All Saints Day

November 1st is a holiday in Hungary, All Saints Day.  It is interesting because in the States the only holiday around this time of year that I was familiar with was Halloween.  That is not celebrated over here.  However, Reformation Day, which is also October 31st is celebrated in Europe (where there is a larger Reformed population) in addition to All Saints Day which is celebrated in the Catholic countries of Europe.  Since Hungary is a Catholic country and has a small percentage of members of the Reformed Church, All Saints Day is celebrated here rather than Reformation Day.

The CCC office and school have Nov.1st off (since it is a major holiday where places are closed).  Gary had a meeting at the office in the afternoon anyway, but we decided to go hiking beforehand in the hills near his office. We enjoyed it because usually all of our Saturdays are filled with doing house and yard work.  It was a beautiful day for hiking too!Ethan had lots of fun with this rock, mostly just picking it up and throwing it down over and over again.  I know that these 2 pictures are similar, but I liked his smile in the one above where he was having fun with the rock, and I like how he is looking straight at the camera and reaching out in the picture below.

Pumpkin Pictures

Here are some pictures that we took of Ethan in October.

Screwdrivers, Vacuum Cleaners, & Pain

I posted pictures from when Gary’s parents were here and talked about how his dad fixed a lot of things around the house.  One of the posts talked about how he took the vacuum cleaner apart and how Ethan watched with great interest.  Gary’s parents mailed a new vacuum cleaner belt to us, so Gary got the tools out to take the vacuum cleaner apart and replace the belt.  Once again, Ethan watched enthusiastically.  Except this time, he wanted to “help” even more than with Papa.  He totally loved trying to use the screwdriver to take the screws out and put them back in.Once Gary got the new belt in, Ethan enjoyed vacuuming the rug.  The family who lived here before left us this vacuum cleaner.  It’s really old and loud, but it’s the only one we’ve found that works on this rug (that the family also left us).  So, the other vacuum cleaner that we’ve always had is much more maneuverable for Ethan, but it’s fun to watch him try to use this one.

In the last few weeks Ethan has been pointing to screws when he sees them.  Last week he pointed to a large screw that was in the bottom of a bookshelf.  He went and got the tool box, brought it into the room with the shelf and wanted to get the screwdriver to take the screw out.  I didn’t realize that he had picked up on where we kept the tool box, so now we have to find a new location where he can’t reach it.  It’s not much of a tool box.  It’s one that my mom got for me in college with a few things, but needless to say, even a screwdriver can be dangerous.

Well, little did we know that a vacuum cleaner can be dangerous too.  Last week, Gary was vacuuming the rug that’s in the picture above.  While he was vacuuming, Ethan turned the vacuum cleaner over and stuck his hand in it (while it was on).  You can see the wheel of it in the first picture, so that was turning when he put his hand in it.  It ended up taking a layer (or possibly more) of skin off of part of his thumb, index finger, and the corner of his palm.  It looks much better now since the scab has been forming.  I thought it would cause most of his hand to bruise, but surprisingly, it hasn’t.  He still keeps his fingers bent down for the most part, trying to protect it, but each day has used it more and more.

Our Little Helper

Ethan has become quite the little helper around the house.  Every Friday Gary empties out all of the trash cans around the house because that is the day our trash is picked up.  Ethan has observed this, and has started empting the little trash cans himself. 

I think I already posted a picture of him vacuuming, which he really enjoys doing.  He likes to get the broom and dustpan, but ends up moving dirt around more than getting it swept together. At the beginning of October I decided to clean the windows before it got too cold to open them.  Ethan wanted to help, so, of course, I had to take a picture.

Fall Leaves

I miss seeing the beautiful fall colors in Boone.  There isn’t much of that around here, so it’s nice to have a maple tree in our yard with leaves that change color.  It’s a big tree, so Gary and Ethan have been raking and picking up leaves almost every Saturday in October.   The first time that Gary took Ethan out to rake leaves, we were both surprised at how helpful Ethan was.  He didn’t seem to enjoy using the rake, but he saw Gary picking leaves up and putting them into a container that is for leaves, branches, etc.  Ethan started picking up leaves and putting them into the wheel barrel (which he could reach).  That was actually more helpful because it made it easier for Gary to put them from the wheel barrel into the tall container rather than having to pick them up from the ground himself.Ethan wanted to use Daddy’s gloves, so he tried to pick up leaves using them for awhile, but then decided that they were too big, so he gave them back to Gary. Afterward, Ethan loved being taken around the yard in the wheel barrel.