Cooler weather? Aaaahhhhh.

My Hero

We've been smothered by 100+ degree weather for the vast majority of this summer, so we've been making do with a lot of inside activities lately. Sort of boring for posts, so I've neglected the blog. But here are a few photos of recent daily activities.

I've been wanting to make E a superhero cape for ages, and have simply been lazy. But the other day at Walmart we saw this one for super cheap. Evan was so excited to have it in his hands that he started yelling to the first person he saw, "Look! Look! It's a superhero cape! Now I will fly in the sky!" Unfortunately, the cape's magical qualities didn't perform to his expectations. We're still working on pretending to help get over the disappointment.

We do a lot of "parking cars" with E. Notice (if you care to!) all the animals/figures are on the "sidewalks" and all the cars are on the "roads."

Evan loves to vacuum. I try to indulge him as often as possible.

And what can I say? He's a cute kiddo. Sure do love him. I'm going to brag now. I think he's a super smarty pants. I counted the songs he knows how to sing and got to 25 before I had to stop. Today he started singing the first two lines to "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus." I didn't know he knew that one. He can count to 30 now, and knows his letters. He's starting to recognize the sounds the letters make too. It's been really fun.

And here are a couple of his cute mispronunciations: Lately he wants to do everything "All my byself," (as he points his thumb at his chest.)
If I ask him why, he says, "Capause."
And my all time favorite that I was really sad when he finally got right: badesadas instead of bananas. Oh, how I miss that one!

The other night while reading scriptures, Evan quoted, "because of the anger of my bretheren," as "because of the Angry Birds." John and I couldn't help laughing out loud at that one. Evan looked very pleased with himself.

Swimming lessons

We signed Evan up for Mommy & Me swim lessons at the Mustang Rec Center. He had a complete blast, and still talks about "swim lessons." He was very brave--he'd put his face in the water and blow bubbles, float on his back and belly, and kick while holding onto an inflatable without my help, but jumping off the wall into the pool was his delight. He showed absolutely no fear (much to my dismay--a little healthy fear is a good thing with water!) and never wanted to hold my hands--just to do "really, really big jumps" off the side. We ended every lesson with the frog slide, which was a big hit with Evan as well. It was a lot of fun, and a nice way to combat the ridiculous heat we've been "enjoying."






And after putting it off for way too long due to a total lack of desire to get it done (by the mama), I started potty training Evan last week. He's doing great. No accidents for the past couple of days. I wasn't brave enough to let him try during church since John and I are both pretty busy, but when I got him home, his diaper was dry and clean! Hooray! He's only been wet one night (most nights he wakes up and yells for me when he needs to go) and has stayed dry during naps as well. Our big issue is getting him to poop in the potty. He has done it before, but refuses to do it lately, and holds it till night when he gets a diaper back on. So that's been an issue. Any suggestions from you seasoned parents out there? I'm excited about his progress. He's really doing great. Love the kiddo! And I can't wait to meet his little brother!

4th weekend and 20 weeks

John took Friday off, so we've had a nice long weekend so far. We started it by heading to Chuck E. Cheese with the Grafes. Evan loves that place. (John too!) We had a great time playing games. Evan even made a few goals at air hockey! So cute. Then Saturday morning John and Evan headed off to the Science Museum--also a favorite--while I ironed costumes for the upcoming youth conference pageant. Then John and Evan did some yard work together using Evan's new lawnmower. They had a great time.

Tonight we had the missionaries for dinner, and after a brief FHE with them, we went to celebrate the 4th with some friends. I totally forgot my camera and my phone too. Boo.

All in all, it's been a wonderful weekend. We loved having John home with us.

Here's a 20 week pic. I looked back at when I was pregnant with Evan, and I was smaller at 24 weeks than I am now! So fun.


Happy Fourth of July everyone!

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It just never gets old to me.

Hooray!

So John told me yesterday that his clinic would do an ultrasound for me if I wanted to. We're not scheduled for our official gender ultrasound till the 21st--18 weeks. We figured, why not? I wasn't getting my hopes up, but if it worked out, great.

John has been so sure this time that we're having a girl. I was secretly hoping for a boy again--I'd be just fine with all boys, and I'd love for Evan to have a little brother to play with as they grow up. The past couple of weeks I've felt a kind of "boy vibe" I guess you could say, but John was just SO SURE. So imagine my excitement when pretty much the very first thing we saw confirmed that Evan's going to have a little brother! Hooray! (He was NOT shy--exactly like Evan when we found out his gender.)

John was pretty surprised. But he's also really excited. It's so reassuring to see that everything seems to be ok. We're so happy to be able to plan for Baby _________ Allen Ketcher to arrive sometime in November.