It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

Our usual tradition is to set up our tree and put our Christmas lights up the day after Thanksgiving. However, since I was on a plane that day it didn't happen that way this year. Kevin put up our outside lights while we were gone, so when we came home we were greeted by beautiful Christmas lights. This last Saturday I put up the tree and a few more decorations. A couple years ago we bought a fake tree...I know, I know, some of you would never do such a thing. But I must say, after our last couple trees, it is sure nice to just take the tree out of the box and set it up whenever you want. One of our last real trees in San Jose was infested with spiders...gross. Our poor angel was covered in them. Between that and all the needles that drop, I'm loving our fake, pre-lit tree. Not quite the same smell...but beautiful none the less.

Here are a few pictures of Ethan helping me decorate, and the finished product. Ethan is doing a great job, for the most part, not touching the tree. I put a couple decorations out that he can play with, so I think that helps.

Fun in Minnesota

The day after Thanksgiving my parents, Ethan and I went to Sioux Falls for my cousins wedding. We spent the rest of our time in Minnesota at my Grandma's house. I was really unsure about how the plane rides would go w/ a very active toddler, but Ethan did awesome and even made some friends along the way. We arrived in Sioux Falls late Friday night so we stayed at a hotel since the wedding was at 4:00 on Saturday. Ethan had lots of fun exploring the hotel lobby. They had waterfalls and a fish pond which he thought were great. We didn't last long in the wedding ceremony. I got to see the bride given away and that was it, but the reception was fun.



On Sunday afternoon we went to my Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Elaine's house to see their kids and grand kids. Here is Uncle Lloyd w/ Ethan, Jonathan and Carter. They were born within a few months of each other. We wish we lived closer so Ethan could play with them more often!



Nana and mommy just posed for these pictures with Ethan, we're not too comfortable actually driving a 4-wheeler with a one year old on it.





But Uncle Lloyd is, and he took Ethan on a short ride. Ethan wasn't too sure about the whole thing.



On Monday morning Ethan and Papa got to visit Uncle Virg's farm. They rode with him into town to pick up corn. Ethan loved the tractor ride. The next morning he wanted Papa to take him on another ride.





Grandma Great has a lot of babies in the house. Ethan loved finding them and carrying them around. Here he and Nana are rocking the baby.



My cousin Tianna loves kids so she came over on Monday after school to visit and play with Ethan. They had lots of fun together.



My Grandma loves to still get on the floor and play with her great grand kids. Ethan loved all the cars and trucks she has to play with. Thanks for sharing your toys Grandma Great!



On Tuesday afternoon I got to see my cousin Trey play 7th grade basketball. It was fun to see him play, he and his team did awesome! Then that evening we got to see his older sister Morgan play for Northwestern. She did great too and it was fun to finally see her play. I got the chance to visit with my Unlce Ryan and Aunt Marcia which is always a treat. Thanks for the chat Aunt Marcia!

We left Sioux Falls on Wednesday. All our travels went well, even flying through Chicago. Ethan did great on our 5 hour flight from Chicago and even slept a while. It was a fun trip and now we're trying to get back into "normal" life!

Weekend in Monterey

This past weekend we were able to go to Monterey and stay at my parent's house again. It was nice to stay there with furniture this time. It was a beautiful weekend with nice sunshine in the mornings and patchy fog in the afternoon. Our friends John and Brenda joined us for the weekend, so of course there was a lot of laughter and good conversation. Kevin only had to be at school until noon on Friday, so we made it to Monterey about 3:30. We unpacked the car and then headed out for a walk to the beach. John and Brenda joined us around 7:00 and we had some dinner.

On Saturday morning we of course got up nice and early, since we have a one year old, which gave us plenty of time to take a nice walk by the water. We headed back to the house so Ethan could take a nap and the girls could watch The Devil Wears Prada and the boys watched sports, a nice benefit of the few TVs in the house. When Ethan woke up we ate lunch and then headed out to Point Lobos for a gorgeous hike by the ocean. We had a few clouds while we were hiking, but it was pretty nice for November. That night John and Brenda cooked a great meal for us and then we played a rousing game of Blokus.

Ethan and Daddy checkin' out the waves.

Ethan needed a break from the backpack.

The boys checking out the HUGE waves.

Ethan and Brenda playing "rock music."

Sunday morning was another beautiful morning, but we had to clean up and get on the road before the weekend traffic started. It was a great weekend and we feel blessed to have a house like that to go to and friends like the De Jongs to share it with. (check out the DeJong's blog on the right for more details of our weekend)

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Here is another random picture of Ethan. He found one of Kevin's whistles and has learned how to blow it. He also loves to wear our sunglasses and be a "cool guy."

Opa and Oma come for a visit

This past weekend Kevin's parents, Opa and Oma to Ethan, came to visit us. They live in Edmonton and it's a bummer that we don't get to see them on a regular basis. Fortunately, they are able to come and visit us every 3 months or so. It had been about 3 1/2 months since they last saw Ethan and he changed a lot in those 3 1/2 months. He is now walking every where, talking as much as he can, and understanding EVERYTHING! We didn't really do a whole lot with them since they were here for such a short time, but they got lots of playing in and gave Kevin and I a few breaks, which is always nice. We even went on a date Saturday night, we saw a movie AND had dinner, it was great! They spent lots of time reading with Ethan and playing outside with him, his 2 favorite things.




I bought this book for Ethan before Opa came and I knew they would have a great time reading about all the trucks!



Ethan loved going outside with Opa and Oma, especially when they would take the time to let him walk on their walks.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

My Grandma Bulthuis turned 88 this past Tuesday. I've always spent a lot of time with my grandma and enjoy going over to her house to talk or play games. I have so many memories of staying at her house when she and my grandpa lived on the farm. I can still close my eyes and picture swinging on the big glider swing, "fishing" in the canal, feeding the chickens, and playing in the play house. Grandma's house was always so much fun! Ethan and I still go there once a week, I help her with grocery shopping and cleaning and she plays with Ethan. I think they both really enjoy that time.

Tuesday night we had a birthday dinner for Grandma at a restaurant in town. My uncle came out from New Mexico and my aunt came from Oregon. Two of my cousins came with their kids and my sister came up from San Diego. We had a great time and a yummy dinner!

It has always amazed me how well Ethan will sit for my grandma. It's like he has always known she is frail and he has to treat her different. He'll quite often sit so nice on her lap, much more still then he will on mine!

Here is Grandma with 12 of her 21 great grand kids.

Another trip to SJ

This past weekend we headed over to San Jose again. This time we went because our friend Joel was in town and because Kevin ran the Silicon Valley Half Marathon on Sunday morning. Friday night we spent the night at John and Brenda's, where the boys had way too much fun hanging out in the backyard Friday night and Brenda and I had a great time catching up. There is always lots to chat about when we get together.

Ethan loved "riding" Uncle John's bike. I hope this is the most riding he does on a motorcycle for a long time!






Saturday afternoon we headed over to Dave and Janie's house and had lunch with them and their kids. We got to play at the park with them as well. They live in the same complex we used to live in, so it was fun to take Ethan to the park by our old house. We are so blessed to have Dave and Janie as friends. We always pick up where we left off and end up discussing many of lifes issues. Thanks for your friendship guys and the great parenting you model for us!



The picture above is the only good picture I got from our weekend with the Sacks', but below is a picture of our four kids when they came to visit us in July.



Sunday morning Dave brought Kevin downtown to start the race nice and early. Ethan and I went to Los Gatos to see the boys cross the finish line. They both did really well and finished close to their goals. Good job Kevin and Joel!

Unfortunately I pulled my camera out just before Kevin crossed the finish line and the batteries were dead. So the best pictures I got was the guys posing with their medals.

Moo

Ethan got to dress up this year for Halloween. He was a cow. He wore his costume a couple times, on Monday my Moms Group had a costume party at the park. Unfortunately his costume is fleece and it was a warm day on Monday so he just wore the pants, but he still had the cute little tail goin' for him. Then on Halloween we were invited to our friend Trey's first birthday party so he got to wear the costume to that as well. We also stopped by my parent's office, my grandma's and our neighbors. No trick or treating yet, you know who would eat all the candy! All in all it was fun to see him dressed up so cute and maybe next year we'll stay away from the fleece!

Here are a few pictures. Of course it is next to impossible to get him to sit still these days, so I did the best I could!

Ready to head to the park on Monday. We all had to bring candy to hand out, that's what's in the bag.

Checking out the candy.

A view from the rear so you can see the cute tail.