Time Flies!

Yeah, yeah....MONTHS is longer than I've ever gone without blogging before, but does my first semester as a PhD student count as an excuse?  If not, oh, well....

I've been thinking a lot lately about how time flies, and this past semester is no exception.  Wow.  Can't believe it's August already, or that Brian and I have been married for 8 years, OR that Ethan is about to turn FIVE in a couple of months!  Sometimes we say that he's four going on eighty, but that's a posting for later.  Much to catch up on.

On a recent trip to the beach, I was noticing how different the "baby" is compared to other years we've gone.  Case in point:

Compared to:

Those photos were taken three years apart.  How is that possible?!  Or....

Also taken three years apart.  (Sigh.)  My little boy is growing up.

Speaking of, his fifth (!) birthday is at the end of October, and there is no discussing his party theme this year - he has been deeply into the superhero world for almost a year now.  His favorites change hourly, if not more often, and I am learning more about Marvel and DC Comics than I ever thought was possible!  I recently repainted the kiddo's room in blue and red (we had to negotiate him down from red, blue and yellow - ugh) and it looks pretty good!  I made some curtains with cheapo Batman fabric, and am hoping to do some closet door decorating as well as hooks on the wall for all of his many superhero costumes.  I'll post pics in another year when I get back to the blog again.  :)

Reflections on the PhD Beginnings

Two weeks in, and I haven't burst into tears yet.  :)  That's good, right?  And so far I'm keeping up with my work, which is also good.  Fingers crossed that I'll continue with all of that.  But PhD work is wayyyyy different than Master's work.  Whew!  "Read this book for next week."  Or, "Read half of this book and write a 4 page paper."  Or, "Read this chapter, read these articles, and start a blog."  Huh?!  It's all good stuff, and very interesting readings, but the sheer amount is amazing. 

With that said, I'm fitting it in so far, and am still able to spend time with my cute boys.   Ethan is still in Kung Fu class (though he is seriously the gentlest kicker and puncher alive - even when encouraged to hit hard) and I was able to take him to the Children's Museum in Bloomington on a school-free Monday this past week. 

 

Ethan's buddy Arlin is such a big painter, encouraged by his mom the artist, but Ethan really isn't into it so much.  This weekend we tried to draw and color, but Ethan was worried about getting things exactly right (sigh) so we decided to find someone else's drawings and have some crafty boy fun with those.

I feel like I'm enabling an addiction with this Star Wars stuff.  The kid hasn't seen the movie (way too young!) but he is already totally obsessed.  This is after Brian showed him a mask at Target, then we got him a Darth Vader costume for Christmas...and that costume is practically rags now, but he still wears it every day!