Feburary

Well Feburary was a busy month for us. A lot of cleaning got done and I put on my "Betty Crocker" hat for Valentintes Day planning. Unfortunately I could not come up with anything good, but luckily saw this idea in a magazine. Watermellon hearts speared with orange arrows. I hear they were really good and went really fast. I know the oranges were very tasty and it all smelled really good while I made them. But it was terribly sticky. It was nice to send a healthier treat to school with Ethan instead of all the sugar they were already getting. Ethan also got a load of Valentines, most with candy! So he was excited about the entire thing.

Feburary also meant Ethan's 4th birthday celebration. This year I let Ethan have a say in his cake, and he wanted round, strawberry plain cake - maybe with some construction trucks. This was a bummer for me since I wanted to attempt another 3-D cake. But, Ethan got what he asked for. And the constructions trucks were in the process of de-constructing the cakes. I also was really happy when I found the perfect candles for the cake. Little candle tools! Got to love the cake decorating aisle at Micheals, they just ahve everything you could ever want and I cannot resist going down it each time I am there.

For school I sent Ethan with cookie monsters. They were so cute and yummy! It was a little challenging though....Ethan now has a classmate who is allegic to peanuts. It was really hard to find chocolate chips and white chocolate that were peanut factory free. But, it finally did. I was surprised to find that almost all chocolate caking squares/bars may have trace peanuts in them! And just to make the mother of the child feel better I brought the ingredents in for the teacher to double check and reassure her that it would be safe. I can only image how much home-made snacks must worry a parent with a child with allegies.

Aside from food, Ethan was very spoiled on his birthday. He got to play with both sets of grandparents, his two cousins from Wisconsin and Aunt DeDe and Uncle Jeff. He also got tons of gifts from family that could not make it to the party. And he loved them all, and has made sure to sign his name all by himself to each and every Thank You note. Ethan's gerbil, Roger, also got spoiled - he now has a "mack-daddy" pad. Ethan really wants to add another cage and more tubing but I am not sure there is the room for that.

Ethan had his 4 year old check-up (got 4 shots!) Poor guy! But, he is 43 inches tall (90% percentile) and around 40 pounds. He is getting so big. He is also learning the sounds letters make and some basic reading skills. I think that is all the updates..........for now........