The 1st Birthday Party!

On Saturday, August 8, family and some of Evan's close friends came to help him celebrate his first birthday! It was a great event and we don't think Evan really knew what to think of the whole thing; however, we do know that he had a fabulous time! :) Here is a picture of our family during the event.

The cake was a special chocolate and vanilla cupcake creation from Safeway. Evan also got his own little mini cake for the occasion.

At the event guests were invited to help Evan create a special time capsule and write some encouraging words for him to read on his special day. Here are the Grandma's writing their special notes to Evan. :)

They also were encouraged to play two little games. The first was to be done at their leisure while eating and socializing before the big activities and trying to guess activities Evan can and cannot do at this time. The winner of this game was actually Evan's Great Grandma Shirley. The other game took place with the whole group and everyone was challenged to draw Evan's portrait in one minute or less and then Jim and I picked the best ones. The competition was tough, but ultimately we choose three winners, Grandma Thompson for doing a full body portrait, little Mady for doing the best child drawing and last but not least friend Keone for a life likeness that we thought stood out from the rest. :) Good job everyone it was such a hard decision they were all so good and we know Evan will treasure them forever. Pictured below is some of the group doing their portraits, they were all so focused. :)

After this game was Pinata time! I thought it would be a great idea and found this cool Pinata that I thought came apart by pulling the ribbon off. I thought perfect, the kids will love this. Well come to find out, the ribbons were actually just for decoration. Opps! Jim had to tear the bottom apart. Nonetheless it was still pretty fun and kids enjoyed getting some of the candy. Evan did too even though he didn't eat any. He just pretended to have a Hersey bar and chewed on the bar wrapper. The adults got to enjoy the candy too! :)

Pictured below are Wesley and Stephanie pulling a ribbon.

Here is where Jim had to tear open the bottom and he looked at me like I was so silly.

This picture shows the candy coming out - yippee!

Here are the kids enjoying the loot!

Then came gift time...it was so nice to have all of Evan's little friends there because they helped him to open the presents. Thank you guys, you were a big help!

During the presents Evan also took some time for a quick bottle. :)

Evan was blessed with so many wonderful things! He was a VERY lucky little boy. Thank you everyone so much!!!

Finally, it was cake time.

We stripped Evan down because of the blue frosting it was quite the staining frosting. I don't think he was too into this part of the party. Having everyone stare at him waiting for him to dive in to the cake was all a little intimidating for the birthday boy, also he touched one of the candles :( (Mommy wasn't too smart and put the cake down on his high chair).

He got a little upset and didn't like the mess on his hands either!

He enjoyed just tasting it while Mommy held him. You just never know what one year olds will do or any child at any age for that matter! :)

After the cake experience, he got dressed and then proceeded to play with some toys. Here he is pictured below trying out one of his new ones with his buddy Wesley.

Lastly, here are some pictures of Evan and his guests enjoying the party. Pictured here are friends Stephanie and buddy Wesley enjoying lunch.

Here we are with both our boys! :)

Below are Daddy, Grandpa Thompson, and close friend Greg.

Here I am with Brittney, Evan, and Elmo. :)

Here is Evan with Anna and Keone.

Jeremy and Brittney blowing the party favors together!

This is a picture of Evan and his entire immediate family (top all Grandparents, bottom includes Aunts and Uncles). It was so great to have everyone there to help him celebrate! :) Thanks everyone for making his day so special.

Thank you again everyone for such a wonderful 1st birthday party for our little boy! Evan was so blessed and we are so thankful for your friendships and love! Many blessings to you all and Happy Birthday Evan!

Twelve Months Old/One Year

Evan is a one year old now! Yippee, just wanted to give the doctors stats and activity update at this point.

We went to the doctor on August 10th and Evan weighed in at 20 lbs. and 9.2 oz. and measured 30 inches. His doctor thought he was doing great and developing so well. He was impressed with his steady walking and abundant energy. He wasn't a big fan of the four shots, but he was strong and did great. Once we left the office he was in good spirits! What a trooper!

His activities to date:

He finished up his formula and we started him on whole milk by first giving him half formula and then the milk. Once we ran out of formula he just got the milk. He loves it! The doctor wants us to have him start drinking out of only sippy cups. This on the other hand has not gone over too well, he does not accept that the milk comes out of there too, only from bottles. I am sure we will have to be working on this for awhile. He does us sippy's but only really enjoys them from water at this point. Here he is with a sippy filled with water at Rubios. :) This to him is good.

Regarding food, he is doing so well and has finally started to put things down the hatch and keep them there. We still have things coming back out, but not in a throw up manner, just in a very sweet spit out manner. :) Some of his favorite foods these days include cheerios, yogurt melts, cucumbers, olives chips, french fries, watermelon, crunches, and pretzels. He still has baby food, and tries lots of other foods, but we find most of them just get tasted at this point and don't stay in for consumption. Here is a picture of him below with one of his favorites - watermelon. :) Oh yes he also loves putting the lids back on the baby food containers and wants to help feed himself with the spoon and fork too. You will see these items on his tray as well.

He loves playing and some of his favorite activities continue to be hide and seek, chase, and throwing his ball back and forth. He does so well and just loves to to have fun. He usually gets into hysterics over chase and hide and seek. Jim and I just can't get enough of his little laugh. The best is when he snorts. :)

With being one and over 20 pounds also came the big boy car seat. He loves it and so do Mommy and Daddy! We have much better car rides as he enjoys looking out the window and checking everything out. However, sleeping is pretty funny, he gets the droopy head thing going on.

He also has been enjoying riding in the cart at the stores. However, he would prefer to walk along side of them and watch the wheels and help you push them. So independent already and bullheaded! If he can't do this sometimes he just throws a fit! This particular day he had a blast in the cart. My dad took us shopping at the BX and Commissary and they had the coolest carts. :)

Bath time has been going well and he hasn't been using a bath seat at all. Such a big boy. Another new fun bath activity is sometimes having a bath in the sink. We do this at Grandma and Grandpa's when we stay a little late at their house and it is Evan's bed time. He just loves it! Here he is having a good time!

Our little guy makes us so proud and happy! We get joy from him every day. Some of our other favorite recent activities include when he claps, dances, high fives, does his baby signs, imitates different faces you make at him such as sticking out his tongue, and when he gets engrossed in a commercial or television show song. We love you Evan! Happy 1st Birthday!!!

Evan's 1st Birthday Festivities

We are finally getting a chance to share with everyone our little one year old's fabulous first birthday experience.

Here he is birthday morning. He was so excited to see all the decorations. Also, Daddy took the day off of work; what a great Daddy! It was fantastic!!!

After a nice morning, we took the birthday boy to Fairytale Town for the first time.

He had so much fun and loved the freedom of walking around all by himself. He got to see so many fun things at the park.

From pigs...

to trains...

and big blocks of cheese!

Most of the time he was more interested in the random attractions at Fairytale Town rather then what they hoped you would like, such as the chain link fence, solider trash cans, random silver drains on the ground, and his shadow. :)

One of the many highlights was meeting Mother Goose two times while we were at the park, this will tell you how small it is, but just the right size for our one year old. :)



We also managed to get a few family pictures that day. One with King Arthur's Castle and the other on a Pirate Ship...ARRRRRR! :)

After Fairytale Town we went home, got the birthday boy to take a nap, and then when he woke up went to the Dollar Tree and bought him a whole bunch of Mylar balloons for a $1 each. What a steal! He loved them, especially the cupcake balloon with a little one on the top.

That evening he had a real special treat. His Grandma Knight and Aunt Alison arrived.

We all took Evan to Woody's for his birthday dinner, where they sang him Happy Birthday and gave him a balloon. He loved it all. We think he was a little shocked by the whole thing, but felt really special. There must have been about 8 servers (all girls) that sang to him. What a lucky little boy! :) We tried to get it on video, but it all happened so quick. Here is a picture of us after the fact. :)

Time to think...

PINK!!!!!

Baby Knight #2 is a GIRL!!! Jim and I had our ultrasound today at 19 weeks and learned the gender of our precious little one. We also got to see her in action. She is doing awesome and looks like a cutie already. :) We could not be happier with God's precious gift of a baby girl. Evan is thrilled too! :) The due date is still predicted to be January 10, 2010. We will continue to keep you posted as Baby Girl Knight grows and develops. Lots of love and pictures to come soon. Also, pictures of Evan's 1st birthday to be posted soon too! :)

First Camping Trip

Our family went on its first camping trip with Evan on Friday, July 31 through the weekend of August 2 with our new church Creekside. It was a lot of fun, but also a ton of work chasing around our almost one year old at the time. Jim compared it to climbing Half Dome. :) Nevertheless, Evan had the best time and was essentially covered with dirt as soon as we arrived. This also meant Mommy and Daddy were covered with dirt because as soon as you picked him up his shoes were covered and it got all over your pants and legs. Oh well, we definitely quickly accepted it as part of the experience. The camping trip took place at Rollins Lake in Colfax. It was a beautiful site, however, midday the sun blasted our camp site and the only place to be was the lake. :)

Here are a few pictures from our family camp adventure.

Pictured below is our camping set up.

Here are some of the rest of the campers in position. You had to have an easy up to survive. We were thankful for our structure and frequently took refuge there from the sun.

Here is our little camper covered in dirt. The picture doesn't do it justice, but trust us he was dirty.

These are a few pictures of us on our mini hike enjoying the scenery the first day. Evan passed out during the experience, which was good news for us - nap! :)

He actually slept for a good amount of time, but woke up when he hit a less inflated part of the mattress and it bumped him off. Poor little guy! :)

He ultimately loved the tent and had the best time bouncy around on the mattresses. Here is a picture and a little video of him the first morning. So funny!



Day two we took advantage of the lake. Evan had a new life vest swim suit. It was so funny on him, but did the job.

He also got to play in the dirt and rocks with Daddy! He really loved this and would not look up for the camera for anything. :)

Our final highlight for day two was Evan's first boat ride. He had another life vest for this activity. He was so cute. He enjoyed the ride and bonus for Mommy and Daddy took another nap during the experience. We got to see one of the families from the church go tubing! They did a great job it was a lot of fun. Someday we will get to do that with Evan and Baby Knight #2! :)

On the morning of our final day. We all went for a little walk before final camp tear down and church, and got to see Geese. It was cool! Evan got to chase them and everything.

On a final note, here is a little video of Evan playing in the dirt during the church service! Good times and lots of fun first camping memories!

Playing in the Water

On July 27 Evan and I had a great time hanging out at the water area at the Fountains Shopping Center. We weren't necessarily planning on getting in on the action, hence, why Evan is in his normal clothes, but what the heck! It was hot and he was entertained. :) Here he is having a blast!

He is just too cute and looks so much older in these pictures. Our little boy is growing up so quickly.

The water area of course only entertained him for a little while then he wanted to wander around and Mommy had to chase him. Good times were had by all! :)

We have a 1 year old in our midst!

Happy 1st Birthday Evan! Mommy, Daddy and Baby Knight #2 love you so much!!!!!!!! Now let's PARTY!!!