Christmas cookies = one happy boy

I feel bad I still haven't posted about our trip to Houston for Thanksgiving, but I can't find our camera cable. So till then--another Christmas-y post.

I made sugar cookies today so that we could decorate them tonight together as a family. It was Evan's first time, and he had a blast. He was slightly obsessed with the sprinkles.

This is how it went:

Evan's favorite song is...

Halloween

Yes, I know it's December. Just trying to get caught up. Had a fun Halloween that included our ward's Trunk or Treat and then trick or treating with some friends in their neighborhood.

(This was the night I found out I'm allergic to pumpkin.)








Evan, doing what Frenchmen do best.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! (And on to Christmas! Oh wait, Thanksgiving!)

Evan turns two (in October, that is)

It was great to have Nana and Aunt Amy here to celebrate with us. Amy's birthday was the day before Evan's, so it was double the dessert! I think Evan enjoyed his birthday pretty well. He opened presents (he's gotten a lot better at that over the last while!), he got to skype with his cousin Gracie and his Aunt Randi and Papa, and we had a couple of his friends over for dinner and cake. We just played all day long! He's such a sweet boy, and we love him so much!

Two-year stats

Evan had his two-year checkup this morning. Here are his stats:
36 1/2 inches--almost off the chart!
30.9 lbs--75-90th percentile.
Can't remember head circumference, but it was in the 90th percentile too.


Love this kid!

It was a good one.

When I went to get Evan up from his nap, this is what I found.

















That must have been SOME nap.

For Nana

Serious consideration....

I'm seriously considering quitting blogging. I hate catching myself up on everything!

Anyway, here goes another try. My parents came out to visit this month and brought my family heirloom. My great, great, great, great, great grandfather made this little rocking chair, and it goes to the youngest child in the family. I love it, and Evan does too. It's been so fun. It's the chair he insists on sitting in for family scripture study.

Evan has really enjoyed playing in his "cave" lately. The hat with a light helps that enthusiasm along!

Evan's cousin Kenna was baptized recently. It was great to see you guys and be there for Kenna's special day!

We went to Chester's Party Barn for their pumpkin patch. It was a pretty fun place, with a pony ride, petting zoo, tractor "hay" ride, maze, giant slide, and of course, lots of pumpkins. Evan had a blast.



It was so fun having my parents here! Wish we could see them more frequently. We went on a tour of my Dad's school, ate at Ted's, and just generally enjoyed their company. Thanks for making the trip!


One down, more to come. It's birthday time!

Touch a Truck day

We love the Mustang library. They always have great events planned for kids. Like Touch a Truck day. They had all kinds of fun vehicles and let the kids have free reign! I mean play with the police sirens, honk the cement truck horn, run around in the fire engine, and more! They had the aforementioned vehicles, plus an ambulance, garbage truck, sheriff's car, a backhoe, a school bus, and a dump truck. How cool is that?? Well, it would have been a lot cooler if they had controlled the beeping of the horns a little more. Evan would jump and look like he was going to cry every time someone laid on the cement truck horn. So it didn't last as long as I had thought it would with a little guy like Evan. We ended up going inside the library to play in their play area. Yep, the library has a play area inside. Super cool. We found a lot of other little kids inside who had to escape the noise too.

Next year will be better. Maybe.

Evan's first girlfriend

Who knew library story time could be hazardous to your health?

Library story time drew blood today. They were playing with bubbles, and while I didn't exactly see what happened, I saw two kids go down, and one of them was mine. Evan bit into his bottom lip. There are two perfect little tooth marks. So sad. Poor my boy.

Evan recently discovered the merits of a slip and slide. We definitely need to work on his technique.

OCD

Evan has a mat of letters and numbers. Every night before we go to bed I arrange the letters and numbers into a nice 6X6 square. This is how it looks:














Then Evan gets up in the morning. This is how it looks approximately 10.6 seconds after he hits the front room.















John says I'm crazy to put it back together every night. But I have to! I must be OCD.

In other news, Evan got his first big boy haircut this week. He did great. He seemed a little uncertain at first, and hated wearing the bib, but as soon as the stylist gave him her water bottle he contentedly sprayed himself in the face the rest of the time.
















It turns out that big boy haircuts are pretty expensive. Time for me to learn a new skill. Have any advice on giving boy haircuts to someone with no experience? Please share!

What we've been up to.

We've enjoyed having John at home for the past month or so. But now it's back to the real world with John starting work this last Monday. Evan and I have tried to stay busy with story time at the library and going to the park. He is obsessed with rocks, and loves to throw them in the water at our favorite park. When we go on walks he tries to pick up every rock he sees and carry it with him. Today he had so many that I caught him trying to put some in his mouth so he could carry more! Silly kid.

They had a free day at the Museum of Natural History in Norman so we went to check it out. It was pretty cool. They had lots of dinos and a playroom for little kids.















We also went to the OKC zoo this week. It's a really nice, with a children's play area. They had a waterfall and stream with rocks. Evan was in heaven! They also had a bird area where you can walk around with the birds flying and running around you. That was Evan's favorite place. He chased the quail the entire time.


Evan and his friend Geryn at the zoo.


Playing with the rocks.







John passed part 3 of boards! Now all he has to do is get licensed in OK and we're good to go! So this weekend and next weekend he has a seminar and tests to pass for that in Tahlequah, OK. Good luck John!

Smarty pants.

In between getting settled we've been doing a little sightseeing. We recently went to the Oklahoma Railway Museum. They had some fun old trains to explore, and you could take a quick ride on a real train. So we took Evan. He had a blast. We weren't sure how he'd do riding on the train, but he was mesmerized.













We've also been playing in the water quite a bit. It's hot!















A couple of days ago we got Evan a basketball hoop. I've been wanting to get him one for a while, ever since he started recognizing the basketball hoops in the gym at church and yelling "Bapa ball" in the middle of sacrament meeting. He LOVES it. The video is from the day we put it up. John was thrilled with Evan's "mad skills."

Update

Ok, I no longer have any excuse not to blog. So here's our update. Sorry if this is long and boring. There's been a LOT going on.

Last time I blogged we were in the middle of packing to leave Santa Fe, NM. Evan and I drove with my family to Payson and stayed with my parents for about a week. John took the trailer and drove it to Memphis. Evan and I flew out to be there during John's graduation. And I just have to say, I'm so proud of John! He did an amazing job during school--managing his classes and exams, boards, church assignments and family life. He was even in the Honors Society! Way to go, Dr. John!













Following graduation, Evan and I and John's parents flew to CA to spend some time with them. John planned to drive out to CA to be with us, and while en route, he received a call with a job offer in Oklahoma City--our first choice. We were thrilled.

We spent a couple of weeks in CA with family (mine and John's) and then John left to drive (once again, poor guy!) to OKC to arrange housing and move our things from Memphis to OKC.














Now we're all together again, finally in a stable situation for poor Evan, who was beginning to think he'd be sleeping in a different bed or state every week for the rest of his life.
















We live in Yukon, OK in a great little house. Everything really just fell into place for us, and we are confident this is where we're supposed to be! It's a great feeling.

So come see us on your next vacation! You know you always wanted to check out Oklahoma!

Popcorn

I promise there will be more updates to come. Eventually. We're in the middle of packing and moving right now, but I wanted to share this video from today.

Dad can do magic!

Four years!

We celebrated our anniversary last week. We went up to the Bishop's Lodge in Santa Fe right after a big snow storm. It was a great place! This was the view from our balcony.












Because of the storm (and the fact that it was the middle of the week) we had the Lodge restaurant all to ourselves--literally! It was beautiful, candlelit with a gigantic fire blazing in the center of the room.












And the food was yummy too!























This was our $35 dessert. Good? Yes. Worth the price? Have you ever had a dessert that was worth $35? Me neither.












It was so much fun to get away! Thanks to Nana for watching Evan for us!