Roomate Reunion

Kelly was in town the last couple of weeks from Florida and Kate came in for an overnight visit with Andy and the girls. We got together Saturday morning for breakfast and it was so great to have us all back together in one place. It has been way too long! It was fun to get all the kids together...Libby and Sophie have turned into such adorable little girls.



Baby Kate was the hit of the party.



Libby, Kate, Ethan, Sophie and Ryan

Heart for Mommy

Ethan likes to play with his play-doh after breakfast each day while I do the dishes. He called me over the other day to show me the "heart" he made for me. I am sure it was purely accident, but it does resemble a heart, so I had to take a picture.

Meeting Baby Kate

We went to meet David and Karli's new baby sister Kate. Michelle is doing awesome and is just so breezy with the three kids. Kate is adorable of course and Ethan was loving her up. The only person he was loving up more was Karli, much to her Daddy's dismay. He kept catching them kissing in the corner, the tent, or in the playhouse. I think he was truly a little upset by this which was funny. I think he is a bit worried now with two girls...he kept mumbling about weddings and boyfriends. It wasn't just Ethan though...when we asked Karli to sit next to him for this picture, she just sat down right in his lap.



and baby Kate...

Mickey's Birdhouse

We are taking a family trip to Disney World this winter. I absolutely can't wait. I am trying to be realistic with my expections as Ethan will only be two and Sophie one when we go. I know they are young and I know there will be plenty of meltdowns. But Ethan loves Mickey so much right now that I just can't help but get excited.

Anyway, Grandpa had built Ethan a birdhouse awhile back. I put it out this summer and he helped me fill it with seed and hang it up for the birds. Well, I didn't really get the fact that it was a bird"house" and not a bird"feeder". Not even when I couldn't really figure out how to stop the seed from pouring out of the house. Needless to say, the squirrels reveled in my stupidity. Within 24 hours, there was nothing left of the birdhouse except for the roof and a couple of walls.
So, of course Grandpa built Ethan another birdhouse that is bigger and better than ever. It has Mickey on it and is now hanging in our tree sans birdseed. I thought I would take a picture just in case the squirrels came back thinking they were getting another meal. So far so good!

and lets throw in a picture of Grandma and Grandpa that I like

21 Months

Ethan is 21 months old now. I know I say it every time, but I can't believe it. He will be two in just three months. He is definitely acting like a two year old. He now deliberately does things that he knows he shouldn't. He is currently inpunishable. Time outs don't work because he just thinks everything is so funny. Joe puts him in the corner and he just stares at the wall singing "Ethan looking at the corner".

You tell him he can't touch something and he walks around touching everything around that object saying "touch, touch touch". At the beginning of summer when I put my flowers out, he was picking them. I told him he couldn't touch them but he could smell them. For awhile then, everything I told him not to touch he would smell. "Ethan, no touch...Ethan smell". Okay whatever, just don't touch it.

He is still pinching cheeks, but now he is doing it and immediately saying "sorry Mommy...kisses and hugs". So he knows he shouldn't be doing it, but thinks he will make it better by giving hugs and kisses. I keep telling him he doesn't have to hurt me to get kisses. I try to refuse the kisses, but that is near impossible. Any suggestions???

Aside from all the naughtiness...he is becoming more and more fun every day. He sings himself to sleep every night...mostly happy birthday to anyone from the chameleon in his animal book to Uncle Ed. It is really very funny to hear all the people he talks about when he is going to sleep or waking up. He woke up this morning yelling "too much water, too much juice, too much milk...all wet...need new pull up". I wish there was a record button on his monitor.

He just gets so excited about the littlest things. It makes me appreciate everything so much more. If we are sitting down eating dinner, he will say "mommy sitting, daddy sitting, ethan sitting...eating dinner!!" like it is the best thing in the world, which makes me realize that it really is.

His new obsessions are counting, colors and animals. He is constantly telling us how many and of what colors things are. He is not always correct with the number....he can count to 20 but can only actually count things up to about 6. After that, the answer to "how many" is always just "lots". He has a favorite animal book that has some not so common animals in it. So today we were visiting a friend of ours and he pointed to a bird in a picture and told us "that a puffin". What the heck is a puffin?

So since this has become a very random thoughts post, I will leave it with a couple of random pictures of Ethan at 21 months....

Summer Cousin Fun

Sophie joined Ethan in the baby pool at my parents for the first time. She seemed to really like it except for the fact that Ethan kept splashing her. I don't think he is used to seeing her with her shirt off either, because he insisted on showing us her "nipples". Of course after seeing how funny uncle Kevin thought that was, the next time we were at the neighborhood pool he proceded to tell me whenever he saw a "nipple". Loudly.



Racing around the neighborhood in their cars. They are so like siblings...Ethan had brought his Elmo along for the ride. He let Sophie hold it while he stopped to throw rocks in the lake. I told him as soon as she dropped it the first time he could have it back. I have never seen that girl hold onto something so tightly after that. She dropped it literally in her driveway...it seemed so intentional, like "haha..now you can have it back" just at the very end of the walk.

Holy Moly Ravioli!

Ravioli is Ethan's favorite food to cook in his new kitchen. We bought it for him as his birthday present because all he wants to do is make eggs, apples, hot dogs, ice cream, and ravioli every day. All in that order, and sometimes noodles and bread are thrown in there also. The one day we were eating at a restaurant and I ordered him ravioli. The waitress put it down in front of him and he yelled out "Holy Moly Ravioli!" Since then, he has been in love with ravioli.

He would cook in the kitchen all day if he could. He also apparently thinks that I should be cooking for him all day, too. We were eating breakfast the other day and he finished what he was eating, looked at me and said "More eggs, chef".

Here is a picture of him making me my morning coffee. If only he could make the real thing!

Baby Luke

Luke Michael Toman arrived about 12 hours earlier than expected on June 23rd. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 8 oz and 21.5 inches long. Michele was scheduled for a c-section the next morning, but Luke couldn't wait to meet his Mommy, Daddy and big sister Anna. Ethan now has a new facination. He can't stop talking about baby Luke.



And of course a picture of Anna and Ethan

Gobble Gobble

Everyday on the way to Grandma's house in the morning we see cows, horses, goats, baby ducks, a deer or two, and now...baby turkeys! Who would have thought that we would see two turkeys with their 19 babies crossing the road. And who is obsessed enough with taking pictures that she would just happen to have her camera with her to photograph the 21 turkeys.