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:
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!
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...
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, 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!
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.
The Guests and the Presents
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!
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!!!
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.
So this is Ethan's progress as of Sunday night.
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.
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!
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
EggheadSummer 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?
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! :)
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!
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?
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!
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) :)
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.
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...:)
