Dear Santa

So does Stonebriar have the best Santa or what??? He is just so great... not only does he look perfect - with rosey cheeks and a button nose, but he is just the sweetest Santa. I bet he's a great Grandpa.

So, Preston is an old pro and loves going to see Santa every year. This year he asked him for Star Wars toys. He was going to ask him for specifically a "four legged walker" from Star Wars, but I personally know that "Santa" is having a hard time finding that toy, so I advised that maybe he should just say "Star Wars" toys just in case. Oh, please... "Santa", find the "four legged walker"!!! Hee hee!

Preston was so excited that Evan was going to see Santa for the first time... and can you see the excitement on Evan's face? He he! As usual, he slept through another monumentous occasion - but he did get to sit on Santa's lap. Can you see that he's pulling on Santa's beard? Ow! Santa didn't care a bit - he said all I care about is a good picture for you. Looking at this picture, I'm imagining Evan is grabbing on to his beard saying "Listen hear man, bring me the good stuff, or else!" Seriously, it was really sweet and Santa even suggested the sweet picture below where he and Evan have fallen asleep reading... so cute. And of course, Evan was already asleep... so we had full cooperaton.

We love you Santa - you make Christmas time so fun and exciting! But let's all remember the reason for the season - the birth of Jesus Christ - and let's celebrate His coming and the blessings He has bestowed upon all of us.

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!

Caught A Grin

Evan is just smiling all the time now... and I happened to have the camera handy for this cute face! Me, with the camera, Nah???

Thanksgiving 2007

What a cute little scarecrow - I don't think he could scare off anything!

I have a dear friend that makes these great cards for me... she is awesome, thank you Lisha! Her website is on the bottom right side of the blog - http://www.swaknotes.com/. Check her website out or e-mail her if you ever want cute personalized notecards - they make a great gift!

Now on to Evan's first Thanksgiving...

I love Thanksgiving - I think mainly because I get to see my family, which is an unfortunate rare thing. We always have a great time eating all day and visiting.

Preston LOVES Thanksgiving because he gets to see his cousins. He adores his cousin, Caden, and they get to play all day. It's all Preston can talk about - "When is Caden getting here?". Caden is a little older than Preston, so I'm sure Preston wears him out! They are very sweet together though - below is pic of Preston with some of his cousins. We love you guys! And I'm sure Evan would have enjoyed playing with his cousins... but again, the boy was snoozing the whole day! You could pass him round and round and still, asleep.

We also got pics of me and the boys with my Dad, "Popee". I wish we saw you more Popee!

And another pic is me and the boys with all the ladies - including my two cousins, my aunt and grandmother. I've always been really close to these ladies growing up and I love spending time with all of them.... and speaking of that...

So after the boys are gone or off playing, then the girls get down to business. We start going through all the newspaper store ads for sales happening on Black Friday. Oh yes, we are some of the lunatics that are up and at the stores at 5:00am or earlier. We woke up at 3:00am and were out the door by 4:00am (brrrrr... it was cold this year) - we stopped by our usual breakfast restaurant (Whataburger) to grab some fuel for the morning and then we were off to shop all day! It is a great tradition and we've been doing it ever since I can remember... we call ourselves the "Boo-Ya Sisterhood Shopping Club". I keep saying I'm going to make us t-shirts to wear, maybe next year! Can't wait til next year girls!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is GOOD. I am thankful for so many things in my life - for my wonderful family, great friends, mine and my family's health and for the many blessings that God has given us. We are not worthy.

As my friends, please be sure to slap me if you ever see me taking my life for granted!

And now that Thanksgiving is over... it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Love to all,

Baby In A Bowl

So I saw this cute picture where they put a teeny weeny little sleeping baby in a bowl - it was so cute! And well, I waited a little too long for him to stay asleep stripped naked, but thought I'd give the idea a try! So, here's our little man - in a bowl! He's still pretty teeny - and we think, pretty darn cute. This is Evan at 1 month old! And I'm sure he's saying to himself, "Really, mom - you put me in a bowl - what am I, fruit?"

What a sweet boy we have in Evan, he is just the best addition to our family and we all just adore him. Preston is a helpful and caring big brother and we are having so much fun! Only need right now - SLEEP! Ha!

A Happy Boy

We got our first real smile from Evan today! He had been right there on the verge of it for several days - lots of excited looks with that little corner of the mouth up... but today was a big grin! It took mom being pretty goofy to get it, so I didn't have the camera out - but we'll post a pic of a smile soon. He's also starting to make all the cute baby noises - all the "coos" and "gaas". He is becoming a really active listener and LOVES it when his big brother talks to him.

The little expressions he makes are so cute and a lot like Preston. He is a noisy eater just like Preston was - he just snorts, grunts and breathes heavily all the way through his bottles. We need to get it on video; it's quite the spectacle. He really doesn't cry all that much - most of the time he'll let you know he needs something with just a little "er" we call it. Every minute or so you'll hear him make a little "er" - then if you don't come and attend to him he'll start to get upset - but he gives you fair warning! It's pretty funny. And Preston is always quick to run in and tend to him when he hears the "er". He takes great delight and pride when he can help his brother!

You know, I didn't see it much in the beginning - but Evan's got a reddish tint to his hair actually - could we have a red head on our hands?!? Probably not! (I wasn't even a red head until I was 12 or so.) I'm sure he'll lose all of his fine baby hair just like Preston did and we'll get a whole new color! Right now it's kind of a light brown/reddish color though. Preston's was actually really dark when he was born and then he lost all that and it came back a lighter brown, then that actually got really thin and he got really blonde. So, who knows! Evan does have the blue eyes right now - I hope he keeps those! Preston has such beautiful blue eyes.

We're really excited about our first Christmas coming up with Evan. Although we're not sure if we'll have room in the apartment for a tree! Preston asked - then where will Santa put the presents?!? Ha! I'm sure he'll find a spot. Then he said, but there's no chimney! I'm sure he'll find a way in! Hee hee! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone; thank you for blessing our lives.

Brotherly Love

So In Love...

At Work With Daddy

One of Preston's favorite things to do is go to the office with Daddy! He loves playing on the computer and calculators and hanging out with Dad. I know he'll have great memories of "working with Daddy". Well, Evan made his first trip to Daddy's office today. We went and had lunch at Luby's with Daddy and then Evan had lunch in Daddy's office - yummy! Of course, all of the ladies in Erick's office were so anxious to meet the little man - he stole a few billable minutes from the office!

Nanny's 82nd Birthday

Evan got to meet his Great Grandmother (Nanny) today! We celebrated her 82nd birthday!

Unfortunately Nanny has really had some health problems this year and is in a rehabilitation/therapy facility right now... but she is still sharp as a tack and loved meeting Evan. She's battled cancer again this year and is finally done with chemo and radiation. But during the course of treatment she got a bad infection and had to be hospitalized and then ended up suffering a couple of strokes while she was in the hospital. The main thing that it's all affected is her ability to see. She's lost so much of her sight, so that makes it really hard for her to get around. I actually wasn't able to spend hardly any time with her when I was pregnant because of the infection and radiation (they wouldn't allow it) - so it was great to see her and have her hold Evan for the first time. We love our Nanny and pray that her health will continue to improve every day.

And Evan also got to meet his Great Aunt Linda, Great Uncle Lee and some of his cousins too. We are looking forward to a nice Thanksgiving with my family next week! We'll eat and hang out all day and then all the ladies will spend the night and wake at 4:00am for shopping all day on Friday - we call it the "Boo Ya Sisterhood Shopping Club" and we've been doing it for as long as I can remember!

Evan, 1 month

"Do You Come Here Often?"

Our God Parents

Evan got to meet his God Father, Todd, (oooohhhh.... The God Father) today. Hee hee! Of course, he's already met his God Mother, Susan - she was there for his arrival! These are the two people that we trust the most in the whole world with our two sons. Aunt Susan and Uncle Todd will be a huge part of their lives and we love them very much! Thank you both for all that you do for us - you are our family.

Our Spa Baby

Okay, so the spa consists of a plastic tub filled with warm water... but it is Evan's FAVORITE thing. He absolutely loves his baths. He just sinks right down into the water when you poor the warm water over him.... oh, it's good to be pampered! And he is so relaxed when you wrap him up in the soft towel; he just gets this very content look on his face and enjoys the snuggles. We love a clean baby!

This picture was taken this morning - so this is our little man at 4 weeks old! Where does the time go? Part of me feels like WOW - a month already, and then another part thinks back to the day he was born, and it seems like forever ago! Oh, my sweet little Evan... I'm feeling a little "sappy"... gotta go!

The Ladies Man

No picture for this entry... just wanted to share some of the hilarious things that have been coming from our big Kindergartner lately!

Apparently, he is our little ladies man at school. We're in the car the other day and I asked him who was his best friend at school? I was pretty sure it was this kiddo named Aiden because he's come home with these sweet cards that Aiden has made him with his phone number and pictures of them playing together and on the pictures he writes "BFF" ("Best Friends Forever" for us lame parents). Is that so funny or what?!? Well, so after Preston told me that his best friend was Aiden (and Chase, and Trent, and Mason, and Jacob), then he proceeded to tell me and Erick that he had a girlfriend. We asked her name and he said - "Madison". "Oh, really," we said. Yes, and "I just adore her" Preston added. It was all Erick and I could do to hold in the laughter - and for me a few tears, cause it was just so sweet! He told me that at school he sits in between Madison and another girl - the technical term that my son used for this was that he was "girl trapped". That's a new one.... you go Ladies Man! We are in trouble with those big blue eyes in a few years...

Fall Soccer 2007

Boo hoo - we had our last soccer game this past Saturday! What a beautiful season - not a single rain-out game. Our last game, and the Vipers smoked them like 10-0 (not that we keep score or anything, it's still considered non-competitive)! Go Vipers!

We weren't so sure about having to switch to a new team for the Fall after being on the same great soccer team for the last three seasons. We thought we couldn't be that lucky again to get a great coach and great group of boys... but we weren't wrong. We had the best time this season on the Vipers and Preston just beamed all season. Preston LOVES soccer! These boys are really starting to learn the game and PLAY it! It's an awesome thing to watch and cheer for all of them! And all the parents are great and so much fun - we all really get into it.




As you can see from the pictures of Preston - scoring a goal is pretty exciting stuff! The boys really worked as a team this season!

One funny (my eyes were watering I laughed so hard) story from Preston's last game. So it's the last quarter and Preston's running the ball down for a goal - and SCORE! Preston gets a great goal - whoo hoo!! We all cheered - go Preston. Anyway, then the ref, as they always do, put his hand straight out and pointed to the Vipers side of the field to signify "goal point"... you know, like in football - it makes it official when the ref calls it. Anyway, Preston was so excited running back from the goal that he saw the ref's hand out and immediately slapped him the biggest "High 5" you've ever seen! He totally thought the ref's hand was there for just that reason and Preston was ready to celebrate. It was the cutest and funniest thing ever! Erick and I were rolling. Preston is such a fun-loving and free-spirited kid - he could have fun anywhere and he celebrates life. We adore this about him and hope that he continues to be our family goofball!





And here's Preston with his coach, Coach Robert. He's one of the Dads of course, and he does a fantastic job coaching the boys. Thank you Coach Robert for all the work! And thanks for the great end of season party where the boys got their trophies, team pictures, ate pizza and played liked boys do on the playground!

We're looking forward to many more seasons of soccer, as long as Preston is up for it!

The Announcement

I was so excited to get out Evan's official announcements today! Enjoy these sweet pictures of our newest gift from God and thank you to everyone for sharing in our joy!

Love and Blessings.

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord." 1 Samuel 1:27-28

Our Little Pumpkin... Evan Wilson Cutler

Happy Halloween

Oh, what a fabulous time of the year - my absolute favorite! And now we have an October baby - can you say costume parties! I just love the weather, the colors, the smells, the food and the memories during this time of the year! There's always so much to do... here are a few of our favorites this Halloween!

Since we don't have a "neighborhood" this year in the apartment, we decided to go back to our old neighborhood and continue the tradition of trick-or-treating with our neighbors across the street. They have two boys too. Preston was Darth Vader this year - although wisely opted to not wear the mask that night (he couldn't see). It was cute though - as soon as he put on the mask for pictures, he began to do the famous Darth Vader "deep breathing" and humming Darth Vader's theme song. And of course Evan went trick-or-treating for his first Halloween too - but you guessed it, he napped in the stroller the whole time... oh, the excitement! The weather was so beautiful, it was just a great night - the boys had a ball! I enjoyed strolling around and watching all the kids - I usually have to miss out on this part because I'm at home handing out candy! Probably the funniest part of the night was when the boys (along with a bunch of other kids) went up to a house that really got into the spirit... there was a guy dressed up in a kind of creepy mask with two heads and he was just standing there like a statue... oh, you know what's next... once the kids got close, he began to move towards them and all you heard was kids screaming and dispersing as fast as their legs would take them - it was hilarious! I know, poor kids... but it was all in good fun (Erick and I used to do this kind of thing all the time before kids). Yes, we're sick, we know. Anyway, Preston got up the nerve and walked up close to him, and he was handsomely rewarded with candy! Not too many other kids thought it was worth it! Hee hee! I think it's great the houses that go all out - as long as it's fun. Hey- you're talking to the nut that LOVES our annual tradition of haunted houses with our friends. I was sooo disappointed that we didn't get to do them this year. I think Aunt Susan was scared they would send me into labor!! So we opted for dinner and a movie instead.... there's always next year!

Earlier on Halloween Erick and Preston carved a pumpkin while Mommy dressed up Evan in his costume parade!! Isn't he cute - our little pea pod, shiny gold fish and adorable dragon! Hey - as parents, there are only a couple of years where you get to decide the costume... pretty soon he'll be telling me he wants to be a Ninja Turtle or something!

Our church also had their annual Fall Festival, which was a lot of fun - we had a fantastic turn out! We opted for Captain Jack Sparrow as our costume that night. The kids got to play games, eat lots of food, get treats and see a funny show at the end. Oh yes, Evan was again along for a sleepy ride! I think this may be the first picture of the four of us though - except for the hospital.

I have to say that probably my favorite costume this week was his costume for Awana at church. Awana is a national Christian club that the kids attend once a week - they learn bible verses, stories, play games and fellowship. They earn a vest with patches and jewels, it's a great organization and Preston is learning so much and he loves it! Anyway, this week they had to dress up like a Bible character. We chose to dress up as Noah. So, we went and got Preston a long white beard and hair (yep, that's Preston under the beard below) and then we pinned animals (two-by-two) to him. He was a riot! And he actually won the costume contest for his age group. Too funny! Preston's going to get me for this one some day.... oh well, it was worth it!

This last picture is at Preston's school on Halloween. It's too bad that kids can't dress up at school anymore - I just remember that being such a fun day growing up! But they did offer a fun "sock hop" party to the kids and their parents. They played Limbo, Twister, had a bounce house, lots of fun stuff - Evan and I joined Preston for the morning. It's always neat to visit Preston at school and meet all his friends and he was so proud to show off his new little brother.

We are excited that Fall is here and the holidays are just around the corner - it's going to be a very special holiday season. Love to all!