The Biznards

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Ode To Ethan On His 5th Birthday

Actually yesterday was his birthday but I was too tired to do this last night. I'm pretty sure Ethan was more excited about his birthday than he was for Christmas. For the last couple of weeks he's been asking everyday how many more days he has until his birthday. Its actually quite shocking that my baby is actually 5 years old.

Top 10 things I love about Ethan:

1. He's a jokester and a tease. He loves to make things up and then follow it up with JUST KIDDING!

2. He's a rule follower. Lets be honest that just makes parenthood a lot easier.

3. He's very social and loves to be with people and people just like him.

4. He's the most perceptive kid ever. You cannot get anything past him. He'll take my face in his hands and smell my breath and ask me where I got the chocolate, if he hears any paper crinkling even from another room he'll ask if he can have some because he thinks its candy, etc. He's very aware of others feelings and will frequently ask me "Are you frustrated mom?"

5. Whatever the "toy of the moment" is he'll want to sleep with it. Including a box of mac n' cheese or can of soup that has a superhero on it.

6. He makes sure that we say a prayer for all 3 meals of the day and he double checks if we should be saying them for our snacks too.

7. He just says funny things as you can see from some of the examples on the right side of my blog.

8. I know he'll be the best sibling. He LOVES babies. Now if only we could get him one.

9. He loves to quote lines from movies. I'm always surprised at the lines he remembers.

10. And most of all he brings so much joy and purpose to my life.

Happy Birthday Ethan! WE LOVE YOU!!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Tagged

Emilee tagged me a while ago and I am finally up to the challenge.

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 years ago (Jan 1998) I was still on my mission in Argentina.

5 things on my to-do list today (I'll do tomorrow since the day is almost over):
1. Take Ethan to Preschool
2. After dropping him off, hurry to my dance class at the YMCA (love it!)
3. After dance class, start working at 10
4. Pick Ethan up from Preschool and rush back to the YMCA to finish working until 2pm
5. Go home

snacks I enjoy:
1. String Cheese
2. Cheez its
3. Unsalted Peanuts
4. Cheetos (my guilty pleasure)
5. Pudding Pops (They disappeared for years and I just rediscovered them last summer)

things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Pay off all debt
2. Travel
3. I'm with Emilee - Get a new wardrobe
4. Do something charitable

3 of my bad habits:
1. Biting my nails
2. Touching my cold feet to Chad's warm feet in bed (he hates that)
3. Blogging

5 places I have lived:
1. Alamo, CA
2. Rexburg, ID
3. Boise, ID
4. Fullerton, CA
5. Provo, UT

5 jobs I have had:
1. Door to door salesman - In 1999 I actually pounded the pavement with my awesome friend Carrie and sold food storage. It cracks me up that we did that.
2. House painter - This is what I did when I didn't make any money with the food storage gig.
3. Server at Marie Callenders and The Brick Oven
4. Customer Service at Ancestry.com (Hated it)
5. Sears Call Center - This is the one job where I actually got fired because I was a few minutes late 3 times. I didn't have a car and so I had to take the bus and was at its mercy. Oh those wonderful college days. All the jobs were some that I had during college - and the list goes on.

5 things people don't know about me:
1. The people that know me now think I've always loved exercising. I actually only started exercising about 4 - 4 1/2 years ago. Before that, I would try once in while but never liked it.
2. I took tap dancing in my early teenage years - I even forgot about that until I started thinking of what to say for this thing.
3. I thought I was chinese. My friends parents asked me what I was (they're Irish) and I didn't know so I went home and asked my dad. I swear he told me I was Chinese and I went back and told my friends and they laughed and never let me live it down.
4. When I was little I was pigeon-toed and to correct them I had to wear braces on my legs.
5. In junior high I was named "Class Clown" - I know its hard to believe. I was a lot more goofy in my younger years.

I tag Karen, Emily Bybee, Courtney, Katie Konold, Shelby

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Enjoying the Snow and Some Frozen Grass

Pardon the not so great film job. In this clip I stopped Ethan's tube with my foot and he flew a foot or so off the tube.

As you can see Boise doesn't get a lot of snow that actually sticks, but we gotta work with what we've got. Among my many o' resolutions this year one of mine is to take advantage of having a ski mountain close by and to actually ski (or attempt to snowboard in my case). I'd love for Ethan to try it too.

Christmas in Cali

We got to go to California and spend Christmas with Chad's family this year. Here's a brief synopsis:

We got to enjoy the nice warmer weather, I can't say it was actually warm but at least it was warmer than Idaho. Here's Chad and I at Ocean Beach in SF. We stopped there on our way to the SF Zoo. Yes, it was the zoo with the crazy tiger. Fortunately for us we were there just a few days before the tiger got out and attacked.

I loved this sign in the petting zoo area. As you can see in the picture below the sheep took their break area seriously. We found all these guys hanging out in this area out of their own free will - there's nothing but that rope holding them in there.

After the zoo we went down to Ghiradelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf. There was a whole group of bikers strung up with Christmas lights. I thought that was quite festive of them.

Chad and Ethan are enjoying some questionable fish and chips on the streets of SF.

I got to see my good friend Shelby who I haven't seen for 4 years. It was so fun to see her and besides the 2 extra kids that weren't there the last time I saw her, it didn't even seem that any time had passed.

Ethan got to spend some good quality time with his California cousins and

all his new transformers. Chad's family knows how to celebrate Christmas with lots of food, a 5 hour present opening session which requires a breakfast break in between, the Discovery channel, and just good family time.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

If You Tell...

If you tell your child he has a sweaty wrist,

He'll want a sweatband to wear.

He'll then start rummaging through his toys in search of daddy's old sweatband.

Mommy will then wonder what the heck he's doing instead of getting into bed.

He'll then tell mommy "You said I had a sweaty wrist so I need to wear my sweatband."

Mommy will then chuckle and give him a big hug cause he's so cute.

* A real life Ethan story inspired by one of my favorite children's stories.

Monday, December 10, 2007

All About Impressing The Kids. . .

And some adults. I got this weird itch to make rainbow jello, so I did.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Christmas Tidbits

This year I made myself wait to decorate or listen to Christmas music until December 1st. I think that November should get full Thanksgiving attention and December gets full Christmas attention. Plus it made the anticipation for December to come all that much more exciting. On Saturday we spent 5 hours setting up our Christmas decor. Two of the hours was spent actually putting up our a little bit outdated, fake Christmas tree - branch by branch - Chad is the one to thank for that. I have to admit that I do love real trees more than fake, but we got this 9 footer from Courtney for free, so that beats spending $70 on a tree that will die in a few weeks.

This is Ethan doing the honors of putting the star on the tree. Actually this is just a posed picture because he was a little nervous to go that high. My favorite part of this picture is the foil on the rabbit ears in the background.

I have to say that Ethan has quite the decorative eye when it comes to dressing the Christmas tree.

I bought this cedar garland to help bring some "realness" into the decor since we have a fake tree this year. I was really looking forward to its nice fresh scent, but instead I get annoyed every time I pass it because it smells like mildew. Yuck! But it still looks pretty - I'll give it that much.

I got crafty today and made a Christmas card holder which I think is so cute. But I can't take any credit for it, I give all credit to Arah. She also made the cutest button tree that I would also like to make sometime.

And this is Ethan in his new winter garb.

Ethan & Gavin Quotes Worth Repeating:

The best is when Gavin tells me, "You're my best mom!" And when he comes out from his nap and says, "Mom, I still love you." (I love the "still" part - I'm just glad his feelings didn't change during his nap).

This morning Gavin saw the medicine cups on the counter and said he needed medicine. Since he's not sick, I said, "You don't need medicine, you're not sick." He goes all whiny, "but I am sick! I'm sick of cereal." (January 6, 2015)

Today I shared half of my cookie with Gavin, he very politely replied when I handed it to him, "Thanks mom! Good job sharing!" (Sept 20, 2014)

This was told to me by my neighbor while Gavin was at her house playing with her daughter, Emma.
Emma tells Gavin, "I have a bum."
Gavin: "I think I have a bum too."
All the while looking behind them trying to get a peak at their own bums. I love conversations between three year olds! (Sept, 2014)

I was talking to Ethan about my on t.v. interview the next day. He was a little nervous I'd embarass him and goes, "Mom, I really don't want you to make a fool of this family!" (July 11,2013)

On Friday we took Ethan and 5 of his friends somewhere for his birthday. We borrowed my brother's car since its big and it could fit all of us. When we all got in the car the boys were saying how the owner of the car must be rich because the car was so big. They were informed that the car belonged to Ethan's uncle. They were still in awe of how rich he must be when Ethan exclaimed, "He's a redhead, of course he's rich!" Hmm...if only I were a redhead. (January 14, 2011)

Ethan gave Tito a little kiss on the head. After he kissed him he was wiping Tito's head off and said, "I'm wiping the wetness off, but the love's still there." So profound. (October 10, 2010)

My sis-in-law Mel and I took our kids to a pool to swim pretty far from our house. They'd been in the car probably for about 30-45 min. I hear Ethan in the backseat ask his fellow cousins, "Are you guys having fun? I'm having fun just talking!" (October 7, 2010)

One morning as Ethan was requesting some breakfast, he said, "Hey, you're kind of like my servant!" He was quite pleased with that discovery. (May, 2010)

At dinner Ethan says to Chad, "Dad, how do you eat in like two seconds?!"

Chad: "Cause I'm a pig."

Ethan: "Pigs don't eat THAT fast!" (March 4, 2010)

Ethan Quote Archives

My Mom was telling Ethan about how she remembers her 1st grade teacher. She paused for a moment to think of her teacher's name and Ethan took the opportunity to whisper in her ear and inform her, "She's probably dead." (January 26, 2010)

Ethan, analizing why the spider was crawling on his leg the other night. "I don't think that spider was TRYING to poison me." (December 18, 2009)

"My friend want to write Santa to tell him what he wants. I want to write Santa to thank him for all that he does." (December, 2009)

From the backseat Ethan says, "I have my pinky in my nose. I'm not picking it, it just kin of feels good!" I looked back and sure enough, his pinky was in his nose. And in all honesty, he's really not a nose picker so I know it wasn't just an excuse. (August 14, 2009)

Chad and I were talking about how my sister-in-law, Mel is going to be the president of Ethan's old preschool. Ethan must have missed the "preschool" part and he goes: "What!? Mel's going to be president? Its not going to be Barack Obama anymore?" (August 9, 2009)

While Ethan was coming home from school with my friend Cathy and her two boys, apparently her two year old was being really loud and Ethan says, "I always wanted a sibling, but I didn't know they could be so anooying!" (May, 2009)

While we were at the park with one of Ethan's friends and his mom, Ethan's friend realized he lost one of the toys that he brought. As he and his mom started frantically looking for it, Ethan quietly, yet knowingly says to me, "And that why I don't bring toys to the park." (March, 2009)

During church Ethan plugs his ears and says, "I don't want to listen anymore."
Me: "Why?"
Ethan: "Because I don't want my eardrums to run out of hearing." (3/15/2009)

Ethan and I were looking through a book about bodies and we were talking about kidneys and where they are located in the body.

Me: (Pointing to the small of his back) "So this is where your kidneys are."
Ethan: "So does that mean you have adultneys?"
Get it? Adult-neys? He's got kid-neys, so I should have adult-neys right? And he wasn't kidding. (1/20/2009)

Me: "Ethan, do you love Tido?"
Ethan: "Yeah, I love him...The only thing I don't like about him is that his butt is always in your face." (1/5/2009)

As we were talking about going to Costco and getting some lunch, Ethan exclaims, "I just love Costco food! Its just so good! We should get their recipe and their autograph!" (1/2/2009)

I'm a little more familiar with the area where we live than Chad is, so sometimes I have to tell him where to turn while driving. One day while I was telling him where to turn left and right, from the backseat Ethan says, "Mom, stop bossing dad around!" (a while ago, 2008)

Aunt Courtney asked Ethan what his favorite part of kindergarten is, he replied, "going home." (9/1/2008)

Ethan: Dad, when you got married did you have a wedding cake?
Chad: Yes I did.
Ethan: Why didn't you save any for me?...Well, its ok cause I guess you didn't really know about me then. (8/12/2008)

While putting Ethan to bed tonight he told me, "You're the sweetest parents I ever had." (6/11/2008)

The other day we were at the store and there was a shirt that Ethan wanted that we didn't buy for him. The next day while he was getting dressed he comes up to me and says, "Mom, I'll give you a choice, either you buy me that shirt or I won't wear any clothes tomorrow." (6/8/2008)

Today during testimony meeting Ethan says to Chad,
"Oh gosh, why does everyone have to say the church is true?"

Tonight as Ethan and I were sipping out hot cocoa, I asked him if it ever made him sad that he didn't have any brothers or sisters. He replied, "No, I have a good life."

While driving in the car I was telling Ethan how he was going to play with his good friend Hayden the next day. Ethan hesitates, "Well. . .I was going to do some research tomorrow." "Oh really, well what are you going to research?" "Oh, I was going to do some research on my mission." (3/13/08)

One Sunday during the Sacrament Ethan whispers to me:
"I can't think of Jesus, I can only think of Superheroes."

"I want to be a cow so I can poop in a field."

"When adults tickle kids they pee a little bit."

Ethan: I want a new mom.
Me: Well that makes me sad that you would say that. Why do you want a new mom?"
Ethan: Because you're so old.

Me: "Ethan, I'm so glad you're my son."
Ethan: "Don't talk about son, child, married, or pregnant. That makes me nervous."

As Ethan was looking at Courtney's parakeet and the bird was looking back at him with just one of his eyes, cause that's just how birds look, Ethan demanded, "Look at me with both eyes bird!"

Today while driving in the snow Ethan asked me if snow is white. I told him that it is and he said, "Oh good because I was worried that I be blind color (aka color blind)."