g is for greta

So…long ago I posted about a contest to win a free ice cream party from Edy’s. I’ll cut straight to the chase…I won. My normal followers are already aware of this. Well, I wondered how it would all pan out. One word: FANTASTIC!!! Edy’s really thought of every little thing you would need for the party to be a success.

FedEx delivered this:

It felt like Christmas! There were even gloves on top to handle the dry ice inside.

Ah. Behold the deliciousness.

We transferred the ice cream to the stand up freezer in the garage then played with the dry ice. The backyard blow-up pool was instantly transformed into an eerie oasis.

The kids decorated the driveway.

I think we had ice cream for lunch that day. Can’t think of anything yummier to have!

The weather was colder than normal and there was a sprinkling of rain at the end. All in all, it turned out to be a fun afternoon.

Thanks, Edy’s!

-g.

Corinne and Mason have shared a room since Ethan was born. They had their own little schedule and nighttime rituals. It was sad to have it come to an end. We decided that Corinne needed to switch to her own room and put the boys together in the larger bedroom. It was an interesting day.

The kids loved “helping” us take the crib and changing table apart.

All the pieces are now in the basement collecting dust. Sad to think that no other babies are in the house.

Corinne is really into pretending, and Mason is just catching on. She had him lay on the crib mattress and pretend to be sick. It was funny to hear what her advice was on getting better. Note the cup of water underneath the lamp. Corinne would fill it with cold tap water then put it there to warm up. I asked her why she didn’t just get warm water in the first place. She looked at me like I was dense.

That night, Corinne was sad to sleep alone so we gave them one last night together. They thought having a sleepover was fun! We’ll probably do it again in the future.

Everyone is all settled in now. Strange enough, things are much calmer at bedtime. We told Mason is was his job to keep Ethan in his bed. He takes the responsibility very seriously. Corinne likely feels left out. She occasionally opens her door to report something of little significance just to feel less lonely.

Now if Ethan could just figure out how to get out of his room in the morning and into our bed without waking anyone else up…

-g.

I have honestly had more people than I can count ask me if Ethan is adopted. I assuming they ask because he doesn’t look like the rest of us. I, however, wonder sometimes if he got switched because of how CRAZY the kid is. He has raised the level of chaos in our house exponentially since he was born.

For example, he is the first of the kids to get stitches. He fell in the back and hit his chin on our cement stairs. I always wondered how you would know if your kid needed stitches or not. Tony always said it would be obvious. He was right! A trip to Children’s Urgent Care and 6 stitches later…

Note in the picture that there are only 5 surviving. Somehow he ripped one out. Ouch! That was around the end of June. He looks more like this nowdays:

Anytime he hears the word booboo, he still points at his chin. Then there are his playing habits. Toys are alright for awhile, but he prefers to find something more interesting. Like shredders…

I wondered why he was quiet for so long. Good think we keep it unplugged. Mason saved the day with his need to clean. I’ll think he’ll be OCD like me.

This is the look he gave Aunt Steph to show how sad he was about his bad choice.

Little ham. He also has a personal sense of style. He MUST pick out his own clothes everyday and often tries to pick out mine as well. I documented one of my favorite outfits.

Don’t worry. We weren’t going anywhere that day.

So many reasons to love my little guy!

-g.

It wouldn’t be a summer in Columbus without the Ohio State Fair. There were lots of rides and food to be had.

Mason was all about the rides. His cute face cheers me up.

Mason loved that he was “driving” the train.

There was a downpour while we were there. Thank goodness that lightning and thunder didn’t follow. Mason kept right on riding. I think it cooled him down rather than slowed him down. (Note: His hair is soaked!)

Corinne wanted to ride, too. She was into different rides than Mason. This jumpy ride reminds her of how her stomach feels when we go over the hills near my parents’ house.

Of course, she wanted to ride on the ponies.

What do the kids do when they aren’t riding rides? EAT!!! I don’t think we tried any new crazy food item this year. Just stuck with our favorites.

And drink, too. It wasn’t as hot as past years but still was fairly warm.

Ethan was too little to ride rides this year. He mainly pointed and Papa Tom carried him wherever he wanted to go.

They had a huge blank painting for kids to color in. The paint was washable. We spent alot of time there in the shade.

The kids wore themselves (and the 6 adults who tagged along) out. As seems to be our annual tradition, they rode the SkyRide to the front of the park. Their little legs couldn’t handle the trip.

Already counting down the days until next year’s fair!

-g.