Summer's Over/ Violet Turns 1

Summer is now officially over! The trees are changing colors, it's starting to get truly cold outside, and Ethan and Violet continue to grow like weeds! We've packed away the summer clothes, and gotten out the winter coats. The halloween decorations are up and the garden is about out of veggies for the year. The first frost is just around the corner, so Violet is going to have to learn to keep her socks on when we go outside. or she is going to have some pretty cold feet!

Since the last post, Violet reached a few huge milestones. First of all, she turned 1 year old a few weeks ago, and we celebrated her birthday with a party at Gymboree. All her friends (and a few of Ethans) came to the party. Grammy Litsch and Uncle Joe took the train down the Maryland to come to the party too!  We had the whole place to ourselves, and the kids managed to use every inch of the gym! After we played in the gym, everyone ate pizza and cake, and everyone gave Violet really nice gifts.

The following week, we took a trip to New Jersey, where we got to visit everyone on Daddy's side of the family. We all went out to breakfast with Grandpa, Uncle Keith, Krista and Jenna, and then went to the park afterwords. Later on in the day we headed back to Grammy and Poppy's house, where we celebrated her birthday again with ice cream cake, along with Grammy and Poppy, her cousins Krista, Jenna, Ciara, and Uncle Keith.

The other major milestone that took place was that Violet has started walking! She officially started a couple of weeks before her birthday, but now, she is full time walkin! It's extra cute, because she is so petite, that it looks like an 8 month old walking around, and people are amazed that such a young baby can walk so well! She can stand from a sitting position, and even bend down to pick things up.

All the while Ethan continues to bring us happiness, at the same time keep us on our toes!  He is such a curious little guy right now, and he wakes up every day with an energy and  exuberance, that it's often hard to keep up with him. He loves to do everything boy, from playing with tools in the garage, to digging holes in the sandbox and putting the dirt in his dumptrucks, but garbage trucks are the newest big thing for him. He is obsessed with garbage trucks. He has more than a few toy garbage trucks, and he loves to play with them, along with the sound effects! When he doesn't have a garbage truck, he is quick to turn the laundry hamper and a shirt sleeve into a "sideloading garbage truck" and will pick up the little toys around the house.

Ethan is about to embark on a new chapter in his life....School! He is starting preschool next week, and we are excited for him to learn all new things. Today, we brought him in to meet the class, and he jumped right in and got in the mix.We hope that this new experience will help him flourish and develop into a well rounded little boy. It's amazing how he has developed in the past year, and we are excited to see what he'll be like next year.