Evan's Eight

 OnE

Evan was 18 months in February ..and I have yet to take him to his well visit.  OoPpS!  From what I can see...he is growing great, eating amazing and perfect in every way ;)

 tWo

 Evan is all.over.the.place!  He begs to go outside all day and just runs and runs.  He is still afraid of heights....clearly he is not afraid of a little mud though!

 ThReE

Evan sings to any tune, to any song.  His favorites right now are Ole' McDonald, Twinkle Twinkle, Can you feel the Love tonight?, ABCs, Hakuna Matata, The Wheels on the Bus, and Jesus Loves Me...but if you hum any tune to him...he will hum it right back.

 fOuR

Evan is such a little pest.  He is constantly hitting Zoe, stealing her toys or pulling her hair.  If he so much as hears Zoe squeal...he is satisfied!  Mission Accomplished!

FiVe

 Evan is talking so much!  He is even speaking in phrases now and has started counting.  Some new additions are "I go outside" "I hungry" "Night Night" "I love you" "Sit Down" "I get you" "No No" "Say Cheese" "Shoes On" "Zoe" and he says his name!

 SiX

Evan is pretty true to size except in the shoe department.  He is in all 18 month clothes, with a tiny roll in his pant legs (short guy) and is finally in a size 4 shoe!

 sEvEn

Evan just loves sitting and reading books and plays really well by himself.  If things are quiet, you can usually find Evan just playing away in his room....or in the bathroom playing in the toilet :/

 EiGhT

Evan got his second haircut this past month.  Such a little man!

Let's Catch Up!

Wow!  What a whirl wind of two weeks!

Since I last posted....tons has happened!

Lent continues and so does our lenten fast of processed foods.  We have seen lots of positive changes to make us never look back.  Zach has lost close to 15lbs.....while I creep towards 5lbs.  MEN!  Zoe's little belly (that the Dr was worried about at her 3yr checkup) is pretty much gone.  Evan....is still Evan.  He eats like a monster but now I don't feel so bad feeding him anytime he asks because he is eating healthy fruits and veggies!

Some new things we have tried are kale chips (fabulous!), non-processed brownies (poor Zach has had a hard time with his sweet tooth!) with homemade whipped cream, hamburger steaks with caramelized onions (it is amazing the difference in good meat!), meatballs with carrots and onions for our non-processed spaghetti night and zuchinni bread.  Lots of yummies!

We have also had the stomach bug come roaring through our home.  Everyone was infected except for me.  I love how God protects the mother so she can take care of everyone else.  We were sick for about 3 days...each person sick for a day.  Not fun and I am glad it passed quickly.  

In the learning department...Zoe has been picking up on so, so much.  We have strayed from our Letter curriculum to work on specific skills.  Zoe has been loving to write and draw and can not get enough of reading.  Every book she wants you to read and then she reads it back to you.  It is amazing!  She can write every letter, some better than others, and we are working on words that begin with each letter she writes.  We have also been focusing on counting!  Zoe can count from 1-20!  We have also been practicing writing her numbers with some success.

We have also been working on Zoe's computer skills and she has been loving all the games on PBS kids website!

Last week, we headed down to Alabama to meet my new niece, Timber, and to be present for my sister, Chrysti, birth of their 5th!

Before heading to Berry, we stopped in for a playdate with The Hollyhand's!  The girls and Evan had so much fun and played so well together.  Lots of princesses, kitchens, dressup and heels!  While at visiting....THE POPE WAS ELECTED!  

What an amazing moment in history!  My PopeAlarm went off on my phone and I was just gitty with excitement.  Crystal was so sweet to turn on FoxNews for me!  Pope Francis!  What an unbelievable blessing from God!  Such a humble servant of our Lord and now the one who will lead The Church.  Glory to God!  If only all leaders in our world could be chosen through intense prayer and out of humility!

After playing, we headed to Berry to meet Timber!  Such a little doll!

And early Thursday morning, I got the call that my sister's water had broken!  Huntsville, here I come! 

To say that my sister had the most amazing birth experience is an understatement!  The morning went perfectly!  Chrysti and Joe decided to have a homebirth....my sister's dream!  I am so grateful that she allowed me to be a part of the day.  I will never forget it!  Birth is such an amazing thing and being able to witness my nephew being born was just one of those things I will always remember!

 Unbelievable love and joy...and many, many tears!

 Welcome, sweet William Joshua!

 Very proud big sisters!

Meanwhile, my kiddos were having an absolute blast in Berry with Aunt Holly, Uncle Jared, Grandma and Grandaddy!

 And we are caught up!

Dr. Seuss Week!

I felt like our day to day routine was getting a little mundane!  So what better week to change things up a bit then to celebrate Dr. Seuss' Birthday with a full week all for Dr. Seuss!

We went to the library on Sunday to get books for the week and EVERY.SINGLE.ONE was checked out. Bummer!  So we had to make due with the ones we had at home.

Monday, we had fun with Hop on Pop!

There are so many awesome resources for Dr. Seuss on PBS.org.  I was able to print out coloring pages for each book.  After reading the book, so had to find the page in her book that matched her coloring sheet.  She had to use the same colors for coloring so the two pages looked alike.

 This week Zoe really started showing a ton of interest in writing her letters!  After she got done coloring, we wrote HOP and POP on the top of her coloring page.

I feel like every week, Zoe starts showing interest in a new skill!  So exciting being able to watch her grow and develop!

Also on the PBS website there are a ton of learning games!  We worked on counting, directions and colors with The Cat in the Hat online and Zoe really started to be able to use the mouse pad and computer by herself.

 "Look Mom! I made a tent!"

Wednesday, we went to an awesome storytime at our local Book Store.  Once a month, one of the teachers from Kindermusik leads storytime.  Evan was in HEAVEN!  He had such a blast with all the music and the beats!

Thursday, we had a chill morning and decided to do our ABC Dr. Seuss book.

After reading, I had a coloring sheet for us.  I decided to do a little activity so we could apply our letters!  Zoe had to pick something off the page that she wanted to color (the page had a ton of random items coming out of the cat's hat).  Each one she choose, we discussed, sounded out and then wrote the letter it began with.  She is really doing great with her sound and letter recognition!

Since Zoe was showing so much interest in writing, we got her magnadoodle and started writing every letter together.

 Her favorite is "Z" of course!

Friday night was Family Movie Night!  And we watched The Lorax.  What an awesome movie with a very valuable lesson!

 Saturday was the big day!  We were going to Meet the Cat in the Hat at our local library!  Zoe was so excited and asked all day if it was time yet!

Ms. Nicole started with a couple of her favorite Dr. Seuss books!

 And all the kids played a fun, interactive game for Red Fish, Blue Fish.

 And then he arrived!  Zoe was just giggling and giggling.  She was so excited!

 BIG HUGS for The Cat in the Hat!