Thanksgiving

Jennifer had her first Thanksgiving dinner and hosted her first official holiday. Now, don't get too excited. My mom made the turkey (thank goodness) and was here to help me with everything. We had a nice time although it was sad without Grandma and didn't have Christopher here with us this year. But Aunt Susan came over and Ethan seemed to enjoy the day and was quite a few laughs putting his favorite bunny toy on his head and running around. Aunt Marie and Uncle Teo came over for dessert and coffee and we had such a nice full day.

Swim lessons (and a few other lessons too...)

We are doing Mommy and me swim classes at the Y with Tracey and Nina. It is so much fun and we are really enjoying jumping off the side of the pool the most and singing the "Wheels on the Bus". We do not, however, like the life jackets or floating on our backs in the least.

Ethan just adores Nina and here are a few pics of them at class and hanging out one afternoon.

Halloween

Halloween was a blast this year. We carved two exceptional pumpkins thanks to Jeff's artistic ability. We went to this really cute little pumpkin patch farm and Ethan helped us to pick out the best pumpkins we could find. They had all sorts of gourds and corn to play with and plenty of scary things too. Ethan wasn't phased. He had a great party at daycare and was Darth Vader but refused to wear the cool hat. He pretty much ate everything they could put in front of him (especially since he doesn't get much junk food at home).

Can I turn on the TV instead of going to school? 

Ethan's camera from Anne and fancy giraffe chair from Janis. Did I mention that he has 3 new molars coming in? Thus the reason his poor ear hurts. 

Ethan petting Herman 

Ethan and Daddy after the race 

NBC 17 taking footage during the race 

Ethan getting a card from Wool E Bull (the mascot from the Durham Bulls baseball team) 

Go ducks go 

Ethan riding the turtle 

One of the artist's displays in an old warehouse 

Ethan calling in for race results (or calling his bookie to put $10 on number 628 in the first race) 

Ethan petting the turtle 

Decorating our ducks for the race 

Duck Race

So Saturday we spent the entire day away from chores and the farm and took E to the duck race in Durham. What is a duck race you ask? It is where you can buy a rubber duck and put it into the water feature at the Tobacco district in Durham and race it to the finish line for prizes all in support of hunger. We bought two and used our birthdays for our duck numbers. We even got to pin real racing numbers on Jeff and Ethan's backs. Ethan had a fabulous time playing with dogs, watching the Durham Bulls Mascot, and running around the park. We went to Mellow Mushroom for lunch and had yummy pizza and really enjoyed our day with Gray and Georgia who were nice enough to invite us. You can check out the N&O for some more information on the event.

The American Tobacco campus is beautiful and we walked around downtown Durham looking at some cool art painted in buildings currently being restored. You can only see the art with a camera lens at a particular angle. You can read a lot more about it at the Rousse project website if you are interested.

Approaching 15 months

Ethan is after the remotes. Note that we actually give him one he can play with but he KNOWS which one actually can turn up the volume and how. Lucky us. 

Things are getting busier as we chase him around the farm. He sits on the horses now and loves the cats and spends a lot of his time playing outside. Ethan loves daycare although he has been sick more than he attends and the trips to the emergency room and doctor's with 104 fevers are getting old. He does love the kids and the teachers and is very stimulated. Pick up time is the best part of our day as he lights up and runs over to greet us.

I got it and now I am going to take off running before you catch on. 

A wagon ride after breakfast among the weeds. Hoping we have a lawn in October but so far so bad. 

Reading the paper with Daddy. Ethan loves to sit in the rocking chairs on the front porch and emulate Jeff. The cat and I are on either side of him so he doesn't dive off onto the concrete.