Apple Pie

For Thanksgiving, Evan and I made two apple pies this year. Evan made it so much easier! (When can you say that about a 3 year old :) ?) He pealed 16 apples almost completely by himself using the apple pealer/slicer/corer. He was even loading the apples on himself and taking them off when they were sliced. It was a great way to get ready for Thanksgiving and spend some fun time with E.

Gum

So, it's been a long time since we last posted - but I wanted to share a cute story about Evan before I forget it. About a month ago, I was shopping with my mom and Evan. My mom asked if I'd like some gum, and Evan said, "I'm 3 and big now, I'd like some gum." So, Nani gave Evan a half a piece of gum with the instructions only to chew it, not to swallow. Evan actually did great with the gum, following his instructions. About 5 minutes into chewing, he asked, "Is it okay if I swallow the juice?" which we both cracked up at. We later were in the maternity department and there was a picture of a pregnant woman on the wall. Evan told us, "She must have ate a lot of gum!" He continued to chew the gum for another hour or so and now gum is one of his favorite treats.

Thanksgiving

Here's a few photos from Thanksgiving. We had lunch at Grandma and Grandpa's house and then dinner at Aunt Chris and Barry's house. Lots of good food and fun! I felt like Evan by the end of the day, exhausted!!

(btw - That was not Evan's outfit, he managed to spill water all down the front :) )

Fear

Two nights ago, Evan woke up at 3 am and came into our room shaking. He told us that their were some "guys" in his room floating around. We let him come into our bed and then he "saw" these guys in our room. He was really scared. It took him about an hour to settle down and fall asleep. The next night, as it got dark, he started to worry about them coming back again. After turning the lights on (seeing nothing was there), explaining that they were pretend, telling he could call us, we finally got him to sleep in his room with a nightlight. It's pretty crazy - Evan had had fears before - but they are always more immediate (scary costumes, leaving the parents). This is the first time he's come up with something to fear on his own.

Halloween Fun

Since we won't be here for Halloween, we did a few things to celebrate last weekend. Evan and I went to Kings Island for the Halloween party. He even got dressed up. (Evan has insisted on being a penguin for the last month - we had no idea where it came from!)


The next day we cleaned out our pumpkin, made the pumpkin seeds, and then Evan and daddy got to carve the pumpkin at Dad's night at preschool.

3 Year Old Photos

Last week, we took Evan to get his 3 year old pictures taken. They turned out great - we had so many it was hard to decide. (Soft doggy even came along for the pictures.) Check out a "few" of our favorites!

I miss naps!!

So, when we went to the pediatrician last week, we talked about Evan's naps. He use to sleep for 2 hours (or longer if I'd let him) in the afternoon. The problem was that he wouldn't want to nap until 3:30 or so, and then he'd be awake until 10:30 at night. (Bedtime was 9.) Well, the Dr. Joe definitely agreed it was time to phase out naps and phase in quiet time. It's not the same :) It is AWESOME that Evan now goes to sleep at 8-8:30 and wakes up at 7:30-8. It's nice to have the nights back. But, I'm learning what it's like to not have those precious few hours in the afternoon to get things done. I'm sure it's just an adjustment for us all!

Birthday Party

Evan had a great 3rd birthday party! We are so lucky to have such great family and friends! Check out some of the pictures:

3 Year Stats

We took Evan for his 3 year appointment last night. He and the doctor had a nice long chat about colors, letters, and bugs. Evan is 30lbs and 36-3/4" tall and the doctor said he was very smart. :)

Evan's 3rd Birthday

Evan's actual birthday was on a Tuesday this year. We celebrated the day by first explaining why today was his real birthday, and his party was coming up soon. We then went to the library to see all his friends. At lunchtime, Nani came over with a special cupcake treat and we sang (Evan sang to himself):

We spent the afternoon making and decorating pumpkin cookies:

And we took him to dinner at Chick-fil-a. It happened to be kids night, so there were lots of things to do. Evan got to climb in the tunnels, make a halloween craft, and got free ice cream. The best part (to him) was the free "Eat More Chicken" cow that he got. He is convinced that it's a special gift only for 3 year olds on their birthyday. I think he had a great day!

I can't believe that my baby is 3 - he is acting so much older lately. Time is flying by!!

Fun for $1

Since I wasn't feeling well, Doug did this fun activity. We bought a $1 shaving cream can and let Evan play away in the bathtub one night. He spent over an hour (and would have spent more) playing with the shaving cream. There aren't too many things (for a buck) that entertain him for that long.

First Day of Preschool

Evan had his first official day of preschool today. It was hard to drop him off, but he was fine! (Always harder on the mom!) He just seems so grown up!



Today, the kids made a picture with their name in a star in the middle, and each of the other kid's name from the class in a star to the sides. The teacher said that Evan wanted to know who each child was before he would glue their star on. She said it's the first time she's had a child in her class do that. I don't know what that says about Evan, other than he's very inquisitive :)

Big Boy Room!!

On Sunday, Evan finally moved into his big boy room. He has been doing great and really enjoys his new space! (It still needs a few finishing touches - but it's close to being done.)

Thanks so much to Grandma R for the great rockets and spaceships!!!

Fireworks

Last weekend, we took Evan downtown for the Labor Day Fireworks. We didn't want to have him down there all day, so we left around 8:00 and got down there and found a place to sit, just before the fireworks started at 9:00. Evan was a little bit nervous about them and we weren't sure how it was going to go once they started. Once they started, his face was priceless! It was a mixture of "I am so scared right now" and "That is the coolest thing I've ever seen!". The picture above does a pretty good job capturing it.

All the way back to the car, I was carrying him on my shoulders, and he kept saying "That was a lot of fun!".

Here are a few more pictures:

Summer 2008

We've had an AWESOME summer - we spent lots of time with our friends, hanging out at the zoo, Kings Island, the Beach, playgroups, and at the park. It seemed like every day we had something to do. One of Evan's favorite things was the Kings Island waterpark. Hope you enjoy some pictures from our last visit for the summer:

On Top Of Spaghetti

So, we had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner last night, and we decided to sing "On Top of Spaghetti" for Evan. We would go through lyric by lyric and he kept asking questions like, "How did it fall of the table?", "Who sneezed?". We went through the song a couple of times like this.

Here is the conversation that followed the song:
Evan: "They don't have a meatball anymore?"
Us: "No, it rolled out the door and into the garden."
Evan began to look slightly concerned.
Evan: "Are they sad they don't have a meatball"?"
By the time he finished the question, his bottom lip was sticking out, and he was looking very concerned.
Us: "Yes, but it's just a song. It's pretend."
By this time, he had the lip going and we could see tears beginning to form in his eyes.
Evan: "Why? Why they don't have a meatball?"

It took a couple of minutes to calm him down and reassure him that no actual meatballs were lost and everyone was happy. Needless to say, we probably won't be singing that song again for a while!

August Fun

We have been having an amazing summer - and here are some of our favorite memories. I don't have any Kings Island pictures though!!

Push pops have been our summer tradition - always shirtless on bath night :)


Soft doggy - the perfect companion anywhere - the library, zoo, at home, where ever!

Chocolate covered bananas - yum!


Chad is back and Evan was helping with car maintenance. (Thanks again Chad - he checked out both our cars):
We've learned to make "silly faces":

Check out those nails - and that cool Mario shirt!

Fishing at Johnny's Toys:

Who doesn't like to play their guitar this way??