Nothing like a couch and a bunch of pillows

How in the world...

do you get mac and cheese on your forehead? It is no where near his mouth !

A couple of weeks ago we had a family home evening lesson on not being selfish. At the end of the lesson we took out some butcher paper and we each drew things that were unselfish, then we shared what we drew. Kurt started:

'I drew us making syrup with raspberries from the garden and sharing it with other people'

Britt: 'I drew fast offerings and mommy and daddy staying up so late with Ethan when he was sick'

Ethan: '....... I just drew pancakes. Lots and lots of pancakes.'

Party #2

For Ethan's friend party we rented a bouncy house/slide. He has a friend that does this every year so we knew it would be a hit! It was nice to enjoy the party instead of trying to run one. The hardest part was the cake. For some reason Ethan picked out the cake that looked like Starry Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. He picked it out a year ago and has been stuck on it ever since.

Such a cute kid.

Ethan's birthday party #1

Ethan turned 4 on the 26th!!! Ethan requested to have Palachinki for his birthday dinner. Palachinki is a Czech recipe that Kurt's mom taught Kurt, who taught me, who is teaching Ethan. Czech blood is a lot thicker than normal blood, and Czech people are very proud of being Czech, therefore we have and will pass on a lot of Czech traditions, recipes, and such. For instance, what does a frog say? In our family a frog says BORP. Czech. :) Anyway, this palachinki was special because the boys made some raspberry syrup using the raspberries from our garden. Delicious.

The next day was Ethan's birthday and we got to take cookies to school. I was so excited!!! Way more than Ethan. I have a summer bday and was always jealous of the kids that got to bring a treat to school on their bday. Anyway, Ethan was extra special because Kurt had some visitors in from Taiwan, so after our regular Happy Birthday the teachers asked for happy birthday in Chinese! Ethan felt pretty cool. At school they do a 'walk around the sun' which is represented by a candle cuz the sun was too big to put in the classroom. Ethan walks around the candle 4 times, putting a bead in a jar after every circle to represent his age. All the while the teacher is telling something special about Ethan.

That night the Taiwanese wanted to celebrate Ethan's birthday. We went to Tepanyaki, then went to the office for presents and a firework show. It was the coolest birthday ever!!

Tomorrow is Ethan's bday party with friends and family. He wanted the Starry starry night (vincent van gogh) cupcake cake... lucky me. Here's how it turned out. I couldn't get the colors any darker, so it's Starry Starry Night that's been bleached by the sun.

Here's how I'm protecting it over night.

Kurt took Ethan hiking up Adams Canyon a couple weekends ago. From what I hear that is a hard hike, and they did it in 2 1/2 hours. So proud of little Ethan!!!! Much different from the hike I took him on.