Ethan's First Birthday Party!

We had Ethan's birthday party today. It was such an amazing day. It was a joyous occasion but I was still a little sad. It is so hard to know that my little boy is turning 1. The theme was "Little Safari". We had most of our family and friends here. It was so wonderful to spend this day with everyone. Ethan absolutely loved everything. He was a little overwhelmed right at first but he warmed up quickly to everyone. I picked through the picture to give a quick view of the party.


The cake. It was so adorable. It had animals on every side.


We had a cook out to start the party. It was so hot outside so most people ended up indoors. Here is Ethan eating his fruit and pasta salad. He enjoyed getting to sit on the floor with the big kids.

Present table! I think Little Man is just a "little" spoiled.

Ethan's first present. We bought Ethan his own chair now that he is a big boy. He actually enjoys sitting in it.

Time to open presents. Ethan was not really sure about opening presents so I opened them all. He played with each present as I opened them. He also liked the tissue paper but he would try to eat it so we had to take it away. Ethan is so blessed to have so many people love him.

Ethan enjoying the tissue paper.

Ethan also really enjoyed the birthday cards. He wanted to look at each of them. I think he thought they were books.

Party Picture!

Uncle bought Brett the little 4 wheeler. It was a huge hit. Ethan wanted to be on this instantly. Thanks Uncle. We love you!

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Ethan. Happy Birthday to you!

Ethan only wanted the candle. He wanted nothing to do with the cake.

Ethan took just a little touch of the cake and he was done. No mess for us to clean up because he wanted nothing to do with the cake.

He wanted down.

Mamaw sang Happy Birthday to Ethan!

Ethan in his new car.

Family Picture.

Ethan trying to break the pinata!

Ethan liked the pinata. So did all the other children. Ethan had several kids to play with. He had so much fun with all his family.

After the party we got all our new toys out. Nana and Papa bought us a bouncer. Oh yes we now our the proud owners of a bouncer. Ethan of course loves it so that is all that matters.

Ethan playing.

Ethan needed so free time after the big day. He had to get comfortable and run free.

Ethan on the move.

After some rest Ethan went out to play in his new sand box. He loves this and played forever. Charlie also enjoyed the sand.

Ethan had such a great first birthday. He is so blessed to have so many people who love him. Thank you to everyone for all their love and coming to celebrate with us on this special occasion. We love you all!

Vacation 2010!

So we went on a family vacation with Nana and Papa this past week. We left on Friday 7/9 for Corpus Cristi/North Padre. We all rode together. Talk about being packed in tight. Well Ethan still had his comfy spot. He was out as soon as we hit the rode. Good thing because we had a drive on our hands. We had planned on stopping somewhere to stay the night but he did so great we made it all the way. It took 12 hours due to making spots to get out and move around but we did it. Ethan was amazing in the car. He never had a real melt down just spurts of getting upset.


We stopped at one point for lunch. Ethan needed to blow off some energy so we found a play land. This was the first time he ever played in one of these areas. He loved the slide. Like most boys he preferred to climb up rather than slide down.


Now we have to climb up the steps.

Uncle Brett joined in the fun too.

Here is the luggage cart. Yes full to the top plus we had to carry stuff. 5 adults and Ethan equals a ton of stuff. I think we brought the whole house. You never know how much a little guy needs until you are packing for a week vacation.

First night in Corpus Cristi. Ethan and Mommy testing out the new bed.

Ethan really likes the big bed. Little did we know this was going to be his spot this week. Ethan has only slept in our bed when he is extremely sick. The first night we arrive very late. He was so tired he couldn't get fall asleep so we put him in our bed and he was out. This began the horrible habit of the week. He ended up in our bed every night. I was not to upset but this because I loved cuddling with him. We would star him off in his bed and by midnight he was in ours.

Our first real day there we went to see the USS Lexington. The big boys really enjoyed this. Mike and Papa are huge history people so this was right up there alley. Mom and me walked Ethan around but it was a huge challenge to get him up some of the stairs so we just hung out and let the big boys do all the exploring.

Family Picture!

Nana with Ethan. Ethan really enjoyed the bell. He liked sitting next to it and banging on it to make a sound.

All the Boys. They were looking at the different plains.

Nana and Ethan taking a stroll around.

That night we went out to dinner and then went to a few local shops.

The next day Nana and Papa took all of us to the Aquarium. Ethan loved looking at all the sea animals. The dolphins were the highlight of the day.

Ethan would look and point at the dolphin.

Me, Nana, and Ethan watching the Dolphin show.

Parrish Family at the Aquarium.

Looking at different sea life.

Papa showing Ethan different sea creatures.

Just relaxing at the hotel.

Day at the beach. Ethan loved the sand. The first thing he did was put it right in his face but he still enjoyed it. We played forever making castles, covering mama, and digging. It was so much fun just playing with Ethan.

Next we went to the water. Ethan also enjoyed this. We stayed very shallow but Ethan had so much fun. He loved having the water come on and off of him.

Since Ethan enjoyed the beach so much we had to go back. On this day it was super windy so Ethan was not as happy. Mike tried to surf on this day. Ethan really liked the surf board. He wanted to play on it.

More playing in the sand.

I guess Ethan had enough because he just turned around and started to crawl off.

And he kept going...and going...and going! Well we didn't let him get far. I am not sure what he was after but he sure was headed somewhere.

Now onto San Antonio. First day we arrived we all hung out around the hotel. Of course we had to drag out a bunch of toys.

While we all were getting ready Ethan was getting upset because he was not paying enough attention to him. To make him happy, Nana put him in the sink so he was right there with us. He decided he would chew on a few items while we got ready.

We spent the evenings walking the River Walk.

Family picture in front of the Alamo.

We spent an entire day at Sea World. First stop, petting of the dolphins. Well we never were able to pet them but we watched them up close.

Off to the shark tank! Ethan absolutely loved this. He was so studious and just watched them. It was amazing to watch how interested he was in them.

One of the many sharks Ethan loved.

Ethan and Dada looking at all kinds of different fish.

Mommy and Ethan at Sea World.

We ended the day watching the whales. It had been an extremely long day but Ethan was still so happy. He did fantastic spending the day out in the heat.

One of the whales

Our last night. This is how the boys ended up by the morning.

It's time to leave. Ethan will take the luggage down for us.

Maybe not...I don't want to get back in that car. Please can we stay just a little longer???

Bye bye, it's time to head home.

To break up our drive we stopped to see our family in Grapevine. We hung out by the pool just a little it and had a wonderful dinner.

Ethan could not resist getting into the water so we had to strip him down and let him play.

While visiting, Ethan played with his second cousins toys. This was one of his favorites.

Ethan hamming it up!