Ethan's a Dragon, I'm a Sickie and Sean's a Player

Let me clarify......

Yesterday, Ethan decided he wanted to wear last year's Halloween costume [a dragon]. He hasn't hardly been able to take it off since. And, unbeknownst to me, he even wore it for naptime today! In fact, as I type this [from my death bed on the couch] Ethan is down in our room eating a snack and watching Spongebob Squarepants and still in his dragon costume. Oh, and please don't judge that he's watching Spongebob. I despise that show, but it happened to be on when I turned on the TV and since I'm too tired to argue or encourage the more educational pre-recorded Little Einsteins, I'm allowing it.

As for me, I am a sickie. And it sucks. Sunday morning I was feeling pretty under the weather, but thanking my lucky stars that I had prepared my Primary lesson the day before because Sean was asked to sub in Primary at the last minute so I couldn't use him to cover for me so I could stay home. Monday I was good and rested most of the day - I actually sat and watched all 3 hours of Pearl Harbor since I hadn't seen that movie in a while. I got Ethan to sit with me for a while by calling it the "airplane movie" and then he fell asleep and we snuggled for about an hour. By late afternoon I was feeling better, but was still smart enough to send Sean to the store instead of going myself [like I usually do] and then made dinner. I had a horrible time falling asleep last night though - really bad sinus headache. This morning I pretty much just got up at 9am and moved to the couch. I finally had a little bit of an appetite and the energy to get up and have some breakfast sometime after 1pm! Dang! I don't know what I got, but this cold has knocked me on my butt!! At least the weather's been rainy and depressing today, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on the sunshine while I prop my feet up, nap and watch reruns on Food Network. I've also been admiring my feet being back to their normal size! All summer they've been swelling up mid-week - I'm thinking a combo of the heat, a 2+ hour drive for work in Oregon and then sitting in an office for almost 2 days straight before repeating the 2 hour drive home. The swelling would go back down by Friday or Saturday. It's been a nasty cycle.

Thank goodness for Sean! He's keeping everything running and doing the bulk of taking care of Ethan, leaving me free to rest and recoup. Just now he was playing beautifully on the piano - hence the player reference in the title. I really do like when he practices because I love to hear our piano played. I don't think I've mentioned this, but this fall he's probably going to start giving lessons. We've had several people in the ward ask if he'll give lessons and even our landlord is hoping he'll teach his oldest.

So, to recap, our day has consisted of the TV on way too much, mom out of commission and Ethan in a fuzzy green dragon suit complete with wings and a tail. You should hear his roar!! ;) Also, I've been working on the blog quite a bit this past week and there's lots of new stuff to check out, so please [PLEASE!!], please [PLEASE!!] leave some comment love!! [Don't make me beg... ;)] Thanks!!

Our First Camping Trip

We had to make sure we went camping at least ONCE this summer, you know, in true Toftdahl/Southworth fashion, .... Ha ha ha! NOT!!! My family SOOOOO did not do camping. A direct quote from my dad: "Why would I want to pretend to be homeless?" And he says it completely with a straight face. He is not joking. Despite the total lack of camping experiences growing up, my sisters and I still found a love for camping because of the 5 days we got of it every year for Girls Camp.

Sean and I decided we would give family camping a shot and got our feet wet with a one-nighter at a campground about 25 minutes outside of town. Of course, we were there less than 24 hours, but I still had to document the whole experience with pictures!

Our home for the night and the beautiful trees surrounding our campsite. I have to have trees when camping - for the beauty of being surrounded by nature, the protection from the elements and the extra privacy between campsites.

After setting up camp, we went down to the lake and met up with the Colemans to go swimming. It was so hot that day, it was nice to cool off. Plus the lake and shore were beautiful!

Mikey found a frog! There was quite the excitement with this discovery and he hung onto this little guy [in the water] for most of the time. His mom wouldn't let him take it home though. I don't blame her!

Ethan had fun throwing rocks. I love his gray-blue eyes in that middle picture.

This was the only picture I could get of all the kiddos!

Had to get a picture of the ducks..... GO DUCKS!!

That night we had a campfire - thanks to Sean, because I hate building campfires! I always made my girls at camp do it as "part of their certification"! - and roasted marshmallows for s'mores.

Ethan was in and out of the tent for a while - he couldn't decide if he wanted to lay down or sit with us by the fire. Finally, Sean convinced him to come sit with us and taught him the tradition of singing around the campfire. Ethan chose the same 3 bedtime songs he always picks: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star; I am a Child of God and "the Angel Song" which is the one that Sean always sings to him. I got this video of the two of them singing together.

I slept terrible that night, which I'm guessing is largely to do with the fact that I slept on the crappy air mattress and it was completely deflated by morning. So I got up early, went to the bathroom and read outside for a while. It was still pretty early, but I was getting cold, so I went back to the tent to get my sleeping bag (which I had to pull over Sean to get it out) and forgot that I had tucked the flashlight into it. Yeah, guess what fell out as I tried to pull my sleeping bag out... onto Sean's head! Ohhhh, I felt so bad!! Especially because it was our MAG flashlight and those things are heavy! All was forgiven... I think!

Anyway, once everyone was up, we had pancakes and sausage for breakfast and then went ahead and started packing up.

Well, Sean and I packed up... Ethan just sorta wandered around our campsite.

In the bottom left picture you can see Ethan playing with some cars I brought for him after he very specifically told me not to bring them for him because he would not be playing with them!

We did find this pretty cool hollowed out tree, though.

And that's pretty much it! We're hoping to go maybe one more time before the cold weather and rain sets in - maybe even a 2-nighter!

Quick Weekend in Oregon

The last weekend in July we made a little last-minute trip down to Oregon. As mentioned in my “Missing Girls Camp” post, this was the year of the TREK for the youth in the Springfield stake and since I had been on the 3 previous ones, I thought it would be fun to pick up Lizzy on the last day. I talked with Sean and we decided to make a weekend of it! So, I got home w/ Ethan Thursday night after my usual 2-day work spree in Eugene and then Friday morning we all got up bright and early [i.e. about 5:30am] to take Sean to work. His summer job was in Salem, so while he worked from about 7am to 12:30pm [Fridays were his short day], Ethan and I bummed around downtown.

First stop was to Costco for gas, since I think we were running on fumes! But after that we went to good ol’ Mickey D’s for breakfast. Ethan had pancakes, apple slices and milk while I ate my standard egg mcmuffin with a folded egg. And then, we cheated and went into the play area about an hour before it was “opened” because, dang it!, that’s why we went to that particular McDonald’s and it was barely 8am and I still had almost 5 hours to kill!! So I sat and ate and kept an eye on Ethan while he ran around, climbed the towers, slid down the slides and occasionally ran to the table for a bite or two of pancakes before running off again. Finally, at about 9am I was getting ready to leave when a little girl showed up with her grandma. Well, Ethan and her just hit it off and since we had nowhere to be, I let him play for another hour! That’s right, I was at McDonald’s for 2 HOURS!! But Ethan had fun, so it was ok. We went to the bathroom and then after I loaded him in his carseat, I decided I needed a little caffeine to reboot my system and went through the drive-through for a Coke. {Mmmm…. McDonald’s fountain Coke.}

The plan for our next stop was either the Carousel, A.C. Gilbert Children’s Museum and/or playground. I hadn’t decided yet. Salem decided for me because the carnival was in town! That meant no parking at the carousel or children’s museum. Grrrrr….. After several loops throughout the downtown area to find a parking spot and several more ggrrrrrrrrr…. sounds under my breath, I finally found a spot just across the street from the carousel w/ free parking for the first two hours. Perfect! Children’s Museum was definitely out, so we headed on over to the carousel. Cost was $1.50/ride [parents not riding a horse were free] so I just bought one ride to begin with and the lady at the token booth was nice enough to give Ethan an extra one since it was our first time. Sweet! So we get in line… We check out all the cool horses as they pass us [I’m thinking the bucking cowboy one is pretty cool]…. The operator opens the gate… Ethan pretty much has his pick of horse to ride and he picks… he picks… drumroll please…………….. He picks the covered wagon. What?! Are you my kid?! So he sits down and I say to Ethan, “I just want to make sure you know that this one won’t be going up and down at all. Is this still where you want to ride?” “Yes, mommy.” “Are you sure?” “Yes, mommy.” “Totally, 100% sure?? Because you can still ride a horse if you want to!” “Yes, mommy.” Ok. Fine. So Ethan’s first ride on the famous Salem Waterfront Carousel was in the stationary covered wagon.

Alright next ride. The free ride. We get in line again…. We check out the horses again…. The operator opens the gate and Ethan makes a beeline for…….. “The food cart” as he calls it. Say what?! Seriously? This time I only ask, “are you sure?” once. He’s sure. So we ride the stationary “food cart” and I check out all the other horses longingly. Each with a different theme. Seashells. Fairytale. Knight. Cowboy. Native American. The possibilities are endless! I even spot this one by us with a CTR crest on the harness. The ride ends and we get off and walk around, check out the gift shop, annoy an employee at the gift shop because Ethan and I are the only customers in there and Ethan is sitting on the floor checking out the toys and taking up “space”. Oh brother. We decide to do ONE more ride. C’mon Ethan, let’s pick out a horse to ride. He likes the black knight one, so once again we are in line… waiting…. watching…. getting on the carousel and this time we know we want the black knight horse… we’re walking, we’re walking… the black horse is in sight, but what’s this? We come across the “food cart” first and Ethan is distracted. Mission failed. We ride the stationary “food cart” again. I am 0 for 3 in the cool horse category on the carousel.

So once we were done with all the excitement of the carousel, we thought we’d better at least check out the carnival since it was free to get in. Of course, Ethan is dead set on the car ride {clearly his 3-year-old brain hasn’t made the connection that the car ride is essentially a carousel in car form!} but I check out the cost anyway. 3 tickets. And 1 ticket costs? You guessed it! 1 ticket = 1 dollar. $3 for this ride?! This frugal mama isn’t liking the sound of that. But what luck! I only have a $5 bill left. Ha! I’m not lying when I tell the little guy that he can only ride once because that’s really all the cash I have! So I march up to the ticket booth and proudly buy just 3 tickets. Ha! Ethan LOVES his car ride! He got so into it… turning the wheel and making car sounds. Meanwhile, two girls got in another car and just sat there. They didn’t even put their hands on the steering wheel. Boring! After Ethan’s ride we walked around the rest of the carnival and ignored the hecklers trying to get us to play the carnival games. I wasn’t falling for that rip-off! On our way out we bought a churro to share with my final $2 and then headed over to pick up daddy. It was a great morning!

The rest of the weekend was fun, too, but I won’t go into nearly as much detail! Friday afternoon we hung out at my family’s house and once Ethan was in bed, my mom, Sean and I went to see the new Angelina Jolie movie, Salt. Saturday morning we drove with my mom to pick Lizzy up in Bend and then made the traditional Harrick’s general store stop for ice cream and sodas for the drive home. Saturday night we went to Dickie Jo’s for dinner. The burgers and fries were awesome… definitely rivaling In-N-Out and Five Guys. Sunday we went to our old ward and it was great to see familiar faces. We had several inquiries as to whether we were moving back and sub-sequentially several disappointed faces. That poor ward has had 6 or 7 active families move out in less than a year. After lunch and naps, Lizzy and I made brownies to take over to Tim and Danae’s so we could cuddle the new baby. Yeah, Lizzy got way more cuddle time than I did!

Finally, after our whirlwind weekend in Oregon, we headed home.

Decisions, decisions...

Finish "The Vampire Diaries" of which I am not even half-way through yet or....
Start "Mockingjay", the 3rd and final book of The Hunger Games series??? Uh, I think I'm going to have to go with Katniss, Peeta and Gale in Mockingjay and put Stefan, Damon and Elena in Vampire Diaries back on the shelf for a little while.

Now... Please, Do Not Disturb. I'm reading. :)

Independence Day 2010... Divided

So, ignore the fact that Independence Day was 7 1/2 weeks ago and just be happy for me that I finally finished one of my overdue posts!

This year we spent Independence Day as a family divided... Sean and Ethan were back home in Washington while I was in Utah with my mom and sisters [that post still to come!] and therefore this post is dedicated to my boys! Here's what they were up to on the 4th... After church they donned their matching flag shirts [I was wearing mine in UT] and headed over to the Dahls for a huge BBQ and Independence Day celebration along with about 50 other families from our new ward. Ok, maybe just 5 or 6, but still... there were a lot of people there.

Here are my boys in their matching shirts. Dang finger smudge on the camera lens. Just pretend that's not there!

Ethan had fun playing with all the other kiddos there.

Of course, Maddy C. was his #1 buddy. I love these pictures of them watching the fireworks through their "binocular hands". :)

And finally, the fireworks. These are soooo NOT Oregon fireworks!! Oregon's consumer fireworks have to stay on the ground and most make annoying high-pitched whistling sounds. Washington fireworks, however, are like stadium fireworks - launched into the air and make KABOOM! sounds. I think I like WA at-home fireworks a little better. [No wonder so many OR residents come to WA to get the "illegals"!]

Stay tuned... Toftdahl girls Utah trip posts are in the works!!

Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me

This summer we've seen two very fun, very funny movies as a family. First up was Toy Story 3 {not in 3D, because I think 3D is a waste of money - but that's another post}. We all really enjoyed this and Ethan had been looking forward to it. He's not one of those kids that was already a huge Toy Story fan because he did not actually see the original movies until just a month or so before the new one came out. Disney channel aired both Toy Story 1 and 2 to build up hype for the new one - we recorded them to the DVR and Ethan became an instant fan!
I love how in each Toy Story movie at some point near the end, one of the other toys says something like, "Woody was telling the truth!" Haven't they learned to trust him yet?!?! Anyway, the timing to see this movie worked out perfectly with a potty training reward.For filling up his chart, Ethan got a Buzz Lightyear action figure which, of course, he took with us to the movie that day. The pictures below, are not from that day!
Then, last Friday we were all set to go to the fair until we checked online and found out the 1/2 price admission deal we thought we were going to get turned out just to be for the 7-12 year old crowd. After calculating our admission/parking/ride-bracelet-for-Ethan cost to be over $50 we decided to save our cash and went to Despicable Me instead.
Hilarious!! If I had to pick one to watch again, I would go with this one! And I am loving that Ethan likes going to the movies.

My Sunday

Oh, what a Sunday! I had a very love/strongly dislike relationship with Ethan today!! It alternated between good and bad....

GOOD
- I walked out of the bathroom after getting ready for church wearing a white flowy skirt, white top w/ silver flower design and green cardigan. Ethan took one look at me and said, "Mommy, you look beautiful!!" as he gave me a "leg hug". Cute, right?

BAD
- He had an oreo mouth from lunch and had his mouth open while he hugged me, leaving a ring of oreo drool on my white skirt. Nice.

GOOD
- Sean had to conduct the music in sacrament meeting so we got to church early!

BAD, no... really BAD
- Ethan was a holy living terror the majority of sacrament meeting. He's not normally perfect during sacrament meeting, but not too bad either. Today was a different story. He was tired to begin with [the joys of 1pm church I tell ya!] but refused to sit and do anything that we had brought for him in his church bag. Then he kept kicking his legs all around and laying down on the bench and not whispering, etc. etc. Ay-yi-yi!! Finally, just before the sacrament prayer, as I'm trying to get him to settle down, he yells out, "I don't want to say the prayer!" Well, that was it for this mama! With gritted teeth I carried him out of that chapel so fast it would make your head spin. Little butthead!! We sat in the foyer all through the passing of the sacrament and through much of the first talk. Most of the time he was still fighting with me. We walked around a little. I tried talking with him and reminded him that his books, snack, etc. were all back in the chapel and then asked if there was something wrong. Nothing was helping. Finally, after more struggling and walking around, I talked to him again and reminded him of good church behavior: whispering, sitting nicely, folding arms during the prayer, etc. He agreed and we went back in. Yeah, the good behavior did not last long. Just when I was about to really lose it [dang near on the verge of tears] a friend sitting behind us offered a quiet activity book that immediately grabbed his attention. FINALLY!! He looked through it a few times and then very politely returned it. She offered a different one and that pretty much kept his interested the remaining portion of sacrament. [insert loooong sigh of relief........]

GOOD
In the midst of the battle with Ethan, once we were back in the chapel and while the finally speaker was talking, Ethan turned to me and said, "make our homes like a temple?" Exactly what the speaker had just said! You're kidding me... you were listening?! Unbelievable.

BAD
When church was over and we were getting ready to leave, Ethan was in the primary room with me drawing on the chalkboard. It was time to go, so I told him to put the eraser back and we'd go. He continued to draw, so I told him again. He started to walk toward me, still with the eraser in his hand. When I told him, again, to put it back he threw it at my leg! Grrr... Skating on thin ice this kid was!

GOOD
He fell half-asleep in the car during the short ride home. Sean brought him in and set him on the recliner. When I looked over at him, I found him like this:
Then he shifted positions:
Unfortunately for Ethan, we had dinner plans at a friends' house which meant no more napping - but it was with the Colemans, so Ethan was happy to play with the kids. After dinner, Brian [Coleman] and Jeff [another guy in our ward who's family is all out of town], had a little snooze on the couch. Can you tell they each have four kids and have mastered the fine art of tuning them out when necessary?!
So, Ethan was pretty good the rest of the day. Actually ate dinner [this is actually a major struggle every time we go to a friend's for dinner because he is more interested in playing with the kids than eating, so often won't eat - despite prompting and reminding and making up a plate - and then comes home starving and eats cereal or something], played well with the kids, listened when we set up the rules about being outside, etc. We had good food [Colemans had killed their rooster the day before, so we had chicken and then also ribs, potatoes from their garden, salad, cous cous and a coconut cake for dessert], good conversation and played Pass the Popcorn. When Sean, Ethan and I got home, we all pretty much crashed! Overall, I'd say it was a GOOD day... despite the bad day hiccups along the way!

Sharp Shooter

I can't believe I still haven't posted this. I guess it sorta got lost in the works... it was buried in my completed/unfinished post section even farther down from the Birthday and Independence day posts I started! Sigh.... some day I'll catch up. It's just so hard when I've got current stuff I'm anxious to post. Normally, I probably wouldn't have even told you just how old this event was, but the fleece and hoodies in the pictures clue you into the weather - still cold out. So think back to my first Utah trip post [the second one is still in the works... buried with b-day and 4th of July half-completed posts] from when we went back in April... Yeah, this happened the Wednesday before we left!

So I've had a hankering {yes, I really just wrote hankering} to learn how to shoot for a couple of years now. Then, I find out Christine made plans and went with our grandpa Chuck because she knew it'd be a while before she had time again since she was moving to Utah. Pssshhh. What's up with that?! Well, Lizzy and I decide we want to learn to, so the three of us make plans with grandpa. Of course, we have to do it on a Wednesday when I'm down for work and the first attempt it rained. The next week, though, it was cold but dry. Grandpa first gave us a quick lesson in gun safety and then taught us to shoot several different rifles. We had great fun running down to our targets after each round to see and compare how we did.
At first, Lizzy was a little terrified to even shoot. Once she got over her fear, she shot but didn't even hit the target paper! By the end of the night, though, she'd landed a bulls-eye!


Christine already had one lesson under her belt, so she did very well too! [I think there's a picture of her by target, but it's on her camera.]


This was all very new to me. In fact, I don't think I'd ever held a loaded gun before. Marksmanship agreed with me, though. My very first round of shots all at least landed on the paper and I got better from there. We had started with an open-site rifle and then tried one with a scope on it and that's where I really shined. My target that has the cluster of shots in the orange is from when I shot with the scope. I thought I'd done pretty well, but was a little bummed I hadn't gotten an actual bulls-eye with it. Then my grandpa tells me that the scope was set for 4 times the distance we were shooting from, so lining up with the bulls-eye means your aim is actually a bit high, hence all the shots being clustered just above the center. Oh, and I didn't get a picture of my bulls-eye!

Christine and I also go to shoot a shot-gun {Little bit more kick to it, plus about 20x louder! My ears were ringing.} and the last thing we did, was get a little closer to shoot with the revolver. Yeah, that was way harder to hold steady! It was great to spend some quality time with grandpa Chuck and I'm pretty sure he loved having some of his granddaughters show so much interest in one of his favorite past-times. I just wish we'd gotten a picture with him in it!

July Recap

I'm hoping people aren't getting too sick of my monthly recaps, but I'm actually beginning to appreciate the recaps picking up on little things I may have missed... especially for journaling purposes.

* Date-night-movie-of-the-month… barely!: We got our movie night in on Friday, July 30th. And I’m not entirely sure it can really count as a date because my mom was with us! Well, not like we’re sitting in the back making out like a couple of teenagers – the point is, we were childless! So what did we go see?? The intense, high-action [and high body count] spy thriller:Yeah, holy intense! Sean is a lucky to have a woman who loves action movies!! Our ratio of action movies to romantic comedies is at least 3:1! And I totally guessed the “bad guy” in the beginning, though my mom had her doubts. Evelyn Salt is like a female Jason Bourne. Not sure who I’d put my money on in a fight, though. Anyway, it was good and there will totally be a sequel and did I mention it was intense?

* Afternoon w/ Maddy: Every once in a while, I do a baby-sitting trade with a family in our ward and I watch their youngest, Maddy. Ethan and Maddy are already good buddies and play well together most of the time. There’s usually at least one handful of sand thrown by Ethan and a smack to the arm from Maddy, but other than that, it’s all good! They had great fun with one of the boxes still left over from the move. And lunch-time was spent outside intermingled with tricycle rides and playing in the sandbox.Left: The kiddos enjoying some afternoon freezer pops. Maddy was ignoring my picture request! Right: Maddy giving Ethan a ride in the box.

* Strawberry cupcakes w/ “perfect” frosting:
Holy pain in the pa-tooty! I'm not sure these cupcakes are worth making again. They were good... had a very authentic strawberry flavor to them - due largely to the 1lb. of pureed strawberries mixed in the batter. But they had little rise to them and you have to add red food coloring to your batter otherwise you get gray cupcakes. And who wants to eat gray cupcakes?! The frosting is another story. Even though it took me FOUR attempts to do the first part of the process correctly, it is a recipe I will likely use again. You see, it starts with a basic white "sauce" of milk and flour cooked until just barely thick on the stovetop. Well, I overcooked it and messed it up three times [though I think my 1st attempt would've work ok, I was just too chicken to use it] before finally getting it right. After that, you just add a little softened butter, sugar [not powdered sugar] and vanilla and then whip the holy living heck out of it!! We're talking on high speed for 8-12 minutes!! But that's when the magic happens and makes this frosting light and fluffy. Get the frosting recipe here and cupcake recipe here.

* Elizabeth Kylinn is born!! My good friend, Danae, had her baby girl on July 27th. At 11:06am I got a text from Danae while Ethan and I were on our walk saying she'd had her epidural and was 6cm dilated... Ellie was born at 11:37am!! I got to go visit Danae and Ellie in the hospital Wednesday night - completely uninterrupted for almost an hour. I was in newborn-baby-holding heaven! This is a picture of Elisabeth holding Elizabeth. :)
* Events already covered or still to come:
- Utah trip [this is a 3-part post in the works!]
- 5th Anniversary date night
- Pioneer Day
- Weekend in Oregon
- Independence Day

* Random pictures:

Chilling and eating his snack. I just can't get over those long legs!

Ethan took this picture... Not too bad for first thing in the morning and no make-up!

Sunday evening naps. Ethan actually went straight to bed after this.

Ethan packed up the mini cooler one afternoon with all the essentials... pudding cups, apple, juice, ice packs and cars. Then he said he was off to Christine's birthday party!

Getting one more summer out of the baby pool. I love the contrast in his face between the top and bottom pictures!

Pioneer Day 2010

I guess there's not a whole lot to say about this year's Pioneer celebration, so I'll just get right to the pictures!! This was a stake event and in addition to a BBQ lunch, horseshoes and handcart races, there were a number of fun activities for everyone. Of course, Ethan bypassed all the other activities going on when he saw this at the back of the field:
We were there early, plus everyone else was eating lunch, so we were able to avoid much of a wait and Ethan got to go through the inflatable obstacle course several times. He loved it!! BIG smile on his face the whole time and no problems getting around, through, over and under all the obstacles.

There was also a "pie-eating" contest... it was really just vanilla pudding in a pie plate, but Sean and one of the young men he works with went head to head.

These are the cute Coleman kiddos! Hannah, the oldest, is in my Sunday School class at church. I love the bottom two pictures of Maddy with her rainbow face paint and Mikey after the pie-eating contest! Ethan just adores all 4 of them!

It was actually Ethan who got this Tug-o-war match going. I'm almost positive it was his 30+ lbs. of brute strength that sealed the win.

It took much, much coaxing to convince Ethan to get his face painted. I suggested a sun, frog, dragon, etc. He turned them all down, but then finally agreed to it if they would do a truck. Go figure. Then, of course, he wouldn't even sit still long enough for the girl to add much detail. Oh well, he's still a cute kid.

And finally, proof that I was there too. Ethan was upset because he wanted the camera to take some pictures, so this was the best I could get! The bottom picture of Sean is courtesy of photographer Ethan.

And this final shot is just of my cute little boy... tired, but happy!

PS: Have you weighed in yet on my reunion dilemma? Check out the previous post...