Oh, the Places We'll Go!

Happy 5th Birthday Evan

2012-01-06T12:35:00.001-06:00

As usual I'm slacking in my blog writing. Honestly, after working all day, doing family stuff until the boys' bedtime, taking some online courses and everything else on my plate, blogging is not high on my priority list. But, Evan's 5th Birthday is definitely a reason for a posting.

I truly cannot believe he is five already. I know as a parent you always say you don't know how time has passed so quickly, and that is absolutely true. It is simply amazing watching him grow and mature into an incredible boy. I love that he is smart, funny, cute, polite, caring, and helpful. He loves school and anything related to cars. I can't wait to see what the next 5 years holds for him and us!

I found this fantastic idea on Pinterest, which is to ask your child the same 20 questions every year on their birthday and see how they change over time.

Evan Nicholas, 5 years old – January 5, 2012

1. What is your favorite color? red

2. What is your favorite toy? cars

3. What is your favorite fruit? apple

4. What is your favorite tv show? Max and Ruby

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? peanut butter and jelly sandwich

6. What is your favorite outfit? Motorcycle shirt

7. What is your favorite game? Operation

8. What is your favorite snack? Cheese and crackers

9. What is your favorite animal? dog

10. What is your favorite song? I Got a Feelin

11. What is your favorite book? Cars

12. Who is your best friend? Aya

13. What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride Go Car(Mustang)

15. What is your favorite drink? Apple juice

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? MyBear

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Lucky Charms

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Pizza

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Policeman

August 2011

2011-09-17T08:13:00.000-06:00

Special Day Out
Early in August we did a fun day out, just me and the boys. I took them to lunch, then we went to one of the local children's museums. As usual, Evan enjoyed the different activities there, and Luke was so excited to explore somewhere new.

Playing instruments together

My little drummer boy

Our 3 hands

Monkeying Around
We met up with my friends, Kate and Joe, and their 2 adorable kiddos Jack and Amelie. I haven't seen them in a long time, so it was great to catch up with each other while watching the kids play. We went to a place called Little Monkey Bizness, which has an indoor play area for the kids and a coffee shop for the adults. Very cool! The pictures aren't the greatest since the kids were running the entire time.

Jack and Evan

Morton Arboretum
All I can say is this place is amazing! The grounds are beautiful and they have a huge children's play area. We will definitely be back!

In the tree house

Pumping water

Lots of water to splash around in

Luke was too little to enjoy most of the activities,

so he relaxed in the stroller most of the day

Posing with Yiayia

King of the mountain

Playing in one of many streams of water

July 2011

2011-09-16T20:12:00.001-06:00

Most of July was spent hanging around the house just having fun and enjoying life. I was taking an online class since I am working towards an additional teaching endorsement (English as a second language), so I was extremely busy with a 4 credit hour course in an 8 week session...one of the many reasons I am so behind on blogging.

Napping with papa

Exploring every inch of the house

Goofing around together

Where's Luke?

Peek-a-boo!

What a good helper

Family Vaca

2011-09-10T10:16:00.000-06:00

Although I'm posting the majority of our summer happenings month by month, I think our mini vacation we took in June warrants its own posting. Seeing that we remodeled our kitchen and bathrooms in the spring (perhaps some pictures later?) and Luke has about a 3 hour limit in the car, we decided to stay close to home for our vacation this year. We headed up to Gurnee, IL to Key Lime Cove, which is a hotel with an indoor water park.

While we waited for our hotel room to be ready, we killed some time at Gurnee Mills Mall. Evan was so excited to see the Hudson Hornet from the Cars movies. We also had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, however I was not able to take any pictures since Evan was terrified of the whole concept.

Like a kid in a candy store...

in the hotel lobby area, where they also had Starbucks coffee (thank you!)

Not the greatest picture, but a view of the whole water park from the lobby

The slides in the kiddie areas were perfect for Evan, my super-cautious child. They also supplied the life jackets for "free".

Luke had fun splashing around in the mini fountains.

At the hotel restaurant - ARRGGH!

Hanging out in our room

On our way home we visited Kohl Children's Museum in Glenview. It's one of the nicest ones we have visited, with a great selection of activities for Evan and Luke. However, it was VERY crowded, probably since it was a rainy day.

Playing in the infant area

Who is that adorable baby in the mirror?

Building and painting a house

Grocery shopping in Dominic's

Reliving mommy's college days as a cashier at Super WalMart

Making a sandwich at Potbelly's

June 2011

2011-09-06T16:33:00.002-06:00

Everyday Fun
These pictures depict what most of our summer consisted of - having fun playing and being silly at home.

You can see Luke's bottom 2 teeth, and at this point his top 2 teeth were also coming in.

White Fence Farm Outing
Our summer is not complete without our yearly pilgrimage to White Fence Farm for THE BEST fried chicken and corn fritters.

Picnic in the Park
I bought an awesome picnic blanket, which we were able to use several times over the summer for picnics and other random occasions.

Our 1st picnic with yiayia

T-Ball
I've posted a few times about Evan playing t-ball. This was him after his last game very proudly holding his trophy.

Major Milestones
Summer was filled with many firsts for Luke. I'll do a separate posting on that later, but here he is pulled to a stand "helping" load the dishwasher.

Visiting with our Friends
My friend, Carrie, and her family visited with us for a few days. We all had a blast!

Speaking of Milestones, here is Luke's 1st haircut.

Before

After

So stinkin cute!

Camping
Evan really wanted to go camping in the backyard this summer. He and Rick had a night all planned out, until it started to rain. He was just as happy to sleep in the tent in our family room instead!

A Whole Lotta Bloggin

2011-09-05T19:52:00.000-06:00

Maybe I'm a slacker, or maybe I'm just a busy mom, but I obviously have gotten away from blogging over the past few months. Summer just flew by, and here we are already in the midst of a new school year. My goal this year is to be uber-organized so we'll see how this goes. I just can't seem to find enough time to squeeze everything in - between work, 2 kids and a husband, a house, plus taking a college course each semester is there any room to breathe? While we're at it let's throw blogging into that mix. But hey, if I don't blog about Luke, down the road he'll have 2nd child syndrome and wonder why I doted over Evan about every accomplishment and milestone in my blog and failed to mention all of his major life steps! Really, though, the main reasons I haven't blogged are: a) what I already stated about not being able to find the time b) Facebook - it seems like most people who read my blog (am I down to about 3 readers now?) are also on Facebook and I do update on there frequently with posts and pictures about our life and c) I hate Blogger. It is a pain to post pictures and takes FOREVER to do anything on here.

Anyways, I'm rambling. So here we go, a month by month update to catch you up on life and all the places we've been...

May 2011

2011-09-05T19:51:00.000-06:00

T-ball Games
Evan had his first t-ball games starting in May. We had a few rough games where he was hesitant or flat out refused to play. He slowly became more comfortable and did a pretty good job batting off the tee. Overall the games were quite entertaining!!

His 1st hit!

Getting advice from the 3rd base coach

Acting as pitcher for the 1st inning

Luke's Baptism
This event could easily have a posting of its own, so here's just a few pictures from this special occasion.

Evan and Luke before leaving for church

Luke and his proud godparents

An exhausting day!

7 Months Old

2011-04-26T19:54:00.004-06:00

Here is Luke's 7 month picture:

He is still a happy baby who loves cuddle time, especially with mommy. He's been tasting lots of new foods and loving all of them. So far he has tried cereals, avocados, sweet potatoes, bananas, carrots, peas, green beans, squash, pears and prunes. He is really babbling now and is saying "dadadada". Luke's 1st tooth also popped through today. We've been expecting its arrival for a while now, and I'm sure many others will be following very soon.

Evan recently started t-ball and so far really loves it. He's been going stir crazy with the horrible weather we've had this spring. Hopefully all this rain slows down soon and he can get outside and play! He loves preschool and his teachers and is really coming out of his shell (finally). He's really going to be upset when it ends in a few weeks!

Ready for his 1st t-ball practice

Cheering on Butler in the Championship game for the 2nd year in a row

6 Months Old

2011-03-14T20:18:00.005-06:00

I really can't believe that Luke is 6 months old already! From the lack of blog posts, life has obviously been very busy. Luke continues to change so much on almost a daily basis. He is a happy baby, flashing huge smiles to anyone who will give him even the slightest bit of attention. He is so interested in everything that is happening around him, to the point where he doesn't want to take naps during the day or sleep though the night most nights. He is a champion at eating cereal and learning to appreciate sweet potatoes and peas. About a month ago he started sitting up by himself for short periods of time, and every day he gets stronger and stronger. Luke tries grabbing any item within arm's distance, and it goes immediately into his mouth. He also goes CRAZY in his exersaucer. I can't wait to see how he changes in the next 6 months!

He loves his toes!

Brotherly love!

Not so sure about those sweet potatoes

Foodie Friday - #4 (a day late)

2011-01-15T23:12:00.004-06:00

For Evan's 4th birthday party, I kept the menu pretty simple. We ordered fried chicken, ribs, and cole slaw from a local barbecue place, Nick's Ribs, and I made baked beans in the crock pot as an additional side dish. Instead of a cake, I ordered a Toy Story cupcake stand from Wilton.com and made red velvet cupcakes.

Slow Cooker Baked Beans

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/slow-cooker-baked-beans-74905.aspx
I've made these several times and they're always a big hit!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/red-velvet-cupcakes-114532.aspx
These were REALLY good. The cupcake part was moist, and the frosting was not too sweet. I kept the extras in the fridge so we were able to enjoy the rest of them for several days after the party.

Celebration

2011-01-14T16:44:00.006-06:00

Last weekend we had Evan's 4th birthday party, and of course it was a Toy Story theme. Since it wasn't a huge milestone age, we kept it small, only inviting my parents and Rick's parents and siblings. This was the first birthday that Evan truly understood the concept of presents, especially since his birthday is so close to Christmas. This was a good and bad thing, since he expected to receive everything on his wish list and was pouting because he didn't get "a trailer to go behind the big car". He had a blast, though, and it was a really fun evening!

Wearing his birthday crown from school

Hiding in his new tent from grandma and papa

Posing with Aunt Lisa and Uncle Mike

Foodie Friday - #3

2011-01-07T22:18:00.004-06:00

Avgolemono is a Greek egg lemon soup that has always been one of my favorite meals. I was a very picky eater when I was young, and that's something even I would inhale! It's a meal I make frequently in our house as it is easy and quick to make and definitely a comfort food on a cold day. I'm posting the recipe today since it is already on my menu for dinner next week.

Avgolemono

Ingredients:
4 C chicken broth
3 eggs
1/2 C rice
Juice of 1 lemon

Directions:
Cook rice in broth until tender. Separate eggs. Beat egg whites until stiff. Add egg yolks. Add lemon juice, beating constantly. Slowly add 1/2 C hot broth to egg mixture beating constantly to prevent curdling. Add egg mixture to hot broth. Stir constantly over low flame until almost ready to boil. Remove from flame and serve.

Source: Our Kouzina Revisited
St. Nicholas Ladies' Philoptochos Cookbook

My notes on the recipe: To give the soup more substance I often add chopped/shredded cooked chicken. The easiest way is to cook 1-2 chicken breasts in the crockpot in a small amount of chicken broth with some salt and pepper. The recipe only calls for 1 lemon, but I ALWAYS add more than that, and fresh lemon is much better than bottled lemon juice. I usually also add sliced carrots to get in a serving of veggies for the day.

A picture from September 2008 when Evan did not like Avgolemono,
but now he loves it!

New Milestones

2011-01-07T21:57:00.005-06:00

I'm always amazed how infants change almost on a daily basis. It's so exciting when Luke does something new, and I always have the camera on hand just in case we need to capture a special moment. In the past few weeks, Luke rolled over from his tummy to his back and has started with deep belly laughs. He is reaching for the toys on his play gym and is beginning to use his tummy muscles to pull himself up to a sitting position. I also don't want to jinx it, but he is sleeping through the night most nights (although we still have some very fussy evenings and definitely earn those solid hours of sleep!).

1st time rolling over

Watching his bear closely

Hanging with his big bro

Happy 4th Birthday!

2011-01-07T21:36:00.003-06:00

Evan celebrated his 4th birthday on Wednesday. It was my last day of winter break, so I was happy to spend the day at home with him. He was very excited about his special day. However, the fact that his party isn't until tomorrow really confused him. Although I had only planned to make cupcakes for his party, he insisted he needed a cake on his birthday. Luckily I had a yellow cake mix in the back of the cabinet and then whipped up some homemade chocolate frosting. He also kept asking to open his presents. Again, that wasn't in the plan until his party and I could not give in to that. (Note to self: next year buy a small gift for his actual birthday.) Yesterday was his first time celebrating his birthday at school. I wasn't sure how he would react, but he was SO happy when I picked him up. He had a birthday crown, blue toy car from the treasure chest and a cute paper cupcake he decorated. I asked him if he wore the crown while his friends sang to him, and he said he did, which is great if you know how shy Evan can get! His teachers also said he told them he was having a Toy Story party. I am so extremely happy with how far he has come since starting school in September! Anyways, happy birthday to my (not-so) baby boy!

And, a look back at previous birthdays...

Foodie Friday - #2

2010-12-31T17:26:00.003-06:00

Every Christmas I look forward to baking various items and sharing them with family and friends (and of course enjoying them at home too!). Since my maternity leave ended mid-December, I baked a few items ahead of time and kept them in the freezer, then finished everything else the weekend before Christmas. It worked out really well and will probably continue to do that in the future. I made 6 different treats this year. However, since I am blogging from my in-laws' house, I will only be posting links to the recipes that I found on-line.

Fabulous Fudge

I am not sure why I have waited so long to make fudge. It uses very few ingredients, is extremely easy to make, 1 batch makes a lot of pieces, and it stores very easily. This recipe is from a newer show on Food Network that is all desserts. Yum!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-thornton/fabulous-fudge-recipe/index.html

Decorated Sugar Cookies

I am obsessed with sugar cookies. The first time I attempted to decorate them it was a complete failure. Since then, I have done some research on food blogs and am getting better with each try. There are tons of recipes out there for both the cookies and icing, but so far these are my favorites.

http://annies-eats.com/2007/12/12/christmas-cookies/
http://annies-eats.com/2008/12/23/sugar-cookies-with-royal-icing/

Candy Cane Biscotti

Every year I have to make something with mint. I found this recipe and have always wanted to make biscotti, so I gave it a try. I think they were my favorites of everything I made this year. I highly recommend dipping them in hot chocolate or coffee.

http://annies-eats.net/2009/12/22/candy-cane-biscotti/

The other things I made were rum balls, double peanut butter cookies, and gingerbread chocolate chunk cookies.

On Christmas day we went to my parents' house for dinner, so that gave me the opportunity to try another new dessert recipe - eggnog cupcakes. They turned out great. The eggnog flavor was not overpowering and the cupcakes were really moist.

http://annies-eats.net/2010/12/17/eggnog-cupcakes-2/

As you may have noticed, many of my recipes come from annies-eats.net. I love this blog and highly suggest you check it out!

Christmas Recap

2010-12-30T22:50:00.006-06:00

Now that I'm a mom, Christmas seems to get better every year. I love playing Santa and seeing Evan's excitement about the big event. Last year was the first time we were at home in Chicago for Christmas, so we began some of our own family traditions that we continued this year. On Christmas eve, Evan and Luke opened their first gift that was new pajamas. I was very excited to give them coordinating pajamas and of course take tons of pictures of them together! We ate stuffed shells for dinner (see previous post) then watched the Polar Express. In the morning we opened presents then ate breakfast together and played with new toys until we went to my parents' house for dinner. Evan loved every moment and was very happy to open his presents and all of Luke's.

Brotherly love!

A cookie for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Woody and Buzz together again!

Evan's first gift to us!

Happy baby

He was so happy that Santa left a sit n spin at Yiayia and Papou's house.

Nouna and Nouno gave him a scooter

Foodie Friday - #1

2010-12-24T17:53:00.006-06:00

I love food. I love eating it and making it. I love how it brings families and friends together. It carries tradition, culture and ethnicity with it. I am lucky that Rick feels the same way that I do. In fact, when he proposed to me in college, he actually made spanakopita and baklava, which are 2 of my Greek favorites. Most of the time our TV is tuned to the Food Network while I scour the internet, books and magazines for new recipes. I have been thinking for a while now about adding some food postings to my blog, and while baking and cooking this holiday season I thought now is a great time to start. So, I am beginning Foodie Fridays and plan to post at least 1 recipe each Friday. Most of my recipes are stolen from other sources, and if I am able to I will cite where I found the recipe. Also, feel free to comment with your own favorite recipes!

To begin Foodie Fridays, I am posting recipes for stuffed shells and apple french toast, which I have started to make traditionally for Christmas eve and Christmas morning. What I love about the french toast is that you make it the night before, so on Christmas morning I pop it in the oven when we wake up and it's ready to eat after all the presents have been opened.

Stuffed Shells

Ingredients:

6 oz or approx. 18 jumbo shells
1 jar marinara sauce
1 egg
15 oz. ricotta cheese
2 C mozzarella cheese (divided)
3/4 C. grated Parmesan cheese (divided)
1 1/2 t. dried parsley

Directions:

Cook pasta shells according to package directions; drain. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottom of 13X9X2 inch baking dish with non-stick spray. In large bowl, beat egg. Stir in ricotta, 1 3/4 C. of the mozzarella, 1/2 C of the Parmesan, and the parsley.

Spread 1 C of the marinara sauce in the baking dish. Fill cooked shells with ricotta mixture and place in baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over shells and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.

Bake, covered with foil until bubbly, about 45 minutes. Uncover and continue cooking until cheese is melted. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Serves: 6
Source: Unknown

Festive French Toast

Ingredients:
3-4 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored, thinly sliced
1 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. butter, melted
3 1/4 t. cinnamon (divided)
1/2 C. raisins
1 loaf Italian or cinnamon swirl bread, cut into 3/4" slices
6-7 large eggs
1 2/3 C. milk
1 T vanilla

Directions:

In large bowl, add sliced apples, brown sugar, butter, 1 t. cinnamon and raisins; toss to coat apples well. Spray 11X18 baking dish with cooking spray and fill with apple mixture; top with slices of bread.

Mix together eggs, milk, vanilla and remaining cinnamon until well blended. Pour mixture over bread and apples, soaking bread completely. Cover and refrigerate 4-24 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes; uncover and bake 5 minutes or until golden. Remove from over and let stand for 5 minutes. Serve warm, fruit side up.

Source: Unknown

December Happenings

2010-12-23T08:34:00.005-06:00

December has been a big month for us. I can't believe that Luke is already 3 months old. It's amazing how quickly he has changed in such a short amount of time. His fussiness (ok, all out screaming) in the evenings has gone away and we've had some long sleeping stretches, including sleeping through the night the past 2 nights. He is really a happy baby and loves watching his big brother. The 3 month achievement has also led to the not so fun event of returning to work. That has been an adjustment for all of us, and there are definitely pros and cons. It is nice being on a schedule and having some time out of the house, but it is exhausting and I really do miss my boys during the day. Did I mention it's exhausting? I really love my job, but being with 3-5 year olds all day, then coming home to 2 little ones of my own can be tough. But, it is what it is, so let's move on to some adorable pictures!

My little burrito. Swaddling has really helped with calming Luke and getting him to sleep better.

All dressed up for the church dinner dance

Tummy time

Chewing his thumb

He rolled over for the first time today from his tummy to his back

And here's a video of Luke smiling and talking to Rick. Turn your volume up!

Picture Perfect

2010-11-24T20:25:00.002-06:00

The past few years I have sent out Christmas cards with Evan's professional pictures on it and have used the website Shutterfly.com. This year Shutterfly is doing a special promotion - if you blog about their company and use a few key points, you receive 50 free cards. Sweet!!

So, here it goes:

Besides Christmas cards, I have also created calendars for our parents as a Christmas gift the past few years. For each month of the upcoming year, I put pictures from that month of the previous year. So, in January 2010, they were looking at pictures from January 2009. Pretty cool to see how much Evan has grown in the past year! What I love about Shutterfly's calendars is that you can choose different layouts for each month - anywhere from 1-10 or more pictures. Another option I have not used but really like is that you can also personalize the calendar grid by adding important dates. Here's a link to their calendars: http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

We recently had professional pictures taken of Rick, Evan, Luke and me, and I am in the process of choosing our Christmas cards on Shutterfly. I usually use a few of my favorite shots of Evan on our card but this year I am going to stick with 1 picture of our whole family. I thought it was a difficult decision narrowing down our 250 proofs from our photo shoot, and now I have to narrow all my card choices down to 1! Check some out: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards and http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards.

Thanks Shutterfly!

Cute Times Four

2010-11-21T22:10:00.004-06:00

I've written many blogs about spending time with my BFF, Carrie, and her family. After we each had our first child about a year and a half apart, we always said how great it would be to be pregnant at the same time. Well, mother nature granted our wish. Last December, Carrie found out she was pregnant with #2, and 2 weeks later I found out I was pregnant! Our due dates were 3 weeks apart - crazy! It was wonderful this time around having someone to share the experience with. We emailed quite often discussing how we were feeling, or what was happening in each of our pregnancies. On August 31st, Carrie gave birth to Kaia Beth, and exactly 2 weeks later, on September 14th, I had Luke Alexander.

Since their birth, I couldn't wait to see our babies together. This weekend, Carrie and her family drove up here to visit us, and it was a great visit. Kaia is absolutely adorable and has the cutest smile! Kaia and Luke did watch each other, and when placed on the floor next to each other Kaia enjoyed grabbing Luke's ear. We'll continue to have them get to know each other since Carrie and I are already planning their big, fat, Greek wedding!

Even though Evan and Brett (her oldest) have seen each other many times, they always acted shy around each other until about an hour before it was time to leave. I think maturity finally kicked in, because this time within a few minutes they were running around and having a blast! Evan definitely took on the role as the older one, and Brett was very interested in doing what Evan was doing or saying. At one point they were upstairs and were very quiet, so I checked on them assuming they were up to something. Nope, they were sitting on the air mattress reading books together. So sweet! But, their favorite thing to do was run around our kitchen/living room/dining room in a big circle, and by the end of the night they were ready to fall over from exhaustion. So much to look forward to with each of our future visits!

The future Mr. and Mrs.

Our 4 cute kiddos

2 Months Old

2010-11-17T17:18:00.004-06:00

Luke was 2 months old a few days ago. We went to the pediatrician today for a check up, and she said that he's doing great. She was happy with how well he was making eye contact with her. They gave him 2 shots and an oral vaccination, and he cried for just a short time and was calm again. Such a good baby!

Here's his stats:
Height - 23 inches (75th percentile)
Weight - 10 lbs 15 ounces (50th percentile)
Head circumference - 39 cm (25th percentile)

Just for fun here's Evan's stats at that age:
Height - 22 1/2 inches
Weight - 11 lbs 10 ounces
Head - 39 1/4 cm

Oops, and I just realized I never did a 1 month posting, so here it is:

Height - 21 1/2 inches
Weight - 8 lbs, 18 ounces
Head - 37 cm

Just Call Me George

2010-11-12T22:07:00.003-06:00

When Evan started preschool in September, each child in his class was given a paper apple name tag that they were supposed to wear for the first few weeks of school. A few times, Evan needed some encouragement to wear his, so that's when Pappou stepped in. He told Evan, "If you don't wear your name tag, your teachers won't know what to call you. Maybe they'll start calling you George!" This became a running joke between Evan and my dad. A few weeks ago I figured his teachers knew his name, so I didn't put on his name tag. When he entered his classroom he told his teacher, "I don't have my name tag on so you'll have to call me George." His teacher, Mrs. Hanson, thought it was hilarious, especially since Evan barely talks at school. She told us that she went home that night and told her whole family the story. This become an inside joke between Evan and his teacher. Then last week, Mrs. Hanson said "Hi Evan" to him, and another student stepped in and said, "That's not Evan. His name is George!"

And speaking of school, here's pictures of Evan on his first field trip to the farm. He was not being very cooperative for the camera.

Riding the bus

Refusing to look at the camera and refusing to pet any of the animals

Smile!

2010-11-11T22:37:00.002-06:00

My first picture of Luke smiling!

Trick or Treat

2010-11-11T22:14:00.007-06:00

As Evan gets older, we find ourselves looking more and more forward to holidays. It's nice to see that he understands what is going to happen and is excited in anticipation of it. That was definitely the case for Halloween. He picked out his own costume (which actually is a bit of a bummer for me that I don't have control over that anymore!). At first he wanted to be a dog, then a rock star, and he finally decided on Buzz Lightyear. Evan was lucky and was able to wear his costume twice. The first time was for the party at his preschool. The afternoon began with a performance for the parents. The kids sang songs and did some fingerplays. Of course Evan just stood there and did not participate, but he was one adorable Buzz! Then the parents left and the kids stayed at school for their party. On Halloween we headed to my parents' neighborhood and Evan had a blast going trick or treating. I was very proud that he did say "thank you" for all of his candy! And of course, I can't leave out Luke. He was dressed as a very cute black cat and slept through most of the excitement of trick or treating!

Evan's Class - he's in the front row on the left

He gave me a huge smile when he spotted me!

Evan with one of his teachers - Mrs. Polk

On Halloween

My boys!

Family Pictures

2010-10-13T16:38:00.003-06:00

Here are more pictures of Luke with family members:

Uncle Brad

Aunt Lisa

Grandma

Papa

Yiayia and Aunt Alexis

Life with a Newborn

2010-10-08T19:27:00.003-06:00

I can't believe Luke is over 3 weeks old already. Basically he does what every newborn does - eats, sleeps, cries and poops. During the day he's a very calm baby. In the evenings he's been really crabby and gassy. It usually starts around 9 PM and lasts until midnight. He also does not sleep very well at night and is up every few hours. We're definitely tired but at least we know it's short lived! We've been to the pediatrician a few times and he is up to 7 lbs 15 ounces and looking really healthy. Although we're stuck inside most of the time, we have managed a few short trips out. We went to the park one day and for a walk around the block another time. Evan was also able to show off his little brother at preschool. He was very excited!

Meeting his aunt for the first time

Big Brother Evan

2010-10-08T19:07:00.003-06:00

We were really worried about how Evan would react to having a little brother. After all, he's been the center of attention in our family for 3 1/2 years, and he loves being in that position. Luckily, since Evan met Luke at the hospital he has been nothing but loving towards his little brother. When Luke starts crying, Evan immediately wants him to be taken care of. He helps get things ready for diaper changes and washes Luke (only his feet) during bath time. In the morning he asks how Luke slept the night before. A while back I was at the pediatrician with Luke, and Evan was with Rick at home. Evan told Rick, "I miss my baby." I hope this continues!

The bear Evan made for Luke at Build a Bear. When you press the hand it says, "I love you."

Make sure to turn the volume up. My favorite part is when Evan says "little fella."

1 Week Old

2010-09-21T17:19:00.002-06:00

Introducing Luke Alexander

2010-09-20T10:33:00.005-06:00

Luke Alexander was born on Tuesday, September 14 at 10:00 am. He was 7 lbs, 4 oz and 20.5 inches long.

I woke up around 4:00 that morning with 1 contraction and just didn't feel well, but didn't think this was "it". Around 5:30 or 6 I started having contractions 10 minutes apart, but they were very mild. I told Rick not to leave for work yet just in case. A little after 7:00 my water broke and the contractions immediately became intense and were coming 1-2 minutes apart. Rick called my dad so he could watch Evan and we headed for the hospital. When I arrived at the hospital I was 3 cm dilated, and within an hour I was already at 8 cm. The nurses had a hard time getting my IV started, which is necessary to have before the epidural. Finally, they had the good drugs flowing through my system. I literally laid back down, pushed through the next contraction, and our beautiful dark haired boy entered the world at 10:00 am. It was a little scary how fast he came, but looking back I can't complain!

Evan met Luke that night at the hospital, and he was very interested to meet his baby. He's been very sweet with him since the moment they met. It doesn't hurt, either, that Luke gave his big brother a talking Buzz Lightyear toy!

Nesting Overdrive

2010-09-11T16:32:00.005-06:00

Back in July, Rick and I decided to get a good jump start on getting the baby's room together. August is always very stressful for me trying to get my classroom ready for the school year, along with all the other prep work that needs to be done, so I really wanted things in order at our house. We had everything ready and thought it would be a simple project of painting, getting the carpets cleaned, and putting together all the little details. Boy, were we wrong!

As Rick began pulling off the baseboard, he noticed some black stuff at the bottom of the wall. We realized behind that area is our chimney, and we were worried that it might be soot, so he started to tear away that wall. Behind there we found rotten beams, crumbling boards, and insulation that was mostly disintegrated. Looking further we saw that the roofing around the chimney and part of the siding was also rotting. We weren't sure if it was water damage, smoke damage or a combination of the two. The chimney people came for an inspection. Luckily it was not a fire hazard and all the damage was from water leaking, but the chimney needed to be tuckpointed for the bargain price of $1000. GASP!

First look at the damage

Daylight spilling in where the siding was rotting

The giant hole while everything was being repaired - you can see our neighbor's house

After that was repaired, Rick and his dad worked hard to replace all the damaged areas. Thank goodness they were able to do it themselves, because I can't imagine how much it would have cost to pay someone to fix all of that! Rick was then able to paint the room, and we finally finished all the details last weekend. The joys of home ownership!

The area behind the changing table is where the large hole had been

School Days

2010-09-09T18:16:00.004-06:00

I can't believe Evan is old enough to attend preschool. He's going to the Park District program 2 afternoons a week. Today was his first day. It was only an hour and parents attended too. I was very nervous about him starting since he has a tendency to be very shy and clingy in new situations. But, he really did great! He's been talking about going to school all week, so we could tell he was excited about it. He loved all of the toys, shared with his new friends, and actually talked to his teachers and some of the other kids. He didn't want to leave. Next Tuesday is the first day he is on his own, so hopefully he separates OK from me. I'm being optimistic though since he keeps telling me it's his school and I can't go with him next time. Fingers crossed!!

Hot, hot, hot!

2010-09-04T17:48:00.008-06:00

I had the best intentions of blogging frequently this summer, but obviously that did not happen! Between the pregnancy, keeping up with Evan, and taking a pretty intense college course, time definitely got away from me.

So here is our summer in review...There is one word to describe this summer - HOT! Being in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and having most days in the 90s does not go well together. Most days were spent inside enjoying the AC, but we did manage to have fun!

We started the summer off with a trip to Brookfield Zoo.

On the carousel with Yiayia

In late June we took a road trip out to North Carolina for a family vacation. We spent a week at a beach house in Kure Beach with my sister and her hubby and Rick's parents and brother. Everyone had a great time and we all hope to keep this a tradition. I took tons of pictures throughout the week, but here's just a few.

Our house for the week

The view from our house

On the boardwalk

Evan wearing his special hat and glasses to make him run faster =)

The Repking men playing in the sand

Our anniversary dinner

The North Carolina Aquarium

SO tired!!

We visited my college friends in Indy and FINALLY had a chance to visit Indy's Children's Museum. I hope we can go back soon because Evan had a great time.

Playing in the gift shop

Chris and Bryn in the tree house

Evan, Shay and Bryn riding the carousel

And here's some random pictures of Evan being his usual silly self!

Chica Time

2010-06-09T21:38:00.003-06:00

My BFF, Carrie, wrote a wonderful post about our girlie weekend last weekend. I couldn't have stated it better than her, so visit her blog to hear all about it!!

http://carrieg78.blogspot.com/2010/06/nkotb-show-take-4.html

Singing the "Blues"

2010-06-09T06:49:00.005-06:00

When I was pregnant with Evan, I was pretty surprised when we found out he was a boy. I mean, close to the time of the ultrasound, deep down I really did think it was a boy, especially since he looked like a little basketball in my tummy. But, I came from a family of all girls (1 sister and 2 girl cousins), and I always pictured myself with my own little girl - dressing her up and taking her to ballet classes. When I held Evan for the first time and started experiencing life with a baby boy, I couldn't be any happier. Nothing beats that mommy-son bond.

When I found out we were pregnant with #2, of course some of the first questions asked were, "So, do you hope it's a girl this time?" My complete honest response was always, "I would love to have a girl but I would be perfectly happy with a healthy boy." In the beginning of May, we had our ultrasound and found out Evan was going to have a little brother. Then the comments and questions really started. "Oh, are you OK with having another boy?" "So does that mean you'll try for a third baby?" "Are you going to curl up into a ball and cry for the remainder of this pregnancy and the rest of your son's life?" Ok, so that last question was never really asked, but that's really how some people were reacting. Let's just put it this way, I will love my child no matter what. It does not matter if it's a boy or girl, if his eyes are blue or brown, if his hair is black or blonde, or really if he has 10 fingers or toes. And, this has no major impact on whether or not we will have a third child. If we want another child, we will. Who's to say it won't be another boy?

Ok, so my rant is over. I need to go take out all my adorable blue clothing from the crawlspace and get ready for my baby boy to arrive in just 3 short months.

Baby Boy holding onto his foot

Showing off his muscles!

Back to Blogging - Spring in Review

2010-06-08T21:00:00.008-06:00

I obviously took a short absence from blogging since my last post was in late March. This pregnancy hit me pretty hard. I was lucky enough to not have any actual sickness, but my nausea in the late afternoons and evenings was rough, and I was hit hard with the exhaustion. After working all day then coming home to a very active 3 year old, I was asleep on the couch many nights around 6:30 or so. School ended for me last Friday, and I have been feeling better, so hopefully I can get back on here regularly.

We were very lucky this spring with some nice weather, so Evan had a blast playing outside. In fact, he could have played outside 24-7 if we let him. His favorite place to go is our neighborhood park. Finally, this year he has overcome his fears of the slides and swings. He runs up and down the equipment nearly fearless.

Evan has also taken an interest in playing baseball. I have to admit, he's pretty good! A few times he almost hit the ball over the fence and into our neighbor's yard. He's already excited he can play t-ball next summer.

Evan also went through the rite of passage like most little boys and received a bubble mower as a belated Easter gift. This was his first time playing with it.

And here's a few more pictures of Evan riding (well, mostly being pushed on) his bike.

March Madness

2010-03-26T15:15:00.004-06:00

I am going to admit, I am not the biggest fan of college basketball. However, when it comes to the Butler bulldogs, I have a whole different attitude. When I look back to my time at Butler, I have so many wonderful memories, and included in those are all the games I spent at the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse cheering on my beloved team. I was a proud member of the basketball band and could probably count the number of home games I missed on one hand (seriously, no exaggeration). I traveled to championship games and even the NCAA tournament twice. Unfortunately during my time there, they failed to advance in the tournament and lost badly to the Goliaths they played against. Those games hurt.

Even though I was a student there over 10 years ago, I still follow the team. Although I may not know all of the players' names as I did in the past, I check online to see their record and how the season is going. This year I did fall behind a bit and was pleasantly surprised to see that late into the season they were ranked 11th. That's 11th out of ALL the teams in the NCAA. This is Butler, the school with approximately 4000 students, rated against the big dogs such as Duke, Kentucky and Michigan. Pretty awesome!

On selection night a few Sundays ago I anxiously waited to see where Butler would stand amongst the other teams and was pleased with the 5th seed they were given. The first game they played was against UTEP, and even though they started out sloppy, they won by quite a bit. Next was Murray State, a nail biter that ended with Butler winning by 1 point. They advanced to the sweet sixteen, which they have only done a few times in the history of the school. That game took place last night against Syracuse, a number 1 seed that won the entire championship just a few years back. It was truly the David and Goliath of basketball, and David won! It was such a stressful game, but truly an amazing moment when that timer ticked down to 0. The next game is tomorrow afternoon versus Kansas St. I'm sure it will be another close game, but how amazing would it be for them to move on to the Final Four, which takes place in their own city of Indianapolis. Could they really win the whole thing? As a huge fan, you always hope it happens but think that it never actually will. Maybe this will be the year!

I do have to add a note of how Facebook has made watching this tournament such an amazing experience. I have a huge network of Butler friends on there and we are all many miles apart from each other. However, during each of the games there has been a continuous flow of postings from my fellow Butler fans. The celebration on there last night when they won was incredible, and I loved sharing the emotion of such a great win with all of them!

The Battle of the Children's Museums

2010-03-24T20:36:00.006-06:00

This week I have off for spring break, and I am taking full advantage of this extra time I have with Evan. Yesterday, my mom and I brought Evan to the children's museum in Oak Lawn. In the past he's had a tendency to be hesitant in new places. He would be scared to try new things and be somewhat clingy. Not this time. He immediately took off exploring every aspect of the museum. He was in kiddie heaven! This museum had 2 levels. The first floor had all these ramps with balls and cars along with sensory activities. The upstairs was more imaginative and creative play with a vet's office, instruments, camping area, doctor's items, etc. The most exciting thing for me to watch was Evan climbing up the different equipment and going down the slides. This is something he would not have done in the past. He thoroughly enjoyed every moment.

Playing a giant operation game

Racing the car down the track

Checking out the doggie's ears

Playing the giant drum

Today we went to the children's museum in Frankfort with some friends of mine from work and their boys. I was curious to see how the 2 museums would compare. The one in Frankfort was definitely smaller with fewer activities, but Evan had just as good a time as the other. His favorite part was the sensory table with rocks and dinosaurs in it. I think he could have played in there all day! So, in this battle, I'm going to have to call it a draw, and I'm sure we'll be back to visit both this summer.

Jumping off the mats

Playing with Benjamin with the giant pin cushion

Brushing the puppy

In the sensory table with Benjamin

Playing with a camera on-stage

Happy Birthday Daddy

2010-03-20T09:20:00.007-06:00

Last week was Rick's birthday, and for the first time Evan understood what that meant and was very excited about it. After work we baked a cake and wrapped the presents, and Evan couldn't wait for Rick to get home. He kept telling me he was going to yell, "Surprise!" but I don't think he ever did say that. We sang "Happy Birthday" and Evan helped him blow out the candles. He was very proud to show Rick how he wrote his name in the birthday card.

That day was also one of the nicest we've had so far weather-wise, so we were able to play outside while the cake was baking.

And here's more conversations with Evan:

*On the way to the sitter's house, there is a Menards billboard that has a picture of a toilet on it. One morning, with a big smile on his face, Evan said he was going to climb way up there and go potty on the toilet. I told him he was being silly, and he said, "I'm not silly, I'm a monkey!" He then went through the list: "Mommy not a monkey. Daddy not a monkey. Cole not a monkey.... Evan is a monkey!"

*At bedtime I was reading a Sesame Street book to Evan and on the back cover there is a picture of all of the characters waving. I said that the characters were saying Hi to him. Evan responded very seriously with "No, they can't talk. They're just waving."

*A few weeks ago Evan had made a small mess on the bathroom rug. I had sprayed it to take the stain out and threw the rug in the laundry room. I finally got around to putting it in the washing machine, and when I put it back in the bathroom Evan was so excited you would have thought it was Christmas morning. In his most enthusiastic voice he said, "Thanks mom! You put my rug back in the bathroom!"

*Evan's new phrase when he doesn't want to do something: "Kids don't do that."

*Evan now has a song that he claims is "his song". It's not Veggie Tales, or Wiggles, or Sesame Street. It's the Black Eyed Peas song "I Got a Feeling." My sitter texted me the other day and said he was jamming in the car to that song. (Her son Chase was the first to claim it as being his song, and I'm sure Evan is just copying him). For the longest time, Evan was asking for the Good Night song in my car, and I just assumed it was a children's good night song, but I was wrong! If you have not heard the song, here it is:

Quick Conversations

2010-03-13T10:33:00.004-06:00

*On the way to the sitter's house one morning this week, Evan spotted a dog in someone's front yard.
Evan: Mommy, I want a black dog.
Me: A big one or a little one?
Evan: A little one.
Me: But we already have a cat. We can't have a dog too.
Evan: I want to see the dog chase the cat!
Me: Oh, like Slinky (my sitter's dog) chases their cats.
Evan: I want to see it at Tina's house.
Me: Who's Tina?
Evan: You!

*In the bathroom one night Evan was yelling and acting silly. I told Evan he was giving me a headache. Very seriously he said, "No, I'm not giving you a headache, I'm making your ears hurt." All I could do was laugh in response.

The Curse is Broken

2010-03-11T17:04:00.004-06:00

WARNING: This is going to be long, but it has a happy ending. =)

Greeks have a tradition that is typically done on New Year's of baking bread called Vassilopita. A coin is baked inside the bread, and whoever takes the piece of bread with the coin is supposed to have good luck for that year. Since I do not spend New Year's with my parents, my dad usually makes the bread for Christmas. On Christmas 2008, I was the "lucky" one to find the coin in my piece of bread. I thought it was great since I had some high hopes for 2009. Unfortunately, I think my coin was cursed.

Superbowl Weekend (the first weekend in February) is when the curse and all of my health issues began. It started with numbness and tingling in my arms, hands, feet and legs, along with extreme fatigue. I had experienced the numbness and tingling before and started seeing a neurologist, but she attributed it to my wonderful migraines. This time was different; it just came on one day without any rhyme or reason. I called the neurologist and she saw me almost immediately. She began the first round of tests - MRI, EEG, and bloodwork - looking for a whole slew of possible causes, including some very scary possibilities. Everything came back fine. My symptoms continued, and continued. My fatigue was so bad I could barely walk up the stairs or hold a book up to read to Evan before bed. I went to several different doctors and had so many tests done I probably can't even name them all. The first glimmer of hope was when they found I was severely deficient in Vitamin D. They put me on megadoses of that, and still no change in how I was feeling. I was starting to think it was all in my head and basically, life just sucked. It's not that I wanted something to be wrong, but I wanted answers.

Then another possible answer came when I started seeing a rheumatologist. He did more general bloodwork and I came up as being positive for Lyme disease. I was shocked...Lyme disease? I said to the doctor, "But I'm an indoors type of girl." He referred me to an infectious disease doctor (yes, the same Dr. who sees patients with HIV and all sorts of other things). While I waited the few weeks for my appointment, I did a lot of research and discovered I had tons of the symptoms, and you could get it just from being in your backyard. So I was all prepared for that dr's appointment to hear my course of treatment, I go in, and he tells me I actually don't have Lyme disease. The more accurate blood test came back negative. I went back to the rheumatologist, and in June was finally diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Now the problem with CFS is that there is no test to diagnose it. All they do is eliminate every other possible thing it may be and stick you with this label because they don't know what else to do. Along with that, there is nothing they can do to help you other than tell you to exercise in low doses (keep in mind the word FATIGUE in CFS) and possibly prescribe medicines often used to treat depression.

The other issue that was going on is that Rick and I were hoping to add to our family during this time. But, with some of those tests I went through I could not be pregnant for, and then not knowing what was wrong, made this a near impossibility. So when I got the CFS diagnosis, the doctor said to go ahead and try since "You're not going to feel better any time soon." Months and months went on and no sibling yet for Evan. Everything was just so frustrating. (My fatigue did finally get better in September due to some miracle vitamins that I'll talk about in a later post.)

So, back to that curse I was talking about. Christmas dinner 2009 with my family.... time to share in the Vassilopita again. I told my family my last coin was cursed and I do not want it again this year. I pulled my piece of bread from the plate, and sure enough, there was the coin in my bread. I was NOT happy. I could not go through what I dealt with in 2009 again.

It turns out that this truly was my lucky coin this time. January 11th I woke up, took a pregnancy test, and it was positive! =) We had our first ultrasound Feb 23rd and everything looks great with an estimated due date of September 22nd. We are absolutely thrilled and think that Evan is going to be a great big brother!

I am hoping to blog more often, but by the time we eat dinner I am pretty much checked out for the day. Working full time, having a 3 year old and being pregnant is exhausting!

3 Years Ago

2010-01-05T16:42:00.003-06:00

3 years ago today, my precious baby boy was born. Has it really been that long? Happy 3rd Birthday Evan Nicholas!

January 5, 2007

January 5, 2008

January 5, 2009

This year's birthday picture (taken when we did his Christmas pictures).

The Start of New Traditions

2009-12-28T10:14:00.006-06:00

Ever since Rick and I started doing holidays together 10 years ago (yikes!) we kept the same tradition every year. At first we had thought it would be difficult to spend time with both of our families since they live 3 hours apart, but we figured out a schedule that worked well for us. Since Rick's extended family always got together on Christmas eve, we would go down to Effingham a few days before Christmas and attend the big get together Christmas eve. Christmas morning we would wake up at his parents' house and open presents, then drive back up to Chicago to have Christmas dinner with my family. This was our tradition and the only year we didn't do this was when I was very pregnant with Evan. After Evan was born we were able to continue this tradition since he did not yet understand the concept of Santa. But, we knew eventually we would not be able to do that any longer...

This year was very different for us. Evan is now almost 3 years old, and we knew it was time to start doing our own thing. Although we could have dragged everything down to Effingham and celebrated Santa's arrival Christmas morning there, we really wanted to wake up in our own home Christmas morning. And so enters the beginning of new traditions. On Christmas Eve I made one of Rick's favorite meals - stuffed shells with homemade garlic bread. Then we gave Evan one gift to open, which was a pair of Cars pajamas. He was so excited! We all put our new pajamas on and watched Polar Express. We weren't sure how much of it Evan would watch, but he was completely engrossed in it and watched the entire thing sitting on the couch with us. After the movie, we set out cookies for Santa and read The Night Before Christmas.

Evan woke up with a cold Christmas morning at 5:15 AM. We brought him in bed with us hoping he would fall back asleep but that did not happen, and by 6:30 we decided to get up and see what Santa brought. I ran downstairs to start the coffee and get the cameras ready then Rick brought Evan down. Evan's reaction to seeing the presents under the tree: "Presents! I want to watch a movie now." Rick and I quickly suggested that we OPEN the presents and see what Santa brought, and Evan got to work opening everything up. He loved everything Santa gave him and was very excited to play with all of his new toys. We enjoyed a french toast breakfast with lots of coffee for me and Rick, and Evan played all morning with his toys. After Evan's nap we headed over to my parents' house for a delicious dinner and more presents and arrived back home around 11:oo that night.

We had a wonderful 2 days as a family and I really did enjoy doing our own "thing" this year. However, I missed our old traditions. Unlike many of my friends, I love my husband's family. We always have a great time together. I feel like they are MY family. I wish there was an easy solution to this, but there is no magic button that would put Effingham any closer to Chicago. So, we have to accept this change and just be thankful that we have this dilemma and WANT to be with both of our families on Christmas!

Evan bundled up in his snow suit on Christmas Eve to play in the snow for the first time this season

Opening his first gift of the year

Watching the Polar Express

Getting Santa's cookies ready

Santa came!

More pictures to come soon!

Just Saying Hi!

2009-12-16T16:53:00.002-06:00

Evan has been talking about his friend, Brett, a lot lately. Unfortunately Brett lives 3 hours away so we don't get to see him as often as we would like to. I asked Evan if he wanted to make a video and say Hi to Brett and he was very excited to do so!

Future Olympian

2009-12-12T11:17:00.002-06:00

Evan just keeps going and going and going... he's my energizer bunny. As I posted on my Facebook account, I definitely need to get him into a tumbling class again!

And, I promise to do an actual post some time soon.

ABC Song

2009-11-07T20:20:00.002-06:00

Thoughts of a 2 Year Old

2009-10-19T17:57:00.004-06:00

With Christmas just around the corner, we've started preparing Evan for the concept of Santa Claus, Christmas trees, and presents. He was still so young last year, he was pretty overwhelmed by it all and probably doesn't remember too much of it (although who knows since I can't believe certain things he remembers!). Last weekend we were at the rehearsal dinner for my sister in law's wedding, which I'll post pics of ASAP, and Evan saw a man sitting at the bar with a heavy white beard. He said, "Look, Santa!" Luckily the guy had a sense of humor and went along with it.

Along those same lines, the past few nights at bedtime Evan has told us, "Wake up tomorrow and see snow. Santa come. Presents under the tree." It's going to be a long 2 1/2 months until Christmas gets here!

My dad has been watching Evan the past week or so since my sitter has been out of town. Today when I got home I asked Evan if he went to the park with Pappou and replied with, "Yes I did, mom."

Our friends, Carrie and Steve, were visiting this weekend. Evan was playing with his Chicago Cubs bat and ball and Steve said something to Evan about needing a White Sox one. Evan looked down at his socks thinking he was talking about white socks.

And a few things I've already posted on my Facebook page:

As I was getting Evan ready for his nap one day, he was dancing around. I asked him if he needed to go the bathroom and he said, "No mom, I'm just dancing."

Evan was upset one morning because I wouldn't let him have potato chips. I was ignoring his whining since he wasn't acting all that bad. A few minutes later he came up to me, gave me a kiss, and said "I won't do that again, mom."

Brett and Evan playing together this past weekend

Evan was very proud of his attempt to write his name.

Playing Baseball

2009-10-19T17:54:00.001-06:00

Here is a video I took of Evan playing baseball with Rick the other night. Watch how he throws the ball - he picks up his leg like an actual pitcher does. Towards the end of the video he announced that he "farted". That's my boy!

Interview with a Toddler

2009-09-29T18:46:00.002-06:00

Bad Boy

2009-09-27T18:01:00.002-06:00

Rick, Evan and I were sitting on the couch this afternoon watching the Bears game, and Evan was holding his favorite teddy bear, which is almost as big as him. Evan was petting the bear, so Rick tried to pet it too. Evan said, "No daddy!" Rick asked him, "Can't I pet the bear too?" Evan told him, "No, you bad boy." Then I asked Evan if I could pet the bear and he told me, "Yes." Rick asked him why he was letting me pet the bear and not him. Evan told him, "Daddy bad boy. You go away. See you later. Mommy good girl." I have taught him well.

Summer in Review

2009-09-13T16:32:00.009-06:00

Summer was here and gone in the blink of an eye. Of course I had every intention of blogging frequently about all the fun things we were doing, but that didn't happen. So here I sit a week after Labor Day throwing all of our summer updates into 1 posting.

In July we met up at Fair Oaks Farm in northwest Indiana with my BFF, Carrie, and her little boy, Brett (who you've read a lot about on here) and my friend Cathy from college and her 2 little boys, Chris and Sam. It was really a cool place to visit. We saw a baby cow being born, ate delicious grilled cheese, and played with their farm themed toys. Evan's favorite part though was driving miniature tractors. He was not happy when we had to leave the tractors behind to go home!

Brett, Chris and Evan inside the ball pit

Chris and Evan going down the slide

Watching the baby cow

Chris and Evan riding on the train

One morning we went to a place called Pump it Up with my friend, Kim, and her 2 boys, Alex and Benjamin. It's an indoor party place with lots of different inflatables for the kids to play on. I was worried that Evan would be hesitant about going on them, but he loved every moment! (Unfortunately my camera battery was in the red so I only took a few pictures.)

Benjamin and Evan jumping

Going down the smaller slide

Kim, Benjamin and Alex going down the big slide

Evan and I took a trip to Indy to hang out with Carrie and Brett (and of course Steve too!). We visited the Indianapolis Zoo, which I have never been too. It was really nice!

"Hey, Evan, just follow me. I'll show you where to go."

"Did you see the animal? It was over THERE!"

Watching the stingrays swim by

Playing Brett's baby-baby grand piano. He asked me to take his picture.

We took Evan to see the Wiggles in concert again. At first he didn't know what to think of everything, but after a little while he was completely engrossed in it. At the end of the show he kept asking to see the Wiggles again!

And finally, here's some random cute pictures that I couldn't leave out:

After church one Sunday Evan insisted on wearing Rick's tie and asked me to take his picture.

Firefighter Evan

Evan is wearing my high heels and again wanted his picture taken...

and with my green purse.

Evan has recently realized it's funny when he shakes his booty. He's all smiles at the beginning of the video then all of a sudden says, "No take picture. No look! No, no look!"

What a ham!!

The Small Things

2009-07-30T16:28:00.003-06:00

For the past month or so I've been keep a running "notepad" on my computer of all the small things that Evan has said or done. Here they are:

For the longest time, Evan insisted on doing EVERYTHING on his own. All we heard was, "Evan do it!" Now he has reverted and wants US to do everything for him. He wants to be carried. He wants us to pick up anything he needs. Etc. Etc. Etc.
We were at the furniture store a few weeks ago buying his new bedroom set. As we were walking through the store, Evan farted very loudly. He laughed and said, "Evan farted." Later in the night while we were still there he of course asked to be picked up, but then told us "Can't walk, legs are broken."
On vacation in North Carolina we ate lunch at Panera. A GoGurt (yogurt in a tube) came with his sandwich. He kept saying, "Mmm, tastes good!"
When talking about certain things, he'll say "Very, very, very far" or "Very, very, very hot."
He finally figured out how to blow bubbles.
We recently had AT&T U-verse installed, and the installer was at our house for several hours. Evan was intrigued by the process and was keeping a careful eye on everything. When we put him down for his nap that afternoon, he kept calling for the "man" through the monitor.

And my favorite:

When we're in the car Evan will look out the window and say, "Hi! Coffee please!"

Such a Big Boy

2009-07-26T20:56:00.007-06:00

Evan has gone through some major changes the past few weeks. Shortly after our trip to North Carolina I began potty training with him. I was not sure if he was ready but figured we would give it a try before I go back to school. I prepped for Day 1 by getting his Elmo potty ready, all his new underwear (Elmo, Cars characters and Thomas the Train) washed and a reward system in place. This was the plan: go directly to underwear and only use diapers/pull ups for nap and bedtime and place him on his potty every 15 minutes or so. I created a reward system for him by putting plastic Easter eggs in a decorated plastic shoebox with a piece of chocolate or small toy inside each egg. He received 1 egg for going #1 and 2 eggs for going #2. To say the first day was rough is an understatement. I expected the accidents but did not know how emotionally difficult it was going to be. For the first half of the day Evan was completely hysterical when I put him on the potty. I think that he really needed to go, but he was afraid of the "release". But, by day 2 he was getting the hang of it and after only 4 or 5 days we made it through a day at Brookfield Zoo with no accidents. He is now telling us when he has to use the bathroom and rarely has accidents. And in case you are wondering, I am not like Kate Gosselin - I did not take any pictures of anything IN the potty.

Evan enjoying his first reward

Yummy!

Running around in his Elmo underwear

I also took a video of Evan in his underwear behaving in typical goofy Evan mode. (Please ignore the mess in the background. This is our spare bedroom.)

We decided to also put Evan in a big boy bed (again since I'm home and it's much easier to deal with any difficulties when I don't have to work the next day). We've been working hard the past few days changing his room from a nursery to a boy's room, and tonight was the first night he slept in his new bed. I'll post more pictures of the actual room when it's fully complete, but for now here's a few of Evan in the bed.

My little baby is growing up too quickly! Sniff Sniff

Vacation in North Carolina

2009-07-24T20:35:00.008-06:00

Once again, I am slacking in keeping up with my blog. Even though I've been home, I just don't know where my time goes. Oh yeah, I'm trying to chase a very active toddler all day long!

Anyways, over the 4th of July long weekend we visited my sister, Alexis, and her hubby, Curtis in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina. Our trip began with Evan's first airplane ride. We were VERY nervous about how Evan would react to the plane and deal with being confined for the 2 hour flight, but he did amazing. It helped that we were over prepared for the trip and brought with us a portable DVD player, coloring books, new markers, a few new toy cars (including a Lightening McQueen) and several of his favorite books. His favorite part of the trip was taking off since the airplane went "FAST!"

Watching a movie with his bear headphones

The second day there we drove to Wilmington and went to Wrightsville Beach. It was a beautiful area and the weather was perfect. This was Evan's first time on a beach or seeing the ocean. He was very reluctant to walk in the sand but with some coaxing he did collect some shells and build some sand castles. Evan was basically petrified of the water, and no matter how hard we tried to make the water fun for him, he was not interested.

On July 4th we toured the USS North Carolina.

That afternoon we drove back to Raleigh to watch a local fireworks display. Evan recently became fearful of thunder and as we expected, he did not like the fireworks either. He spent almost the entire time hiding his face in our shoulders.

These pictures were taken before the fireworks started.

It was raining on our last full day visiting them, so we went to a children's museum in downtown Raleigh. Evan LOVED being there, however we adults were getting very annoyed at the other children there and the lack of supervision by their parents. I could go on, but I won't...

We all had a great time and were sad to leave, but we're already planning our trip back there next summer!

Let the Summer Fun Begin

2009-06-24T21:17:00.010-06:00

I've been out of school for about 2 weeks now and have had so much fun with Evan already. Most of the time our activities are spur of the moment. I had planned on signing him up for some classes at the park district but really wanted to not be on a strict schedule (with the exception of his nap and bed times). Here's tons of pictures to show what we've been up to.

After his bath one night Evan wanted to sit on his Elmo potty (which he still has only peed on once) and then wanted his Elmo slippers on too.

I've been trying to get my "Spring" cleaning done. I was washing the windows in the living room, and Evan insisted on helping too, so I let him wipe the front door.

"So clean I can see myself in it!"

After a slow start the summer temperatures finally reached us in Chicago. It took Evan a long time to actually get in his pool once we set it up. He stood on the outside and was content pouring water from the cups and bowls. Finally he went inside but would only stand up and insisted on holding my hand most of the time.

Evan running around the house after coming in from the pool, complete with firefighter's hat.
Silly boy!

Evan was very crabby one morning so I decided to take him to a restaurant called Choo Choo Johnny's. It's a train themed restaurant, where a train runs along the counter and brings your food to you. There's also a train running around the entire restaurant near the ceiling. He really enjoyed it!

Evan found one of his diapers in the diaper bag, then asked for his bear and started putting it on the bear.

Today we went to my co-worker, Michelle's house for a playdate. The other kids jumped in the kiddie pool immediately but Evan preferred watching from the sidelines.

Driving the car with his friend, Carter

Dinosaur Videos

2009-06-12T22:32:00.003-06:00

Here's two very short videos of the dinosaurs at Brookfield. Make sure your volume is turned up so you can hear them Roar!

Free at Last

2009-06-12T21:06:00.006-06:00

My summer break finally started this past Tuesday at 10:30 am. After having such a crazy and busy end of the school year, it was an incredible feeling to walk out of my building that last day (although I had a bag full of work in tow to do over the summer months - 3 months of vacation for teachers, HA!). I am so looking forward to being a stay at home mommy, even if it's only for a short time.

We started our summer adventures today by going to Brookfield Zoo. Although we went a few times last summer, Evan was still a little young to really understand what he was looking at, however this time he really enjoyed seeing everything. This summer, Brookfield also has a special dinosaurs exhibit, where they have life size dinosaurs that move and make noises. It was pretty impressive how realistic they looked, and Evan was scared of them. He kept covering his mouth with his hands and clung to Rick the whole time. We've probably scarred him for life! Despite his fear, though, when we ask him what he saw at the zoo the first thing he says is "dinosaur".

Riding on papou's shoulders

Not part of the actual dinosaurs exhibit, but the dinosaur in the famous fountain at the zoo was a "preview" of the exhibit. It moved its head and neck and was very loud!

One of the first animated dinosaurs in the exhibit

Evan's first reaction to the dinosuars

This one moved its head and actually blinked its eyes.

Evan wouldn't even look at the giant t-rex, which I forgot to take a picture of but did take a video, which I will post soon.

He didn't mind seeing the dinosaur from afar.

Checking out the polar bear laying out in the sun

Getting close to a lizard

Stay Tuned

2009-05-25T07:55:00.002-06:00

It's going to be a little while longer until I post again. Life is just too crazy right now with the end of the school year and everything else that is going on. I am officially finished with school on June 9 so I hope to get back to blogging soon after that.

What I Do While Evan's at the Sitter

2009-05-08T19:46:00.002-06:00

I know I started my other blog that was going to have stories from my teaching adventures. However, keeping up with 2 blogs just has not been in the cards for me. So, I thought I would mention this on here. Our school district has recently enabled us to create podcasts. Pretty cool, right? One of the nursery rhymes we've been learning is Jack Be Nimble, so of course my students had the opportunity to jump over a "candlestick". I took a picture of each student doing that, then added our voices in (unfortunately my voice dominates the recording), combined the 2, and voila... a podcast! By the way, if you ever have the chance to use Garage Band on a Mac, check it out. It is very cool! Here's the link to my podcast if you're interested: http://web.me.com/ksd140/D140_Podcasts/Repking.html.

Snow in May?

2009-05-07T18:07:00.002-06:00

Directly next to our driveway we have a large tree that blooms white flowers every spring. It does look really pretty, but after that I hate the tree. The flowers fall down quickly and are a nightmare to deal with. They end up everywhere - on our cars, in the garage, dragged into the house on our shoes - you get the picture. Recently our tree bloomed as it always does, and then last night we had quite a bit of rain and wind which of course knocked the flowers off the tree. When we opened the front door this morning, Evan looked out and said, "Look, snow!" I wish I had taken a picture because the ground surrounding the tree was covered in white.

Pinocchio

2009-04-27T19:56:00.003-06:00

Evan has a tendency to go through phases of his favorite movie. He started with Wiggles, then it was Finding Nemo, Cars, and Evan Almighty. For Easter this year my parents bought Evan Pinocchio. I wasn't sure how he would react since the animation isn't quite as exciting as the newer Disney movies. However, from the first moment I put it on he absolutely loved it! He comments throughout the whole thing. "Kitty got wet." "Hat broken." It's very cute! But, my absolute favorite thing is when he sees the fairy, points to the screen, and says, "Mommy!"

Celebrating Greek Easter

2009-04-26T18:30:00.004-06:00

Last weekend we celebrated Greek Easter. Isn't Evan lucky to have 2 Easter bunny visits?

Coloring eggs for the 1st time

So pretty!

Evan was excited to find his basket Easter morning.

Inspecting all the goodies

At church they had an Easter egg hunt planned. Unfortunately it rained so it was moved inside, and it was NOT planned well. By the time we made it down to the room where all the Easter eggs were "hidden" all of the older kids had already found all of the eggs. We were not happy, but luckily Evan didn't know what he was missing. His friend, Paulie, was nice enough to share 2 eggs with Evan and he was perfectly content with that!

Relaxing at my parents' house in my old rocking chair after a delicious dinner

Goin' Huntin'

2009-04-13T15:31:00.006-06:00

This past weekend we celebrated Easter down in Effingham with Rick's family. It's so nice that for 1 holiday we don't have to worry about splitting our time between families since "Greek" Easter is usually on a different Sunday than "American" Easter. Last year Evan participated in our Easter egg hunt at church, but he did not really get into it. This year the weather was beautiful so we put eggs out in front of Rick's parents' house. Evan immediately understood what he needed to do. In most of the eggs I put pieces of candy, and Evan found a few of those eggs first. He didn't open the eggs and just dropped them in his bucket. But, I put Matchbox cars in a few of the eggs. Since they were a little bigger than the eggs I couldn't completely close the egg. Once Evan saw the first car he had a huge smile on his face then immediately began opening all of the eggs to see what was inside. He collected all 40-something eggs and carried the bucket of eggs with him for quite awhile, and he LOVED the cars and the chocolate!

Finding the first egg

Finding his first car

3 Generations of Repking's

Yummy!
Hunting for eggs is such hard work!

What's really great is that Evan is becoming excited about visiting Rick's family before going down there. The day we were leaving, Evan had his shoes on and was asking to leave our house at 8:00 in the morning. Evan had so much fun the whole weekend playing with all of our family. His favorite thing to do is jump on one of the beds, so he was thrilled when someone would help him jump (usually Uncle Mike or Papa). He also loved "driving" all the cars - beeping the horn and playing with all of the buttons. On Sunday he did NOT want to leave, and he kept asking for papa's house.

Playing guitar with Uncle Jeff

Dressed for Easter breakfast

Like Mommy, Like Son

2009-04-10T20:14:00.005-06:00

In previous posts I have talked about Evan's extra wide feet and how difficult it is to find shoes that are reasonably priced. Last summer I lucked out and found a cheap pair of Crocs at KMart that actually fit Evan, so I decided to try it again for this year. I was at Target the other night and found a pair for him. They were also selling the character decorations that go in the holes in the Crocs, so I thought I'd splurge and bought him a pair from the movie Cars (his new movie obsession). Once I got home I wanted to try the shoes on Evan to make sure they fit. He usually hates trying things on for me, but he could not wait to put his new blue Crocs on. As soon as we put them on he had a big smile on his face. And I was happy too because they did fit! When we went to put the Cars decorations on he did not want them at first, but then he kept pointing and saying "Lightening McQueen," which is the character's name. For the rest of the evening he refused to take the shoes off and threw a fit at bedtime when he had to take them off. The next morning the first thing he said to me was, "Shoes on" and insisted on wearing them that day. I guess he's taking after me and my shoe obsession!

Cool!

Lately Evan has also enjoyed wearing my shoes around the house.
Here he is modeling my slippers,

and these are my brown slip-ons.

Yum!

2009-04-10T17:18:00.003-06:00

On Thursday one of my students brought cookies in to celebrate his birthday. They were the really good kind from Orland Bakery in the shapes of bunnies and eggs. Since there were extras I brought one home for Evan. Evan can be picky at times when it comes to sweets. He'll inhale a piece of dark chocolate but refuse a homemade chocolate chip cookie. The moment he spotted the bunny, though, he immediately wanted to eat it and started munching on the ear. After a few bites he had enough and went off to play.

De-li-cious!

Isn't the bunny cute?!

The effects of sugar on a 2 year old.

Making Connections

2009-04-08T15:05:00.003-06:00

Evan has really surprised us lately with all the connections he's making. Last Friday my dad was watching Evan, and they had the movie Evan Almighty playing in the background. If you're unfamiliar with the movie, it's basically a modern version of the story of Noah's Ark. There are several times in the movie where they say the word "God" and at one point Evan started telling my dad "church" and "yiayia and papou" (who we always see at church). I was astounded that he knew to connect the word God with the concept of church. Especially since half our church service is in Greek, so he would rarely even hear "God" while we're there.

Last night when I was putting Evan to bed we were sitting on the rocking chair together. We were playing a game of lights off and on, which was just covering and uncovering his eyes. Then he started talking about a light in the mouth, which I had no clue what he was talking about until he said "doctor". I said to Evan, "Oh, the doctor uses a light to look in your mouth," and he said "yeah." It's been about 2 months since he's been to the doctor, so I have no idea how he remembers that!

My Buddy Brett

2009-04-03T05:18:00.004-06:00

Recently Evan has been asking to watch videos and see pictures of his buddy, Brett, on his mommy's blog. Brett posted a special video for Evan on the blog, and this video is of Evan watching it for the first time. I think since then we've watched the video about 50 more times! I tried to get Evan to say Hi back, but he wouldn't do it. Sometimes when Evan is watching the video he gets shy when he hears his name. I think he does it once towards the end of this video.

My Addiction

2009-03-18T17:40:00.002-06:00

I love coffee, especially Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. Dunkin Donuts is good for when I need a slight caffeine kick or just have a taste for coffee. Starbucks, however, is saved for special occasions. It can help ward off migraines when I feel one coming on, and sometimes when I'm having a bad day, a grande nonfat no whip mocha does the trick. I am lucky that we have a drive-thru Starbucks just a few blocks from our house, and Evan is often in the car when I swing by for my drug of choice. On our way to the sitter's house this morning we were sitting at the stoplight in front of Starbucks. Evan looked at the window, pointed to Starbucks, and said, "Mommy's coffee!" Can you tell we're there frequently?

Goofing Around

2009-03-11T18:06:00.003-06:00

Last Friday Spring decided to visit us, and we took full advantage of it. Evan had received a bright red tricycle for his birthday from my parents so we took it out for the first time. Evan did not want to sit on it at first. Once we got him on there and showed him how to ring the bell he thought it was pretty cool! His legs are still a little too short so we have to push him on there, but hopefully by summer he can do it on his own.

Sunday morning we went out to breakfast, and as we were leaving Evan was given his first lollipop. It must be some kind of child instinct, because he immediately started to rip off the wrapper, although we made him wait until we got home to eat it.

YUMMY!

A few weeks ago I bought some "big boy" underwear for Evan just in case his potty training progressed any further (which it hasn't). Although he hasn't technically worn them, he quickly figured out how nicely they fit on the top of his head.

Best Buds

2009-03-11T17:42:00.004-06:00

Over the weekend, Carrie, Steve and Brett came to visit us. I can't believe how much Brett, who is now 10 months old, has grown since we saw them last on New Year's Eve! We were anxious to see how Evan would react to another child playing with his toys in his own territory, and overall he really did well. A few times he did say "My truck," but he didn't tear any toys out of Brett's hands, so we were happy.

Of course we snapped away with our cameras, but I don't think either of us had a picture with both boys smiling!

See Brett, you just swing your leg over like this.

Please stop taking our pictures. Can't you see we're busy?
The funny thing was that both Brett and Evan were wearing hooded Old Navy sweatshirts. Carrie and I are going to submit their picture so they can be the new faces of Old Navy. Look for them on your next advertisement!

Success!

2009-03-05T20:44:00.003-06:00

Once Evan turned 2 years old, we started introducing him to the idea of the "potty." My intentions were to get him used to it and then do our actual training over the summer when I don't have to work and there's less clothes to worry about getting dirty. Right now we have 2 potty chairs and the Elmo video. We ask him several times a day if he wants to try and use the potty. If he says no, we go with that, and that is typically the answer we will get from him. The only aspect he was really interested in was flushing the toilet, but we kept telling him he could only flush it if he went potty. Recently, however, before bedtime he will actually sit on the potty, which I think is really one of his many stall tactics to avoid going to bed. Tonight was different though. After his bath he actually peed on his Elmo potty! He was so excited to help empty it into the toilet and flush, then he sat on it again and went a second time! Now I'm wondering if we should keep doing what we've been doing or try to start with the actual training?

Evan Do It!

2009-03-05T18:54:00.004-06:00

Evan wants to do everything by himself. His favorite new phrase is, "Evan do it." He will repeat it endlessly until you let him do whatever it is that he wants to do...open a door, find something to eat, unwrap a Hershey's Kiss (he eats 1 every night after dinner), change DVDs, brush his teeth, etc, etc, etc. Sometimes he really can be helpful. He unloads silverware from the dishwasher and puts it in the drawer. But, other times it is far from convenient. Currently he is insisting on turning on my digital camera, and he is not happy that I am telling him no. He really surprises me though by how much he can do on his own!

Using my Swiffer duster to clean the family room

He even moved the picture frames to dust underneath them.

Drinking from a juice box - he was so proud of himself!

Color "Names" and Pe Pies

2009-02-16T08:19:00.005-06:00

We've been working on identifying colors with Evan for quite a while now. He used to only know purple and yellow, but he has been doing so much better lately. This morning while he was painting, he kept picking up each of the colors and saying something, but I could not understand what it was. Then I realized he was saying the Wiggles character's name that is associated with each color... red was Murray, yellow was Sam, blue was Anthony, and unfortunately there was no purple paint for Jeff. Actually, Evan's obsession with The Wiggles has fizzled out a bit. His new obsession is Toy Story - I wonder what will be next?

Last night Rick was at a concert with his brother, so after running errands with Evan I decided to pick up McDonald's for dinner. We rarely eat food from there and really push fruits and veggies with Evan, but every once in a while it's a nice change. Evan loves french fries, so when we were at the store I kept telling him "when we're all done we'll get chicken nuggets and french fries for dinner". Once we were in the car after shopping, Evan kept asking "Mommy, Pe pies? Pe Pies?" Translation: Mommy, french fries? French fries? He was so happy when we were finally home and able to eat dinner. The only problem now - guess what Evan asked for first thing this morning.... "Pe Pies!"

Sorry there are no pictures to post. My camera battery is drained and my charger is at school...some to come soon.

Also, a big congratulations to Kate, Joe, and big brother Jack on the birth of their little girl, Amelie Isabelle, who was born on Friday the 13th!

Sweet Dreams

2009-01-31T10:53:00.003-06:00

While I was pregnant with Evan, I started singing the Dixie Chicks' song Sweet Dreams to him. Once he was born I continued singing it to him almost every night before I put him down to bed. When he was an infant, he would just go with it and did not seem to react. But as he started getting a little older, he would smile when I started singing it and sometimes say "again" when I was done singing. There are some nights where he doesn't want to hear it, and that's OK. There are days where I am not in the mood to hear certain songs. In the past week or two, though, he has started trying to sing along with me. It is the sweetest thing hearing his little voice saying some of the words with me.

Here is the video of the Dixie Chicks (well, just Natalie) singing the song at one of their concerts. I actually went to that concert here in Chicago. It was the first time I had ever heard the song and immediately fell in love with it.

Cooking Class

2009-01-25T20:58:00.004-06:00

Last Monday was MLK Day, which meant no school for me! I had been wanting to make playdough with Evan for a long time, so it was a perfect day for it. He really enjoyed adding all the ingredients and stirring it with a spoon, since he is always wanting to help me when I'm cooking. When the playdough was ready he immediately starting smushing it with his hands and playing with all the playdough tools. He kept saying "Yay playdough!"

Adding the flour

Stirring

Wow!

Here's the recipe if anyone is interested:

2 1/2 C Flour

1/2 C Salt

1 T baby powder

3 T oil

2 packets Kool-aid - the ones without sugar added, any flavor

1 1/2 C boiling water

Stir all ingredients together. You'll have to keep adding more flour (sometimes more than a cup) until the playdough is no longer sticky.

Winter Blues

2009-01-25T16:38:00.006-06:00

This has been a very long winter, and it's still only January. If it's not snowing, it's been extremely cold. What hasn't helped is that for the past week and a half Evan and I have been battling bad colds. Needless to say, Evan was trapped inside our house for about a week since he was too sick to go to our sitter's house. This weekend he was finally feeling better, but he was extremely crabby. We're guessing a lot of it was that he was just bored and going stir crazy. Yesterday, on a whim, we decided to take Evan to Odyssey Fun World, which is comparable to a Chuck E Cheese with various video games, mini kiddie rides, etc. They also have Mini golf and other activities outside which will be fun once the weather gets nice again. This was a VERY good decision that we made. Evan had a blast. The best part, besides the fact that there were hardly any other kids there, was that Evan enjoyed all the little kiddie rides without even putting money in it! He was content just sitting in them and "driving". We also spent a good amount of time in the play area with all of the tubes, climbing nets, and ball pits. Evan did really well trying out all of the new climbing activities since he can often be leary of new things.

Evan's expression upon seeing the first ride inside

Crawling through one of the first tunnels

Throwing a ball in the ball pit

Going down the slide on his tummy

Crawling around with daddy

2 year old Stats

2009-01-17T11:09:00.002-06:00

Evan had his 2 year well visit on Tuesday. He normally is a pretty good boy at the doctor's office and overall this time was no exception. He initially had a little melt down when the nurse came into the waiting room and when we all went to get his weight. I think he was just scared of the unfamiliar place and people, and he did comply with everything he was asked to do. The doctor said Evan is doing great and he can go down to 2% milk or even lower if we want. He is still on the smaller side with his height and weight - 33 inches tall and almost 26 pounds but he's growing so that's what it is important (and it's not like he's coming from a family of basketball players!). His head continues to grow too, and thanks to his Repking genes (HAHA) he's around the 90th percentile for head circumference.

Surprisingly I have no new pictures to post!

My Little Eskimo

2009-01-13T20:56:00.003-06:00

I hate snow. I hate everything about it - cleaning my car off, leaving home even earlier in the morning to get to work on time, tracking it into our front hallway, etc, etc, etc. About the only thing I used to like about snow was looking at it from inside the house on a day where I had nowhere I had to go. Luckily Evan has changed my opinion - slightly - very slightly. Here in lovely Chicago we have already had several significant snowfalls, including some over the past weekend. On Sunday after Evan's nap, we bundled him up for the first time to play in the snow. We weren't sure how he would react since he can be very hesitant about new things, but he really seemed to enjoy it immediately. We had bought him a little sled a while back and were anxious to let him play with it (especially since he threw a HUGE tantrum in Babies R Us the day we bought it because he wanted to sit in the sled in the store). He seemed to have mixed feelings about it. He would be smiling one second then have a scared look on his face the next. Although we couldn't build a snowman since the snow was too light and fluffy, he did really enjoy throwing the snow up in the air. There's always next time...

Halfway through the dressing process - Evan insisted on wearing my hat for awhile

The snow was up to his knees!

A Supreme Wiggler

2009-01-12T21:57:00.004-06:00

As promised, here's more footage of Evan dancing to the Wiggles. The first one is the Shimmie Shake again. I tried to get the TV in the video so you can see Evan really trying to imitate some of the dance moves. You can also even hear him change pitches with the music. The second one is Old Man Tucker. On the movie, the main Wiggle is wearing a cowboy hat and dancing. Evan decided to grab his firefighter hat and use that as his prop. At the end of my video, Evan lays down on the floor, which is what the Wiggles character does at one point in the song. What an entertainer!

The Art of Stalling

2009-01-11T17:20:00.005-06:00

Stalling must be some innate skill that all humans posses. At the young age of 2, Evan has mastered that skill. It started just a short while ago, mostly at bedtime and naptime. Before bed, we always read several books with Evan, and he usually is able to choose what books we read. Now he will walk to his bookcase, squat down and say "Hmmm, Hmmm" as he is deciding which one he wants. He will also pull a book out, look at the cover, say "Mmmm, no" and put it back. Then he will try to trick us. He pulls out a book and acts like he wants to read it by walking over to the rocking chair, but then he'll just set it on the ottoman and walk back to the bookcase. His newest strategy is asking for milk or rubbing his tummy and saying "Hungry."

Here is the newest video of Evan dancing to the Wiggles. We bought him a new DVD for Christmas called You Make Me Feel Like Dancing. It has some really upbeat songs from the 60's on up. Evan has really gotten into this DVD and he's dancing and singing along more than ever. The song in the background is called the Shimmie Shake and was made to look like The Beatles (it even has an introduction like the Ed Sullivan Show). Make sure to turn up the volume so you can hear him singing a little. He actually isn't into it as much as he normally is in this video, but I hope to get a better one soon.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Evan!

2009-01-05T21:31:00.006-06:00

Evan turned 2 years old day. Seriously, where did the time go? It's just amazing to think of how much he has grown in just 2 years. Although we didn't really do anything to celebrate today, we did have a family party 2 days after Christmas. Since Elmo is Evan's new favorite character, we had an Elmo themed party, especially since the Wiggles one I found was WAY too creepy. Evan opened more presents (for the 4th day in a row) and received lots of fun toys. Alexis made Elmo cupcakes, and although he didn't eat the cupcake part, he loved the candy that was on top!

Opening his Little People airplane from Auntie Lisa and Uncle Mike

Snuggling up in his Pooh blanket from Uncle Brad and Wendy

A talking Elmo doll from Alexis and Curtis

Evan's expression at seeing his new kitchen from mommy and daddy for the 1st time

He immediately started playing with it!

Going down his slide from grandma and grandpa

Yummy!

Enjoying his Elmo candy

Trying to get a family picture with an anxious Evan wanting to play with his new toys

A look back to Evan's original birthday

And a year later...

Christmas in Chicago - Part Dos

2009-01-04T11:10:00.005-06:00

The day after Christmas we finally had our Christmas "morning" at our own house. We started by opening more gifts with Evan. Again, as soon as he opened something he liked, he wanted to just play with that toy. With some encouragement he opened all of his gifts. We then enjoyed a breakfast of waffles (using my new waffle maker). Evan spent the morning playing with all of his new toys, and we tried to recooperate from a very busy week. We look forward to being home next year on Christmas morning, when Evan begins to truly undesrtand the concept of Santa, and beginning our own family traditions.

Santa came!

Opening his first gift - MegaBlocks

Santa's gift tag

Evan's favorite toy - a vet hospital with keys for each kennel and a set of vet's tools (stethescope, thermometer, etc.)

Dr. Evan

And finally, a short video of Evan opening his new Wiggles DVD

Christmas in Chicago - Part 1

2009-01-02T16:58:00.005-06:00

Resuming from where I last left off, we headed back home from Effingham after Christmas brunch. We had a very nice trip back - little traffic, no weather conditions to worry about, and Evan slept the whole way back. Once we got home, we unloaded the car, relaxed for a brief moment, then headed to my parents' house for dinner. Alexis and Curtis were also in town for the week, so we were very happy to see them. We opened more gifts, ate a delicious dinner, and then we put Evan to sleep in the pack and play so we could continue our annual tradition of a very competitive game night. Around 1 am we brought home a very sleepy boy and finally prepared our own house for Santa's arrival the next morning (he came to our house Dec 26th this year - how nice of him!).

Evan sporting his Diego backpack

Opening gifts as Alexis and my dad look on

Playing with his Wiggles' big red carHappy to see his nouna and nouno

Relaxing with the Tickle Me Elmo doll I received as a gift in high school - glad we saved it!

Christmas in Effingham

2008-12-29T08:24:00.008-06:00

This year we headed down to Effingham the Sunday before Christmas through Christmas morning. We had the pleasure of dealing with the wonderful midwest weather throughout the week. On our trip down, the wind gusts were terrible and the temperature was below zero. It was almost whiteout conditions at some points because of all the snow blowing across the interstate. But, we made it there safely, and that is what is important.

Monday night Rick's grandparents came over. We had dinner with them and opened up the first round of gifts (although by the time we got around to opening Evan was already asleep so we opened it for him, mean parents that we are!). Tuesday we were able to do some last minute shopping and actually had time to relax and watch a movie. Christmas eve night my in-laws hosted the big family get together. Evan was a little shy and overwhelmed at first with all of the people there, but after awhile he was comfortable with everyone. He also received his first gift of the season from Rick's aunt Dede. We were curious to see Evan's reaction to a wrapped gift, and we were pleasantly surprised. He tore into it like a pro! It was an adorable bowling set that he had a blast playing with all night.

Christmas morning Evan opened the gifts from Rick's parents and siblings and a few small gifts from Santa (the rest of the "Santa" gifts were delivered to our house). He was really excited about opening his first gift, which was a race track. The problem then, is that he just wanted to play with that and not open any other gifts. After some convincing he opened the rest of the gifts and enjoyed every minute of it. After a yummy brunch, we packed up the car to head back home to Chicago.

Evan happy to be with grandma and papa

Auntie Lisa and Evan in his spiffy Christmas oufit from Rick's grandparents

Evan and Aunt Dede playing with his new bowling set

Opening the first toy on Christmas morning

Playing with his new cars
Santa Evan

Our Christmas adventures are to be continued in another post, or maybe 2...

Babymaker

2008-12-23T11:48:00.002-06:00

I am copying this idea from Carrie's last post. It's a feature on Volkswagen's website where you put in a picture of 2 people and then it shows you what their baby would look like. Pretty interesting...

Message from Santa

2008-12-23T11:32:00.002-06:00

A friend of mine emailed me a link to this website. You enter in your child's name and some other information and then they give you a personalized message from Santa. It is very cool!

http://portablenorthpole.sympatico.msn.ca/home/

Just Call Me "Mommy"

2008-12-22T23:08:00.003-06:00

One day last week after school, Evan all of a sudden started calling me "mommy" instead of "mama". It was so cute (and still is), and he had this huge smile on his face like he knew he had just done something great! He has been talking much more lately and has finally become more consistent in using 2 word phrases: "mommy up", "Nemo on", "dada help", etc. He has also been asking a lot of questions: "Where'd it go?" and "Where's dada?" It's great that we can finally understand most of what Evan says now. He is also beginning to sing along with songs. When I read to Evan and rock him before bed, I usually sing a Dixie Chicks song to him called "Godspeed". During the chorus you can hear him say some of the words to the song. He was also singing along to a Kidsongs video at Rick's parents' house.

Speaking of Nemo, it is Evan's new obsession. I used to LOVE that movie, but now, not so much after seeing it for about the 100th time. After the New Year we are definitely going to start limiting how much time Evan spends watching television.

One picture for this blog entry: Who is Evan emailing in this picture? Or maybe he's looking up which toys he should ask for from Santa?

First Piece of Art

2008-12-22T22:51:00.005-06:00

Evan was very crabby last Sunday afternoon, and I was trying to find something to keep him occupied. I decided to break out the art supplies for the first time, which were some of the gifts I had received at my baby shower at school. In those supplies were a paint smock and a set of dot painters (like the kind you use when you play BINGO). Evan loved them! We now have our first piece of artwork hanging on the refrigerator.

My Handsome Guy

2008-12-13T16:30:00.005-06:00

Last Sunday we went to our church dinner dance at the Odyssey Country Club. Since we were all dressed up, I figured it would be a nice opportunity to take some family pictures. I'm not sure why I paid for professional Christmas pictures when these turned out almost just as nice! On a sidenote, Evan did great at the dinner. He sat for almost an hour and a half with little fussing while we ate dinner and watched some presentations. We did take him out of the room while the presentations were finishing up, and he had a blast going up and down the stairs for the balcony and loved how his feet and voice echoed when he was upstairs. He was laughing so hard!

Decorating the Tree

2008-12-13T15:59:00.004-06:00

Last weekend we dragged out all of our boxes from the crawlspace and put up our Christmas decorations. Evan really enjoyed pusing and pulling the boxes into our family room from the crawlspace. He wasn't really impressed with the bare artificial tree, but once we took out the lights and ornaments he was much more interested. Evan's favorite part, though, was hiding in the closet that leads to our crawlspace. He kept going in there and insisting on closing the door.

An Attempt at Being Organized

2008-12-10T21:22:00.003-06:00

I've always thought our house was a good size for us. That was until Evan entered our world along with all of his "stuff". Several years ago we bought a foosball table from Rick's cousin, and we have had it in our family room since then. Although it was fun to begin with, most recently it has been collecting dust and taking up a lot of valuable space. We decided it was time for it to go. Over Thanksgiving, we took it apart and moved it into the garage. (By the way, it is For Sale if anyone is interested!) With the table now gone, we have converted that space into Evan's little corner. For Christmas, my parents bought Evan a little table and two chairs, which we have already put together and set out for him. He loves it! I also bought some shelving cubes to help with organizing his toys. We also have inherited my old toy box and are using it for some of Evan's bigger toys. For his upcoming birthday, we bought him a play kitchen, and that will be the final thing to go in that area. It's amazing how moving out 1 thing can make such a difference!

The "Before" picture - minus all the toys we were storing under the table

Evan "helping" us put the shelves together

Enjoying lunch at his tableI don't have a picture yet of the completed project. We just put the last set of shelves up tonight, but I will post one some time in the near future.

Playing with Friends

2008-12-10T21:03:00.003-06:00

Over Thanksgiving weekend we visited with some of Rick's hometown friends. We saw Dave and Debbie and their little girl, Allie, who is 13 months old, and we met Jeremy and Tara's little guy, Creux, for the first time. It was so much fun seeing all our kids together! Evan and Allie did play with a few toys together while Creux watched from the sideline. I'm sure it won't be long until they're all running around together and getting in trouble!

Creux snuggling up with his mommy

Allie and Evan playing together