Halloween Class Party

Ethan's class had a Halloween party and here they are all dressed up. I like the mummy in the back. Very cool costume.

Happy Halloween!

Ethan decided to dress up as Darth Vader for Halloween this year. Big surprise given his obssession with Star Wars. He's already picked out next year's costume (clearance at Wal-Mart). All I can say is it again is Star Wars related.

Playing Goalie

Ethan got to play goalie this past Saturday, but had some difficulty understanding why he couldn't use his hands! Nate & I had been playing at home with him and we thought it was ok for the goalie to play with their hands. Apparently in this children's league you cannot do that. So this caused quite a bit of confusion!!!

What Works Best

When the "pout" doesn't work, just try this.

Fall Soccer

Ethan played soccer this fall on a local team for Kindergarten through 2nd graders. He was the tallest kid on the team and the only Kindergarten aged player. So I think they expected him to have more skills then he really had. Plus, this was his first year to play this sport.

He did pretty well once he caught on to the rules and how exactly soccer is played. Sure there was the occasional kick the in the wrong direction and yes, he did enjoy chatting with the opposing team out on the field, but overall he had fun and that is what matters.


What's funny is that he is a really good kicker and runs around our yard with the neighbors kicking the soccer ball all day long. But once he's out on the field he's like a limp noodle with no energy! He says he doesn't like everyone yelling and carrying on along the sidelines. (I can't say that I blame him!)

Meet The Neighbors

I want to introduce you to Nicole. Chances are if you've talked to Ethan much in the past few months you've already heard this name a few times.

Nicole lives behind us and a little to the left. She is 5 and just started Kindergarten, but at a different Catholic school in town. She has 3 siblings and Ethan has enjoyed playing with them all...but he & Nicole are what you might call "tight."

It's adorable to watch her standing by the edge of our property waiting for him to come outside. They both do this when the other one is eating or otherwise occupied inside. Then they head to the clubhouse for "secret meetings."
They are quite the duo and it's fun to imagine what their relationship might be like ten years from now. As we were sitting on the back porch watching Ethan play with the neighbors last night Nate said to me, "This is exactly why we moved here." I agree.

First Day of Kindergarten

Ethan looked so much older than 6 when he dressed up in his new school uniform this morning and headed out the door. He was just excited about his new backpack and the fact that he wearing a belt! It's the little things!!!

Watching him walk into school from the car was very hard, but it is time to let him fly. He had a great first day. Let's hope there are more to come!

St. Louis Trip

We took a quick weekend trip to St. Louis to get away before school starts for Ethan. On Friday evening we went to a Cardinals game. Saturday we headed around town and went to the City Museum - which was quite interesting and swam at the hotel. We attempted the Arch, but the line was too long & it was just too hot! By Sunday we were all 3 ready to come home.

6th Birthday

Happy 6th Birthday To The Boy Who Loves Star Wars!

Kentucky Lake

Over the 4th of July weekend we went with our old neighbors (and good friends) the Kessler's (Brian, Amy, Jake & Luke) to Kentucky Lake. The last trip we took there was when I was 11 months old.

We spent the day on the water and swimming. I was quite the dare-devil jumping off the boat.
Mom and Amy preferred relaxing on the boat more than swimming in the water with the boys.

We even rode the rocket behind the boat. First, I rode with Dad. We fell off before it even got going!
We went really fast and finally hit a huge wave from another boat that sent us flying.

Daddy's 31st Birthday!

How cool is it to have your birthday on the 4th of July? Beyond cool. You get fireworks. This year for Dad's birthday I made little pudding cakes all by myself. I did not clean up the mess, but I made the mess.

I think they turned out good. We even had a few extra that I took to Mama & Papa Vote. Dad liked them.

Then we shot fireworks off out in the country where all we had to worry about was catching the cornfields on fire.

HAPPY BIRTDAY DAD!

The Clubhouse

Meet my new clubhouse. This odd structure was in our backyard when we moved here and it's now mine. This is where we have secret meetings and hide stuff we don't want our parents to find. Dad thinks it is an eye-sore because you can see it from a mile down the road, but I think it's cool.

Pre-K Graduation

My Pre-K Graduation
Is it a bad sign when your teachers are happy to see you graduate? After 2 years at the Holy Spirit pre-k school, I think at least one of my teachers was happy to see me go. This was after a few rough months of me being bored and me being the class clown.

My class put on a program for graduation. We were little birds. Aren't birds supposed to be quiet? Watch out Kindergarten....here I come!!!

Our New House

It all started back in March. When Mom got better after the infection, Dad says she got the "itch" to start house hunting. This of course was before they were ready to put our house up for sale.

So they drug me to a lot of houses and after one failed attempt (a nice house with not enough storage) they found what they were looking for. Only problem was the location. Not exactly in the area they were looking, but close.
After a lot of talking they decided it would be a good place for us and for me to go to school. It's a small community of about 1,300 right outside of Evansville. The house has a huge yard and is on rock road out in the country. But there are several houses on our street - all families with young kids. So I will have plenty of people to get in trouble with.
It is about a 15 minute drive to work for Dad and about 30 minutes for Mom. It is your basic ranch with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms on the first floor. There is a full basement with a full bathroom that we will finish out. There is a window (for fire escape) and that can be made into a 4th bedroom. We'll also make another family room down there.
But it has the top 4 things Mom insisted on - 2 bathrooms, laundry room upstairs, dishwasher and attached garage! Plus a large dettached garage.
We decided to paint and re-do a lot of the flooring before we move in, so most of our weekends and weeknights have been spent working on the new house and praying our old house sells quickly!

Spring Break

My cousins Madyson & Jordan came to visit over spring break with Grandma Anita.
One of the cool things we did was visit the Children's Museum.
They loved it!

We made our own bar of soap and put a little dinosaur inside it.

Easter 2008

Easter weekend was spent working on our house. Dad, Uncle Dude and Mom spent all day Saturday cleaning, painting and putting up crown molding. This meant I had free reign of the place. I probably watched more TV that day than I did all last year!
Easter morning I got a new Bionicle and some alphabet cards. We went to church and then headed to Mama Terry's & Papa Kelly's for lunch. I refused to eat the ribs and went home hungry, but could have cared less. There was too much going on with Uncle Dude and Laban for me to notice.
I got a cool new Star Wars book from Mama & Papa that I haven't put down yet and some delicious candy and an egg that sings from Aunt Lynn & Uncle Steve. (Mom and Dad thank you for the singing egg by the way!).

Finally, Some Snow!

Ethan has been patiently waiting for us to get more than a dusting of snow this winter so he could play in it. School got out early yesterday and within a few hours his wish came true.
He helped Nate shovel the drive last night and then this morning played mostly in the layer of ice outside.
And this is why Ethan and Parker do not always get along.