CVS Bargains

CVS had some great deals this week! I was excited (what a surprise that I get excited about bargains ;) that CVS essentially paid me about 35 cents for the above items: 2 Glade Sense and Spray starter kits, 2 bags of chocolate covered peanuts (yum!), 1 each Covergirl foundation and blush, 4 Bounce dryer bars, 1 Tide liquid, 1 Tide stain release, and a Hershey's bar with almonds. If you'd ever like to get started CVSing, please let me know! I am so appreciative that my friend Leslie introduced me to shopping and couponing at CVS almost a year and a half ago. It has saved our family literally thousands of dollars.

Build a Bear Workshop

Ethan and I, along with our friends Chris and Sam, had a fun evening at the Build a Bear Workshop at our local mall. We had coupons for $5 off a $10 or more purchase which made the bears a really reasonable price ($5). The boys enjoyed picking out their bears, selecting a heart to put inside them before they were stuffed, and they got to push the pedal that controlled the flow of stuffing into their bears. Fortunately the boys were content to just look at the tons of outfits and play with the accessories that you could purchase for the bears (and not buy them). Ethan named his bear Cuddles and even received a birth certificate for his bear when we checked out. Cuddles is one of his favorite stuffed animals, and I think that it is neat that Ethan got to participate in "building" him!

Ethan cuddling with Cuddles just before bedtime

Ethan's First Video Game (at least it's educational)

I am a huge fan of LeapFrog educational toys. I have been really impressed with how engaging they are and how much Ethan has learned from them. He has really enjoyed his LeapPad, and I recently got a great bargain on Craigslist of a Leapster with 3 games for $20. Leapster is a handheld educational video game system, and there is a wide variety of games available featuring different themes and characters (Dora, Thomas, Cars, etc). I bought the Leapster intending to give it to him some time in the future because most of the games are targeted for ages 4-8, but Ethan saw it on our kitchen table and begged to play with it. I was surprised at how quickly he picked up how to use the system, and though some of the activities are over his head at this point, he is still able to play many of them. He has become very engrossed in the Leapster, so we have been limiting the amount of time that he can play with it. Hard to believe that my little guy just turned 3 and is already glued to a video game. At least he is learning from it!

Catching Up with Friends

Today we had a wonderful time catching up with "old" friends. Our friend Tiffany lives overseas now, and it is rare that we get the opportunity to see and catch up with her, so it was great to spend some time with her during this visit to the States. She and several other friends of our's who participated in a Bible study together for many years had a little reunion today at a local park. The weather was beautiful, all of the kids thoroughly enjoyed the huge playground, we picnicked, and the kids frolicked through the fields. Just kidding ;) I just wanted to the use the word "frolicked" because it struck me as funny. Can you tell that it's late as I'm writing this post, and I'm a bit slap-happy? In actuality, Tiffany's mom very thoughtfully provided Tiffany with beach balls and bubble toys to bring to the picnic for the kids. They had a blast creating bubbles, trying to catch them, and kicking/throwing the beach balls. Unfortunately, though I had a camera with me, I didn't remember to take any photos until just before we left.

Sara, Tiffany, and Ryan (the wind accentuated his spikey hairdo ;)

Ryan was getting a little fussy, so I tried to entertain him with the camera and took a few pics of him while he was in my lap. The resulting photos were hilarious.

The infamous furrowed brow look (he always furrows his brows when he sees the red-eye reduction light)

Fussy face. I'm going to be in trouble as he gets older. Who could tell this little guy "no" when he looks at you like this?

All tuckered out. We stopped at my parent's house after the picnic, and Ryan fell asleep on mom's lap (as did their dog Sasha).
What a fun Saturday!

Eleven Day Streak

Potty training had been going incredibly well for quite awhile, in fact Ethan went 11 days with no accidents. Woo hoo! Unfortunately though our trip to Toys R Us today was just too much distraction for him. I really can't blame him with floor to ceiling toys surrounding him on all sides AND a Thomas the Train table. This time I actually did have spare shorts on hand, so we were back to shopping shortly. We are so proud of him for having done such a great job lately, and he figured it out just in time for preschool!

Halloween Preview

I almost bought Ethan a Nemo costume from Craigslist for Halloween this year, but the person who listed it ended up selling it to someone else before I could finalize arrangements to purchase it. Since I had brought up being Nemo for Halloween, Ethan was then really excited about the idea, so I searched for a similar costume online. Unfortunately the Nemo costumes that I found on the Disney store's website and on ebay were significantly more than I wanted to spend on something that he'd wear to preschool for a very short time and then a few hours on Halloween. We loved the costumes that we got from Old Navy in the past (Ethan was a lion when he was 1 and a monkey when he was 2), so I started looking at Old Navy's costumes online. Ethan saw the lion costume online and decided that he'd rather be a lion than Nemo. Why not? I'm sure he doesn't remember that he had already been a lion when he was 1 year old. Just for fun, here's a Halloween preview along with a couple of photos from Halloween 2007. Ethan loved trying on his new costume and ran around the house roaring for quite awhile.

Halloween 2007

Ethan helped hand out candy but wasn't so sure at first about all these strangers in costume coming to our doorHalloween Preview 2009

Ethan's Second Day of Preschool

Today was Ethan's second day of preschool and, again, he loved it! This was his very first time doing "show and tell". Each child was supposed to bring in their favorite toy, book, or stuffed animal to share with the class. Ethan took "little bear", one of his most treasured stuffed animals. Ethan received little bear from a nurse when he had a stent placed in his tear duct at a surgery center just after he turned one. When I picked him up, he had a superstar sticker on his shirt, and one of his teachers told me that he got to be the superstar for the day and lead the line of kids from room to room. Every day the child who gets to be the superstar changes, and Ethan got to be the first one of the school year (probably because they're going alphabetically :)
I asked him lots of questions about his day again, and this is what I learned: He had doggy bones (probably Scooby Doo graham crackers) and pretzels for a snack, he made a sandwich out of playdoh, his friend Ian brought a bunny and another little girl brought a duck and bear for show and tell, the tireswing went too fast and he got his hands dirty on the playground, he didn't go potty there, and they must have discussed days of the week because he had a newfound interest in the calendar on our fridge and what the days of the week are when we got home.
Oh, and don't worry, I am not planning to give a moment-by-moment daily rundown of Ethan's preschool adventures all year. Just the first couple of days ;)

Ethan's New Puzzle

Ethan received a really neat new puzzle for his birthday (the most difficult one he's attempted yet). He worked it once or twice with Daddy and Grandma Q., and since then has put it together multiple times by himself. It is quite a busy picture and consists of 84 pieces. What's especially neat about this puzzle is that it is also a "Things to Find" challenge since once it is put together, you can search for the items that are shown along the left and right edges of the puzzle. So far Ethan has located a couple of these items in the puzzle, but he usually gets frustrated and ends up taking the puzzle apart instead of searching for them.

All Dressed Up

Ethan has been able to put on various articles of clothing by himself for awhile now, but today was the first time that Dan or I remember Ethan being able to entirely dress himself (underwear or Pull-Up, pajamas, shorts/jeans, and shirts). He can put socks on by himself too, but he usually asks us for help with those. Seems like he's been making lots of big strides toward independence over the past couple of months. It's kind of bittersweet, exciting to see him accomplishing things on his own, but sad to see him growing up all too fast.

Wash Down

Ethan absolutely loves anything related to Thomas the Train, and it cracks me up how some of the British lingo from the show works itself into his vocabulary. We've been through Mike's carwash with Ethan several times, and today when we drove by it in the van, Ethan said "Mommy, the van needs a wash down" just like Thomas and the other engines.

New Preschool Tote

The backpack turned out to be too large for Ethan to wear! It kept slipping off of his back, plus the teachers preferred that the kids bring totes that are easy to drop papers/notes/crafts in, so they recommended a bubble tote from Michael's. I thought that it would be fun for Ethan to decorate it himself too, so we bought a green bubble tote, Thomas the Train scrapbooking stickers, and alphabet rub-ons to create Ethan's new school bag. I rubbed the letters of his name on, and he decorated it with his Thomas stickers. He was very excited with the result! Here he is posing with his new, more personalized and functional, school tote.

Ethan's First Day of Preschool

I can't believe that this day has already arrived, Ethan's first day of preschool! Ethan came with me to visit and tour several preschools last March and April, so we've been talking with him about going to preschool for a long time now. He was very excited! We bought this backpack for him a long time ago at The Children's Place, and I didn't realize just how enormous it would look on him until this morning. He loved wearing it though! When I asked him to pose for some photos this morning, he gave me his "fake" smile. I was hoping to capture a genuine grin, but I was pleased that we were all ready to go in time to take some photos before loading into the van.
He seemed a little uncertain as he got in line with his classmates and I prepared to leave, but he had a great time. I was relieved that he was wearing the same clothing when I picked him up as when I dropped him off; Potty training has been going well! It was interesting what I could figure out about his day from his responses to my questions. This is what I learned: There are two Ethans in his class, he had muffins and crackers for a snack, he made a clothespin magnet for a craft, he got dizzy riding the tireswing on the playground, he played with playdoh, and he didn't go potty there (but did when we got home). Sometimes I wish that I could be a fly on the wall and get the full story :)

Interview with Ethan

Several friends posted these interview questions with their kid's answers on Facebook months ago. I had been meaning to "interview" Ethan and record his responses and finally got around to it. I'll warn you that he was distracted while I was asking him these questions, so not all of the responses make sense (this could also very well just be due to the fact that he is 3 ;)

1. What is something mom always says to you?
   School
   

2. What makes mom happy?
   Hugs
   

3. What makes mom sad?
   You do pee pees (anywhere other than the potty)
   

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
   Tinker toys
   

5. What was your mom like as a child?
   Elmo
   

6. How old is your mom?
   20 months
   

7. How tall is your mom?
   Big
   

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
   Clothes
   

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
   Go to the van
   

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
    Ethan
    

11. What is your mom really good at?
    Stores
    

12. What is your mom not very good at?
    Ethan's camera (he has his own digital camera)
    

13. What does your mom do for her job?
    Clean up toys
    

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
    Corn
    

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
    Hugs
    

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
    Elmo

17. What do you and your mom do together?
    Cars
    

18. How are you and your mom the same?
    Blue pants (we were both wearing jeans)
    

19. How are you and your mom different?
    Purple (I have no idea where this came from!)
    

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
    Hugs
    

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
    To school (can you tell we've been talking about preschool for awhile now?)
    

RIP Refrigerator/Freezer

Well, the title of this entry isn't exactly accurate. We were able to revive our refrigerator/freezer, but the repair was costly considering the problem was just a relay. For some reason our family does not do well with major appliances. We've had significant problems with our freezer, sump pump, clothes washer, water heater, furnace, and now our fridge/freezer. Ugh. I'm almost afraid to think too much about what might be next. The issues occurred when these appliances were 4 years, 1 year, 7 years, 5 years, 6 years, and 7 years old respectively. So none of them are particularly old (but, of course, they're old enough to be out of warranty). We are very glad that the fridge/freezer is up and running again and owe a huge thank you to Lori and Doug for allowing us to fill up their basement fridge with our perishable items until the repairman could make it to our house. Thank you! Hopefully we won't have to invite the repairman over to our house again any time soon ;)

See You Later

Sadly on Monday morning it was time to tell our friends goodbye again. Have I mentioned that I can't stand goodbyes? At least this is a "see you later" as we plan to meet like this every so often. Ethan had so much fun playing with Kara; he will certainly miss her a lot.

Ethan and Kara's goodbye hug
Of course we needed to get another photo of the kids in front of a fireplace! It worked out very well for us to stay at a hotel that offered suites, so we had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a living/dining/kitchen area. The adults were able to put all of the kids down to sleep in their pack n plays and then enjoy playing games and cards and visiting into the wee hours. If the weather had been cooler, we would have liked to actually use the fireplace too.

The baby boys in front of the fireplace. They look about the same size even though Kyle is 4 1/2 months younger than Ryan, don't they? Kyle is at the 80 or 90th percentile for weight and Ryan is at the 5th.

Pics of our family
Can you believe that I think these are the first of all 4 of us together? How sad that it took this long.

Ethan winked in this one

Ben, Nicole, Kara, and Kyle

Until we meet again!

Grant's Farm and Fun with Bud the Elephant

Today we visited Grant's Farm (named for and previously owned by Ulysses S. Grant, but now owned by the Busch, as in Anheuser-Busch, family). The farm is home to some of the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale horses as well as a wide variety of other animals. After we parked we took a tram ride around the farm and saw Ulysses S. Grant's homestead and lots of animals.
We also saw the two shows that Grant's Farm offers, Animal Encounters and the Elephant Show. The Animal Encounters show included birds of prey that flew over the audience, a parrot who could do tricks, a pig that ran through an obstacle course, and rats that raced along human race tracks. Yes, they asked for 4 volunteers to stand with their arms extended and touching so that rats could race along them. Ewww! I had to work with a rat during a psychology Research Methods class in college and hated it. They had no problem soliciting volunteers though. We were in the front row, so we got a close-up view of the animals including a huge owl. An interesting fact that we learned is that owl's eyes are very large in proportion to their heads (and brains), so if human's eyes were comparable in eye:head size ratio, our eyes would be as large as softballs and weigh 5 lbs each! No wonder their eyesight is amazing.
The elephant show was really interesting and entertaining too. We learned that elephants can pick up objects as small as dimes with their trunks entirely by feel. They have large and intricate vein systems in their ears and cool themselves off by holding out and flapping their ears. They can extend their trunks to reach somewhere around 22 feet (I don't recall the exact distance). This male elephant, Bud, is one of only 4 in the U.S. that the public can interact directly with due to his laid-back nature and the fact that he has had a procedure done that reduces his testosterone levels. In fact, for a very small fee, you could take a tour of the building and facilities that house Bud and also feed, pet, and take photos with him. What a neat opportunity! Ethan and I got tickets for this experience and really enjoyed it.

Bud during the elephant show

The tour that Ethan and I took. These enormous bars are required for the safety of Bud's trainers and caretakers. This building was fairly new because Bud had been "playing with" and bending the slightly smaller bars in his old building.The photos below are of Ethan and my turn to feed Bud carrots. Ethan was a little hesitant at first, so we got to see Bud's outstretched trunk trying to reach the carrot.

It was neat to feel the suction as Bud pulled the carrot up to his snout. Ethan quickly became more comfortable and approached Bud more closely.Petting Bud was neat too. His skin was not as rough as I had imagined, but he has huge black whiskers on his trunk that were kind of wirey.Bud was great at posing with us for some photos!

We also got to see lemurs, guinea pigs, foxes, kangaroos, tortoises, goats, horses, camels, llamas, Clydesdale horses, and several others. They also had food vendors, and since Grant's Farm is owned and operated by the Busch family, each adult could get 2 Anheuser-Busch beverages free. Dan tried one of the brews and liked it. We would like to visit Grant's Farm again sometime in the future. Everyone had a great time!

Magic in St. Louis

We went to St. Louis for Labor Day weekend and met some close friends there who moved out of state last year. It was fun to get to spend time with Ben, Nicole, Kara, and Kyle and especially neat to see Ethan and Kara reunited as they loved to play together when our families lived nearby. We met at our hotel on Friday night, and on Saturday took the kids to The Magic House (a children's museum). I was really impressed with all of the neat, very interactive exhibits at The Magic House. Since it was a holiday weekend though, it was incredibly crowded. Thankfully a friend from college who lives in St. Louis warned us that it is not stroller friendly, so we were prepared with the little boys in Baby Bjorn carriers which made it easier to get around.

Daddies with the baby boys :)

The kids were intrigued by this for quite awhile

There is a room devoted entirely to bubbles and bubble displays like this neat platform where you can be surrounded by an enormous bubble (the kids weren't totally sure about what was happening)
Very cool!
There was a huge hands-on pretend kitchen, pizza parlor, library, grocery, TV studio, car mechanic shop, and more!Ethan and Kara shopping together at the grocery (there were even pretend check-out aisles)
This pretend mechanic shop was really neat. The kids could remove and put wheels back on, change the license plate, remove or install the muffler and other car parts, and add pretend washer fluid, etc.There was a three-story plant "maze" that Ethan climbed up (he only climbed one story though because there were too many big kids in there)
Ethan loved making handprint impressions on this giant board (I'm not sure what it's called, but you can push these long, individual plastic pieces from either side of the board)

I would highly recommend this museum to any St. Louis visitors. It was awesome! The admission price was really reasonable too (only $8.50 per person), and we easily found buy one get one free coupons online. We will definitely visit there again (though not on a holiday weekend).

Visit to the Museum and Mommy's Absent-Mindedness

Today we went to our local children's museum, and I could have sworn that I had packed two extra pairs of shorts/underwear for Ethan *just in case*. He had done well out and about the previous several days, but he still had only used a public potty a couple of times. Well, we were only at the museum a short time before he had a little accident. We changed his clothes (and put him in underwear instead of a Pull-Up since I could have sworn I had packed two extra pairs of shorts). He rode the carousel, then wandered around the nearby exhibits only to have another accident. I thought to myself, good thing we have another extra pair of shorts and a Pull-Up only to find that there were no more pairs of shorts in Ethan's bag. Uh oh. Since I was certain that these extra shorts must have fallen out of Ethan's bag somewhere, Dan ran out to the van in the parking garage to check there and we also retraced our steps. No shorts. I knew that they sold t-shirts in the museum gift shop, but when we asked were informed that they don't sell shorts. Thankfully the cashier directed us to the concierge desk where she said they might have some spare clothes in case of an emergency. The concierge was very nice and managed to find some too short and probably girl's, but passable, jeans for Ethan to wear. Phew! That was really nice because we were then able to stay much longer and enjoy several more exhibits before heading home.

Ethan got to ride the carousel again,

play some instruments and dance with Grandma Q. in the toddler area,
and explore a new exhibit with a giant crocodile (among other exhibits that we visited).

Oh, and those missing shorts? Found them where I'd inadvertently set them down at home when I ran upstairs to grab our camera :P