Here's a first look at Evan as Peter Pan. We went to our first Halloween Party yesterday and Evan had a great time dancing to the music, playing with his friends, eating all the snacks and checking out the other kids in their costumes. He especially liked the parade because it was outside, his favorite place to be. Thanks to my friend Abby for a lot of these pictures, they turned out much better than mine!
The other day, the proudest moment I had as a parent came. We sat down for dinner and Evan said "prayers mommy" and folded his hands, then he said "Father Amen". I could have cried! We take Evan to Mass most Sundays and want to teach him to be a loving, Christian boy. But Mass is very hard b/c he is full of energy and talks non-stop and very loudly. Why don't Catholic Churches have nurseries?? Sitting in Mass for 1 hour 15 minutes is challenging. But I honestly think it is paying off. Every time we pass a Church he says "prayers" and then folds his hands. We pray before dinner and before bed every night. We also take a music class at a Presbyterian Church on Wednesdays. The leader of our class is just full of faith, she is a wonderful woman. She says some quick prayers and praises the Lord throughout the class and I love that he is exposed to this in another place besides our home and at Mass. When you become a parent you worry if you are strong enough to teach your children how to be a good person, but I am encouraged by this wonderful sign. Indeed the Lord is Good and is blessing us each day.
The things that get you excited when you are a mom...potty talk! Evan has been telling us he needs to go #2 for awhile now, but doesn't want to sit on his potty when it's time. So, we haven't really pushed the potty training too much. But on Tuesday, Joe was getting him ready for his bath and took off his clothes and diaper. Evan just sat down on his little potty and peed! It was really exciting. We haven't had any repeat trips to the potty, but Evan was really proud of himself. Maybe this potty training thing will really take off soon, but I'm in no hurry. I want to wait until he is 100% ready and I still don't feel like he is. But I am very proud of him!! We now have to start a sticker chart for him :)!
The second night that we went to Epcot, we stopped in Canada to listen to a cover band play some Canadian Rock songs (Barenaked Ladies, etc.). Evan really loves to dance and was a dancing machine. He then began flirting with all the ladies and was "cheers"ing his apple juice to other's beer & wine. It was hilarious. He is such a ham and loves to be the center of attention. I am bummed that some of these pictures are blurry, but they are too funny not to share. I didn't get any pics with his lady friends, but he was melting hearts all over Canada that night :).
Evan's Nani (Joe's mom) and her friend Marsha came to visit us this past week. While they were here, we took Evan to Disney for the first time. We had a blast, it was so much fun. We went both on Thursday & Friday and the parks weren't too crowded. On Thursday, we went to the Magic Kingdom during the day and Epcot at night. On Friday, we went to Animal Kingdom during the day and back to Epcot that night. Epcot was having their international food and wine festival and we had to go back for a 2nd round. Evan loved the parks and the awe in his face was such a joy to see. He loves to point out all the Disney characters in general, so imagine how he didn't stop the whole time in the parks. MICKEEYYYYYYY was exclaimed about 1,000 times. Evan is IN LOVE with trains, trucks, buses, etc. So, the fact that we got to ride on so many trams, monorails and trains was the icing on the cake for him.
We all had such a great time and I can't wait to go back again soon; good thing the entrance to the Magic Kingdom is 3.9 miles from our house.
We went and picked our pumpkins the other night after Joe got home from work. It was so nice, Joe got home at 5:30pm on a weekday, it was like a real work schedule!! After we picked our pumpkins, we went to Chik-fil-A for dinner, our favorite! It was a great evening.
Last Friday, Joe & I took Evan to Green Meadows Farm with some of our friends. There were so many fun things to do there-train rides, pony rides, tractor hay ride, petting animals and picking out our own pumpkins. We all had a wonderful time. I think that Evan's favorite part was hanging out on the tractors they had throughout their property. My favorite part was that it actually felt like "fall" there, something I've really been missing lately living here. The temperature wasn't cool, but there were trees and pumpkins and so it was just a little nostalgic for me! I know-cry me a river, poor Kristy, it's so "warm" there...
Grandma loves to blow bubbles and so do you, it's like a match made in bubble heaven. You both had a wonderful time doing this together and you even blew the bubbles yourself. This is a new skill you have mastered. We have been teaching you to blow on your food that you think is hot (I wouldn't actually give you hot food) and you've gotten really good at it. Now you can blow bubbles the same way. I'm so impressed!!
We had a wonderful trip to Arizona last weekend to see Grandma and Baba. Evan & I flew out last Thursday and got back Tuesday night. Joe joined us on Friday & Saturday which was really wonderful. Evan was excellent on both flights, which sadly will be his last free flights. That's 12 roundtrip flights for the little man. What a frequent flier!!
We did so many fun things while we were in AZ. We went to the Phoenix Zoo, which was a really nice zoo. They had a lot of different animals (although many were hiding b/c it was pretty hot), a petting zoo, a children's section, a carousel and a splash pad. Evan was in heaven!! The next day we went to the coolest park that had 2 trains you could ride on, a carousel and 2 playgrounds. It was also a model train festival, so there were model trains everywhere. If only Maxwell could have been there too (he's IN LOVE with trains). I know that the grandkids will get much use out of that park for years to come. Finally, there is a park down the street from my parents that is next to (attached to) a fire station. We got to meet some of the fireman, they pulled out the truck for us, turned on the lights, let Evan sit up front (but he chose not to) and gave him the cool firehat you see in the pictures. What a great idea! Scottsdale has amazing parks, do you think Orange County would like for me to pass along these recommendations??
Although the zoo day was rather warm, the rest of the time it kind of felt like fall, it was 52 in the mornings. I was so excited to wear pants and a sweatshirt. It was a great change from the never ending Florida summer. I had a wonderful time spending quality time with my parents and I know that they loved their time with Evan.
Thanks to Aditi for the slideshow idea, I love it!
I just bought these pjs for Evan so that he can't pick at his bug bites on his legs. I couldn't believe that they actually sell these up to size 4T. These are 2T, but are quite snug. I love them because he looks like the baby he isn't anymore. And I will really love them if his bug bites finally go away!!
I'm so glad that Evan's Cowboy's outfit still fits! It's actually the perfect size this year. In the video he is saying "Go Maxwell" and "Go Cowboys". The other day while at the park with Charlie & Maxwell, Evan & Maxwell were climbing up the slide and going down the stairs. I decided to do a little cheer for them-"Go Evan, Go Evan, Go Go Go Evan" (can you tell I was never a cheerleader). I did it with Charlie & Maxwell's names as well. Evan loves it and is always running through the house cheering on one of them.
My Mac has a Photo booth setting, but I hardly ever use it. I'm sure now that Evan is getting older, we'll have lots of fun with the various settings. Here we are having fun before dinner.
Last month we went to Evan's friend, Evan, 1st birthday party. It was so much fun and Abby (Evan's mom) did an amazing job with the party. It was a fish themed party and she thought of everything. It was really impressive! Here are some pictures from the party. The photographer (not going to take credit for any of these!) did an amazing job capturing Evan's big brown eyes. I'm horrible about capturing them, so I was so happy these turned out so well. Can you really ever say no to these eyes???
We enrolled Evan in MyGym about a month ago with a few friends of ours. He loves to climb, jump and run and figured this was the perfect place for him. He loves it and is even getting better at circle time then he was before. He used to scream and run away when they made him sit still for the activity. Now he sits and listens! They are so creative with the different activities they have for the kids. I'm glad that he really loves it.
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