Dreaming of a White Christmas

We had our first snow on Christmas eve since sometime in the 1930s, which made everything that much more special. Gamma and Pops also came to visit and brought lots of presents, which for some reason was also a big hit.

The Good, The Bad and Don't Call Me Ugly

Lots of people have asked where Evan gets his blonde hair from or asked who he looks like. I rounded up some photos of Evan, me and my dad when we were all 2 years old.

Evan at his Christmas program...directing of course

Me building a doghouse... very focused

Dad with his uncle

Halloween

Need to be armed when you go trick-or-treating these days.

Thanks to the Hollis family, the kids had fun riding the hay
trailer up North Lamar.

The Kids Are A Gas

I promise we don't raise them this way, but I had to put this on the blog just so we could remember it well enough to bring up at their weddings or some other opportunity for embarrassment.

Incident One: Kaitlyn was hanging out in the kitchen one afternoon talking to us while we got dinner ready. Then she rather loudly passed gas. Her good-mannered "excuse me" was quickly followed up with, "Mama, that sounded like a frog (pronounced frAUg)." I can only assume she addressed that to her mom because they play these games when I'm not around. By the way, being the parent who does the blog updating has it's perks.

Incident Two: The kids and I are playing outside when I hear the faint sound of thunder. I then made some comment about us possibly having to go inside soon because, "I thought I heard thunder." Evan apparently wasn't too keen on that idea, as his response was some thunder of his own. And without missing a beat he said, "I thought I heard a poot."

Swim Team

Kaitlyn Giving Evan swimming lessons.

We may have to leave the Olympic medals to Kaitlyn. Evan seems to have a little too much drag going on.

Evan's First Song

Evan surprised us after school the other day with this one.

Socializing

We had a great time hanging out with Colton and his mom and dad the other night, and they have some great toys, so hopefully we'll get to go back soon. By the way, the following conversation is just pretend kid talk. There was much more playing and fewer business transactions than it might lead you to believe.

Ahhh, help! This kid is chasing me around with my own walker! Somebody
check his license. Call the law! Wait, we are the law.

Okay, you didn't get that earlier incident on camera did you? I really told him
it was okay to take it for a test drive. I'm considering trading it in on a 2011 model.

So who is this, your accountant? I mean, you have the money right? She is
cute and smiles are great, but they don't buy my ride. Show me the money!

Big Boy Turns Two

We had a big group of family over to celebrate Evan's birthday. Unfortunately, 

I was videoing most of the time and only managed to get a few photos. It

takes some some serious balancing skills to hold that much ice cream on a flat

spoon long enough to get it all in your mouth.

Mmmm, close enough...

New Treat

"So what's this stuff Mom left down here on the floor?

It's either gonna be really good or really bad cause Daddy

has the camera out again."

"Whew, yum. I was worried for a minute. Probably would have

eaten it anyway, but still."

Indoor Training

Evan still seems to be headed toward dominating the NFL. This is really a

full-size tractor he is driving.

Kaitlyn, the ever supportive big sister, pauses from coaching Evan's couch

lifts just long enough to be sure Daddy is still wrapped around her little finger.

Birthday time

Kaitlyn had a big birthday at Avent Park with all her classmates.

Thinking about a wish.

Can we eat now or what?

Good times

Old friends

Priceless

Scary food names

Both kids love Captain D's, so it is an occasional weekend lunch.  They are always with us when we go pick it up, so they are used to the ordering process. So we get home with fish, shrimp, hush puppies, etc., and Kaitlyn is busy pulling the food out of the bags. While I'm making everybody's drink she excitedly tells me, "Daddy, they gave us three cottontail sauce."

Little Oaks

Life is good... before the spill got this far south.

"Dad, what did you do with the speargun?"

Heading back to the house. Apparently this wasn't

a nude beach. Who knew?

Annual sunset family portrait

Higher Communication

Evan spoke his first sentence last week. Well, at least his first one that consisted of more than two words. We have somewhat of a routine of getting a snack when we get home from daycare in the afternoons. Kaitlyn is usually putting her order in before we get out of the building. So both kids were in the living room eating their snack and watching TV, and I had gone back into the laundry room. I soon hear Evan calling me and headed my way. I'm sure nobody who knows him would have guessed his first real sentence would have involved food.

"Daaa-de, Evan needs Cheez-Its."

An evening at home

pink fingernails, orange toenails

Rarely seen patience

Who needs toys?

When the dogs are away...

Dear God

A message to all the little boys out there. Kaitlyn may act like a little Viking heathen on occasion, but she has some high powered connections if you ever cross her. She informed her mother the other day that she says her prayers every night, and the night before went something to the effect of:

"Dear God, 

(Name of guilty omitted) hit me on the
playground and would you please tell
Santa Claus so he only gets
some switches for Christmas."

Double Decker 2010

Good times and good looking ladies.

Kaitlyn getting her groove on.

Awesome song. Keep 'em coming.

Right after the stage dive. Evan caught me.

The Watcher

The other day I asked Kaitlyn to "watch" her brother and keep him out of trouble for a few minutes while they were watching TV and I went upstairs... knowing that a few minutes was more than enough time for Evan to get into all kinds of trouble. But she agreed and I'm gone about a minute when the phone pagers go off because he is obviously pushing buttons. When I get back downstairs to shut them off, Evan has climbed up on the couch and then on the end table where he is still playing with the phone. Kaitlyn is intently focused on the TV, apparently oblivious to the overwhelming sound of phones buzzing. After I got it stopped I asked Kaitlyn what happened. Her response was, "Well, I watched him climb up there and do that."

Haircut- A Sticky Situation

We missed getting Evan's first haircut on camera, but it really didn't go well. All involved fortunately have since learned the secret to success is a sucker.