September 30

Today Mommy got up and went to work. It is homecoming week and today was Super Hero day so Mr. Gognat (the kids just call him Mr. G or G Money or something like that) won for best costume. He was speed racer. (I told him that his pic would be on the internet by tonight!)
After work, Mommy went shopping for winter coats for the kiddos. Children's Place has the best coats and they are worth their weight in gold. The above picture is one of the many things that we ended up with. This is Emma's halloween costume. Mommy thinks it is the most precious thing. (This is especially true since Ethan's costume can't really be referred to as precious anymore. I think it lost that classification after year one!)
This is Emma's winter coat. Of course Mommy had to go with the fur. We have so much fun dressing up the girly girl around here.

September 29

Most of these pictures are from Sunday. We got up Sunday morning and went to church. Mommy loves dressing Emma up in all her pretty church clothes.
After church we went to Bailey's first birthday party. She was the party princess.
Isn't she pretty. Her Daddy sure thinks so.

She isn't quite sure what to think at first.
She has now made her mind up... and it is good.

After the party Mommy and Daddy had a date night. We just went out to dinner, kid free. We tried to go shopping but forgot that the malls closed at 6:00 on Sunday.
Monday evening Mommy, Tracy, and Stephanie took the boys down to the circle to ride their bikes, safely with no going over the handle bars.
Here are all three boys. They were so busy it was hard to get all three of them in a shot so it had to be one from far away.

Here is a video of Ethan showing off his dancing skills while singing "Born to be Wild."

September 27

We have had a busy weekend so far, and it will continue that way. Last night we went to the football game at Mommy's school and then went down to the race track. We only stayed until halfway through the second quarter at the game. Mommy actually got to watch a little of the game unlike last time because Daddy was there also last night.
As usual, Ethan loved the cars at the race track. He was a little spastic about his ear muffs though. They kept sliding off and he would yell at Daddy to hold them on. He was very tired.
This is Trystan's soccer team. They played their final game on Thursday. They did not win but they all played very good.

This morning, we took the kiddos over to the park where they are having a car show this weekend. This was of course more for Ethan than Emma. He wants to go back tomorrow. Here he is with the Hulk car.
Tonight we went to the mall and out to dinner with Mommy's whole family for Uncle Garrett's 13th birthday. We went to PF Chang's. We had never been there. It was nice. Ethan of course wanted a salad. He tried his best to eat his salad with some chopsticks, but it wasn't very successful and he made a mess.
Here is Emma, just being her normal, good sweet self.

The whole gang.
This is a rare shot. Ethan allowing Nana (or anyone for that matter) to hold him. He still isn't taking naps often since losing the binkie so he gets really tired early. I didn't say he goes to sleep early, just that he gets tired early.
While at the mall, Ethan bought his Halloween costume. Of course, a race car driver. Would you expect anything else?

This video is of Mamaw singing in the car. She rode out to dinner with us. She didn't know that Mommy was recording her. This is a song that Mommy remembers her singing when she was a little girl. Although, this is not how I had remembered it. Who knows!

Well Daddy finally got a chance to put a picture of the finished swing set up on the blog for the GA crew. They have been asking me for a couple of days so, here it is. It is a little dark, but you can still tell what is what. Here is a side view so you can see all the swings and the tarp roof.

Here is a back view of the ladder getting up to the clubhouse.
Today Ethan and Trystan had happy haircuts. Trystan failed to tell us that the principle of his school told him to get a haircut. So Mommy's secret field agent let her know that it was time for Trystan's hair cut. Trystan's reward for forgetting to inform us on the principles discussion was a really short, well groomed, easy to take care of haircut. Ethan also had wild hair so, he got to be on the receiving end of the hair dressers scissors. When the hair dresser straightened his hair, he didn't look like little Derks Bently any more, instead he looked like a 1970's version of Gene Simmons with a white fro and no crazy makeup!
This is just another picture of Ethan hamming it up in the hairdresser chair.

September 22

Mommy had to go back to work today but there was power at her school so it was business as usual. When Mommy got home, she and Ethan played with his new play dough fun factory that he got for his birthday. He loved making the "spaghetti." He made it orange, red, and green. What fun and what a mess!
Mommy bought Emma some fruit puffs at the grocery store today. She really likes them but she does gag on them for a second at first. She tries really hard to put them into her mouth herself but it doesn't always work really well. It is entertainment for her though to try. Emma had a day of firsts. She crawled today. Maybe it was really just a get up on all fours and rock back and forth until you fall forward and a few times she actually got lucky and didn't end up on her face. Bittersweet.
"Boy I sure am pooped. I'll just sit here and chew on this dragonfly for a minute." The dragonfly is her favorite to chew on!
Bedtime went much better tonight. There was actually NO screaming! Alright!

September 21

This morning we went to church and then came home to play with Ethan's new birthday toys. We decided to take a family bike ride. Mommy hadn't been on her bike since she got pregnant with Emma and Emma is just now big enough to try to go for a ride.
We started out with Emma in the trailer and Ethan riding his own big boy bike around our neighborhood. Daddy was pulling Emma and she screamed the whole time so half way around, Mommy and Daddy traded bikes and Mommy pulled Emma the rest of the way home. Daddy, Ethan, and Trystan continued. Going down the big hill, Ethan got going too fast and rode into the grass where he flipped over top of his handle bars. Daddy said it scared Ethan and even scared him so Mommy is very glad she wasn't there to witness it.
Later we decided to give it one more try but this time Daddy wanted to ride our bikes all the way through the park and over to the playground. Ethan and Emma both rode in the trailer. They did very good once we got going. We had to stop several times before we even left the neighborhood so Mommy had her doubts. We had to prop a bottle up in Emma's mouth and then she stopped crying. I guess that it reminded her of the car. Here they are in the swings at the park.
On the way back, Ethan fell asleep and Emma didn't make a peep. She just chewed on the string to her dress the whole way home. Aren't they so sweet all snuggled up in their seats! (Of course we all know that this is only happening because Ethan is asleep and doesn't realize what is going on!)
Close up shot. Emma was enjoying her bonding time with her brother.

After the bike ride, Ethan wanted Daddy to push him on his swingset while Mommy cooked dinner. It was all downhill from there. Ethan started a screaming fit when we told him he could only take 9 cars into the bathtub instead of 19. He screamed the whole time in the tub, while he was getting his pj's on, and then in his bed for a grand total of about and hour. He finally settled down enough to stop screaming and cooperate so Mommy went in and wiped his nose and covered him back up so he could give up. Nite Nite! It is back to work for Mommy tomorrow. Last heard, there is still no power at Mommy's school so this could be interesting!
Ethan's fit part 2!

September 20th

Today we had a birthday party for Ethan. Mommy made him another race car cake. This one actually had details on it though. Daddy did the bottom layer with chocolate icing and Mommy did the car. The party was a lot of fun. We ordered pizza so Mommy didn't have to cook. The weather was great and everyone had fun playing outside.
Ethan and his friends Benjamin, Skylar, Jamison, and Tyler eating at his party.
Tyler and Samantha driving the power wheels and blowing on the party favors. Everyone got party hats, blowers, and hot wheels tattoos.
Ethan blowing out his candles with his friends looking on.

Ethan opening his presents with a little help from Jamison and Benjamin.
Benjamin helping Ethan open more presents.
Ethan opening his present from his brother. Trystan was very proud because he picked it out and payed for it with his own money. He really is a sweet big brother.
Nana and Grandpa Greg got a big boy bike for Ethan. He really loved it!

Emma, Trystan, and Emily on the swingset. Of course it was a hit at the party.
Emma finally fell asleep in her swing, aka her thrown.
Ethan on his bike with a blue ring pop and punch ball. He later had a blue mouth to go with his ball, ring pop, and bike.
Mamaw Jayne with Emma and Bailey.

Happy 3rd Birthday to Ethan!

Today is my birthday so I am taking this thing over. I am big now after all. Mommy says I am three years old. I asked her "why?" because that is what I always say now and she just answered "Because that's the way God made me." That's what she always says. I had so much fun today. Mommy stayed home with me today. Actually she stayed home with me all week just to celebrate my birthday. I must be really special. I think almost the whole city shut down this week in my honor. Bubby had to go to school. The power rangers were at his school. They aren't at Mommy's though. She said something about having to go back on Monday whether they are there or not. I just don't understand her. Are power rangers bad?
Back to my day. We got up and I wanted to go outside on my new swingset. Mommy even let me go outside before I ate my breakfast. She said it was because today was a special day because it was my birthday. I figured I better take full advantage of this! I think I am going to tell Mommy that it is my birthday everyday. After that Mommy and Daddy took me to a really cool place where I got to ride go karts. They are a lot like race cars so, right up my ally. The place also had put put which I love. I got to ride the race cars around 4 times. They went really fast and it was a long ride!
Here is my Mommy waving goodbye to Daddy and Emma. They even let me drive. I must be really special today.
We also got to play race car games. Daddy helped me drive this Nascar game. I really love Nascar! We won the race.
Then for dinner we went to Chuck E Cheese. I got to blow out three candles. I did a good job.
I blew all three of them out all by myself. Aren't I big!

Here is my sister. She got to come with us to Chuck E Cheese. I think she had fun too. She is so little that she couldn't do a whole lot. She rode a few rides and she's smiling so I guess that she is happy.
Here I am eating my cake. I usually don't eat cake. My Mommy worked hard on this one though and I know that I liked the icing last night when she was making it so I thought I should give it a try.
Then, to top it all off, I got presents. I got a Nascar that goes really fast down the hallway and bangs into the walls really loud. I also get to change the tires and give it gas. I also got more hot wheels track and a puzzle with cars on it. Mommy said that I am going to get even more presents on Saturday when everyone else comes over to tell me happy birthday.

Me, Mommy, and Emma were driving the Big Rig. We wrecked a lot.
Here is Emma in one of the rides she rode. I didn't think that girls liked Bob the Builder but she was sure having a good time.
Me and Bubby rode the Jett Racer purple ride. We rode it 3 times in a row and then got to ride the bonus ride which was driving a race car. How cool. It is well past my bed time now so I will turn it back over to my Mommy. Thanks Mommy, Daddy, Bubby, and Emma for making my birthday special.