dollars. Do YOU want to do the math? This is how the government runs programs. Tell me how the government will run a health care "option" any better that this? In the Canadian province of British Columbia their public health program which provides health care for all of its citizens now consumes 2/3 of their federal budget. It started out cheaper....but bureaucrats can't run businesses. One final example of how awesomely big this proposal is can be seen in the UK. The three largest employers in the WORLD are 1st the Red Army in China (3 million employed), 2nd the Indian Railway (1.4 million workers), and 3rd UK's pubic health care system in which 2 out 3 are administrators. Tell me how efficient and cost reducing that system as to be.

Anyway, if you feel strongly about this do something...email or call a senator or representative... I have... tell a friend some fact that is outrageous. Or if nothing else just become a little more informed so you are not surprised when things like this start happening. Comment if you want more information or if you have some info of your own. Things could be changed but change the things that will actually make a difference. Tort reform would save billions and lower insurance premiums. Preventative care is the GRAND KEY to cutting health care costs. At Alaska Regional Hospital we do 20-50 surgical cases daily. From my point of view it is obvious to see that the great majority of the patients we treat are obese. It just causes problems. Joints wear out, hearts wear out, they are not healthy. These are things that would change health care and reform it into something I could one day be proud to be a part of.

4 Months!

2009-08-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

I seriously cannot believe Chase is 4 months old this week! Didn't I just come home from the hospital with him last week? So much has happened since he was born and we've been so busy that its just been a blur. But that doesn't mean I haven't made time to enjoy my sweet baby, he is such a good little man and always so happy! He is such a joy to have in the family, and Ethan enjoys his brother as well!

He had his 4 month check-up yesterday and here are his stats:
Height- 27.5 in (greater than 97th percentile)
Weight- 16 lb 3 oz (75th percentile)
Head size- 40 cm (50th percentile)

Ethan was 18 lbs at a year, Chase is so much bigger than he was at this age and he goes through clothes a lot faster! I'm sure it won't be too long before they are sharing clothes.
In honor of his 4 month birthday, we decided to try him on some rice cereal. Success!! He loved it! Ethan was never a fan so this is a good change.

Every time Chase wakes up Ethan asks to get in the crib with him and they lay and laugh at each other for a few minutes. Both like to such on their fingers :)
I'm so lucky to have 2 (well, 3) boys!

Chase face

2009-08-12T23:59:00.001-07:00

Chase has the best sad face ever, and we've labeled it the Chase face.

Doesn't that just make you want to cry? :)

I just can't get enough of this cute little boy! So I thought I'd share.

About to sneeze, it was funny that I took a picture right then...

Strong man!!

2009-08-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

Just after a big diaper blowout today (hence the no clothing) I rolled Chase onto his stomach and he all of a sudden was able to hold his head up and prop himself up on his arms! Now hopefully tummy time will be a little more enjoyable. He'll be 4 months in another week, he's getting so big!

Jayme's Shower

2009-08-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, my little sister Jayme is getting married!! We had a bridal shower for her last week, and it turned out AMAZING! I helped a little with the invitations but all of the credit goes to Tammy Hogge for the incredible way it turned out! We had it at Kim Lowry's house, and when I walked in the day of it was completely transformed. Jayme's fiance Cody is a farm boy from Idaho so naturally we played up the theme, The Farmer Takes A Wife. She spend so much time on it and it really paid off. Here are the results:

Tammy's husband matt painted the barn-- it took up her entire wall!

Woman of the day- Tammy! She didn't want me to take a picture and I'm sure she'll kill me for posting this one, but here it is. Love you Tam! :)

More helpers- Allie and Linda Shriver

Lemonade in real cups...or jars

She brought in a hay bale and saddle and everything

So many little details!

Tons of amazing "down home" food

The cupcakes to take home after looked like sun flowers and even had M&Ms painted to look like ladybugs!

Thanks to all who came it was way fun, and CONGRATS JAYME!!!

Mini Tour

2009-08-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

We have moved into our new place! It's nice not to commute into town anymore, or be between 2 houses. We're not all the way moved in, but we're working on that a little at a time. We've been slowly collecting furniture and things from people we know (thank you!!!) and garage sales to fill the unfurnished home we are renting. So for right now I'll show just pictures of the upstairs, where we live and where its organized :).
Upstairs there are 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a big living room, and downstairs is a big open area that reminds me of a studio apartment, with laundry and a bathroom. It's definitely an older home but I'm not complaining because of all the space we have.

Don't you just love all the red carpet? Kidding....

Recognize the couch, Grandpa and Grandma?!

So thats the living area, with Ethan eating breakfast in the background.

Chase- 3.5 months and happy as can be! He's such a smiling kid, and laughs every time his big brother comes around.

Intently eating cereal

Sorry I got distracted by some cute kids in the middle of the tour... to continue:
Here's the kitchen, very old stove (all the printing on the dials are worn off so you can't read the temperatures) but the fridge and dishwasher are new.

The deck out back-- and we got a grill for free on Craigslist just because the push igniter doesn't work!

A crib we got a smoking deal for at a garage sale, and Mom Rindy bought the bedding-- thanks you guys!!
Close-up of the quilt.

Which way is up?

2009-07-07T23:46:00.000-07:00

So it is kind of creepy, but sometimes when Chase is sleeping I can't tell if he is on his front or his back! So, in these pictures, is he laying on his stomach or on his back?

Smelling Party

2009-07-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

While Eric was at work today Ethan and I decided to have a smelling party :) My aunt Jenn sells Scentsy Products ( www.scentsy.com/jennstastny) and I am thinking about maybe selling it as well, so she dropped off all her samples the other day. I wasn't sure he entirely understood the concept of smelling things, so I wanted to test it out. At first he would put them up to his mouth, and when it told him he had to use his nose he stuck it all the way in. After a while though, he got the hang of it and when I would hold one up to him he would take a deep breath and then say "Mmmm!".

So far my favorite scents:
Grapefruit Blossom
Autumn Sunset
Coconut Citrus Parfait
Pomegranite Orange (Apparently I'm a big citrus fan)
Camu Camu

Least favorite:
Falling Leaves
Clean Breeze- smells like very strong laundry detergent
Simply Irresistible- Not so irresistable...
Wasabi Ginger- Seriously? Smells good in food, but as a candle?

Meanwhile Chase sleeps on peacefully....

In other good news we found a place to live! We are renting a house from an LDS family on upper O'Malley in Anchorage, and it happens to be available August 1st, the day our house-sitting is up! It's a lot closer to our families and it cuts Eric's commute down from 50 minutes to 12. Yay!

Back in Business

2009-06-20T11:29:00.001-07:00

So we're here, settled, and now we have internet! Hopefully I can get back to a more regular blog posting schedule. Things in Alaska are great, if a little cold. It's been rainy this week, but I hear it's nothing compared to what Rexburg is like!
Well Eric is still training at his job at the hospital so he's working during the days for about another 3 weeks before he changes to the night shift. I'm not looking forward to that. He's loving his work though, and gaining a lot of good experience in the medical field. He works as an Anesthesia Technician in the O.R., so he gets to see lots of surgeries everyday. He says it gives him a better idea of what he does and does NOT want to do as a doctor.
We are still house-sitting in Wasilla for another month and a half while we are looking for a place to house-sit or rent in Anchorage. Eric hasn't minded the commute, it's a really pretty drive.

The boys have transitioned pretty well, it's nice to be settled into a place for a little while. It makes me really excited for the day when we have a house of our own!
Chase is still growing, he's 13 lb 7 oz now! I know I write about his weight a lot, but the kid has almost doubled his weight in 2 months, its crazy! He is so much fun though and has started smiling a lot more and reacting to what's going on around him. He still sleeps a lot too, which is nice for us, and he sleeps for a good 7-8 hour chunk at night, which is nice!
Ethan is a two year old, with him the louder the better. He thinks its hilarious when things bang or make loud noises, and has this hysterical laugh which is contagious. He's been really bad about sleeping because we've been traveling so much, or even spending days in Anchorage- when I need the car I have to drive Eric into work at 5:30- so it's thrown him off a little and he doesn't take naps as easy. Yesterday he wouldn't go to sleep even though he was so tired, I let him cry in his crib for an hour before I went and got him. Any suggestions?

Well I still haven't been good about taking lots of pictures but here are a few:
Eric's brother Jason brought the 4-wheeler up to our house, and Ethan had a blast riding it! He kept calling it a truck and didn't want to get off :)

We told him to smile in both pictures, and of course we got the cheesy grin. Oh and we lost his glasses for a little while, but we've since found them.

A few days ago Ethan woke up from his nap after only 20 minutes and wouldn't go back to sleep so I laid him on the couch. He fell asleep there, then woke up after another half hour, sat up, and then fell back asleep in this funny pose. Looks comfortable, right?

Chase smiling at Ethan- he loves to watch his brother!

Chase's smiles, caught on camera!

Such a happy kid :)

Still here :)

2009-06-05T20:13:00.001-07:00

Ok we are still here, we are in Wasilla and are getting settled into the house we are house-sitting at for 2 months-- but don't have internet at for another 2 weeks. So I'll update again then when I do have it. Our camera was packed during the move anyway so no pictures to post, I'll have to get it out and start snapping some so I can post them when the internet is up and running. Come back next week and this'll be a little more interesting :)

We made it!!

2009-05-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

We are finally all here, safe and sound, in Anchorage. Eric left Friday evening and got here Monday afternoon driving, and even with a wrong turn made it in pretty good time. The kids (its still weird that that is plural) and I flew up yesterday and had a pretty uneventful flight, thank goodness. I think the hardest part was getting through security initially, I had Chase in the carseat which was sitting in the stroller, and not only did I have to take Ethan and my shoes off, I had to take Chase out of both stroller and seat, fold them up and put them on the conveyer belt while trying to make sure Ethan didn't run away or push the stroller into anyone. Then I got to repeat that wonderful process in reverse after going through. Then they took Ethan's sippy cups and had to screen them to make sure I wasn't bringing liquid explosives on the plane. Luckily the guy behind me saw my distress at all the juggling and helped me lift the stroller on and off the conveyer which helped considerably. But after we made it through that experience, Ethan was content to push a sleeping Chase around the airport in his stroller, and we also found a play area in both airports for him to get some energy out. On the first flight to Seattle he actually fell asleep (which is surprising because he usually only falls asleep if he's in his bed) and slept for the majority of it, and on the second flight to Anchorage I kept putting DVDs in the travel DVD player (thanks again Amy and Steve!!) and feeding him fruit snacks and other munchies. Chase just slept pretty much the whole time and was amazing, it was great! I even got to watch most of the in-flight movie! I had been so worried to fly alone with 2 kids, but it went really well and I'm so happy to be here and done moving/traveling!

Anyone interested in a car?

2009-05-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

We have a 2003 Kia Rio for sale, we had a guy coming to buy it and then backed out. We are leaving town Friday and need it gone, we've lowered the asking price from $2998 to $2200 OBO, it's a great car so let us know if you know anyone who would be interested!! For pictures go to rindymovingsale.blogspot.com .

One Month and moving on!

2009-05-19T08:10:00.001-07:00

Chase is one month old! I took him in for an appointment yesterday and he is 11 lb 12 oz!!! He has gained 4 lbs in 4 weeks!! He really is a chunk, we love it! Ethan was always such a skinny baby, its funny to see the difference between them.

Well I don't have a lot of time to post because we are in the middle of trying to move!

WE ARE MOVING TO ALASKA!!!

Eric got a job working at Alaska Regional Hospital as an Anesthesia Tech, basically an assistant to the anesthesiologist. He is super excited about the job and I'm super excited to be back up there, we'll probably be there for a little over a year. Wish us luck through this crazy week, goodbye Rexburgians, and anyone up in AK we can't wait to see you!!

Brotherly Love

2009-05-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

I swear Chase is going to be the most tolerant little boy ever with a brother like Ethan. He gets smothered with love everyday from the 2-year-old and doesn't complain!

Scooting closer and closer...Patting the belly
Going in for the kill...or in this case the kiss

Cute newborn clothes (thanks Grandma)! Except the shorts look like pants on his tiny legs :)

Eric trying to distract Ethan from being in the baby's face. What a good dad!

Chase the Chunk :)

2009-05-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

Ok the only reason I put that in the title was because we took Chase in for his 2 week doctor appointment today and he now weighs 9 lbs 1 oz. Last week he was 7 lb 7 oz! He is doing really well and filling out, he already seems like so much a part of the family! Ethan can't leave him alone, between rubbing his head and giving him kisses, he always wants to be around his little brother. And although it's stressful to be in a transition stage, it's been nice having Eric home since he graduated a few weeks ago and is now looking for a job. I still can't believe we have 2 kids!

First smile- caught on camera! I'm sure it was just gas but it was still cute!

Ethan's Adventures

2009-05-01T20:35:00.000-07:00

Since Chase came around, we've been trying to do things for Ethan so the focus isn't all on the new baby. Granted most of it is, but we do what we can :). He's been having a lot of fun though, and he really does love his new brother.

Eric took Ethan fishing with the new pole he got for his birthday. He swears Ethan caught this one all by himself! He was playing with his pole, wiggling it while the line was in the water and apparently yanked right at the right time-- and hooked this one in the mouth! Then he reeled it in with Erics help, and was so excited to touch the wiggling fish. Eric's starting him early!

Grandma brought him a tent and Ethan loves to play in it! He figured out how to tip it over while he's inside it, and that keeps him entertained for a long time.
One of the first times he walked in it he didn't quite get the fact that he had to bend down to walk through the entrance :)

While my mom was here we went on a scenic drive of Idaho. I know that sounds thrilling, but it was actually fun even though it was a little cold. Our first stop was the sand dunes:

Climbing up after Eric talked him into going down

Building a sandcastle...sortof

Face plant! Ethan got a whole mouth- and face-full of sand when he ran down the side too fast! Eric couldn't help pulling the face too with how gross it looked in Ethan's mouth!

Next stop was Mesa Falls

There was still lots of snow there and mom had a fun time traversing it

Ethan conked out on the way home

Ethan got a new rubber duck for Easter and Eric showed him how to squirt himself in the face with it :)
We must be wearing him out because this is how we found him in the middle of lunch today! Haha he's flat on his face and glasses, that does not look comfortable!

CHEESE!!

2009-05-01T20:28:00.000-07:00

Ethan has a new face-- every time we tell him to smile for the camera and say cheese, he says it and makes a really cheesy grin. It was hilarious at first, and now that he knows we think it's funny he won't stop! Every time the camera comes out here's the face we get. I've tried a few times over the last week to get a normal picture but unless I catch him off guard I get the same results every time. What a goof!

Coxinhas

2009-05-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

Eric wanted to try and recreate some of his favorite food from Brazil, where he served his mission. So the other day we made Coxinhas-- a deep fried dough with a chicken filling. They turned out really well and he said they looked exactly like he remembered them, but they tasted a little different because there was a seasoning missing. But all in all it was a success and we had fun doing it! Here's the website we got the recipe from if you want to try them out:
http://www.mormonchic.com/recipe/recipebox/pages/brazil.asp
Sorry I don't know how to make it link so you'll just have to copy and paste the address. I've bookmarked it and I'm sure we'll be making them again!

Finished product! Mmm...

Week One

2009-04-24T09:33:00.000-07:00

Well we survived the first week with 2 kids! Chase is doing amazing and sleeps all the time, I didn't remember how much of their time is spent sleeping! He is such a good little guy and even when he gets hungry he doesn't cry much, just roots around looking for something to suck on. Last night we went to bed at 11, he woke up to eat at 4 and then slept again till 8! I think I'm the luckiest new mom ever!

It's been an adjustment for Ethan having to share his attention with another baby, but I think he'll get used to it. He always asks to see and hold Chase, and gives him kisses on the head a lot. My mom is still here so that helps, he has 3 people to get attention from, so we'll see what happens when Eric goes to work and my mom goes home. :)

For me the c-section was less scary than I'd imagined, but the recovery has been everything I dreaded. I've been really sore and can't get around easily, but the first week is always the hardest so it's downhill from here. Yesterday was the first day I felt like a real person again, so I know it'll get easier. Now I just have to fully recover so I can drive again and start losing some of the baby weight!

Here are some pictures from this first week, some of them are from the hospital that I just got from my sister and some are from since we've been home. We already enjoy this little guy so much
Thanks everyone for your prayers and congratulations!!!

Ethan and his crazy aunt Jayme :)

Fascinated by the baby

My 3 boys!!

Jayme the photographer took this :)

Aunt Jayme and Chase

For some reason Ethan loves to rub the baby's head

Holding in his own pacifier

Trying to be like his big brother

Burrito! On the cute blanket my mom made for him

Chase Allen Rindlisbacher

2009-04-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

We are home and everything is fine! Jessica was released from the hospital this afternoon and we are all home again! Sorry it has taken so long to get pictures of this little guy up for people to see. Chase Allen Rindlisbacher was born by c-section at 12:44pm on Friday the 17th of April. He weighed in at a whopping 7 lbs 12 oz and measured 21 inches long. He has a little dark brown hair and dark blue eyes which will probably turn dark brown later. I am going to post a bunch of pictures with this post cause that is really what people want to see! Also, don't make too much fun of him, we know he kind of looks like E.T. but we think he is cute and already love him a lot! After surgery they brought Chase into see Jessica for the first time and after a minute she turned to me and said,"He kinda looks like a lizard doesn't he?!" ha ha. Here are the pictures.

Thanks everyone for your concern and prayers for our little family! We have a bunch more pictures that I'm sure we will be posting in the next few days!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ethan!

2009-04-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

Ok so we cheated and celebrated Ethan's birthday about 2 weeks early, but that's what we get for having 2 kids in the same month :) Actually I have the same due date with this one as I had for Ethan, kinda crazy. His official birthday is April 20th, so its pretty close but I didn't want to wait till after this baby is born, I have more energy now then I will then :)
Anyway, Ethan's 2nd birthday! We had a little party with cake and presents when Eric's parents were here for graduation, and he had a lot of fun. Eric's mom made a cute car cake (it was supposed to be a Curious George cake but she left the topper for it in Utah- I still feel bad about that!) and we had him open presents. He wasn't very interested in eating his cake-- so he must not be my son-- but he loved the gifts that he got. Eric and I got him a kids fishing pole (Eric's idea) and he got balls, coloring books, and a new bike from Grandma and Opa. I can't believe he's 2 years old already!!!

Trying with all his might to pick up both balls at the same time.
Sitting on the new bike

Going, going, and...he's down. It'll take him a while to get used to the peddles but I'm sure he'll love it once he does. Thanks again Grandma and Opa!

Baby Update: It's official, we scheduled the c-section for this Friday at noon. It was a hard choice because I really wanted to do a VBAC but I think it'll be for the best. I'm pretty nervous about it, so keep us in your prayers and we'll hope everything goes well!

Graduation!!

2009-04-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

Congrats Eric for graduating today!!! We are so proud of you and impressed with all you do!

He is officially a Biologist now, looking for a job and still waiting to hear back from Med schools.

I'll have to post pictures later, Eric's mom took some (I forgot my camera) so I'll have to get them from her.

Love you sweetie and CONGRATULATIONS again!!

PS- Little bit of a baby update, I've decided to schedule a repeat c-section for next Friday which is a week before my due date. But I've been having contractions lately so hopefully they turn into something and I can have it VBAC before then!! Keep us in your prayers! Nothing is guaranteed but we'll keep you posted.

Toddler Lab Pictures!

2009-04-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

(WARNING: MANY MANY PICTURES WILL BE INVOLVED IN THIS POST)
As mentioned before, parents weren't allowed to take pictures at Toddler lab during the semester. But as promised the teachers delivered a whole CD of them taken throughout the lab. I'm so glad Ethan had the opportunity to be involved, it has helped him so much not only in his motor skills but his language and social skills as well. Needless to say we are thrilled he'll be in it again this summer!

I tried to narrow down just a few to post but he did so many different things I wanted to put them all on here! I settled for about half :) Also they told me not to post pictures of other kids- privacy issues- so thats why Ethan's alone in most of them.

He had so much fun!

What's on my camera?

2009-03-31T11:01:00.000-07:00

I was trying to decide what to post about because it's been a while since I updated the blog, and I decided to just look on my camera to see what I could find. It seems I've been about as bad at taking pictures as I have been at posting, but I did find a couple fun ones of Ethan. And of course, Eric's fishing adventures.

Eric challenged Ethan to an arm wrestling contest. You'll have to ask them who won :)

Ethan and his friend Sebastian decided to climb up to the table and play Connect Four. I bought it the other day at DI cause I always liked it and now it's Ethans new favorite.
So don't laugh, this was supposed to be a baby blanket. I had Ethan sit on it in the next few pictures so you can get an idea of how big it is, but it was only supposed to be 35 inches wide. It turned out huge! This was my first attempt to read a crochet pattern (thanks for your help Kelly!!) and I got the stitches down pretty fast, but I picked a thicker yarn and a bigger hook than it called for. Apparently that makes a big difference :)

It's a little big for a baby, so we'll either use it on Ethan's toddler bed or I'll double the height later and use it as a full size blanket. I was pretty happy with how even it was for my first real crochet project!

Erics latest catch. He went with a few guys on Saturday and they were pretty successful, these are just the ones they kept.

Other than that not much is new, we're just waiting for this baby to come and Eric graduates next week!

Yummy Potatoes

2009-03-31T10:39:00.000-07:00

I have this recipe book that I use all the time- its a basic cook book put out by Food Network called "How to Boil Water"-- and I made these potatoes the other day that were amazing! I don't usually take pictures of my cooking but these looked so good and they're so easy I thought I'd share. Here's the recipe if anyone's interested:

Stuffed Potato with Broccoli and Cheese

4 baked potatoes, still warm
1 small bunch broccoli, steamed
4 Tbl butter
1 tea salt
fresh ground black pepper
4-6 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
1/3-1/2 cup sour cream (I added this part)

While potatoes bake, steam broccoli and chop into small pieces.
Preheat broiler. Take each warm cooked potato, slice a lengthwise slit in the top, and gently scoop out some of the flesh, leaving enough to give the potato structure. Mix the potato flesh, butter, salt, pepper, and sour cream in a bowl with fork, then gently stir in broccoli pieces. Refill each potato with the mixture. Sprinkle a heaping handful of cheese over the top of each, and set on rimmed baking sheet under broiler until cheese melts and gets bubbly, about 5 minutes.

Enjoy, I know we did!

That was too easy!

2009-03-23T16:40:00.000-07:00

Ethan will be 2 in a month and we decided (or rather Eric mandated :) that we try to wean him of pacifiers. Since he was about 14 months we've only let him have them for naps and at night, but he always asks for them and he'll freak out if he throws them out of his crib and can't reach them. Since we'll have a baby who needs them more than he does in a few weeks, I agreed to try and get him to give them up. I made Eric put him to bed the first night (I was too chicken), and he just sat him down and told him that the paci's were all gone and he wasn't going to get them anymore. He substituted it for a stuffed animal that he can sleep with, and then laid him down and walked out. Get ready for screams-- or so I thought. Nope, wrong again, he cried for maybe a minute and a half and then was silent and went right to sleep! And he's been fine without it eversince! Sometimes he'll still ask for them and we just have to remind him that they are all gone and he's fine. I should have known, he's been really easy at every sort of change we've made- from nursing to formula, not being swaddled, no more bottles - I just have to be convinced to try it once and he's over the change pretty quick. I think we've been pretty lucky to have such an easy going kid. Next step- toddler bed! I'd like to get him changed over from crib to bed before the new baby gets here. If anyone knows where I can get a good deal on one in Rexburg, let me know!

Jessica Needs

2009-03-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

So I saw this on a friends blog and wasn't going to post it but the results were pretty funny- especially #3! You just go to Google and type in '(your first name) needs' and you see what pops up.
Here were some of my results:

1. Jessica needs your help
2. Jessica needs Coffee
3. Jessica needs her 'Eric' time --- no joke, it said it just like that! It was perfect :)
4. Jessica needs Facebook
5. Jessica needs a haircut
6. Jessica needs to know she is beautiful
7. Jessica needs to go to AUSTRALIA

And the moral of this post is: Jessica Needs a life. :)

35 Weeks

2009-03-17T12:29:00.001-07:00

As of Thursday I will be at 35 weeks and thought it would be good to finally post a belly picture. I am getting pretty big as you can see, counting down the weeks till I'm not pregnant anymore but trying to enjoy these last few weeks of only having one kid to take care of! I had an appointment with the specialist on Friday and he said everything looks great, and they estimated him to weigh about 5 lb 6 oz already! If he gains an ounce a day from here on out like he should he'll be around 8 lbs at 40 weeks. Ethan was 7 lb 10 oz and they say each baby gets bigger so that should be about right. One thing I was a little disappointed at was the doctor said he would probably recommend a repeat c-section. I've really been wanting to try a VBAC, because this is the only one I'll even have a choice on and repeat c-sections limits the amount of babies you can have. So we'll wait and see what happens. Ideally the baby would come on his own at around 38-39 weeks, I've been having a lot of Braxton Hicks so its possible but not likely. I think if I go much over 39 weeks the doctor will just say lets do a c-section and I'm sure by that point I'll just be ready to have him out. But the recovery is so much longer with a c-section and having Ethan to take care of as well really makes me want to try to have it naturally (but with an epidural of course :). Any advice from those who've been in this situation or know someone who has?

The Great Porcupine

2009-03-09T11:51:00.000-07:00

Two things Ethan loves: watching Signing Time and saying prayers. The most recent volume of Signing Time I checked out from the library is called The Great Outdoors, and he's been learning new animals like deer (he does the antlers when he says it), raccoon, skunk, and porcupine. All are really cute to hear, I should have gotten them on video.
As for praying, sometimes we'll be in the middle of a meal and he'll fold his arms and squint his eyes, even though we have already said a prayer at his request. He won't go back to eating very easily until we've said another one, so I usually just help him say it again. Typically we start the sentence and he fills in the last word. I'll start "We thank thee for this..." and he'll say "day" and so on until amen. Last night he was saying the prayer before we ate dinner, and he was pretty excited. This time when I started, as usual I said "Dear Heavenly..." and waited to hear "Father" but instead he said "porcupine." Haha I was laughing so hard Eric had to finish helping him say the rest of it, and throughout he kept looking over at me and wondering why mom was covering her face! Oh the things kids say.

Carter or Carson?

2009-02-27T13:19:00.000-08:00

VOTE FIRST THEN READ THIS
So your opinion isn't skewed :) The poll is to the right.

The two boys names I'm going back and forth on right now are Carter or Carson. I know they're very similar but I like them both, Carter is my maiden name and I really like the name Carson. We're going to use either Scott or Allan as the middle name, Allan is my dads and my brothers middle name (although they both spell it differently) but we also like Scott. Eric would prefer to use Scott as a first name so we might save that one for next time. We have a few others in mind as well, these are just some of the more prominent ones. Let us know what you think!!

Welcome Home, Elder Carter!

2009-02-23T14:16:00.000-08:00

We got to go to Utah this weekend to welcome my brother home from his mission to Capetown, South Africa! So he wasn't really home, it was during his 2 hour layover in Salt Lake that we got to see him, but it was way fun and worth the drive! We probably won't get to see him again for a while so I'm glad we went.
There were a ton of people there, probably a bigger reception than when he got home to Alaska! He looked really good but very tired, he said he'd been really busy the last 2 weeks. He brought home some military sized Books of Mormon and gave us one covered in hippo hide! He had some covered with elephant and a few other animals, it was neat. He gave my Grandparents a pair of salt and pepper shakers made of bone that he said he traded his watch for :) It was funny to listen to him talk, he picked up a little bit of an accent too.

Welcome home Jeremy! It was so good to see you again!!! We love you and are so proud of you!
Ethan met his Uncle Jeremy for the first time!
He couldn't say Jeremy very well so we taught him to say uncle.

Jeremy with the Grandparents!

The siblings :)
Jenn and I realized when we got there we were matching, so I left my coat on. Its the same thing that always happened to my mom and grandma when they'd show up for work, it was funny.

All the family there!
There were about 15 people there to see him besides us.

Toddler Lab

2009-02-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Ethan started a program at the BYU-I called Toddler Lab. It's hard for me to post about it because I don't have pictures to go along with it, but I'm finally getting around to it. They'll give us pictures they've taken at the end of the semester but they ask parents not to take them during. The program is really neat, its sort of a pre-preschool for kids 18 months to 3 twice a week. In Ethans class they have 14 kids and 6 or 7 early childhood development majors, and they are super organized. I was expecting it to be more like nursery, because seriously what organized thing can you make fourteen 2-year-olds do at the same time, but they manage to do a lot! The kids go in and get to play for a few minutes while everyone gets there, but then they have things like art time, circle time where they sing, and snack time (they give them real cups, not sippys! Very brave). Ethan cried the first time I left him there but got over it when he found out they have a slide. They don't like parents sneaking out, so they tell you to say goodbye and they'll deal with the tears. He hasn't cried since his first day, now all the way there he sits in his the carseat and says "Play!" and as soon as he walks in the door, he announces himself by yelling "Hi!" and doesn't give me a second look. There's an observation booth with one way mirrors that parents can watch if they want to stay. He loves it and its helping him become more social- he's usually such a passive kid around other kids. So this is helping him break out of his shell a little. Anyway, its been a great experience so far, and I think they do it every semester. If anyone in Rexburg who has kids that age hasn't done it I would highly recommend it!

Ok so I couldn't not post any pictures, so here's a recent one of the stinker. He took off his glasses and wanted to wear Daddy's sunglasses instead :)

Traumatized

2009-02-01T17:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Ethan and I were running errands before Eric got home from the MCAT, and I decided to stop by Porters (a craft store in Rexburg). As I was walking toward the entrance I was carrying my purse, carrying Ethan (which is a hard task with my big belly sticking out in front) who was saying "walk!" and trying to get down, and I was on the phone with my mom. There were several other people walking in at the same time and the gentleman in front of me swung the door open wide enough so I could fit through as well. Usually when you swing a door open like that, you have to push pretty hard because the hydraulic door stop at the top keeps it from going very far. Not this door. When the man pushed it out Ethan and I were standing right behind it and it SMACKED Ethan right in the face! He was stunned for a second then started bawling, doing the don't-breathe-hold-it-out-for-a-long-time cry that I hate. I didn't know whether he had gotten the full force in the nose or where, but I was afraid for a few minutes he either had a broken nose or a concussion. I don't know why I start crying when things like that happen, but right now I can blame it on the pregnancy so I will. I started crying with him and kept asking him, "Are you ok?" (dumb I know) and his answer to everything is "Yes" so even in the midst of his crying he kept saying "Yes". We walked around the parking lot for a few minutes while he calmed down and I tried to make it look like I hadn't been crying. By the time we made it inside he had a big goose egg welling up in the middle of his forehead and another bruise forming on his nose. That's when I figured out where he had been hit.

This isn't a very good picture of the goose egg, it stuck out pretty far but this is the best we could get. Eric was driving home from Salt Lake when all this happened so after I got back in the car I called him and told him what happened. He immediately started laughing! Then he said that out of all that happened, he felt really bad for the poor guy who hit Ethan in the face! He could imagine what it would be like to not only have hit this kid with a door and made him cry, but then the mom started crying as well!
So I don't know who came out of that situation the most traumatized: the crying baby, the distressed mom, or the man whose good deed backfired.

Take Luck, Eric!

2009-01-29T13:41:00.000-08:00

ERIC IS GOING TO TAKE THE MCAT ON SATURDAY!!!

My brother Jeremy is serving his mission in South Africa and on some of his letters he closes "take luck" rather than good luck or take care. I thought this phrase was appropriate for Eric because he has to travel to Salt Lake to take his test this weekend.
Eric has been studying for the MCAT since about July, and was originally planning on taking it in September. He didn't feel ready then, so he spent last semester and Christmas break studying and preparing for the big day! When he registered for the test, he tried to sign up to take it in Pocatello but it was already full so he has to go to Salt Lake instead, about 4 hours away. It's at 8 a.m. and lasts about 6 hours. We won't get the results back for another month but at least now he can turn in his Med School applications. I'm so proud of him, he has worked so hard and I know he'll do great. Wish Eric luck this Saturday and keep him in your prayers!
Take luck sweetie, I love you!

Sweet Suit

2009-01-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

As we were getting Ethan ready for church yesterday, Eric reminded me that he has a new suit to wear (thanks again Steve and Amy!). Its a size bigger than he's wearing now which is good because then he has growing room, but we wanted to try it on to see how it fit. He looked like such a stud! We decided not to let him wear it this week because he definitely needs a belt, and I'm not sure his typical brown shoes would look good with a blue suit :) We'll get some this week and then next week we'll let him knock 'em dead. The little girls in nursery anyway :)

He looks so grown up! I just took pictures of the top half because he walked out of the pants 2 steps after putting them on :) It's hard to get a good picture of him because he just wants to come get the camera! Any hints on getting kids to pose? or smile?

A Post for Jen :)

2009-01-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

My sister doesn't have a blog but she just got some really cute pictures taken of her kids so I thought I'd post them here so the family can see them. Way cute Jen!! Ethan misses his cousins!
My niece Avery and nephew Wyatt:

Wyatt just turned 1 a few days ago.

Apparently Aves was pretty shy about getting her picture taken but I think they turned out way cute!

Aren't they adorable?

Christmas in Utah

2008-12-29T14:30:00.001-08:00

On Christmas Eve, we headed down to Utah to spend Christmas with our family! We were worried about the drive because it had snowed for 2 days before, but we hit a clear pocket of weather and made it down on dry roads. Ethan did pretty good in the car, he slept for a while then we set up my laptop with Curious George on and he was quiet for an hour!
Our first stop was to Riverton where Eric's Aunt Cathy was having a Christmas party. We went sledding and ate and it was great to see everyone again. Ethan probably would have liked sledding better if he had snowpants, and it hadn't been so windy. Eric took him down the hill twice before he decided he had had enough and we went to warm up.
We stayed at my Grandparents house along with my aunt Katie and her family, it was a full house but a lot of fun! Here we are opening our Christmas PJ's (thanks Mom!!) on Christmas Eve, then we read the Christmas story.
(very cheesy, sorry :)

The next morning the kids got up at about 6:30 (which was later than I expected!) to open presents from Santa.

Ethan in front of the hoards of presents!

Wanting to eat his Christmas orange

The Clan opening presents

Ethan in his sweet new suit from Uncle Steve and Aunt Amy. Can't wait to try it on him!!

It was a lot of fun, I'm really glad we went down to be with family because we have no idea where we'll be for Christmas from now on! It's kind of exciting but it makes me nervous as well. Thanks again Grumps and Grams for letting us spend Christmas with you!! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!

To Eric: Happy 3 years!

2008-12-22T08:17:00.000-08:00

December 21, 2005

Well we've made it this far, lets see if we can make it another 3 years. We'll just take it a chunk at a time :) Just kidding. Thank you for everything over the last few years, you've made my life wonderful and complete! I can't imagine a better partner to spend eternity with. I love you!
Happy 3 Year Anniversary, Eric!!

An Update in Pictures

2008-12-17T22:44:00.000-08:00

Because I haven't been very good at updating lately, I decided to update in pictures instead of a big long paragraph because its more exciting and descriptive.
Well then I just looked and I haven't taken many pictures because we've been rather busy, so maybe I'll do a little of both. :)

I think Ethan's going to be a really good big brother-- he's into kissing things right now, babies, his own reflection, teddy bears, mom and dad...I caught him in the act one day. He loves mirrors.

This is Ethan trying to wink-- when you tell him to wink at you he does this squinty thing with boys eyes, its really funny.

I'm still working on getting a decent video of Ethan doing the actions to "Popcorn Popping"-- he pokes in his eyes when you sing eyes and then shakes his hand when you sing "it wasn't really so" and a few others. He does it really well until we get out the video camera.

For my birthday I got a sewing machine! It's been really useful already, and my first project was to hem a pair of Eric's pants that he's been needing shortened for a while. I had no idea how to do it so I watched a tutorial on YouTube about it (who knew there was such a thing?). So I felt like a pro and tried to do it myself. I was going over one of the hems, and on jeans they are really thick, and I broke the needle. Luckily it came with a few spares, but I was actually proud! And the pants turned out alright as well :) For my second project on my sewing machine I did a stocking countdown to Christmas. This is it in the background of the picture Eric took. He was having fun experimenting with our camera and he took a bunch of random pictures around the house. The one below is outside our kitchen window, even more impressive because it was taken through a window!

So as you can see we've been keeping busy. Eric just finished up his second to last semester of his time at BYU-Idaho on Friday and now he's studying for the MCAT over break. He'll take it January 30th. I've just been called to be the first counselor in the Relief Society presidency and it's kept me busy already! But its a good kind of busy so I don't mind. We're probably heading down to Utah for a few days over Christmas break, so wish us luck driving in the snow!

Ho Ho Ho

2008-12-11T12:12:00.000-08:00

Last year at Christmas we were shopping at Nordstrom and decided to have Ethan take a picture with Santa. He loved it (although Santa's face is a little weird) and smiled through the whole thing. Wasn't Ethan so bald last year??
This year was a different story. At our ward Christmas party on Saturday Santa came to visit again, and once again he was really excited. He kept saying "Ho Ho Ho!" and would point to Santa. He wanted to go see him so bad so we got in line, and the whole time he kept up the Hohohoing. But when it finally came his turn, he didn't like the fact that Santa had to hold him to take a picture. If you can't tell I'm standing off to the left of the picture, and as soon as they took it I saved him from the mean Santa. Haha oh well maybe next year!
Here's a video of him saying Ho ho ho:

Sister Reunion!

2008-11-28T22:09:00.000-08:00

My sisters and I were able to spend a much needed girls weekend together at Jenn's house in Utah. Jayme and I drove down from Rexburg Friday and stayed till Tuesday. It was fun letting the cousins play together, we got to see Twilight, and we even went to a Jazz game on Monday. We went to our grandparents house a few times and just got to relax, it was way nice. Thanks for the fun weekend girls!!! We need to do that more often while we're all still close together. I love you guys!!

First time Ethan had seen Jenn for a while :)
Avarie and Wyatt reading at my grandparents house

Ethan and Avarie both wanted drinks and then sat down on the kitchen floor to enjoy them together.Deep in conversation...Avarie was so motherly to Ethan it was funny! If he put his sippy cup down sideways she would set it upright, and one time he was eating a corndog and dipped the stick end into the ketchup and she said "No Ethan! That's not how you do it!" and showed him the right way to dip it. He loved the attention.
Monday night Jazz vs. Bulls -- the Jazz lost 100-101 but it was so close the whole time and such a good game. The Bulls made a basket at the final buzzer, and everyone had been screaming and so excited and then just sat there like "Did that really just happen?"

Jayme's first Pro Basketball game!

HUGE ice cream cone
The only picture we got together the whole weekend! Sad :)
Ethan was entertained with my phone on the drive home...I took this over my should as I was driving, I'm surprised it turned out!

I couldn't help it....

2008-11-20T20:21:00.000-08:00

Normally I am one of those people with self control. I don't listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, I shun the sight of red and green decorations and candy canes in the store, and I don't even start thinking about Christmas shopping until Black Friday has come and gone. But this year I've been ambushed, hit from all sides, and forced to give in early. It all started just listening to a Christmas song or two on other peoples blogs.....and ended up like this!

How did this happen?!?!

OK so it was pretty fun. Ethan had fun helping us decorate. A week and a half early isn't THAT BAD. Right?

He was a big fan of the beads for the tree

and the lights :)

Poor Kid :)

2008-11-19T22:41:00.000-08:00

Ethan has had a long day... He woke up earlier than normal, played outside with Daddy for a while, and Eric gave him a haircut (during which he screamed the entire time-- he was hoarse afterward!). He never really falls asleep anywhere but his crib or carseat, and he loves Mac & Cheese, so needless to say he must have been a very sleepy guy!

75 Percent Sure

2008-11-07T21:02:00.000-08:00

Well, looks like Ethan's going to have a little brother!
At least the doctor was pretty positive, about 75%. But they'll check again next time just to be sure, it was kind of early to tell. I was 15 weeks 5 days when the Perinatologist did the ultrasound on Wednesday, and here's what the little avocado sized man looks like!

It was fun to see him look like a real baby this time rather than just a little dot or pea. Everything looked good on the ultrasound, they measured EVERYTHING from the length of the femur to the size of the kidneys, and they'll do that again at 20 weeks to make sure everything's growing right. The ultrasound itself lasted about 45 minutes, but it was really fun to watch! They had a camera on the ceiling so I didn't have to strain my neck to see what was going on on-screen. The little guy was moving around everywhere! He would stretch his legs out a lot and kind of push, can't wait till he gets bigger and I can feel what he's doing!

Costume Confusion

2008-11-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

So apparently I didn't do as good of a job on Ethan's costume as I thought I had. Well, it might have been mine and Eric's lack of Halloween spirit that caused the confusion. Let me explain.
Last Saturday was our ward's Halloween carnival and Eric, being the second counselor in the bishopric, felt he needed to participate in the costume contest (with a little prodding from me :). So we dressed up as Mario and Luigi and made Ethan a "goomba," a little mushroom looking creature from the Super Mario Bros game. Our costumes were easy and turned out great, and everyone was able to tell what we were. But then on Halloween, after dressing up once we didn't feel like going to the same effort again to trick or treat, and only had Ethan in his costume. So he got confused for a mad brown M&M. I stopped correcting people after the 5th or 6th question about it.

But nonetheless here's Ethan as a "goomba":

Here's what a goomba looks like on the game:

Mine and Eric's hats:

Oh well there's always next year!

Pumpkins

2008-10-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of the pumpkins we carved last night.

Eric's Jessica's

Nursery

2008-10-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

This week was Ethan's first week by himself in nursery! He just turned 18 months on Monday, so yesterday was the first time I could leave him alone but we've been going in with him for the last few weeks during Sunday School to get him used to being in there. I was pretty nervous to leave him alone although he does well with babysitters and he likes playing with other kids. The first time we went in for a trial run one of the little girls pulled his glasses off, twice :) Ethan just sat there and let her do it, too. That didn't happen yesterday but I'm sure it will again.
When I dropped him off yesterday, he immediately started playing with toys and another little boy, not even noticing I was still there. I said, "Bye-bye Ethan!" and waved and started walking away, and he just turned and said "Buh-Bye!" and went back to his toys! No tears no fuss no nothing! I think I was more anxious about leaving him than he was about being left. I went and checked on him between Sunday School and Relief Society, making sure he didn't see me, but he was fine the whole time. When I went to get him after he was really excited and gave me a big hug which was cute. But I hope this pattern continues! The picture is his first coloring/handout he did in nursery, and of course it went right on the fridge. My baby is so old!

Crafty

2008-10-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

I'm usually not very creative/crafty but those ghosts must have inspired me. I had so much fun doing them I decided to make birthday presents for my nieces, and while I was at it I made one for my cousin who just turned 8 and got baptized! I just bought wood boxes (they were supposed to be recipe boxes but they worked) and then went crazy with paint, paper, embellishments, and more than a little Mod Podge! Super fun and easy and the girls really liked them. Except Emma hasn't gotten hers yet, so Kate don't let her look at this blog till it comes in the mail! Should be any day now.

And here's what I made: Jewelry boxes!

So I'm not the best photographer, it was late when I finished and I was tired and not worried about lighting :) But you get the idea!
My next project: Halloween costume for Ethan. Eric came up with a good idea, so stay tuned for pictures of that.

Weekend Away

2008-10-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

Rexburg is getting so cold! So last weekend we decided to get away to somewhere warm, sunny, and...ok it was just Utah but it's still warmer than Idaho! Eric's mom is in town for a few weeks so we went down to visit. She hadn't seen Ethan since Christmas, and it was way fun for Ethan to see his Grandma again.

Friday night we went to Thanksgiving Point to a mini kid carnival called the Barnyard Boo. Ethan loved looking at the animals and practically cried when we left the horses. He got to go on a pony ride with Eric walking beside him, and he thought that was the best! So much for holding on with two hands, he only wanted one on the horse and the other in the air! It was cute.

The kids got to decorate cookies, but I think Ethan ate more frosting off the Popsicle stick than ended up on his cookie.

Natalie decorating her cookie- the right way :)

All the Rindlisbacher grandkids with Grandma- Ethan, Natalie, and Brooke
All of us on a hayride, excuse the weird look on my face :)

It was also Natalie's 4th birthday while we were there, and Saturday morning we all went to Chuck E Cheese. For those of you who've only been to the one in Alaska, the ones in Utah are way nicer and cleaner :) It was a lot of fun and even though Ethan could play the games very well, they had a bunch of little kiddie rides for him to go on. When they were going he would smile and say "Weee!" and turn the steering wheel like he was driving. I was impressed with how much he got into it!

One happy boy!
So excited!
(Ok so I think he just wanted the camera but he looks excited!)
Taking Brooke for a ride
Grandma and the birthday girl! Happy Birthday, Natalie!

Dad and Ethan waiting for the pizza to come. While we were waiting this little boy came up to Eric and said, "That little boy is cute, I want him to have this toy." and gave him a little transformer toy in his hand! How sweet!

The older boys had some fun as well :)

The REAL Haircut

2008-10-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok...Last time I posted about Ethan's haircut, Eric had just cut off some of the back so it didn't look that different. But this time he looks like such a little man! Eric cut the front and top as well as the back (he said he was a bugger the whole time he was cutting, I'm glad I wasn't home for it :) and now we can even spike it! Before I was having a hard time doing his hair without it looking like a dorky comb over, so now I'm glad he's a little more stylish. These aren't the greatest pictures, we're headed to Utah for the weekend so hopefully I'll get some better ones of Ethan with his cousins and post those. But here's what we have for now...

Front view, always trying to get the camera

Top- His hair looks thin but I think its due in part to the flash

Ethan looks really tired in this picture...I took it as I am writing this post and he is eating his breakfast. But this is what it looks like without gel. It's way shorter! But didn't Eric do a good job?

Haunted House

2008-10-14T12:03:00.001-07:00

Our house is haunted! Ok so it's haunted on purpose :) The other day my friend Kristen came over and we made these really cool ghosts! It's just cheesecloth dipped in sugar water, and then you let it harden. It was really easy, but I love decorating for holidays and I was impressed with how easy these were and how well they turned out!My favorite ghost

Haunting the entertainment center

If you want to make a ghost, get a 2 liter bottle and tape a tennis ball to the lid. Then bend a hangar to make it look like arms and tape it to the body. Take a large rectangle of cheesecloth and fold it in half so it will be double layered. Make sure the doubled cloth makes a square. To make it stiff, mix 2 cups sugar with 1 cup warm/hot water. Dip the cheesecloth in the sugar solution, then squeeze out the extra water. Drape it over the liter bottle figure, making sure there is enough of a base to support the ghosts. Let them dry 24 hours, remove and they stand on their own!

Who needs a spoon?

2008-10-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

Seriously, even when it's right there in front of you, who needs to use a spoon when you have perfectly useful fingers?

Thoroughly enjoying himself :)

Bath time!!

Tagged...

2008-10-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

6 Things you may not have known...
Kristen tagged me and so I feel pressured into this…. just kidding Kristen :)

So here’s how it works....
Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write six random things about yourself.
Tag six people and let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
(Don't forget to come back and tell me you completed this tag!)

The 6 Random things about me:

1. My front two teeth are fake- my little brother knocked them out with a nerf gun when I was twelve.
2. I hate the smell of fake watermelon (eww watermelon Smuckers that my mom always buys) and fake banana (like the banana Runts).
3. I worked as a locksmith when I went to BYU.
4. I LOVE to read and always have a list of 5 books to get to.
5. I hate it when my knuckles pop and don’t like it when other people crack theirs either. Not just knuckles, any joints for that matter.
6. When I was little my dream was to be an Ice Cream Woman so I could throw free handfuls of candy to kids as I drove away :)

I'm tagging...Amy, Emily, Mandy, Jenn (Stastny), and Katie

Fall'in Out

2008-09-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

(I just put this on here because I thought it was funny :)
Welcome FALL to Rexburg! It's been such a hot summer, this new change in temperature is very welcome. I'm so excited for the holiday season, and will someone try to convince Eric it's ok for me to buy Ethan a Halloween costume?! With the falling temperatures, I've been falling out of my regular blogging habit, but I'll try to do better. I wonder how many posts I've promised that on? But today I mean it :)

Rexburgs one hip, happening place...or not really. But we've been keeping ourselves busy. We took Ethan camping for the first time a few weeks ago and it was pretty fun. We went with our friends Jared, Kristen and their little boy Kroten down to a campground near Lava Hot Springs and made dutch oven stew and camped out. I was worried about Ethan being bored sitting on our laps because he can't quite walk yet, but the ground was pretty flat and he was able to crawl around a little, he just got dirty. At night it got pretty cold, but we bundled him up and he actually woke up once crying because he was too hot :)

In other Ethan news, he's still working on walking but he's improving every day. He's walked across the living room a few times, then other times he takes 2 steps and falls. Our goal is that by the time he's 18 months, in less than a month, he'll be pretty solid with it. We also just changed his schedule a little, and now he's down to one nap a day. He seems so old to me now, not a baby anymore!
Trying to sweep like Mom

That's fine with me though, with another baby on the way. I'm 10 weeks along now, and already this pregnancy has seemed so much worse than the first one. I'm a lot sicker than I remember being with Ethan, but maybe I just put it out of my head. Hopefully the nausea will go away or at least calm down once i get out of the first trimester in 3 weeks. The crazy part about this pregnancy is that the baby is due April 24th, the same day Ethan was due. He was born on the 20th, but these kids will be almost exactly 2 years apart. That also means that the time frame of everything that goes on in pregnancy is the same- we'll find out the gender at the beginning of December, and I'll be able to wear all of my maternity clothes because I'll be at the same stages at the same time of year. We're really excited about the new addition to our family!

Eric's been pretty busy since school started a few weeks ago. He's taking 13 credits this semester plus trying to get ready to apply for Med School by studying for the MCAT and shadowing some doctors here in town. Another major change recently has been his new calling. Last Sunday he was set apart as the second counselor to the bishop in our married student ward. Before that he had served as Ward Clerk, so he has worked with our bishop a lot already, but he's feeling the pressure of this new responsibility. I know he'll do great with it and he'll gain more confidence, and we're grateful for this opportunity.

Yesterday was Eric's birthday and we celebrated by going out to eat. I put a damper on the evening by feeling sick and I didn't think I could make it down to Idaho Falls, but we went to a local Italian place called Amici's and it was surprisingly really good! Then Eric had to come home and study for a test :) Thanks Jayme for babysitting! I love having family around!!

Making Progress

2008-09-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

So the walking around in circles must have helped! Ethan has been really interested in walking lately and he is finally starting to take some steps on his own. We are so proud of him and he really seems to be progressing quickly.

P.S. This means we might have a chance of Ethan walking before our next kid arrives sometime in April! Yes that is an announcement.

Old & New

2008-09-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

Ethan's glasses broke a few weeks ago and his new ones just came in. While we were on our trip to Utah he decided to take them off and play with them, and they ended up bent out of shape before Eric or I noticed. When I tried to re-shape them, the back of the left side snapped, so we ordered him a new pair when we got home. Here's the comparison:

OLD

NEW

After I uploaded these pictures I realized you really can't tell much of a difference, but he looks different to me :) The new ones are darker and a little more round, and I think they'll be better because he can't glare at you over the top of them like he could with the others. They also don't have the rubber part that goes around the back of his ear, they're just normal backs that the eye doctor bent so they'd stay on better. They look pretty cute and grown up on him!

Walking...Sort of :)

2008-08-31T20:14:00.000-07:00

Eric and I have really been working on trying to get Ethan to walk. I know we can't make him do it and he'll walk when he's ready, but we thought this was a fun way to get him used to it.

After a while it got tiring to keep turning him around when he would run into walls, so Eric rigged this up in our kitchen. Ethan loved it!

P.S. Eric was exaggerating when he said a half an hour in the video. Just thought I'd clear that up :)