Friday, October 31, 2008

Eastford Fire Station

Well, driving home from the trunk-or-treat I noticed the lights were on and the doors open at the Eastford Fire Station, so I turned around and we parked and went inside. The firefighters were handing out candy and icecream and Ethan thought it was the greatest thing! He was so happy and enthusiastic about everything, they ended up letting him sit in ALL the firetrucks, turn the lights on and off, try on a real fireman's hat, and even brought us more icecream and we had a picnic in the back of one of the trucks.

At one point I asked Ethan if he was ready to get in my car, he shook his hard and said "no no no no no no no." Then I asked if he was going to spend the night there, to which he replied "yes...bye bye mamma!" I can't even begin to tell you what a great time Ethan had, climbing in and out of all those trucks. He sat in a cab, said "mamma up" patting the drivers seat, so I got up and behind the wheel, then he said "mamma go" as in lets drive this thing home!!! Seriously we stayed for about 45 minutes and I had to trick him into my arms and carry him to my car to get him to leave. They loved having him there and said anytime we drive by and someone's there to stop in and say hi and let Ethan see the trucks again. Here are some pictures...




Happy Halloween!

Tonight we went to a Trunk-or-Treat with many of our Ashford Ward friends. It was awesome-lots of yummy food, tons of kids, and beautiful 50 degree weather...its so nice to go trick-or-treating when you don't have to wear winter coats over your costumes and aren't trudging through rain, sleet, or snow. Anyways, since it cost less to buy Ethan's tuxedo than to rent it for Sara's wedding, I thought I'd get one more use out of it before I put it on ebay. My friend Jenny found a cute white dress for her daughter Anna, and she and Ethan went trunk-or-treating together. They were so cute! Here are some pictures...


Thursday, October 23, 2008

How I was able to make dinner and bread...

First of all, must give a big shout-out to Bob the Builder. My son loves him, and I love our DVR that records and stores episodes so I can always put one on when I need to do something-like make dinner. Don't get me wrong-I try for no or as little TV as possible, except for canning days, but some dinners are better done with Ethan out of my kitchen. Bob to my rescue! I love Bob and think he and Wendy should hook up. Today I was trying to get dinner made and make pizza dough for the YW activity tonight, so of course I turn on Bob. I love listening to Ethan laugh when Spud comes on-great big loud belly laughs. I previously hated Spud and didn't understand what he was doing on the show, until Ethan recently found him to be hilarious.

Anyways, Bob ended and Ethan wandered into his room, said "bye mamma" and closed the door. OK-he needs privacy and I am getting so much more done with him not being in the kitchen. Soon I begin to hear noise...that ominous low grunt, followed by a crash, and sometimes an "oh no!" or "oh-uh!" But really, right now I don't mind, I am getting a lot done, and as long as the destruction is limited to his room, he's already ruined the wallpaper border, so there's not much else he can trash.

After I finish my cooking and clean up of the kitchen, I venture into Ethan's room, where I find he has managed to open his closet door-usually I shut it hard, and because its an old house, the wood sticks and you have to be really strong to open it. Somehow he opened it. Now, the closet is where I stash anything that needs to go uo to the attic next time we open it, as well as bags of clothes that he's outgrown or is about to grow into, as well as some bags of toys because we've been handed down a ridiculous ammount, so I only have about half out at a time and rotate through them. So this is the scene that greeted me when I opened his door:

Do you see the grin on his face?
Good thing he is so cute. Speaking of cute, here he is in his new yard sale-find pajamas playing peek-a-boo with a basket.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Picking Pumpkins

This morning we all went to Gwen and Bob's pumpkin patch! Ethan really loved the mini muffins Gwen baked-thank you Gwen! I'm pretty sure that was his favorite part. Although Bob's tractor was pretty cool also. Here are some pictures...



Ethan shows off the worm he found under a pumpkin...


Friday, October 17, 2008

Apples to Applesauce

Wednesday Ethan and I went to Gwen and Bob Adzima's to pick apples. We gathered about 6 bags that had just fallen to the ground, then Bob and Gwen got the ladder out and picked 2-3 more bags for us. The apples are sweet-some old long forgotten about(in otherwords, heirloom) variety that no one knows the name of anymore. Here is Ethan in the tree...

Taking a walk...

Sitting by the pond...

Gwen and Bob picking apples...

Two days and after constant hard work(poor Ethan had the TV on for the last 48 hours) here is the finished product: 34 quarts of applesauce. You had better be impressed. I hate canning.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

More fun at Bakerwoods

This morning my dad and I took Ethan and our friends Anne, Beckah, and Allie to our favorite little petting zoo in Ashford. Ethan met the billy goats...

Allie had fun meeting the mini donkey...

Ethan and Allie on the gnome rock...

Ethan at the weather rock...

and Ethan in the beautiful fall woods.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Lapsley's Orchard

Today my dad and I took Ethan to the Fall Festival at Lapsley's Orchard in Pomfret. We met our friends the Kings there and our boys had a great time running and playing. Ethan loved the hayride and drinking the fresh pressed cider! He kept going back for more. I bought some amazing salsa-peach and vidalia onion-sounds weird I know but trust me its good! Here is Ethan driving the tractor...

Here is Ethan and me...as you can see he would rather be exploring.

Ethan and Grandpa with the apple wagon

Ethan and Ammon with a cute background...NOT looking at the camera!

This was the best I could do...Ethan was not in a looking at the camera mood!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

A Week of Firsts

A week ago I ran a mile in 10 minutes for the first time. I'd been stuck at 11 minutes for a while. I'm planning to get to 8 minutes a mile-that'll be my spring goal! I could really feel it in my hamstrings and in my side! Ouch. Today I ran a mile in 9 minutes and 33 seconds! And it felt easy and great-until I stopped, then I thought I was going to throw up.

Friday in swim practice I got to dive off the blocks for the first time! That was really fun-I didn't lose my goggles, which they said usually happens the first few times, and I won both of my "races." I swam 50 meters in 39 seconds and 100 meters in 1 minute 25 seconds. One of the other swimmers gave me some tips so I'll start working on that and hopefully get faster! I'd love to do a few swim meets this winter.

Other big news from the swim lane is that on Tuesday I did my first flip turn! A flip turn is used in the freestyle and backstroke. As a swimmer approaches the wall, she/he tucks her/his body into a somersault, quickly rolls toward the wall, and pushes off with her/his feet. Doesn't that sound so easy? And if you watched the olympics you saw how easy they made it look! Well I am here to tell you that looks are deceiving! It is wicked hard and I'm still not doing it "right" or "well."

When you are learning there are many ways it can go wrong. At the beginning I kept doing complete somersaults, ending up facing the wall. Then as I began to get the idea of a 1/2 somersault, I'd be to close or to far from the wall, so I couldn't use it to kick off from. Finally, when I'd time my turn right, I'd hit the wall but end up pushing myself down to the bottom or shooting off to the side. When done correctly it is a thing of beauty and looks effortless, if I were a blogging whiz I'd have a clip on here to show you what it looks like. For now, if you want to see it, go here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtP8xgzm6do