Evan Update

He's only a few weeks away from 18 months. You know what we're excited about! Nursery! YIPPEE! Too bad they don't take 'em for the whole 3 hours...

Evan has some cute sayings these days. When we tell him to say thank you, he says "eh come". You know, because "You're Welcome" comes after "Thank You". Get it? My other favorite is when I tell him something, like "Don't take your shoes off," he says "Otaaay" and then does it anyway.

His latest skill, in addition to talking, is taking off his clothes. He can't do shirts yet, but he wasn't wearing one prior to this photo. Just shorts and a diaper. Those came off pretty quick and we found him updating his resume on the computer in the nude.


Here is the first in a series of Owie photos:
He stepped off the curb and crashed onto his forehead and nose. Ouch.

And here we are Sunday morning. Evan had just been bumped and he fell against the fireplace on his cheek. We're glad it wasn't an inch higher.
By Tuesday, the swelling is gone, but a nasty black eye is still there.
The 2 dads that bring their kids to Edie's preschool class both got a kick out of our little boxer. I was slightly disturbed that they thought Evan's eye was so awesome!

For Karin, the Other Pregnant Sister

Don't ever surprise your pregnant sister, unless you are totally prepared for some tears.

Saturday, Elizabeth's friends threw her a baby shower and Jill surprized her by flying up for the afternoon. Isn't Jill fabulous?? Karin knew it was going down and was insanely jealous that she couldn't come too. So we took a little footage, for Karin's sake. Because you also never want to make your pregnant sister mad.

Mini Trip to Monterey

The kids think we went to Monterey on Friday because they were so good on Thursday. That's what I told them, but not exactly the truth. They were good on Thursday, runnning around with me to a few different stores, getting ready for an activity at school I was helping with. But Pie and I were already planning on taking the big boys out of school early Friday to go to Monterey so we could go to the Aquarium. I just didn't tell the kids of our plans until Friday morning. A little positive reinforcement is good, right?

We got to Monterey about 6:00 Friday night. We got a hotel room and the excitement began right away. The elevator was out of order, and we attempted to take all our stuff up to our room in one trip. The kids had their pillows and the grown-ups hands were full of bags and port-a-cribs and babies. In the stairwell, Pie was leading the way and stopped to open the door to our floor. Edie didn't see that he stopped and ran into him, lost her balance and fell down half a flight of concrete stairs. Luckily, she wasn't hurt at all, but she was very scared. Even when she calmed down, she was pretty reserved for a while (see below photo!) and demanded to be carried up and down those stairs with her eyes closed.


Having fun in the hotel room. Probably the people in the rooms next to ours thought we had a little too much fun.

Saturday we got up, had a lovely McDonalds breakfast, drove around scenic Monterey for a while, and then went to the Aquarium. I love that place. We hadn't been in about 10 years and they've really added a lot.
Dean & Edie checking out the Kelp Forest.

I like this photo because you can see Dean's and Evan's reflections in the shark tank.

This was, by far, my favorite exibit. The touch pools were full of awesome animals we were encouraged to touch (gently please!) and explore. Drew and I were the only ones that took advantage of it.

Dean liked the wave room, designed to give us an idea of the power of the crashing waves and appreciate the animals that live in the surf.

I turned off the flash to get the color of the jellies right. That's why it's a little fuzzy.

Evan was finally allowed out of the stroller at the HUGE! million gallon exibit full of sharks and tunas and mahi mahis. Evan loved the giant fish. We sat down right in front of the window and stayed for about 20 minutes, ooohing and aahhing. He let us know his objections when we tried to put him back in the stroller, as anyone who has spent time with a toddler can imagine.

We decided to check out one more exhibit, the penguins, before we left. And guess who we met there? That's not a fair question because I don't think any of you ever met her. One of my old college roomates, Laura A, and her husband and little girl were there. I hadn't seen her since leaving Davis, almost 10 years ago. What are the chances??

All in all, it was a lovely weekend trip, made better by the fact that all of us slept really well in our own beds Saturday night. We should do this kind of thing more often.

Who needs Rock Band?

So I'm keeping an eye out for Rock Band for Wii. The kids love Guitar Hero, but I'm leaning toward Rock Band because it's 4 player. If they ever make it, I'll find a reason to get it.

But really, who needs the fancy stuff when we have Tinkertoys and imaginations?
Dean is lead singer. Very dramatic, I think.


Edie's the drummer.


Drew playing a guitar solo.


Rock on, Evan. Rock on.

Sunday Discotech

It's kind of turned into a weekly tradition. We eat dinner, then dance away the calories. Well, the kids dance, with all kinds of crazy new moves. The adults cheer them on. Queen is a favorite with everyone.



Another quick video. Evan is cuter than any of those other kids.

In the Back Backyard

This is the first year that we've let the kids go to the back backyard (the greenbelt area behind our house) without an adult. They're close enough that I can hear them when I open the windows, even if they're hidden by the scrub oaks. They think they're really far away and have grand adventures and I can hear it all. Win-Win, isn't it? Reminds me of the little green house in Ohio with the huge forest behind it that Mom let us play in all alone.

They love to be outside now. When it was raining a lot, the stream and surrounding mud provided more appeal than TV and now that it's drier, they meet Drew's friends out there and build stuff. I don't know what. Whenever I am allowed out there, I can't see anything.

We had our good friends over to play one day of Spring Break and my kids took them out to trek around. They all determined we have the best backyard in all the world. I agree. I hope we never move.

Checking out the bike jumps that some teenage boys built

Showing our friends the "secret bridge"

Cute kids, huh? :)