Christmas 2009

We had a great time experiencing Christmas with all of Ethan's grandparents, aunts, and uncles this weekend. We spent Christmas Eve night at Grandma and Grandpa Taylor's house, and Ethan and Brooklyn were very happy about their presents. Ethan got the big Buzz and Woody that talk that he's been asking for for months, and he was thrilled. It's kind of funny that the toys are so big the Ethan has a hard time carrying them around together.
Brooklyn had fun playing with Ethan's Buzz and Woody boxes.

Grandma Taylor got Ethan and his cousin Jackson matching Buzz Lightyear pajamas. They had a lot of fun running around the house yelling "I want to catch the other Buzz."

Next, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Morrey's house to visit with them and open more presents. Ethan was thrilled to get more Cars toys, including Buzz, Woody, Sully, and Mike Wasowski cars (think of the end credits of the Cars movie when they're watching the other Pixar movies.) He especially loved his new big Dinoco blue Lightning McQueen car. Brooklyn got to open her new Little People playhouse, and loves playing with it.

After all the fun and games at the grandparents houses (by the way, we loved playing the new Super Mario Brothers game for the Wii, and thought Avatar was pretty great), we headed home where the kids opened even MORE presents. They got some movies and games that should keep them entertained for a while.

Ethan was particularly excited to get the movie UP.

Ethan's Nursery teachers gave Ethan the gift shown below. When Ethan opened it and saw what it was, he screamed "No! It's scary!" and threw it across the room.

Jen found this little suit for a great bargain the other day and Ethan was willing to wear it to church. He is such a cute little man. We think the suit makes him look four years older.

You'd better watch out!

Last week we took the kids to see Santa Claus. We tried to get Ethan excited about seeing him, and practiced what he would say. When we got there and Ethan saw Santa, Ethan froze and wouldn't even look at that Jolly Old Elf. He hid behind Dad, and wouldn't open his eyes. He certainly wasn't ready to sit on Santa's lap.

Brooklyn was OK until we set her on his lap. She turned around to see who was holding her, and started to wail. here's the pic

Another shot of the kids with Santa...

Ethan eventually cheered up, as long as he was across the room from Santa.

Jen had a good time too.

Last night, Santa visited our ward Christmas party. Brooklyn got to sit on Santa's lap again, with the exact same response.
Ethan, on the other hand, saw all the other kids having a good time and decided he'd give it a try. He told Santa that he wanted a Buzz and a Woody and a real RC (from Toy Story), and a Why Flyer (from the PBS cartoon Super Why). At this point, Santa cut him off and told him that he'd just get him a laptop.
Here's the proof. that Brooklyn is getting a tooth (along with some mighty fine eyelashes that make Jen proud). It looks like there may be at least three more teeth on the way too.

Yesterday, Kyle wanted to test Ethan's math skills, and the following conversation ensued:

Kyle: If you have 4 cars, and I took one away, how many cars would I have?"

Ethan: "Don't take them away!"

At last!

Today was an eventful day. Kyle took his very last final . . . ever! He is now finished with his Masters of Electrical Engineering program at Arizona State. Kyle has been a student for 3 of our 4 years of marriage so we are really looking forward to having more time together.

Brooklyn started walking tonight. She's been really close for a while but she finally did it, and many times. We counted up to 10 steps. We are so proud of her. Ethan got a real kick out of it too. We had lots of fun getting her to walk to mama, then to dad, then to Ethan and Mickey, and Pooh Bear, etc.

The other day we also noticed that she is getting her very first tooth. Finally! Ethan was about 7 months old when he got his. Brooklyn is now 13 months old. It has been nice though not having to worry about brushing her teeth. She hasn't seemed affected by it yet. We noticed it the other day while I was tickling her and she laughed. It isn't poking out quite yet, but we'll try to get a picture as soon as it is more visable.

Oh, Christmas Tree!

We forgot to post this picture of Ethan from Thanksgiving at Grandma Smith's house. She pulled out her pipes and we all played Christmas music except for Ethan, who just ran around banging on his pipe chanting, "I love cars, I love cars..."
We put up our Christmas tree this week. The kids had a lot of fun "helping" put up the decorations. It's fun to see how magical Christmas is to children.

And now, another deep thought from Ethan Morrey:
Jen: "Ethan, would you like a kitty?"
Ethan: "No."
Jen: "Would you like a doggy?"
Ethan: "No. I have a sister."

Brooklyn is growing up so fast. Here is a list of some of the things she's been up to:

• She has recently mastered going down the stairs. She's been going up the stairs for quite a while now, but was always afraid of going down. Way to go, girl.
• She's also gaining confidence on her feet, but has yet to take more than a step or two.
• She still has no teeth.
• She has enough hair to pull all of it back into a set of pigtails. Jen is especially proud of her for this one.

Self-Esteem

One of Ethan's favorite cartoons is Toy Story. In this picture Ethan is so excited to be able to wear his grandpa Morrey's boots. He loves the fact that Grandpa has boots "like Woody's."

We are continually amazed at the things that come out of this boy's mouth. He has recently started asking lots of questions about what different things do (a precursor to the "why?" phase perhaps).

We just have to make a record of the following conversation:

A few weeks ago, Jen finished giving Ethan a bath and held him up in the mirror and said to him. "You're a handsome little man!" Ethan replied (including a quote from Toy Story), "No I'm not. I'm a sad, strange little man." He has since used this reply often when we call him any kind of "little man." Hopfully he really knows how great of a little man we think he his and how much we adore him!