The Balitmore Aquarium

Baltimore has an awesome aquarium and we hadn't been there since Ethan was only a few months old. We are excited to have nana here visiting and we made a trip to the aquarium. For a week straight Ethan has been so excited to go and everyday he says "Mom I wanna see fish and sharks and seahorses and turtles". It is always those 4. So we made it a point to find these 4 sea creatures and Ethan had a blast. He loves animals - I think the zoo and the aquarium are his top activities.

Halloween Party #3

This was party #3.  We had a great time at our play group decorating cookies and playing with some of Ethan's favorite friends.  Ethan made a disaster out of the cookies, but loved it.  In the end though, he had the most fun playing outside on his friend's tricycle.  

Halloween Party #2

This was our Ward Halloween Party, which was a ton of fun but a little sad this year because Jay couldn't be there.  We definitely missed him.  There were fun games and Ethan especially liked the fishing game and even cast the fishing pole over the sheet all by himself.  I was impressed.  

Halloween Parties, Parties and more Parties....

Halloween this year meant a bunch of great parties and Ethan had fun at all of them. Here are some pictures from party #1, our new playgroup in our new ward. Ethan's costume choice has a story behind it. Initially he was meant to be a pirate. In fact, I bought the cutest pirate costume last year after Halloween in what I thought was an ingenious plan to save a bundle on his halloween costume. If you look back to last year's halloween post you will see a picture of Ethan actually modeling the pirate get-up. Well, what I didn't account for last year was that somewhere between the ages of 1 and 2 kids tend to develop an opinion. And Ethan has a strong opinion. So my attempts to get him into the pirate costume met with some resistance, to say the least. (He may have thrown it at me once or twice while yelling "NO PIRATE!"). Well, the morning of our party it became clear to me that the pirate was a no-go. So I made a desperate last minute run to the costume store down the street and searched for a costume that would be the closest to everyday clothes I could find. So Football Player it is!  Here are some fun pictures of Ethan, one with his favorite part of Halloween - sweets.  And another with him giving Jane a big hug.  He just loves her!

The Story of a Pumpkin...

Here are some pictures from the pumpkin carving process.  First we went to a local pumpkin patch and had a great time running up and down the aisles of pumpkins until we found the perfect pumpkin.  Ethan loved his pumpkin and insisted and giving it lots of hugs and kisses before we started the carving process. Once he realized the cool stuff inside the pumpkin he had even more fun.  That night after carving the pumpkin I had to leave it on the kitchen floor so Ethan could come by often and give it hugs.  Very cute!

Pumpkin Festival

This day we went to a Pumpkin Festival at Butler Farms - the same orchard we went raspberry picking a few months ago

.  They had the coolest slide I have e

ver seen - it was a tractor that they turned into a slide.  Here are some pictures of Ethan playing on it and some pictures of Ethan trying to throw a ball through one of those carnival things with holes in it.  Initially he was throwing from the standing on the ground - like you are supposed to.  However, our little cheater climbed up and just walked up the ramp to drop the balls through the holes.  It was really cute.  The last picture is Ethan with one of his favorite friends, Jane.

First Pony Ride

This was Falls Church Farm Day and Ethan got to ride a horse for the first time.  He did a great job holding on, probably thanks to all the carousel rides he has had for practice.  

Apple Picking

We also went apple picking with some friends.  Ethan had a great time eating lots of apples, climbing trees with friends and just running around.  

Watching TV with Auntie Misty...Sorta

After we got back from Florida, Ethan missed his Auntie Misty. So one day I put on a video for him and he suddenly jumps up and says "Auntie Misty!".  He runs and grabs a picture we have of her and sets it up next to him on the couch and watched TV "together".  It was the cutest thing!