Firsts

It's been a while since I had a blog entry so I thought I'd take a minute to document some firsts that we've had recently.

- Ethan is sleeping in a big boy toddler bed. I was so nervous about the transition but it went so smoothly. The first night I tucked him in and waited for him to immediately jump out of bed. I was shocked that after 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes...there was no movement - no noise! Amazing! The next morning at about 6:30 a.m. Blake and I woke up to Ethan standing next to our bed saying, "Time to get up! I took a big night night!" I can't tell you how it FREAKED us out to see him standing there in our room. This is a whole new world that we're getting used to. Good job Ethan!

- My exciting news is that we got a new dining set. I honestly think that the only furniture we've ever purchased since we've been married (almost 7 years) is our couch set. Everything else was hand-me-downs or out of the trash because that's all we could afford while in school. So, Blake agreed to let me get a new dining set a few weeks ago and I LOVE it. Finally we can seat more than 6 people at our dining table. Yay!!

- A couple of weeks ago Ethan attended his first actual birthday party for his friend Dallin. They went to a place called Clown Around where there was an indoor playground, etc. He had a blast playing with all the kids!

New dining table and china cabinet.

New buffet table.
Ethan at Dallin's birthday party!

Another Good One

This morning, after Blake left for work, I noticed that he had left his Blackberry home on the table. So, I called him at work to see if he would need it today. When I got of the phone, Ethan said, "Daddy left his blueberry home?" This kid cracks me up!

From the Mouth of Babes

This morning I was fussing around in my sweats, cleaning our bathroom when Ethan found two of my hair clips that had pearls on them. After asking what they were, he said "Mommy wear them?" So, I put on in my pony tailed hair to satisfy him. But, that would not do. He then said, "Mommy wear the other one?" So, I put the other one on the other side of my hair. He looked at me with some satisfaction, smiled, and said, "You look like a princess Mommy!" Gosh, I love that little boy! He sure knows how to brighten my day. Who knew that he even knew the word princess?!

Beach Days!

One of our favorite things to do during the summer is hit the beach. We live about 1.5 hours from our favorite beach spots on the Jersey Shore so we make lots of weekend trips down. We're so sad to see the summer go. We've had so much fun. Below are some pictures that document some of our beach highlights!

Blake before doing his first triathlon at Long Branch beach. Unfortunately, due to the fog, they had to cancel the bike portion of the race. Blake was pretty bummed but it was still a great experience doing the run and swim.
Jen and Blake at the pavilion in Long Branch (I think this was around 6 a.m. - we had been up since 4 a.m. to drive down so we're a little sleepy to say the least!).
Blake running out of the water to start the running portion of the triathlon.
We spent a day out on TJ's boat (TJ is Nicole's fiance - Nicole is Blake's sister). TJ was nice enough to take us out on his boat at Point Pleasant for a fantastic day of fishing, tubing, etc. We had such a blast. Ethan kept telling TJ "drive faster, TJ!" so I guess he's taking things into his own hands in this picture!
Nicole and TJ bought Ethan is very own Diego fishing pole. He was so proud of the little plastic fish that kept reappearing at the end of his rod. What can I say, the kid has a gift!
This was one of the highlights of the day. We had a blast being pulled around on this floatie. Of course, everyone's ears are probably permanently damaged from my screaming. It was so much fun!
At the end of the day, we got cleaned up and boated over to a great restaurant in Point Pleasant (can't remember the name). It was the perfect end to a perfect day. Thanks Nic and TJ!
We spent a few Saturday's at the beach with some friends from church. On one of the trips, Blake rented a surf board and let Ethan have a try (on the sand). He's looking pretty cool!