Dash for Dads & Halloween

Last weekend we went to an event at Camp Mabry called Dash for Dads.  My work got a team together to either do a one mile walk or a 5k run.  The event was to raise money for prostate cancer.  It was a super cold morning 42 degrees so we had to bundle up.  They had booths setup with tons of free stuff and food!  Ethan thought it was great because they had bleachers and he could go up and down up and down, that was until he saw the giant hot air balloon.  Matt walked him over there and the people manning the balloon told him he may be scared because most kids don't like the loud noise of the fire as it shoots up into the balloon.  But he wasn't scared at all!  The guy gave him what looked like a baseball card that had a picture of the hot air balloon and Ethan was happy as a clam waving it around.  We only did the fun 1k walk, but it looped around all the replicas of the military helicopters and planes so the scenery was nice.  After we finished our walk we parked the stroller near the finish line and cheered everyone on as they crossed the finish line.  We didn't stay much past that because Ethan's fingers were turning purple (it was really cold).  But it was a really family fun event I hope we can participate in more! 

Ethan was so excited they gave him a medal when we finished!

Me and Ethan sporting our Dash for Dads shirts

I made him this shirt to wear its says I dash for Great-Grandpa Choo - Choo

Halloween came so quick I can't believe it came and went already.  Ethan was Mickey Mouse this year.  I made his costume which was super easy and cheap!  I was so worried because he wouldn't wear the ears and its silly to be mickey if you don't have the iconic ears.  The morning of Halloween we dressed him in his costume because at his mothers day out program they had a Halloween party.  He was so grumpy and I tried everything to get a picture of him with his ears.  I bribed him with orange tic-tacs his favorite but the little booger as soon as he had them in his mouth he pulled the ears off.  Later after I got home from work the quest continued to get one photo of him with his ears.  I was hopeful because Matt told me his teacher said he wore them during the party.  But still nothing.  When it came time to trick or treat we told him he had to put his ears on and it was like he knew because the ears went on and stayed on the whole time he was trick or treating.  I swear it was the cutest sight I have ever seen, him walking holding Matt's hand dressed as Mickey with his pumpkin buckets that had a flashlight and sippy cup of milk.  The first house he rang the door bell (which was right up his alley) got his candy said thank you and started to walk in the house like he owned the place.  Lucky the people were really nice and started laughing, I guess he thought hey they give me candy I ring their door bell I guess all that is left is to check out the big screen.  After that he got it though and he would wave and scream bye! bye! bye! After about four houses his bucket was getting heavy but he refused to let us carry it (smart kid wont give up the candy) so we went back to our house.  Ethan had even more fun giving out candy as the trick or treaters came to the door.  He was very generous giving about five pieces to each kid, which we were ok with since we had like five groups come to the door and a bowl full of candy!   It was ten by the time we got Ethan into bed because he was so amped up from candy and a new adventure.  It was a roaring success, and yes while he was trick or treating I finally got my picture!

Matt carved this pumpkin special for Ethan

Cute even without his ears

Yes we even tried to make him jealous by putting the ears on Tucker it didn't work

Later he wore the ears but was too busy playing with the pumpkins to  smile

First time trick or treating-huge smile 

My dad got Ethan a red wagon for Halloween.  It is probably the nicest wagon I have seen.  "Only the best for my little buddy" is what he said when I told him how nice it was. The other day someone was walking down the street with a wagon and Matt goes "we would put their wagon to shame if we rolled up next to it in ours."  We have had it less than two weeks and already it has paid for itself in the entertainment value.  He likes to pull it along or go for rides.  The other day Matt took Ethan and Willa around and around the backyard pretending they were in  a forest or a bumpy road.  He said they must have made twenty loops and never got tired of it.  The other day even Tucker and Luna went for a ride.  I have a feeling this wagon is going to get tons of use and become well loved!

Life with the wigmores

As you probably already know we moved!  I know you can almost set your watch by now on our moving.  But let me tell you this house is a keeper!   Everyone in the family is so much happier including the animals.  Not only is our house bigger but our backyard looks like a park compared to our old one. Tuck Tuck is looking good from all this exercise!  The neighborhood is an established one and so people take pride in their houses, and seem to be much friendlier.  My compute to work is cut down, and our childcare (Bill and Gerry :)  ) are literally around the corner.  The icing on the cake is we can open up our back gate to the hike and bike trail and take the boys on a long walk, either to the creek or to the grandparents.  

  With so more space outdoors also comes more up keep.   Our old house they had someone mow the lawn and the rest of the landscaping was rocks.  This has enabled us to enjoy doing work outdoors and teaching Ethan as well.  You really don't have to convince him to go outside he has always loved it but we were never in a place that he could really enjoy it.  He loves to help Matt mow the grass.  When Matt grabs the lawn mower Ethan quickly runs and grabs his.  He follows behind Matt pushing his as if he really was cutting the grass.  When Matt turns Ethan turns and so on and so on.  Most the time Ethan will sport some sort of head apparel whether it be his bike helmet, Matt's bike helmet, or Matt's outdoor hat he has to do exactly as Matt does (Matt always wears a baseball cap when he mows).  The grin on Ethan's face as he pushes his lawn mower is priceless and sometimes he even stops to wave and say hello and then off he goes again.  Yesterday as they finished mowing we were walking inside when Matt said "look at that" and perfectly lined up behind the big lawn mower Ethan had parked his.  Now one day Ethan if you ever read this remember how much you love to mow when you are a teenager and we are threatening taking away your video games if you don't mow.  Do you see Matt's already got him in training!

 Now that we have a bigger house it was only a matter of time before we had our first cousin blanket fort sleepover!  We have a big open living room so its perfect for building forts.  Larking and Willa ( one day Sadie will be big enough to come a long too!) came to spend the night with us last saturday night.  Ethan LOVES his cousins, its amazing to see him transitioning into a little boy that can interact and play with others.  His grin whenever they are around is ear to ear.  We had music time in which we grabbed every musical instrument Ethan owned and filled the room with a chaotic mix of sound.  Matt taught Larkin to play twinkle twinkle little star on the zylophone and for the rest of her visit practiced until she had it perfect to play for her mom and dad the next day.  We took the kids on the hike and bike and let them climb the trees a long the way.  Ethan could barely keep up when the girls were walking but they were so excited they would run to the next tree and poor Ethan had no hopes of catching up.  We walked to the creek and threw sticks and rocks into it, and found a place to build a fairy house.  When it grew dark we came home and built (well Matt and I helped a little) the fort.  Now I do have to give credit to this blanket fort it was pretty good considering we had three kids running around and a two year old that doesn't understand the word wait.  When we would get one corner up it seems someone would want to test it out and before we could get another one up the first one came tumbling down.  But when it was finally finished Me, Ethan, Larkin, Willa, Matt and Tucker all crawled in for story time.  The girls wanted to sleep in the fort so Matt took it down and made a new one in the spare bedroom for them but shortly after we turned out the lights they told us that it was too hot to sleep in a fort and so we took it down.  I have a new respect for parents with more than one kid.  It seemed as we got one kid to lay down another would get up and make a noise and wake the other up and round and round we went.  I think it took us an hour to get everyone truly settled.  It ended up with Willa in our bed with Matt, me on the couch (later I went to Willas air mattress) Ethan in his bed (I had to lay on the floor in his room until he fell asleep because he kept crying thinking he was missing out) and Larkin in the spare bed.  At the end of the night Matt looked at me and said "and you want another?"  I smiled and said yes.  I loved every minute of it.

Last night we went to get Ethan's haircut.  We have seen the error in our ways and don't understand how we could be so blind when it came to his hair and how shaggy it was.  After Ethan's first hair cut we shopped around to a few other places and each time it was almost the same experience as the first.  I don't know if we were hoping to find a better place or were just so embarrassed we moved on to a new.  Matt had told me that he next time was my turn to get it done since he had to suffer through the previous two so when he was gone over labor day I took Ethan to a new place.  It was like night and day not a single tear was dropped and he sat still the whole time.  He even fist bumped and gave the lady a high five (that's Ethan code for you are cool with me).  I teased Matt about it saying "I don't know what you are talking about he was great."  Needless to say when I mentioned going to dinner and getting Ethan's haircut Matt wanted to see this place that we had such a successful hair cut.  Ethan remembered the place and when we waited in the lobby he kept pointing at the room that they cut the little kids hair.  When the lady called his name he ran straight there and waited to be picked up and put in the chair that is in the shape of an airplane.  Right away he was pretending to fly the airplane spinning the wheel round and round.  They are smart and put the cars movie on so between the airplane and the movie he was so preoccupied he didn't notice his hair falling around him.  I don't know what it is about the place but since we have started going there we haven't had a single tear shed, in fact he looks forward to it something I thought not possible.  Maybe its because he is getting older who knows.

The band - now this is a flash back to my days being in a "band" with my cousins

Just woke up watching some morning cartoons

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Gonna go for a ride in my backyard

Do you see why everyone loves the backyard and Tucker is getting skinny (thats not all of it too)

Testing out the wheel before flight

See no tears!

George sweatshirt

Pumpkins!

PUMPKINS EVERYWHERE!

A job well done!

Today we went to a pumpkin patch and Ethan loved it!  He climbed in the wagon and smiled the whole way as Matt pulled him.  When it came time to picking pumpkins he knew exactly which one he wanted and would put it in the wagon and climb back in as we took him to a new spot.  Sometime he liked to push it himself but it was so heavy and crowded it made it hard for him to do.  They had a whole section of little pumpkins and we said he could grab some.  We soon saw that was a mistake he just started grabbing one at a time walking it back to the wagon and then would go back for another.  After four we said "ok one more".  This pumpkin patch was at a church and all the proceeds went to charity.  They put out guidelines for what they thought size wise what pumpkins should go for but they let you decided how much.  It was very reasonable I think we got six small pumpkins and three big ones for 22 dollars.  Not to mention these were the best pumpkins I had ever seen.  The size variety and overall look of them was quality.  

As Ethan gets older he amazes me more and more.  Like I said before its surreal to see him transition from a baby to a boy.  Here are some things about him;

• Dom means thank you!

• Every night before bed we have to read at least five books and when you say all done he looks at you puts one finger up and says one more

• He sleeps with a stuffed dog he named Tuck Tuck (which gets real confusing when your asking wheres Tuck tuck and ones referring to the dog and the other the stuffed one) each night Tuck Tuck has to jump off the side of his bed onto his face and maul him with kisses (the stuffed one)

• He also sleeps with a blue blanket that my aunt Maria made him he carries it around every morning until he has woken up fully.

• Anything with wheels is a winner in his book
• He has a favorite sweatshirt that has curious george on it and the first day he wore it to his mothers day out program he refused to take it off even though it warmed up to 80.  Matt had to take it off when he went down for a nap and he cried himself to sleep over it.
• He loves Mickey Mouse in which he calls him mouse .. "ma ma Mouse" means look mickey mouse 
• He made a friend in mothers day out a little girl ( Matt says she is the cutest in the class) and when Matt picks Ethan up she cries when he leaves
• Painting with your hand such as finger painting consists of painting his hand with a paint brush and then smearing his hand across the paper
• He loves being outside .. in fact his teacher said that he gets double outside time because she noticed he would get so sad when he had to come inside
• Door bells are a new found past time of his he can reach Bill and Gerry's but ours is to high so when he points we make him say bell before we let him ring it.
• Whenever we go to the car he points at the 2 on the brick for our address and says "two"

• His favorite book right now is five little monkeys.. he pats his head and shakes his finger as you say the words.  He also loves this cookie monster book we have read it so many times I have memorized it and don't even have to look at the pages as we read it. 

The summer in a nut shell

This summer has flown by and I can't believe September is here!  Here are some things we did this summer.

Happy  Birthday America!! For the fourth of July we went to a parade that was held in Bill and Gerry's neighborhood.  We walked from their house to the elementary school were it was suppose to start.  Ethan had so much fun waving his flag and hand at everyone in the parade.  I think he loved the fireman best in their big shiny  fire truck.  After we went back to Bill and Gerry's and had a BBQ.  Bill had gotten some small fireworks, sparklers and tanks.  If you look at the picture of Matt and Ethan you will see they set up a ambush against one another.  Ethan thought this was great, Matt even let him light one.   We had a small cake and put sparklers in it and sang "Happy Birthday America" Ethan clapped so hard at the end of the song cheering and saying "yay!!!"" maybe it was his pride for America or maybe he knows that at the end of a Happy Birthday song there is always cake!

One afternoon Matt and I decided to take Ethan to the Mall where we had heard that they had a Merry Go Round.  The Merry Go Round was just like you would see at any fair or carnival except in the mall.  At first when I put Ethan on the horse he kept repeating " all done all done" and trying to slide off the horse.  I was hoping the guy would hurry up and turn it on and right as Ethan was trying to make his getaway it turned on and the horse started to go up.  Immediately Ethan's face broke into a smile.  Round and round we went and each time we would pass Matt standing on the outside he would yell "HI DADA HI DADA"" pretty soon he was comfortable enough he started using the pole to push his matchbox cars up and down.  After the Merry Go Round we saw a train you could ride throughout the Mall.  It was pretty expensive but we decided to do it anyway, and boy am I glad we did.  Matt describes it best when he says "you could literally see the magic in his eyes." He kept yelling CHoo CHoo and waving to all the passer byers.  The conductor even said everyone say ALL ABOARD and out of no where Ethan just blurts it out perfectly like he had been saying it all a long.

Part one of Ethan's 2nd Birthday celebrations:
We flew to Tahoe for a few days to celebrate Ethan's 2nd birthday.  It was much needed and welcomed as I think we all needed a break from the daily grind and the heat!  Dad rented this fantastic house with every amenity you could possibly imagine.  It had a fire pit and a play structure grass and a rock pit for the little guys to play.  Our friends the Fagundes came and they have  Clarke who is Ethan's age (they are exactly two weeks a part).  We did all sorts of things we took a tour of the Thunder Bird lodge, BBQ every night, and went fishing three times!  Ethan was so good paddling in the water (which was ice cold but he didn't care) as the guys fished.  He even helped a few times reeling in the line.  We didn't catch a single fish as hard as we tried.  The last morning determined to get a fish Matt and my dad went out and got one fish. But we had fun none the less.  We roasted marsh mellows in the fire pit and played ping pong out in the beauty of the wilderness.  The night we had cake Ethan loved the singing so much he yelled more after he clapped like crazy for us.  So what do we do we re-light the candle and sing again,  six times that little boy got sang to each time saying more as we finished.  He was so cute and excited it was hard to say no.  Matt made a comment that night as we were going to bed that only the Wakerling family would sing to someone six times more enthusiastic as the next! All I can say was that it was perfect company to make a perfect trip!!!

Ethan's 2nd birthday part two:
When we got back to Texas we had a party on Ethan's actual birthday at the house.  It was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse themed since he loves Mickey so much, we even got a bounce house that was that theme.  When we ordered it the weather said 0% chance of rain and why would it, it hadn't rained all summer and we are near drought status and its August.  Well no sooner then the kids climb in it it started to rain.  At first it was a light drizzle so we told them to be careful but once we heard that first roar of thunder we made them get out.  Shortly there after the power was knocked out right as we luckily pulled the food out of the oven.  I had to scramble to find flash lights as Matt pulled the BBQ inside the screened porch to finish off the hot dogs.  The kids thought it was great fun as they ran around the house with flashlights offering there service of light to anyone that may need it.  Everyone ate by candle light huddle in our small house.  After almost two hours the power went back on and the bounce house inflated.  We used almost all the towels we owned and dried it out real good.  The kids got in and bounced a way.  Ethan at first was really scared but then his Mimi Uncle Shane and Daddy came in and he soon started to bounce.  When the party was over Ethan crashed so hard we ended up having to wake him up for fear that he wouldn't sleep that night.  I would say that's a good sign of a successful party!

I had to add a Tucker and Ethan section because this blog wouldn't be complete if I didn't.  Ethan and Tucker are best of friends.  Tuck lets him do anything to him as you can see, he watches Ethan's favorite cartoons with him, lets him ride him like a horse or use him as a seat, he even got inside a ride at the outlet mall and was Ethan's co-pilot as he drove the bus.  My favorite thing is when Ethan will be walking by and Tuck steals a quick kiss.  Its always on his leg or arm, never his face but always quick if you weren't looking for it you wouldn't have seen it happen.  Matt says when Ethan is gone he lays around depressed until he see's Matt grab his keys knowing its time to go pick him up.  He said that its his favorite part of the day.  And when Ethan comes to the truck the first thing he does is look for Tuck.  We joke that on Ethan's first day if the teacher asked him what his name is he would repeat the first name he has ever know Tuck Tuck.

Ethan had his first zoo experience yesterday.  Gerry went with us to the Austin zoo.  It is more like and animal sanctuary for those animals that for example were peoples pets and then had no place to go when they were taken away.  It is small but the perfect size for a little guy.  We saw tigers, probably the most active I have seen they kept pacing back and forth staking the kids!  The wolf Eli they called him came right up to the fence and looked at Ethan.  We also saw monkeys and pigs and a bear that was fast asleep with his leg propped up and the fan blowing on his face.  It was so hotso I couldn't blame most of the animals for just laying around.  They had a area of goats and deer that you could feed and I was so surprised when Ethan gave them the food without fear.  He just put his hand out and fed it to them.  I guess I shouldn't be he does it to Tucker all the time.  But he just kept grabbing more and more food.  It was funny he really liked this one and fed him the most when I tried to get him to feed other ones he kept reverting back to that same one.  After we fed the goats we went to go ride the train.  Of course he loved it.  The look on his face was priceless, he kept looking at Gerry like "can you believe this?" All the while screaming all aboard and choo choo.  I don't think we made it out of the parking lot before I looked back and saw him passed out.