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.