New Photos

Okay, I'm a bit behind, but I did get some photos up on the photo blog. Still to come...Halloween and Birthday. :)

Evan's Closing in on Lap 3!!!

Well another birthday is coming up for Evan and this year we are doing a Cars themed birthday because he still loves that movie and his little car toys. I found a cute Cars invitation you can order personalized online, but there's no way I'm paying for something I can duplicate on my own computer! :) So, here is what I did. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I'm going to do a Cars cake too, of course, but it won't be too elaborate, just a simple 9" round that will have a racetrack, Lightning McQueen and Mater on it. That cake will be for the candles. Last weekend we transplanted all our daffodil, tulip and hyacinth bulbs and my wrists got very sore pulling all those bulbs apart. I'm not sure they are up to a lot of piping, so simple will be better this year. I'm going to do cupcakes on the side in Lightning McQueen wrappers with little cupcake toppers and little cars sprinkles. I have a really cool cupcake holder that I got from Sherylee last year, so they will look cute in that. I think Evan will be pretty thrilled with it all!

Your Phone is Laughing

I recorded Evan laughing and put that on my phone as my ring tone. I love it! That's why if you call me, I am probably smiling when I answer. :) The other day my phone rang and Evan said to me, "Mommy, your phone is laughing."

Just Chillin'

Evan is sitting on Gary's lap on the rocking chair. I just asked him, "Are you chillin' with Daddy?" His response, "no, he's hot." :)

I Really, Really Want One

Evan keeps saying, "I really, really want one. I really, really want one. I really, really want one." He won't tell me what he really, really wants though.

Chilly

When Evan was a little baby and would wake up really early in the morning, we would just tuck him in between us in our bed and we'd all get another hour or so of sleep. He grew out of this very quickly and for the last 2 years or so, he never wants to get in bed and cuddle in the morning. He'll get on the bed and play, but never just lay still and get some more sleep. He'd rather wake up at the crack of dawn and get his day started. :) Well this morning he got up nice and early and was playing while we were still in bed. Before long, in came Evan to my side of the bed and wanted up on the bed. I helped him up and he was still for a minute and then said, "It's kind of chilly out there." He said it a couple of times and it was so cute. He didn't lay still for very long, but maybe this will be the start of something new... I guess we can test it out tomorrow morning when we really want to stay in bed to enjoy a Saturday morning of not having to get up so early. I doubt it, but one can always hope!

Vacuuming

It was our turn to help clean the church today. I cleaned all the bathrooms, fun for me. It was WAY more fun last time because Julie and I yacked the whole time while we worked. While I was doing that, Gary was vacuuming the halls and classrooms with the big vacuum. He got the regular sized vacuum out for Evan to use because he wanted to help too. Gary didn't turn Evan's vacuum on, but Evan pushed that thing up and down the halls and it kept him entertained for 1 1/2 hours while we cleaned. It was pretty cute and he thought he was so big being able to help like that. It was good for him to learn that we all do our part to keep the church building nice. Maybe Evan won't be scared of the vacuum at home now.

Which brings me to another vacuum story... :) Lately Evan has been scared of the vacuum, who knows why. On the movie Finding Nemo, there is a part where Nemo is getting dared to go touch the boat. He doesn't want to and the other little fish tell him he's too scared, which of course makes him want to prove that he isn't. All the fish make a big deal out of the fact that he touched the boat. Well, the other day, Evan opens up the closet where we keep the vacuum, reached in and touched it. Then he came over to me and said, I touched the vacuum. :) I think he was proving he wasn't scared. What a cute boy.

4 Wheeler and Motorcycle

On Saturday we had a end of the season/back to school BBQ at Mom and Dad's house. Kylie is heading off to college this weekend and all the rest of the kids are starting school next week. Between all the nieces and nephews up here, there will be someone in almost every grade. Pretty crazy.

After we chowed down for awhile, I asked Dad is I could give Evan a ride on his new 4 wheeler. I wasn't sure if Evan would like it or not, but wanted to give it a try. We got on and got moving at a snails pace and Evan liked it just fine. We went around the loop a couple times, getting faster as we went. Evan loved it and didn't want to stop of course, but there were lots of people who wanted a turn, including me, who wanted to ride by myself once. Jeff asked Evan if he wanted a ride on his big motorcycle. Evan was all for that and got on Jeff's bike with him. They followed me around the loop. Evan liked riding the motorcycle even more than the 4 wheeler.

For the next little while everyone had a turn on the 4 wheeler. Evan kept asking for a ride on Jeff's big bike. Jeff was giving rides to the other kids too, so it took a while, but Evan never stopped asking. He finally got one more ride right before we left. It was so fun seeing the huge smile on his face. I wish we had pictures. As we were leaving I asked Evan if he liked riding that bike with Uncle Jeff. Evan's response...can I have a bike? :) I guess we've moved on from asking for a dog!

Kisses and Hugs

The last couple of days Evan has really been into giving kisses and hugs. Tonight he gave me a hug and patted my back at the same time. I dare you to try to give someone a hug without patting their back too. :)

The funny thing about the kisses is that Evan will just walk up to you and give you a kiss, at whatever level you happen to be. If you are at the computer or couch, you get a kiss on the arm, if you are standing in the kitchen...well Evan is 3 feet tall, so you get a kiss on the leg or the "other" cheek. Hee hee. I keep telling Evan that he shouldn't kiss people on the bum, but he just doesn't quite get it. I've tried to tell him that if he wants to give us a kiss he should just say so and he can give us a kiss on the cheek, but to no avail. I think he likes the randomness of just surprising us with a kiss, wherever it happens to land.

Come On, It'll Be Fun

We have been having troubles getting Evan to stay in his bed at nap time and bed time. The other day I decided to try the stay in bed technique from the Super Nanny. Yes, I'm sure this has been used for centuries, but I learned it from her. :) The idea is that Evan is in bed and I'm in there, but not responding to him at all. So I was sitting in Evan's room with my head down and happened to have my arms folded too. Evan was chatting away and rolling around in his bed. Then I hear him say, time for prayers, time for prayers...I can only assume because my arms were folded. This almost made me laugh, but I kept my composure and just kept sitting there. Then I hear Evan say, Heavenly Father...thanks for this day... and a few other things. It was SO hard not to do anything, but I knew if I said anything we'd have to start all over. After all, it's okay for him to say his own prayers.

He was quiet for a minute after that. During this time, Gary was out in the living room and Evan knew it. Before long Evan yells, Gary, Gary, come in my room, come on, it'll be fun. I had to bite my lip and cheek to keep from laughing. Oh, what a clever little boy we have. The end of the story is that Evan eventually fell asleep and has been doing better since then, thank goodness. Now we just need to conquer potty training...but that is a whole other post.

Can I Have a Dog?

A couple weeks ago we watched Jeff and Michelle's dog Buddy for a few days. Evan really liked having him here, we all did. Ever since then, he has been asking us almost every day, "can I have a dog." :) It's pretty cute. Last night we told him that once he is potty trained, can buy dog food, can provide a bed, can pooper scoop, oh and buy his own dog, etc., that he could have one. I'm pretty sure we'll get one before all that. Maybe we'll hold out on the potty training. We don't want to be "house training" 2 at once... Anyway, I think Evan is wearing Gary down. We'll see what happens!

Broken

Today Evan told Jeanne he couldn't go potty because his ..... was broken. :) He was able to go just fine when he got home, so I guess there's nothing wrong with him. Oh the things Evan thinks of. It's pretty funny.

Huckleberries

Huckleberries are for sale all over up here. I'm not sure how the hourly rate works out once you drive to the mountains, pick the tiny berries, drive home, clean them and bag them, but I'm glad some people are willing to do this because then I can buy some! My Aunt Annette and some of her kids are picking hucks for sale this year. Yesterday I bought a gallon from her and they are just perfect!

It's hard to decide what to do with huckleberries. If you freeze them, you can put them in cobbler, pie, pancakes, smoothies, etc. Or, you can process them and make pie filling, syrup or jam. You have to use more all at once if you do it this way, but they actually probably last longer if you do. I decided to make one batch of jam this morning and am still debating what to do with the rest of the bag. There are pictures on the picture blog of my final product. It turned out VERY yummy!

I Need a Vacuum

Yesterday Evan was out in the living room with a baggie of animal crackers when I heard him say, I made a mess. I didn't think much of this, even though he said it several times, because he says that a lot and it could just mean that he has a crumb on his finger... :) But then I heard him say, I need a vacuum. Huh? So I went out there and sure enough, he did need a vacuum. The animal crackers and all the crumbs from the bottom of the bag were all over the table. So, we got out the dust buster and I tried to show him how to use it, but he didn't want to be anywhere near that little red monster. Gary is the vacuum man in our house and it looks like Evan will be doing that too when he is big enough. Yipee for me!

Amazing

Today we drove by the bright red chimney sweepers truck and Evan said, "Oh my goodness, that car is amazing!"

Out of Evan's Mouth

We were on our way to Garfield Bay and Evan was just babbling away in the back seat, then we hear him say, "Oh man, I forgot my phone!"

I was working on my computer and Evan was trying to get me to hold one of his toys. I kind of pushed his hand away and said, not now. He said, "Mommy, be patient."

Evan had his bike turned over upside down and was studying the wheels. I asked him what he was doing. He said, "I was wondering how it was working."

We were on our way to WalMart this morning and Evan says, "Zella, don't scream. It's okay Zella." Zella is one of Evan's nursery friends.

"No way, Jose."
"Derangerous"

New Pictures Finally

I'm finally getting new pictures on the picture blog, lots of them, so check them out!

Couple More Minutes

Evan is starting to learn that he can negotiate... Whenever he is in the bath and it's time to get out, we usually say, okay, you can stay in for a couple more minutes. Well last week at the lake when I was telling him it was time to get out, he said, couple more minutes. I gave him a couple more minutes, but then of course he still freaked out when he had to get out of the water. Well a few days ago, he was playing with his new bike out on the deck and I told him it was time to come in. He said, couple more minutes. I told him okay that I would set the timer for a couple more minutes, then he needed to come right in when the dog barked...the timer we use is on Gary's phone and a dog barks when the time is up. I set the timer for 2 minutes and when the dog barked, Evan came right in the house. I was proud of him. So then bedtime rolls around and you guessed it, couple more minutes. We set the timer and the dog barked and Evan did NOT go right in his room, in fact he had a major freak out session. I guess we are still working on the art of negotiation. We'll keep trying. :)

Friends

Evan is getting to the point where he understands friends. Yesterday on the way home from Jeanne's house, he told me, Dominic is my friend, share with Dominic. It was pretty cute. This morning I was asking him about friends and he said Zella's my friend. So, his friends circle is ever expanding. Evan really likes it when I'm looking at my friends blogs and he sees pictures of his friends! We were looking at Abby's blog and he caught site of Lucy and he thought that was pretty cool and then was very excited when he saw Brigham too. It's all very fun. :)

4th of July - Mayan Gold

We had a pretty busy 4th of July weekend. On Friday we got up bright and early to get our WalMart shopping out of the way. Then I was finishing up the cake for the clickshops.com open house. The cake turned out well. I forgot to take pictures, but luckily my mom had her camera with her, so I'll get copies. On Friday afternoon Gary stayed home with Evan and I went to Garfield Bay with Mom, Kylie, William and Garrett and then Sherry, Doug, Christian, Kassidy and Grace.

On Saturday we spent the morning at home. We didn't go to any of the breakfasts for parades, which was fine with me. Maybe next year we'll take Evan to the parade. We spent a few hours at Garfield Bay in the afternoon. Evan loves the water and will stay in no matter how cold he gets. We had a floaty that he can ride in, but he is still half in the water, so we bought a little raft that he can be in the keeps him out of the water. He really liked that too. I was holding him with his life jacket on and let me let go and he floated by himself several times. He just may be swimming this year. On the way to the lake we had to stop at the gas station. We had told him we were going swimming at the lake. As I was starting the Jeep up to leave the station, he started saying, no, no, no... I told him, we have to go to the lake to go swimming. He said, the lakes right there! We were at the gas station on the end of the bridge, so sure enough, the lake was right there. It didn't make sense to Evan that we should then drive for 20 more minutes to go to the same lake. :)

Saturday night we had a bbq at Doug and Sharon's house. It was perfect. The temperature was in the 90's, but in the shade and with a slight wind, it was perfectly comfortable. It was entertaining watching everyone playing and visiting. We didn't go to any fireworks on Saturday night. We did watch the Macy's fireworks on TV. I know, not the same thing, but still pretty amazing.

Tonight we went to a fireworks show courtesy of Spencer, Greg and Justin. They purchased some cool fireworks and we all sat and watched them. We even got pop corn and carmel corn. Evan loved it! I almost went without Gary and Evan because it was way past Evan's bed time, but I'm so glad they came. At one point Evan even handed off his blue ball to Gary so he had both hands free to clap. It was pretty cute. Evan kept naming off the colors he saw and was just mesmerized the whole time. The grand finale was a firework called Mayan Gold. Evan repeated it several times as it was going off and also kept saying Mayan Gold on the way home. So, now you know if Evan says Mayan Gold, he is talking about fireworks. Next year we'll have to buy some fireworks too to add to the show.

One last thing. Tonight Evan has been counting and this is what he says...one, two, three, four, eight, nine, seven, twelve, eighteen! :)

Great Visit

We had a great visit this last weekend with Gary'a Mom and Dad. I think Evan would have been perfectly happy if Gary and I would have just disappeared! :) Gary, his dad and my dad put the railing up around the deck, which I'm very excited about. It looks really good and it only took about 6 hours total. Probuild was going to charge over $500 bucks for the installation, so it was great that the guys were able to do it themselves. I have pictures and will get them posted. Now we just need to get Evan a little bike or wagon to ride and also move the clematis pots from the front yard to the back deck.

On Saturday we went to a 65th anniversary party for Grandma and Grandpa Roos. It was a lot of fun and I think they really appreciated it. It's pretty rare these days to get to that anniversary. They are a great example of falling and staying in love!

After Grandma and Grandpa Thompson left on Monday, Evan kept asking me, where's grandma and where's grandpa. I kept telling him that they went home to Pocatello, but he didn't get it. I think he asked me 20 times through out the day. Now he can kind of say Grandma and Grandpa ....atello. :)

Screaming, Alarm, Dead Battery, Sliced Hand and Immediate Care

We had quite an eventful day yesterday! Early in the morning, Evan wanted waffles for breakfast and wasn't being very patient. He was sitting in the chair screaming, I want waffles, then just screaming for emphasis, very shrilly. Our alarm was set and there is a window sensor on it. Well, the alarm went off, effectively cutting Evan's screaming. All we can figure is the glass must have vibrated enough that it tripped the alarm. Wow! Or maybe the microwave was shut too hard. So Gary grabbed the alarm remote to turn it off, but grabbed the dead remote instead. This remote has not worked since day one, but we have never had it replaced... Then he went to the key pad to turn it off, but thinks he hit the stay button instead of the off button. Next thing we know, the Apex dude comes on the speaker, is everything all right, can I have your name and code... Gary explained that we didn't know why the alarm went off. At least we know our alarm works now. Afterwards, we were joking about it saying that we should have told the guy that we did indeed have an emergency, a screaming 2 1/2 year old who wanted his breakfast! What fun.

The plan yesterday was to put the new deck railing up. Gary went to the store to get the last things he needed, then Evan and I headed off to WalMart while Gary got started. When we got done at WalMart, the Jeep wouldn't start up. I called Gary and thank goodness he had his phone with him outside. He came over to WalMart and we loaded the groceries and Evan in the truck. After I got in the truck I noticed that Gary had a pile of gauze and band aids on his hand. Apparently he had cut his hand earlier. I, of course, couldn't even look at is and didn't want to hear any details. He ended up going to Immediate Care and got some stitches. So needless to say, there went the deck railing plans. Kind of hard to use a saw with a numb hand.

After Evan's nap, etc., we went back over to WalMart to give the Jeep a jump. Luckily I had parked by one of those grass island strip things and the cars across from the Jeep both pulled out close to when we got there. Gary drove the truck up over the curb and onto the island to get close enough to the Jeep. We hooked up the cables and the Jeep started right up. We drove it straight to Perfection Tire where we get all our car work done. They were just closing, but they hooked the battery up to a tester and sure enough, dead battery. They would have put a new one in right then, but they didn't have the right one in stock. So, we left the Jeep there and gave them a list of other things that need to be fixed while they are replacing the battery. I'm glad we haven't sold the truck, because it's nice to not have to scramble to borrow or rent a car.

So, that was our eventful day for yesterday. It's strange how you day can go completely different than planned. Maybe the deck railing will go in next weekend! It'll be nice to have so Evan can ride a little bike around back there without falling off.

Dealing with the Eye Sore

When we moved into our house, we never really noticed what an eye sore the power boxes were! It didn't take us too long to figure it out though. We have been trying to figure out a way to make them less conspicuous ever since we moved in. We have planted several different types of bushes around it in hopes that that would really help. It was helping, then this winter our big decorative cherry bush was cracked and never recovered so Gary had to take it out. The picture above is the best "before" picture I could find. It's so blurry because I was actually taking pictures of the rain.

This last weekend, Gary spent 10 hours digging up grass, laying this new brick border, transplanting some bushes and putting in fresh soil pep and bark. He did a fabulous job and I was very impressed with his new skills! I kept checking on him to make sure he didn't hit a power line... The new bed looks so great and makes the other beds not look as good... I wouldn't have thought that making that area even more noticeable would help take your eye away from the power boxes, but it really does. I guess in this picture that isn't very obvious, but when you drive or walk up to the house, it really does make a difference. Once the bushes double in size that will be a huge help too. This fall we will transplant some tuplis, daffodils and hyacinths from the bed by the house and we will also get a variety of perenials from my Mom and Dad's place. We will also redo the front flower bed to match the new brick. Well, I keep saying WE, but really Gary will probably do most of the work. :) He's nice to me that way, since I don't really care for yard work. I sure appreciate his efforts though and like to keep him company while he works away.

Sorry!

I'm sorry I am so far behind again! I have been sick with everything under the sun and traveling, so I've neglected our blog. I know I always say I'll do better...I really mean it. :)

I'm adding a whole bunch of pictures from our Oregon Coast trip, so check out the picture section.

So, So, So Far Behind

I haven't posted for over a month! What is the matter with me? I have so many pictures to post and Evan has said so many cute things that I have said, oh I need to post that, and now I can't remember any of them! It's very sad. Hopefully they will come back to me if I ask Gary if he can remember any of them. I do however know how to catch the picture blog up and I'm going to do that now! So check them out and be prepared for a major onslaught of pictures. :)

Sunday Funnies

This morning I was showing Evan the cover of the last conference Ensign. I was telling him that was President Monson and that he was the prophet. Evan was saying prophet and then he said, "five" and gave President Monson a high five. It was so cute! He did it over and over again and then when I was telling Gary about it, Evan did it again. Tonight we got it on video. I posted the video in our picture/video blog.

Then today during church he did another TOTALLY cute thing. :) It was testimony meeting and a sister in our ward was giving her testimony and crying. Evan said, "it's okay," and proceeded to say it about ten more times. He knew she was crying and that when someone is crying you say, it's okay. What a nice boy!

Good Boy Evan - On the Potty Train Now!

Last night Evan told us he had to go poopy, so we got him on the toilet right away, and sure enough...he went. :) I'm sure no one wants all the details, but I had to tell one cute thing. When he was all done we were telling him, good boy Evan! As he was walking through the hall, I heard him saying to himself, "good boy Evan." I just think it is so cute how he repeats to himself the things we say to him. It certainly makes me careful what I say! :)

Anyway, we had our first successful ride on the potty train, but I'm sure the trip will go on for awhile. If you don't get the references to potty train, check out the Discovery Toys book, The Potty Train. It's one of Evan's favorites. His favorite line is, "chuga chuga, chuga chuga, pooooo pooooooo."

House of Sickness - Kung Fu Panda Saves the Day - Missed Party

We have a flu bug going around our house right now. I had it earlier in the week and am finally getting over it. Gary hasn't gotten it too bad, but he is just really tired, so I think he's fighting it off. Evan has a bad cough and has been running a fever. If we can get him to sit still, he doesn't cough as much, but that is quite a challenge! Luckily, he is into watching Kung Fu Panda right now, so that helps a ton. Unfortunately, it's about all he wants to do...watch Panda he says right when he wakes up and all through the day. Good thing we like that movie too. I'd rather watch that 3 times a day than listen to him cough because he's been running around!

Sadly though, Evan missed his first "friends" birthday party today! He was invited to go to Brigham's pirate party, but he just wasn't feeling up to it. I'm probably more bummed than he is, because he didn't really know he was going. :) I was looking forward to watching him interact with his friends. Usually he is with Jeanne when he is around his friends, so I don't really know how he is. Oh well, I know there will be many more parties. It'll be nice when summer comes, then we can have one or his friends come over and play.

Speaking of sick...I hear some hacking in Evan's room so I better go get him up.

Gary's Mom

So, since Z asked... :) Gary's Mom is recovering very well from her heart attack. Her energy is slowly coming back and she is trying to take it easy. It's hard to be told you can't lift anything over 5 lbs! We are so happy that she is doing so well.

I think that Evan knew somehow that she couldn't do much while we were visiting because he spent lots of time with her being read to, which is not in his norm right now. At home he is pretty much running around all the time, so it was great to see him take time to be read to with Grandma. I'll get some pictures of our trip posted soon!

Prayers

We have been saying nightly prayers with Evan for quite some time now. At first he just screamed the whole time, then laughed, then would repeat a word or two here and there. Every night we ask him if he wants to say the prayer. Sometimes he will say Heavenly Father and will insert a word here and there, especially if we are saying thanks for our friends. He never misses an opportunity to mention his friends Garrett, Josh and Brigham.

Well, last night we asked him if he wanted to say the prayer and he just started right in! He said, "Heavenly Father, jabber, jabber, jabber, Grandma's house, jabber, jabber, jabber, Amen!" :) Gary and I were both completely surprised and so proud of our amazing boy! It's a great feeling to know he is learning the important things from us.

Pocatello Here We Come

We are heading to Pocatello tomorrow to visit the Pocatello Thompsons and Summers. We are excited to go see everyone, but not looking forward to the LONG car ride with Evan. It's a lot to ask of a little guy, to sit still, strapped into a seat for that long. Maybe he'll enjoy watching a movie this time. Or maybe we'll be lucky and he'll sleep the whole time...right. :) Maybe if I keep him up all night tonight then he and I could sleep all day tomorrow in the truck while Gary drives. I'm sure he would love that!

Best Wishes to Grandma Thompson

Gary's Mom had a heart attack on Sunday and I just wanted to let you all know so you can keep her in your prayers if you would. She is doing better and will hopefully get to go home today. We were going to go to Pocatello this week, but she also has the shingles, so we need to keep Evan away for now since he hasn't had chicken pox. We are going to go next Wednesday though.

Evan and His Water

Evan really loves to drink water. Given the chance to have water or juice, he will usually pick water. Of course if chocolate milk is in the mix, forget about that water. :) Lately he has been carrying his straw cup around with his teeth. He holds it with his teeth on one side of his mouth and just drinks when he wants. I think it's because he wants both of his hands free. Sometimes though, he sucks the water out of the cup and then lets it dribble out of his mouth. But, we figure that it's just water and if he wants to be all wet, that is his choice! I snapped some pictures the other night of him with his water and they are in the picture section.

Dog, Sheep, Zebra, Cow

We love watching dog shows at our house and the Westminster is my favorite. Tonight Evan and I were watching it and he just kept saying dog, dog, dog, then sheep... the Shih Tzu was on the screen. I guess all the white flowing fir made him think of sheep. He called a couple other dogs that too, even said bbaaaaa a couple times. Then, in my opinion, the funniest looking dog of all time came on screen. You guessed it, the Chinese Crested. This particular one had skin that was spotted. Evan was just staring it it. I said, Evan, what's that? He said, Zebra. :) Are you sure that's a zebra I said, maybe you are thinking leopard. Evan then said, cow! Those spots did look like a cow. Oh, what fun! He kept on with cow until the next dog came up, and he returned again to cow. Evan sure likes dogs. I imagine we'll get another one before too long.

Wal Mart, Costco and Fans

Last night after Gary got Evan all ready for bed, Evan decided he wanted to go to Walmart. :) Quite often he will say Walmart and I think that just means he wants to go somewhere. He especially likes Walmart because of the stars on the signs and shopping carts, and he knows where the fans are, so maybe Walmart is like heaven for him... This morning after I got dressed and was ready to leave he says, Costco? Who knows why!

Speaking of fans, Evan has discovered that by putting his palms together and turning his hands opposite directions he can make his own "fan". I wonder if this fan obsession will ever wear off? I can just picture him on his mission, going into someones house and just being completely mesmerized by their fan! I really need to take Evan to the Furniture Row Outlet, because they have these HUGE fans on their ceiling, probably 15 feet across. I don't know if he'd be able to contain the excitement or not!

Toddler Bed

Last weekend we changed Evan's crib to a toddler bed. This 15 minute project took well over an hour because the holes that should have been pre-drilled, were mysteriously missing. Luckily, Gary was able to drill new holes and we were finally done. We put Evan in the bed and he seemed to like it just fine. Later that day he fell out a few times after repeated warnings about the lack of a rail, but I guess some things you just have to learn the hard way. The first 4 days were a dream, Evan crawled into his own bed, saving my back and then would stay there until we told him he could get out. He still stays in his bed about half the time when he wakes up until we go in, but I'm sure that will lessen as time goes on.

Friday was the day he figured out he could get up after being laid down. This was the same day he was in there singing Happy Birthday at the top of his lungs. He had been making all kinds of racket for well over an hour, then it got really quiet. Before long I heard his door creak open and then shut really fast. Then I hear the light flip on and on. Next I hear dresser drawers opening and closing and the humidifier going on an off. I went in and put him back in bed a few times until he finally fell asleep. Well, by this time, it was about 4:30. He usually takes quite a long nap but it starts around 2:00 rather than 4:30, so around 5:30 we decided we better just wake him up. Evan does not like to be woken up. He puts up quite a fuss, but I figured it was only fair to us for him to have to wake up whether he liked it or not so he wouldn't be up until midnight. I've posted pictures of this whole thing. I know it's probably not very nice to take pictures when your child is so unhappy, but I just though you'd all like to see the "other" side of our sweet boy. :)

Evan's Version of a Lullaby

Today when Evan was supposed to be taking a nap, he was keeping himself awake by singing. Not some soft lullaby mind you, but a top of your lungs, full out singing version of Happy Birthday. It was hilarious. He was singing right on key and following the tune, just very loudly. I have yet to catch him doing this on video, but will continue to try!

New Online Home

Since I was getting so disgusted with the Windows Live website (http://gkethompson.spaces.live.com/) we had, I decided to just make a basic blog for our family updates. I know, I know, I'm getting many blogs out there, but this is just easier. I can post pictures and video directly to blogger too and that will save me a ton of time, which in turn will allow me to post more often without getting so frustrated! AND, one other benefit, anyone who visits us here can leave a comment if they wish, without having to have a login of their own, although I would encourage all of you to make your own blog! It is such an easy way to stay in touch. If you think you can't do it, just ask one of your kids to do it for you, I'm sure they could! :) There is a link to the right that will take you to Evan picture and video kingdom... At this very moment it is empty, but I will remedy that soon.