Birthday Girl!

A whole cake! The greatest present ever!

Our second annual New Year's Evie party was a blast. The menu included pulled pork sandwiches, cheese and crackers, boxed wine, and cake. What else do you need? Evie Lu was thrilled with having a house full of people around just to celebrate her.

Those are my presents and I have a wand. I'm special.


Kaia made two beautiful cakes and although the singing of Happy Birthday seemed to scare the birthday girl, the possibility of cake snapped her out of it. By the time we got to opening gifts, Evie Lu acted like the old hand that she is. We just need to teach her to write thank you notes.

It is important to have a good breakfast after a big party.


New Year's Day was a day for reading all the books and playing with all the toys Evie Lu had received over the previous week. It won't be this summer, but Kaia and I are pondering a summer birthday celebration for Evie Lu in the next couple of years. As her Aunt Megan can attest, having a birthday right around Christmas is not always the most fun.

When is the next party?

Christmas - Take Two

First order of business, story time with Grandparents.


Evie Lu definitely felt the family love this year as so many people came out to see her. Grandma Rhonda was out for five days and in the midst of that time Grandma Bev and Grandpa Wayne came out as well. Days after everyone is gone Evie Lu is still looking around for a Grandma or Grandpa to drop by.

You gave me something! I'm so excited! What is it?


Although I don't have a quality picture of them, Aunt Megan and Uncle Chris came out to celebrate with us and we had a second Christmas gift opening. (Evie Lu is going to think an every other day gift exchange is the way all families operate.) It was a great time of blessing with even more high pitched squeals from Evie. If you look at the picture above and imagine what kind of sound would come out of that face, you'll be pretty close to spot on. A great time with loved ones!

Watch how I model the "Sweet as a sugarbeet" jacket. I am smiling with my eyes.

A Few Of My Favorite Things

Milk and sugar cookies, does it get any better?


Before I get you highlights of Christmas with Kaia's family I thought I'd share some of the pictures that made me happy between celebrations. Evie Lu is becoming more of a little lady each day and seeing her sit politely drinking out of a coffee cup just kills me. That is my little girl.

Actually hanging out with Uncle Jody and Oscar is better.


Evie Lu is a big fan of her Uncle Jody. Maybe it is because she knows he'll let her play video games in the not too distant future or maybe it is just because he is a great guy.

The bread photos are from a great gift from Pr. John at the church. He is a baker and brought over a ton of rolls, sticky buns, and assorted bread products. The gift he handed Evie Lu was a toddler sized loaf of bread. I was not home at the time to see my daughter tear into the gift, but she managed to polish off most of it in 10 minutes. So much for my polite little lady.

Can't talk. Eating bread from Pr. John.


We have to share a funny back at daycare story in the midst of recapping Christmas. Tuesday at daycare Kaia picked up Evie Lu only to find out an "incident report" form had been filed. Evie Lu had a scratch on her head and a bump because she was on top of a foam climber hugging a new little boy named Quinn and they lost their balance. Apparently Zeke is out of the picture. As a dad I don't like the looks of this Quinn character.

I told you I couldn't talk!

Christmas Morning - Take One

Reading a book from Aunt Kathy with Grandma!


Evie Lu's second Christmas Day was a blast. She went crazy opening gifts from Montana and California family. There is nothing more entertaining in my book than to see a kid open gifts. Evie Lu had the hang of it right away, but got frustrated when someone did too good a job of using tape. She discovered tape is not her friend. A baby (made by Kaia), a baby stroller, clothes, books, and every gift were greeted with a huge squeal of delight.

Supervising the opening of gifts


For the big meal Christmas Day Kaia made Swedish meatballs. It was fantastic. Aunt Kaitlin and Johny came by to hang out and enjoy the day. Evie Lu spent hours running between all her new things. I got tired just watching her.

Teaming up with Dad to beat Uncle Jody at football

A Very Fine Celebration

For the first time as a little family we hosted Christmas at our house. With the exception of my sister and neice everyone made it out west and we had a blast. Over the next few days I'll give you the highlights of Evie Lu's second Christmas and second birthday.

Evie Lu models her Christmas Eve dress.


Christmas Eve featured four church services. Uncle Jody attended all four and Kaia, Grandma Rhonda and Evie Lu went to two. Evie Lu made her presence known during the 9 pm candlelight service. She'll be in the choir soon I figure.

My ladies


Evie Lu and her Grandma Rhonda with beautiful smiles


Let's to go to church!


Evie Lu has been more aware this year of gifts and the excitement of opening presents. This will be the last year Kaia and I will shop for Evie Lu's gifts with Evie Lu in the cart. We bought a small Elmo doll that for two weeks she was looking for in the house. The little chirpy voice asking for Elmo almost convinced me to let her have the doll early.

Christmas morning

A Memorable Baby

On Saturday we took a trip to see Erik and Cam's new addition Reece. Evie Lu was enthralled with her new friend. As Kaia was holding Reece, Evie Lu plopped down next to her and held her arms out expecting to hold Reece. Not yet, Evie Lu. We've been giving Evie Lu a Reece fix by looking at Erik and Cam's blog. Here is what that looks like.

Snow Fun

I'm going to get you!

We've been hit with some serious snow and that meant bundling Evie Lu up to go play. She likes the idea of snow more than the reality, but throwing snowballs was a real thrill for her. Somewhere along the way Evie Lu got it into her head that "snowman" is the word for snow. When you ask her if there is snow, she points and says, "Snowman!" The best was today when she told us she was walking in the snowman.

Snowflakes are tasty.

Singing At Supper

Getting ready for Christmas!

Will got a Christmas tree last week and we spent Friday night decorating it. Evie "helped" by holding Christmas lights for me and hanging ornaments (and taking them down and putting them back up, repeatedly). We have the tree lights on a power strip, and Evie has learned to flip the switch to turn the lights on and off. She is very proud of herself, and walks around the house saying "lights on!" or "lights off!".



This princess dress is a hand me down from one of Will's coworkers. Will has been trying to get Evie to wear it, and this is the only time she would put it on. I guess she isn't into dress up yet (unless it is Will's baseball cap or my dress shoes).



With the tree up, our house now feels festive and cozy, making it nice to be at home. That's a good thing, because we have been spending a lot of time at home. Evie woke up on Monday morning with what looked like pink eye. The doctor took one look at her and confirmed our diagnosis. The doctor also found Evie had a double ear infection. Oh, how we love daycare! She wasn't running a fever or tugging at her ears, so we saw no sign of an infection. But now we have a reason for her recent crabbiness. Anyway, Will and I are taking turns being stay at home parents with our little toddler until her ears and eyes clear up. The antibiotics must be working as she seems on the mend. If it isn't one thing, it's another!

A tale of two toddlers

Evie is in the middle of a language explosion. We knew she was hitting some kind of developmental milestone because she has been waking up a lot during the night lately. The conversations have been delightful, but her new language also means she can make it very clear what she wants. Instead of pictures, I have two conversations demonstrating Evie's two sides.

Setting 1: Bedtime
Evie (pointing at my eyes): Glasses. Eyes!
Me: Yes. Mommy wears glasses over her eyes. Does Daddy wear glasses?
Evie: No!
Me: Does Oscar wear glasses?
Evie (laughing): Nooo!!
Me: Time to sleep, Evie. I love you very much!
Evie (thumb in mouth): Vivi loves Mama much.

I had to pull her thumb out and ask her what she said again. Clear as a bell, she says "Vivi loves Mama much". Heart melting. It is also kind of cute that she now refers to herself as "Vivi".

Setting 2: Dinner
Me: Time to eat, Evie.
Evie (pleading): Applesauce?
Me: No. Tonight we are having beans and rice!
Evie (stating matter-of-factly): Applesauce. Oat-meeeeal.
Me: No, we have oatmeal for breakfast. Now we have beans and rice.
Evie: Applesauce! AAAAAAaaaaahhh!!

And now we are all reduced to tears (and yelling and more tears and lots of snot). Applesauce is her favorite food, with oatmeal a close second. Go figure. The good news is, she is learning to be independent. The bad news is, she is learning to be independent.

A Thanksgiving Feast

My Aunt Megan taught me you have to keep food separate.


Yesterday a sign went up at Evie Lu's daycare announcing a Thanksgiving Feast and parents were invited. Always a fan of feasts, I joined our little girl for lunch at school. The food was about what you would expect, but the company was fantastic. Evangeline was a little confused when I showed up and had no intention of taking her home right away. (This was a common theme with kids and parents throughout lunch.)

I shared my roll with Evie Lu (my girl loves her carbs) and she offered me some of her green beans. The sweetest part was getting to wash her hands after lunch and seeing her go to her cot for a nap. (I'm thinking we need to get one at home because at daycare she flops onto it and practically goes to sleep immediately.) I kissed Evie Lu's cheek and then left one of the greatest lunches ever.

What? No seriously. What?


And also Happy Birthday Brady!

Evie Lu's First Dance

Evie Lu is sick again and it is my turn to stay home with her while Kaia is at work. We worked on getting video of her telling everyone, "I love you!", but Evie Lu just wasn't feeling it today. Instead here is a sweet moment from Evie Lu's first week. You can tell exactly when Kaia notices I'm recording.

Lego Land

One more block and I may be done!


One of my co-workers has twin three year old girls and she has been taking care of us with some great hand me downs for Evie Lu. We've received dresses, outfits, and most recently a giant bag of Legos. Evie Lu loves blocks and she's over the moon about the Legos. (Kaia and I have been having quite a bit of fun as well.) As a dad it makes me very happy to see my little girl has as much fun building things as she does destroying them after the building is complete. Go Evie!

Do I see a mess? No, I see genius at work!

Pony Girl

This is too much fun!

Kaia and I have moved from dressing Evie Lu up in ridiculous outfits to Evie Lu dressing herself up. It is great. These pictures are from an afternoon when just Evie and I were home. She went into her playroom and came out in the hat and carrying her stick horse. (I picked up the stick horse this summer because every kid needs one.) Evie Lu has a great time pretending she's riding the range or herding Oscar.

I'll see you down the trail partners.

A Walk In The Woods

Would you like to come hiking with me?

We are in early November and our house is ready for cold and flu season to be over. Evie Lu still hasn't completely shaken her sickness and this weekend Kaia had to take care of Evie Lu, Oscar, and me since we were all under the weather. Kaia deserves a medal.

Leave nothing but footprints. Take nothing but pictures and giant leaves!


Despite all the sickness we've been managing to have a lot of fun in between coughs. The most fun is seeing how Evie Lu is becoming a little girl. She plays little games and her imagination is in top gear almost constantly. This week will feature some pictures of Evie Lu in full play mode.

I'll see you on the trail.

Evie Lu - Oscar Tamer

Oscar, follow the feathers!

Evie Lu and Oscar have an interesting relationship. Evangeline loves having an addition to the house that she can boss around, but she is not very patient with Oscar all the time. She really wants to treat him like a plaything and thankfully Oscar is pretty low key. When they do play well together it is a riot. We let Evie Lu use the feather toy and Oscar loved it. We just needed to make sure the toy didn't get used as a whip.

You will obey me.

Lions, and Croup, and Candy . . . Oh My!

Yeah, I'm cool. I've got candy.

Kaia and I were discussing that in your twenties you choose whether you want to stay up all night, but in your thirties it is the choices you've made that keep you up. That being said, Evie Lu has given us quite the eventful week.

Tuesday night we called ask a nurse about Evangeline's cough and labored breathing. We were certain she had croup, but the nurse's reaction sent us into panic mode. We were instructed to call 911 immediately. Evie Lu and Kaia were whisked off in an ambulance while I followed in the car. The emergency room doctor gave our little girl steroids and some other medication and sent us home. Whew.

After trick or treating thumb sucking and dad hugs are necessary.


Kaia and Evie Lu stayed home the next day and I think Kaia and Oscar the cat were the worse for wear. Evie Lu loves to try and steer Oscar by his tail, loves to hug him, and if he would sit still for it I'm sure Evie would try to dress him in doll clothes. We have a very patient cat and Kaia deserves the mother of the year award.

Story time with mom helps little lions settle down.


Oh Halloween Evie Lu and Kaia hit the mall to do trick or treating and our lion was a big hit. Of course we have a time delayed lion as Evangeline gets shy in front of people, but bold as soon as walks away. Kaia would ask Evie, "What does a lion say?" Evie Lu would stand silently staring at the people holding candy. Kaia tells the nice people, "I'm sorry she's shy." My ladies take five steps away and then Evie roars and says, "tick or tea." Maybe we should be off to see the wizard for our cowardly lion.

The End

Talking 'Bout Playdoh

The artist at work


Have I mentioned that Evie Lu has the best mom ever? Kaia recently made playdoh for Evangeline and our little girl loved it. You can see the green version, but there is also a blue, a red, and a hybrid made from Evie Lu mixing them together. Kaia said Evie Lu played for an hour at one sitting!

This is what happens when you ask me to smile


These days Evie Lu is all about pretend play. Whether she's making you dinner or performing some surgery on Oscar (have I mentioned our cat is very patient?) Evie Lu is seemingly always on the imaginary move. Kaia and I have caught ourselves laughing out loud at some of the things Evangeline does. She's something else.

Here is my real smile and it is for Grandma Bev today

Evie Lu's New Friend

Kaia and I both have very fond memories of the pets our families had when we were younger and this weekend with Grandma Bev in tow we picked out a new member of our little family. Evie Lu's new pet is a one year old cat named Oscar. Oscar is a sweetheart of a guy who was rescued from a cat hoarder. Evangeline really likes him, although getting the two of them to sit still for a picture has been impossible so far. Evie Lu doesn't say Oscar exactly, but she does say "Oskies." It is too cute.

A Weekend With Grandma Bev

Evie Lu and one of her "Bahpahs"


This weekend brought a visit from an under the weather Grandma Bev. (It is in the character of grandmothers not to let any kind of flu or virus prevent them from seeing their grandchildren.) So despite not really being able to hear, Grandma Bev and Evie Lu had a great few days together. There were many stories read, laughs shared, and of course plenty of hugs. Evie Lu can't wait until she gets to spend more time with her grandmas, after all December is just around the corner!

Stay tuned for an announcement about a new addition to our home!

Just A Little Chat Over Snack

A Pox On You

The artist at work.

There are times when you have to ask, "Is this a coincidence or part of some evil genius' plan?" Today is one of those times. Evie Lu's daycare had a teacher training day scheduled for Monday and so they are closed, but would Evie Lu have gone to daycare today? No, because she has the chicken pox. Interestingly enough Evie's doctor said the worst should be over by Tuesday and our little girl probably wouldn't be contagious by Tuesday or Wednesday. Hmmm. (Imagine toddler teachers tapping their fingers together making evil genius hand motions.)

Do you want me to sign it for you?


As a result of having a sick little girl we've ramped up indoor fun time at our house. (When I say "we" you should think "Kaia." My lovely wife is by far the more creative and fun parent.) On Saturday it was watercolor paint day. (We'll have to have Grandma Rhonda give Evie Lu painting lessons when she comes for Christmas.) Our rainy day baby is doing well, all things considered.

Not quite Picasso, but definitely Evie Lu!

Duets With Dad

Mommy would never know if I took her snacks and pens.


I get worried sometimes that Evie Lu is not keeping pace with other toddlers in the communication realm. I see other almost two year olds saying "I love you" clear as day (I'm looking at you Olivia) and I wonder when Evangeline will take that next step and have understandable full sentences. Kaia keeps pointing out all the things Evie Lu does say and how she is communicating more clearly every day. Yesterday, I stopped worrying so much.

I was sitting with Evie Lu as we waited for Kaia to come home and I asked Evie Lu what song she wanted to sing. Evie Lu replied, "Old MacDonald." I was shocked. So we sang Old MacDonald and Evie Lu joined in on the animal sounds and the E I E I Ohs. It was great. (It honor of Aunt Kaitlin, whom Evie Lu calls Aunt Kay Kay, there was a lion on the farm.) Singing with Evie Lu is the best.

Watch out for the "naners."

Getting Better All The Time

A whole week of antibiotics later and our girl is 100% healthy. Unfortunately, going so long without her thumb has messed with her sleep cycle. We'll take missed sleep as long as it means Evie Lu is okay.

The funniest moment of the week was when we thought Evie Lu was starting to swear. Fortunately she was telling us her fork was on the table by saying, "Ah, fork." Kaia and I were mortified at first, but when we realized what was going on it was really funny. Yikes.