Evan Is 10 Months Old

I'm sure all my mommy friends can relate that it kind of makes me sad to be writing about Evan being 10 months old already! Where has the time gone? My little baby is growing into a toddler full of personality! He is such an amazing joy! God's plan is always so perfect; it's hard to remember our family before this little man arrived. He's our sweet little "Schmoopie" and we just can't get enough of him.

Just wanted to share a few pictures from the last month or so... just a few, yea right! Come on, it's me...

He rarely enjoys his exercauser anymore... but for some reason a couple of weeks ago he thought it was the greatest thing ever... I guess because he hadn't played in it for quite some time... he's a man on the move and doesn't want to be "contained"! But here he is putting on quite a show in his exercauser... he gets so excited, squeals with excitement and just starts jumping around like a wild man! You just can't get enough of his infectious laugh and smile... Daddy says he's too cute for his own good! The second picture below just makes me laugh.









Here we are before heading out to the pool - we always like playing with the sunscreen in his hair - makes for some funny hair-dos!



And of course, these days he is all about putting things in his mouth - it is his mission in life! He gets himself in the funniest positions trying to cram things in his mouth! He is Evan, King of the Drool, and still King of the Spit Up too, it's a full-time job to follow around after him with a burpie... he leaves quite the trail!



Everyone laughs at his teeth - he got his bottom two center teeth, but then has only gotten his top two eye teeth after that - so he looks like our little vampire! Or... sometimes he looks like our little "bubba" who needs to put his front dentures back in! hee hee! Here he is showing those top teeth.



Evan on the move... oh, man is he into everything?! I mean, EVERYTHING! Even if you are holding him and walking around, it's best to just keep moving - because if there is something on the wall or the counter or anything within reach - he will grab it! We're trying to teach him the word "no", but most of the time he just grins when you tell him "no". But oh, every once in a while he is not too happy with you when you tell him "no", or have to take something away. He gives you a big "ehhhh" and crawls away. He is so fast and goes for everything that's he's not supposed to... Preston was and is such a rule follower, but we can already tell that Evan is not going to follow the rules! We put him in a high chair in the restaurant after church the other day and before we could even get both feet into the high chair he had completely cleared the table of all plates, utensils, crayons, anything within reach! Oh, help! Good thing he's cute...

He is such a happy little guy, the only time he fusses is when he's tired. He LOVES to sleep and loves to ride in the car - he is a very good traveler and just goes with the flow when we have to run brother all around town to camps, practices, school, etc...



He's also all about pulling himself up on things and walking around things. He loves to let go and can balance for quite a while - he's still only taken 2-3 steps so far. But he has almost mastered standing up by himself in the middle of the room... here he is trying!



Triceratops... yummy!



Ain't that the truth... "Feed Me and Nobody Gets Hurt!" Actually Evan would much rather play than eat... in fact, he loves to play while he's eating - what a mess! All of you that have been around this little guy knows that he loves to makes funny sounds and faces... we've got a new sound we call the "old geezer".... it's like he's only breathing out and trying to talk, it's so funny. And speaking of talking - he says "Dadda" and "Bubba" very clearly, although I'm not sure if he knows what he's saying yet. But as for "Mamma", I am "Bwa Bwa".



Here's another one of his favorite games... the FAN! He loves fans... especially the floor fans. He's plays this game where he crawls up to them, let's the air hit his face and then giggles and crawls away really fast... he does it over and over again - back and forth. It's hysterical and he cracks himself up!



These two boys love each other so much. Preston is an outstanding big brother and praises every little thing that Evan does and can't wait until he wakes up so he can play with him. And Evan just lights up when he sees Preston.



Okay, how about this face? This is what Evan thinks of "real food"! He has no interest in those Gerber puffs or Cheerios or Biter Biscuits. Apparently they are DISGUSTING! "I'll stick with the baby food, mom!"



"What? You want me to eat this? This is soooo not edible."



My sweet boy, you can kind of see his teeth here too.



Well, nap time is just about over. Better go get that wild and crazy guy! Love to all!

The Sweetest Handyman

It's every day that I realize how truly blessed I am to have such an amazing husband in Erick. I could not ask for a better partner, friend and father for our sons. He is so patient and fun and shows his love for us every day. Thank you, Daddy!! Just had to brag on you just a little bit...

And so the picture above was hilarious! We have these niches going up our back set of stairs and well, of course I must decorate them! The first one wasn't hard, you could kind of reach it from the stairs. But the one further down the stairs was a little trickier! I actually had to hoist Erick up into the niche so that he could hang some pictures in there for me! So, we got them all hung - and then the harder part... getting down! Ha! He had to trust on me to lower him down! I'm sure we won't be changing the decor in these niches anytime soon!



And here are my two fabulous handymen hard at work painting the base coat for the kitchen! It was a Saturday morning and I got a wild hair that today was the day I wanted to faux finish the kitchen! So while I was next door helping a neighbor with decorating her house, my boys were hard at work painting! They quickly got on the basecoat in time for me to come home and do the faux finish on top.... which wasn't so quick, I think we were up until about 2:00am and then still had more left to do the next morning before we had dinner guests over later that day! Kitchens are so time-consuming because you've got to tape and work around all the cabinets, etc... Again, I don't think we'll be changing the paint color in here for a while! I'm glad it's DONE! Thank you Daddy for working so hard and being the BEST painter! And thank you my little handyman, Preston, for helping paint every room with Daddy... you are a great helper!



Okay, so this picture above... I had to just get it from inside the house, so it's through the window. I didn't want these guys who were helping with our landscape to wonder why the weird lady in the house was taking a picture of them literally jack-hammering our yard! Yes, jack-hammering! So, can you see next to us that we still have an empty lot next door, and can you see all the rock? No, there wasn't a truck that came and dropped off a bunch of cool rock... that's what is underneath our houses out here! I remember when they were digging the trenches for our foundation - they had to bring out special machinery to get the holes deep enough - it delayed the house at least two weeks. It was crazy! Good for foundation though! We always joke that they didn't even need to pour a foundation, they could have just started building! By the way, Preston loves going to "dig" for "fossils" in this rocky lot next door... if I even go out to check the mail he's running behind me and over to the lot next door to dig for "fossils".

So, anyway... back to the guys above. We were in the house a few days and noticed that our trees were a little crooked. So we kept calling the landscapers and asking them to come out and straighten up our trees. So they came out and attempted to re-stake our trees to help them, but after "digging" for quite some time the little guy knocked on my door and said "I'll have to come back with my jack-hammer tomorrow!" He couldn't even dig a big enough hole for a tree stake! So, here they are.... they had to jack-hammer and re-stake all of our trees! Unfortunately, before they could get them all done, two of our trees in the backyard fell over and we are praying that they will survive... poor little trees, just trying to survive in this Texas rock and Texas heat!

Well, back to some more "to do's" and I'm sure some more "honey do's" for my honey!

Vacation Bible School 2008

Preston is always so excited about Vacation Bible School every Summer. This year they took a "Trek through the Amazon". Above is Preston with is crew leader and my dear friend, Summer. They learned all about the seven C's of the bible... Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross and Consummation. Our church always puts so much into this week; we wouldn't miss it! It is such a fun and Christ-filled week for the kiddos! And yes, Preston's favorite parts are all about playing with his friends and being a kid... but I know he's also learning about our Savior all week and all the wonderful things that he created for us in this world.

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better." - Ephesians 1:17

Thank you Summer - for your wonderful friendship and for teaching the kids this year. Preston was so excited that you were his leader! And thank you to Catherine, who hosted a post-VBS party at her house... a party that was all boys, whew!

Dinosaur Valley

Well, of course - what family with a couple of boys wouldn't enjoy a place called Dinosaur Valley State Park! What a fabulous place - it made for a great, and very hot, Texas Saturday!



Above are Erick and Evan sitting in dinosaur tracks - these were some of the biggest that we saw...



Most of the tracks were actually in water - in this beautiful and very cool and refreshing river. It was really a lot of fun walking through the river looking for tracks.... can you kind of see the three-toed track to the right of Preston, up a little? Way cool to walk where the dinosaurs once walked!



But of course, in between searching for tracks we had to take a dip in the river! Outside AND water - my boys couldn't have been happier! Okay, so there was a spell where my six-year old son could have been happier, but oh well - it was hot, and he was very excited... and he got over it! Oh, one day I will laugh as I look back at my six-year old rolling his eyes at me and stomping away... but I'm just not ready to call it "funny" yet! Ha!



We went with our friends, the Sutherlands - here are the kids enjoying the river.



Below - Evan absolutely LOVED his first ride in the backpack! He never made a peep, just fell asleep when he got tired and then woke up and enjoyed the ride... thanks Daddy for being our baby mule! Hee hee!



It was such a beautiful place with all sorts of rocks and trails to hike through... you could easily spend a couple of days exploring.



Here's Daddy pointing out some more tracks to Preston...



So, after visiting the actual park area we had to make one more stop... we had seen signs for it all the way in to the park.... but what else other than DINO WORLD! How could we resist?



And although it was incredibly hot - yes, still hot, Dino World had literally over 100 life-size dinosaurs replicas on this beautiful trail... the kids enjoyed seeing all the different types of dinosaurs - so many that I have never even heard of.... and believe me, having a six year old boy - I've read about some dinosaurs!

And probably Preston's favorite thing of the day was at Dino World - the kids got to "dig for fossils". Preston found three shark teeth - they are a prized possession and have a special place in our home!



If you haven't been... it's really something you should put on your calendar... but I'm thinking we'll go back in the Fall or Spring! A great relief was dinner and treats at Dairy Queen on the way home... yummy!

Mommy's Favorite Band

I know, this a horrible picture... it's all I could get last Summer when we went and saw my favorite band in concert - Third Eye Blind. They didn't allow you to take cameras in - so I tried to get a quick shot with the phone! I just downloaded a bunch of old pictures from Erick's phone the other day and thought I'd finally blog about one of my favorite nights! It was a sold-out concert where literally EVERYONE was singing EVERY word to every song...

So, let me say up front that I love Third Eye Blind for their music; I appreciate them as songwriters, artists and musicians. They have political and religious views that I absolutely do not share, and no - their music is not always politically correct. It's not something that I listen to with the boys in the car - not that there are bad words all over the place, it's just not always the right message for them. Plus, it's music that I like to jam to by myself when I'm driving to a scrapbook retreat or something! Hee hee!

So, Erick and I have seen them four times in concert... this picture is from the last time we saw them, last July. Yes, I was literally 7 months pregnant... definitely not the norm at a rock concert! I was looking for more pregnant mommies, but none were to be found... I thought about going backstage and begging for them to let the pregnant lady in to meet them! Ha!

I have such good memories associated with their music... some of our dear friends, Molly and Jared - who now live in San Francisco, are also fans and their music always reminds me of them. And when Erick and I were married about a year, we took a trip to Colorado (drove) and we only had two CDs in the car, and as the radio went in and out - Third Eye Blind's debut CD was played too many times to count. That was one of my most favorite vacations with my husband, and so this CD brings back memories of our road trip!

So even though they are all very liberal musicians - I can certainly appreciate that they are a brilliant band and I can't wait to see them in concert again!

ROCK ON!

A Fishin' We Will Go

"Teach a boy to fish...." and well, he'll be obsessed about fishing and talk about it from sun-up to sun-down every day. We have created a "fishin' monster" in Preston. He is always thinking about that "next fish". Hee hee!

It wasn't his first time fishing, but it was by far his most exciting fishing expedition! Preston would want me to be sure and tell you that he caught six fish that day! Can I even tell you the excitement level when he got home?!? I got to hear about every fish in detail, especially the one bass they caught! We actually couldn't believe that the little lake (pond, really) in our neighborhood had that many fish in it! Don't worry - we put them all back so that the next little fisherman can enjoy too!

Enjoy these pics of Preston with his "catches of the day".... sorry they're not great pics, Daddy took them on his camera phone; although I am so happy to just have these pics at all - couldn't imagine not having these moments caught on camera! Thank you, Daddy!

HAPPY FISHING!

Going All Fancy Pants

So, I've had lots of fun working on the blog today and making it a little more colorful! I even got wild and crazy and added music too! Thanks to my girlfriend, Lisha, for always inspiring me to be a better blogger!

Soccer Camp 2008

Well, this is both mine and Preston's favorite week every Summer. It's the third Summer that we've done the British Challenger Soccer Camp. It is such a fun time for the kids and the adults! I just can't talk high enough about it. They always have the most amazing set of coaches every year - most of them are British, but some Scottish, South African... just a great group of young guys and girls that LOVE what they do! They make the week all about teaching them soccer through fun games, silly cheers and TOTAL TEAMWORK! It's a huge camp, there were at least 200 kids there and they say this is their biggest camp all Summer, every year - WOW!

Above is Preston with his team - "TEAM SWANSEA". Of course, I had never heard of Swansea City before... apparently it's a great professional team in Whales. They had to dress up in their team colors every day and played scrimmages against other "pro" teams.



Here is Preston getting his shirt signed by his wonderful coach, "Coach Mike"!



And every day the coaches give them "homework" and on this day, can you guess it - dress up your coach day! It was hilarious.... what good sports - it was literally 102 degrees outside!



Above is Preston with his friend, Caroline, who is also our neighbor. She was at the camp too and we had fun riding to camp with her in the mornings. The kids were loaded with lots of water and sunscreen! These pictures above and below are on the last day where they had to make a team jersey and flag and could do face paint, hair paint, etc... I tried my hand at the jersey! Preston loved it! And I did my best to paint a swan on his face below... it was hot though, and his nose kept itching! Hee hee!

Until next Summer.... game on!

Hello Spartacus

"Hello Spartacus" is what Erick said when he saw this picture of Evan. Can you tell he is so very proud of his accomplishment? I found him this way when I went in to get him the other morning.

While Erick thought of Spartacus, my first thought was, "and here we have, Evan, in a boyish one-shoulder sleeper perfect for day or evening wear; notice the blue and white stripes with red detail. A must have in your wardrobe..."

What a goofy kid!

My Mamma Dresses Me Funny

"Chicks dig my muscles"

So I'm a sucker for a funny onesie... whether it's on the front, or on the bum! I just had to get some pics of some of my favorites...







It's kind of hard to tell, but of course this one above is on the backside of the onesie.... appropriately!



Can't read this one above really... the little man was too busy that day! But it says, "Hello, I'm new here."







We got the one above months before he was even born at the "Star Wars" museum. This is the backside of the onesie, the front says "Future Jedi Master". Of course, Preston loves this one!



Above - "Little Ladies Man".... Erick and I used to love that skit on Saturday Night Live.



And this one is especially funny, considering Daddy is a tax CPA!