Abbott Offspring Goodness

I could just talk about everything that I'm grateful for, but I don't think anyone would have the time to read it. Ethan certainly wouldn't give me the time to write it. But we do have good news! Derek got a job! He was hired the day after my last post, so our hope was well placed. The hours are good, he always gets Sundays off, he's home in the evening and he makes enough that we should be caught up with our finances hopefully around Christmas. Yippee!! Oh, if only I could adequately explain how wonderful it is that Derek has a job. Well, it just is! This probably isn't Derek's final career destination (hopefully not) but it's nice to be standing on a solid step instead of wondering how long the safety harness is going to hold out. Thank you our wonderful families for not letting us crash and burn!

This also means, that while we are finally able to dig ourselves out of a hole, we will not be able to fly to North Carolina for Christmas. You can probably imagine how I feel about that, so I won't try and illustrate.

Gushy enough yet?! Well hang on, things are about to get a whole lot cuter. Now, we all know how horrible Derek and I are at taking pictures. My sister Ashley would have kicked my butt long ago, if her legs could reach that far for our lack of photo sessions. Of course, she could probably make them reach just from shear sass, but I digress. Thankfully, Momma Abbott is here to save the day, and my bum. Applause. Through her efforts (and Derek's of course) we now have more pictures, and even a video or two, to post of Ethan in all of his 18 month old glory. So, here:

 I wish I could record everything that Ethan does, well almost everything, so I wouldn't have to feel so bad for not remembering to tell y'all about it all. He's doing so much, and he seems so grown up all of the sudden that I hardly know what to tell y'all anyway.
I know you've already scrolled down just to look at the pictures so I'll be done typing for the moment. Go ahead, look and enjoy.

Whew! Too much? The last two are short videos taken with Derek's cell phone. Derek's dad found some old walkie-talkies and we decided to try them out. Sorry the videos are so blurry, they where pretty small originally. We've finally toddler-proofed Ethan's room so he has somewhere to run amuck, and that's a happy thought for all of us. That's about it for right now. We're looking forward to Thanksgiving with family (the first in three years!) but I'm actually missing the snow. It has finally cooled down here, but I think I've been spoiled by a colorful Autumn and snowy white Winter not to miss them now. Oh well, there's always next year. Happy Thanksgiving!