The Banker

Evan likes to put Grandma's money into his bear bank!

Easter 2008

Ben played in a hockey game on Easter Sunday, so my whole family piled into the van and headed to the Schwan's Super Rink to watch. Here are Kara and Teagan with Evan and I. Ben plays on the same team as Kara's husband.

Here is Evan trying to get the sparkly blue shell off of his Easter egg.

The Easter Bunny (aka: Grandma) spoils Evan!!

Spring Break 2008

We went to visit Ben's parents and grandparents in Cape Coral, Florida for spring break. We saw a Twin's game the first day we were there, and Evan got his first major league ball!!!

Here we are at a beach in Cape Coral. Evan didn't really like the water, but he loved playing in the sand!!!

Jim, Emily, and Reese (our Minnesotan friends) came over to swim and eat out. Reese and Evan decided to trade hats!

Evan's last memory of Florida: a big bear at some store in Sanibel. We saw Captiva and Sanibel during our five hour flight delay on our way home. It rained the entire day :(

Thank you, Brad and Jenean, for the best vacation EVER!!!!!!! We loved it!

Slumber Party

So, Evan not only ate McDonald's for the first time on Saturday (when we were at the Children's Museum), but he also got to experience his first time at Dairy Queen with his cousins, Katlyn and Kiana.
Mmmm. Ice cream. Yummy!








The girls spent the night and enjoyed reading books to Evan before bedtime.

Children's Museum

On March 1st, we (Emily, Kara, Arja, and I) took our kids to the Children's Museum in St. Paul. What a great place! Evan loved exploring and walking all over.

He found this Bert doll in one of the Sesame Street exhibits and carried it all over the place!








Here are our kids on the famous front steps on Sesame Street. From Left to right: Callie, Teagan, Evan, Reese, and Easton.







Evan found a woman who was ready to play a salamander matching game. He just liked finding the salamanders under the logs and then passing them to the woman!






Here is Evan in a fake cave. I went in there with him, unlike most parents did, to make sure that he could get around just in case he fell down. He still doesn't know how to stand up by himself.

cool cats!

We couldn't resist playing outside on the warm and sunny Saturday. It was so bright, we had to pull out our cool shades! Good thing they still fit!
The snow was so sticky, it was too hard to pull Evan around the yard on the sled. So....







....Daddy decided Evan needed a fast joyride down the driveway instead!!! WEEEEE!!

Winter update

Evan is now 20 months old. He is getting better at walking, but still not fluent yet. He can finally pull himself up to a standing position on furniture now. Better late than never, right?!

Here he is with his favorite pillow from the living room. He likes to put it on his lap and lay his head on it. I'm not sure why he doesn't actually lay his body down instead.

Here Evan is doing his lastest funny thing. He thinks it is hilarious to stand and let his legs slip into the splits position. He giggles the whole time, until he gets himself into an uncomfortable position and then begins to whine and cry. He was even doing this today in the pool at the Shoreview Community Center. Anything for a good laugh!!!

Evan is still not talking much. Well, he talks jibberish all the time, but doesn't say many words. He tries to repeat words that I ask him to say, but they don't sound anything like mine. He can say : "Daddy", "baby" (sounds like day-dee), sometimes he can say "kitty," and he can always say "Jake" (a boy at his daycare). On January 30, he said "Mama" for the first time on demand, but hasn't said it since :( I'm anxious for him to start speaking!! He uses sign language to tell us "more," "eat," "all done," and the other day he signed "help" at daycare. I haven't seen him do that one yet. It is so much fun to see him develop into a little person!

world traveler

"He's got the whole world in his hands."

For some reason, Evan really thought our old globe was neat. OK, I guess it's a bit colorful, bumpy, big and round, and it spins in place. Maybe he has a point.





He thought it was fun to pick up the globe and scoot on the floor with it in his lap.

Evan's got a real "taste" for worldly experiences!

party animals!

Here is Evan with his two girlfriends, Teagan and Reese. They were celebrating Callie's 3rd birthday.
Here is Evan with his buddy, Easton--Callie's little brother. These two cuties are two months apart.

Party on, Wayne!

Our first week without Evan

Ben finally convinced me that I had to take a trip to the mountains to see what REAL skiing was all about. Uncle Larry, Ben, and I flew down to Colorado and cousin Adam and Andrea picked us up in Denver. From there we drove to Frisco and skiied at Keystone, Vail, and Breckenridge. The pictures here were taken at Vail....my favorite ski resort.

We were supposed to fly back on New Year's Eve, but we got stranded in Frisco because of
the bad weather. They shut down the highway to Denver. What a bummer that was! We spent New Year's Eve in our hotel chatting and watching TV. We were in bed by 9 pm.

Ben and I could not wait to see Evan! It was really hard to be away from him for so long. Grandma Linda and Grandpa Mike took great care of him when we were gone!