Springfield!

Where have we been for the last couple of weeks? We've been all over the country. Kaia and Evie Lu stayed home while I went to South Carolina and then we all packed up and headed to Illinois to be a part of Jody and Leanne's wedding. (Evie is thrilled to have a new aunt!) It will take us a while to show you all the cool stuff, so keep checking back over the next few days!

Will and Evangeline at Abraham Lincoln's house. Who is that on the post?


When you go to Springfield you have to check out all the Abraham Lincoln attractions. He lived in Springfield before becoming president and the whole town is all Lincoln all the time. Two days before the wedding we spent the day at The Lincoln Presidential Museum and had a blast.

Will, Evie Lu, and her Uncle Jody with the Lincoln family.


Kaia and Evangeline spent quite a bit of time in a kid's area where there were dress up clothes and games from the era. The gentleman showing Evie how to play the game was a riot. Thankfully Evie Lu didn't take out any other kids as she swung the toy around.

Evie goes old school with a game.


Evie Lu models an outfit I hope is in style when she's 16.


The best part of getting to Springfield was being with family. Evie Lu got to catch up with Grandma Rhonda, Aunt Kathy, Aunt Becky, Cousin Parker, Uncle Jody, and the new additions of Aunt Leanne and her family. It was fantastic.

Two cousins on a sunny day.

Just me and Mommy!

Evie and I have been all to ourselves this week since Will is on a retreat across the country. Thank goodness he comes back tomorrow because I think both Evie and I have had enough of each other! Really, we want Will back home safe and sound because we love him and miss him lots. Evie and I have been having some fun table conversation this week. Two nights ago, I asked her how many songs she knew and we made a list:

Evie's playlist:
ABCs
Pinkle pinkle widdle star
Free my mice (Three blind mice...took me a while to figure it out)
Donja know da muckin man? (Do you know the muffin man?)
Jesus loves me (she knows that word for word!)
Old MacDonald EIEIO
And many more...

Evie loves music, and now has started requesting "music! music on!" when we drive to daycare in the morning. I guess she isn't a NPR fan.



Wearing big sunglasses makes me look like a star in a magazine!

Time for hair and makeup

A week ago, Evie got into my makeup and I thought I caught her before she did anything. When I asked her what she did, she pointed at her eyes.

Sure enough, she had done some work on her eyebrows. It was pretty funny, until I tried to remove the marks. Have you ever tried taking eyeliner off a 2-year old? Traumatic. Let's just say, we won't be trying out for Toddlers and Tiaras anytime soon. Evie may have other plans.





She tried on my heels this afternoon and I caught a few pictures of her model walk and poses. Maybe she's been watching episodes of America's Next Top Model. Oof.

Aren't I Smart

Can I see a picture of Evie?


One morning last week I walked into Evie Lu's room and she said, "I'm wet." I thought nothing too new there, but then I started to notice things were amiss. She was very wet everywhere and then I saw a completely dry diaper just sitting in the crib. I asked Evangeline if she had taken off her diaper and she gave me a very pleased with herself, "yup!" So at some point in the morning my little girl had pulled down her pajama pants, taken off her diaper, and then pulled her pants back up.
Hooray for potty training! Now if we can just make sure she pees where we want her to and not just anywhere.

Evie's New Kitty

Evie Lu's aunt Megan may be collecting quite the menagerie of pets, but Evangeline does not want to be outdone. Evie Lu received some gifts from Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Bev for Easter and among the gifts was a stuffed kitty. Our little girl was immediately taken with the new pet and has not wanted to put the cat down since. Kaia thinks it is acting as a proxy for the real cat in the house and now Oscar doesn't have to be worried about Evie wanting to carry him everywhere. Here is a video of the new addition.

Happy Easter!

Easter was a rush! Will had 4 services, I baked a cake and made a salad for a wonderful dinner with friends and family, and Evie saw her little friend Reece get baptized. Whew! I think we are all still recovering. The past 2 years I took very cute pictures of Evie in her Easter dresses. This year was no different, except I forgot she is now 2 years old. All my attempts to get her to face the camera and smile, without a thumb in her mouth or holding cuddle, were met with tears and flopping on the ground. These are the few I could squeeze out of her before church.

She is smiling in this photo alone, only because she is counting with Bert and Ernie. Thank goodness for Sesame Street! (Speaking of, this girl can count! The other day we overheard Evie say, "One, two, three! Mommy, Daddy, Evie!")

Evie still isn't sure about the Easter bunny. When I showed her what the Easter bunny brought for her, she said, "Thank you, Mommy!" Does this mean Evie doesn't believe in Santa any more, either?

An Easter Celebration

Kaia watches over Evie Lu


Our little family has had quite the week. Evie Lu attended her first Good Friday service and did her best impression of a track star, she participated in our church's Easter Celebration with resurrection eggs, and on Easter Sunday she watched Baby Reece get baptized and decided a nap was unnecessary. I'm not sure how Kaia made it through the day.

The pictures are from the Saturday Easter Celebration for kids. There were various stations where kids collected eggs which held different parts of the Easter story. Evangeline loved it. I could not find one picture of Evie Lu looking up because she spend the entire time investigating the eggs.


Will takes a turn

Opening Day!

Once again we've come to another Opening Day for America's game. This will be Evie Lu's third opening day and the third she'll spend with her dear old dad. Evie Lu should be in daycare, but instead she'll be fighting off a bug and getting plenty of quality cuddle time. I've been teaching Evangeline to root for the right team, but apparently someone at daycare has other ideas. Last week I was cheering, "Go Cubs!" and Evie responded with, "Go Mariners!" This is simply not acceptable. You'll see below we've fixed the problem.




Here is Evie Lu from her first opening day. I can't believe how fast time has gone by.

Da Rar

You need to be very serious about your calendar.

What is "da rar?" That is what a subdued lion says according to Evie Lu. Being a lion is Evangeline's favorite activity these days and when she is excited she lets out a big, "raaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrr!" complete with hands outstretched as claws.

Ooh, yellow!


When Evie Lu is more matter of fact about being a lion we get "da rar." It almost sounds French (le rar?) as she tells us what her favorite animal says. It cracks me up every time.

Come and work with me!

Find This Kid A Shirt

I look cool.


One afternoon I heard Evie Lu in her room and I went to investigate. I found her sitting on the rocking chair with no shirt, but with her swim goggles on. Do you know how difficult it is not to bust out laughing when you find something like that? I tried not to laugh so that I could call Kaia in to see what I'd seen.

Evie Lu seems to be going through developmental stages at a rapid clip. I'm not sure this is an entirely good thing since Kaia and I bear the brunt of a fickle Evie Lu. Between potty training, the constant choruses of, "What?" and "No!", and the spring cold we've been a hopping house. The trick with potty training is to be one step ahead of Evie Lu at all times. I know that sometime soon there is going to be a massive mess to clean up.

Hmm, how mad will I be at my parents for posting this picture?

The Naked Artist

After a disk repair, a clean reinstall, a RAM boost, and reloading of all my photos, I'm back in the blogging game. Thank goodness my slow Mac is back up to speed! Plus, I now have a brand new camera for my birthday! I had to give my new toy a try, and Evie's bath time tonight was the perfect setting. Evie got a set of bathtub crayons from Aunt Megan and Uncle Chris for her birthday. We use them as a special treat for when she uses the potty or when she needs extra encouragement to get in the tub. Tonight, she is fighting a nasty cold, so she needed some cheering up. Bathtub crayons to the rescue! She spent about 95% of her bath time working on her graffiti skills and 5% getting clean. In fact, judging by the color of the water after her bath, I'm pretty sure she was dirtier on the way out than on the way in. But it sure was fun!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

I dressed up just for you!

Sing Along With Evangeline

Do you want to sing along?

Evie Lu Reads!

Kaia and I were making dinner when we heard some small sounds from the living room. This is what we saw.

Aunt-a-palooza!

Aunt Kaitlin this is what we open next.


When you come and visit Evie Lu, you need to lead story time. It won't take long after Evangeline warms up to you for Evie Lu to hand you a book. She loves The Wheels On The Bus pop-up book, The Very Silly Shark, Make Way For Ducklings, Olivia, and Evie will provide the sound effects for you too. Doesn't it make you want to visit?

I love reading with my Great Aunt Robin!

What Are You Doing?

Look, I'm invisible!

The toddler endless question loop has begun at our house. Some kids ask "why?" over and over, but Evie Lu has decided to go with, "What are you doing?". So far I've found it hilarious. At the grocery store the other day I stopped counting how many times Evangeline had asked me the question at 100. The hardest part for me is to not give a smart ass answer to Evie Lu's honest question. I think it really cracked up my fellow shoppers to hear the volley of answers to Evie Lu's one question.

Now We Are Having Fun

Evie Lu - Queen of the Rodeo


Before Evie Lu was born I would pretend to hold her and imagine patting my little girl on the back. Kaia would laugh at me. It was so sweet after Evangeline was born to actually hold my little girl.
I also imagined giving Evie Lu horseback rides. This last week that came true as well. One of Evie Lu's favorites songs for me to sing while she is on her rocking horse is "Pony Girl" and she became a real pony girl this time. Yeehaw!

Reading The Paper

There is a lot of serious stuff in the paper.


Although our newspaper will not be around much longer, Kaia and I read the paper every morning at breakfast. Evie Lu has decided she wants to join us. She asks us, "Read the bitter?" (Strangely "paper" and "diaper" sound almost identical in Evie-talk. So a "dirty bitter" could mean a couple of things.) We usually give her a section of the paper we are not reading and let her go to town. It makes me happy to think we are raising someone who will value reading. If only I could get her to pay more attention to spring training box scores.

Do you want to come read the paper with me?

Fat Tuesday

What am I giving up for Lent? Well it sure won't be my super cool style.


Now that it is late February in the northwest we are back to rain. With the rain comes the resurgence of sickness. We have had an almost daily scare that Evie Lu might develop croup. So far we've been blessed and the dreaded cough has not returned, but there is still time.
Evie Lu is clearly at a developmental stage of some sort because her patience is at an all time low. Kaia and I know she's trying to communicate, but the message isn't getting through as quickly as our little girl would like. Sometimes she just goes and takes care of what she wants by herself. In the picture above she wanted a hat like I was wearing. I wasn't understanding fast enough and so this picture is just after she found one of my hats and exasperatedly put it on. That's my girl.

Something To Puzzle Over

Hmm, where could this go?


You never know what is going to spark the imagination of a toddler. Evie Lu received an awesome birthday present from her great aunt Bev and it has been the favorite in our house ever since. The gift is a farmhouse puzzle with light sensors on the board so that every time you replace a piece the animal sound plays. As you can see in the pictures Evie Lu loves to pull her rocking chair up to the ottoman to play with the puzzle.
It took Kaia and I quite a while to figure out the sounds were triggered by a light sensor. One night as we were getting ready to go to bed, Kaia almost had a heart attack when a parakeet sound came from seemingly nowhere as the lights went out. Watch out for those toys, they'll get you!

Did you hear that?

Making Valentine's Day Cards

Ooh, this one is going to be good!

I am married to a wonderful and creative woman who is also a great mom. Kaia decided to have Evie Lu make valentines for aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpa this year. I just sat back and watched the whole thing go down. Kaia would make the templates and Evie Lu would add her artistic flourishes.

Her artistic flourishes often jumped off the page and found her face. Do you know how difficult it is not to laugh at Evie Lu with a marker face? Very tough.

All done!

The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades

Hey, let's be cool.


After the last post I had to share some pictures that reflect what Evie Lu is like for the vast majority of everyday.
Evie Lu's most recent trend is to want to talk to her grandparents on the phone. She is very vocal before we dial the number, but once the conversation starts she tends to revert to one word answers to questions. The crackup for us is when she tries to show the phone things. Evie doesn't quite understand you can't see through the phone. Of course after we say goodbye she turns into a chatterbox again. That's our girl.
The picture below is Evie Lu's best effort at the peace sign.

Peace man!

I'll Stop The World And Meltdown With You

I said no pictures!


Evie Lu is getting very good at the zero to sixty meltdown. I know it is all part of learning how to relate and figure out her place in the hierarchy of the world, but I have to say my daughter can throw a fit like a champ. The best part is when she gets distracted and forgets what she was so upset about. In an instant the tears are gone.
I don't know if you saw Bruce Springsteen at the super bowl, but if you did and remember how he dropped to his knees and leaned back then you've got a pretty good idea of what Evie's favorite tantrum trick looks like. I swear she's going to have knees as bad as mine by the time she's 12 if she keeps this up.
You'll notice in these pictures she doesn't even have tears worked up. We are definitely raising a little drama queen.


Whatever it is you want me to do, I refuse!

Fancy Shoes

Oh these old things? Yes, I just wear them around the house.

One of my great co-workers gave us the shoes you see in the pictures. Her little girls were done playing with them and thought Evie Lu would like them. Oh boy does Evie like them. She says to me, "Daddy, I want my fancy shoes." The best part of the shoes is the clip clop sound they make as she parades through the house on the hardwood floors. Fancy shoes indeed.

Do your shoes have feathers?

Two Year Check-up

Mommy, you stay where I can see you.

It was supposed to be a 24 month check up, but it was a 25 month check up by the time we got Evie Lu in to see Dr. Ann. Evie Lu is growing like she should. The updated stats are 34.6 pounds to keep her ranking in the 95th percentile and a height of over 34 inches to be in the 75th percentile. We have a very healthy girl on our hands.
As excited as Kaia and I were to see that Evangeline continues to do well, Evie Lu was just as upset to have to be in the doctor's office. If you want Evie Lu to run away from you just wear scrubs or a white lab coat. Of course getting a shot didn't help matters. Does anyone have tricks to making the Dr visit less traumatic?

This is all going to end in tears.

Sunday Nap

Dad, quit moving. I'm trying to nap.


There is nothing like coming home after a busy Sunday morning at the church and hanging with my little family. Evie Lu is usually just finishing lunch and heading off to a nap while Kaia and I get to hang out. When Evie Lu gets to sleep I usually try to catch a little nap too. Sometimes I get company for the nap.
In the span of 10 minutes on Sunday Oscar joined me and then Evie Lu woke up and wanted to nap again. Life is good.

That's better. Oscar, quit breathing so loud.

Evie Lu Is Hiding

Sometime in the last week Evie Lu figured out she could play real hide and seek with us. Previously she would just run away into another room to hide, but now she understands closets are a great place to not be seen. Evie Lu's m.o. is to go into the closet and say, "Where did Evie go?" Then she pops out and says, "I see you!" If you listen closely you can hear all that in the video below. I apologize for the shaky camera action. Just think of it as an independent film.

Does It Fit? No!

Okay, what needs fixing?

We have many stories to share with you this week, Evie Lu has been on fire! One of the funniest was from this Saturday after Kaia and I had spent most of the afternoon rearranging the house. After we were done we found Evie Lu playing with the tape measure. I asked her what she was doing and then she proceeded to walk around the room measuring various items and saying, "Does it fit? No. Does it fit? No."

Since Evie Lu says nothing fits we either have too much furniture or our daughter is a minimalist who will never own a couch. Either way it is pretty funny.

Yeah, I can get you an estimate, but that alligator is going to be a problem.

House Of Contagion

It is reaching out to get me! Help me!


The picture above is from the snow we got in December. Kaia took Evangeline out to build a snowman and Evie was not amused. Not in the slightest.

Since Evie Lu started daycare we've seen a parade of germs come through our home. Usually Kaia and I stay relatively healthy while we fret over our little girl. This last couple of weeks has seen a shift in who gets sick. Evie is healthy as a horse while Kaia and I have been fighting various bugs. We keep expecting Evie to get sick, but she hasn't. I wonder if she'll loan me some of her immune system.

Just before family came out for Christmas, Kaia taught Evie Lu a fun little song about the black plague.

A song we sing for daddy.

Watch as I wave to my people!


We had several fantastic options for "You Write The Caption", but there was a clear winner. Grandma Bev wrote, "Arrrrggghh!! Ahoy, ye Matie. I, ah, couldn't find my pirate hat in these rough seas so I grabbed the first thing I could get my hands on!" Clearly my mother in law knows my love of all things piratey.

We have been surviving stagnant air in our neck of the woods. That means we get heavy fog in the first part of the day and then possibly sun or just more fog. It is very odd. The sun did come out enough for us to go play at a park this weekend and although a bit chilly it was a great time. Evie Lu is no longer so easily fooled by our attempts to get her to do what we want. Letting her wear my sunglasses was the only reason she agreed to come home with us.

I'm not sure where she picked this up, but Evangeline is now a fan of telling us to be careful. I first heard her say it as I was putting a sweatshirt on her. "Be careful", she cautioned. I was amazed. She is growing up too fast.


I'm writing a song for you.

That's Funny & I'm Sorry

Evie Lu is learning early what being a Cubs fan is all about.

Evie Lu has picked up a couple of phrases recently that she uses in sporadically appropriate times. The newest is, "That's funny." Evie is usually accurate with this one although this morning she looked at me and said, "That's funny." I asked her what was funny and she just laughed.
I'm sorry came about after she body slammed Oscar the cat. I don't think it was entirely intentional, but I felt she should apologize. I told Evie Lu to go say, "I'm sorry" to Oscar. Now she walks around apologizing for everything. Evie Lu has no concept of what it means, but I think she just likes saying it. She does remember falling down on Oscar and brings that up from time to time.


It has been a while, but it is time again for, "You write the caption!" (By the way those are pants she's put on her head.)

Movin' On Up

I like to organize.


We now return to our regular scheduled Evie Lu updates. Kaia has promised to share some potty updates, so I won't touch those. (Insert your own baby poop joke here.)
Our little girl has made a big move in daycare! She is now in the Toddler C classroom. No more little kid stuff for Evie Lu. Evangeline has been having a blast with her new teacher and with her friends who have made the move. Zeke is with her in the class for those keeping track.

My daddy drinks diet caffeine free. What a maroon.


One of the big differences between classrooms is the amount of imaginary play the group does. There are dress up clothes all the kids can use and each day I see Evie Lu in an outfit which seems like a mix between Stevie Nicks and a clown.
There also seems to be a lot of aggression from the boys in the class. I'm hoping that Evie Lu and the other girls have not started wagering on the battles. It amazes me that the girls mostly ignore the stupid boys when they fight. Good start Evie Lu, good start.

I'm all done. Isn't my work fantastic?