Evan-Zilla

"If you build it... he will destroy it."

Well, luckily Evan has a very patient and giving big brother, because Evan is nothing short of a miniature Godzilla! We call him "the destructor"! Can you see him above literally trying to climb up a toy so that he can get to the stuff on the table? We are in TROUBLE! Preston never really got into all that much; he was a rule follower. Let's just say that Evan is not! Ha!

So here's another thing that cracks us up. He loves to destroy the train table and chew on the toys, but hey - he doesn't want to be selfish with these toys! No, he wants to share them! Here he is "sharing" a nice, wet, slobbery toy with his brother. He'll do it over and over again, and he'll kind of grunt when he hands it to you like, "here ya go, want some of this?" Um, no thanks.

Okay, so below is a little short movie for you... sit back, relax and enjoy the Evan-Zilla show!

Ladies and gentlemen, we present a beautiful fort built by Preston.... this would be what we call "Pre-Evan"....

And here he is, looks like he has spotted something that needs his attention! He's on his way!

"Well, my goodness - what is this beautiful structure?"

Drum roll please..... feast your eyes on "Post-Evan"... or what he considers "a job well done"!

Oh, the joy of boys! Wouldn't trade them for anything!

We're Not In Kindergarten Anymore

One of my favorite things about Preston is his love for school. He loves everything about school - meeting new people, learning new things, seeing his old friends. His favorite subjects are P.E. of course, Science and going to the library. Oh, and recess if that's a subject! He loves reading, working on projects and still loves to draw. Preston is such a passionate person and he wakes up every morning excited for a new day - thank you, Preston, for being my morning boy... because I unfortunately am NOT! Hee hee!



Well, of course Preston was SUPER thrilled about his first day of first grade! He really felt so big and you know, he felt so big to me too! Something about first grade, it's like they've been initiated and now the real fun begins. Here is Daddy walking him into school the first day - it's so neat to see all the parents with their cameras and smiles on their faces! Preston was sooo happy to see all of his friends!



So this year the kids have desks! Whoo hoo! We came to Meet the Teacher and put up all of his school supplies so they were ready to go on the first day! Oh, I love school supplies... honestly. Although some of the items on the list were HARD to find, I had to buddy up with my friend, Tasha, who also has a first grader in the school district and we helped each other track down those odd items.



And here is Preston with his first grade teacher, Mrs. Alexander. She is a sweetie. Preston loves everyone, but I can already tell that she is going to hold a special place in Preston's heart. She has been teaching three years and has a baby just a little younger than Evan. I know that I can remember just about all of my teachers, so it's pretty special to meet Preston's teachers that may very well have a huge impact on his life. Because during the week, he spends more time at school than at home! Thank you to Mrs. Alexander and to all of those wonderful teachers who spend their lives teaching our children.

I do miss the little man hanging out with me at home and going on fun Summer playdates, but there's also something wonderful about Fall, school and all the new adventures to come! Life does become a little busier in the Fall, but I couldn't ask for a more wonderful little first grader! Good luck in first grade, Preston... now stop growing up so fast!

One Last Hoorah

So with just a few days left before school, we decided to take the older kids to Six Flags for one last Summer playdate! Preston and I were joined by Tasha (with Mason and Colton), Laura (with Annika), and Jenni (with Keaton). We left the little ones at home and had a blast riding all the rides with these big kids! And yes, there was but one girl in the bunch, Annika, and she didn't seem to mind it a bit! She had lots of boys doting on her!

Above is our first ride of the day, and really the only ride where I was able to get a good picture of them all! The day was perfect - it had actually rained that morning, so the park wasn't very crowded and it wasn't scorching hot!



Above are the kids with The Roadrunner - he was too cute and loved playing with the kids! Oh, and the grown-ups too! Below is Laura TRYING to talk on the phone, but The Roadrunner had other ideas... followed her around until he got a laugh!



And I just had to get a picture with FogHorn LegHorn - one of mine and Erick's childhood favorites! It's so great how the kids enjoy the characters that we watched when we were kids too; Preston always asks if "this show" was around when I was a kid... you know, in the "old days"... these characters were kickin' it Old School!



And Mason and Preston were very excited to meet SpongeBob and his best friend, Patrick below. No, it's not the most educational show in the world, but you have to admit that it's funny and SpongeBob really is a good guy, a good friend and of course, always "Employee of the Month". Ha ha!



Here are the kids cooling off in the misters... but of course, they didn't settle for a fine mist, they all ended up walking away drenched!



Some more "old school" favorites below - Speedy Gonzalez and Taz! It felt like we were in Disney World again with all the characters that Six Flags has out now... it's a great change that they've made. What a fun day!

Oh, and I couldn't believe it, but we got Preston on the Shockwave! WOW! I was so excited for him - that he would try a ride that big at only six years old! Although I was pretty sure we were only going to get him on it once, I was unbelievably proud of his courage. He unfortunately didn't like it - his smile turned to a frown as soon as we went down that first hill, but he didn't cry... just muttled his way through the whole ride and said "no thanks" when we asked if he wanted to ride it again. Way to go, Preston! I hope you will always try new things.



Such a fun time - and with three of my sweetest, dearest friends - it's as much fun for the mommies as it is for the kids sometimes! And speaking of dear friends, thanks so much to Aunt Susan who was so generous to watch little Evan for the day so that Preston and I could have a "big kid" day!

My Big Boy Chair

This picture just cracked me up! Evan just loves these chairs and he is so excited to now have his own big boy chair. He loves to crawl up in it and sit... well, if sitting counts when it's only two seconds! Ha! What he really loves to do is crawl up the front and then tip it over, crashing it down - so that he can crawl over the back! Yes, he's our little dare devil... not afraid of anything! We are in TROUBLE! He is such a riot and loves to laugh, and especially loves it when you laugh at him!

Our Water Babies

Well, there probably aren't too many people in Texas that don't like a good swim at the pool in August! And Preston and Evan would swim every day if we could! We have a great neighborhood pool with a big pool and play area and the boys have just loved it this Summer. And so have Mommy and Daddy!

Just wanted to share a few pics playing in the water...



Evan loves playing with his big brother... and Preston just eats it up! Just last night Preston said, "I'm so glad we have Evan." And he shows his love for him every day.

Here's Evan trying to pry those goggles off Preston's face! Ha!



"My Daddy is so much fun!"




Here he is taking a ride in his little swimming crab! Thank you, Elizabeth, for giving this to Evan... it was great fun this Summer!



Love the "do"!



My boys...



"THIS is soooo exciting!"



Love to all! Hope everyone had a great Summer! "Just keep swimming... swimming, swimming, swimming!" Who can guess what that's from?!? Come on, it wouldn't be me if I didn't quote a few movie lines in my blog!

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!