Interpretations

As Evan continues to talk more, we're coming across interesting situations where we're challenged to accurately interpret what he is saying.  Like when we had to figure out what he was saying that sounded a bit too much like a word that starts with "F" and rhymes with "truck."  Eventually, he put a visual with it and we determined it was his word for "frog."  We'll be sure to keep him away from any displays of frogs when in public until that word shapes up!

He continues to LOVE to snuggle up and read.  A LOT.   Here's a shot of him with daddy tonight (sorry for the dark photo).

And another situation where Evan's interpretation of something was pretty cute.  He saw this picture in a book he was reading with daddy tonight:

Evan pointed at the cow's udder and said, "sun!" - very confidently I might add! I guess if you look at it, it kind of resembles a sun:)

He's also become very interested in colors.  He gets really into a specific color and can't stop talking about it.  Today it was pink.  Yesterday I think it was orange.  And for some reason, white is every day.  Anything he sees that is white, he'll point at and shout, "white!"  And he always picks the white crayon. Why is this?  Anyone?

My favorite moment from the weekend happened Saturday.  Daddy was working hard in the basement, making a ton of noise during lunch, and Evan was so sleepy that he just crashed in his booster.  Head tilt and all.  He was actually snoring and doing the sleepy head jerk when I took this photo.

Notice the mac n cheese hanging off his chin?  Classy.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Mommy's Birthday Weekend

It was Mommy's birthday this weekend. We spent lots of time at home. Daddy got to work on the basement project a ton - and he was really loud down there! Evan has been feeling a little under the weather, but he hasn't been too bad. Just a runny nose and cough. Even though he's been a bit sick, he still surprises us everday with new abilities.

He has been able to help us clean the house.

And he's been driving his new truck from grandma and grandpa

And learning new words!

Here's Evan trying to work the Temporal Thermometer

Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful holiday season and both of us enjoyed the entire last week at home with the little guy!  It's been amazing to be able to relax, complete a few things on our "to do" list, and just have fun with Evan.  And it's amazing how much he's grown in just the last week!  He's learning new words every day and is willing to imitate pretty much anything we say....not so great if poorly chosen words are spoken, but SOOO cute when he says, "night night" or "love you."  We can't get enough of it!

And when we look back to 2011, we cannot believe how much he's changed and how he's become a little man.  A very handsome one we like to think!  We're excited to see what 2012 brings!

Here's the little guy in January 2011

And here is is at the end of 2011...

Running around outside (with no snow)...

and playing "wake up" with daddy. 

Merry Christmas

We're almost there.  Christmas is upon us and it's been so amazing to watch Evan enjoy the different aspects of the holiday so much more this year!  He loves all of the sparkly lights and of course enjoys the cookies (one of his new favorite words).  We are just so happy that we have been able to be with both of our families for the holidays and Evan will get time to celebrate with everyone who loves him!  We are VERY blessed!
We hope everyone haves a happy and healthy holiday season!

Evan explores some of his new trucks.  Christmas started about 10 days before the big day with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Stalder.

Grandma and Grandpa took Evan to the Children's Museum where they had an exhibition of story books, some of which Evan knows well and loves.  Above he is exploring the mouse's bed from "If you give a mouse a cookie" - a book he loves to get from the library.

If there were doors to open and shut, Evan was all over it.

Evan in heaven....driving the bus.

Evan spent quite a bit of time trying to work against the water tubes, shoving balls back up the tubes instead of dropping them in.

He loved the bubbles.  He kept trying to drag the huge bubble wand around the room to all of the water tables.  

Evan brought home this adorable ornament from daycare this week. We're still amazed that she had any time to help the kiddos put them together!

Merry Christmas to all!

Comrades

Evan's Cousin Grayson came over Saturday evening for a sleep over. The boys got to spend lots of time together. Most of the time was spent playing with trains. It's really amzing how long these two will sit and play with trains. If we didn't distract them with other toys and give them meal breaks, I think they'd be content playing with trains all day...

Videos from the morning:

Here's a VIDEO of the boys having breakfast.

And a VIDEO of the boys pulling around trucks with strings.



Trains... Saturday Evening.

Tains... Sunday Morning (notice the pajamas)



We were able to distract them with a puzzle... or couse it's a train puzzle



Finally we played with Duplos.. (there's a Duplo train in front of Evan)



Holidays arrive

 We've been busily enjoying the beginning of the holiday season.  We were able to make it to Nebraska for Thanksgiving and had a great time visiting family.  We baked tons of Christmas cookies too - Evan joined in for a bit of it.  We think he'll be baking independently by next Christmas for sure - look below for examples of his mad rolling and cookie-cutting skills!
And Evan's Packers continued their undefeated streak today - Jake worked hard to get Evan to dance to the Packer's scoring song.  Here's a VIDEO of his best attempt.

Evan showing off his new and slightly too-big jacket and snowpants.  He still seems to like the snow, but just gets worn out from trying to move in all that gear - you can hear the "swish, swish" from a block away:)

Early Snow

Well, it's happened. We got our first snowfall of this winter. Last year's snow was never-ending, we're hoping it won't be as bad as that. One of our earliest blog posts last year was about Evan's First Snowstorm - He had a much different approach this year. After we got all bundled up, we went outside. It took him a few minutes, but he loved it!

Video Update:
Evan Loves his Trains
Evan Riding the Dump Truck
Trying to Jump
Cleaning Up Part 1
Cleaning Up Part 2

He's ready for the snow (or a deep sea diving excursion)

Taking it all in

The cutest snow tracks ever

This happens at least once a day...

... and this at least twice.

Our little helper

While Evan continues to blossom in so many areas, he's been especially interested in helping with housework.  I tested this weeks ago with the laundry when I needed to bring him down to our construction zone basement and in order to keep him busy, I had him help me load the clothes dryer.  He loved it!  I am going to try to get a video of it this weekend because it's the cutest thing you've ever seen.  Here's a shot of him helping with dishes too.  I think he prefer loading the dishwasher (don't we all?), or maybe it's just the fun blue lights that come on when he gets to turn on the dishwasher?

Washing dishes with mommy.

 And it will be another weekend of routing for our favorite college football teams - can you guess who we were showing our support for last weekend from the pic below?  Hopefully they can surprise everyone and pull off another win!  Ski-u-mah!

Video Update

Here's a few of the best videos from the past few weeks...

Evan the Octopus

Evan Singing ABC's

Evan Finding the Letters

Evan Walking Around with His Blanket (Linus Style)

Evan Kicking a Soccer Ball

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!  We're not actually planning to trick-or-treat, however Evan got to show off his costume at a Halloween party at the local park.  He was most interested in walking around and looking at the horses that were there to pull the hay wagons, but all in all he had a great time!  Hope you all have a great Halloween!

This was mommy's first attempt at making a Halloween costume - we like to call it semi-homemade.  He's supposed to be an octopus or squid by the way.

Checking things out at Minnehaha park.

He picked up nearly every stick he came across.

It was kind of tricky to get all of his "legs" into the stroller.