movie day

Ethan had a rough night, and his mild cold suddenly turned pretty nasty. So we are spending the day relaxing, nebbing and watching movies. We watched The Little Mermaid for, oh I don't know.. the 20th time in past few weeks, and here is Ethan's assessment of it today.
E: Mom, Ursula calls Ariel a princess.
Me: Yeah, King Triton is her dad, so she's a princess.
E: Yeah, but she's really a mermaid.
Me: Yep. She's a mermaid princess.
E: Yeah, she's a mermaid princess, but she's really a mermaid instead.

And I love the ending where he exclaims, "She's beautiful! They got a kiss!".

On a more serious note, I am so thankful that Ethan's at the age now when he can tell me he needs the nebulizer. I was just putting him down for a nap and he asked to do "breathing". I asked him if he really needed it, because we had just done it before lunch not too long ago, and he got really adamant and tense telling me that he needed it. I told him I'd go get the machine and be back in a minute. While I was upstairs he started coughing so hard he was gagging, and when I brought the nebulizer in his room it was like I couldn't get it set up fast enough for him. He sat very still for several minutes, breathing deeply while wearing his mask, and then told me that he was feeling better. I got a little teary at how grown up he is.

And here he is the other afternoon. He turned on all of the lights in his room, put his head under his bed (how else do you get a dark place to rest??) and fell asleep.

random stories

Last week I was feeling pretty bad by the end of the week. I called the doctor's office on Friday morning to get an appointment. They saw me first thing in the morning which I was really thankful for. Found out I had a sinus infection and ear infection, got my antibiotics and got out of there. Ethan thought it was the coolest thing going with me to my appointment. He is usually the one seeing the doctor, so the fact that they did all of the normal things (listening to my lungs, looking in my ears and nose, blood pressure, weight, etc) on me, that was pretty exciting for him to watch. As we were leaving the hospital he says "thanks for taking me on a special date, mom!" I'm glad that it was so entertaining for him :)

I also have been hearing him say this a lot lately... "mom, I need some chocolate." 

Spring is just around the corner, hopefully. Yesterday we got a small taste of great weather and we headed to the park. Ethan couldn't get enough! He was so excited to climb all over the playground and go down the slides. I have a feeling that the park will be often requested in the evenings as soon as the weather finally permits!

We also had a super funny conversation in the car the other day. We were going through a curvy road and Ethan says "wow, you're driving crazy mom". We talk about driving for a while and I finally ask "who's really a crazy driver, me or daddy?". You. "What? I know I am driving crazy now, but daddy's really the crazy driver, right?" No. Daddy drives faster. You drive crazy.

Thanks, Ethan. Good to clear that up. 

birthday questions

I love seeing friends kids answering annual birthday questions. I'm sure I won't do this every year, and it is probably pointless to do because Ethan's answers are so random, totally not true. He's such a stinker when I do stuff like this, he just tries to be funny and say something to move on. But it was really cute to see his little personality come through regardless of his silly answers sometimes.

https://plus.google.com/photos/112298813624590119277/albums/5857246192531521777?authkey=CJ39vcj42pWtbQ

Ok, so after trying for several days to upload part 2, I can't get it yet. If I do, I'll update the post and put it in. For now, here's just part 1 until daddy interrupted. If anyone knows of a good site to store and share videos, let me know :)

And here's the written version (and then the real answers that I filled in)

Name: Ethan James Mellema
Nicknames: Ethanicus, Mister Mooster (Buddy, Buddy boo)
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite animal: cow (???huh? where did that one come from Ethan? He loves sharks, dinosaurs, and anything that goes ROAR)
Favorite book: Messy Mason (Likes anything that we read on the Kindle which is where we found Messy Mason, Where's Waldo, Thomas books)
Favorite TV show: Jake and the Neverland Pirates
Favorite movie: The Incredibles
Favorite song: Doxology (he has many many favorites here. Deep and wide, This is my Father's world, Amazing Grace, and this past week he's been loving Favorite Things from the Sound of Music. Just depends on the day)
Favorite food: spaghetti
Favorite drink: water (seriously Ethan? water? He always drinks some of my coffee in the morning, this kid loves to drink anything. Favorite is definitely sprite.)
Favorite breakfast food: lucky charms
Favorite snack: fruit snacks
Favorite outfit: pajamas
Favorite game: monopoly (also likes to play his new busy town board game, and memory game)
Favorite toy: the computer
Best friend: Isaac (daddy)
Favorite thing to do: play with daddy
Favorite thing to do outside: play in the snow
What do you like to take to bed with you at night: piles of soft blankets
Favorite place to go: grandmas & grandpas house
Favorite restaurant: convention grill (probably mc donalds or wendy's)
What do you want to be when you grow up: play the electric guitar
What did we do on your birthday: two parties in the same week!

party with friends

Birthday party time

imagination

Goofy faces and popsicles

We made a paper chain to count down the days till someone turns 3!

And now some dancing.

Ethan has a great imagination. Lately he loves pretending that he's someone else... an animal, a person from a movie, or me. Today we played that he was me and I was him. I asked him what mommy says and he dove right into a fabulous impression of me. "Ethaaaannnn, I don't have any kisses today! Where's my kisses??" I pretended to run away and not want to give him a kiss and he tracked me down, pulled me close and said "I need some kisses. I'm gonna get my kisses". So funny, he does a great job mimicking.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day :) We had a fabulous dinner of pink pancakes, and pink milk. I tried my luck with two new recipes, one for dinner and one for dessert. Dinner was a smashing hit! Dessert was not. Not quite a pintrocity, but I won't be trying to make cake in a crock pot again. No one ate very much and the rest went into the trash.

Pink pancake batter

Place settings.

Ethan getting ready to dig into his pink meal

Good thing we all LOVED the new pancake recipe. A little back story... when Steve and I were dating I made him pancakes that turned out horribly. Burned on the outside, still doughy in the middle - a complete disaster! We still laugh about it today! We both love restaurant style pancakes. Breakfast is definitely my favorite meal to eat out. I have tried so many copy cat recipes and buttermilk pancake recipes to try to make them at home (even Martha's buttermilk pancake recipe, and I love Martha), and they're never nearly as good. 

I had almost given up after almost 10 years of looking at new recipes and trying them here and there, then always reverting back to bisquick. Not bad, just not really what I was looking for. Then as I was looking through recipes on The Pioneer Woman's blog (I love her!) I came across her pancake recipe. I was tempted as she also said that she was obsessed with finding a good pancake recipe. One that makes it worth the calories :) I love them! So worth the extra effort to make from scratch. If you also like pancakes, this recipe is worth trying out.