| boxen |

After nap, Ethan has consistently run to his box of toys, pull the toys out, then climb in! It's so cute to see him there. Sometimes he'll drag his bay-bay (in Chinese, bay-bay is blankie) in and hang out for a while.

Please disregard the lovely child proofing on either side of our bookshelves. :( The grandfather's had a lil too much time on their hands and taped to death covered most right angles in our living room.

| mo-hawk |

I really think my husband was created to make little boys and give them mo-hawk hair cuts. 

I hadn't seen a grown man so excited when we finally agreed on giving our child a mo-hawk cut. I looove Ethan's long hair, but it was getting out of control in his eyes. It was too stick straight (thanks Asian hair genes!) to brush to the side, or tuck behind his ears. And the Florida heat gave him a constant 'sweaty head, matted hair' look. :/ 

Now this wasn't an easy feat. We quickly learned that this was probably the last mo-hawk cut Ethan would have. He learned to squrim, fight, kick, scream, cry, give us the saddest puppy dog look- why on Earth would you as my parents torture me like this?! ALL.AT.THE.SAME.TIME. He haaaated the buzzer. We danced, sang, played Elmo on the ipad, pointed out airplanes outside. Nada. 

Traumatizing for us too. Halfway through (he had a mullet at this point), I snapped at my husband- WHY did we think this was a good idea!?

I have to admit, we're pretty happy with his cute head. After a fun, long bath, we were all ooook. 

Of course, he wasn't staying still, so we couldn't get great pictures, but you get the idea :)

| Quinoa Muffins |

As the mother of a curious toddler, I'm continuously exploring the food world for something: healthy, tasty, and easy to make!! Actually, if he's interested and it's healthy, I'll make it. At this stage, Ethan will love eggs one day, so I'll prepare a few more, freeze/store them, only to find the next day he won't even take a bite. 

We're getting pretty creative in how to distract, shove spoon in mouth, do it 29 more times to make sure he gets a good meal! This kid is easily distracted. Great eater (mostly!), but likes to keep his hands busy. 

Enter: quinoa muffins. 

I'm a big fan of any recipe that isn't precise in measurements, and allows me to gather what veggies & goodies I can gather up in my fridge.

If you must, here are some actual measurements and where I got the idea from: http://iowagirleats.com/2012/02/16/mini-ham-cheese-quinoa-cups/

I first cooked up some quinoa (approx 2 cups? maybe more?) with homemade chicken broth to give some extra yumminess and nutrients.

What I found and chopped/prepped: ham, cheddar cheese, carrots, onions, green onions, kale, spinach, cracked pepper, 3 eggs:

All the ingredients chopped up and ready to go!

Add the already cooked quinoa and mix with all chopped ingredients.

Grease a mini muffin pan and load em up! 

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Deliciousness! Enjoy!

So not only are these lil muffins delicious, they're super easy to store, freeze, pop in the microwave and snack on! Great, small size for my lil guy's fingers. It's my go to snack when we're out running errands. And I can pop them in husband's mouth after he gets home from work for a lil snack :)

| dream sleeper |

At 14 months old, this kid is still loving his two, two hour naps a day. So thankful for a good sleeper! He's always loved and slept the best in his crib. I don't know how we'll ever transition to a 'big boy' bed because he covers every square inch of this crib. At night, we can hear/see him on the monitor rolling and flipping every which way. He usually ends up in one corner, all tucked in, or feet sticking straight up sometimes falling in between rails. Melts my heart getting to see him sleep so soundly :)

| Some news |

We got to hang out with both sets of Ethan's grandparents one weekend in April. During some fun pool time, Ethan had something to say!

| Catching up: Easter |

Hellooo unexpected hiatus! With a busy schedule, among other things, and deciding it was too daunting to plug in an SD card, I finally got the itch to keep this blog updated with our oh-so-exciting past few months :)

Going waay back to April, we celebrated Easter and snapped a couple of pics after a wonderful church service. Our lil man was obsessed with Easter eggs! Excited to think about him running around hunting the eggs next year.

Daddy decided our 'dada' and 'baby' gator magnets would be great props. Go Gators!

| E's first birthday party! |

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of Ethan's favorite book! Especially the finger puppet version :)

Oh did I have some fun planning this party. It was the perfect park, the perfect day, the perfect family and friends all to celebrate our perfect little baby boy.

Our dear friends at Studio222 captured some parts of the special day :) Thanks guys!!

I ended up making organic banana bread cake and muffins for Ethan and his friends. Ethan hated regular sugar cake!! 

Perfect day, huh?

pooped birthday boy enjoying his new wagon :)

handprint guestbook 

Ethan's chubby hand/fist. Not a fan of finger painting!

my world!