Catch Up

So much has happened since my last post - as the last time I blogged we were knee deep in snow and I am now knee deep in kiddie pools..... I will spare many words and let the pics speak for themselves....adding captions if needed. I hope to be more frequent...

Grandpa Doug and E. This pic is from a BBQ a few weeks back...

E and the Gang! This is E having root beer floats with his close pals, Leighton and Addison.

E's 1st big race. Yes, the chubby man with the broken leg and the mopey girl next to him are going as fast as us....But we beat them in the end...

E enjoying yet another root beer float with his cousin, Elena.

Ethan and Elena playing with sparklers and fire on the 4th! Yay, America.

Chrissy and Elena on the Party Barge....notice the sweet upholstery of this rented beauty...

E, Elena and Layla, celebrating at a cabin in Brainerd, MN.

E enjoying his ride on the party barge.

This picture reminds me of werewolf in London where the werewolf wakes up after going on a killing spree and saying, 'not again...' Or beerfest, which later stole it...

Either way, E will be angry later on in life for this picture having been taking....

Can anyone say, 'wedding video montage???'

Teaching the kids how to play with fire properly!!!

Don't laugh, considering my docking jobs, I doubt E would have done much worse....At least he is drinking water....

These are pics of my brave boy who jumped off of the boat in the middle of a big, deep lake! Water was great!!

E, Auntie Cissy, and more sweet shots of the Party Barge!!!

Some boaters were trolling for fish....E was trolling for the ladies....

Disney - 1st Annual Ruiz/Lewis Family Vacation!!!

Outside of the Pirates ride. I still can't believe Depp is now a permanent fixture of that ride...

Peter Pan, Wendy and Ethan. Peter Pan is E's new obsession...

Yes - the kid playing Peter Pan was as creepy in person as he looks in this picture..

Mickey, Minney and the Ruiz Family!!! Look at Minney, showing some leg...Saucy Minx....

Ah, the Magic Kindom. Nothing like it...

Check out the ears on ALEW. Classic.

Don't know who the pasty lady reading the book behind E is....I was too lazy to edit her out...

Look at these hams...

E and his new favs, Woody and Jessie

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

So Thanksgiving started with another new tradition.

FOOTBALL!!!

No, not watching the awful Lions lose - we actually played the 1st annual Mac/Groveland Turkey Bowl. The game pitted neighbor against neighbor, brother against sister, friend against friend. The crew consisted of Allie, TJ, Andy, Doug, the entire Johnson clan and the Weisman clan (+ roommate). We played a grueling game to 10 touchdowns with the final score being 10 to 8. After the game, we all headed to the Hodson-McGrade Headquarters for beer, mimosas and snacks.

Unfortunately, Chrissy and I could not stay long because we had guests coming, a house to pick up and a bird to put in the oven. Scott and Kelly came over for a great dinner.


Doug and I were on the same team.

The losing team, I might add...

That is me throwing a mean block on TJ.

No, TJ is not wearing a pink jersey in support of a cure for breast cancer. He is wearing the shirt because he lost to Doug the previous weekend in fantasy football.

I don't know what happened to Thanksgiving pics. This is seriously the only picture we have.

Ethan and Anne

2 years down...

16 to go...I still can't believe that little clown is two. So to recap a great weekend for Ethan that incorporated most of E's favorite people in this world:

E's Birthday weekend started getting picked up from school by Mom, Grandma Sharon and Great Grandma Eleanor. The group headed to get E's haircut (not short enough for some people in his life, mind you)

I then met up with everyone to get the birthday boy new shoes and dinner at Rosedale Mall. We had the 1st 'Happy Birthday' song at Macaroni Grille.

On Saturday, we headed over to Grandpa and Grandma's D&T's. E's guests included the usual suspects, such as Nick and Christy, GF Steve, Bridget and company, Weinke Clan, the Johnsons, Allie, Andy and Jenn - and two very special guests, Ms. Tara and Ms. Stephanie, Ethan's favorite teachers and the two people who have probably spent more time with Ethan than Chrissy and I combined.

After some good food, good beer (especially beer that I made) and great company, E opened his presents, ate his cake, and finally ended up taking a nap about two hours late.

I hope you enjoy the pics half as much as Ethan enjoyed his weekend.

Sis and Grandpa Germ - we missed you both.

From Left to Right: Alex, Allie, Leighton, Addison, Ethan, Alissa and Lucy.

Great GrammE and Ethan. Yes. He is wearing an Adrian Peterson shirt. Damn you, Andy and Jenn!!! Damn you!!!

This kid and his 'Llama' book. Only my son's favorite animal would be a llama....

E on his second piece of cake. Maybe it was his third.

E and Grandma Sharon. I can't believe I left that shirt on for that long...On a good note, the badness of Purple Jesus is being offset by Grandma's Bears Sweatshirt. IT says, 'Champs' on it. Is that from 1985??? Go ahead and laugh, Vikings fans...As least we have shirts that say 'Champs' on it.

That is Ms. Stephanie. Or as E calls her: Teppy. Bridget and Nick look like they are having a grand, old time, don't they???

Wow. I wish I could sleep through someone coming in and taking my picture. Yes, those are Star War pj's. Yes, you should feel very sorry for him. In my defense, Chrissy actually bought these.

Check out the new do!

Ethan and his good friend, Lucy. Way to go for the older women, E!!!

The Ruiz Family circa 2009. Any grey hair you see can be directly traced to the 27 lb bundle of joy to the far right.

What Up, Dogg???

OK, still doing a bit of catch up.....But I thought these Halloween pics belonged in their own post.

So this year was Chrissy's year to choose the costume so of course we had to go with 'cute.' After some protest, I have to admit he did look pretty darn cute....So after some quick pics at home, we headed over to T&D's. After some punch (more on that in a bit) we headed out as a crew with Jenae's kids and did about an hour's worth of candy collecting.

E did great. He refused to be carried and finally caught on by the end of the 1st block...although he did keep trying to walk into everyone's houses.....just like his big sister, Layla, likes to do...

We got back and had a great night, with E finally going to bed around 10. This was one of his latest nights ever.....

So Chrissy made this great punch using Dry Ice. Andy and I could not leave well enough alone, so instead of just enjoying the punch, we decided to make a dry ice bomb....

After several explosions, we finally ran out of plastic bottles...which was probably for the best.

Just remember, E. Do as I say, not as I do....

E and Jenn.

E getting his makeup done by Allie.