ck meets the bumbo chair

brian has deemed karina "ck" for "cousin karina"... but it could also be for "cute karina". :) ethan shared his bumbo baby seat with her today, which he has not used in forever because of his fat fat legs! from the day we got it, his legs have gotten stuck in that thing! my first true blog post was dedicated to ethan's fun new chair, and that was a year ago this week! wow, how time flies! anyway, karina seemed to like her new view of the world. :) maybe she'll get more use out of it than ethan did!

cousins! (karina looks a little frightened...
she knows what ethan is capable of doing to her!!) :)

nope, your legs are still too fat, buddy!

tonite makes three!

ethan survived his THIRD haircut tonite... yes third. three haircuts before the 15 month marker... the girls out there are all pretty jealous, ethan!! auntie kristie had a great idea-- to let him watch a video to distract him while she went to work. this worked much better than the torture chamber that happened last time! he did well till "wheels on the bus" came on, and then he wanted to go "up and down, up and down"....ha. it's still probably not as short as some of the grandparents would prefer it to be, but it seems pretty short to me. he wouldn't be ethan without those curls in the back! i'm sure his hair will be in his eyes again in like one week, but oh well. his hairdresser is cheap. :)

feel free to reminisce with me about his first and second haircuts... i can't believe how much he's grown since then. here's some pictures from tonite's trim, but first a few of his long locks...

it was definitely time for a trim...now on with the show!

the mop that needs a chop!

apparently ethan LIKES his long hair...

"well... what do you think?"

"aww, i'm glad you like it..."

"did ya leave my curls in the back?"

"i can SEE!"

gram getting some practice with a baby girl!
cousin karina says she's doing a pretty good job!

strollers for dummies

my sweet friend tyler has indefinitely loaned us her double stroller since her 2 girls are pretty much out of the stroller phase.... it's wonderful!!! and it's one less thing to have to shop for before caroline comes!! ethan and i took it for a test walk around the neighborhood this morning (SUCH a beautiful day!), and it drove great. :) i'm sure people driving by were wondering why i was pushing around 1 kid in a double stroller, but oh well. maybe they saw my big belly and put 2 and 2 together...

anyway, when tyler gave me the stroller, she showed me all the features, but that was over a week ago, and i'm pregnant... so i wanted something i could refer to when i had questions about the stroller. i found a manual for a similar style online, and i was browsing the explanations of the features.... and i came across the "folding and unfolding" instructions. this is important to know, i thought... so i read on. boy oh boy, what would i have done without these valuable instructions?????? check out the first sentence....

photobooth... a great way to waste your time

i mentioned how much fun photo booth was while we were visiting eric & kristi... well, brian's mom's new laptop also has this great feature, so i thought we'd share some hilarious sights of our family! in an instant, your child can turn from alien to a really really fat kid... and your husband can go from having the jaw of jay leno to gaining 50 lbs to looking like mr. tumnus from chronicles of narnia! (ahhhh!) it's perfect entertainment on a road trip, as you can see ethan in his car seat. you can take normal pictures too, as you can see from the first one up there, but where's the fun in that? enjoy these pictures, and if you get a new mac laptop (or imac, i think), you too can have this much fun!!

happy birthday, meredith!!

meredith annette is here! check out kristi's blog for more pictures of their beautiful baby girl... she is the spitting image of her big sister's newborn pictures! praise God for babies. :)

c'mon baby!

well, kristi is finally in labor!!!! i talked to her at 9 this morning, and her contractions were about 10 minutes apart... i haven't heard anything since then, but i'm hoping to hear the good news of this whopping big baby's birth sometime today! i guess this means i can't turn my phone off during our afternoon nap like i usually do. :) i'll keep you posted!!

while we're all waiting, check out this beautiful post she wrote a few days ago... you'll be glad you did. :)

now, c'mon baby!

fun times with good friends

we made it home safe and sound... and tired! i have so many pictures i want to post... i'll do a select few (haha) tonite... we had so much fun visiting eric and kristi and the kids. i was reaaaaaaally hoping that baby #3 would come while we were visiting, but he/she is just too comfy inside mommy right now. (kristi begs to differ!) it was such a blessing to see our kids play together again and to just be together with our friends. we worshiped with them at their huge, wonderful church on sunday, and one night we went downtown to pig out on bbq!! we walked so far i was sure that kristi was gonna have that baby!! i got to go with her and lydia to her midwife appointment, which was some fun girl time while brian stayed home with the boys... on the last night we were there, kristi and i got this second wind around 10:30 to start hanging pictures and arranging things on her mantle... so typical of us!! we also took some HYSTERICAL pictures with eric's laptop on photo booth... once he sends them to me, i will surely post them. so stinkin hilarious........ i almost forgot the kids' "dance party" right before bedtime-- how is it that dads know just how to get the kids all wound up before bed??? it was a pretty funny sight.

it was hard to leave, but at the same time, i was ok because i know that they are where they need to be. God has blessed them time and time again just in the short couple of months since they've moved. as much as i wish they were still just down the street, i am thankful for cell phones and email to keep in touch. we're already talking about meeting somewhere in january so we can see the new babies! i'm so thankful for our precious friends. i could have stayed a month.

during our travels, we also visited other friends and witnessed the marriage of john and jennifer.... i'll post those pictures soon, hopefully! enjoy these for now.

kristi- 38 weeks, me- 31 weeks

playtime in steven's room...
notice he's modeling the lastest in toddler boy bags!

the buddies together again!

can ya tell it's naptime?

after our looong walk downtown!

the kids were so excited about the fountain!

lydia wouldn't stop talking about throwing pennies in the fountain!
then she found rocks to throw,
which saved her mom and dad some money. :)

this one of ethan is a little blurry,
but it's just such a precious shot to me.

here's the dance party gettin' started...

there was no stopping these maniacs!

is that my son?

steven strikes a pose... don't hurt yourself, buddy!

i love this picture....

we love you!!!!

on the road....

well, i forgot to say that we'd be out of town for the past week... we've been traveling to see friends and to share in the joy of our friend john's wedding. right now we are LOVING being with eric and kristi and their sweet kids. we leave wednesday morning to come home. the time with them has just flown by, as i knew it would... but we are thankful for the blessing of technology to make the miles between us seem shorter. i'll write more when i get home- well, at least that's my goal. i'll definitely post some pictures of our journey.

and yes, i know i need to post those other videos. i'll do that sometime before the baby comes. haha.

hope you are all having a great week so far.

cuteness caught on tape

my son has been doing some pretty cute stuff recently... and we happened to capture it on video. i have only uploaded one so far, so check back later for the other 2. in this first one, i think brian has ethan confused w/ a cat...