Christmas 2010

Evan is still a little too young to understand the whole present part of Christmas. He would open one present, then just want to play with that and not mess with the others we were trying to talk him into looking at. We saw lots of family who showered him with gifts and attention...what more could a boy ask for.




Granny with her Great-Grandsons


Bridge Family picture


Its never to cold to play in Great-Ma's backyard!


Merry Christmas Evan!!

Christmas Cookie Decorating

A big tradition from my childhood was making Christmas cookies with the Todd girls. Now that Emily and I have our own little ones, we decided it would be good to start up the tradition again so my mom and I drove Evan to College Station to have a cookie decorating playdate with Wyatt. I thought Evan would be too young to really decorate the cookies, but he actually got the hang of it!

Cookie decorating is very serious business.



Awww, such cute boys!



Hope this will be a continuing tradition for years to come.

Wimberley Vacation

Dylan and I decided we needed a little vacation away from all the chaos that can be our lives at home. So this week we packed up the car and took Evan and Maddie to Wimberley. We stayed in a little cottage near Cypress Creek and about a mile from the square.

Most of our days were spent outside.



Evan braved the VERY cold water to catch leaves floating by.


He loved the slide at the local city park, and we got a kick out of the way the static made his hair stand up ;)


The town of Wimberley puts on a trail of lights that is free to the public. It is about 8 acres of lights and booths all directed at children. The trail ends with a bonfire with marshmallows and hot dogs available for roasting. The look of wonder on his face looking at all the lights was priceless.


Much to my surprise, Evan LOVED visiting Santa at the trail of lights. He was so happy to have this nice old man give him so much attention and looked like such a big boy up on his lap.


I'd definitely like to return again if not overnight, at least to visit the trail of lights since Evan enjoyed it so much.

Thanksgiving 2010

So much to be thankful for this year.
Happy Thanksgiving!





On a side note, Evan LOVES his cousin Asher.
He isn't quite sure what to do with him, but he loves to give him hugs and kisses.



Asher on the other hand doesn't love them so much ;)

Little Boy

It seemed like we blinked and Evan turned from a baby into a little boy. He is into everything now and is in constant motion. Its so much fun to watch him learn...He loves to play with cars and dinosaurs, and has a great imagination already. Observing this progression has been amazing and I'm looking forward to all that is to come.

Happy Halloween Charlie Brown

There were so many local things to do for preschoolers the week of Halloween, we tried to do as many as we could.

Thursday we went to the Round Rock Fall Festival at Old Settlers park. It was too cold and windy to really enjoy, plus it was packed! I think next year he will be more into the games and we will get there right as it opens to hopefully beat some of the crowd. The best part about it though was that we went with our friends Crystal and Samantha.



Friday, Evan and I went to the Round Rock Public Library's Halloween Party. It was so fun! The librarians read toddler age appropriate stories and sang silly Halloween songs. We finished off the time with snacks and dancing. Super fun time!!

Sunday night was the big Fall festival at FBCRR. It was well organized and Evan enjoyed looking at all the decorations and children in their costumes.



Great Halloween 2010!!

Pumpkin Patch

Kendra and Asher came for a visit this weekend... I have the cutest nephew in the whole world! While he was here, we decided to go to the pumpkin patch for some family pics and to let Evan pick out a pumpkin.

Evan had lots of fun climbing on and patting all the pumpkins.








Asher preferred to sleep through all the excitement


New Smith Family Picture:



New Bridge Family Picture:

Visit with Braelyn

We went to a friends wedding in San Antonio this weekend so we stayed with my Aunt and Uncle there. While we were there, Evan got to play with his cousin (my cousin Scott's daughter) Braelyn. She is such a cutie and fun was had by all!

Pecan Street Festival

This weekend was Austin's Pecan Street Festival downtown. It is just a street fair with artists and food vendors, but they also had a petting zoo I wanted Evan to check out.
When we finally found it, I decided there were WAY too many children and animals crammed in the little zoo cage area, so we opted to look at them from outside the cage. Not as exciting probably as inside, but worth going anyway.

My picky eater

My baby is now a big boy and refuses to eat baby food. I had been hanging onto the baby food for dear life because 1) its so easy to pop open a jar and 2) I can make sure he is getting the right amounts of fruits, veggies, protein, etc.

Well, for a couple of weeks now Evan will no longer eat baby food and SHAKES with anger when I try to give him something he doesn't want to eat. I've found limited successes with cheese, and bread. He likes peaches one week, then wont touch them the next. Strawberries have passed the test. Green beans, peas, pinto beans, have all gotten a veto. I've even tried mac and cheese and spaghetti-os...what kid doesn't love mac and cheese!! I found out today that he will eat a banana if he can bite it off himself instead of having it cut up for him. I'll be trying that again for sure.

I always thought you had to "teach" a child to be a picky eater, but giving them unhealthy food sometimes, and then expecting them to want to eat the healthy food at other times. But other than his birthday cake, he only eats healthy food...I'll take any suggestions you might have to sneak some good food into my child.

Who knows, hopefully this too shall pass quickly. Really, other than that, this is a pretty great phase in his busy little life :)

----
Update 11/9/10: We have found success with frozen Chicken Nuggets (Earth's Best brand fully cooked, baked, organic and microwavable), frozen organic "Salmon Sticks" which have veggies hidden in them too, frozen Edimame, and frozen broccoli. Of course bread, cheese, and most fruits are still favorites.

Children's Museum

We ventured downtown to the Austin Children's Museum today. I've wanted to take Evan there, but didn't want to pay full price when he might not want to stay long. Today was free admission so we gave it a shot. Evan LOVED it! He had lots of fun, but because it was free, it was very crowded, which I didn't like very much.

There was an exhibit there with huge board games. Here he is playing a little chess...


The toddler area was his favorite though since everything was just his size and bigger kids weren't allowed in...





All in all, we will go back, but will probably wait for another free day, or go Sundays at 4 which is free until closing at 5.

Baby Garrett as arrived!!

Eight days late, my nephew has finally arrived!!

Name: Asher Gryffin Knox Garrett
Born: 8/25/10 7:20 pm
Weight: 9 lbs 10 oz
Length: 21.5 inches



Awww, best friends already....Evan wasn't sure what to do with this new toy.



Kendra is already such a great mom!
Welcome to the world Asher, WE LOVE YOU!

Evan's First Birthday!

Happy Birthday Evan!! It has been a crazy year, and our baby boy is now ONE!



We had a party for him this afternoon...Nothing like waking up from a nap to find a house full of people to see you!

The Theme was Sock Monkeys, right down to the favors and cupcakes.

Mini Sock Monkey's and Bubble Favors:


Yummy Sock Monkey Cupcakes:


Cake is funny!!


Thanks to all the family and friends here to celebrate, Evan got more presents than any child could dream of.
Here he is working his way through some of them.


So a whole year has past and Evan is such a joy. He is smart and silly, sensitive and sneaky, and we are so thankful to have him in our lives.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVAN! WE LOVE YOU!

Our first family picture:
August 7, 2009


Our family today:
August 7, 2010



Here's a recap of the day in case you weren't there:

Paisano 2010

We took our annual trip to Paisano last week. We missed last year because I was VERY pregnant with Evan, but this year we decided we could make it and piled in the car and headed to West Texas.
Though being there was exhausting for us because nothing was baby proofed, Evan had a great time. I'm so glad he had started walking because Paisano isn't exactly a place to crawl. Over the week his walking skills increased incrementally and he is now a true professional.

Big Boy!!



Evan's favorite things to do at Paisano were:

EXPLORING!!


CLIMBING!!


SWINGING!!


DRIVING!!


PLAYING WITH DADDY!!



Here's Evan in the kitchen sink taking his bath. This is a tradition that all babies must do in our family...He is the third generation to be bathed in this sink.


Here are our family pictures...
This one is in front of the Cabin my Great Grandfather built. Poor Maddie was not excited about the picture.



This is the cabin we stay in, which is just next door. (Notice Evan is biting a rock, it was a constant battle to prevent rock eating)


I hope Evan will enjoy coming back to Paisano every year as much as I have.
Here is the video from the trip: