A Great Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful visit to Utah over Thanksgiving. Ethan hasn't stopped talking about it all week. He can't figure out why we don't get to play with his cousins or see Papa any more and mom isn't nearly as exciting. The highly anticipated trip was everything Ethan had hoped for. We have been telling him for months that grandpa had a digger, and with his obsession for construction equipment he couldn't wait. He probably would have spent the whole week outside if given the chance. Luckily for everyone the weather was pretty good so no one had to freeze to death while keeping an eye on him. I have no doubt that he would have been out there rain or shine. At least twice a day he talked Abe or dad into taking him up on the hill to drive the digger.

Ethan also quickly discovered the swing set and toy dump trucks in the sandbox. We are still trying to get the sand out of our shoes and suitcases.

Ethan still wants to know where Tuff and Gator are. As an animal lover he had a blast playing with the dogs and riding the horses.

The Bean Museum at BYU had a little reptile show. Ethan just wanted to hold the animals and didn't want to listen to the man talk about them so we didn't make it for much of the show.


It was so nice to spend some time with the family. We don't get out there nearly enough so it was great to chat with everyone and see all the kids. We missed seeing everyone else who didn't make it into town and we wish we could come at Christmas to see more of the family. We miss all of you and can't wait to see you all again soon. ~Meredith

Sold

It is finally done we sold our "lake house".  After having our house under contract for almost two months we finally closed on Monday. I can't believe how inept some people are at there jobs. After having a month to schedule the necessary things for the closing like home inspection, appraisal, and power of attorney (the buyers husband is deployed) in the last couple of weeks before closing they decide to start working on it. Needless to say it didn't get done. Then the buyers power of attorney wasn't any good because it wasn't notarized. So that took an extra two weeks, it was a combination of sending it snail mail and the fact that the first time he sent it wasn't notarized because he thought that it would be faster just to get it sent and then the second time sending it he sent it snail mail, which was annoying. At one point in time I was wondering if it was a good idea to for the buyers to make such a purchase because lets face it they don't seem to be very bright. But that is not our problem. Thank goodness it is done. 

Fall Fun

Ethan had the best time at Halloween this year. He was obsessed with pumpkins everywhere we went. I made sure to get him a pumpkin big enough that he couldn't pick up because he wanted to carry around every pumpkin he found. Ethan went to a couple of Halloween parties and it was hard to get him out of his costume afterwards. He tried to talk us into letting him wear it to church on Sunday.

Last week we got to take a little mini vacation to Williamsburg. We all had a great time. Ethan loved playing at the pool and enjoyed the "jumping place" as he calls it. They had lots of indoor inflatable play areas. Unfortunately Ethan had the most fun sitting on the coin operated toys that we never put money in. He's so easy to please.

My parents were even sweet enough to watch Ethan for the weekend so Abe and I could spend the rest of the weekend in Williamsburg alone. We had a great time wandering through all the historical sites. We definitely needed the break after a tough couple of weeks for Abe (and the rest of us).

Here are a few pictures from our trip. I think we are about the worst at taking pictures so we didn't get any good ones of all the places we saw.

Ethan's Songs

Ethan has gotten to be quite the singer these days. We are constantly amazed at all the songs he can sing. Finally we got him to perform for the camera. Last night at the ward halloween party he got up on the stage and grabbed the microphone before we could get to him. He made everyone jump as he started to sing.

You can see the nice little scratch on his face that he got at the beginning of the week. Right up there with singing is his love for playing baseball. He has an inflatable t-ball set that he plays with constantly (as long as mom or dad keep putting the ball back on the tee). Well every adult and child that plays with him and his t-ball set likes to play by hitting him with the bat. Of course it doesn't hurt and Ethan thinks it is a pretty fun game. Well the problem comes when Ethan uses other items as bats. The other weekend he set up our friend's vase as the tee and put one of her decorative ornaments on top of it for the ball and grabbed another vase to use as the bat. So he doesn't understand that it isn't a fun game to hit kids with all the other "bats" he plays with. So while playing with a plastic guitar and using it as a bat he decided to hit a girl at daycare with it and she got him good with a couple of scratches down his face. Having watched him do it before I truly think he is confused by why the kids start to cry when he does it. It is going to be fun to try to unlearn that little game. So if we come to your houses hide any long narrow bat-like objects you have sitting around.

And I just added a couple of more pictures that I like of my boys.

SOLD - well almost

We were super excited to get an offer on our house in NC today. It has been a LONG wait but it has taught us a lot about patience. We countered their offer but within an hour they had accepted our offer. So October should be our last month with double mortgage payments. What a relief! So one last trip to Sanford to do some minor repairs and we should be set. We will miss the excuse to go and visit all of our friends down there.

Nothing else exciting has been going on. Abe has been studying like crazy since he has had at least one test every week for probably the last month and has a week of exams starting tomorrow. But he has been doing well and we are very proud of him. Ethan continues to amuse us daily. Today at church there was a man sleeping a few rows back and Ethan noticed him. Ethan said (in his loud and very clear speech) "Man sleeping!". I tried to get him onto another subject but he was very concerned about this man. So he said it a few more times. Finally he stood up in the pew and said "Wake up man. Wake up!" Abe and I were dying. I didn't look back to see if the man noticed or not. I was wishing that Ethan would fall asleep during church but that never happens. He usually spends his time just hoping that nursery time is around the corner. After every prayer he said "Amen. Nursery time?" and starts to get up. I guess I'm glad he just loves nursery that much.

Do you know what today is?

If any of you have closely monitored your calendars you will know that today is September 15 but also the day we found out the sex of Baby Fish #2. So would anyone like to take a guess? Though the baby did not want to cooperate for most of the ultrasound in the end it let us have a little peek. And we are having a girl! We are happy to say that we have not broken any traditions in either of our families by having more than one boy in a row. We are very excited and nervous at the same time. Just when you get comfortable with raising a boy you get handed a little girl.

Sorry we have no adorable pictures or creative announcements. I had to leave town after the ultrasound for a work related trip so there was no time for anything fancy. So feel free to send some good advice to Abe on raising a girl 'cause I think he is more worried about this than me.

love,
Meredith

Everyone is getting potty trained

So we have been working with Ethan on potty training and he has been doing great. He is such a funny kid. He told me the other day that monkey needed to go potty so he put monkey on the potty. I think he is just the cutest thing in his little underwear. He has figured out that claiming he has to go to the bathroom will get him out of places he doesn't want to be, i.e. his carseat, church, or his high chair. We will let him watch some tv while he sits on the toilet so if he wants to watch a show and we say no then he will say "potty" and sit down. So manipulative but just adorable.

In other news we now know that September 15th we should find out the sex of Baby Fish if all goes as planned. So stay tuned for the blog announcement around then.

~Meredith