A new hobby

For Ethan's birthday, his Grandma Lorrie got him a little table. Now he spends a lot of time drawing with his crayons...as much as I love sports, it's kind of nice having him do something different.

As for Annalisa, she got her first tooth three weeks ago and her first fever over the weekend. Her eyes are changing from blue to hazel and she is growing even more hair. Her face looks more like her brother every day. What a joy she is!

By the way, Ethan's table is from IKEA. This is the first thing I have ever gotten from there (I know all of my Utah friends are aghast, but IKEA is far from my house here). I did have to assemble it of course, but oddly enough, I love putting stuff like that together. One of the drilled holes was too low and so I had to improvise to fix it. I really do consider myself the handyman of the house- I guess it comes from watching my dad and brother build and fix stuff. And Dad, you thought I was just running around and being loud, but I was paying attention sometimes:-)

Picture ordeal

It was time again to get some professional portraits done. I went to Kiddie Kandids for Ethan's first birthday, but it was pricey and so I decided to try JC Penney this time. I paid a third less but it was not a good experience...I made an appointment two weeks in advance, but still had to wait for 40 minutes. Have you ever tried to entertain a two year old in a small space for 40 minutes?

Anyway, by the time we got in, Annalisa had woken up and started screaming because she was hungry. Then Ethan saw all the balls in the room and started freaking out because he wanted to play with all of them. The photographer did the best that she could to get some good pictures and she did get a few, but I had wanted pictures that were more formal...instead, all of Ethan's good pictures have balls in them. I was there for over an hour and a half and I still had to go back to pick up my pictures. Kiddie Kandids took less than a half hour and I left with my pictures in hand...I guess more money does mean better quality in this case. I just hope that this is the type of experience that I will laugh about later:-) Here's a few of the shots:

Cheesy smile because he doesn't have a ball

Real smile

Almost a full smile

Pity smile

Starting to lose it

I actually really like this one- he thinks he's old enough to really play

He looks so bored

Happy again...