Trying to Keep Up

sorry for the crazy number of catch-up posts today, but evan only napped 4 out of 7 days last week.  and on wednesday, bret brought home a nasty bug that systematically worked its way through the entire family.  not fun.

but, now that grace is more comfortable walking on her own, she loves, loves, loves running around with push toys.  she and evan go up and down and up and down the side walk in front of our house and up and down our driveway.  evan is usually in the lead, and grace is trying her hardest to keep up

she's got her eye on her target as she rounds turns the corner

big cheese out in front

big sprint to the finish

posing after her grueling race :)

Her Shoes are Made for Walkin!



look who has decided that walking isn't all that bad!



and, she really can't figure out why people stand so far away to play cornhole. it is much easier from this distance

and in action!  since she starting taking several steps together the first weekend of august, she walked more frequently.  but, it wasn't until the beginning of september that she started making the choice to walk instead of crawl.  and, now, i don't think i've seen her crawl in about two weeks!

Rain, Rain STAY so we can PLAY

Evan loves playing in the rain, and lucky for for him, his little sister is now a full time walker.  SO, we were actually all able to go outside and play.  they also opted to do one of their new favorite things...walking up and down the sidewalk with their push toys

and apparently grace is thirsty

Photo Shoot...no reason, just because

its not a surprise by now...i LOVE taking pictures.  i especially love taking pictures of my kids, so the other day, i put together an impromptu photo shoot to practice a few things with my camera (that i still have no clue how to use) and to get the kids prepped for a real photo shoot that i'm planning!

is this his pensive face?

NOPE!  It was his i'm eating but also trying to smile face!

"take a picture of my foot mom"

and, finally, a picture with an actual smile

not a smile...not even really sitting down.  i snagged this one as she happened to walk in front of the camera!  but, you can kind of tell how long her hair is getting

and, they are in the same frame, so it counts for a picture together.  i'm fairly confident that i will only get a picture of them together, smiling and looking at the camera once per year.

Last Minute Swimming

One of Bret's friends from high school got married a couple of weekends ago, so our foursome made the trek over to Crown Point to visit Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Pam.  The kids were quite pleased when Mommy and Daddy took off for the afternoon/evening so they could have Grandpa and Grandma all to themselves.  Mommy and Daddy also thoroughly enjoyed a handful of hours of adult time!  The next day, we spent some time with another one of Bret's high school/college friends whose parent's have a very heated pool.  Evan and Grace didn't let not having a suit get in their way of swimming one last time before it got too cold!

getting helping hand to the stairs from bryan

grace getting her first swimming lessons from linda...she was showing her how to blow bubbles, and grace's attempts were really comical.  some bubbles, but mostly eating water.

and here you have it...no special cropping.  this would be evan, by himself (and arm floaties), without being scared at all...SWIMMING!

The Start of 19 (or more) Years of School



Evan started preschool today!  He was SOOOO excited, and it was only mildly annoying that the day started out with a fog that caused a two hour delay.  So, instead of getting up and being on our way, we had a couple of hours to kill before he could get his first taste of his new preschool.  After working full time from E's 3rd month of life until his 27th month, both Evan and I were already pros at a school drop off.  Evan informed me as we were waiting in the car line at the school that he would not be crying....I found it hard not to laugh because we had not been discussing crying at all!  Somehow he picked up that some kids cry when they go to school.  When it was our turn and the teacher helped him get out of his seat, he nearly bolted from the car to the door.  The teacher called after him to say bye to his Mommy, so he did briefly turn his head to say good bye.  When I picked him up, he informed me that he was so happy when I left him at school with his teacher : ).  I feel so very loved and missed..haha.

Today was E's first day at his preschool.  I was really interested in capturing the memory with a cute picture of them together.  Evan and Gracie were really interested in the kids biking up and down the sidewalk across the street from our house.

evan is more willing to stand/sit and smile for endless pictures.  and, grace's dress is in the corner of this picture, so until i crop it out, this counts as a picture of both of them.

and not the best pic of either one of them, but i loved how cute they were holding hands walking down our front sidewalk

Labor Day - Final Days at the Lake

It was a great 2012 at the lake!  Evan enjoyed spending time up there even more this summer than he did last summer, and Bret and I are already looking forward to what the summer of 2013 will bring!

the big kids loved sliding down the slide to aunt betsy

and evan was finally rewarded for his patience with fishing this weekend...he caught two fish!

evan and ebie also went tubing for the first time (with an adult) this summer

and he loved it!  he actually requested to speed up a couple of times.  i think i might have missed my golden opportunity to tube with him.  i was never a fan of speedy and wild tubing, and if his first go around is any indication, evan is the exact opposite.

bret was a trooper in the small tube....it only took him a couple of hours to regain feeling in his feet after having them wedged inside the tube

matching shades!

ebes and evan also LOVED the new boat that made an appearance this weekend. 

grace was a little sad that she didn't get any cake like the big kids, but she did manage to scrap a few crumbs off of evan's plate! 

grace also tried to help claire learn a few new tricks...climbing in and out of the baby pool, and emptying a wipes container