Baseball

Ah, we have entered the wonderful world of little league. Ethan started baseball this month. He feels that hitting is the best part.....of course it is. "Catching is boring. Pitching is fun"

If...
in five years all the flowers in my garden are pink and purple, there will be one person to blame.

My son and I go to the store to pick out perennials each spring. Notice the purple flowers in bloom from last year? He loves to help make my flower bed beautiful. I can't fault his eye for detail! Ethan even helps pick out where the plants go.

Just an Update

Life Stats

Ethan is five years old
Starts kindergarten in the fall
He is 46.5 inches tall
Wears a size 6, and a size 13 shoe
He has an amazing sense of humor
has bad dreams that would scare even me! (pray for him)
He is creative, kind, and caring
He thinks Uncle Ben and Uncle Jon are the coolest ever! (hence the toy guns)
Ethan knows how to make a girl feel loved (tells his teacher that she is beautiful)
He loves swimming and starts baseball next week! (yikes!)
Ethan has three girls wanting to marry him and is trying to pick one....
I told him he has plenty of time...

Just wait until he starts school.

Next Golf Pro

Saturday Ryan and I took Ethan to the golf course for the first time. We bought him his own golf clubs a couple of years ago and have been taking him to the driving range since then. Ryan wanted to see if Ethan would enjoy it and wait until his swing was consistent enough that he could get it down the fairway a bit.

We started with a beautiful February day, don't have many of them around here so have to take advantage of them when you can. Ryan rented a golf cart for me to drive...that was a blast... (My first time driving one of those) To make sure that Ethan didn't get too tired he would ride with me and hit his ball from either Ryan's position or mine. Ethan was very fair, he split his choices pretty equally between us. I think he just like to hit the ball!

Ryan would tee up, Ethan would be making silly noises or talking. I would be explaining that we need to be quiet while someone is hitting the ball. Ethan would tee up after his daddy. He would just talk about how good he would do, or ask questions about anything. Then he would hit the ball into the air and get all excited. My turn was next. Ethan would be pretending his club was a gun of some sort or calling out my name. Then we would hop in the cart and drive to my ball. Ryan would walk to his spot, stopping to pick up Ethan's yellow ball on the way and drop it near mine, gently tossing it near my bright pink one.

We would get out hit our balls. Ethan would run down the fairway to join Ryan. I had to walk back to the cart...only problem with those things. During one of these jaunts Ethan discovered the sand pit. From then on he aimed at those things! I actually ended up in one and missed his awesome putt into the hole. I thought he was goofing off and told him to hit his ball in (it was lying on the green) "I already did mommy." "What?" Sure enough that boy got a par on a par 3! A boy and his sand! Then we would stop at the green and putt our balls in.

We had so much fun and really enjoyed our time together!

Cakes Galore

Ethan and I love to cook. In the past, we stuck to the basics....cookies. Then one day we were watching our favorite show together (Food Network Challenge) and they were making tall cakes. He wanted to make a tall cake. I went and bought cake pans and mix and we made a double layer cake complete with sprinkles on top. It turned out so cute. This is the cake he made with daddy for me.

One day I was perusing the bargain shelf at Barnes and Noble and saw the cutest cookbook. Easy Cooking for Kids. Each recipe has a picture of the finished product. In the margin there are pictures of each main ingredient, and it uses basics that are easy to get. Ethan loved the book! He wouldn't put it down.

So last night I told him we were going to make the recipe he wanted for breakfast (yeah this book breaks it up like a regular cookbook.) We looked at the page he wanted, mini cinnabuns. We read the ingredients, wrote our shopping list for the three things we needed. He actually wrote the list...so CUTE! Once our list was complete we had to go shopping. Ethan carried the basket while I read the list. He was so proud of himself. He even managed to put it on the register for the cashier.

This morning, Ethan woke up bright and early, excited to make his breakfast. The mini cinnabuns turned out wonderful....of course as a mom I added scrambled eggs and milk to make a compete breakfast.

Snow

I am sure everyone around here is sick of snow. We have seen more snow this winter than we have seen in over a decade. The December storms broke fifty year records. Today's light storm dropped another inch on us at least. But it was fun.

Ethan was home when I got off work. He and I played a bit out in the white cold wetness, made a snow angel, played hide and seek (which does not work as well with footprints tattle telling), and had a wonderful snowball fight.


Then we had to go in and warm up, eat lunch, and take a needed nap. Once those things were accomplished we headed back outside. Lucky for us it had continued to snow. Ethan and I did not want to build a snowman...at least I didn't. I am sick of our neighbors knocking down any snowman we build. So I taught him how to make a snow fort....Northern Michigan style. We scrounged for a rectangled shape container to use as the mold. And I showed him how to stagger the bricks. He is really good at building! The silly thing kept getting higher and higher. I have no clue how many bricks we made but is looks good.

The funny thing is....as we were building...two kids got off the bus in our drive way. Yes the stupid school district put a bus stop in my driveway...anyway....they looked at us. "Oh cool, they are building a snow fort." "I never thought of using Tupperware. I will have to try that."

I fully expect to see Tupperware forts up and down the street tomorrow if the snow hangs on through the night.

A day fit for a Knight

Ethan celebrated his fifth birthday on Saturday. Wow, my boy is five! Where did the years go??

So my dear boy wanted Knights this year. I had to rack my brain on this one. No one carries knight party supplies, but I had to stick with the theme. I am a theme planner, I guess it comes from years of Child care and throwing "parties." A theme is just how I function.

I planned on having the children decorate shields. What is a knight without his shield?? Then I thought about hobby horses but changed it to making paper swords to go with their shields. I know, a educator encouraging war play. Oh my what is the world coming too. The organization was a bit daunting until I found Oriental Trading had shields and paper swords to kids to decorate. They even had "Knight's Party" plates, cups and napkins! Woo Hoo!


The children (with help from a couple of Dads, thanks Ryan and Dale) decorated their swords with foil...to make them silver, and jewels on the hilts.

I turned the windows into castle walls...

Made a cake in the shape of a shield, decorated with a picture inspired by a real coat of arms....







The children built castles and wore crowns they made as a party hat. When their castles were finished we gave them knights and princesses and dragons to play with in the castles.

Ethan had a wonderful time! I know each of the guests enjoyed themselves too. I can't wait to see what theme he comes up with for next year.