White Christmas!!!

Its not very ofter we get snow here in Portland and less often it sticks anf even less often on Christmas. This year it snowed as we were unwrapping gifts at John's parents house. There is a forrest behind their house and felt as though we were in the woods in a cabin. I'm not one for cold weather but this year I really missed the early snowfalls when the snow is wet and fluffly. Its calming unlike other weather patterns and this time it reminded me of that. Here are some pictures from our abulous holiday and the snowfall.

Sandstrom Christmas Party

Every Year John's work has a Christmas party including a white elephant gift exchange. The owner of the company traditionally gives a white elephant. this year John and I were lucky enough to get it. It was really fun and we will definitly go every year.

Baby in the Sink

John originally was helping me get Ethan ready for a bath when we noticed how much Ethan fell in love with seeing himself in the mirror. He just giggled and laughed at himself. So John sat him in the sink and he continued to be content and play with his image in the glass.

The Oregon Coast

The Coast is one of the most beautiful places to be. There is something relaxing and calming about watcing the waves crash on shore and the sand being washed back. John and I can't stop taking pictures of the caost when we go. I have posted a few of our favorite ones.

Time Flies!

I can't belelive how fast time goes lately. Where do I begin? Thanksgiving weekend was wonderfully relaxing. We spent a couple days on the coast in Arch Cape. This was the first time we have been there with Ethan when there was little or no wind on the beach. Ethan enjoyed it much better this time as a result. He normally screams his head off until somebody takes him back inside. But this time he enjoyed the walks and sand and of course putting rocks in his mouth.
John's cousind who recently moved to Seattle came down to Portland for the weekend. Ethan awed at what their son who is 2 and 1/2 could do. Since the trip Ethan has pushed toys around the living room floor as if they were toy trucks, taking after their son.

Daddy's Boy

Ethan is at that age where he hates dressing and undressing. On this particular day Ethan was in no mood for pajamas when his daddy showed up at the glass door to "save" him. Everytime daddy comes home Ethan Speed crawls to the door to be the first one to greet his Daddy. It just so happened that John stayed outside to fix his bike and that was even more torture for the little guy. Anxious to greet and get attention from Dad, Ethan pulled himself up on the glass.

Important to note: The rash on his body is due to the virus he is overcoming. Thankgoodnes its not another food allergy!

Freightful Halloween

For Halloween we had chosen a cute Monkey costume for Ethan. He decided to add special affects by getting sick with a runny nose and an ear infection. Saurday night was our ward party and we lasted only about 15 min due to his fussiness. Poor guy!

The "Non-Toy, Toy"

In order to convince Ethan to hold still while changing his diaper on the changing table he has to play with what we call a "non-toy toy." In other words its something that is clearly not a toy to you and I but to Ethan it is fair game. Since the "non-toy toy" has never before been played with by him it gets the best of his curiosity. Here is a classic example of what I am talking about. Only this time Ethan is talking to it too.

The talkative child

At night John and I often lay in bed and talk about how cute our little Ethan is. Nearly everything he does, even if he isn't supposed too. He is just so darn adorable. I was talking on the phone yesterday and heard Ethan talking too. I looked over and found him up in the kneeling position, using a toy to sustain his balance, he was talking and talking and talking.

Mommy loves her baby!

Yes Yes I am!!!!!

Powerwashing

John and I recently got ourselves into a project this last week, and of course it turned out to be much bigger than anticipated. WE took three hours shifts in the project, and by the end of our "shifts" we were each covered in mud and moss and water. We didn't think to see as much of a difference as we did, but its exciting to see the cahnge. I included pictures before and after.

The Swing

I was on a walk the other day with a friend when we stopped at the park for her 3 year old to play in the park. I decided to put ethan in the swing and see what he was going to do. I was unsure because he never seemed to really like the one we had at home (infant swing). As it turns out he absolutly loved it. I haven't seen anything make him giggle that much for such a long time.

Fall Photos with Ethan

I've enjoyed looking at Mike and Katie's blog and Jessica's that I decided to start one myself. So I'll start with photos from when we moved here to Spring Park, at a park across the street. John borrowed a camera from work and we were able to get a number of pictures that we will be printing for our wall.

We are enjoying our new apartment and I like having more to do. Really its all about no rent, and so we can't complain. We painted our living room and dining room walls and the place feels like home. One last thing to say about these photos is that you'll see why I got a membership to a gym (Thank you Katie!!). Hopefully things will get thinner in time. I love the classes and I am wondering why I never did this sooner.