Ethan started 4th grade this week. Where has the time gone?? He's now officially on the big kids side of the playground and he's officially too cool to hug me good-bye on the first day of school. Although he may have been too cool for that a few years ago. He's making his own lunches for school now. Today he was going to put cereal and milk in his thermos until I reminded him that it'd probably be totally mushy by lunchtime. He agreed, so now he's eating dry cereal from his thermos for lunch today. Bet you're jealous.

After going back-to-school shopping he put together his different outfits and what he thought would look good together. He even layed them out on the floor. This is the first year he's actually cared that much. He even got skinny jeans this year which I guess are the thing to get. Which is funny they're called skinny jeans cause on him they're totally loose. He not only had to tighten them from the inside but he also needs to wear a belt with them. So much for "skinny" jeans.

These are two of his good buddies who also happen to be in his class. Again, they're in 4th grade, so they're a little too cool to smile in this picture. But he came home saying that his teacher is the best he's ever had. It'll be a good year! We love you Ethan!

Then there's this little guy. Or shall I call him my little duckling. It doesn't matter what he's doing, if he senses that I'm leaving the room he'll pop up and follow right behind me. I sometimes feel like a mother duck.

He also keeps me really busy. When he's sleeping, I really just think of that time as the time he's recharging his batteries. He's 18 months now and he's becoming quite the character. His nursery teacher at church calls him a little goat because he climbs on everything. He's also become really attached to his binkys and if you'll notice from these pictures, a lot of the time he has one binky in his mouth and he'll stick his finger in the hole of the other and walk around everywhere with it. Then he'll switch them out and put the one on his finger in his mouth and the other one goes on his finger. He's got quite the system. He's calls them "didi"s. He climbs on the backs of chairs, the coffee table, the couches. Luckily he hasn't figured out how to move chairs to climb higher but I know it's just a matter of time. He enjoys giving us a heart attack when he perches himself on the arm of the couches. It's so scary. But really, he thinks it's funny when we tell him "no" and jump up to grab him. He'll fling himself back on the couch and laugh. Pulling things out of any drawers and cupboards is one of his favorite things to do. If he hurts himself and I react and make sure he's ok, he'll usually reenact what he just did and do a fake cry. It's very entertaining. It's also cool to realize how much he's understanding. When I tell him we need to change his diaper he'll walk right to his changing table or when I tell him he needs a bath he'll try and take off his shirt and walk to the bathroom. It's really fun to watch. Needless to say we LOVE him to pieces, he's very entertaining, and he definitely keeps us on our toes.