Cootie & Almost Two

Had to laugh at Ethan this morning...we were getting ready to play a quick game before I got ready to go to work and Ethan said, "Mama, look the Cootie bug game fell on the floor!" It's not just Cootie at our house, it's called Cootie Bug!

Well in less than two weeks, the Diva will turn two! I am amazed at how big she is getting and her vocabulary! Here favorite phrases right now are....

"Hannie Rasssss"

"No, Me!"

"All done Mama"

Another cute thing happening right now at Team Rass is every night for the past few weeks, Ethan will come up stairs with me when I put Hannah down for bed and sing, "Twinkle, Twinkle Wittle Star" and "Rock-A-Bye Hannah" to her. The exchange ends with a "Ga NaNa" - translated in Hannah speak, "Thank you Ethan" and the give each other a kiss! Priceless! That always leaves me with a smile and a memory I will cherish forever!!!

I can't believe how far I am behind in my blogging...trust me it isn't for a lack of content! Time would be the culprit. Again, one of my New Year's Resolutions is to blog more frequently...here are a few great Ethan and Hannah moments that I don't want to forget that happened over the past few months:

Hannah kept playing with Ethan's juice, I told her not to touch it and she kept sticking her fingers in the cup. I told her "No" again and she picked it up and dumped the cup of juice on the floor and just smiled at me. I told her she had to go to time out. When she was sitting there, I said, "Hannah do you know why you are in time out?" she said smiling from ear to ear, "Yep, juice, floor!"

Ethan was watching the Charlie Brown Christmas special and came running into the kitchen to ask me who the yellow guy was? I didn't know who he was talking about and thought he was talking about one of the characters who had blond hair, so I said, "Sally or Schroder?" He was frustrated and said, "No, Mama, the yellow bird who is with Snoofee, he is a bad bird!" LOVE IT!

1st Day of Preschool

Ethan was so excited the 1st day of school! When we got there, he didn't want me to leave. I told him I had to leave in two minutes, then I told him I had to leave in one minute, then when it was time to leave, I told him I was leaving and he said, okay. I walked out of the room and he was playing with some puzzles. He immediately found a Thomas train within the first five minutes of being there, (out of three rooms, he has Thomas radar). I heard him ask the teacher, "Where is my Mom?" when I was walking out. It took everything in me not to turn around, but I didn't, I just left as the teachers recommended parents to do.

When I picked him up, they told me he was a little weepy a few times, wanting to know where I was, but then he was fine. He spent a lot of time in the "quiet" room playing with puzzles, trains and books.

Long Overdue!

I can't believe it has been almost six months since I have updated this blog....I need to get back in gear! So much has happened over the past few months...lets see what is new and exciting with Team Rass....

• I have a new job that I love, however adjusting to a new schedule, new industry, longer commute, etc. has definitely taken a while to get into a groove.


• Ethan is officially potty trained and started preschool.
  
• Hannah is now a talking, walking toddler who is into EVERYTHING!
  

There is so much that has happened over the past few months that definitely warrant pictures, stories and updates, so I will try to "back-fill" some of the key ones!! Like our day out with Thomas the Train; trip to Frankenmuth, apple picking with Papa, Ethan's 3rd birthday, Hannah's first haircut, the list could go on and on.

I promise to be more diligent at posting, so if nothing else, Ethan and Hannah will have something to look back at and laugh!

"He Has Risen...

and I got Thomas underwear," were the first words Ethan uttered when we were greeted at church yesterday morning by our two pastors, wishing our family a Happy Easter. Thankfully, both pastors have children and understand this is a "big deal." We definitely got some smiles for that comment. I guess it could be worse, like Eric telling Ethan on the way to church to say, "When is breakfast?" Obviously, we are in the potty training mode, so Thomas underwear is the big thing at the Rass house these days!!!

Ethan's Twist on Easter and We have an Almost Walker....

I am behind in posting "Princess Party" pictures, but in the meantime, couldn't let these two items pass me by. First and foremost, we potentially have a walker on our hands! Brave little Hannie is taking 7-8 steps at a time now, so I would anticipate she will be walking (knowing her, running) in a manner of days! She is so proud of herself and enjoys walking to who ever will coax her along. Stay tuned....

As for sweet Ethan, Lisa just called to tell me that he was telling her that the Eastern Bunny is going to bring him a specific Thomas station toy that he wants. Hmmm, can you tell he is definitely our child...with the whole Eastern connection!! Priceless!!!

Another Peanut Butter Post...

A few weeks ago for breakfast I asked Ethan if he would like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? He said yes. I put it on a plate and gave it to him, he looked at it for a long time and said he needed a "poon" to eat it. I told him it was a sandwich and he didn't need a spoon, he could just pick it up and eat it. He said, "I don't know how." I told him he had sandwiches before and he did know how. He looked at me with those big blue eyes and said, "Mama, you don't eat peanut butter and jello with your hands, you need a spoon!"

Ethan's Lunch with Eric

Last weekend, Ethan and Eric spent the afternoon together and Hannah and I spent the afternoon together. Hannah and I went shopping with Gaga and Eric took Ethan to a baseball card show and then to grab a bite to eat. Ethan came home with a new matchbox card from the show and an orange balloon, which happened to be the hot commodity at the Rass house! He was so excited with his balloon and to tell me that he went to "Hookers" for lunch. Which ironically enough was "Hooters".....that's my boy!!!!

Crabby German

One morning a few weeks ago, we were in the midst of our morning routine when Hannah got extremely crabby, as she wasn't getting her way. Ethan turned to me and said, "Mama, Hannah is a crabby German!" We have no idea where he got this from or how he put crabby and German together, but we both thought it was pretty funny. So now when someone is crabby at the rass house, they aren't just crabby, they are a "Crabby German!"

Merry Christmas...1 1/2 months late!!

I can't believe how far behind I am in updating this blog! We made it through the holidays with so much fun and excitement. I tried to document the 25 days of Christmas, taking pictures or writing down things each day to scrapbook....good intentions, indeed. However, it is mid-February and all of my photos, scraps of paper, etc are sitting in a file...some day!! Just to recap...we had a wonderful holiday with family and friends! We adopted a child again this year from Opearation Good Cheer, something that Eric and I have done for the past four years now, so I am hoping we can continue this tradition with Ethan and Hannah. We introduced Ethan to the advent calendar and all of the traditional Christmas classics, Ruldolf, Frosty and Chalie Brown's Christmas. We made three treks to the mall to see Santa Claus, finally being able to see him on our third visit! Two other exciting things happened during the 25 days....Hannah slept all night for the first time...EVER and our new nanny Lisa started. She has been an absolute blessing and we are so lucky to have found her and have the kids bond with her the way that they have. All in all, we had a great 25 days of Christmas...however the following week, weren't so great with all of us having the flu in some form or another. Not the best way to end 2009, but we survived!!

Ethan's Bad Word

Eric and I decided to take the kids into Boone, North Carolina to shop and hang out for a while, when we were down in Tennessee visiting my Dad. Thankfully, we had a few days of being out of the car, before we took the hour journey to the other side of the mountain to go to Boone. We arrived at the outlet mall and were excited to shop in 50+ degree weather. After all, it was in the 30's at home. Eric was getting the double stoller out of the car...(it seriously weighs at least 50 pounds), while he was getting it out, he got his finger caught in it and said, "Damnit". Fast forward 24 hours....we were packing up the car to begin our journey home and Ethan was in the kitchen at my Dad's house playing with his cars. He was racing them on the floor and crashed them into the wall, we heard him talking to them and didn't think anything of it, until Eric looked at me and said, "I think he just said Damnit." We called him into the family room and asked him what he just said, with a sheepish smile he said, "I said damnit, dada." I couldn't believe it and had to walk away from laughing, as I know it truly isn't funny, but to hear those words so crystal clear out of the mouth of our two year old son, it shocked me. Eric explained that wasn't a nice word and that he isn't to say it anymore. He has uttered the word a few more times and each time, we try to not make it a big deal, so he won't say it again. Out of the mouths of babes, that is for sure!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are two pictures of our two little pilgrams! They made the trek all the way down to Tennessee to celebrate Thanksgiving with Papa Ken and Grandma Charlotte. They enjoyed their visit and playing with Prissy!!

Making Brownies....

I asked Ethan last weekend if he wanted to help me make some brownies. I wasn't even sure if he knew what a brownie was, but nonetheless, he was able to sit up on the counter, so he was intrigued. After I mixed it all and put it in the pan to bake, I let him taste the batter....that was it, he was gone.....I believe his exact words were, "MMMM Mama, dat good." and of course his ever so famous, "Mere". A picture truly is worth a thousand words....

Going to Work...

This morning Ethan asked me if he could get "Donalds" for breakfast, as Eric usually buys him McDonalds on Saturdays for breakfast. I think he also correlates this to us being at home on the weekend. I told him, "No, not today, Mama and Dada have to work." He told me, "I work too!" Here is the rest of the conversation:

Me - "You work? Where do you work?"
Ethan - "I work at the apple station"

Me - "What do you do at the apple station?"
Ethan - "I pick apples and go on the tractor!"

Without skipping a beat he went on with his regular morning banter. I couldn't believe how grown up he sounded and how big he is getting! My little peanut amazes me more and more every day!

Happy Halloween

Here is our little bat and cat! Hannah was supposed to be a pink poodle and wanted nothing to do with her costume. We tried two separate times to put her in and no dice...she was not going to wear it. So she wore her cute little cat hat, which she loved!!!

Behind in blogging...

October was such a whirlwind, I can't believe it is already over! I have so much to catch up on...Hannah is crawling all over the place, we had a fun trip to the firehouse, pumpkin patch and several Halloween parties! Ethan is talking more and more and never ceases to amaze me with what he comes up with. He finally says his name, "heathen"...nonetheless, he no longer refers to himself as "me". He also lets us know that he is a good boy. Hannah finally is eating food and enjoys everything she gets in her mouth. She is also pulling herself up, could we have an early walker on our hands? Here is a sneak peak at Ethan dressing himself...

State Fair

Over the Labor Day weekend, we decided to take Ethan and Hannah to the Michigan State Fair, as it was the last one....after 160 years. The Michigan State Fair was the first of its kind. We had a great time and Ethan loved feeding the animals and his first corn dog. We walked around all of the barns and exhibits and then went through the Midway and played a few games, winning a few cheap animals, that we consider junk, but Ethan adores them. Hannah even got a stuffed banana, so all was well! It's a shame that this long standing tradition is ending, but I am happy that when Ethan and Hannah are older we can tell them that they went to the last one.

Apple Picking with Mom...

Ethan and I had a "Mom & Ethan Day" a few weeks ago. We went apple picking and then went to Toys R Us for the Thomas the Tank Engine Day. Ethan loved the cider mill....he enjoyed the wagon ride and got a kick out of picking the apples and eating them right after he picked them. He picked more than a few and would take a bite and then thought it would be neat to pick another one and have a bite of it. After his second apple, I made him stick with the one he had. After we were done picking our half bushel of honey crisp apples at a mere $25 a half bushel, we took the wagon back to the cider mill to get doughnuts and cider to take home. When we got off the wagon, we ran into Noah and Lauren, so Ethan was excited to see his cousins!! On our way to Toys R Us, Ethan told me he had fun on the "farm, Mama!" The mill holds an annual photo contest of pictures that were taken there, so we are going to submit the one of Ethan eating his big apple.

More Tommy Please!

At the beginning of each month, after our regular church service, they usually show a short dvd of messages from the synod. Ethan already antsy, was standing on Eric's lap. This was fine, as if we have learned very quickly as new parents, always sit in the last pew. So there was Ethan, standing up and when he saw the tv or (TT) as he calls it, he yelled out...."More Tommy, Please!" He loves Thomas the Tank Engine (tommy the choo choo car), so he was very excited to see the TV. Needless to say, we had to explained that he wasn't going to watch Tommy! I guess we should be grateful that he at least said, "Please!"

Little Drummer Boy

Ethan got these drums for his first Christmas from Grandpa! Obviously at five months he was too young to play with them. So they sat in his closet until a few weeks ago!! The drums are quite a hit!! In fact, the first night he had them, he decided to get up after he went to bed to "play drums, Mama!"