Ethan 5 Year Interview and Stats

Ethan (aka Little Buddy)

Height: 3' 10 1/2" (97%)
Weight: 49 lbs 14 oz (93%)
Sleeping: Night-11 1/2 hours (7:00 pm-6:30 am), falls asleep almost as soon as his head hits the pillow.  No nap, with Brielle's school schedule, but will fall asleep in the car when he is low on sleep.
Words: still goes to speech twice a week, but now can say all the sounds appropriately for his age. Is learning to read (sounding out CVC words), has improved his ability to memorize (knows all the Articles of Faith), but still has a hard time with numbers.
Common Phrases: 'Your Majesty, I bow', 
'that's baby-ish' 
can I listen to music?' 
'cept' (except)
'this is the best day ever!'
Movement: Is constantly on the move, jumping, running, climbing...can't hold still unless he is asleep.
Interests: 
Money-has a collection of money from around the world.  
Building 'experiments'-with marbleworks, legos, random kitchen supplies, etc. 
Animals-his before bed question is often something about an animal 'how long does ___ live,' or 'what is the fastest animal?'

Ethan's responses to 5-year-old Interview Questions

What is your name? Ethan

When is your birthday? March 9th

How old are you? 5

What is your favorite color? Blue (his favorite color is still green, he just wanted to play a trick on me he told me after....he loves playing tricks.) :)
What is your favorite song? 'I am a Child of God"

What is your favorite food? Grilled Cheese

What is your favorite animal? Tigers

What is your favorite movie? Planes

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate Chip

Who is your best friend? Mom and Dad

What is your favorite book? When the one plane crashed the two buildings down. (Fireboat)

What is your favorite thing to do? Go to the park and play

When do you go to bed? nighttime

What does your Daddy do? woks at work. takes care of mice.

What does your Mommy do? Make food for people.

Preston Crawling Progress

8 months


9 months

Brielle on the bike

First time riding with no training wheels!

9 months old

I still have more to post about Ethan's birthday, but it just occurred to me that Preston is 9 months old today!see the drool...yep, that is normal, everyday fashion for him.

At 9 months:

-has one tooth, second one on the bottom is about to pop through.

-just figured out how to crawl forward this week

-pulls himself up to stand...wants to be standing all the time

-sporadic sleeper (just dropped 3rd nap.  Sleeps roughly 11.5 hours (in chunks) at night and 2 hours in 2 naps during the day)

-nurses frequently (about 9 times a day) but is fast and efficient 

-is making the 'dada' babbling sounds

-favorite cuddle blankie is the burp cloth

-likes table food.  Prefers to be fed over self feeding.

Happy Birthday to the Birthday Boy!

The first thing he did this morning was run downstairs and measure himself on our growth chart wall to see how much bigger he was now that he was 5.

He got dressed for church, then picked out Preston's clothes to make sure they would match.

He was very excited to not do any jobs on his birthday.  (He didn't realize he got a little gypped with that one, as his birthday fell on a Sunday this year, when he doesn't have chores to do anyway.)

He planned out his birthday menu, made his party favors, and mapped out his 'camp-fire' cake to make sure we had all the candy supplies needed to put on top.

...More info to come after I upload pictures.

Sleepover at Papa and Grandma's house

Unlimited story time, staying up late, four kids in one room, pancake breakfast...wonderful memories made each time.

Morro Bay-January

Over Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend we went up to Morro Bay.  James wasn't able to come, because he still had work, but the kids and I joined some other members of his family.  It turned out to be a perfect get away as it was the same weekend as the fire.  The kids and I escaped the smoke, while James was still here to hold down the fort and make sure our house wasn't burning.

geocaching at the Elfin Forest

Because of our quick evacuation, I didn't have time to exactly pack for the trip.  We did pretty well with what I had thrown into the car.  They only major things I hadn't gotten was our toiletries and food. A quick stop to the store took care it.

The kids loved being there with their cousins and Grandma and Papa Finlay and also Aunt Megan, Alana, Steve and Pat (Steve's Mom).

It was a gorgeous weekend to spend time playing at the beach.

We went to crab beach, as we often like to do when the tide is low.  Ethan continues his amazing ability to get the most muddy in the least amount of time.

The kids love that they get to watch cartoons while we're on vacation.

And they love eating out on the balcony (you can't blame them with the amazing view!)

the babies...they think they are big kids too.