Tonight Ethan learned (through instruction from mom and dad) how to open the door using the handle. It was so incredibly cute to watch him stand on his tiptoes to reach the handle and then work and work to get it open. Once he realized what he was doing, he would walk into the hall while Clay, my mom and I stayed in the room and cheered him on to open the door. He would push the door open really hard and just clap for himself. I realized tonight how tall he’s getting and how much of a little boy he is. I know everyone said they grow up fast, but this is WAY TOO FAST!

Our good friend Brian Marks invited us to spend the day in Glen Rose at his Dad’s cabin and we had a blast. It was nice to catch up with Aggie friends and let Ethan roam around the great outdoors. He discovered the battery powered vehicle and I think we may need to get one. He had to stand up to reach the pedal on the John Deere, but that didn’t stop him a bit. Ethan had a good time entertaining the crowd with his animal sounds, showing off his cars, clapping for Clay playing the guitar, etc. We’ve decided that we definitely need to have a getaway cabin some day. Thanks, Marks family, for letting us get away for the day.

Josh and Erin welcomed their beautiful baby girl into the world today at 1p.m. Bonnie Brooke was 7 lb 14 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. She has a head full of dark hair, and she’s absolutely gorgeous. Mom and baby are doing wonderful – Erin was sitting up in bed within minutes – all smiles! Josh made the comment that now it’s over – no more Mr. Tough Guy since Bonnie will definitely have her daddy wrapped around her little finger. That’s what little girls are good at.

J & E – Congratulations and thank you SO much for letting me be a part of your big day. I can’t tell you how special and amazing that was for me. I love you guys.

Kids are so amazing. For the past several months Ethan has either had a runny nose, a cough, an upper respiratory infection, an ear infection or some other thing going on. The amazing part? That he just keeps on going. He’s such a happy kid and he keeps us laughing all the time. I’ve been working with him the past few days on putting his dirty clothes in his hamper. Well, tonight he decided that ALL of his clothes needed to go in the hamper. He opened his drawers and started with the pants. When he was satisfied with that, he moved on to the socks and got several pairs in there before I caught him. Needless to say he was very proud of himself. We took a couple of pictures of him in the bath tonight as he was throwing a ball into the water just hard enough to splash himself in the face. Apparently that’s hilarious!

Last week the Starr Family Band traveled to College Station on Wednesday. Clay was invited to speak to the architecture faculty and students, so Ethan and I went as support (by the way, Clay did such a great job…of course). While Clay was on campus and out to dinner, Ethan and I got to hang out with Erin and Kellen. The boys had a great time playing together and taking toys from each other. We took them to the park to play for a little while, and of all the cool things to climb on, slide down, play with, etc., they both went straight for the rocks. At least they weren’t eating the rocks! Shortly after we got there, a few boys showed up with their dog and that was the definitely the coolest thing in the world to Ethan. Every time he would get close to the dog, he would scream, run over and hit the dog (no petting – just hitting) a few times on the back, turn around and laugh and run back. I’m sure the dog will need some kind of therapy session after that.

I wish I had a video of this so everyone could see, but I just don’t feel right about taking our video camera to church. As most of you know, my dad leads singing at their church. Since we’ve been going to church with them, Ethan has been incredibly interested in what his Poppa is doing up there during church. He leans forward over the pew in front of us and really studies what’s going on up there. Well, a few weeks ago Ethan started “leading” singing with my dad and it was hilarious. He started with just a little wave of his arm, which has progressed over the weeks into a full direction of the congregation from his little spot on row 2. He has also added his version of singing which makes it even cuter. My dad can’t even look our way while he’s leading singing because Ethan is just too hilarious and he won’t be able to keep going. As Ethan is doing this, you can see most of the people in church elbowing the person next to them to watch – I really wish you could all see it. And this morning just topped it off. My parents’ church is looking for a new preacher, and they had a man there this morning applying for the job. He was sitting up at the front of the auditorium while my dad led the song before the sermon and he almost lost it. He was trying so hard not to laugh looking at Ethan flailing his arms around smiling and singing, but he just couldn’t help it. So, after one of the elders introduced him, he walked up to the pulpit and said, “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a worship service where there were 2 song leaders at the same time.” He pointed to Ethan and thanked him for such an energetic participation in the song service…

…and he’s only 15 months old! I can only imagine what two years will bring us!

I have always heard the saying, “What you do for one, you have to do for the other.” That was the story of my life growing up – even though I had a brother and he was 2 years older. Well, I finally realized Tuesday night how true that is. Ethan’s friend Hannah (she’s 3 months younger) came over and they’re very intrigued with each other. But as they really started playing together, it was so interesting to watch them react to each other. If one had a toy, the other had to have that toy or something very similar. If Ethan had a book, Hannah needed a book. If Hannah had one of the Little People farm animals, Ethan had to have one. Even at dinner! Hannah had a banana (yes, I realize how funny that sounds), so Nana had to get Ethan a banana. If things were only that simple as adults.

Saturday morning the Starr Family Band went to the Fort Worth Zoo with the Pilgrim family. Ethan has recently learned a lot of animal sounds, so we went to try them out in real life. He was so fascinated by the animals ~ in particular the monkeys, the horse, the coyote which he called a dog, the donkey which he called a horse, the cow (are you seeing a trend in farm animals?), and the promise of seeing an elephant even though we didn’t make it over there before Ethan and Lauryn were worn out. Lauryn is 6 months older than Ethan, and they were very intrigued by each other. These pictures just cracked me up – nothing like your parents forcing you to be cute in front of complete strangers!

And Amy – we had a very “Magda” moment at the zoo. We ran into one of Nicole’s old teacher friends who immediatly asked how she was feeling and when she was due. Nicole answered by turning to Clay and I and saying, “Well, we were going to tell you in a really neat way over lunch, but we’re having another baby in August.” Ah, the best laid plans.

Well, I thought I’d wish everyone a happy spring. I know you’re thinking to yourself, “Hey, Self, it’s January 7th.” But somewhere along the way the people who make the calendars got completely off on their counting becuase here, in Arlington, TX, it’s 85 degrees. Ridiculous. This afternoon after church, we took Ethan outside in a short-sleeved shirt and no pants because it’s hot…really hot. If you’re in a state that is actually experiencing winter right now, please don’t leave a comment – it will just make me mad. Happy Spring!

…you make a conscious decision to go to bed at 11:40 on New Year’s Eve because you’re just too tired to stay up any longer. Ah, such is the life of us. But we did have a lot of fun hanging out with Clay’s family in East Texas on New Year’s Eve. Most of Clay’s aunts, uncles, cousins and cousins’ kids were there. We did a lot of eating and catching up. The two beautiful girls in the picture are Katie and Anna Claire (daughters of Clay’s cousins), and the other from Saturday night is Ethan looking at a book with his Mimi. The other picture of Ethan running through the yard was just too hilarious not to share.