Pumpkin Festival

This was Ethan's first Pumpkin Festival! I (Mandy) am from Morton which is the Pumpkin Capital of the World. Aunt Megan came home for the weekend and we spent the weekend with Grams and Gramps. We enjoyed the festival which included a big parade, lots of fun rides and, of course, pumpkin ice cream!

Alabama Football - ROLL TIDE!

Alabama played tonight and it was on TV. Ethan is quite the fan. What he enjoys more than watching the game, however, is watching himself on the little camcorder screen (he makes whoever is filming flip the screen so he can see himself - unfortunately, whoever is filming has no idea what they're getting on tape!). In this clip, he is having trouble seeing himself on screen because of the bill of his hat. Note: Illinois fans don't worry, he has a chief tattoo on his bicep.

Last year...

Hello again! Well, I think I finally figured out how to put short videos on here. The one I've been working with to try and figure out how to do it is actually of Ethan's first steps last year. He sure has come a long way in the past year!! I'll try to put some more recent footage on here later...

Neighborhood Party!

Our neighbor across the street entered a contest a while back and won a bunch of ice cream from Edy's to use at a big neighborhood get together. It was scheduled for this past Saturday at 4:30 and almost got rained out. It stopped raining about 4:15, so we went ahead as scheduled. It turned into a cookout type deal, but the ice cream was the biggest hit with the kids. A good number of people from the neighborhood showed up, including lots of kids!

VGHS HOMECOMING 2007...

This week was homecoming week at VGHS. The parade was today, so Ethan and his mama came out to visit papa. Actually, Ethan came out mostly to see the fire engines and the horse that pulled the Grand Marshal of the parade. He also got to sit on an antique tractor (he was too afraid of the noise to ride it). After the parade, he hung out with his papa and mama, played on the playground, ate at Monical's, and watched the first half of the football game before heading home with his mama. We didn't get a picture of him with the horse this year, but take my word for it that he looks especially small next to a 2,000 pound Belgian horse! He got to pet the horse and can tell you his name if you ask him. He also got to sit in the fire engines and toot the horn (although he practically had to hang on the rope to get it to blow).

Guys' Weekend...

Mandy went on her annual "Girls' Weekend' trip from August 30 - September 2. Ethan, Max and Kyle did lots of exciting things to pass the time and keep Ethan distracted from being away from his mama. Ethan was even allowed to pick out his own clothes on Saturday (see the above picture of him in his black and red crocks, blue shorts, gray "Little Guy" shirt (his favorite shirt - he insisted that Kyle wear his "Big Guy" shirt), and, last but not least, the green and yellow John Deere hat. His bright blue Thomas the Tank Engine sunglasses brought the whole ensemble together, but I didn't get a picture of him with those on.

The final birthday party...

Ethan had a couple of more presents from his mama and papa to open the night of his birthday. He got some puzzles, an etch-a-sketch, and a Thomas the Tank Engine train track.

Birthday Party at Day Care...

Mandy left work early on Ethan's birthday to help him celebrate his birthday at daycare. There were plenty of Thomas the Tank Engine engineer hats and cupcakes to go around...

Birthday Party at Monical's...

We celebrated Ethan's birthday with Kyle's family in the traditional Osborne way - Monical's on the Friday night before his birthday. Ethan was very anxious to play with his new Play-Doh press, so we had to bust that out as soon as we got home.

VACATION!

Our annual vacation to the beach took place the week of August 9-19. Ethan was much more enthusiastic about the water this year, but was a little leery of the sand for most of the trip. As luck would have it, he finally learned to love playing in the sand on the last day we were there. He had a great time. We also celebrated his birthday with Mandy's family, the first of several small parties. He got his first bicycle (Thomas the Tank Engine, of course), and made his first ever trip to Lambert's ("Home of the Throwed Rolls").