Happy Birthday Packaw!

This weekend was Packaw's birthday, and he decided that he wanted to spend the weekend hanging out with our crew.  Evan must have known that Packaw, Grammy, Uncle Phil and Samantha were going to be coming up that evening because he took a crazy good nap.  SO, he got to stay up to help Packaw blow out the candles on his cake...or blow out his pretend candles since I failed to dig any up to put on his cake.

And, if anyone was ever curious where Evan's goofy personality comes from...now you know.

I want to be a FIREFIGHTER!  Today was "when I grow up, i want to be" day at Evan's preschool.  We had been instructed to talk to our kids about careers and what their loved ones did for a job, and then, help our child dress up like their favorite profession for school.  Well, as soon as I explained the concept to Evan, he immediately yelled, "I want to be a BIG Fireman"!!!  We still had the what our loved ones do talked, but he was dead set...he is going to be a big fireman when he grows up.  I guess when the firefighters came to school to go over fire safety, it left a big impression on him!

Best Buds

We could not have been more excited when the house next door to us sold to a family that had KIDS!!!  The parents are close to Bret and I's age, and they have a boy in 2nd grade, a daughter that is in preschool (at E's preschool) and a new baby.  Evan has had SO much fun playing with the two older kids, and I'm sure once the little guy gets a couple of years under his belt, Grace will have a good friend right next door.  EVERY day when Evan wakes up he talks about going next door to play with his friends, and Holly tells me that if they are coming home and her kids see Evan outside, they don't even go into their house.  Both kids immediately come outside to play with him.  Luckily, the weather was crazy nice this last week, so from the moment he got up from his nap until dinner time, Evan was outside playing hard with his best bud Cate. 

and, grace entertained herself getting into and out of the wagon!

Getting our fill of the outdoors

Grace took her new kicks for a run.  she worked hard for these shoes...you would have thought the sales person was trying to sever her feet instead of just trying to put her foot on the thingy they use to determine what size they need.  this "not a fan of strangers, especially ones that try to touch me" kind of child screamed, cried and clawed at me the entire time...super pleasant experience for all involved!

both kids had a blast loading a "new" toy up with leaves and then driving the truck across the driveway to dump the leaves.  this is a truck that evan found at my grandma mary's house when we were visiting a couple of weekends ago.

evan loves dump trucks!

grace watching intently as evan created leaf flurries off one of the bushes by our house

and decided it looked like fun, so she joined in!

this was right after evan told me that it was magic that the leaves were flying off the bush.  and then he said, "look at all the magic my hands are making".

Soccer Season Wraps Up

Evan's first soccer season is in the books!  He had a great time playing with his team every week (sometimes twice a week!), and he was really sad that today was the last game.  We were impressed with the changes we saw in him throughout this season.  At first he was fairly timid and was very overwhelmed when he was goalie and had 10 kids charging his way, but by this last game, he was more than willing and ready to throw himself into the center to try to kick the ball!  He also even had a great save when he played goalie today.  Next year we are really going to focus on which direction to run....he would get so excited to have a chance to run and kick the ball that he sometimes forgot that he was charging down the field towards his on team's goal.

lining up to play defense...very loose sense of the word in a 3-5 year old league.  after 30 seconds of a ball in play on the field and everyone (sometimes even including the goalie) is offense

listening intently on daddy's pointers while playing goalie

go evan!

super excited about his trophy that the coach gave all the kids



Putting Their Heads Together for Playtime

Why play walking AROUND the table when you can sit on it...thank goodness this was handmade with love (and extra support for cases like this one) by Packaw.  And, I guess occasionally bumping heads is a lot less frustrating than running into each other as you drive your train around the track.

Preschoolers Picking Pumpkins

It was pumpkin picking day for Evan's preschool class.  All 9 kids in his class (plus 10 chaperons...not too bad of a kid to parent ratio!) and a couple other classes from the school trekked to a local pumpkin patch.  Evan's teacher paired kids to ride with their buddies, so E and I rode with his best bud and his Mommy.

His partner in crime.  It was pretty funny to hear them chatting away on the car ride over to the pumpkin patch and then on the way back to the school

in pumpkin school.  they had a quick lesson on planting, harvesting and all the different crops on the farm.  some parents were taking notes on what particular seeds made certain pumpkins, so i guess the class was for the young and the old!  evan really did listen too because when we got home, he showed me the spot on the bottom of the pumpkin and informed me that the flower made that spot.  i listened too, so I knew he was right : )!

searching for the perfect pumpkin.  this patch caters to small kids and school tours, so they have specific patches for certain age groups.  the preschool patch only had pumpkins that would be small enough for the kids to carry by themselves.

posing in the patch.  multiple parents and teachers commented on how evan was a ham and did such a great job smiling for pictures.  i just said that he realized early on that i would stalk him until he smiled, so he discovered that it was easiest to give in early.

and the perfect pumpkin!  well, not sure if it was the perfect pumpkin, but after he passed up 1 billion other ones and 95% of the class was back on the wagon, i convinced him that this one had to be the BEST pumpkin in the patch.

class pic!

Showering Lady Shook

This past weekend, Bret and I with 3 of our closest couple friends co (or quad) hosted a baby shower for Evan and Lauren Shook.  I have to say, if I am ever going to host another shower, I plan on doing it with no less than 3 other hostess (specifically, I would like those hostesses to be Lindsey, Kristen and Danielle).  The shower was beautiful, and I have never had so much fun planning and prepping for a shower.

Lindsey and I's pride and joy that almost never was.  I was in charge of painting the pumpkins, and Linds was in charge of flowers.  I showed up with this one uncarved (as we had originally planned), and we debated back and forth on whether we should attempt to carve it and use it as a vase.  Best decision we made all day.  I am obsessed.  I may or may not have suggested that I carry it around during the shower to ensure that everyone saw it.

pumkins with the future Lady Shook's name guided guest in the door and up the stairs.

biscuit tried to make himself a gift for the mommy and daddy.  future mommy would not have been sad about that, but his current mommy might have been.  he might have climbed up to the table to get away from four very specific hands that were following him everywhere to pet him, to lay on him, and to carry him everywhere.  those hands belonged to my apparently cat obssessed children. 

the guest book

and oh. my. goodness. the desserts.  TWO different kinds of icing on white mini cupcakes...i ate 24 of the cinnamon ones alone. and yummy pumpkin bars that in a very happy surprise, also turned out to be good for you. 



ball jars for the beverages.



more ball jars

id tags for the foods



and the cutest pumpkin banner i have ever seen

The SOON to be Mommy and Daddy

evidence of the torture that biscuit endured the weekend that we stayed at his house



Quilting, Crafting and Playing

Thanks to my Aunt Krisce, I have been able to get super crafty in the last month!  She has loaned me gobs of incredibly nice quilting gear, passed on great advice on how to quilt, and she has even given me about a day a week of childcare so that I can actually accomplish a few of my goals!  Since I was in a quilting and holiday/festive mood, I decided to make Grace a candy corn shirt...complete with a matching hair clip!  I was really excited about how darn cute the shirt turned out, and grace may or may not be wearing the shirt every other day.  what?  its super soft too!

two of grace's favorite things...a baby doll (particularly this one that has eyelids/eyelashes that open and close) and a rocking chair.  grace is fascinated by eyelids and eyelashes.  she gets side tracked while going to bed by her own, and if you are holding her, most of the time, you are bobbing around her finger that she continuously jabs at your eye in an attempt to touch your eyelashes.

we put our  house for sale in the winter of last year/early this year.  before that, i boxed up a ton of stuff to make the house seem like it had more room and more storage.  grammy and packaw are still trying to bring some of those boxes back...almost a year later.  one of the boxes that had been forgotten in their basement ended up being stuffed with toys from the old playroom.  opps.  it was like christmas morning when that box reappeared in the new playroom.

the finished quilt.  sorry aunt krisce...just because i finished it doesn't mean that you can have some of your gear back and stop babysitting my kids.  it was waaaay too nice to have the opportunity to get my craft on while someone else watched my kids! : )

Ponytails and Pigtails

gracie's hair has gotten a lot longer, and it is now officially in her eyes and looking more than a little on the shaggy side.  so, i have been trying to pin it back to keep it out of her face.  but, then, i noticed that her hair is now long enough for a pony tail or pig tails!  after giving it a go, i discovered that no matter where the ponytail or pigtail is, the hair sticks straight out.  it is hilarious!

Soccer Time!

after being gone for the first game and sick for the second game, third game was a charm for e man!  he could not have been more excited to see his teammates and get out there for his first game.  he even got to spend some time at the most coveted position for all the players...goalie.  in the two games he has played since this, we have noticed that he is much more comfortable on offense.  he even took the ball down the entire length of the field during the last game!  not bad for being 2 years younger than all the other players!

channeling his uncle brian as the goalie

 

focus. focus. focus.

Cleaning and Reading

evan really, really, really wanted to swim one afternoon.  unfortunately it was not swimming weather.  i couldn't persuade him otherwise, and he took it upon himself to get changed into his suit.  so, we compromised and he helped me clean out his pirate ship before we bring it in for the winter.  grace was instantly intrigued and wanted to help out...she was not in her suit.

and she ended up getting more wet than evan

after i finally convinced evan that he was freezing (the shaking and blue lips didn't clue him in), we came inside and got cozy.  at one point, evan asks me to help him get his tools.  he immediately goes over to his trike and says "mommy, its ok.  i'm just going to do some work and fix up my bike for a minute".

at the same time, grace had worked her way into her favorite spot for her favorite activity.  if you don't know where she is, you can probably find her sitting on the hearth "reading" books.  since this picture, i borrowed a basket from my mom and filled it up with some books to put next to the fireplace.  and, i've moved evan's pb kids chair up from the basement, so she can have a cozier place to read. 

not one to be left out, evan quickly joined in the reading session

Painting the Bath

it was raining, and it was cold.  and, evan and grace are having a sibling moment (whenever she touches ANYTHING, it instantly is his favorite, has to have it immediately or he will fall apart toy).  so, i decided it was time for an indoor activity.  so, we whipped up some diy bath paint, stripped down and spent a beautiful, argument free hour.  first they painted, then i pulled grace out and evan went to town scrubbing and spraying the tub/shower clean.  it was amazing.  i really should brainstorm more activities like this and do one a day to cut down on the sibling bickering...note to self.

mr. picasso

ms. picasso

putting their heads together

and realizing homemade bath paint IS NOT YUMMY