June 2011

 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

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

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

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

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)

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

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