Long Beach Aquarium

This morning when we woke up we walked to the Aquarium of the Pacific. We had a lovely time exploring. Ethan's mission of the day was to find Nemo & Dory.

Ethan & Mommy on the way to the Aquarium

Daddy & Ethan out front
Ethan with the shark...he insists on posing with everything these days!

Trying to touch a manta ray, or a sting ray...I can't tell the difference!

Ethan found Nemo! This picture doesn't show it but he was really excited. The tank was filled with hundreds of Nemos and Dorys.

Did any of you see Travis Pastrana jump a car onto a barge on New Year's Eve? We got to watch them set up the ramp. It was pretty neat.

Just one of the cutest little boys around.

Precious!

Next we headed to San Diego for the night. We just love hanging out there and walking around the Gaslamp District & Old Town. We had a very low key New Year's Eve watching the movie UP in our hotel room. Lights were out at 11:30! Happy New Year everyone! We hope you all had a good one!

Queen Mary in Long Beach

Dan had this entire week off from work. When he woke up he said, "Let's go somewhere." So the travel agent in me booked us a couple of days away from home to celebrate the new year. Today we started out in Long Beach and toured the Queen Mary...something neither of us have done before. Ethan had a great time running around the huge ship.

Ethan & me on the Queen Mary

Ethan pulling the anchor up with his huge muscles.
Ethan thought he was driving the ship from this little wheel.

Now off to our hotel...

A Visit to The Grove Again

Today we went down to The Grove again. We just love it there and it is so beautiful this time of year. Ethan's memory just blows our mind...We pulled into the parking structure and Ethan started yelling SNOW SNOW SNOW! He had remembered when we went there last week to watch the snow fall at night. He remembered this just from the parking structure! Anyway, we had so much fun together today. Dan had a blast snapping millions of photos with our new camera while Ethan enjoyed posing for Daddy every second he got.

I think this might be the cutest photo ever taken of Ethan!
Having fun being silly.

Yep, our guy has a great sense of humor. Daddy pulls the camera out and he pretends to pick his nose. Nice. How were we blessed with such a fun & happy kid? He is seriously like this ALL the time!

Another glimpse into his adorable sense of humor. He loves making us laugh.

A Dufour Christmas

Today we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family. We had 14 people over for the day. Ethan had so much fun playing with all of his cousins and their new toys.

The Best Christmas Ever

We had such a fun Christmas morning with Ethan. He is at such a great age and he understood the whole Santa thing. For the last couple of weeks Ethan has sat on Santa's lap several times...mainly so he could get a candy cane. Every time him and Santa were talking he would tell Santa that he wanted trains and some candy canes.

Ethan having a candy cane for breakfast...hey, Santa brought it!

MONSTERS, INC.!!!

This was definitely the most excited he got over a gift (until he saw the train table of course). He has ridden the Monsters, Inc. ride at CA Adventure several times but he had no idea that there was a movie that went with it.
Pure joy and excitement when we revealed the train table that Santa had left! We saved it until the very end.

And thank goodness we did. We couldn't pry his eyes off of it. Not even for a picture. I got a smile though!

After Ethan opened his presents we went over to Dan's mom's house for our yearly Christmas brunch. Then we went home and watched, what else, Monsters Inc. Ethan was in heaven! In the afternoon we drove to Riverside for Christmas dinner at Kent (Dan's brother) & Kimie's new house. Here is our cute little man napping in the car on the way there.

Our little Bob the Builder

The best ending to a wonderful day...Daddy let Ethan play video games with him and Kent. I think he enjoyed himself!

Did I mention that I got a pretty amazing gift as well? I think it tops a train table. My lovely husband got me a new camera!!! I have wanted a Canon Rebel for many years and I finally got one! We both are really excited about it and have taken hundreds of photos already! Thanks Love for an awesome Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Today we went to The Jamison's house for a quick visit. This is my friend Alison's mom's house. I have known them since I was in Kindergarten. Here sister Abby was in town with her little ones. It was nice seeing her new baby and also seeing how different Ethan & Sophia were since they met 2 years ago. Sophia is just 5 weeks younger than Ethan. They had fun playing with a train that Abby & Alison played with when they were little.

I love their facial expressions!

They were 4 and 3 months old.

Jr. High Reunion

My friend, Kami, from Jr. High School, organized a little reunion this evening. We all met at a local restaurant for lots of catching up. All of these girls went to the same high school and I went to a different one across town. I haven't seen some of these girls in like 13 years! It was so much fun hanging out with my old friends from back in the day.

Amris, Bauerle, Me, Kari, Shannon, Kami, & Sally

The Grove

I have made going to the Grove the week of Christmas a family tradition. We have done it two years in a row now. The Grove is beautifully decorated and every night "snow" falls from the sky. Ethan was excited while we were driving down there but once he saw the snow it seemed like he was totally confused...since he really hasn't seen any before. We got a couple great photos tonight.

Us in front of the gigantic, real Christmas tree Daddy & Ethan in front of all the beautiful Christmas decorations.

Now it is Mommy & Ethan's turn. Could our kid get any happier? Proud once again to be wearing his scarf.

Dancing with his lemonade

The wait to see Santa was ridiculously long so our little man was happy just standing in front of Santa's huge ice cream cone.

We had a lovely evening together and we can't wait to go back next year!

Baking Cookies with GG

Okay, so I know I went a little crazy with all the photos here but the lighting was wonderful and Ethan was having such a great time making Christmas cookies at GG's house.

Here is a cute video of Ethan telling you what shapes all the cookies are going to be. I understand every word...I hope you all do too! The way he says Christmas Tree is adorable!

Starting out with the red frosting. Pure concentration! Daddy helping Ethan with the green icing. Sprinkle time! Our very proud baker!

Last Day of School

Today was Ethan's last day of his My Buddy & Me preschool class. We did sign up for the class again though. It starts back up in January. He will have the same teacher but will be with different students. Here are a few photos of his last day.

Circle Time

(he is in yellow) He got his very first certificate for completing the class.

Ethan has come a long way since the first day of class. In the beginning, he refused to do any of the art projects if it meant his hands would get dirty. I was always the one doing all the art projects for him. Look at him now! He has green paint and glue all over his hands. The second he is done though he asks to wash his hands. I guess I would rather have a clean kid than a messy kid!

Lucky Boy at Babies R Us

Tonight Ethan and I went to Babies R Us. Someone thought it was a bright idea to place this Elmo car right at the entrance to the store. I tell Ethan NO every time we walk in the store. Today, I was able to bribe him since I had some quarters in my purse ..."if you are a good boy, when we are done you can ride it." He was really good and was so excited to FINALLY ride the Elmo car!

Visit with Santa

This evening Ethan got to visit with the coolest Santa in town! I love this guy. Ethan got to sit on his lap last year too. He is known for his huge belt buckle. Check it out!

New Scarf

One of my friends made Ethan his very own scarf and matching hat. He has been so proud of it. Here he is showing it off!

Holiday Book Exchange

Today I hosted a Holiday Book Exchange party at our house. Ethan had ten of his little friends over to exchange books. We had such a fun morning.

Here are the little ones passing around the books.

There was silence in the room when everyone opened their books...until Ethan saw that one of his friends got a Thomas the Train book and then the silence was over!

Ethan showing me his new book.

Thomas & Isabelle's House

Today is was pouring outside. My lovely friend Sara called and asked if we would like to come over and play. Of course we said yes otherwise we would have been stuck inside our house all day. Ethan's best friend Julia came too! What a fun day!

Big Boy Bed

No more crib for our little Ethan! I definitely wasn't planning on it happening so soon but our friends that were graciously storing our old bed for us is about to have a baby and needed the space for their new baby's room.

Here is the last time Ethan was in his crib.

Ethan vacuuming where his new bed is going to go.

He was all about helping us out.
Ethan & Daddy reading books in his new big boy bed!

Our little man fast asleep for the first time in his big boy bed with all of his friends. I love how otter is by his side. He did such a great job!