Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from our two sweet babies, who actually cooperated with us to get a photo this time.  Charlie cracks me up in these pictures.  He was so proud to have his arm around Evie--they looked just like a happy little couple. :)

 We woke up today to lots of sweet cards, presents, and heart-shaped pancakes.  Yum!

 Charlie loved his cards, especially this one from Papa and Ali--it has a picture of Snoopy on the front (whom he finds hilarious for some unknown reason) and plays "Who Let the Dogs Out" when you open it.  We heard "again, again!" several times this morning, and "Who Let the Dogs Out" more times than I can count...   

 Evie loved her presents.  She immediately put her new bow in her "hair."

 Charlie was thrilled to find presents at his place when he woke up.  His reaction: "Open it!"  Charlie's especially loved his new mail truck, which went EVERYWHERE with us today.  

 Charlie (with the help of Espy, his sweet babysitter) made us an adorable Valentine.  He was SO proud to give this to us.  His little puffed out chest was so cute. :)

 Evie, relaxing in her new Valentine's outfit.

 All this love is exhausting!

Hope you all had wonderful Valentine's Days!

Super Bowl Sunday

We had a busy, fun, wild Super Bowl Sunday.  We hosted some of our friends for the big game and it was so much fun.  With 11 adults and 4 kids in our living room, I didn't watch much of the game, but I enjoyed all the food and had fun talking to everyone and watching the kids run around.  Charlie, as usual, loves a crowd and once he warmed up to everyone, had a blast.  He ate way too many chips (stealing them from our guests' plates once I stopped letting him have his own) and big cheese (queso), but only complained once that his tummy hurt. :)  Evie enjoyed her first Super Bowl party, but was happy to return to a more calm day today!

Here's Charlie preparing for the game.  He and Clint played football outside before our guests arrived.

 Here's Evie, relaxed and calm, with no idea what's about to hit her...

Sam and Audra were first to arrive, and the kids were so excited to see them.  Can you tell our kids don't get to watch much TV?  They were both glued to the screen!
[Note Evie's outfit: she was in her first pair of skinny jeans and a big bow.  Clint was horrified. :)]

 The moms and babies.  As usual, Colin was on perfect behavior all evening and Blythe was adorable--she always steals the show. :)

And what a game, by the way!  I did get to watch the last few minutes, and loved the suspenseful finish.  I was cheering for the Patriots (always loyal to my Boston teams), but was impressed the Giants pulled it off.

Evie: 3 Months Old!

Hard to believe, but our little mouse is growing up.  She is 3 months old today!  And turning into such an adorable little person.  Evie is developing the sweetest personality, and is suddenly so full of smiles, coos, and squeals.  And although I was beginning to worry that we weren't funny enough for our discerning little lady, she finally laughed for me today.  I was tickling her while I was changing her clothes and she squealed and then started chuckling--it was such a happy, fun sound. :)  Evie is a happy, content baby for the most part, but definitely has her strong preferences.  She loves to be held (or worn), but her favorite thing is to stretch out next to someone and just talk.  She will smile and talk for long periods of time this way, and gets very excited about her conversations.  Much to our delight, Evie is also beginning to love books.  She especially loves I Kissed the Baby, which was one of our favorites with Charlie.  She is very attentive to her books, and likes her "special" time.  I hope she grows to love reading as much as her brother does!  Evie likes her toys, but LOVES her hands.  They are proving endlessly fascinating, and are always in her little mouth.

Evie is sleeping better and better and settling into quite a predictable schedule.  She sleeps from about 7:30-7:00, with one or two feedings between.  She takes 3 naps during the day, and eats every 3 hours (she is like a little clock and does NOT let me forget to feed her on time!).

Evie is still not a big fan of tummy time, but is getting better.  She still rolls over like a champ, going from front to back several times a day.  She is so pleased with this talent, and finds it particularly useful since it gets her off her tummy!  Evie holds her head up well, and is starting to really enjoy the Bumbo (she has to fight Charlie for it, but she holds her own :).  Evie continues to charm her brother and worm her way deeper and deeper into our hearts.  There really is almost nothing better than hearing her tiny, soft little "goo."  And although we think Evie is getting "SO BIG," Charlie is quick to correct us--"Evie NOT so big."  You're right Charlie, she's still just a tiny little thing! :)

The mouse, 3 months old.

 I tried to get her to smile for our photo shoot, but I couldn't take photos while I was talking to her.  Don't let her serious face fool you--Miss Mouse has become quite smiley!

 Here's the mouse in the Bumbo, working on her sitting technique...

 Sitting up is exhausting! :)

 I tried to get a few photos of tummy time...

 ...but Evie just got mad.  Here she is mid-roll--she rolled right out of the frame!

 Charlie was very patient, but a 20-month-old can only entertain himself for so long.  I started hearing "I see Cargie!" around this point.  Had to make sure I snapped a few pics for posterity (and to prove to him that the photo shoot wasn't ALL about Evie :).

We love our 3-month-old mouse AND our 20-month-old monkey! :)

Evie's Infant Recognition Day

Every year, our church has "infant recognition day," during which all the infants born in the past year are "recognized."  We did this last year with Charlie, having NO idea that we'd be lucky enough to do it again this year! :)  It was so fun getting to have a special day just for Evie, and she did great on her big day.  Embarrassingly, this was our first trip to church since Evie's birth (in our defense, Clint has worked almost every Sunday since she was born), and it was quite the experience.  We started off okay--amazingly, we were dressed and out the door with time to spare.  But things started to deteriorate shortly thereafter.  We had to drop Charlie off in the child-care center while we took Evie to "rehearsal."  Charlie, despite the fact that the child-care center looks like toddler wonderland, was NOT happy to be left.  He started wailing as soon as he realized what was going on, and was making enough of a scene that the women working in the nursery called me back to make sure I'd written my cell phone number down.  Uh oh.  So off to rehearsal we went, complaining about the futility of having to come an hour early for something we'd already done last year.  Since we figured we had the recognition bit down, we spent rehearsal visiting with friends and exclaiming over babies.  It wasn't until after the service started and we got in front of the congregation that we realized we had missed the point of rehearsal: to take the card with your baby's name on it to hand to the pastor at the appropriate moment.  Since we hadn't taken it, Evie's card had been removed.  So Clint and I were whispering nervously at the front of the church about how to get the pastor to say Evie's name without the card--because after getting the four of us to church and leaving Charlie in the nursery, we did NOT want the trip to be in vain.  Our solution: we were the only parents to whisper our child's name to the pastor when he got to us.  Luckily, it worked fine and Evie was appropriately recognized.  We then returned to our pew with our sweet (now very awake and very hungry) little girl to find two missed calls on my cellphone.  Clint hurried over to the child care center and found a very distraught little Charlie, who recovered quickly when he learned that he was going to get to come sit in church with us.  Everything went fine for the next few minutes while I fed Evie, but she then decided she had a burp that wouldn't come out and started wailing loudly.  I rushed out with her, and heard a loud "Mama!  Mama!" behind me.  The sound continued, and soon Clint rushed out with Charlie.  We decided we had about all we could handle, and so Clint snuck back in, grabbed our bags, and came out to shepherd us to our car.  So our first trip back to church wasn't a huge success, but hopefully next time around, we'll make it the whole way through the service.  Baby steps, right? :)

Here's Miss Evie, all dressed up for her big day.

Evie posed with her boys before the service.  She looks a little nervous, doesn't she?  Luckily, she was quite composed in front of the church. :)

 The boys, exclaiming over the mouse.

 A very proud brother. :)

Bumbo Time

Look who's sitting up!  (With quite a bit of assistance, of course :).  We put Evie in the Bumbo last week and were surprised to find that she did quite well in there.  She likes her new perspective on the world and her brother LOVES having her sitting up.  I hear the "Evie Bumbo!" command several times a day. :)

 She tends to get a bit droopy after a while. :)

 Look who else loves the Bumbo. :)  "I stuck!" has become a common phrase around here since the Bumbo came out.

Will's Wedding Weekend

As I mentioned in the previous post, Charlie, Evie and I went to Seguin for my cousin Will's wedding last weekend [and I should mention that the kiddos were amazing on the car trip--for some reason, the trips have been easier with two! (it's the only thing that's been easier, but I'll take what I can get :)].  We had a great time seeing family and Evie and I had a wonderful time at the wedding.  Weekends like this make me so grateful for my sweet parents and siblings, our big extended family, and all the little ones.  They have so much fun together--brings back so many fun memories of all of us together as kids.  Just wish we could all be together more often!

Charlie decided that he would "pay" for our stay with yard work.  He helped Papa with the leaves, and I'm sure he made Papa's job SO much easier. :)

The helper took more than a few breaks to play in the leaves...

Megan, Chris, and Elec were in town from LA for the wedding and it was so good to see them again.  Charlie and Elec are only 3 months apart, and they are starting to play together a bit.  Elec is so adorable, and watching the boys together made me wish the Parks lived closer!

Charlie, adorned with stickers, thanks to Lizzie and Emma. :)

Here's Kay Kay (known to Charlie as Big Piggy's other half), and the lovely flower girls, Lizzie and Emma.

Evie tried to join in on the cousin fun. :)

Elec and Charlie headed outside to do some more yard work.  Charlie tried hard to keep Elec away from the leaf blower and rake, telling him they are "Papa's!"  

Without a rake of his own, Elec decided it would be easier to just throw away the leaves one at a time...

Apparently some people get to use Papa's rake.

Charlie and Evie love reading stories with Papa before bed.  Is it just me, or does Evie look a bit bored with the Big Truck Book?  [The book, by the way, is a hand-me-down from Jackson, and Charlie's new favorite obsession.  The boy can't count and doesn't know his colors, but he knows every truck, tractor, and backhoe in the book!]

Here's Evie relaxing with Ali (one of her favorite pastimes).  Ali accompanied us back to Dallas and we were SO grateful.  The trip and the transition back home were so much easier and more fun with Ali along!

Can't wait to go to Seguin again!