Random & Ethan's 3rd Birthday!

What a Mess!

So one morning Challene did not get up right away when she heard Ethan and Joshua up. The next thing heard was this crackling type sound like that of the plastic bag from a box of cereal. She did not, however, know how right she was until after she got up to investigate. She walked into their bedroom to find the mess you see above. At first she did not see all the rice cripys because they kinda blend into the carpet and her eyes were naturally still a little blurry from waking up. Well that's what she gets for not getting up right away. It did, however, give us a great opportunity to try out or new vacuum. Once you go bagless, you never go back!

Ethan trying to hide behind the crib. He knew he was in trouble.

Pull ups

Challene was crippled with pain and in need of the ever professional and extremely therapeutic work of a master chiropractic physician. As I was adjusting Challene, Joshua started to pull him self up as if exercising. The pictures do not do him any justice, though.

Birthday Cake!

Ethan originally wanted a Donald Duck cake but we thought Mickey Mouse would probably be easier. So after some time and negotiation we convinced him he needed a Mickey Mouse cake. In the end I do think Mickey Mouse was probably easier, however we did not consider the mess. Black frosting + many 3 year olds = not a good idea. Anyways, here's the cake making process.

Getting the icing black was no simple thing. We found out later that you should start with chocolate icing, not vanilla... who knew? Well, after a full bottle of dye, the icing was still purple looking (even though it was black food coloring). So what do you do at 11:35 p.m. the night before the party? You send your husband (already in his pajamas enjoying Rush Hour 3 for his birthday movie) to WalMart to pick up some more dye. Well, turns out that after the entire second bottle of dye it still looked purple. So what do you do at 12:30 a.m. the night before the party and your wife has to work in 6 hours? You say, "forget it" and just ice the thing anyway. Turns out that it dried black. Turns out it probably would have dried black after half the first bottle of dye. Who'd have thunk it?

The finished product.

Party Time!

We had a party for Ethan and invited his friends over for cake and ice cream. Here's some pictures from the party.

Games

We had the kids throw a ball through the Mickey Mouse cut out and they also played musical mickeys (like musical chairs, but with mickey silhouettes).

Cake Time!

I love this picture and how patiently they are waiting for cake.

Classic Ethan... he's even working on different attack angles. He calls this move his "covert cross-over" approach (or CCC).

John was less than patient for his cake. John, John, John... patience is a virtue.
I think we were wise to strip them down for the cake. Sorry, I failed to warn you of the nudity in this post!
Gwendolyn Jewell Marshall
Liza Jane Woolsey
Ethan Nathaniel Green

...and Challene.

The black dye was not tastey at all. As you could imagine with 2 full bottles of dye!

It was a success all in all. We are very happy and love our sweet little three year old. Whew, where does the time go? We love our 16 month old too. Can't forget little Joshy!

Not to stray off topic or anything, but a friend called us tonight and told us of President Hinckley's passing. We were saddened to hear that he is gone, but so joyful that he can be with his wife again. It was obvious of the love that they have for each other. It was also obvious of the toll not having her did to President Hinckley. We was a wonderful prophet, an excellent leader, and a profound example to us all.

The thing I wanted to bring up tonight (Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008) was the fact that we happened to have Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at our Stake Conference this morning. What really was interesting was the fact that despite every other speaker talking toward the theme of missionary work (member missionary work more precicely) Elder Perry spoke of the prophet. Not President Hinckley specifically, but he told of his encounters with several prophets. He also bore a stong witness of President Hinckley, of his divine calling, and that when the Lord calls him home the keys and organization are in place to be passed to the next president of the church. It seemed a little out of place at the time, but now I realize that the Lord new what was to happen (or had happened? This was at 11:30 am) and used His apostles through the spirit to speak as to what was needed at this time. I didn't personally need instruction on how authority is passed, or the continuity of the priesthood and its keys, but I know of several new converts in the congregation who probably had no idea how the process works.

Christmas 2007

Yes we know it is quite over due but none the less here are the Christmas pic's we promised oh so long ago.

Joshua's our little climber he is always on anything and everything he can get on.

Okay so this definitely needs an explanation. So Christmas eve after we got the kids to bed Will and I were playing Santa. Putting out all the gifts and straightening for the morning. I had pulled the door for the amour so that it was no longer behind the vertical blinds so that it could easily be closed when we were ready for bed. Unfortunately I left it to far open and Will stood up and got this nifty arrow shaped scrape. I wanted to write "this side up" but he would not let me.

Joshua eating mashed potatoes that we had for our Christmas dinner.

This is our GQ Ethan

And this is our Silly Ethan

NEXT!!!

Here's another. I like it, but I don't think Challene will. Lindsey, just search for "blogger templates", or "xml templates" and it will give you a billion websites. There's usually instructions on how to change it.

Keep checking back, I'm going hog wild!

Templates anyone?

I'm going to be trying a few new templates over the next little while to find something that screams Will, Challene, Ethan and Joshua Green. Please let me know what you think.

Just trying to catch up

AHEM!!!

So... what, it's been a little while has it not? Boy, even Katie's little nudging couldn't get us to post any quicker. But you were patient and now you have the distinct pleasure of having a long picutre-full post. I hope you enjoy it.

Christmas is over. I sure enjoyed it. Challene, Ethan, and Joshua on the other hand were sick! Ethan and Josh were just sick during the holiday proper and Challene is still getting over it! It has not been fun. Ethan sure was cute during Christmas, though. He woke up Christmas morning near 2:00 a.m. to throw up (he'd been up every couple of hours to do that) when he noticed that Santa had come. He was so excited. Later that morning when we were opening presents he kept saying, "Oh my gosh! Santa came daddy. Look what Santa brought mommy! Oh my gosh!" It really was quite adorable.

So Challene was pretty much sleeping her life away for the entire Christmas break. She was so sick. She went to the doctor recently and he said she had bronchitis. I felt somewhat slighted because I kept forgetting my stethascope at school so I couldn't hear the pathognomonic rhonchi. She was able to get her antibiotics and it seems to be helping... so far.

School started early this month. I'm in my 9th quarter right now (actually the final 2/3 of 9th quarter since I took the split). Starting 10th quarter I will be moved to the Out Patient Clinic (OPC)! That's me treating the public. This is people with actual problems. People trusting me with their conditions. I just took a two hour test-o-death on Friday to see if I qualify for entering the OPC. It was a brutal test. If it would have been multiple choice I would have aced it, but it was short answer. I hate short answer. I know the answer, but pulling it out of my head is difficult for me. So, we'll see if I need to retake the test in a few weeks when they get it graded. I'll update everyone on my classes soon. I know you're all dying to hear what I'm taking. Incidentally, I have been given the opportunity (assuming I pass my test) to enter the OPC this quarter. 5 interns from each clinician will be sent to the OPC early to help ease the patient transition from the graduating class to the new interns. There are specific requirements that have to be fulfilled to be able to go and I don't think I'm going to get them done in time. It has been a very busy quarter so far and I haven't been able to get everything done that I've wanted/needed. I'm not too bummed about it, though.

So that's an update in a nutshell. Let's move to some pictures.

Ethan's new spot for watching movies. It works for him. What I really like on this picture is Mogli's face on the tv.

Ethan has been climbing everything lately. He loves to climb now.

Cute shot of the kids. Joshy's finally getting his molars in. He's got the two on the right and he's working on the left ones. This picture is a little old so you can't see the molars.
Joshy can be so silly sometimes. He was pulling faces at me by sticking his tongue out over his top lip. He's definately got the Dalley eyes going on there too.

More of Joshy's silliness. He was scraping his face down the crib bars. I would laugh at him when he'd do it and he'd start to laugh too. He'd scrape, I'd laugh, he'd pull back and laugh at me laughing. Very comical.
I just love these pictures of him.
*Groan* He's always getting into the blinds. They're slowly getting ruined because he is constantly trying to get in there. It probably would be fine if he were just getting behind them, but he's got to pull on them and tear at them and bend them. I'll be surprised if the landlord doesn't make us pay for new blinds in my bedroom and the kitchen.
Another silly moment. Joshy does this thing that's really caught on in the family. He'll throw his head back and kind of moan so it sounds like an old man. It is hilarious. He had slid between the sofa and fireplace and was doing his moan to try to coax me into playing with him. He'll either do his moan or he'll take something of mine and run away so that I have to chase him. He's very playful. Anyway, if you can get him during the moaning (I wish I had something better to call it) and are able to nibble his chin -- he laughs his head off. He loves it.

Lately, when we're trying to put Joshy down for bed he'll try to play with us. I think he likes the one-on-one time. He actually grabs our hands and puts them on him in his ticklish spots (under the chin, ribs 8 and 9, under the arms, and just under the middle of his collar bone). He is so much fun. Everyone at church just loves the little guy. He's almost 16 months old which is to old to be with Mommy and Daddy in Sunday School, but to young for nursery so Challene and I have been staying with him in the nursery. He just beems at everyone and plays so cute. I sure love my little Joshy. Josh has taken a note from Ethan's book. He's really started to climb now. He loves to try to be like Ethan.
Mommy and Joshy eating pretzels.

This was Christmas Eve. Ethan was helping make the cookies to set out for Santa. He really got into it.

I just really liked this picture. I liked Ethan trying to do it on his own and I liked Challene coaching him through it.

More cookies. They're getting ready to bake them.
Time to make the icing.
This was a little gingerbread Christmas tree kit that we bought at the store (we're just not that confident in our gingerbread making abilities, let alone making something from it). Ethan and Challene sure had a fun time putting it togethere.

Well, I suppose that's it for now. I think we have some actual Christmas pictures in the works for a future blog. So there's something to look forward to. Until then, have a wonderful day.