I am thinking of...

Happy Memorial Day!  I'm thinking of those who have sacrificed today and feeling thankful and sad that so many have had to lose their lives in war. 

But mostly, I'm thinking about my Ethie-man and missing him very much!  He left Friday for 5 weeks in Ohio and that is a stinking long time!  Life is so different without him here and I think about him a lot, but he's having fun and he knows we love him! 

Here he is last week before his other front tooth fell out...

And after... (he got a little scared about tying it to the door, but luckily it fell out the next day at school :)

We went to a fun music/gymnastics place the day before he left, and he loved it!

And he flew by himself for the second time, which he also loves! That guy has no fear, as long as he has people to talk to and a movie to watch.  Here he is at the airport, ready to fly!  We miss you, Ethie-man!!!

9 months in and 9 months out!

The time is going so fast!!!  I feel like our little Lilah is just growing and changing so much every day.  She crawls all over the place and pulls herself up and gets into everything.  She is curious and smart and it's so fun to watch her.  And she's just so happy lately!  She just got two teeth on top and she smiles at everyone who looks at her with this big toothy grin.  So cute!  She loves to be tickled, sung to, baths, crackers, bananas, Ethan, jogs in the stroller, keys, being outside, kisses, face rubbed, Daddy coming home, and mostly being close to us.

We love our Lilah!!!

 

Malibu Grand Fun

Last weekend, our friends Ashley and Brandon invited us to join them for Ashley's work party at Malibu Grand Prix.  I had never heard of it, but oh my goodness, we had fun!  Ethie got to ride water bumper cars with James,

drive a go-cart (well, with Brandon's help),

 batting cages,

mini-golf, and unlimited arcade games. I think we were there about 4 hours and he was exhausted and happy!  Lilah had fun too :)

Field Day!

Yesterday Lilah and I got to go hang out with Ethie at his field day! Basically we were in the sun for about 3 hours in the middle of the afternoon and it was stinking hot!  But he had so much fun and it was really fun to watch him with the other kids.  They didn't seem to even mind the heat, as long as they had popsicles.  His favorite events were the tug-of-war and obstacle course.  It totally took me back to my field days as a kid and I'm glad they still have it!

 

 

Gotta love Mother's Day!

So even though I really missed James on Saturday, I sure did benefit from all the meal prep he did for Sunday!  I had requested that my Mother's Day gift from him and the kids be Sunday dinner, so that I could sit on my bottom and do nothing.  It was so great!!!  And extremely delicious.  He spent 4 hours cooking the most divine Indian food because he knows it's my favorite.  And then cleaned it all up and put Lilah-girl to bed.  What a sweet, thoughtful husband!

 

But first, we came home and took some pictures outside since it has been so beautiful lately.  I love my sweet kiddos!

 

Oh, and Scotty spent the night Saturday.  He is such an amazing uncle, always willing to play with Ethie and very good at it.  We love him!

And we got to talk to Uncle Gaya (Nate) because it was Mother's Day, which was wonderful!  He is just an exceptional person and it's apparent that he has grown-up a lot and been on an amazing journey the last 20 months.  We can't wait to see him in September!

And then Mom joined us for the rest of the day!  I just love her so much and I'm thankful for a day to recognize what an important person she is.  She is kind and thoughtful and friendly and persistent and working hard and bringing lots of joy to lots of people.  I'm so thankful she is my mom!

Mayfest

*Saturday James was busy working on things (school and my Mother's Day dinner :) so I took the kiddos to Carrollton and we got to join Dad, Jeanette, and Scotty at Mayfest!  Ethie was in heaven with the rides and face-painting and treats (thanks to Grandpa)!  He even got to touch a moon-rock!  Lilah tolerated the face-painting and enjoyed being held all day! 

 

 

We also got to eat with them, where Lilah enjoyed a lemon and Ethie enjoyed Scotty!  Fun day, but we missed our James!

Big top

Actually, it was more like the small top.  Last weekend, we (even James!) went to the Shrine Circus in Marietta and it was pretty small-town, but we had fun!  They had tightrope walkers, motorcyclists in round cages, trapeze artists, elephants, clowns, a man shot out of a cannon, etc.  Ethie's face was so serious the whole time--I think he was totally shocked!  But he had a big smile afterwards :)

 

She moves!

So this first clip is a couple weeks ago when Lilah-bug was still trying to figure out handsandknees crawling.  And now she's a pro at it (see second video)!  It's so fun/amazing/miraculous/delightful to watch her learn and discover new things about her little body and this world.  And she's so happy to be able to get around!

Happy Easter Night

On Easter evening, we got to go visit Dad and Jeanette before we headed back.  They loaded us up with yummy treats and sweet Easter surprises for the kiddos!  Lilah especially liked the little lizard.

Hanging out with Uncle Scotty (who also juggled eggs for us)!

Cute Ethie in his grandpa's glasses

And Lilah in the sweetest bunny slippers my Aunt Mary knitted for her.  I love these so much!