At the park

I think this is my last update from my recent trip home to visit my family.  After this I might (maybe ?!) actually have gotten myself out of the blogging hole I was in and be caught up.  Of course I cheated a bit by not actually writing much and pretty much overwhelming you with pictures, but I've been so far behind that this was the only way I could possibly fathom catching back up again.  To quote a former coworker (and oh how I love finding an excuse to use this in conversation!) "and the angels sang!" 

The first morning we were in Cary, we took Ethan to a little playground near Carolyn's house.  Carolyn and Brandon came out to meet us for a bit and here are a few pictures from our morning:

I remember the first time I brought Ethan here with his little buddy Graham when they were not yet walking.  They both pulled up and hung onto these little steps and didn't do much else.  Now Ethan is bounding all around...how time flies!

Swinging with Nana....the child LOVES the swings so much!

Eating lunch at the playground

We grabbed lunch from Cook Out and brought it back to the playground

Wheeeeee!  I love that Ethan is into the playground now because it is so much fun for me too :)

After the playground we went over to Carolyn's house where we decided to head over to a local park to take some family pictures.  We weren't able to stay for too long since we had to pick my mom's cat up at the vet, and weather and scheduling conflicts intervened and kept us from making it back to the park as planned later in the week, but I promised Ethan I would bring him back to this super fun park the next time we were in town though!

Posing with my sisters and Ethan and Brandon

Off and running...

We did get a chance to ride the train and Ethan was still for the first time all day

Ethan and my mom took a turn on the carousel too

Helping Aunt Carolyn push Brandon

Mr. Cool

Walking to the area where we staged our family pics

How pretty is the backdrop?!

Trying to entertain Ethan while the rest of the family took pics by the water...alas he was so crazed by this point in the day Ethan and I didn't make it into most of the posed pics (but hey, this is more fun anyway, right?!)

Brandon's very first train ride

Ethan and I on our train ride together

My mom playing with Ethan during the picture time as well...alas this child had no intrest in taking pics (are you seeing a pattern here?!) so we caved and let him play for a few minutes while Carolyn put her photography classes to good use and got some beautiful shots of Bethany and her boyfriend by the water

Family Visit at Nana's House

This past week Ethan I traveled to my hometown to spend some quality time with my youngest sister Bethany who finally made her triumphant return from California to meet the latest addition to our growing family.  It was wonderful having her home!  To make things even better, towards the end of the visit my aunt and cousins came down for a day too.  This was the first time they met baby Brandon and we all had so much fun together.  I wish California was a lot closer because I don't want it to take another year and a half for my sister to make it home for a visit again!  (And now that I am no longer pregnant/caring for a newborn, it is finally time for me to start thinking about a trip out there too!)  Here are a few pics from our visit:

Aunt Susie and Suzanne meeting baby Brandon

Suzanne and Bethany...the babies of the family

Bethany, Suzanne & Anna

Anna and baby Brandon

Aunt Bethany with her newest nephew

Ethan and Brandon posing in their matching cousin shirts (Ethan gave Brandon his the first time they met two weeks ago)

Yes, they managed to hold hands unprompted by us

Ethan playing with his new buddy, Rani (Bethany's boyfriend who made the trip from CA with her to meet the family) Ethan adores Rani and loved hanging out with him all week

There was karaoke at the restaurant we went to one night, and we volunteered my mom and Aunt Susie to serenade us with Old Time Rock n Roll

Ethan LOVES his Aunt Bethany (the last time he saw her he was only a week old so it was nice getting to watch them get acquainted this trip)

How funny is this pic?!

Coloring time with Rani

Playing with Aunt Bethany

Trying to get Ethan to pose for a picture is nearly impossible these days

Suzanne decided to share some Chapstick with Ethan (perhaps we shouldn't tell Patrick about that one...ha!  It wasn't glossy though, promise!!)

Ethan found Nana's supply of straws and decided that they needed to be strewn all about (including Brandon's carrier)

Redecorating with Christmas straws

What's up, tiny cousin?!

Ethan was much more interested in Brandon on this visit...they are destined to be friends forever!

Hanging out before dinner

Totally wish my sister lived closer...CA is just too far away!

Extended Family Visit

As a fun surprise, my aunt and cousins came down for a quick visit last Saturday while I was in town spending time with my sisters (evidently my family knew they were coming, but I found out the day before so it really was a fun surprise!)  It was so much fun being ALL together again...it had been awhile since all five of us got together :)

The five girls - me, Carolyn, Bethany, Anna & Suzanne

My aunt Susie and my cousins, Anna and Suzanne

Love their silly expressions in this pic!

Anna, Ethan and I walking down the street in my mom's neighborhood

Our family of women plus baby Brandon

Ethan being especially silly...he wanted to run like crazy during our amateur photo shoot so he is either upside down or being lifted high in the air in almost every shot just so we could include him in a few pictures

Suzanne and Ethan

Our family of women plus the tiny men...my mom, Aunt Susie, Anna, Carolyn with Brandon, Suzanne, Ethan, me and Bethany (Patrick and Brian had no idea what they were missing this day!)

All three of us together again!!!

How adorable is this picture?!  My cousins are so good with our boys!

We were able to get at least one picture with our generation of cousins and the new generation...Ethan was definitely the problem in getting us all together because all this child wanted to do was RUN, RUN, RUN!!!

February...the month in pictures

In my continued effort to catch up, here is FEBRUARY, the month in pictures.  February included two trips to Cary to spend time with my brand new nephew, and some general craziness in our household as well.  Hopefully now that I'm almost back on track, I can resume more normal posts sometime in March.

Mashed potatoes are a mess!

GQ man

Yes, he has figured out how to unlock and open the dishwasher

Ethan has become quite the climber and will climb up to stand on top of pretty much anyting - furniture, his music table, his fire truck...you name it, he can climb it!

He gets so proud of himself when he climbs!

This is the "please may I have ____" face

Still one of his favorite toys

Trying to get Ethan to pose in his Duke shirt on game day...alas he would not give up his silly cup with a straw (another recent obsession - cups with straws and getting water out of the front of the fridge himself)

Go Blue Devils

A fan from day one :)

There are no words....

When Ethan met Brandon for the very first time...they are destined to be friends forever

Ethan will do the sign language sign for baby every time we say the word "Brandon"

Hello baby!

Nana with her boys

Carolyn with Brandon and me with Ethan (and trying to get all of us looking straight ahead for one picture turned out to be impossible..this was the best of the bunch if you can believe it)

While Carolyn was on a conference call I got to baby-sit my adorable nephew (and Abby, the dog too)

Guess who got a little jealous?!

Whew, how do people with two do it?!  I'm tired just remembering this!

Wearing their matching cousin shirts together

Yes, he took out all of the plastic containers and cups and put himself into the drawer.  My child is nuts!!!!

He was content to play in there for a solid 30 minutes!

At the playground with Nana

Ethan LOVES the swings!