Tea Party Time

Bella, Maddie and Eva, 3 peas in a pod had a little tea party on Friday.

The girls all wore party dresses and sat nicely (yeah right) at Isabella's newly painted table.

Eva was more into the pink marshmallows, Bella only wanted to run away from the table hoping someone would chase her and Maddie was so into holding Ethan... that a lot of tea partying didn't really happen. Oh yes and Violet and Ethan were just along for the ride!!!

But it was well worth the 3 minuted the girls actually sat at the table and pretended to have a tea party! We even made mini pizzas, and princess crowns and ate sprtiz cookies from June's Bakery!

Tuesday will be a sad day, as Bella and I will say goodbye to Julie and Maddie one last time before they head off to St. Louis. It will be hard to try and explain to Bella where Maddie went and why we can't just drive over to meet her or see her at church. Both their friendships will be greatly missed.

Hawaii Vacation

We had a fabulous time in Hawaii at the end of August. Ben finished his Master's final on Saturday August 28th and then we left for Hawaii on September 30th. We spent 9 days on the BIG Island. The weather was wonderful and hot the whole time. Grandma Susie and Papa were there with us for a 6 days. It was SO nice to have my parents there, as Ben and I snuck away for a while everyday to workout, shop, snorkel, go on adventures, and out for a fantastic dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House.

The first time Bella went in the ocean, she was scared of the water and hated the sand sticking to her feet... I thought to myself, this might be a long vacation! But it didn't take her long to start loving the ocean (even the waves), we ended up having to really watch her on the beach, because she would just take off down the beach. The sand on the other hand, bugged her the whole time we were there (definitely her father's daughter).

We went to 5 different beaches, ate great sushi, had our favorite pizza (twice), swam with the biggest sea turtle I have ever seen, got sun tans, spent some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa and had a wonderful vacation time.

Thanks so much Mom and Dad for having us to your place and spending your vacation with us too. And Thank you so much for allowing Ben and I to spend some quality alone time together. It was awesome. Can't wait till next time... It's already planned. Ben and I are going BY OURSELVES in February 2011! Can I start counting down now??

I took a ton of photos:

A little behind on the blogging.

Ethan had his 7 month birthday yesterday and I am just now posting his 6 month shrinking bear photos. I will slowly get to all the posts I want to write.

Have fun looking at the last three new ones.

Ethan's Half a year old

Wow! Ethan is 6 months old already. I was thinking the other day how much faster Ethan's first year is going compared to Isabella's first year. I don't know if it is because we are just so much busier with two that it makes the time seem to go by faster... or if it really does. I am starting to think Time just goes by faster! This little guy is such a cutie and such a wonderful child. In this last month I can really see how different his personality is than Bella's. He is a very different child then she was. He is demanding!

Here are the things Ethan is doing these days:

• If he's in a cuddly mood, Ethan doesn't like it when he is left alone or put down.
• He still likes his food 5 minutes ago
• I would describe him as a lazy boy
• When we came back from calgary, I once again cut him off of feeding at night. It took three nights of him waking up (crying a little) before he got the memo that he wasn't going to be fed during the night.
• He started eating solid foods. He loves his applesauce, bananas and oatmeal
• He is starting to sit up
• Love to take his su su out and put his right index finger into his mouth and chew on it
• Still drools like crazy
• Ethan had his first sickness... tonsillitis! Poor little guy, we had to take him to the ER while in Billings because his fever was 102+. HIs little tonsils were inflamed and pussy. It was just a virus, so nothing anyone could do about it. Tylenol and Motrin helped.
• Is in size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothing
• Still loves to be swaddled
• Hasn't rolled over at all this month (like i said... he's lazy)
• He is getting more alert and aware of his surroundings (he loves watching his big sister)
• He still loves to snuggle into your chest when he is tired. It is so dear (as Ann my mother in law would say)
• Still doesn't like putting any weight on his legs (once again lazy)
• Weighs 15 1/2 lbs
• I totally and completely loved by his family!

Nick's Fini Flight

Our good friends Nick, Julie and Maddie are moving at the end of this month. They have been our closest friends here in Altus. Maddie and Bella have been friends since they were born and will miss each other so much when the Schindler's move. Ben and I too will miss their love, support and fellowship!

Anyway, Nick had his fini flight today (for all of you who are non Air Force a fini flight is a pilots last flight at their base before they move). Traditionally the pilot gets marshaled in by their children and hosed down by their fellow pilots. Nick's fini flight was no exception. Bella is going to love hosing down her daddy when we PCS out of here.

The girls sure did love all the attention and excitement being out on the airfield.

Here are some pics. Congrats Nick! Goodbye Altus!

Su Su Send Off!

Today was a BIG day in the Shaub household!

Isabella said goodbye to her su su!

I got (actually Julie picked them up for me) some helium balloons and I attached Bella's pacifiers to the ends and she let them go off into the sky! I have been prepping her all week telling her we are going to say goodbye to her su su on Friday and watch them fly away. I also told her that God would take care of her su sus. So since we got back from vacation she has been saying "God take care of susu".

It took her a good 5 minutes to finally let go of the balloons... but it was pretty non dramatic.

And Bella's good friend Maddie was there for some moral support!

She is down for her nap right now... which I thought might be a struggle... But all she said was "where did su su go already?" we prayed and asked God to take care of them and that was that. She went down without crying at all. Hallelujah! Tonight might be a different story. But We'll see.

Bye Bye beloved su su!

You will be missed!