Happy Birthday Aunt Megan!

Aunt Megan, I've been practicing so I can help you open gifts.


Today Evie Lu wants to wish her far, far away Aunt Megan a very happy birthday. We've told Evie Lu that her Aunt Megan will be a good person to talk to when it comes time to talk about how getting Christmas/birthday presents feels like getting cheated. Happy Birthday Megan! (Your birthday/Christmas present is awesome!)

And here's what you have to do after you open a gift.

Extreme Makeover: Gingerbread Edition

My mom and Kaia with their creation.


Last Sunday night I had to go back into work, but Kaia and my mom had a great time building a gingerbread house. This is something Kaia and I did last year and I was glad to see it continue as a family tradition. Evie Lu doesn't know quite what to do with this new thing on display in our house. (Especially since we never let her get too close to it.) Mmm . . . architecture.

Great job mom and grandma, I'm going to eat it.

Doing Dishes With Grandma

Can I help?


We have a few more pictures to share with you from my mom's visit and these are some of my favorites. Evie Lu loves to come and help when you are doing the dishes. This help mostly comes in the form of crawling up on your leg or pulling clean dishes out of the cabinets.

Ooo, wait for me, wait for me!


While the pulling of clean dishes out should be annoying, it cracks me up. I've gotten to the point where I wash any dish that has been at Evie Lu level before I use it just in case she's played with it already. I think Evie Lu just wants to make dish time last longer.

Grandma, I found some dirty dishes in this cupboard here.

Working With Grandma

No Grandma, I'd use a spreadsheet instead.

Some of the best times Evie Lu had with her Montana Grandma were when we didn't have anything planned. Evie Lu was getting over her cold and when she was sweet she was a joy to be around. Evie Lu does love to mimic what you are doing vocally and physically. This can be pretty funny. The Evangeline response of "Hiya" cracks me up every time.

Can we make this a conference call?

Stand In The Place Where You Live . . .

. . . now face north!

I can stand and suck my thumb.

I have a prediction that Evie Lu will be walking by or on her first birthday. More and more she is letting go of chairs and other supports and trying to go it alone. Kaia has seen Evie Lu take a couple of half steps, but nothing more yet. We are simultaneously thrilled and scared to death at what this means for our lives. Go Evie Lu, Go!

Steady now

Reindeer Games

Looking for Santa's sleigh.

Evie Lu, her Grandma Rhonda, Kaia and I decided to go to a local reindeer festival on Saturday. (We discovered how loosely the word festival gets used, but we did see a few reindeer.) The big guy in red was nowhere to be found, it must have been a union break, so we hung out in the rain with the his trusty sleigh leaders.

Guys, shouldn't you be somewhere else?


While we do not need an animal in our house, Evie Lu loves creatures of all kinds. We spent quite a bit of time looking at alpacas. The goofy looking creatures appealed to Evangeline's sense of humor.

Evie Lu thinks the reindeer are hilarious.


This "festival" was held in a zoo which while we were there had more statues of animals than actual animals. At least the statues were festively dressed with garland. The most important thing was we were all together, so we had a great time.

There's something over there!

Two Of My Favorite Ladies

Grandma, I love you and I love pictures of myself. This is perfect!


There is something wonderful about seeing your parent hold your child. Evie Lu has loved spending time with her Grandma Rhonda and we are sad that the time is so short. I'll have pictures of some of the cool stuff we've done, but the coolest really is seeing my mom and Evie Lu play. Talk about a Christmas present!

The Grandma Has Landed!

My mom is here and Evie Lu has been having a great time with her Montana Grandma. Evie Lu was sad the horse didn't come along as well, but what can you do? We'll have lots of pictures up as we have lots of fun this weekend.

Montana Grandma Rhonda and a friend

A New Game - Spot The Noodle

Look very closely. Do you see it?

Being sick has brought out the inner weirdo of Evangeline Lucille. She's decided she no longer will use sippy cups or eat the pureed baby food. Kaia and I are hoping this passes since life gets much more interesting without these two things.
Just to prove the weirdo point, Evie Lu decided during dinner a new hair care product was about to be unveiled. Noodles for your noodle was Evangeline's big idea. If you follow her regimen of daily noodle hiding in your hair, you too will have people commenting on the body and curl your hair has developed. (These people will be making other comments as well, but we won't talk about that.)

How you hide the noodles.

Do Not Mess With Me

I told you I was done with this!


Evie Lu has now settled into a nice cold. She's got the stuffiness. She's got the crankiness. She's got mood swings like you would not believe. Our normally laid back and low key little girl is a bear with an attitude.
The picture you see above was taken just moments after Evie Lu was laughing and smiling about pushing her little toy. In the time it took for the camera to take the picture, all that changed. I'll be happy when Evie Lu is back to 100%. I'm whooped.

It Is An Evie Lu Christmas!

An Evie Lu sized Christmas tree!


When you've got a little girl who likes to pull things over, do you get a Christmas tree? After much debating, we bought a four foot tree and put it up on a coffee table. Evie Lu loves the tree. I'm sure she spends her time plotting how she'll bring the whole thing down.

The fever Evie Lu fought over the weekend has gone, but a slight stuffiness remains. The bonus of the stuffy nose is that she wakes up just enough to squawk a couple of times an hour overnight. Hopefully Evie Lu is back up to 100% by Friday when my mom gets in!

Our girl

I'm Sick

I'm so pitiful.


Evie Lu has been fighting a fever for the last couple of days. This has meant fitful sleep, lots of wanting to cuddle, and crying. (And that was just me.) It pains both Kaia and I to see our little one in pain, but we know we've been blessed that this is the first real sickness Evie Lu's suffered through. Thank goodness for baby Tylenol.

But I'm still cute.

Counting Down The Days

Grandma, I've been practicing!

If it is December 5th, then that means we are just 9 days away from my mom coming to visit! Kaia and I have been making sure Evie Lu stays in top "cute" shape as we're practicing blowing kisses, waving, and moving towards walking. Evie Lu kisses are pretty ridiculous things at this point, mostly she'll lick you, but they are pretty sweet.

I Found My Thrill

"Shock and . . .


We think Evie Lu may have had her first allergic reaction. Kaia introduced blueberries into the rotation and Evie Lu loved them. Unfortunately a couple days later a little rash developed on her hands. I hope it wasn't the blueberries as it was a riot to see a blue Evie Lu face.

. . . Ahh, how cute."

What Is That?

Huh?


Saturday was a big day for little Miss Evie Lu. Evangeline is now in her twelfth month and gearing up for her Montana Grandma to come visit in just a couple of weeks, but all that took a backseat to the white fluffy stuff falling from the sky. We are not accustomed to getting a whole lot of snow, but Saturday saw a nice little storm.

Can we go play?!?


Seeing Evie Lu's reaction to the snow made me think Montana and Minnesota winter visits need to be regularly scheduled. She's too young right now, but it won't be long before sledding down a hill will be mandatory fun. Is it too soon to buy a great big puffy snow suit?

This should be our Christmas card.

Strike a pose

We've told you before about Evie's love for the baby in the mirror. Now that she is big enough to pull herself up and see herself in the hall mirror, she checks in on the mirror baby every time she crawls past. It's pretty cute. Next I need to teach her how to clean the mirror after she affectionately kisses the mirror baby.

5 Things To Do With My Aunt Megan

Aunt Megan! Come here, I want to give you a kiss!

A month from today Evie Lu will meet her Aunt Megan and Uncle Chris for the very first time. She is very excited about this. She is especially excited to do all sorts of girly things with her Aunt Megan. (She is the pageant queen after all.)
Evie Lu will be 11 months old tomorrow and marking that occasion, she and I were looking through pictures from her first two months of life. Through grunts and pointing Evie Lu told me her top five things she can't wait to do with her Aunt Megan.
Drumroll please . . .

Number 5: Really get connected.


Number 4: Play dress-up.


Number 3: Have Aunt Megan change me.


Number 2: Have Aunt Megan feed me.


And Number 1: Have Aunt Megan read me a bedtime story!

Keeping Evie Lu Happy

I love Raggedy Ann!

This is a crazy week for us as there is a conference at the church and Evie Lu is spending a lot more time in meetings than she's used to normally. Who comes to the rescue in times of baby boredom? Raggedy Ann of course! I'm not sure if it is the yarn hair or the bright smile, but Evie Lu loves Ann. I think I'm going to start carrying a Raggedy Ann to meetings to alleviate my boredom as well.

My New Trick

Why do they keep this stuff hanging off the wall?


It seems each day Evie Lu gets more determined and persistent. Small distractions no longer work and I spend a great deal of my day picking my daughter up from an undesirable location and placing her in a desirable one. (Desirable for my sanity at least.) Sunday seems to be the day she attacks toilet paper.

What? No, wait, this was on the floor when I crawled in!


Last week she discovered the toilet paper hanging on the wall for the first time. She also discovered the law of physics which states a roll of toilet paper in motion will stay in motion until there is no more paper on the roll. Kaia didn't get a picture of last week's adventure, but when Evie Lu did it again Kaia was ready with the camera. I think my buddy Chris had a dog that did this same trick and I don't know how to feel about that.

If you're taking pictures of me you must not be that mad.

Waxing Nostalgic

I think I look good but Evie Lu and Dean don't approve of my dipping.

Every family has their own traditions when it comes to the holidays. We were invited to participate the tradition of some congregation members who make beeswax candles the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Dean is a beekeeper and along with collecting the best honey I've ever tasted he makes candles. This was a fascinating process. You start with a wick tied to two washers so that you get straight candles. You dip three times into the wax and then let the wax cool before you do it again.

The whole operation


It takes 10-15 rounds of dipping until you get a candle about an inch in diameter. This is not an activity for people who like to see instant results. This is the activity for people who love to socialize and have some good fun. The person Evie Lu likes better than me, her Aunt Kaitlin of course, joined us for the festivities. (Look pictures of Kaitlin!)
We now start the countdown until my mom's visit. Evie Lu needs another grandma fix!

Look there!

Getting Down To Eating

Evie Lu gives the thousand yard stare.


We had five guests join us for turkey day and it was a blast. Two of Kaia's classmates, their significant others and Kaitlin broke bread with us. Evie Lu's Aunt Kaitlin has established herself as Evangeline's favorite person in the world. Usually Kaitlin only gets to see the evening about-to-go-to-bed Evie Lu, but for Thanksgiving there was a ton of wide awake playtime.

Green beans and turkey!


Evangeline ate turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and even a little pie crust. I almost got my little girl a taste of pumpkin pie, but my scientist wife caught me. Mmm . . . pumpkin pie. Celebrating Thanksgiving with Evie Lu this year has me anticipating next year when she'll be eating everything we eat and a full participant in the activities.

Hold me mom, it is all too much!

Dressing Up For The Big Day

Enough with the pictures, let's eat!

We have quite a few pictures to share with you all from our great Thanksgiving meal. Not only was this Evie Lu's first Thanksgiving, but it was also the first Thanksgiving meal Kaia and I have hosted. We took care of the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and vegetables. Evie Lu was a great sport as her parents ran around like crazy people and she was overjoyed when her aunt Kaitlin arrived to play.
Tune in tomorrow for more goodness!


I can see the food behind you.

Happy Thanksgiving

Oof. I'm done.

Evie Lu is thankful for all of you. Happy Thanksgiving!