Imagination Movers Surprise!!

As much as I'd like to take credit for our evening last night as though I'd had this surprise for Ethan all planned out for months and months.... I didn't. I got a generic email yesterday afternoon from the Portland Center for Performing Arts about upcoming events and didn't read it until about 5:15pm. Normally I just skim through it and then delete the email, if I even read it at all. Well, something just happened to catch my eye - 1/2 price tickets to Imagination Movers. Sweet! I love a good deal. Oh, wait... it's for tonight. Just when I was about to delete the email, I decided to run it by Sean. Long story short, we got Ethan ready and decided it was worth a shot. Of course, you could no longer by tickets online, so we had to cross our fingers that there were still tickets available at the box office. We got into downtown Portland at about 6:30pm and Sean dropped me off while he wen to find parking. Our tickets ended up being $49.50 for ALL 3! That's only $16.50 a ticket! And they were excellent seats - row L of the center section!! So, all this time we had not told Ethan where we were going - just that we had a surprise for him. As we got closer to the theater, I got nervous we wouldn't get tickets and had warned Ethan that the surprise was last minute and we may not be able to get in. I met up with Sean and Ethan after they parked the car and then we told Ethan the surprise - he was so excited!!We had about 15 minutes before the show started, so we let Ethan go ahead and take a picture in front of the backdrop they had set up. It was actually a pretty cool deal. They had kids-size Imagination Movers coveralls if they wanted to wear them and then they let the parents take the picture on a digital camera. When the show was over, you could pick up the pictures from a table. And the best part? It was free! They also gave Ethan a sticker and package of silly bandz.Alright, time for the show!! The opening act was Choo-Choo Soul w/ Genevieve and DC and as soon as they came out, Ethan was hooked. Huge grin on his face! He was so excited to see them in person! They did a great job of getting the kids excited and the crowd moving and singing along. Next up... IMAGINATION MOVERS!! Sean and I liked that the show was more of a concert - we thought it was going to be more like an episode of the show. They did a bunch of the favorites from the show and were good about coming down the aisles and really interacting with the kids.
Next up was a visit from Nina! She taught the kids a hula and that's when Ethan actually started to dance and participate a little more - he'd been a bit shy before.

{The part that is all black is when I tried to video Ethan singing/dancing along and then realized I was zoomed way in to video Nina onstage, so it was too dark.}

Warehouse Mouse came out next, then there was another "special guest" and then the finale, complete with confetti!

We had a great time!! The actual show was about an hour long, not including 15 minutes with Choo-Choo Soul and then a 15 minute "encore" set with some classic rock and pop songs - so an hour and a half. And, they said we were one of the best crowds they'd had yet - which was especially impressive for a Tuesday night! Ha ha!!After we picked up our picture in the lobby, guess who came out for a little meet-n-greet?! Genevieve and DC from Choo Choo Soul!
Yeah, this pretty much sealed the deal as Sean and I being awesome parents in our little Ethan's eyes. Ha ha! We had a great night! :)

I have to say, I have much more respect for them after seeing the show and hearing a little more of their story (check out their site) and knowing, now, that they started out as ordinary guys with jobs and families and that they are all friends - not actors. This is the 2011 tour, so it just started. In fact, for those in the "area" they are in Eugene tonight and then in Seattle on Friday.
Here's the link for the tour schedule: http://www.imaginationmovers.com/events
And here's a link to their site (it explains the free picture promo in "Featured News" section): http://www.imaginationmovers.com/

Snow Day and the snowman killer

I don't know about everyone else, but I am more than ready for Spring! Even the torrential downpours we get here in the Pacific Northwest during Spring. Really, just anything for temps above freezing and some moisture in the air {my skin has been so dry and my hair just doesn't curl the same - excellent reasons, I know!} as well as a few sunny days. But, alas, last Thursday we were "blessed" with some snow. Ethan hadn't really played in snow since he was a baby, so there was a lot of excitement to have more than an inch of white stuff in the yard! Of course, I had been on my death bed since Tuesday with a nasty cold so I wasn't exactly gung-ho to go outside, but I did it out of love for my child, well.... that and I wanted some pictures of Ethan in the snow, but as far as he's concerned, it was all out of love!

Bundling up was a must... then I realized Ethan's only water-proof pants were in the backseat of the Explorer. "It's ok," I thought, "we'll add an extra layer and make due." Then I realized his boots were also in the Explorer! Normally, this would not be a problem as the Explorer usually stays home with us but I knew we wouldn't be going anywhere and we wanted Sean to have a safer commute, seeing as the Honda has practically bald front tires!

First things first, Ethan was all about making snow angels!

Then we tried making snowballs, but Ethan was having a hard time getting his to stick together so he moved on to just running around in the snow.

I should've known Ethan wouldn't let me stand idly by just taking pictures and it wasn't long before he was requesting a snowman. I obliged. And Ethan helped put on the snowman's face.A carrot nose is a must!Isn't he cute?! Ethan's not too bad looking either. Ha!!

Ethan stole frosty's nose......it ended up other random places - carrot heart, anyone? And you can see our snowman startled to crack...

...it toppled shortly thereafter!

And Ethan continued to destroy poor frosty!

Last picture before going in. Please look at the cute boy next to me and not my make-up-free, been-sick-for-three-days, completely-exhausted face. I went inside and crashed on the couch for an hour while Ethan watched a movie. Building that snowman wore this cold-infected mama out!
At least it was beautiful to look at!

Oregon Trip for Grandpa's Funeral

While the reason for our trip to Oregon last week was sad, it was still nice to see family. Ethan had a miraculous recovery and was much improved by Wednesday night/Thursday morning, so the two of us drove down Thursday afternoon.

Friday morning, at 10a.m., was the funeral. I was up, showered, dressed, hair and make-up done and had eaten a bowl of cereal by 9a.m. and I was hoping to get the funeral home by about 9:30a.m. Since Ethan had been so sick, I let him sleep in. Big mistake. It was like pulling teeth to get that kid dressed and out the door. After going potty, I went to take his jammies off and get him dressed in nice, church clothes and he gave me a look that said, "what the 'H' do you think you're doing?!" Oh, he wanted to stay in jammies and hang out at grandma Julie's house so bad. I tried nicely talking with him several times and finally resorted to bribes. I am all for a reward system for various tasks, but I have never had to flat-out resort to a bribe. A trip to Target with mommy, popcorn and a slurpee from the concession place and TWO new cars (Hot Wheels size) was the final offer laid out on the table. I gave him a few minutes and then he finally allowed me to get him dressed. Oh, such a battle! We got to the funeral home right at 10a.m. Oh, and did I mention I was on the program for a violin solo?! I had not had a chance to practice or tune my violin since before we left from Washington the day before. I went to a side office to tune and after the opening prayer and song, I was first up, so I went in completely cold and very nervous. I played Nearer My God to Thee and Be Still My Soul - two of my favorite songs. A little shaky, but I think overall it was ok. The rest of the service was very nice and my uncle Gale did a good job with the eulogy. It was nice to hear more about grandpa's youth.

After the service, I took some pictures of the flowers and photos. This table was outside the chapel and by the guest book.And then this was the main table inside the chapel and all the flowers.After the funeral, immediate family members drove up to the cemetery where my Dad dedicated the grave. Then, it was back to my parents' house for a luncheon with the family.This is everyone who was able make it, minus my Dad who had to get back to work. This is pretty much all of the Graham children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We are missing 3 spouses {Sean, Nick's wife Christi and Jeff's wife Shalene}, Christine, Anna and then 4 great-grandchildren. Not too bad, though, considering we had family come from Washington, California, Utah, Nevada and Texas!
This is my grandma Mary with all five of her children. Left to right: Christy, Gale, Gary, my mom and Kay.

And not to change the subject, but this is how I wore my hair that day and I got lots of compliments on it. And then I washed all the product out and had it cut! I was desperate for a cut. I got about 1.5-2 inches off the bottom and long bangs cut into the front. Then this week I was able to have my roots touched up, so I am back to being all blonde. I'll try and post a picture soon.

That evening, Ethan and I went to Target as promised. We skipped the popcorn and slurpee and he opted for a Transformers car and a jet (also Hot Wheels size). And then... then I found the Valentine's Day clearance aisle. Everything marked down 75% off. Wahoo!! I ended up with 4 placemats (.49 each), 4 heart-shaped dinner plates (.74 each), 4 heart-shaped salad plates (.62 each), treat bags, party cups with a cute frog design {really wish they would've had them last year so I could've used them for Ethan's frog prince themed birthday party} and them some M&M's. Love a good deal! :)Don't these plates just look so cute all lined up in the dishwasher?!?

And Ethan was blessed to use them first. Monday morning I made pancakes - Ethan's are free-hand hearts. I won't lie, they took some practice. I made Sean eat the duds!!

The next day, Saturday, was a lazy day. We slept in, stayed in jammies and just hung out at my parents' house. Lizzy set Ethan up playing some of the easier games on the Wii and he was in heaven. Ethan and I stuck around all day and then went to Lizzy's last basketball game of the season. They lost but put up a good fight.
Afterward, we stayed and watched most of the Varsity girls basketball game - they beat the pants off South Eugene and are headed to the state championship tournament! Then it was a rush to load up our stuff and we went out to a late dinner at Dickie Jo's. My parents treated me to dinner. Very nice. :) And then Ethan and I made the long drive back to Washington. The end.

January Recap

January. is. a. blur. As are most months around here. I don't know why. We have some excitement mixed in to the day to day mundane and yet I am just as shocked when the end of one month rolls around and we are starting another one. Is this really the last full week of February?? Could we really be seeing signs of Spring soon?! I don't like how quickly time seems to pass. It makes me feel old. In the voice of Gru {Despicable Me}: Not Cool.

Anyway. I have been through my January photo albums. A lot. And I can't really find anything new to post. I think it's because we spent a good chunk of January recovering from our massive road trip and just trying to get back into a routine. Yeah, that getting back into routine thing took most of the month. So, here's what you may have missed.

* Date-night-movie-of-the-month returns: Yay!! I really do look forward to getting out at least once a month with just my hubby to go see a new movie. We are simple date-night people. Tickets to the latest blockbuster and maybe a small tub of popcorn and a Coke to share and we are happy campers. January's movie was at the cheap theater. And we had a gift card. :) RED: Retired. Extremely Dangerous. Have y'all seen this yet? I think it's at Redbox now. A must-see if you like action movies! Seriously, how awesome is it to see Helen Mirren {who won an Oscar for portraying the Queen of England in "The Queen"} be an expert shot with any gun?!

* Stake Relief Society fireside: I admit, I'm not always the most excited to go to Relief Society functions but am usually pretty happy that I went. This fireside-thing was no exception, so I don't know why I haven't learned my lesson. The theme was "establishing a house of God" and my friend Jenn Dahl {of All Dahled Up} was in charge of all the decorations {you can see pictures here}. Being her friend {and one of her husband's home teaching families} has its perks - she sent me home with my own "Establish a House of God" decoration!It is now located on our "mantle" aka the top of the piano, right next to our framed copy of "The Living Christ".

* Potty-Training: Towards the end of the month we re-started this cold turkey. It's going well. More on it later, though......

* Weekend in Oregon: This ended up being the last time Ethan and I saw Grandpa Ken and I am glad we went. Read more about our trip here.

* Goals check-in: Working on everything. Definitely still need to try harder with the scripture reading and I am ready for some warmer weather so Ethan and I can get outside and I can get back to my 4-mile walks. Got my 10 blog posts in, but I'm still working on showing more comment love to others! Other than that, I just keep moving forward. :)

* Random Sleeping Ethan Pictures:
This was one night when Ethan decided he didn't want to sleep in his own bed, so he tucked himself into "bed" on his Lightening McQueen couch.

Once in a while, when Ethan can't sleep well, we pull his crib mattress {since he sleeps on a twin bed now} in to our room so he can sleep on the floor. This is how I found him one morning!

December Recap

So if you thought November's recap was short, December's is even shorter! Three main reasons: 1. No date-night-movie-of-the-month. 2. Last half of the month was spent away from home and was covered in great detail in previous posts. 3. The first half of the month was spent preparing for the last half {travel, Christmas, etc.}!

Basically, look at the December posts or check out the six-part mini-series covering our seven-state road trip to get all the pictures and info on our family for the month of December!!

And finally, some random Ethan pictures...This is how I found him on the couch one day, watching cartoons. I don't know about you, but that would kill my back!
Ethan and Mr. Monkey on his freshly made bed after we had cleaned/reorganized his room.

The Sickie, Snow and Shrek

The last few days are a blur of temperature taking, juice cup refreshing and DVD changing. After Monday, Ethan just got worse. At one point on Tuesday afternoon his temperature spiked to just over 104 degrees. He'd already taken some acetaminophen that morning, so we attempted to give him some more but within 5 minutes that and everything else he'd eaten was thrown up. So Ethan was a bum on the couch and hardly moved for a good 36 hours [other than sleeping in his own bed]. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings it was straight from his bed to the couch. Luckily, his temp went down Tuesday night and stayed down most of yesterday despite his new symptoms of a stuffy nose and sore throat. Then yesterday afternoon his temp spiked again to 103 so I decided it was time to call the doctor and was happy they had an appointment with his regular pediatrician available. The verdict: an ear infection in his right ear and a possible virus. She said it was hard to say if the fever, etc. was related or something on top of the ear infection. Lungs, lymph nodes and throat all checked out, though, so that was good. So a prescription for amoxicillin was given and the first dose administered last night. I am happy to report that our little guy is doing much better. A little too much better if you ask me! He's still got a stuffy nose, but he seems to think his energy level should be back to normal.

In other news, we got snow yesterday! What a surprise to wake up to big flakes coming down yesterday morning. We didn't get much and it was gone by afternoon, but it was still fun watch while it lasted.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, this is what I got from Sean for heart day on Monday...He hand-picked a box of my favorites from See's. Notice the 5 milk chocolate squares? Yeah, those are all caramels with almonds. My favorite-favorite from See's. :)

And how did my day-after flowers hunt go?? Well, with Ethan being so sick, I couldn't exactly take him out in the morning like I wanted, so I went in search after Sean got home [and after the medicine throw-up fiasco]. I struck out at Safeway {NO flowers on sale}, Freddies {on sale but picked over} and Albertsons {marked down, but not enough} but hit a homerun at Costco. I went in for milk and bread and found these beauties as I was headed to check-out.One dozen long-stem fuchsia pink roses for $7.98!! They are so, so pretty!! And just look so happy and spring-y on our table. :)

Candy Bar Valentine

Sean and I are not big on Valentine's Day. We like to keep it pretty simple and low budget and fun. This year I went old school, but let me start with last night's prep work.... I made Sean's lunch {a very rare occasion at our house} complete with a roast beef/cheese sandwich cut into a heart shape, chips, drink and homemade apple sweetie pies for dessert. Then, I left a couple heart-shaped notes on the mirror for when he woke up this morning, making sure he knew there was a lunch waiting for him {since it's such a rare occasion, I didn't want it to accidentally be missed!}.

Now, Ethan and I's day started with a visit from grandma Sandy and grandpa Chuck, passing through Vancouver on their way to Seattle area. Always fun when we have visitors and Ethan has to show them everything he owns! Once they left, I whipped up a batch of triple chocolate cookies courtesy of Our Best Bites - chocolate cookie with semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips. Yes, they were da' bomb. And I had to take a picture with the flash because it made the red and pink sugar sprinkles sparkle!
Then I got to work on Sean's old school valentine. I did a candy bar card!It read:

Sean, aka my BIG HUNK -

We’ve been friends since the day we met and I knew you were a MR. GOODBAR. Who else can give me the SNICKERS like you? I’m pretty sure the heavens parted and STAR^sBURST when we got married. And even though sometimes we get in a bit of a CRUNCH because, it’s not like we make 100 GRAND every PAY DAY you still bring this family MOUNDS of [ALMOND] JOY. You, me and Ethan, we’re like the 3 MUSKETEERS and it’s a sweet SYMPHONY when we’re all together… well, most of the time! Anyway, it’s safe to say that we both SKORed in being married for eternity.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Love you to [REESE’S] PIECES!

Jenn

I made up a plate of cookies and a few of the piesand then Ethan and I drove over to Sean's work. The lady at the front desk was very cooperative in letting us go back to the TA breakroom. We found out later we probably got there just minutes after Sean had finished his lunch break. Phew! Anyway, we put the cookies out on the table, hung up the card and put Ethan's present to Sean on his desk.

We were in stealth mode. We got in, we got out, and no one knew the wiser. Except the lady at the front desk!

Next stop was Target {got a sweet deal on some new shoes for Ethan - on clearance for $4.98}, McDonald's {Ethan and I share a happy meal - he takes the apple slices and chocolate milk and I get the cheeseburger} and then Redbox for a free DVD rental. When we got home, Ethan put in his movie and then complained he wasn't feeling too well. Sure enough, he had a fever - about 102 degrees! So he rested and then eventually crashed on the couch while I picked up and packaged goodies for some friends.

Our evening was spent attempting and succeeding {for the most part} homemade pizza that started from a ball of dough. Why didn't anyone tell me that stuff is a pain to try and roll out?! Eventually we got it {mostly} circular and the size we wanted and then pepperoni was arranged in the shape of a heart. Yep, that's how we roll. I got an awesome picture of it, too, but for some reason our camera doesn't agree with me and says that it is an invalid image. Whatever. Our pizza was good and you'll just have to take my word on its cuteness.

Oh, and Ethan got a package in the mail from Nana and Papa!! Perfect timing!I told Ethan I was pretty sure the See's sour hearts were meant for me. I don't think he bought it.

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! Tomorrow morning I am off to find some half-price roses to adorn our dining room table. I told Sean to skip the over-priced flowers this year and I'd see what day-after deals I could find. One year I got a dozen long-stem red roses on February 15th for about $3!! I'm hoping to have the same luck this year. :)


Triple Chocolate Cookies
[taken from Our Best Bites Candy Cane Kiss cookies and Cadbury Egg cookies]
1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup + 2 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
about 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
about 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter, shortening and sugars for 1-2 minutes on medium-high or until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Combine baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour and cocoa powder in separate bowl. Add to the butter/sugar mixture and mix to combine. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop dough by tablespoons and bake 8-10 minutes or until centers are set but still soft. Mine take right at 9 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Ethan the Dancin' Fool

It's been a long, emotional week with highs {Ethan and I had a blast at the Zoo on Tuesday - pictures to come} and lows {obviously, Grandpa Ken's passing} so I thought I'd kick off the weekend with a little something to bring a smile to your face. Here are a couple videos of Ethan cuttin' loose and dancing like a crazy man in our living room. Enjoy and happy Friday!

R.I.P. Grandpa Ken

I knew Grandpa Ken was in the hospital again. And it wasn't looking very promising. Yesterday morning, I got the call from my mom. She didn't have to say anything. I could hear it in her voice. I gasped and said, "oh, no." And she said, "yeah." And I knew. Grandpa Ken had passed away.

He is my first grandparent and Ethan's first great-grandparent to pass away and he will be missed. On our last trip to Oregon, Ethan and I visited my mom's parents and, as usual, Ethan made a beeline for the toy box. When it was time to leave and since it was kind of hard to give Grandpa Ken a hug while he was in his chair, Ethan gave him a fist bump. There may have been a high-five in there too, I'm not sure. But I will remember the image of my 89-year-old grandpa fist bumping my almost-4-year-old son. :)

R.I.P. Grandpa Ken
May 19, 1921 - February 9, 2011