Christmas 2008

Here is Ethan during his first Christmas:

opening presents at grandma marx's house

his loot kept getting piled on top of him, he put each item into his month

cousin dakkota loving his very, hungry catepillar from ethan

opening presents at grandma and grandpa rank's

intrigued by my new vibrating teether

ethan and grandma opening some clothes...yippee!

ethan and his musical flowers

Ethan LOVES his DRAGON

Days after xmas and still LOVING the DRAGON

Ethan and I (hey, paula---it's k-a-y-l-y-n-e---for future reference...hehhehe) have been sick since christmas...ICK! Luckily, mine wasn't as bad as it could've been, I must've known that I couldn't be sick so that I could take better care of Ethan. While he was sick, Ethan lounged in his pj's most of the days...and even though he wasn't feeling well, he was still in a good mood...here is a pic of him being cute in his pj's.

Let it SNOW, let it SNOW, let it SNOW!!!!

Today we had a snow day!!! It was GREAT just to spend a day at home with Ethan, and relax before the hustle of the holiday season! It has been snowing ALL DAY...maybe school will be cancelled tomorrow as well. Since we didn't get to use Ethan's snow suit for the tree hunt, I put him in it today, and took him outside (when there was a brief stop of falling snow).

Here are some other recent pics of Ethan:

Yes, this is how he fell asleep today

Trying out my hat from the Miccio Family

Finding my toes

YUMMY....

Rice Cereal!!!

Today was a BIG day for Ethan. After getting the OK from the Dr., we gave some solids to Ethan today....not much....but still, what a BIG MILESTONE! He didn't seem to like it much, he wasn't quite sure what was going on, and even cried a few times. We tried to get pics of the sad face he would make as he smacked it around, but we couldn't:(
Speaking of the Dr. Ethan weighs in at whopping 16.7 lbs!!! Can you believe that?!?!?!??!

Bath time, as you can see...it's not just his cheeks that are hiding the pounds...hehehhehe

Snuggle time after a nap...I LOVE this time of day:)

Loving the Christmas tree (all 16 feet of it)

Tummy Time

Resting before tummy time...conserving his energyI see you (looks kinda like his cousin Dakkota in this pic)

Doing well.......

Frustration turning into a temper tantrum....

Told you so....look at THAT FACE...hehhehe

Happy 4 Months, Ethan!

Here is his updated pic:
Here is last months pic:

New Traditon

Last week, I got a nice surprise from Grandma Rank. A little background knowledge, GMA Rank collects Swarovski Crystal--it's always fun to look at the new pieces, and to see the case all lit up. Well, she has been keeping a secret from me...for 8 years!!!!!!! She started a collection for me---the annual Snowflake:) She started it when Brock and I got engaged and planned to give it to me when we got into our first house....WHAT A NICE SURPRISE and Way to keep it a secret. Here are a few pics of my new bling:

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, part 2

"Um Dad, this tree wouldn't fit in our backyard."
"Russ, it's not going in the backyard; it's going in our living room."

This is from one of my favorite christmas movies... it may not be the exact line...but if you know the movie, you know the line.

As previously stated, we went and got our tree this last weekend. We decided that height wasn't an issue because our house has a 20 foot stairwell, and we could always cut it to size when we got home. I was happy with a 10-11 foot tree, but somehow we ended up not trimming it down (brock says that doug tricked/confused him). Once it was up, it didn't look so BIG. Until Brock started stringing lights on it....we had about 5 strands of 100 or less lights on them. Brock told me to get some more...i bought 4 more strands of 100 at Michaels....brought them home. The tree swallowed them in an instant. Brock sent me to Lowes for 4 more boxes of 100. A few minutes passed and he asked for MORE........not wanting to go out again, I bought 6 more. I had to leave to pick up my mom....when I got home, brock was fumming. he burnt a fuse (he had attached all the lights into ONE BIG strand)---i can picture our electrical box turning a mile a minute like christams vacation...trully a griswold moment. On the ground was only 2 boxes of lights left..yes, only 2!!!!! I knew the tree was BIG, but really this big? So, I had to go BACK to Lowes to find a magic cord that Doug told brock about. Found the cord....and had to tackle the lights from the top down...UGh!!!!!!!! We ended up taking off 3 strands of light:) This tree ate up our ENTIRE sunday.....if you know me, sundays are my day to prepare for the upcoming week...i am still playing catch-up...hence, the late posts on the blog---ugh!!!! Anyways, here is a picture of the tree... i had to get it into 2 pictures because it wouldn't fit in one shot...hehehhehe (it's about 14-15 feet tall) ....maybe taller as I look at it. At least our first christmas with Ethan and inour house will always be remembered......Oh, yeah...brock kept complaining of the sap...luckily, he didn't pull my hair with it......LOL!!!!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree part 1

Rather than moving all these pics, I just left them as I loaded them; look down below for the written portion of this blog.

Steve and Lauren making some Hot Cocoa

Love this pic of the girls walking in the foggy forest
Marilyn and Robin being silly

Brock with a GREAT background

Laurens, Robin and Steve

JUMP ON! I'll just fling you across the field...........uh, no way!

The only Snow...

Ethan and I hanging out in the warm car......

Loading the tress, notice how much bigger the trees are compared to the truck...eck!

Lets just trim another 2 feet off 'em before we load them

White dog and snow = white dog, white dog and mud= DIRTY, HAPPY Dog

Warming up with so yummy food

Our yearly tradition is to go up in the mountains and chop down our tree. We were excited to have Ethan see his first snow (last year, we couldn't make it to the usual spot because the snow was too deep). This year, it was nothing but MUD, no snow :( However, it was still fun!!!! Ethan's many hats kept him warm. The yummy drinks/spaghetti kept us warm as we searched for the PERFECT tree.

Brock cutting down our tree