December 2010

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this."
Isaiah 9:6-7

Ethan is all about reading books, and his favorite ones are by Dr. Seuss. Mommy and Daddy have logged countless hours reading (and re-reading) the likes of Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can you?, Hop on Pop, and Go, Dog. Go! We bought him The Cat in the Hat as a Christmas gift, and it soon become the ONLY ONE he wanted us to read, especially before bedtime. One night, we must have read it four times all the way through! He also started watching Thomas and Friends on PBS, so we decided to buy him a train table, along with all of the main character engines. In past posts, we've talked about Ethan's love of puzzles. Well, he has taken it to a whole other level. He's very particular about the way he does them. The order in which he takes the puzzle pieces out is the order in which he puts the pieces back in...and don't even think about trying to vary things up on him, or he will cry in protest. He's very particular. It's a wonder who he gets that from...*cough* Mommy! *cough*

December 2010

For Mimi's birthday, we had a dinner party with family and friends at Villa Europa.

Mimi's Bday at Villa Europa

Christmas Portraits

We were so excited about sharing Christmas with Ethan this year. He was still more fascinated with the gift wrap rather than the gifts, but he was totally thrilled when he got his train table. We started the tradition of reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 on Christmas Eve morning, before opening presents, and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus that night at bedtime. We spent time with Uncle Bryan and his family, Nama and Pops, before attending the Christmas Eve service at Kiokee. On Christmas day, we had lunch at Mimi's and Papa Charlie's, then went to have dinner with Mommy's family.

Christmas

Uncle Ian and his family came to visit the week after Christmas. Instead of getting each other gifts this year, the adults participated in a white elephant gift exchange, which was a blast...just ask Aunt Melissa! Mimi threw a Batman-themed birthday party for Eli, which Cousin Caleb was able to attend (he happened to be staying with Necy and Daddy Jim). Another highlight was a trip to Jump City with the kids.

Eli's Bday Party