WHAT a weekend

First, we had a new addition to the Shaffer family! Zoe Virginia Missey is Evan's first cousin, and he was pumped about her arrival...not as much as Daddy (Brian) and Mommy (Kate - my sister) were though! Then, Uncle Phil came to visit for the whole weekend. I had a great weekend at home with my boys and brother. With a 3:1 adult to kid ratio, I even managed a nap on Sunday!

saying good morning to the dogs. he was in complete heaven with two dogs.

stopping to smell the flowers.

Getting chased by Uncle Phil

its not the weekend without a little dancing

high five to a great weekend.

master of the slide

My little helper

I am completely aware that I will regret this decision very soon. You show Evan something once, and he has it down. SO, as soon as he is strong enough and coordinated enough to push a chair, he will probably remember that he can use it to get something on the counter.

But, today, he wanted to help make dinner!

and while dinner was in the oven, he wanted to go spend time with his favorite toy! every time evan gets in our backyard, he beelines to the hose. if he discovers how to turn it on, we are toast!

A little bit of talking!

He has Daddy down! Then he shoves an entire cracker in his mouth...big mistake. But he recovered nicely : )

Ball

LOVE the zoo

Evan and I took a trip to the zoo this morning. We took a different route this time and saw the "ocean" animals first THEN worked our way back to the prairie. The result - LOTS of sleeping penguins and polar bears, BUT the monkeys, giraffes and zebras were up and at 'em! Evan still loved the farm animals the best. We were the only ones in that area at the time, so he didn't have to elbow his way to the front. He stuck his little hand right through the fence so that he could touch a pig AND a goat! I nearly bathed him in Purell afterwards, but he thought it was really funny to touch both animals.

Evan's two favorite words/sounds are Ball and BAAAAA. So, all objects were a ball at the zoo and all animals went baaaaaaaa. From the front to the back, Evan was pointing at everything and asking ball?. This was a snippet of our conversation from the farm animals to the prairie...

E: "ball?"

Mommy: "No, that is grass. TALL grass"

E: "ball?"

Mommy: "No that is a tree."

E: "ball?"

Mommy: "No, that is a table."

E: "ball?"

Mommy: "No, those are flowers."

E: "ball?"

Mommy: "No, those are zebras."

The bunnies!!!!!

The cows! He nearly ran to see the cows from the bunnies. Cows actually go BAAAAA in E's world

Water break - but there is SOOO much to see!!!

Up for a quick game of horse?

Evan in the not so distant future will be striking this same pose (minus the paci and carseat) saying "Hey Mom. You can drop me off to meet my friends at the basketball court right...we're gonna shoot some hoops".