Ethan's Early Birthday

We're having Ethan's birthday party a little early this year because of our move, and I thought I'd share his invitations I made. I made a simple address label with all our event info on it and stuck it on the back of the invite.  He told me a few weeks back he wanted a Star Wars party. And then 2 days ago I was informed that it is a Star Wars / Marine party. He wants a half star wars-half marine cake. I'm not really sure how I'm going to pull that off so let's just hope it changes before the weekend.

He's really excited about all his friends being able to come to his party before we leave for California.  We're doing a garage sale on Friday and Saturday, and then his party will be Sunday. It'll be a busy weekend but  I'll be sure to post pics of the party as well.

Hope all is well.

Ethan, Ethan, Ethan...

Ok, so we're just sitting here...and out of nowhere...

Ethan - "When will I have to find a girlfriend?"

Mom - "a girlfriend!?"

Ethan - "Yeah, a girlfriend so I can marry her and get babies."

Mom - "Hold on, I gotta write this down, why do you want a girlfriend??"

Ethan - "Because when I grow up I don't know what to do without a girlfriend!"

Light Saber Holder

I don't know a cooler name...do you? I'm taking suggestions... :)

Ethan was in need of somewhere to "store" his light sabers. We have four now, and every few months, we seem to accumulate one so we needed a holder. Some sort of a display case. I thought I knew what would look nice, but Paul (the Star Wars expert) instructed me EXACTLY how it should look. Diagram and all.
I took Ethan with me to the Big Orange and we got our supplies.
I didn't take pictures throughout the process, but here's what I did...

3-1X4, 1-1X3, and 2-1X2

I took my big ole circle hole drill bit (pretty sure that's the technical name) and drilled 4 holes in one of the 1X4's. I glued and nailed that to the other 1X4 and clamped and let dry. This made the base of the unit.

I used the 2-1X2's in the back as the stands and attached the last 1X4 to that for the "holster" part. The holsters are made out of some plumbing attachment. They were $4 a piece and I cute them in half, so $8 total. Then I cut them vertical so they open but will wrap around the base of the light saber to hold it in place.I lined them up with the holes on the bottom and attached them with small nails.

Then I glued and nailed the 1X3 to the front to "finish" the look.

I spray painted the whole thing black before I attached the "holsters", as they are rubber and were already black.

Now he's equipped anytime Darth Vader makes a surprise appearance!

The Force is with us...

I took Ethan to a friend's birthday party on Saturday. It was Star Wars themed. In retrospect, I should of had Paul take him, I think Paul would have liked it a lot.
The mom made a Star Wars cake. It was AWESOME.

The kids chased each other with light sabers and the little brother was even dressed as Yoda. It was really fun!
But, probably the most exciting part of the day was when Darth Vader knocked on the front door. Immediately, shocked and excited, Ethan and the birthday boy ran to the back of the house. I think most of us thought they might have been startled, however that was not the case. They promptly returned, light sabers in hand, ready to battle it out with Vader! Two little jedis, ready for action! The video pretty much sums it up!

He had a really fun time.

Abbey

Ethan...

Ethan and Hannah eating breakfast.

Ethan says, "Hey! This yogurt is white, just like my Storm Shadow (gi joe)!"
I say, "yeah, they are."
Ethan exclaims, "Two White things at the table!!!!"

Ethan: "What do rats eat?"
Me: "Anything; garbage, food..."
E: "It's a good thing there's no rats around here, cause we love food!"
Me: "yeah, that's a good thing"
Ethan: "`Cept Louie, he's a rat, cause he'll eat anything..."

It's a Party!

The invites are out! Ethan is very excited! He has made some great friends at his school and he's really looking forward to having them come for a birthday party next weekend! It'll be a small get together at the park, but huge fun!

little updates

here's some updates on the kiddos. Well, updated pics. Nothing is really new.

potty training, starting solids and registering for PreSchool...can you guess who?

Continuing a Legacy...

by Paul

Well, two legacies actually, if you want to label them as such. The past few days saw events that I will count among my most treasured memories. The recent months have been very turbulent and busy for the family; we've faced a good bit of uncertainty and nervous excitement between an overseas move, a new assignment, and various other factors. But the Independence Day holiday period brought two very exciting milestones that I must proudly share with you.

First, my brother, Mark, ended one chapter in his life as he graduated from the University of Michigan. Remarkably, he did this in under three years, despite the challenging and reading intense concentrations of two majors: Political Science and Ancient Civilizations & Religious Studies. And all while participating in Naval ROTC and completing the extra Naval Science classes that came with it. As if that weren't impressive enough, on 2 July he culminated his three years of training and preparation and, after six weeks of intense screening and evaluation, graduated from Marine Officer Candidates School.

This new chapter of Mark's life begins as he starts a career as a commissioned officer of the US military. I was humbled that he chose me to officiate his commissioning ceremony, and doing so was without question the proudest moment of my ten-plus years as a Marine. Other than one great uncle, I was the first person in the extended Bertolone or Merciez families to enlist in the Marine Corps. Abbey's family carries a very strong Army lineage and I have a grandfather and four uncles who served as soldiers, but I began what may perhaps be a new tradition of Marine Corps service. Little did I know.

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It seems like not too long ago when "little" Mark was running through the woods behind our parents' home in a set of my old utilities. I wasn't very surprised when he professed a desire to serve. At his OCS graduation I was thinking that it was remarkable how he and I have maybe created a new legacy. The picture above depicts Mark and me at my own commissioning, in Ann Arbor, Michigan and, six years later, at his ceremony at the foot of the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

On the way home to Tennessee I somehow convinced Abbey to allow a stop in Charlottesville to again visit one of my favorite places in the world: Monticello. Although the kids may not be quite old enough to fully appreciate the cultural value of Thomas Jefferson's home, it was emotional for me to be able to sit on the steps of our third President's home with my son, whose middle name is sake to the author of the Declaration of Independence.

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I sat on those same steps a little over four years ago, before we had any children, and I wanted to capture a similar shot with Ethan. Thanks to Abbey for the great pictures! Ethan and Hannah may not have realized the historical value of their location, but they immediately recognized the true value of Monticello, i.e. it's natural beauty. They had great fun running around Mr. Jefferson's walking trails and his backyard. It reminded me of a historical footnote...

For those who don't know, in his eighties and having accomplished so much, Jefferson spent his last few years sitting in the back and watching his grandchildren run and play, often joining them and abstaining from his routine of devoted reading indoors. He described it in his writings as one of the happiest times of his life. It made me truly happy to watch my own kids frolic on the same grounds and I'll always hold that memory dear.

Congratulations, Mark! And Ethan Jefferson, never forget the best qualities of your name's honoree. Happy Independence Day to everyone and God Bless the United States of America!

To read more about Monticello, click here.

When you're not looking...

Ethan did some quiet time today. I was happy to take the hour and a half to sit and watch some tv. I could hear him up there rooting around and knew he was obviously not staying in his own room. So I went to check on him. He has a thing lately of locking the doors. I snuck upstairs, noticed the screwdriver was missing off the ledge and expected to walk in on him disassembling something. Um, no. Instead, I open the door to his room to him standing there in Transformer underwear and my knee high Ugg boots. I just started laughing, and his only comment was,

"Don't just open my door, that's rude."

I will now always be armed with a camera upon entering his room.

Anyone want some Whine? Pinkeye? Anyone?!

I took Hannah into the clinic today. 2 pink eyes, and 1 ear infection...

and wouldn't you know it? She's still smiling!!!

I have been super exhausted lately, and even thought something was wrong with me. Paul said I was the same way with both other pregnancies, but now I have 2 kids to manage, so of course I will be tired. Hmm, I guess, but I still feel like someone has drugged me in the morning when I can't convince my limbs to lift themselves.

Ethan has entered full blown terrible 3's. Everything is a fight, and everything causes a meltdown. It's to the point where we can't make him breakfast without him telling us exactly how to do it, and he STILL finds something to whine about. He is however riding his bike fabulously and burning of some energy doing it, Thank God!

Paul is counting the days, literally, until we leave for TN. I have a dream at least 8 nights a week about our new home and what it will look like. I will be so happy when I can jut tap a nail into the wall and hang a picture! How exciting!

That's about it here, just trying to get everything lined up for the move, and trying not to stress in the process.

Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts!

Ethan Dictionary

...it keeps getting better...

E: "Do you know what stuck up means? It means when you eat a lot of food and your mouth is full and then it gets stuck up in your tummy, and you get sick and then you "ACK..BLEEEEECCCCKKK"(making a throwing up motion) ...like that, yeah, like that."

hmmmmmmmm.......

The Ethan Dictionary

We're in the car the other day, and I am asked, 

"Do you know what meat means, mom?"

"Meat? No, Ethan what does meat mean?"

"Um, it means...when you eat yourself, and you lick your face here, here, here and here (pointing to the fours corners of his mouth). Yeah, and that's what the humpback whales do."

Ethan, I don't know where you're learning this stuff, but keep telling me, cause you crack me up!

Singing in the Rain

There wasn't much singing, but laughter and smiles were abound!  I have been waiting for this day when I could get E out in the puddles and test out the shutter speed on the camera.  While I was hoping to get more "splashy" shots, what I ended up with was even better! COLOR! I tried putting these in B&W and they just didn't do any of them justice!  I am so happy with them! Red! Blue! Yellow! And rain! Could it get any better?!

For all the pics, visit dropshots. The link is at the top "Our Pictures".  I have decided to keep using this site because it seems Internet Explorer and Mac's Mobile Me are not friends right now.

Ethan-isms IV

HA!  Here's some more!

Ethan: "It's raining outside??"

Mom: "Yup, it's raining."

Ethan: "I need my life jacket."

He finally started using 'actually', and this was his first sentence with it:

E: "I gotta go potty."

M: "ok, let's go."

E: "Akchuwolly, we can't, because the toilet is broken. 

       Let's go downstairs and get a new toilet."

M: "Ok, c'mon, we gotta go, we're gonna be late."

E: "Wait! Not yeeeeeeeet."

M: "Why?"

E: "Because, you need makeup first."

When I found him in my room playing with my jewelry:

M: "Don't touch those, those are mommy's."

E: "But I have to run my errands."

M: "What?"

E:  "My errands." (holds my earrings up to his ears) "See?"

Just wondering...

I think I had an epiphany today...or maybe just a little realization...or heck, maybe it was just the lack of adult conversation at 4 pm while doing dishes...either way...

I feel like I'm cheating on Ethan when kids come over during the day when he's at school.

There, I said it.  I am unfaithful to my child.  Is that wrong!?

Does anyone else feel this way?  For instance, Catherine and I took an exhilarating walk today which was followed up with some nice conversation and coffee at my place.  Her kids came over and played while we fooled around on the computer.  No big deal, anyone is welcome in my home, the more the merrier.  (PS, Cat, just using this to define my observation, please don't send me hate mail and I never want you to stop coming over! I mean who else would take my family's pictures??..:)  After they left, I went straight to get E from school.  I have to admit, I felt weird for some reason.  When we got home, it was like he knew what was out of place from where he left it this morning.  I felt a tinge of shame.  Like I should have rearranged everything to it's previous state.  But then wouldn't that be trying to cover up the evidence.  The evidence that was so plainly written in the toys. 

Someone else was here, he could sense it.

I just thought it was funny the way he looked around and took everything in before his usual "jump in and start playing".  I never would have thought a 2 1/2 year old would notice anything like this, but I guess that just proves the theory about them knowing more than you think.

Ethan, when you grow up and read this with your friends, just know, mommy's sorry, but you deserve to know the truth.

:)

Ethan-isms III

"I want that over there in the grass.  Is that it's NAME?! GRASS!?"
Mom: "yeah, that's right, it's called grass."
"Can it talk?"
Mom: "uh, no, grass can't talk."
"because, is it too little?"
Mom: "sure."

Mom: "Oh no, you peed in your shorts."
Ethan: "oh yes!"

(I have no idea where this came from!)
Ethan: "Wow, look at that crane! Beee-uuutiful crane!"

Having trouble with the internet connection and vonage, I couldn't seem to get a dial tone. When I finally fixed it, I told Ethan to tell me what he heard when I held the phone to his ear (hoping it would be a dial tone).
His answer: "A Car."

Hannah's been drooling a lot because of her teeth lately.

Ethan: "oh no mommy, she, like, spit up."

While I changed Hannah's diaper, Ethan called out:

"Did she poop??"

"I wanna see! I wanna see!"

This puke is BANANAS! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

Oh my, I guess we have found the culprit.  Those nasty little bananas have messed with my girl's tummy one too many times! To hell with you I say!  Bananas, thou shalt not enter my dwellings againeth! (or however they spoke back then, you know, when all the bananas were reeking havoc on small villages, that era). Any way, it's back again, and with a vengeance.  Those nasty pukes that I thought were caught by modern day petri dishes (a.k.a. toddlers), came back 1-2 hours after Hannah ate her first serving of bananas since the last sickness.  I thought for sure it was a fluke, but now I know, and I am never giving them to her again!After pulling into the commisary parking lot, she threw up in her carseat (exorcist style).  I was astounded as to how much it was.  The size of an infants tummy is a lot bigger than I thought.  I drove home immediately, helpless as she kept heaving in the back seat.  Got her inside, in the tub washed off, only to have her puke again.  By the evening, I was reduced to this:

(which is a great idea if they won't quite puking, I even thought to myself, "I should post this in a mommy tips blog or something!")

So Ethan, Hannah, and I were all chilling in the bathroom and of course I was all dramatic thinking this was so stressful, then Ethan broke the tension with a real hum dinger.

He looked over at me, pointed at my cleavage, and asked, "Is that your butt?"

The day ended in laughter, which is always a good thing.

Hot Mess and Gutbusters

So everyone with a 2 year old knows there are just some fights you don't even try to win.  When it comes to wearing a seatbelt, or holding hands while crossing a blazing intersection, then yes, I have to put my foot down.  However, when it's 7:30pm and he's already whining about what kind of toothpaste he wanted but we don't have, and it's time to put on pajamas, I am not going to argue with what he wears.   I try, I really do, I buy the cute airplane pajamas, or the ones with cars all over them, thinking, "oh yeah, Ethan's gonna love these!"  But apparently only shark shirts and bulldozer shirts from grandma get him going, cause the airplanes and cars get benched for a "shirt and shorts" combo EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.  We have limited it to "no buttons and no pockets. (which at least eliminates polos and cargo shorts)  But it has to be shirt and shorts for Ethan, nothing else.  And I am thinking that the color blindness has been passed down from Paul, cause the boy has no style sense, unless he's just way ahead of the times.

So here is a picture from E's bedtime tonight. He had a band-aid on his foot so he insisted he needed socks for bed...check out my HOT MESS:

__________________________________________________

So, Ethan is in his terrible 2 phase MOST DEFinitely.  Whining is in full force, OCD has kicked in, and discipline is proving harder than ever.

Every night now, we have Ethan pick up his toys (so we don't have to) and put them away (so we don't have to).  It really instills good routine (cause we don't want to pick up his toys).  So every night, he has tried to "play for FEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW more minutes, k?"  So clean up is never done in a timely fashion.  Sooner than later my patience wears thin and I start getting firm (pretty much threatening to throw cars in the trash if he doesn't get his butt in gear, knowing full well if I actually DID follow through, I would then be pulling them out after he was in bed, cause I am not wasting 75 cents on a matchbox!)  So the other night, he started this new thing, laughing at me.  I'm talking full out GUTBUSTERS every time I try to talk serious to him.  You can only imagine what happens to me.  Pretty soon we're both cracking up ( **note, I am even laughing while I type this), cars aren't getting put away and he thinks this is a great game now.  "Make mom laugh so she'll stop telling me what to do Game"  I hate it...and I love it.  I guess these are the things that keep you sane throughout the terrible two phase.  "Do you want a time out?" in full gut-busting laughter doesn't really have the affect I was going for.

Ethan-isms

Ethan-isms

 

2 ½ years old.

 

E: I have to go poop.

M: Ok, let’s go.

E: Uh…uh…uh.

M: Are you going poop?

E: Uh, I can’t, it’s too hard.

M: Oh, is it too hard to go poop?

E: Yeah, it’s too hard, the poop is too hard, we have to get scissors.

M: Uncontrollable laughter.

 

D: What do you want to be when you grow up?

E: uh…a pillow.

D: Who’s pillow?

E: Louie’s

M: What kind of pillow will you be?

E: ummmm, orange!

 

M: We’ve got to learn our days.

E: Yeah, we have to learn our days.

M: Is today Monday?

E: Yeah, today’s Monday.

M: Why is daddy home? Is today a holiday?

E: Yeah, today’s a hot day.

 

M: Are you going to just do the opposite of everything I tell you??!

E: Yeah, I have to.

 

M: Ok, here are your stickers for going poop!

E: Yeah stickers!  I look at them ok?

M: Sure. Want to put them in your sticker book?

E: oh yeah!

M: Where did your sticker book go?

E: Oh, just leave it, ok? I just look at them for a little bit.

Some are just funny for the mere fact he speaks like an adult.  Stay tuned, more to come!