Recap

I know I've already posted about a lot of this, but here are the pictures off of my real camera.

On Thursday we went on a tour of historical sites for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The church was restored through Joseph Smith who lived in Palmyra, NY. This is the log cabin his family lived in. He was first told about the Book of Mormon here by the Angel Moroni.
Behind us is the Palmyra temple. The Sacred Grove is here as well. We walked through it, but it was raining and we were pushing strollers, so I didn't stop to take a picture. The Sacred Grove is where Joseph Smith went to pray about which church he should join. Heavenly Father and Jesus appeared to him and told him that so many truths had been lost since Christ was on the Earth that the true church needed to be restored.

Here is Lisa pushing the babies up the Hill Cumorah. This is where Moroni buried the Gold Plates after completing them thousands of years ago. He returned as an angel and told Joseph Smith where to find them. Joseph Smith translated these, with the help of the Lord, and we now know them as The Book of Mormon.

Ah, the life of a baby!

Our last church history site was the Whitmer farm where the church was officially organized.

On Friday we went to the Strong Museum of Play.

Ethan is getting very good at standing up!

On Saturday we went to Schoen Place in Pittsford. We walked along the Eerie canal and stopped to feed the ducks.

We went on a boat ride and got to go through a lock. I had never even heard of a lock before, so I thought it was amazing!

Grandma Dianne and Ethan.

Dan, Ruth, James, and Lisa, my gracious hosts in Rochester.

Grandpa Joe and Ethan.

Dinner at Dinosaur BBQ--YUM!!!

Grandpa and Grandma saying good bye to the kids before going back to Michigan Sunday morning! We can't wait to see you again!

Ethan and James playing in the cultural hall after church, waiting for their mom's to stop talking. :)

My adorable niece!

At church. This is the closest I got to getting all three to look at me. Mostly because Ethan LOVES eating grass, dirt, and leaves.

Coming Soon: Niagra Falls, Kirtland, and Ethan crawling! Right now Ethan does a crawl that resembles the movement of a caterpillar, but he moves forward!

Cousins chillin'

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Success!

I finished the couch to 5k program today! It was really hard this week to jog what with the late nights, early mornings, Ethan's unpredictable sleep pattern and places to be each morning (I made everyone late), but I finished! I actually exercised 5 days a week for 6 weeks before coming-quite the accomplishment for me!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Strong Museum

We went to the Strong Museum of Play with Grandpa Joe and Grandma Dianne today! More pictures later from my real camera.

On another note, Ethan has been able to get up on his hands and knees for awhile and is starting to be able to get some forward motion! Crawling, here we come!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Day 3

Today was awesome! We went to the sacred grove, Smith home, Grandin printing press, Hill Cumorah, and Whitmer Home. I would link to explanations of these if I were on the computer, but for now, suffice it to say they are church history sites. I used my real camera to take pictures, so you will have to wait to see them.

It was kind of rainy today (fun for someone from the desert like me) so now we are mopping up some unwelcome water in the basement! At least all three kids are sleeping. : )
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

A few cute moments

I don't know how to attach these captions to the specific pictures, but I think you can figure it out.

James was very tired and very silly, which Ethan thought was hilarious. Ethan is pulling James' hair and giggling at him.

At home Ethan always has a stuffed animal in his crib, so I brought one hoping that would help his transition to sleeping here, and I think it did because he made it through the night in his pack n play last night!

While we were driving from site to site today, Ethan would stay awake until about two minutes before we arrived, and then fall asleep, of course!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

More library time

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Playing at the library

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

pacific time zone

Here is Ethan refusing to go to sleep at a reasonable time in the Eastern time zone. It is tomorrow in NY and I am really missing my partner in taking care of this kiddo! Love ya Mike!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Fun times

Ethan had a lot of fun during the lay over. The Detroit airport has a cool light-up musical tunnel that amazed Ethan. So many new things to experience today!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Charmer

Ethan made a lot of new friends.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Flying

Ethan did pretty well on the plane. He loved looking out the window during take off and landing.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

We have arrived!

Ethan and I are in Rochester, NY visiting my sister Lisa! Here is Ethan with his cousin Ruth. I want to update the blog with all our adventures as we go, and the easiest way is sending one picture at a time from my phone, so expect lots of short posts soon.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

For Becky

Today was the first time I ventured to Babytime at the library with both boys. It is quite the feat holding/picking up two boys. Most of the time I hold one baby and push the other in a stroller. Ethan has been to babytime twice before, so this is a record of Sam's first time (Becky is Sam's mom for those of you wondering).

During most of the reading and singing Sam sat very very still just staring at everyone. And then the toys came out.

"Wow! What is that girl doing?"
"I want to try!"
"So fun! I can't even sit still long enough to have a focused picture taken."
"Again! Again!"
He did take a break from crawling through the tube long enough to see some of the other toys. And then he saw people leaving and made a beeline for the door. Many moms were impressed by his speed. :)
This is "Ethan, et al" so here's a picture of Ethan. He loved these puzzles!
I'm love our library!

Dogsitting

I am dogsitting while my mom and Gary are visiting my brother in Kansas city. The boys are very excited. Ethan stood up like this by himself!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

What could be better...

than looking at this adorable face all day? I love being a stay-at-home mom!

(Pardon the mess; we'd just been having fun with pureed pees!)

Saying Yes to Mess

This article is stolen from another friend's blog. I'll admit it: I'm a messy person! I like things to be clean (scrubbed, sanitized), but it takes awhile for clutter to bother me. Mike on the other hand...clutter drives him crazy. If only he read my blog, and put any stock in articles like this, then maybe he would value my messes. ;)

Why don't friends with kids have time?

I copied this from my sister's blog. Sorry to those of you who read both blogs, but I always appreciate people who genuinely think the tasks of a stay at home mom are worthwhile and valuable, not to mention more than just hanging out and watching TV. (click on the article to see it more clearly)

On Accident

Unintentionally scooting backwards into a corner has a silver lining. Ethan has discovered a new toy!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

"Hi!"

Ok, so he hasn't learned how to wave yet, but it looks like he is waving.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Mike's new toy

Now he can raise a whole new generation of pyros.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Standing: Exhibit B

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Standing!

Ethan has pulled himself up to stand several times in the last few days. The first time was last Thursday. Nana and Papa have him this fun walking toy yesterday and he was able to walk a few steps while holding onto the blue handle!

Speaking of Nana, we got to spend a fun day with my mom and grandma yesterday. We are so grateful for all of our moms (Jill, Jil, and Dianne) and grandmas (Grammy, Ruth, Carla, Bea) that do so much for us. Thank you-we love you lots!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Totally Impressed

I am totally impressed with a few of Mike's recent endeavors. The speakers in his car have been blown for a few years and his driver's side window has been stuck down for a few months. He found a good price on parts and fixed the speakers and the window switch last night, all by himself. His car is getting closer to being in good repair! He still needs to replace the air compressor so that he can use the air conditioner, but he doesn't know how to do that, and it is expensive to have done. Fortunately, our home teacher came over last night right as we were finishing up the car stuff and said he can help Mike replace the air compressor!

I am also impressed because right now Mike is teaching himself how to play The Devil Went Down to Georgia just by listening to it on YouTube-Wow! What a talented guy!

Photo Shoot

We went to a local park last night to do a little photo shoot of Ethan. These are some of my favorites. To see all of the pictures click here.





The next three were each taken right after Mike swung Ethan, so they're a little blurry. Ethan was pretty tired so we had to work pretty hard to get him to do anything but zone out.

Wrong way!

Ethan was on his tummy trying to get the little blue link you can see next to his plastic toy tub. The harder he tried to get it, the further away he got. Here he is in a moment of defeat. Never a dull moment!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed