Ethan's Birthday

I've gotten behind on blogging and don't want to forever be behind so I'm skipping a few posts like fall apple picking and the pumpkin patch, but needless to say life has been fun!

Ethan turned one a few days before Christmas on December 20, and we celebrated. With party hats of course:

Cute little guy! At this point he was still rolling everywhere, not crawling.

Very focused on his present.

Trying to get a picture with the birthday boy:

The present from Grandma Ruth was bigger than him:

Team work to get the gift unwrapped:

Checking out his cake:

He was very different than Abigail on her first birthday. She was not interested in touching the cake, Ethan was happy to:

Cute dude:

Very few people can wear blue frosting and still look good, he can:

Not sure what he is thinking in this picture:

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving last year in our new home. It was fun to have space to host family!

Here I am with the Turkey:) We've cooked turkey before but it was more nerve wracking to cook it for a bunch of people.

Ethan hanging out in the kitchen while we cooked dinner:

Darl's homemade cranberry sauce:

Homemade crockpot mashed potatoes. Yum. This is making me hungry.

Our family Thanksgiving picture:

Jenny, Mary and Grandma Ruth:

Tristan and Ethan:

The dessert spread:

Darl and Ethan:

Mary and Ethan before his bed time:

It was as great Thanksgiving and we were happy to have people in our home!

Wilson-Woodland Family Cruise

At the end of last October my side of the family and my cousins on my mom's side went on an amazing cruise to the Caribbean on a huge, huge ship! Ethan struggled sleeping as the cruise went on and with the four of us in the same room it was a little of a struggle but we had a great time and Abigail loved the boat. There are so many pictures but here are a few:

Abigail and Tyler are 2 weeks apart in age and Zach is 3.5months younger then them. 

The ship had a rock climbing wall Darl tried!

Abigail's view at lunch one day (our ship was the Oasis of the Seas).

My parents came from China to be on the cruise and brought fun hats for the kids. Here is Ethan with his cousin Brianna: 

Ethan relaxing on the beach:

Outside of our ship in Haiti:

Abigail loved everything about this trip!

In Jamaica Abigail had two braids put in her hair:

Ethan-Mon!

Abigail LOVED Puss in Boots! 

We were so grateful to go on this awesome trip with my parents!

Cute Cousins

There was so much to do and only a small pool for kids in swim diapers that we didn't end up swimming on the ship much but the kids had a good time when we did!

Unlimited ice cream:)

Cute boys:

Tulum, Mexico

Breakfast on our last morning on the ship:

Our group!

Visiting Naperville

*I tried to post this months ago but it wouldn't work for some reason. I'm finally trying again...
Last August while Darl was busy with his new job and helping my sister Jenny with some work on her house after work, the kids and I drove down to Naperville (outside Chicago) to visit my sister and her family. It was just over a 6 hour drive and totally worth it. We had such a great time!!! I don't have many pictures, but here are a few my sister took:

Abigail and Tyler are two weeks apart in age and BEST BUDDIES. They are so cute together and love playing together. Its pretty cute. It was a hot, sunny week so a lot of time was spent in their back yard playing, eating Popsicles, running through sprinklers. it was a fun week!

Abigail and Tyler playing and Kate taking her own pictures:

They had a great time with this water table!

Casual dinner:)

The kids had a great time in their backyard:

Ethan enjoyed the outdoors too!

There are more pictures but I'm curious to see if this will post. We had a great trip!!

The Minnesota State Fair

Still trying to catch up...:( In August we went to the Minnesota State Fair. We went growing up and I LOVE IT. Darl probably thought I was a little strange for how much I talked about it and how excited I was, then he went and understood. I believe its the second biggest (measured by visitors) in the country after Texas, but they also hold theirs for longer than the Minnesota one. This year over 1.7million people went during the two weeks it was open. We went with some of my family and had a blast!

Looking at some of the animals with Aunt Mary:

We showed Abigail the true way to do the fair: mini donut in one hand, chocolate chip cookie in the other:

We go to the fair to eat:)

See note above...

We loved this slide growing up. Abigail was scared and didn't want to go on it, until she started going down it the first time and she loved it and went a couple of times!

Its exhausting getting pushed in a stroller:

Two cute dudes: 

We took this picture in honor of Lisa who loves S'mores. At the fair you can find all kinds of things to eat on a stick:

Abigail loved looking at the cows and horses and sheep...but  the butterfly in the butterfly garden scared her. No joke.

We had a great time!