Evan's a Geoffrey's Birthday Club member

Evan got a special treat on Friday! We went to Toys 'R' Us and he was given an early birthday greeting from Geoffrey - a cool crown and a nifty helium balloon. He also was able to run around the store with the balloon for a little while. He had a blast and was pretty cute if I don't say so myself! :)

Visit with our Cousins!

We had a great time this past weekend visiting with family. Jim's cousin, Debbie and her husband Bob, daughter Meghan and son Robert came to visit us all the way from Riverside. Sadly they were not able to escape the heat that they were also experiencing, but at least they got to enjoy the weather in a new environment. They arrived Thursday night and Friday we were able to have a fabulous day of Sacramento touring. First stop being, the Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento. Here is the gang at the end of our visit. Jim was unable to come because of work, but he got to join us for the Saturday activities.

Then we had a delicious lunch at Fat City! Yum, yum and it was also air conditioned. A huge plus.

Our last stop that day was the State Capital. Debbie's sister, Becky helped design the Riverside County display. Great job Becky! It looks fabulous.

On Saturday we took a day trip to South Lake Tahoe to try to escape the heat a little bit. While it was a little cooler, it was crowded. Lots of other people had the same idea. Nevertheless, we had a fantastic time, especially at the Lake. Here is Robert showing off some shells he found with Debbie and Meghan.

Evan had so much fun walking in the water with Daddy. He was soaked afterward, but it was so worth it! He was adorable.

Before the lake we also walked around by the casinos. Evan just had to walk with the stroller. This is one of his new favorite past times. If he is unable to do this he is not happy and lets you know. :)
Overall, the day was fabulous, the car ride was interesting. Mostly with Evan, he was not a big fan! Poor little guy! However, he made it through, but the bonus for the rest of us was that we all got to drive together. Bob and Debbie just bought an Excursion. It was so nice not to have to take two cars! Thanks for driving Bob!

On Sunday the boys played at the house. Here they are looking so cute together. Robert is 3 years old and Evan at 11 months.

It was so much fun having the Marshalls come. Thank you for making the trek to Sacramento. We love you guys! Look forward to seeing you again real soon! :)

Grandma's 80th Birthday!!!

It was a momentous day on Friday, July 10, my Grandma's 8oth Birthday! We had a wonderful time celebrating with family at Leatherby's Family Creamery. Here is my Grandma getting surprised by a special ice cream treat topped with a birthday candle.

The best part is they all sang Happy Birthday to her, which she loved or at least we all did! :)

Then we headed back to my parent's house for presents. We also did a few pre-presents at my Grandma's house. Here are my brother and Debra with my Grandma.

Here we are with Rhett, Evan and me. Jim was unfortunately out of town on a business trip, but called that evening with special birthday wishes.

Now here we are at my parents, Evan helped Grandma open her gifts.

Here is her special cake.

The only bummer is that angel food doesn't hold up the candle numbers too well. The eight fell as you can see below. Too funny!

Evan also helped his Great-Grandma blow out her candles.

It was a great day and such a special time. Evan sure had fun! Here he is with Grandma and Grandpa Thompson too.

Happy Birthday Grandma! We love you!

Eleven Months Old

Evan is eleven months old, as of July 7. All we can say is WOW! Time is flying by. Our little guy is truly just growing up so fast. He currently weighs 21 pounds according to our scale at home that we just bought.

Some of his other accomplishments to date are as follows:

-He is walking like a champ. Still a little wobbly but watch out when you see him on the move because he will come and get you. Here he is walking with Daddy outside of Chevys. He loves his new freedom, especially walking outside. He is pretty good about holding your hand outside, but if he wants to go somewhere that you do not want him to go he will put up a fight and pull as hard as he can to try to get to where he wants to be. So independent already!

-He especially loves being a big boy at the play place at the mall now and got such a kick out of being able to walk around the area. Here he is enjoying the rain wheel one of his favorites in the space.

-He is eating his finger foods a little bit better. He still can not handle the level 3 foods and immediately starts to gag on them. I think he expects them to not be so chunky and then gets a big surprise when he eats them. When he can pick it up and is aware it is solid before it goes in his mouth he has been doing much better. Sometimes things just go in for a taste and then get spit right back out, but that is okay as long as he is trying and practicing chewing.

-He recently had his first Popsicle during our Growth Group's summer get together at our house and loved it. He was such a big boy and got to each one with all the other kidos.

-He also enjoys Lil crunches just like his friend Sammy. Thanks for the recommendation Davidsons. Evan loves these things!

-Here he is at CPK chowing down on a biter biscuit. He thinks these things are yummy for the most part, but they sure to make him messy.

-He is really loving his snacks these days and actually got this box out of the cupboard, opened it up and started eating. Too funny! Don't you just love that face.

-One of Evan's favorite games to date is to place who has the crown on with Mommy. The crown is Mommy's headband. Evan and I have fun putting it on each other and taking it off. Here he is looking tough with the crown.

-I love this picture, here I can imagine what our little girl if the Lord blesses us with one, might look like. Evan is such a good sport! :)

-Of course along with putting on the crown he loves to put on and take off his sunglasses. Mostly take off. Here he is playing with Daddy.

-Such a little rock star.

-He is much better at giving high fives now too and will do it on command by putting his hand up for you to hit his hand. He gets the biggest smile on his face. It is too precious!

-Evan loves music and dancing. When he hears it he immediately starts dancing and shaking his head. It is the cutest thing! He also laughs when he burps and toots! Gotta love this too. :)

-Evan and his toys. We have gotten into the mine stage, not verbally, but with actions. When some of his little friends come over he of course desires to have the toy they are playing with. We look forward to more of this.

-This actually also has transferred to food and cups too (he loves drinking out of big people cups, especially if they have ice in them). Basically anything Mommy and Daddy have he thinks he should have it too. Let the tantrums begin! :)

-We are still working on baby sign language and sometimes I think Evan is doing it, but I don't know if he totally connects the two things together. I have seen him do the sign for eat and all done, but not really in a "can we do this way." We are still working on it and hope he gets it as we are all getting very tired of him saying EHHH or AHHH for everything or a similar sounding whines.

-He holds his bottle on his own and sippy cups, he has been able to do this for a little while now, but I caught it on film. This has definitely helped as he will have milk or water on drives or walks.

-He can use his toys in a more efficient manner. His cars get pushed on the ground for driving and his shape sorters gets the shapes put in the correct spaces with a little help from Mommy and Daddy, his balls get tossed and kicked on the ground. It is so cool to see him learning how to do things.

-He is so good at sleeping these days. He still has his morning nap and afternoon nap and goes to bed at about 8:30 p.m. and wakes up at about 6:00 a.m. The best is the other day he feel asleep at Grandma and Grandpa Thompson's on this pillow. It was just awesome. He even has a little drool spot. So cute!

I can't believe in less than one month we are going to have a ONE YEAR OLD LITTLE BOY! The best part about him growing up is just to see him change and develop everyday he is such a smartie pants and a comedian. We are blessed beyond words to have this child and thank God everyday for our little Evan!

First 4th of July

Evan's first fourth of July was a great event. It started out with a bang as we attended the Roseville 4th of July Parade with good friends the Moons and their Mom. It was so much fun and such a great community effort. It really got you in the All American spirit!

Here are the kidos all decked out in their red, white and blue looking super cute!

Here are the Moons; such a sweet, loving family.

This was Evan at the very beginning of the parade, he wanted to keep walking out into the street and Mommy had to chase him. This picture was awesome; Jenn captured the start of the parade coming up behind us as I brought Evan back to our seats.

Here is the whole family watching the festivities. Evan got his own little flag and some candy which he enjoyed holding and Mommy enjoyed eating. :)

Evan got to see his very first marching band.

He even had a nice beverage during the show.

We all had so much fun, especially Evan, as he was worn out by the end. The best part is he passed out holding on to his Nerds candy box/a.k.a. shaker toy, in his hand.

Later that day we headed over to my parents house for the annual events of dinner and fireworks. It was also a grand time. Here is the whole gang.

Evan - proud to be an American! Can you feel it! :)

Here is the family outside in the front yard bundled up (if you can believe it - cold weather that night) ready to watch our fireworks show.

Here is a little video of Evan's reaction to his first fireworks.



Overall we interpreted that he wasn't totally impressed with all the pyrotechnics; it could have been that it was his bed time when we were viewing the fireworks too. He especially wasn't a huge fan of the noisy ones. He watched but mostly cuddled with Mommy and pretty much feel asleep by the time they were over. I am sure next year will be a different story. :) Hope you all had a great 4th!