Flashback Friday: Ethan eating pudding

This is Ethan eating Pooh-beer: Guinnes chocolate pudding in a Winnie The Pooh cup. He was just shy of his 4th birthday at our dessert party, 2008. He kept inhaling the stuff.

Visit With Ethan

Before we headed off to Thailand we stopped in California to spend a couple of days with Ethan.

 My boy has grown so much in the last year!

We rented bikes and cruised around Newport Beach. I liked looking at all the houses as we rode through this alley way.

We biked down to a donut shop and had donuts. Ross and Robert got cronuts. I had a bite. I'll admit, it was buttery-damn good. After our donuts we watched the sunset.

Of course we played legos with Ethan and had lego battles between our creations. This is Ethan's robot creation.

I was so happy to be able to spend time with Ethan. I hope we will see him again soon.

Photos of Ethan

My Boy, Ethan

Here are a bunch of photos of my boy, Ethan from our California visit.

Photo Month: Day 12: Ethan

That's Ethan asleep on the swing in our back yard. Wrapped up in the quilt I bought for 50 cents. He needed a nap, but didn't want to go inside (and miss all the action outside), so we set him up on the swing and he actually took a nap. I miss Ethan and my house.

Our Boy Ethan

Here is a photo of us with our boy Ethan. I'm so glad we got to see him before he left for California. Ethan was super excited to see Uncle Ross. They played with legos, fought each other with light sabers and the force, and played a few wii games. Ethan and I went ice skating. We miss him so much.

It's all in the Details

While unloading things from the back of Ross's car I found this drawing that Ethan did on the back of a sushi menu. I love all the details that Ethan drew--like Ross's stubble, argyle sweater, and the A buttons on the wiimotes.

Safety First

Always remember to wear a helmet when snowboarding in the living room.

Dem Bones

Ethan entertained us while we waited in the cold at the Greenbelt Metro stop.

Dollar Days: World Trade Center Observation Deck

After lunch at Five Guys on Saturday we decided to go up to the observation deck of the World Trade Center in the inner harbor. It was a great view, and it only cost us a dollar apiece.
The aquarium is in the foreground.
One of the views from the top.
Hopkins East Baltimore campus.
Ethan took this photo of us.

Dollar Days: National Aquarium

On Saturday we braved the cold and the lines and the crowds to see the National Aquarium. The line actually wasn't so bad--it moved quickly. We headed straight for the Australia exhibit, and then went through the main exhibit.
This is the back of the building. The line then wrapped around the front, and through a cattle shuttle to the ticket booths (green building in the foreground). We arrived around 10a, stood in line for about half an hour, and our tickets were for 11a, so we warmed up a little in Barnes and Noble.
My cutie, Ethan, pointing out a fish in the Australia exhibit.
A spotted ray.
The sea anemone.
Not a great photo, but this is the octopus. It was awesome. The octopus is new to the aquarium, and very shy. We weren't supposed to take photos (I'm so bad). This was definitely the best part. Ross also loves the dogfish, trumpet fish, and the puffer fish. I have to get stills from the videos I took. They were swimming around so fast it was hard to get a good photo.

I am so glad we braved the crowds and went to the Aquarium. Can't beat seeing all that for a buck!

Skype Moments

We occasionally skype with Robert, Ethan, and Tiffany. They called last night and we were able to hook up via skype. My parents are here, so they also got to say hi. Ethan was super excited because he just got back from his birthday trip to Disney World. He drew some things and showed us via the webcam. Ethan is a very good artist.

At one point Ethan started saying "tickle, tickle, tickle." We all cocked our heads and Robert said "Ethan, you can't tickle them with the mouse pointer." We all cracked up as if we really had been tickled. It was a classic skype moment.

My Boy Loves Queen

Before we moved I noticed that Ethan would always get excited when a Queen song started playing on my computer. I made him a cd with a bunch of Queen songs, but I don't know how often he listens to it. When I was in Texas I was pushing Ethan in a shopping cart at the grocery store and he started singing..."Ooooh you gonna take me home tonight" and I couldn't remember the next line (Oh down beside your red firelight), so I just repeated what he said and realized--hey, that's Fat Bottomed Girls. So I started singing "Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin' world go round." Then it dawned on me. That's a Queen song. My boy loves Queen.

My Birthday Boy

We went and celebrated Ethan's birthday today. Tiffany, her parents, Robert, Ethan, Ross, and I went and ate at a Hibachi restaurant in Lewisville. Tiffany bought Ethan an airplane lego set for his birthday, so we got him a bucket of legos for him to add to his lego collection. Ethan was so excited today. For lunch he ordered ne-ow row (beef)... just like his uncle Ross. The waitress brought Ethan some orange sherbet and we sang to him. He then declared that he needed cake. He's just like his gunma (me). I wish we could have spent more time with him. I had to work this afternoon. Anways, my supercute boy is now 4!

Dessert Party 2008

This year's dessert party was awesome! We had a great turn out. Everything was ready by noon, and I didn't spend the entire party in the kitchen. I don't think that there was anything that turned out to be a TOTAL dud. Let's see. Starting from the left we had: zabaglione with optional cherries, red velvet cupcakes, lime cupcakes, triple layer fudge, panna cotta with chestnut honey, chocolate Guinness goodness (pudding), pink peppercorn chocolate cake, ciambella alla menta (mint cake), mixed berry pie, tiramisu, and chocolate pear cake. Not pictured: pumpkin mousse.

Ross made the zabaglione, fudge, and the pie crust. I'm not sure how the cupcakes turned out. I thought the lime frosting was better than the actual cupcake. The red velvet cupcakes seemed to go over well. No one commented on the tiramisu, but it went very quickly. The consensus seemed to be that that regular panna cotta is better than this one with the chestnut honey flavor. I like the flavor, but I think it was a little strong and turned out too sweet. I think my favorites were the mint cake and the pumpkin mousse.

Ethan and Anir ran around the house like a couple of, well, little boys. Ethan found one of Bailey's old mouse toys and had fun chasing people around with it. Then he decided the mouse needed a nap. He made a bed out of a plate, gave him a napkin blanket, and made him a T-shirt out of an old rag. Bailey slept on our bed during the entire party.

Ethan was in a great mood. He didn't eat much, but he really dug into a cup of the chocolate Guinness goodness.

I somehow didn't gain any weight (maybe because I haven't tried everything yet). We are headed to the gym today, and I've got jury duty tomorrow!

Updates

Yesterday Ross took Ethan to see Wall-E. They both liked it. After dinner Tiffany and I went to the gym and worked out. The class had too much jumping. We won't do that one again. While we were working out the boys were playing Mariokart. We joined them after we got back from the gym (and had some chocolate and wine). Ethan was in a great mood and was having a ton of fun. He kept laying on Ross's outstretched legs and saying "Comfy!" I wish I'd gotten a photo. He also came and sat next to me and said "How about you tickle me?" It was the funniest thing. I said no, because I didn't know where he was ticklish so he was kind of confused. Then I tickled him all over testing to see where he was ticklish. He tickled me back and we had a go round of "juicy leg!" I grab his leg and say "Juicy leg, juicy leg, juicy leg!" then he does it back to me, then he went around and did it to everyone else. He was so excited that we were visiting.
I've been really good about working out. I think I have 380 minutes so far this week. We will go to the lift class tomorrow. My muscles are sore, but I suppose I'll get used to it. I was too beat from last night's class to go to this mornings weights/cardio class, so I only went to yoga. Robert has me totally flipped out about the teacher touching people and now I notice it and it creeps me out. I did all right. It was good to stretch out a little. Shelby did a beautiful king pigeon pose and the teacher helped her practice scorpion! I did a couple of headstands during our rest periods. My weight was almost down to my low yesterday am, but I had soy sauce last night... so I'm back up today. We are having sushi with friends tonight, so I'm going to drink lots of green tea and try to avoid the soy sauce. I am so tired....
My piercing doesn't fit anymore. I'm going to see Justin tomorrow to see what we can do about that....I can't wait! I have so much to do today and tomorrow, but I feel like being lazy. I suppose I should make a to do list and see what all I have to tackle.

Ethan Does Yoga

Ethan is currently singing "This is Halloween." He is still totally obsessed with Halloween. He's a bit cranky because he had a very short nap today, and I'm a bit cranky myself, so I'm getting to the end of my rope with the Halloween business. Ethan did a few yoga poses for me today. The first one is him playing around when I asked him to do Tree Pose. The second photo is his Downward Facing Dog Pose. The last one is his Warrior II pose. I just asked him if there was anything he wanted to tell everybody about the pictures and he said "How about skeletons? Next time lets look at pumpkin pictures." Sigh.

Ethan

So, my boy is obsessed with the Nightmare Before Halloween. I can't even remember the movie. All I remember is that we saw it with Joey and a couple left in the middle of the film. When the lights came on there was only one seat where the couple had been sitting. Yeah, really.
What I do know is that Ethan is obsessed with pumpkins, Jack, skeletons, skulls, and Halloween. Lately he likes drawing skulls. I taught him the word skull because he kept calling it a skeleton. We went on Google images to see pictures of skeletons and skulls. He phonetically typed the words into the search bar. He did a great job. Then he wanted to see a skeleton movie. I went to YouTube. The first video was of a ventriloquist and had foul language, so I stopped it. Then we watched an old black and white cartoon of skeletons dancing. He doesn't really react, he just takes it all in. Then we watched an old Mickey Mouse haunted house cartoon. It had been dubbed over with "This is Halloween" by Marilyn Manson. Oh, Ethan was so excited. He was jumping up and down and singing along (the first time he just took it all in). The same song is in the Nightmare Before Halloween. We watched the cartoon at least 4 times and then he sang/hummed the song for the rest of the night. I think his skeleton and skull drawings are mighty fine.

Weekend Update

This weekend Robert, Tiffany, and Ethan came over and we had Korean bbq. Ethan was sooooo excited to see Ross! It was a very nice day outside, and we spent quite a while out there. Ross and Ethan played catch, punched at the punching bag, and ran around in circles. Ethan really wanted to play wii, but first he managed a nap on the swing outside. Bailey even sat with him for a long time. We had ribs, veggies, crackers, snack mix, fresh coconut water (straight out of the coconut), watermelon, and jelly bellies. We took a trip to the mall and bought Raving Rabbids 1. I've been playing it a lot since.

Oh, I forgot to mention Ethan's fish. Ross and I bought Ethan a Word World fish at Target. Word World is a PBS program that teaches phonics and spelling. Ross thinks the show is really cool. We were in Target and Ross pointed out the toys. I said "Ethan watches that show every day!" They had a bunch of animal toys. Each animal is made out of letters. We bought the fish so it is made out of F-I-S-H. The letters are magnetic and pull apart. Ethan fell in love with the fish. He kept showing us the letters...F-I-sssss-uh?... he calls S "ssss" (the sound it makes) and he kept forgetting what the last letter was....The fish was a big hit.

On the fitness front...I logged 520 minutes of working out this week! That might be an all time high for me. My weight is up, but my body fat is down...so that's good. I've been trying out my new yoga mat and I love it. I already went to Joan Fabrics, bought the supplies to make straps, and made them! I'll have Ross take a photo of me doing something impressive on the mat so that I can post it. We went for a swim last night. It was really good. I haven't been swimming in a long time. The pool is salt water based, so the water up the nose and in the eyes wasn't as painful as chlorine. I'm trying to get my eating habits back on track. I've been slacking there, and that's why I think I haven't lost any more weight.

My new jeans obsession...weight loss or no, my new 28s from Costco are already feeling loose. So I'm scoping out some size 27 button flies on ebay. I also saw a really cool bikini at Electrique Boutique. It was pretty pricey though...so if I manage to lose another 9 pounds and make my final goal then maybe.

Lucky Jeans and More

I love my Lucky brand jeans, but they no longer fit (too big, yeah!). I got my jeans at Costco, but when we went last weekend to buy a new pair they didn't have any. I went to the mall to try some on, figure out my size, see how much they cost. I tried on a pair that cost 98$ (plus tax the sales lady reminded me)! I am now a size 28 in Lucky brand (I fit in size four in Levis). On Wednesday I went to visit Tiffany and Ethan. We took a trip to her Costco to see if they had some Luckys. No luck (hahha), but a really nice guy there looked up the item in the computer and said that Arlington might have a few pairs (when he called them they said no, but he said to check anyways). We got Ethan a churro before leaving, so he was happy. At the mall he turned to me and said "I like you." It was the sweetest thing ever.
I bid on a couple of pairs of jeans on ebay, but no luck there either. Yesterday we went to a wedding. It was really cool. Half in Chinese, half in English. I'm so glad we got to go. After the ceremony and reception (I love cake!!!) we went for boba (well, we actually just got drinks, no boba) and to Costco to check for jeans. Costco in Arlington had an entire shipment. Score! I inspected like 10 pairs of jeans before deciding on one. When we got home I found out I'd won a pair on ebay for half what I paid at Costco. So now I'll have two pairs. I already went into the closet and pulled out an old pair to get rid of. I have a pair of old Old Navy jeans that look like they have stretch marks because the spandex has gone all funky. I'm serious about these jeans. I really want a pair with button fly. I just have a thing for the button fly. I will keep watching ebay for a good price. Tiffany told me to soak the jeans in vinegar to set the color. I'll do that. And I plan on always hang drying them so that they last longer. I'm so obsessive.
Last night we went to see Jumper. I liked it. Dang. It would be soo cool to be able to teleport.
My garden is doing all right. I have one plant that already has two good sized peppers on it. I transplanted the pepper plants that I grew from seed. A couple of them are doing very well. I'm excited. I think I'm going to have a huge pepper harvest this year. Even the jalapeno plant that was all wilted seems to have recovered. So far no eggplants or tomatoes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. All the herbs are doing just fine. I should make something with them...
Last night I tried stretching my shoulders so I can do those yoga poses. I need to stretch out my hips also. I ordered a new yoga mat. Yeah. Now I'm looking for some crop yoga pants..I'm really in a "stuff" phase right now. I want STUFF!
Well, hopefully we will go work out today. I don't want to outgrow my new jeans! (Ob-ses-sion!) I made some upside down pineapple muffins using a recipe I found online. They are pretty good. I only have one modification. I'll try and post up a photo and the recipe today or tomorrow.
Ethan demonstrating how he concentrates for the wii Raving Rabbids concentration game.

Ethan loving on Tiffany.
The pepper plants I grew from seed.


The peppers on one of my pepper plants.