Little Drummer Boy

Ethan has a new thing, he loves to give hugs. Not to me or Martin very often, but mostly the dogs, the cat and random toys and stuffed animals he finds. In this one he is hugging his puppet that Aunt Ber gave him.



He loves the dog, he gives her hugs all the time.


And this is right after he gave her a big old kiss.


George and Martin were playing rock band and Ethan really wanted to play as well. He really liked helping play the drums.


He also is very good at rocking out when there is music playing, he always holds up one hand and moves it to the beat. Funny little thing.

Happy Almost Valentines Day

It's crazy to me that it's almost Valentines Day. This year has gone by pretty fast already and it's strange to think it's the middle of February. I am excited though because that means spring and summer are right around the corner and I can get out and go hiking and camping and won't be cooped up in the house so much. Anyway, last night I baked Valentines Cookies. I have an AWESOME sugar cookie recipe. I don't know if any of you remember Hunk of Bread that used to be in the mall forever ago, but Chantel used to work there and remembered their really good sugar cookie recipe after making it so much. Anyway, I made killer sugar cookies but am not very good at frosting. Mine is either too runny or thick enough but way too sweet. Does anybody have any good sugar cookie frosting recipes that I can try out?




In other news, George, Martin's little brother has officially moved into my house. We have had some issues with Martin's parents and haven't seen or really heard from them since August. George has had some rough patches with his life and we've been keeping an eye on him since he was sent home from this place in Ogden, it's like a child's prison. He has practically been living with us for the last couple of months, but he is now moving in for sure. He's a good kid who has turned his life around and I'm happy to have him here. He sure loves Ethan, so it's really fun to watch George play with him. They are going to be really really good friends when Ethan grows up.

Again, more pictures

These are a little old, but they are of Ethan learning how to use a spoon and feed himself. He really loves using a spoon, sometimes when we are eating dinner he refuses to do anything until he is holding his own spoon. What a goof.




We have a walker that turns into a car, and he LOVES to be pushed around the living room on it! Once we had him just sitting on the car while we were picking something up in the living room, anyway we looked over and he was putting his feet up on the hood of the car, he knows he won't get pushed until he's feet are propped up on the hood.


My little monster, modeling his monster hoody!

You can't see it well, but there are teeth on the top of the hood.


He's getting so big so fast. I'm sure I'll have lots more pictures to post soon. :)

Anxiety

I have this huge weight of anxiety that has settled over me in the last couple of days. Back in 2005 when I was first married we filed our taxes. We had selected the wrong box by accident and the IRS fixed it themselves by assuming which box we should have selected. It was not correct and we ended up having to file an amended return and pay them the extra money they had sent us after they corrected our mistake. Well apparently when we filed our amended return the IRS made a huge mistake and rather than subtracting the amended return amount from our original tax paper they added it on making it so we had earned $15,000 more than we really did. Well we made one other mistake and forgot to file an amended return for Utah as well and we are in the middle of getting audited. It's no big deal because it's a mistake that can supposedly be easily corrected. Well we were billed $135 for Utah which is no big deal but I didn't want to pay it because it is a mistake. I'm sure we owe something around $30 which I'm fine with paying but I don't want to pay extra because the IRS messed up. Well, the IRS doesn't have a clue what we are talking about when we call to correct the problem, so they are impossible to work with. So the only way to extend the payment date with Utah was to file a petition for redetermination. I had no idea what that was, I just did it because the auditor told me to. Well it turns that now we are going to court in a sense of the word. We have to have a hearing before a judge or on a telephone conference discussing what is going on. We keep receiving paperwork and I have no idea what to do because I don't even know what's going on. I just know the IRS messed up our taxes and now we have to go before a judge. Great. What a week. It makes me really anxious even though I know we did nothing wrong. It was a mistake on both ends.

So, cross your fingers for me and hopefully it'll turn out okay and I won't lose all my hair stressing about it.

My little sunshine

As I've watched Ethan grow up, I tell myself I don't take nearly enough pictures. Although, I am glad that I have a child in this day and age and not when I had to buy rolls of film and pay to develop them. :)

Because I have so many pictures of Ethan, I just decided to post a handful of cute ones I saw when glancing through tonight.


I love when he smiles this big, it always melts my heart. (As does his laughter. If I'm upset with him and he starts to laugh, every negative thought and feeling leaves instantly.)

Polo shirt, red socks, diaper and wire whisk. I think this picture speaks for itself. :)


Ethan having a tiny pickle for a snack. He thought it was pretty tasty!


I honestly have no idea what he is doing here, but it made me laugh so I decided to put it on here.



And finally, my little rock star. Showing off his bandanna just like his daddy.



There's a couple that will hopefully make you smile, maybe at least a little.
I can't wait for the summer to get back outside and go hiking and camping and take pictures somewhere besides my living room and kitchen.

Ethan's First Birthday!

While we were in Disneyland, my baby turned 1 year old. Because we were away from home, we couldn't throw much of a party, so this last Sunday we had a birthday party for Ethan. The day started when Martin gave Ethan a huge tote full of wooden blocks that he had made for him, Ethan was so excited he was climbing in to get them.



He loved the blocks, especially the cylinders.



After playing with the blocks for a little while, he helped Daddy vacuum the living room. He thinks the vacuum is pretty neat.


Later that night we headed to my mom's house for Ethan's birthday party. My Aunt Kristie made Ethan a pirate ship cake.



Katie was so excited to give Ethan his present, that they both played with it together.


Ethan was a little confused when we all started singing to him, but seemed to like it okay.




Then we decided to try some cake.

Martin gave him a tiny taste of frosting to get him going...



He wasn't too sure about that.


He wasn't a big fan. (It didn't help that he was exhausted)






In the end, he ate three good size scoops of vanilla Aggie Ice Cream instead. He thought that was great. :)


This is my baby when all was said and done. I love this little monkey so much and I am so blessed to have him in my life.

Disneyland!

For Christmas my family went to Disneyland. I was excited to take Ethan for his first time and was even more excited to leave the snow and walk around in the sunshine. When we got there, California was having record heat so the first few days were extremely warm and sunny. Thursday before we came home Martin got the flu, Friday Ethan go the flu and Saturday our last night in the park I got the flu. Friday and Saturday it was pretty rainy for the first few hours, so we were all pretty ready to come back. We walked off the airplane to snow. It was definitely a shocker having come from such warm weather, but it was nice to be home and relax.

We had a good time, and didn't get nearly as many pictures as I wanted to because my camera stopped working partway through the week and I had to borrow my moms. We celebrated two birthday's while we were there as well. It was my brother Ty's birthday as well as Ethan's first birthday! Happy birthday baby, I love you.

We are going to have a party for him this Sunday so I'll have a lot more birthday pictures (if I can get my camera to work again).

Here are a few pictures from the happiest/sunniest place on earth!!

1 year already?

Ethan is about to turn 1 and I can't believe it! It seems like only yesterday I was incredibly ill exiled to my couch for 9 months straight and running to the bathroom whenever I was awake. I remember going to my final doctors appointment and hearing her tell me that I was getting too sick and I had the beginning stages of pre-eclampsia/toxemia and that we needed to get the show on the road. I remember her asking me to pick a day to have the baby, and I wasn't ready for that yet. I still had three weeks to go, I wanted him to come early but never thought it would happen. Then we checked in ... about an hour later we received the light in our lives. Ethan Matthew Neel was born January 24, 2008 at 6:08pm weighing in at 7 pounds 11 ounces and 19 inches long. Here is a brief look back over the last year.

Welcome to the family!

Ethan probably about a day old.

Ethan 1 month old

Two months old


Three months old

Four months old and he's already been hiking twice!


Five months old
Six months old

Seven months old

Eight months old

Nine months old

Ten months old

Eleven months old

And here we are, about a week and a half away from being a year old!


I'm so greatful to have him in my life, and I look forward to many more years to come. We will be in Disneyland for his first birthday, what a lucky kid! He'll get to hang with Mickey and lots of family on his birthday and then come home and we'll have a party for him at home.

I love you Ethan. Thanks for being such a good little boy and bringing with you such a sweet spirit!

Ethan

For Christmas my mom gave her grand kids wooden pop guns and thought they were the funniest gift. Ethan has recently decided that the gun is his favorite toy, and he even figured out how to use it correctly. He used to just bang the end of it on the floor and he could get it to pop, but now he holds the barrel and pops it the way it's supposed to. What a smart little turkey. Anyway, the other day I looked in the living room where he was playing because it had gotten awfully quiet, and this is what I saw:


Ethan had fallen fast asleep in the middle of the floor clutching the pop gun. When I picked him up to move him to his bed, his hand was gripping the gun so hard I had to pry his fingers off of it. It cracked me up. What a goofball.




Ethan is the light of my life. He's such a funny little boy and I love having him around. He's getting so big and I just love hanging out with him. The other day he learned a new trick and it's so adorable! He learned to give kisses. I got my face really close to his and puckered my lips and kept saying "kiss .... kiss ..." to him and then I'd give him a kiss and pucker my lips again. After a few times he leaned forward and gave me kisses back! I got him to do it about 4-5 times and 1-2 to Martin last night. What a sweet baby. I sure love him.




Ethan like most kids, LOVES the bathtub! I think it's so cute to just watch him splash all over the place. Some nights when he is beyond grouchy and won't settle down for anything, I put him in the tub and he splashes and laughs and giggles until he gets out and then it starts all over again. But while he's in the tub, it gives me a few minutes to re-coop. :)