Birthday Boy

A couple of weeks ago I asked Ethan what he wanted for his birthday. I think he inherited my taste buds, because his quick answer was, "cake." He didn't want just any cake, though, he wanted a "Lightning" cake, that is, Lightning McQueen. Any mention of any birthday over the next couple of weeks brought a question from Ethan: "Lightning cake?" Yes, Ethan, we'll get you a Lightning cake. He was very excited for that cake.


Ethan's birthday is today, but most of the celebrations took place yesterday. Brian came in Friday evening, and yesterday we had a relaxing morning and a very yummy breakfast. It had snowed a tiny bit over the night, and it was snowing while we were eating, so we decided to get geared up and go sledding. I think we took longer getting ready than we actually spent sledding, but we had a lot of fun. There was just enough snow, but other than a dad and son we were the only people on the hill. Ethan loves sledding! The minute he's at the bottom of the hill he says, "Again?" and starts walking up. He doesn't like to be pulled up to the top; he likes to walk all by himself, even though it takes a long time. He also wanted to pull the sled up one time, and he wanted me to get in so he could pull me up.



When we were done sledding we popped over to Dairy Queen to pick up the Lightning McQueen cake, then we went home to get ready for his party. We had both of our families over, including all of the Great Grandparents, except Grandma Harris. (She's from California, and doesn't like to go out in the cold.) We had a Hershey Kiss walk, and we played Pin the License Plate on Mater.


And then we ate the ice cream cake and a bunch of cup cakes. Ethan liked that part. A lot.

Then he opened presents, and the kids all played "Wack a Mole."


Ethan is the sweetest little guy. He is the perfect gentleman. He holds doors open for me, he says, "Yes, please," "No thanks," Thank you," "You're welcome," "Bless you," you name it. And he always (well, almost always) says, "Yes, Mom," or "Yes, Mommy" when I tell him to either do or not do something.

He loves cars (both the movie and in general) and train track sets. He's not into actual trains as he is into building the tracks.

Ethan is now just barely able to say his whole name. Up until yesterday is was "Ee - Nan," but now he's saying, "Eth - an." He's talking a lot now, although we can't always understand him. Sometimes it takes a few tries for us to be able to know what he's saying, but he's doing so good.

Ethan is definitely turning into a little boy. Everything he picks up is either a gun or a sword, and he loves to run around and play with his cousins, Derek and Asher.