Christmas 2009

We had great Christmas! We enjoyed our time with family and experienced and appreciated the true joy of the Christmas season. We hope you did, as well.

James and I decided to get a Christmas present for both of us this year - so we bought a new DSLR Canon Rebel Camera! We love it! It came just in time for Christmas so we were able to play with it a little bit. We have a lot of learning to do - but we enjoyed taking pictures with our new toy.

I love this picture - this is one of my favorite ornaments...

We started off our celebration at our Christmas Eve Candlelight service. I enjoy this every year. We all enjoyed the carols and candlelight with my Mom, Dad, Rick, Jill, and baby Leah. Ethan even got to hold up a candle - it was a little glow stick candle! :)

We came straight home to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family at our house. We had a great time! Ethan got little Sesame Street figurines from Grandma and Papa that he LOVES! He also got lots of other things like the LIttle People School Bus, a musical recorder (he hasn't figured out how to blow in it yet - so he puts his mouth up to it and makes his own noises), a bean bag, books, a couple DVD's, and lots more! He was spoiled this Christmas! He loved every minute of it, though.

Here is our family picture...

My wonderful Mom sharing the story of Jesus with Rece (all of the grandkids were supposed to listen) :)

Ethan was excited to see his favorite sesame street friends. : )

Checking out the new bus.

Ethan sitting in his cousins, Brody's, new chair.

Ethan in his new bean bag.

All tired out - watching Elmo before bed.

The next morning Ethan woke up, and came downstairs to find a new train table, a Fire Truck Car, books, and a elmo back pack with a plush Elmo, Cookie, and Big Bird inside. He loved everything! I took pictures and deleted them by mistake! So, I only have a few pictures from Christmas morning.

We played all morning, took naps, and then headed to Jackson to celebrate Christmas with the Royer's. We had a great time there, as well!

Rachel was tickling Ethan's face with the horses tail. :) Ethan thought this was funny.

Then Ethan decided to try to ride on the horse.

Here cousin Joel is doing the tickling.

During our devotion time the kids decided they wanted to cuddle with me (I didn't mind one bit) :)

Ethan loved his new Elmo outfit. :)

James' Mom passed down some sentimental items as part of the Christmas gifts. She included a handwritten letter with each item. Ethan received an old truck that was given to his Grandpa Royer from his father when he was little guy. This was pretty cool. After the letter was read aloud, Ethan clapped, and then checked out the new truck for a little bit.

I had to include this sweet face of Rachel (Ethan's cousin). She is too cute!

Christmas is over - but we are now looking forward to 2010! Before then, we have a few days off to enjoy as a family. Yipee!! :)

What a fun age!

So, I have to say that being a Mom has gotten better and better over the past 17 months. Ethan is so much fun! I think this age is the best. EVERYTHING is exciting to Ethan....whether it is the ornaments on the Christmas Tree, the Christmas lights he sees outside, or even the two white chocolate chips that Dada put in his bowl of craisins. We hear the word, "Wow," constantly. It is so enthusiastic and cute. If only we all had the enthusiasm of a 17 month old. :) 

Here are a few highlights of Ethan's cuteness. 

Today James and I were getting ready to eat dinner. We pray before we eat, so James and I both bowed our heads to pray. As we were praying Ethan was silent. At the end of our prayer we both looked up to find Ethan with his head totally down, eyes closed, and hands folded! Then he looked up and repeated "AMEN." Way too cute for words. 

He is doing a great job at listening to Mama and Dada. He will help pick up toys and put his books right back where he got them from. We ask him to put things away and you can tell he doesn't REALLY want to - but he sighs and takes it from our hands to put the toy/book/cars where they belong. 

He loves to go to church. He always sits with us during the music. For some reason this is his cuddle time. He isn't a huge cuddler most of the time - but during this part of church he will lay his head on our shoulder as he enjoys the worship. At the end of each song his head pops up as he claps and says "yaaayyyy" - then his head goes right back down. Sometimes he sits up and dances or bops his head to go along with the music. After the music is over we ask him if he wants to go to upstairs (in the nursery) and play with the toys and he dramatically shakes his head yes. Then, today, he leaned over and whispered bye bye Dada as he gave him a kiss. Again, too cute for words! :) 

He jabbers a ton, but he is also saying a ton of words. He tries to repeat whatever we ask him to. Mostly he says the first part of the words. He can now say a lot of the sesame street characters names - Cookie, Oscar, and Ernie are very clear. When we ask him what the count does he does the count's laugh. He loves, loves, loves anything that has to do with sesame street. He can point out all the characters if you ask him. He also says almost all of the animal sounds. His newest is the lizard - he sticks his tongue in and out. He also just started doing the sssssss for a snake. He likes to take his hands and smack them together as he says "chomp chomp chomp" for an alligator. 

He is also entering that stage where he knows what he wants...and he isn't very happy if he doesn't get what he wants. We have begun to witness a few little tantrums if he isn't getting his way. We just try to ignore those little fits and distract him with other things. ;o) 

We recently brought his golf set into the basement. He goes downstairs and swings those golf club all over the place. However, Dada has also showed him how to try to hit the golf clubs. He tries and then claps for himself. If Dada hits the ball, he claps as well. 

We love our little guy!

Almost 17 months!

We went and took some pictures in downtown Brighton and these were some of my favorites. 

They took pictures at school. I didn't order any b/c I didn't think they turned out well. He wasn't feeling good this day and kept wanting to touch his ears. So, in all of his photos his hand was either on his ear or on it's way to his ear. ;o) This is the best they got. 

We have this box under our tree and he loves to play with it. He puts cars inside and says "bye bye car." 

He loves to wear Dada's hat. 

Being a goofball! He is proud that he can now get in and out of his chair himself. Big boy!

Trying to walk outside in the first snowfall of the year. It is kind of hard to walk when you are so bundled up! He had fun, though! 

We have to tell him daily, "no touch," when it comes to the Christmas Tree. He loves it, though. He claps and gets excited when we turn it on. 

He is especially tempted to touch the "ball" ornaments.