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.