The Reason for the Season

As I sit back and reflect on the year and the real meaning of Christmas I am humbled by the gift that God chose to bestow on us. God chose to give us his son, to be born as a human, to live amongst us and to eventually die for each and everyone of us. It is a deeply humbling idea to know that someone died for me...who am I, I am not worthy, but isn't that the point. God chose to give us grace. We are so not worthy of the gift he has chosen to give us, but God's grace is there for each and everyone of us. In my opinion the birth of Jesus is the ultimate symbol of grace. God gave his only son to live a life he knew would lead to shame and death because he would be carrying the sins of all mankind. So as we gather with friends and family over the next couple of days to celebrate Jesus birth and exchange gifts, I will be thinking about the gift that God gave me. God's grace is the best gift ever.

Hotwheels

Last weekend, during the youth groups ugly sweater Christmas party, our good friends The S's came by to exchange Christmas presents. Their little girl G is one of Ethan's favorite people. She is about a year and a half older than E. Her mommy took care of Ethan when he was just a little guy when I first went back to work and the friendship began back then. Since they now live far away (not that far though) they don't see each other to often but they both have so much fun together.

Here are the two kids opening their gifts (remember this was the ugly sweater party, hence my strange attire).

Ethan giving G a hug thanking her for the gift.

G and her family gave Ethan a hotwheels carrier. He absolutely LOVES it. It holds 100 hotwheels (his most favorite toy) and it has wheels and a pop-up handle. This is a photo of him RIGHT after his nap today. I told him we were going to go for a walk to the mailbox and he immediately ran over to his new toy and wheeled it to the door. He wheeled it the whole way to the mailbox and back.

S Family and G, thank you so much the gift. It is Ethan's new favorite toy!

Christmas Season

**Disclaimer-This post was actually written Friday night but due to blogger not letting my upload photos, I am just now posting it.


I am absolutely giddy this evening...Today was my last day of work for the next two weeks. I won't be going back until 2010. Awesome. I have not posted much in the last month or so. December is a pretty busy time in my line of work so I have been a little overloaded with work; but now that is over. For the next two weeks I can enjoy the Christmas season and be a stay at home mom. We are going to have a blast.

But what have we been up to lately to prepare and begin to enjoy the holiday season you ask. Why I shall share....

This year I started a new tradition with Ethan, an advent. Right now he gets little trinket toys and snacks everyday. As he gets older I want it to be less objects and more events. You know like Christmas movie night with mommy and daddy, special little things like that. Right now he is a little young to get that idea, but he sure does get the idea of the little trinkets. He gets so excited when I ask if he wants advent. So cute!

One of his gifts was magnetic letters for the "fridge. He had fun putting them all up and then taking them down and putting them back in the container they came in. I think I have finally convinced him that they belong on the "fridge.
My grandparents came into town from Kansas and we had a nice time visiting with them.
We went and got us a Christmas Tree! Ethan seems to like the tree. He had so much fun helping daddy with the lights and putting the star on the top. We let him put on an ornament or two and when he started throwing the "balls," or the ornaments, at the tree we decided that was good, and finished the rest after he went to bed.


And we have also been enjoying the delicious tasting treats that go along with the Christmas season. Like Chris and his hot coco. Yummy.


I hope you are all enjoying this Christmas season!

Happiest Place on Earth

*This posted may be a little overloaded with photos. But my last few photos have been sans photos, so I am making up for that.
A couple weekends ago we went to Disneyland. My good friend and college roommate was in town with her whole family spending a long weekend at Disneyland. So if we wanted to see her we HAD to go to Disneyland. Darn! :)We went to Disneyland when Ethan was four months old. I know, I know, who takes a four month old to Disneyland. I was dying to go to Disneyland after I had him. The year I was pregnant we had plans with my family to go during Christmas time. When I was put on bedrest that trip was cancelled but I vowed to go and soon as I had him. So we all went and he hung out in the sling the whole time we had fun, but he had no idea what gloriousness he was missing out on (can you tell I love Disneyland?). So this was Ethan's first trip being old enough to take it all in. He had so much fun with so much to look at.
It was insanely crowded so we did not do everything, but we did a lot. We took him on BuzzLight Year ride where he got to use a little toy gun to shoot the targets. Pretty sure daddy helped him get a score that beat mommy. We took him on the submarine ride also. He went back and forth between Chris lap and window and mine. He loved looking at all the "fishes." He that was too cool.
We are big fans of food when it come to Disneyland and there are a few things we HAVE to get before we leave. The giant Turkey leg is one of Chris's must have foods. I am a huge fan of the churro.
We all went on the Winnie the Pooh ride.
Ethan thought Jungle Cruise was pretty cool as well.
We were bummed that there were not many characters out. We did not see our first character (only character) until after dark and it was Pluto. Ethan did not enjoy him. As I walked towards him and was about 4 feet away, he started whining and trying to climb over my shoulder to get away. We tried to tell him it was just a giant dog, but he was not buying any of it. So as you see in the pictures I was able to get that close but E was making weird little sounds under his breath and staring down Pluto the whole time. Oh well.
Brown and E bonding while waiting to see Santa.
We saw Santa also. Again E was not digging it and would not sit on his lap, so we got a family photo with Santa this year.
This is the castle all light up at night so beautiful. It was such a nice, fun day seeing good friends and running around an amusement park.

Thankful

*Disclaimer: This post is a bit delayed. Ooops.

This Thanksgiving holiday I am reminded of so many things to be thankful for. God has blessed us with an amazing family that is incredible supportive. They are our rock and they love Chris, Ethan and I so much. I am so grateful for the job that I have. Although I do complain sometimes, I truly love what I do. I love working with children, counseling them, testing them to help them find a way to be successful in school. It is great. I am also thankful for Chris' job. The economy is not so hot and being in business for yourself can be stressful at times, but God has truly provided for us with keeping Chris busy. I won't lie, his business has felt the economic crunch but God has provided jobs and clients right when we needed them. We are so fortunate. I am also thankful for Chris, he is a great dad and a great husband. I am so thankful for Ethan. He has brought so much joy to our lives that we can not even put into words. We learn so much from him, and hope we are instilling God's love and grace in him. I am thankful that I have a roof over my head. Yes I do complain about that at times, too, but I am reminded that right now too many people are losing the roof over their head. I am grateful I have a roof. We are also thankful for our church family, who has walked beside Chris and I, and later Ethan, over the last few years in the trials we have experienced. Those trials have taught us a lot and have created so many bonds and friendships that we never would have had.
There are numerous things to be thankful for. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and got to relax a bit.

A WEEK OFF!!!!!

I am pretty excited to have this next week off work. So what will I do to fill the time:
1. Take Ethan to his 1, 2 and you gym class at the Y
2. Bake the desserts for Thanksgiving dinner
3. Black Friday shop with friends while Christopher goes fishing with said friends spouses
4. Hold one work related meeting (I am too nice)
5. Finish my 25 days of Christmas scrapbook (so excited!)
6. Organize my house
7. Clean out Ethan's toys and hand some down to his cousin Madison
8. Sleep
9. Workout (we shall see if I actually accomplish this)
10. Blog
11. PLAY with Ethan and hang out with Chris.

I love breaks it gives me time to hangout with my boys and do the fun stuff I love to do. I'll have to do a few blog post about my above mentioned activities. Should be a busy entertaining week!
I hope you all enjoy this holiday!

Random Thoughts Making a Quick Apperance in My Mind

1. God is amazing (don't believe me check out this blog about this little guys amazing medical journey)

2. Sammy Sosa looks way lighter than he did playing baseball, what is up with that? Is he okay medically? Did the steroids make him look darker? hum....

3. Why won't Ethan sleep with a blanket in his crib? Instead he freaks out until I remove it.

4. When do single parents, or parents whose spouse is on deployment, take a shower? Currently taking that at night. Little afraid of what sort of trouble he could get in if I took it when he was awake...

5. How will the newly passed government health plan affect Ethan and his current medical treatment plan? I like the current set-up; nervous about this change.


**Told you it was random, this is what happens when I don't have much grown-up conversation (except for work). Have you had any random thoughts lately?

A Quiet Night

Tonight it is quiet in my house. Chris is WAY down in Mexico and Ethan just went to bed. So my house is probably the the quietest it has been in a very long time. So I am just thinking about my boys and looking at photos. I thought I would share a few you tonight.

Ethan in his Charlie Brown Costume

Our little Family

Ethan enjoying his first sucker; he thought it was awesome!

One of my favorite pictures; Ethan giving his cousin Madison a kiss.
Ethan-Charlie Brown and Madison-The Ladybug

Life's Journey

About a month ago I had an opportunity to go to a pastor's wives retreat with my pastor's wife. I was excited and gladly accepted the invitation, however I did not feel like I exactly fit the definition of a pastor's wife. For those who don't know, Chris and I been leading the youth group at our church for a while now along with another couple. We have had this attitude, of gratitude to be able to be working with these great per-teens and teens, but we just thought of this as something that fell into our lap; we were not really recognizing a calling on our life.

Life is a great journey and there are things that seem as if we control and make them happen, and other times there are thing that it seems just fell into our lap. The reality is, at least in my opinion, that God is always in control and nothing just happens for not, or just because. While at the retreat I had a lot of opportunities to examine my heart, my family, the roles we have been playing in each other lives and in others. I came to the conclusion that I have, we have, been in denial about the calling God has placed on our lives. I have always had this picture in my mind of what a pastor and a pastor's wife looked like, what they did, how they carried themselves and I do not fit the mold. They don't get frustrated with their husband and children, raise their voice when they are upset, they always know the right answer to every question, they have the whole bible memorized...you get the idea, the basic stereotypical picture, they are perfect. I am not worthy, at times I feel I am just not worthy of God's love, I am severely flawed, but I am striving to be who God wants me to be.

As I look back over my life's journey in the last 5 years, I see that God has had a strong hand on my life, and used the good, the bad and the ugly for his glory and to bring me to this place where I am now. Those events that I thought were just circumstantial, or just happened with no meaning where in fact used by God to shape who I am today. I am not perfect, I still struggle to have daily devotionals, struggle to give it all to God, but I am striving and trying to answer the calling he has placed on our families life. We firmly feel God has called our family to be in ministry in some way, and at this point in our life it is in ministry with the youth group. At a time in our life, when Chris and I were really searching for and needing the support of a church body, we were brought to our current church (thanks Silla and Jacob). We have made a commitment to follow God and to actively seek his will for our life everyday and I am so grateful for the blessings he has given us and excited that we are open to his calling. And I...I am a continual work in progress trying to become who God wants me to be and I hope as a mother I can convey that to my child.

The DuFour's and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I have been wanting to do a post for a couple of days. I have had lots of ideas for some new blog posting, but nothing has come to fruition. It has been a busy couple of weeks (who are we kidding, month) in the DuFour household. So I apologize but tonight is not one of those happy fun blogs, there are just too many other things running through my mind. So tonight I will share with you all the story of The Dufour's and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (this is the reader digest version, so much more went on, but I don't want to bore you with all the nitty gritty details).

Yesterday started out as any normal Wednesday. My work day was a little hectic and I ended up in an IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting in Escondido, which about 45 minutes from home. At the end of the meeting I got a message saying Ethan had fallen and hit his head and there was already a bump on his head. Meanwhile Chris was having some struggles with many of his work projects, minor things but annoying nonetheless. Chris had also printed a new shirt and was trying to release it on the Cross Your Heart online store. He had recently switched the online store subscription to a new company and when people logged into buy shirts, nothing was working. No one could buy anything. He was also having computer problems.
We took Ethan to the hemoc (hemotology/oncology) clinic at Children's Hospital; what we thought would take 2 hours turned into 4 hours, which abruptly turned into 6 hours. He ended up getting a shot of factor to ensure that if there was any bleeding internally it would clot; they also decided he needed a CT scan (for his age that means anesthesia to knock him out). His CT scan was supposed to happen at 6 but because he had ONE bite of cheese at 3 they made him wait until 9 (a whole six hours with nothing at all to eat or drink). One bite of cheese at 3 and before that he only ate a few bites of his lunch. Poor little guy was starving and very angry. Thankfully the CT scan was totally negative and there was no internal bleeding on the brain. Praise God, He watches over this kid! By the time we left it was 10:15pm and we got there at 3:30. Ethan was wide awake (after his nap, induced by anesthesia), we were all starving. So we tried to go to McDonald's (oh so healthy, but what do you do at 10 pm, you have a very angry child who is starving and has had multiple nurses poking his body with needles). Only the drive-thru was open so we had to drive through and continue home and eat our dinner there, by now it is 11pm. Ethan ate so much and was still so awake. We put him to bed anyway, he talked to himself for about an hour before falling asleep. It was a very tiring night.
Today was a better day, things were looking up, Chris's work stuff was going well. I had a meeting that went a bit late and I ended up picking Ethan up a little late tonight. When I got in the car to leave her house, my car would not start. Chris came to try and jump my Jeep, but it would not be jumped. AAA came out and my battery was very very dead. He replaced it. Our babysitter (whose is also good friends with us) entertained us all while we got the Jeep taken care of. They even got us pizza. We had some very nice fellowshiping that we had not planned on having tonight, thanks to my Jeep.

Everyone has days, weeks, months, years that just don't go the way you want them to. All the little things went wrong over the last day or so, but the important thing is God was there carrying the burden with us and in the end all the things that mattered went right. Ethan's head is just fine, we are all happy, healthy and provided for, plus we have each other. But I am still very tired and emotionally drained over the last couple of days. How are you all doing this week?

Fall

Fall is wonderful. I think it is my favorite season. Although we live in San Diego so fall is a little more subtle than it is in other places; I wonder if I would like it as much if we lived in a state that gets "real" fall. I don't know.
But fall is a wonderful time. The colors start changing, God's creation is beautiful with all those colors, pumpkin is the greatest flavor (especially the Pumpkin spice latte), there is all sorts of local festivals, and you get to wear your sweaters you have had packed away (I love fall and winter clothes).
This past Friday we went to Oktober Fest out in La Mesa. It was a fun evening of people watching, bratwurst eating, funnel cake tasting, checking out cool things to buy and watching this ride that spun around super fast (Ethan loved staring at that ride).

Mmmm Bratwurst (Love Germany food)

Funnel Cake

This was the cool spinning ride that Ethan loved staring at.

Ethan and his mommy

Ethan and his daddy

Do you like Ethan's hat? I love it! My mom is starting a little boutique called Bethadee Zoo (really long story, but when I was younger I called elephants Bethadee's and insisted that was their name no matter what anyone told me). She is very talented and makes all sorts of cool things. This hat is a little something she made. She will be making some more for us to sell on the Cross Your Heart website and there will also be some for sale at Justice Day. She is going to make them in different colors and is going to make some with skulls and hearts alternating on them; perfect for little girls.

We are thinking about selling the beanies for $12. Do you think that is too much? Give me some feedback.
Thank you, hope you all have a good night!!

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Is that the way that saying goes? In recent weeks that phrase has run through my mind as I watch Ethan. Kids are this crazy creation of the two of you. It so funny to look at Ethan and see Chris's characteristics come out then two seconds later one of my characteristics pops out; and then there are characteristics that we have no idea who to attribute them too.
I have been known to have some OCD traits. Personally, I feel that I have made some improvements in these areas. I have learned to accept the fact that not everything in my house has a place (we may be out growing these 950 square feet), although I do, about once a month, go on a "purging" trip throughout the house and try to find stuff to get rid off (with the end goal to be making enough room for everything to have its own place). So maybe my progress is not that great. However, this is not the point of my post tonight.

This evening Ethan came around the corner of our hallway whining and pointing (like he just found a bug) down the hall towards the bathroom. I followed him so he could show me what was bothering him. He walked into the bathroom and that was when I noticed it...the toilet lid was up. Not the toilet seat, just the lid. He was very upset about it. I put the lid down and he quickly ran out of the room and played with his toys. Umm. I think he might have some of my tendencies. But at least I know he will put the toilet seat down. Oh, and he definitely has Chris's sense of humor. More on that another night.

Update

It has been a while since I have written. I thought about sitting down and blogging many times in the last week or so, but every time I start, I can't think of anything to blog. I need a muse. :)

So lets just update...how is the family and the full time working mom doing?

The school year is in FULL swing. There are lots of things going on and I am busier than ever, which is good. I hate being slow, but I also fear I won't get all of my caseload accomplished. It is no secret that the California budget is severely lacking and education is certainly paying a price, as are many things. When at work, everywhere I turn I am reminded of more financially robust times. Walking through the main office at my middle school and seeing a once Assistant Principals office now vacant and being used by office T.A.'s, a counselors office that is vacant, my office at special education also has multiple vacant offices and desks. There was a time when there was no offices to be had and now they are a dime a dozen it seems. It is sad. Unfortunately, it does not appear to be ending anytime soon. Just this week the subject of mid year cuts has surfaced and we know there will be cuts at the end of this school year. It is sad, nerve-racking; hard to work when you don't know if you job is secure. But I am confident all will work out in the end.
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This past weekend Chris and some others took the youth group kids to Magic Mountain for the day. It is pretty far from where we live, so we decided it would be best if Ethan and I stayed home. Well Chris and the youth had a great time and so did E and I.

I was without a car for the weekend (the youth needed mine and I can't exactly drive Chris's truck. Sad) so when a group of my friends planned to go to the local splash pad with their kids and found out I had no car to get there, one of them volunteered to pick us up. It was soooo fun. My friend has two boys N (Ethan's age) and Z (only two months old). We put three car seats in the back of her car. It was a sight; we had to turn E's car seat backwards to make all three fit.

A little hard to see but this is the backseat with all three car seats

They all had so much fun playing in the water

Once we got there the five children and four moms had a blast. Everyone got wet in the splash pad area, even if we did not think we would. The big kids played on the playground going down the slides. It was so cute to see them all interacting and us mom's had an opportunity to talk to other moms. Always a nice treat.

At the end of the trip, we had a tried group of kids on our hands

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Well not much else has been going on with us lately. Chris and I have been busy working, cooking and cleaning and raising E. Ethan has started talking much more and is being his silly little self. I guess we are all just content and going about our daily life. Not much to report. :)

Ethan and his Grandpa

My dad sent me this photo today. It is a photo of him when he was 18 months old. Since Ethan was born I said he looked like my dad and now I have a photo to prove it.

MY DAD-18 months

ETHAN-18 months

Aren't they too cute?!?!?

When did this become Home

I grew up in the California High Desert. I lived there for ten years from the time I was 8 to 18. When I was 18 years old I moved to San Diego. I so wanted out of the dry hot desert. Away from the stupid choices I saw many of friends make. I wanted something new, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. So in August of that year, 1999, I moved here. I went to a small Christian college, Point Loma Nazarene University. I remember packing up my parents mini van and them driving down here. I was excited and yet at the same time, sick to my stomach (I get very nauseous when I am nervous about something). My parents moved me in, I met my roommate, Anne, a girl I had never met before from the OC. She seemed nice enough. My parents hung out for a few days during freshman orientation and then on Sunday they left. I cried. I was scared.
Classes started and I quickly learned that to get the grades I got in junior high and high school I would have to study (something I did not have to do a lot of before). I would often call my parents, missing them, missing my little sisters (they were only 14 and 10 when I moved). I remember calling them one weekend and my family was at my grandparents house, I felt left out, I was missing out on a family thing. I cried out in hallway of my dorm for a long time (roommate was sleeping still).
Things quickly change, I met friends I got involved on campus, I was studying. The year quickly went by and at the end of the year I move home for summer. At the end of summer I moved back down to school. That was the last time I would move from there to here. From then on I started to forge my own life, get involved with a church, met Chris, made lifelong friendships and finally picked a major and towards the end of my time at college I picked a career to shoot for (yeah I had a major without an end goal for a while there). After getting my B.A. I choose to stay in San Diego, for a little while longer. I went to grad school, while in grad school Chris and I got married. We bought a condo, although we thought we would leave when I was done with grad school. I graduated again. I got a job in San Diego, despite what we thought would happen. We thought we were moving for sure, we only planned to stay for a little while. I even applied all over the state. We prayed about the job offers. The day I was offered my current job, Chris (who wasn't really looking for a new job), got a great job offer that allowed him to some great connections in his field. We prayed and felt God was open doors telling us to stay a little while longer.
We had Ethan!! I continued back to work. Chris took the opportunity to work for himself doing freelance design. Ethan gets bigger. We became youth pastors.
At some point along the way, over the last ten years, San Diego county became my home. I am not sure when that happened. I still miss my family and one day maybe they will all move down here with me. hehe It is still amazing to me that I have lived here as long as I lived in the Desert.
We have no idea what God has planned for the next chapter of our lives, maybe we will be here for another 10 years, maybe not. Overall though I am glad I made the move I did 10 years ago, I have some amazing friends (I am still great friends with Anne, my freshman roommate) and had some wonderful opportunities.

PS. I am trying to find some photos to show of my college years. I have tons, but none are digital. I will have to do some scanning soon and make an old school post to show you all.

BLAH

I have been planning to do a specific blog posting...but I have not been feeling very creative or artistic in my writing right now. Truthfully I have not really felt motivated for much in the last few days. I don't know what the deal is...I am feeling out of sorts, pulled in 50 different directions, just tired. I am all over the place. The last couple of weeks, week and a half has had some major ups and some major downs. First school/work is in full swing for me. We just finished our 7th day of school this past Friday. September and October are looking like they will be VERY busy months for me (I have already had a number of referrals for testing), but there is not much I can do know to prepare for them. I miss playing with Ethan during the day. He is getting two molars and two eye teeth right now, so he is a little out of sorts as well. I love my job, but I really miss being with him and I don't think I cope as well as I like to think I do; I use a lot of denial. We celebrated our five year anniversary, we had a fabulous time at the hotel we stayed at on our wedding night. That was a huge highlight!! And oh yeah my purse got stolen out of the back of my car.
The purse getting stolen has probably been the biggest issue these last two weeks. It is a nerve racking feeling knowing people were in your car rummaging through things and now have your purse and all it's contents in your possession. At first I was very preoccupied about getting a new drivers license, and new bank cards and credit cards and flagging my credit that I did not really stop to think about what they now had access to; I was in auto pilot doing what I needed to do to remedy the situation. But a couple night ago I started waking up with nightmares that they were in my house robbing me as I came home. Kinda creepy. Bottom line it was just stuff, just possessions.
But I am not even sure if that event is everything that is bothering me. I just don't know, but I do know this funk needs to end soon. So I promise tomorrow I will post the post I was originally planning to post today. It should be more uplifting than this.

Five Year Anniversary

Five years ago today I married my best friend. I love him more and more everyday. He is the person I laugh with, cry with, get mad with, am crazy with...he is my everything. We have been together in good times and bad and our love only grows stronger. I can't wait to see what another five years brings us!

Here's looking at you kid

Ethan is 18 months (almost 19 really, but hey I am back at work so I am a little behind on things). So I thought I would mark this milestone by writing him an open letter...so here it is:


Ethan,
I can't believe you are already 18 months. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital. You were so adorable and tiny. You only weighed 6 pounds 2 ounces when you were born and now you are 23 pounds. You are such a big boy. You have gone from a person that was completely depended on me and dad to this VERY independent little boy. You love to do everything for yourself and get upset if we do it for you. You love to run outside and chase the dog. You are obsessed with balls and you have a good arm! We even have a picture of you throwing a split finger fast ball. You love to read (something you did not begin to enjoy until recently) and your favorite thing to read is your children's Bible before bedtime. You love music and you actually prefer it to not be children's music. When you hear a song with a good beat you stop what you are doing and hold out your index fingers and drum the air. It you see someone playing the guitar you point and trying to run up to them. When you see something you want very badly or something to eat, you emphatically point to the item and then to your belly. Cute now, but if you do that when you are older it won't have that same effect. You love being with other children and love to play with Ms. Shannon's kids while mommy and daddy work. You love the water, although you hated it until about 2 months ago. You really want us to let you go in the pool with just floaties on your arms and not your floaty ring...next summer big boy. You love adventure and entertain yourself by "flopping." Flopping is when you body slam anything fluffy, our bed the couch pillows your grandparent's dog Lucy, anything. You laugh and laugh when you do this, although it gives your mommy a heart attack. You love your sleep and when you need a nap if we ask you, you will shake your head yes and go right down. You have a little seahorse that plays music and you love to listen to it while you fall asleep. You talk some, although I really think you can say more than you do. Every now and then a random word slips out and we don't hear it again for quite some time. hum...But you regularly say: momma, dadda, ball, door, ut-oh, apple (babble), dog, more, eyes, and hi. Brushing your teeth is one of your favorite morning things and when you see us brush our teeth you run to the draw and get your toothpaste out, hand it to us and say "brrbrrr." You adore dogs, although you have thrown one to many things at your dog and she is a little leery of you right now. She will come around.
You bring so much to mine and daddy's life. I can't imagine my life without you. You are an amazing gift from God and he has truly blessed us with you. We pray everyday that God protects you and God gives us wisdom when raising you. This has been amazing journey being your mommy. I love you Ethan!

Tricks of the parenting trade

Recently I was hanging out with my friend/coworker, Michelle and her daughter at one of her good friends, Molly's house. It was just three moms sitting around talking while the three kiddos played. I had a great time and I think I made a new friend in the processes.
We were talking about our many trips to the beach that we had each individually taken and found that we all had in common that we despise the sand. So I shared my secret. Well it was given to me by another mother of three little kiddos, so it is not my original idea. When I told my secret Molly suggested that I blog that secret. What a great blogging idea. Molly you should totally start a blog, you already think like a blogger.

So here it is my beach/sand trick: When you go to the beach the sand sticks to your skin. If you have small children you know the sand gets EVERYWHERE, places you never even imagined. Well baby powder acts as a sort of repellent. If you sprinkle and rub baby powder over the skin the sand will brush right off. No lie. I did not believe it when I first heard it either. But I gave it a whirl, I even use this stuff on myself. I will never go to the beach without baby powder ever.

There is my trick of the parenting trade. I am thinking about making this a bi-weekly post (I know a lot of bloggers do a weekly one, like wordless Wednesday, but hey I am a working mom and don't have a lot of time to blog now that I am back to work). Let me know what you think.

T-shirts

One of the cool things that has been going on in our lives lately is the new t-shirt company. Chris is a very talented graphic designer (if I do say so myself) and he has always wanted to start a t-shirt company that has a meaning behind it. So last spring he bought a URL for the company and started. Then he bought some screen printing materials and Cross Your Heart Clothing was created. The cool thing about the company is that 50% of the proceeds go to a charity or ministry. Currently the company is donating the proceeds to an organization called Hidden Treasures which working on getting girls/women out of the human/sex trafficking industry. Sex trafficking is a huge problem in San Diego and so we are pleased to be working with the ministry which is backed by the Rock Church here in San Diego.
Check out the website and see what you think. The current website is temporary, and the new and improved one should updated by the ned of next week. It has been tons of fun doing social networking for CYH this summer. I just might have a new career in the future.

One Day Down...189 to go!

Well today was my first day back to work after having the summer off. Now I only have 189 more days to go. I can get through it.
As a family we had a wonderful summer. This was the first time that I was off for the summer and Chris did not work for super-intense advertising agency (read: you must be a workaholic to work for them). Being that Chris now works for himself, he had some flexibility to hangout with Ethan and I doing the variety of activities that we did all summer. We had some wonderful family time, but that makes it even harder to go back to work. I am so blessed to have been able to spend this summer working getting closer to the kids in our youth group as well.
So what all did we do? Well here is a quick run down in case you weren't here:

• swimming lessons with Ethan
• became an aunt and uncle welcoming Ethan's first cousin into the world (we love you Madison)
• surprised Aunt Sam by going to Santa Barbara, with my parents, to pick her up from her first quarter at school
• took Ethan on his Avo's (Chris's dad) sailboat for the first time
• multiple beach trips
• multiple play dates
• saw Auntie Jolene and Uncle David, visiting from South Korean (they moved when Ethan was only 4 months old)
• went to the waterpark
• a couple of swim parties
• helped Chris print shirts for Cross Your Heart (CYH)
  
• went to an Artshow that CYH was invited to
• took lots of naps
• organized the house
• went shoe shopping (of course)
• bowling
• new hair-do (me not Ethan, still can't cut off the curls)
• went to the San Diego fair
• baked cookies
  

I am sure there were plenty of other things we did...I can't remember everything. But this summer was amazing. I saw God work in my little family, and draw us closer together. So I guess my summer officially ended Sunday night and today began my first day back at work/school. It went well, nothing too exciting yet; kids don't start until the 20th of this month. One day down...189 more to go.

All Good Things Come to an End

I have been in denial for a few days, but I must face the music. My summer vacation is coming to an end. I have less than a week left before I go back to work and less than a week until Ethan goes back to daycare. We have had such a great time this summer, as a family. We have gotten to do some many things. I love my job, but I am very sad to have to go back full time. I wish I could stay home a little more to play with E, to take him to the beach some more, bowling, zoo, playing ball, all those good things. I have loved every minute I have gotten to spend with my family.
I guess I am just saying that tonight I am a little sad...

Bowling

Last week Ethan got to go bowling. Some family friends called up and invited Ethan and I to go bowling with them and their kids while Chris was at work. Since Ethan has an absolute obsession with balls, I figured he would really enjoy this. So we went. Ethan had a blast, although he did have a hard time waiting his turn. The bowling alley had this cool ramp thing for the smaller kids to use. They get to set the ball up there and push it down the ramp onto the bowling lane. It was so cool.


Ethan was really contemplating which bowling ball to use. He LOVES to throw balls and he was totally overwhelmed with having to pick just one to use at a time.

Ethan pushing his bowling ball down the little ramp. He would get so excited.
Ethan watching to see how many pins he knocked down. We had a fabulous time. I wasn't so sure taking an 18 month old to a bowling alley was a good idea, but it worked out great and we both had a great time.

CROCS

A couple of weeks ago my mom came down and we did a little shopping. We had a fantastic time getting her some new clothes and also getting Ethan some new shoes. Ethan had grown to the end of his little Reef sandals, and since we are just now getting to August, and we live in So. Cal, we still a lot of summer shoe wearing left.


I am NOT a fan of crocs. Since the day they came out I thought "yes they look comfy, but man are they ugly." And I just could not get over the look of them. No offense to those readers who have them, love them and wear them; I just think they look like Minnie Mouse shoes. I just can't do it, however I do not pass judgement on those who do choose to wear them. I happen to have lots of adult friends who do wear them.


Crocs seem to be a pretty popular shoe for kids. Chris has told me on more than one occasion to not buy them for Ethan (he does not like them either). Personally, although I do not like them for myself, I do think they are cute for kids. I think it is a size thing. Have you ever been shopping and you see that cute top and the x-small is hanging in the front and when you go and grab your size and pull it out, it just doesn't seem to be as cute as it is in the x-small? It seems to me there is just something that gets lost in the translation of different sizes.

Recently I was out shopping with my youngest sister who happens to be about 6 inches shorter and 20-30 pounds lighter (depending on how much I want to say I weigh). She is just a much more petite person. Her and I found these cute little GAP sweatshirts. She found one in her size and I picked one up in my size. Just holding them up (not even trying them on) we both quickly agreed that in my size it was not as cute. The sweatshirt was wider but not longer when it came to my size, so it looked misproportioned. The attractiveness of the sweatshirt was lost in the translation of the sizes. All that digression to say that I think they are cute for little kids, I just don't like them in my size.

While out shopping with mom that day we happened upon the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale and found our way to shoes. My mom pointed out the crocs and as the sales clerk was fitting Ethan for some cute winter tennis shoes I explained that I can not buy Crocs, because I have never really liked them and because Chris would not be happy if I bought Ethan crocs. As I was explaining that this lady happened to walk by and then approached me saying her husband used to be the same way, but now her son LOVES them and it is her husband who insist they buy him new ones when his wear-out. So I gave in and bought the crocs.

Posing with his new shoes!


This is Ethan's new face. He makes it all the time, we call it the ducky face.


Ethan loves them! And I must say he walks so well in them. We have had a few falls that have sent us to the ER lately (before he owned crocs) so I have been very concerned that he have good shoes and that they not be the cause of his uneasiness when walking. When I came home Chris even noticed how well he walked in them and now likes them. However since we both have a weird, passionate, dislike towards them, we have vowed to not have him wear them when he is older. Unless he really really wants to. :)

And again I apologize if I have offended any blog readers who may wear Crocs. I am slowly coming around though. :)