Zoo Today

No pics yet, but my little kids were so adorable at the zoo today!! I went with my Mom & Dad and sissy, too. It's just so awesome when the kids start getting excited about little adventures like this! Evie just skipped around the whole time--she loved the elephants the best and was so delighted with family members that she played several rounds of musical hand-holding or just holding. She was singing most of the way home and for about a half-hour afterwards. :)

AJ was into lions and monkeys best. At one point he said "mowa (more)RARRRR!" He also loved the water animals--he kept trying to jump in with them. As a matter of fact, Evelyn was not shy, either, in this regard. We luckily caught her before she hurled herself in with the cheetahs.

What can I say? Our kids are hilarious!!! Thanks for a great day, Parents & Sissy!!!

XO,
Katie

Happy 4th of July!!!

We hope yours was a blast!!

Evelyn Update

Evelyn Joy is becoming a little imp-ier by the day, but as she bypassed the terrible two's, we can't complain too much. At 3 1/2 years old, Evie loves to shadow Mommy and Daddy and then do things exactly like them (in that too familiar, disturbing, toddler kind of way...). She is our little imitator. However, unique to Evelyn is her love for her blanky and her sippy cup. As you can see (above) she takes the sippy everywhere... EVERYWHERE! She is having a hard time right now transitioning into summer, as she refuses most every day to wear shorts and short sleeves. Mommy is a little worried about heat stroke. She is still wearing winter jammies, too. In addition, she sleeps with a stuffed bunny from Grandma Riggs and a stuffed American eagle from Grandpa Conway. She loves swimming, riding her tricycle, reading books, singing, dancing, drawing and swinging on everything she can find. She has a chipped front tooth from when she insisted on exiting the car by herself and landed face-first on the pavement. She loves helping Mommy and Daddy and doing things independently. She tries to hold and cuddle AJ, but he freaks out every time. She is a big time lover and cuddler, but she and AJ are always literally fighting for lap time. She also likes to steal his toys. Otherwise, they get along fine.
One thing that makes Evie very unique is her amazing recollection of songs. At age three, she probably knows the tune and words to over a hundred, and she'll pull them out at random times. Her favorite right now is "If You're Happy and You Know It." She LOVES her grandparents and is horribly spoiled by them! And, of course, she is adorable!!! :)



...Sweating profusely through the summer night (in winter jammies).

AJ Update

AJ is 13 months old, now, and still a complete Mommy's Boy! His teeth total eight now and are sprouting up like mad. He is somewhat slight (his pants fall off of him), somewhat serious, uncompromising, persistent and bright. AJ likes opening and closing things--doors, drawers, containers of all shapes and sizes. He can push shapes through his shape sorter, and so far he uses the following words: book, dog, ball, up, sippy, outside, look, "yuck," no, "yeah," stair, momma, dada, "quack." :) He loves singing the "Five Little Ducks" song with Mommy and Evie. He loves making faces with Evie and playing peekaboo. He is ALWAYS sucking his thumb!! He loves balls, trucks, animals and books. He loves baths but not the pool (yet) and swinging but not the slide (yet). He LOVES to be held! He can't stand NOT being held when he's with a babysitter. He is standing, cruising, and walking while holding one of Mommy or Daddy's hands, but he will not walk on his own, yet, and I have the feeling he will not be coerced into it, as everything he does must be completely his own decision. :)

As you can see, he is also adorable.

Random Stuff We're Doing...

Eating brownies...

Getting mad at Mommy for not holding him because I wanted to take a picture--he was TOO CUTE!!!
Playing dress up with neighbor-girl's raincoat.

...And her dog.


STILL trying to get clothes to fit on AJ (notice next to the wagon pictured above he's lost his pants again). ...and getting mad at Mommy again for not holding him. :)

AJ's 1st Birthday

AJ celebrated his 1-year birthday last month in traditional baby fashion: tired, happy, and a little confused. Grandmas and Grandpas adored, parents practically gushed. I just know my AJ is perfect in every way. Try to tell me not, and I'll accidentally delete you from my phone book. Not kidding.








Voom! Voom! Voooom!!!

Block Party

This was a day when I thought my kids were very cute. :) Playing blocks nicely. Evie said the house she made was "Grandma's House."

Birthdays

Mine and Evelyn's birthdays are two weeks apart exactly. Justin loves it. Actually, no, he doesn't at all. He also doesn't like that our anniversary and Valentine's Day and Evelyn's birthday are all the same week. That's a lot of presents.

I'd like to say we did it simply, but that's just not how Mommy rolls. Evelyn had a nice big birthday party (eighteen kiddos... whew!) and then she went swimming in the afternoon with her friends and grandma and daddy and then we had a family party for her that evening. She was pretty lackluster by that evening's party, as you can tell. However, she has asked for her birthday again almost every day since. That's the goal: legendary birthday parties. ...This is how I'd like my birthdays to be, Sweetie. ...Sweetie??
Yeah, I know you don't read this... :)

...at Evie's "kid" birthday party, making Valentines and devouring chocolate cupcakes.

Evie opening presents with Grandma.
Oh. Yippee. A watch. (Feeling tired and definitely not in the mood to play it up for the camera...)

She did crack a little smile when she saw we bought her "Horton Hears a Who"...


Mom made me what looks like a wagon wheel cake... :) It was delicious!

Snowy Day in February...

So I like to specify dates in the blogs, as it helps my reader(s?) get an idea of how old the kids are, but by doing so I must own how delinquent I am in posting my pictures. This was a snowy day in February, and the kids were so cute, I decided to take pictures of them in their warm snowsuits.


AJ doesn't have boots, so I just hauled him around while I took pictures of Evie. Evie have been foaming at the mouth to play outside more since January...



Throwing a snowball...

The snow was good and powdery, so we couldn't make the snowman stick together. Yes, this is a laying-down snowman, and yes, he has grass for eyes.

Mommy-holics

My children follow me and often claw at my feet for attention (this is even after I've given it to them all morning). Just thought I'd post a picture of the view I have every second of every day. Yes, this is in the bathroom, and no, I rarely have quiet time even there.

Goodnight, Don't Sleep Too Tight!

Dear Evelyn,

We're running out of Pull-ups and don't want to buy any more. You've done great at getting "potty a-train!"-ed as you like to say it. Now is the time to move to the next step. Please don't pee in the bed tonight. :)

Love,
Mommy

Wrapping Up December

Justin's best pal from back-in-the-day was in town for Christmas, and we spent a fun evening eating and playing games with them. Here's both our families:
And here is Evie modeling her cute new Christmas clothes!
Cousins are up for one last cuddle with Grandpa, and we took a shot with them.
New Year's Eve, we decided to go swimming with cute cousins Porter and Keaton at the rec center in Golden. Uncle Ben kept them all from drowning. :)

Evelyn and Uncle Ben.
The light was pretty good, so I got a few of Porter and Keaton in the water. Here's Keaton playing.

Keaton practicing his freestyle. Porter is being chill.
Cute brothers.
Evie totally bonded with these two while they were in town. She keeps asking for them to come over, still.
Keaton takes care of his little cousin. :)

We miss you guys!