Abe and Meredith Fish

Once again time is getting away from me and I can't believe another month has passed. That is probably good since it means we are one month closer to being done with Abe's third year of medical school and closer to being done with boards so that we can see Abe again. May was busy with Abe having an odd schedule at work on top of full weekends with all sorts of fun activities. Why we feel the need to fill all available time I don't understand. I'm hoping for one nice quiet weekend at home so I have a chance of getting some cleaning done. Here is a little video of Ethan when the cleaning bug struck him. One morning he jumped out of his chair after breakfast and told Taylor that they needed to get cleaning. This NEVER happens so I had to catch it for posterity.

One weekend the ward had a father-son campout and Ethan had a wonderful time. For weeks he talked about the "no girls allowed" camping trip. It was a little rough on Abe but Ethan had a great time and can't wait to go camping again. I felt kind of bad that Ethan couldn't roast marshmallows and eat them since he can't have the sugar in marshmallows so I set out to figure out how to make homemade marshmallows with sweetner that the kids can have. They were a big hit. The kids love to lick the bowl.

Ethan was playing on a soccer team and had games on Friday nights. That poor kid wanted nothing to do with the games. It was a little frustrating because Ethan spent the whole time trying to get off the field and Taylor spent the whole time trying to get on the field. She loves to dribble the ball around and is pretty good at it. She would get so mad when I would drag her off the field while trying to chase Ethan down to get him back on the field. Ethan got a trophy at the end of the season, as all the kids did, with a boy on it playing soccer. One day he was looking at it and asked me if I thought it was suppose to be him. I said I didn't know and asked him if he thought it looked like him. He matter of factly said "No, he isn't running back to his mommy."
Another weekend we took the kids to a children's museum. It is a fun place and the kids had such a good time. They both loved milking the "cow".

I also spent a weekend in NC at my friend's wedding. Abe was so sweet to stay home and watch the kids. It was wonderful to have the time to visit with friends without having to chase the kids around. Adult conversation is so great and so are wonderful friends. I actually had the time to visit multiple friends and even wander around the mall without anyone whining.

Last week the kids and I went to Richmond so I could work for a couple of days. The kids loved their time with my parents. Ethan asked if we were going to stay there for forever. I'm sure grandma would eventually stop feeding him everything he asked for and eventually he would want to head home. On Friday we went down to North Carolina with my family to bury my grandmother. She passed away in mid-May but it took a little while to finalize the arrangements for the military burial. It was a nice chance to visit with family, some of whom we have not seen in many years.

The kids were good on the trip since we divided them up between the different cars. After the burial we went out to lunch with the family to grandma's favorite restaurant by the beach. And then we took the kids to the beach that my grandparents used to take us to when we were little. It was a nice trip down memory lane. The kids loved the beach. I wish I had pulled out the camera but I was just too busy having a good time in the ocean.

The next day we went to an aquarium. Ethan and Taylor's enthusiam was just adorable. Taylor loves the word "fish" and she just couldn't say it enough. She didn't like to get very close to them and didn't want to take her eyes off them when I tried to convince her to sit down to take her picture. I love how she gets perfect ringlets in the hot, humid North Carolina summer. The rest of us just looked like we were melting and she looks adorable. Taylor is the biggest fan of holding Ethan's hand. He puts up with it pretty well but isn't nearly as excited about it as Taylor. He is a pretty good sport though.

Like I have probably said before Taylor is my little mama. She loves real babies and baby dolls more than anything (well other than Ethan). She walks around church saying "baby, baby" and chasing anyone carrying a baby carrier. When she sees a baby in a book she holds out her hands and says "hold me baby". The whole trip to North Carolina and back she had her baby doll with her. She would hand me the baby while I drove and hand me this sweatshirt and say "baby night night" so I would have to wrap the baby up and she would bounce the baby and say "sh, sh, sh". Oh I just love that little angel.

I will finish up with Abe and my favorite Ethan quotes of the day. The kids went to a new babysitter today. Well actually not new because she watched Ethan when he was younger but they haven't been there in a long time. The in-home daycare has 3 girls near Ethan's age and they are all just adorable. I could tell when I dropped Ethan off that one of the girls was into Ethan because she kept trying to sit near him and he would move away and she was VERY giggly. This is little scary since this girl is probably just 2. The babysitter sent me an email today and she said that all the girls had taken a fancy to Ethan. She told me that they were often fighting over who could sit next to him. So Ethan says "Girls, there is only one Ethan and I can only sit in one chair." I love his reasoning. The babysitter also mentioned that she was having a discussion with one of the girls about how we don't always get what we want. Ethan chimed in and said "Yeah, cause my dad really wants a truck and he can't have one." Such a perceptive child. I just love this pictures of Ethan. He is such a cutie!