We have a date!!

So if our baby girl does not come before, she will be born on Friday, February 26. My c-section is scheduled for 6am, guess they are trying to get us ready for exhaustion! Anyway, very exciting! Although that's less than 2 months away, we've got to get prepared!

Happy 3rd Birthday Evan!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Evan!

As Darth Vader

The day actually arrived. Evan got to celebrate for weeks and then it was finally his 3rd birthday, December 18. When I was pregnant with him I was so worried that his birthday would be overshadowed by Christmas. I think I have gone to the extremes to make sure that it isn't. This child does not ever need to worry about that (we haven't even gotten to his pirate party yet)!!

The day began nice and early as he woke up at 6:30am to open his presents. Evan & I went to the bounce house with some of his friends that day and then that night, we picked up Nani from the airport and went out to dinner. When we got home, we had some cake and he got some presents from Nani. He had a very good day and thankfully it was rather low key for us.

Out to dinner with Nani

Here are some things about you now that you are 3.

You've been potty trained since March, so 9 months now! You wear size 3T or 4T shirts and 3T pants. You weigh 34 pounds and are probably 38-39 inches tall. You wear a size 10 1/2 to 11 shoe.

Your favorite TV show is Word World. You like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny too, but when you choose to watch a show it is ALWAYS Word World. Your favorite movie is still Peter Pan, you like the Disney cartoon one, Hook and the "grown-up one Mandi got you" that I let you watch sometimes. You still enjoy your Disneyland sing alongs as well.

Favorite games: Baseball, basketball and soccer are your favorite sports. You love air hockey and anytime we are somewhere that has it, that's about all you want to do. You love puzzles and could spend hours putting them together and taking them apart. You love board games, especially Candyland, Cranium Doggy Bingo and the Goodnight Moon game. (Since your birthday you got Zingo and that is your new favorite game).

You love to read books and now like to read us books where you make up the words. Your favorite books right now are The Polar Express, Curious George Goes to the Movies, Jay Jay the Jet Plane and The Drummer Boy. This list changes on a weekly basis.

You know all the uppercase and lowercase letters in the alphabet, as well as their phonetics. You also know your numbers 1-10 and all of your shapes. You know how to spell Evan, Mom, Dad, Joe, Joey, dog, duck, stop (your favorite one to spell b/c of stop signs), pie and pig. Word World is absolutely your favorite show and I credit that show with your love of spelling. You love to sound out words to learn how to spell new ones. Teaching you how to read has been quite the learning experience for me too!

You are so excited to be a big brother. You love to touch my belly when the baby is moving and say "stop kicking mommy baby." You ask if you can teach her to do all sorts of things when she comes out. You pray for her many times a night and you are always bringing her things. You often say "I love you baby". She is going to be one lucky little sister!

You love to be the center of attention, but then sometimes, when you are, you make up your own language as a "protection".

You love to play pretend and dress up. Your favorite things to dress up as are a pirate, peter pan and star wars characters.

Your favorite songs are by the Black Eyed Peas-Boom Boom Pow and Tonight's Going to be a Good Night. Since it's Christmas time, you're favorite songs are Rudolph and Jingle Bells.

You love to color and do arts and crafts. A coloring book can occupy you for at least an hour, thankfully that's about how long church is. Speaking of which, you are very good sitting through church each week. There is no nursery or children's mass, you sit with us for an hour and 15 minutes each week and do wonderfully.

Favorite foods: waffles, pancakes, bananas, clementines, avocado, yogurt, pretzels, pirate booty, apples without the skin, bagels with cream cheese, ice cream, broccoli, grilled cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, black beans and french fries. You are starting to like turkey sandwiches and request it pretty regularly. You insist that you love cheeseburgers, but every time we get you one, you take 2 bites and then no longer like it. It's kind of funny...

You love to be the center of attention. You love to talk, you don't really ever stop (where in the world did that come from?). You are a very sweet boy, with a good heart. You love your family and your friends very much. Happy 3rd Birthday Evan! We love you so much!

At the bounce house with Wilson & Bowen

Evan's School Christmas Program

We Wish You a Merry Christmas (where they "all do a little clapping and spread Christmas cheer")

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Well it's been quite the hectic last few weeks, a lot to catch up on! On Thursday, December 17 Evan's 2 1/2 year old class had their Christmas Program at school. It was his class of 9 plus the 3 day class. It was the most adorable thing I think I've ever witnessed. I wasn't sure how he would do. I know he loves to be the center of attention and that he listens well to those in charge (just not always to us). So, those are two positives, but he would not sing any of his songs for me except for Jingle Bells. However, within a few seconds of the show, I had no reason to worry. He belted out every last word and was smiling the whole time. He was in full ham mode, full of his little personality. I love it! And of course I shed a few tears, my little boy is growing up. We've watched the video over and over since the event. He loves to watch himself as much as we love to watch him and his friends.

Character Breakfast

The next morning, we woke up and headed to the Magic Kingdom for their opening at 9am. It was the first time I've ever been there at exactly opening time and it was fun to see the opening ceremony that they do. The park was empty, so in an hour, we were able to go on the Peter Pan ride, race cars, Winnie the Pooh and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Then we headed off to the part I was most excited about, the character breakfast at Ohana in the Polynesian Hotel. We took the monorail from the MK straight to the hotel. This was the first character meal we've ever done and I thought Evan would love it. That is an UNDERSTATEMENT. He was beyond thrilled. I was really happy with the experience too. The characters that were there were Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch. The food was pretty good and the wait staff was great. They ensured that all the characters came by to see us and also gave Evan a cupcake for his birthday. Evan was so sad when it was time for us to go home. Good thing for him, we do just live 5 minutes away. I am glad that his surprise was such a success!!

Evan's Birthday Surprise

Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me

He was a dancing machine, not sure what this move is. But the face is priceless

Celebration Parade

Dancing with an Incredible

Birthday Boy with his special pin

The race car ride

As you will see over the next coming weeks posts, I love birthdays. I love to celebrate them, especially my only child's birthday. For the last few months, we've been planning the trip we took this past weekend. We took Evan to stay at the Contemporary Hotel at Disney World. Yes, we live about 5 minutes maximum from the hotel. I knew that it would be so fun to take him to the parks all day and then spend the night at the hotel. Plus, the hotel has a heated pool and I knew he would have a blast. I was right. My little man was in heaven with his birthday surprise.

We stared the day off by parking at the Contemporary and taking the monorail into the Magic Kingdom. We met our friends Catherine, Brian, Wilson, Ellie, Jennifer, Brantley, Bowen & Caroline at the park. We rode all of his favorites-Peter Pan, the race cars, the Goofy roller coaster and Pirates of the Caribbean. We also got to see the Celebrate Parade, which is really fun. After that, we went back to the hotel to "take a nap". HA!! He was so excited that at "naptime" he just sprinted back and forth in our room. We decided to take him to the pool instead. They had a giant slide that he was beyond thrilled that he was big enough to go down by himself. After our "rest", the boys all played in the arcade while the girls relaxed outside of the arcade. Then, we headed out to Hollywood Studios for dinner and the Osborne Family Lights Spectacular.

Shooting down the slide

What happens at 5pm when you play at the pool instead of nap

Hollywood Studios

Catching "snow"

Osbourne Family Lights

After that we headed back to our room and watched Polar Express on TV. We all slept like rocks that night. I don't know how families take week long trips to Disney, just that day was exhausting.

Evan's School Birthday Party

Silly birthday boy

His table-Ryan, Bowen, Katya, Anna Kate, his empty chair, Kaila

Happy Birthday to YOU!!

Putting the candles on his cake

On Thursday they celebrated the December birthdays in Evan's preschool class. Lucky him, he's the only December birthday, so he got the party to himself. It was so fun to be a "spy" in his classroom and see how he and his friends all behave in the class and what their interactions are like. For the birthday, Mrs. Jones had Evan come up to the front of the class and put 3 candles on the cake while she recited a poem about him turning 3. Then they all sang Happy Birthday to him. After that, the kids and teachers enjoyed some cupcakes! All the kids in his class drew him a picture and the teachers made him a birthday book with all of them. As you can see, he also got to wear a birthday crown, which he has been sporting around here ever since. I am a big believer in celebrating a birthday week or even month, glad he is too!

Dinner with Friends

Keith & Ana, Paul & Abby, Joe & me, Dennis & Chris, Brian & Catherine, Brantley & Jennifer

A rare picture of just the two of us

We've been so fortunate to make such great friends since moving to Orlando. Last Saturday night we all went out to dinner at the Gaylord Palms to celebrate Christmas. It was really nice to spend time with each other without the kids! We had a great time and had a very funny gift exchange. Let's just say the kiddos will never see what the parents gave each other.

Yeah Santa!!

Evan's 1st letter to Santa

I cannot believe he is hugging Santa, I never thought this day would come!

Wonder what secret Santa is telling him? Hopefully to be a good boy!

I'm thinking of every toy I've ever seen because that's what I want this year!

You are so funny Santa!

What a wonderful day yesterday was! We took Evan to see Santa Claus at the mall and not only was he was excited about it, he did not cry, not even come close to shedding a tear. That is a HUGE accomplishment in our house. As he was not happy to see Santa when he was 1 or 2, but almost 3 must be the magic age. That and totally understanding that Santa is bringing him presents soon. We had Evan write a letter to Santa and he brought it with him to give to Santa. Santa read the letter back to Evan and he just seemed to have the best time! We definitely got some cute shots of him. We got suckered into the CD package made just for parents who are elated that their child is happy to see Santa Claus!!

Trimming the Tree

Looking good with the finished tree

It's the most wonderful time of the year.........

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving Evan and I put on some Christmas music and decorated the Christmas tree. He was really into it and loved looking at all the ornaments. Of course he wanted to put them all at the bottom of the tree all in one location. So, I had to move things around a little once he went down for his nap. I love that he is into Christmas this year and really seems to get it. This is my favorite time of the year (and Joe's) and it seems like Evan is right there with us.

Getting together with old friends

Here they are as babies-Natalie, Maki & Evan

Kieran, Natalie, Cassia, Maki, Griffin, Evan & Kaylina

We got to see our friends from our old play group while we were in Maryland. It was so nice to catch up and see all the kids as well. I wish we had more time to spend with them, but our trip was crammed with stuff going on. Hopefully next time we go up there we'll have more down time. Some of these kids were friends since they were 3 months old, look at them now! All 3 years old now with Evan almost there! Plus now all the little siblings.

The Garr Girls

The future Mr. & Mrs. Evan Neville

Charlotte

Mackenzie

What can I say? He loves to play pretend and dress up and those are the kind of dress up clothes you find in a girls only house :)

While we were up north, Evan & I got to spend a few days with Kelly, Avery, Mackenzie and Charlotte. The Joes made brief appearances as well. We had such a good time with them, even though they were the busiest days ever. Who would have thought watching after 4 kids under the age of 3 would be a lot of work? I don't know how Kelly does it!! It's A LOT of work with all those kids. She makes it look easy though, it's very impressive. The twins are adorable and so big since I last saw them in the NICU. It's crazy how exactly alike they look. They are really good babies too, thank goodness for Kelly & Joe! Little Avery is growing up and has such a cute personality. She and Evan got along great and we were sad to say goodbye to them.