A Visit from Uncle Matthew

Nick's younger brother, Matthew, came up from Atlanta last weekend for a visit. He had never seen Evan in person and also hadn't seen his other nephews and niece for quite some time. Everyone was so excited to see  Uncle Matthew! 

Uncle Matthew and Evan

Uncle Brent holding Evan, me, Uncle Brad, Aunt Baranda holding Mason, Uncle Matthew holding Emily at BW3's. Daddy and Aunt Kelly had to work that night.

Uncle Brad holding Evan and Uncle Matthew with his crazy hat

Uncle Brent holding Evan

Uncle Matthew with his niece and nephews.

Aunt Baranda and her three brothers: Matthew, Brad and Nick

Birthday Celebrations

Great Grandma Burke and Grandma Schnittker's Birthdays were both this week.  This past Sunday we all went out to lunch at Red Lobster to celebrate.  After lunch we went to Grandpa and Grandma's house for cake and ice cream.  Papa and Great-Grandma Schnittker joined us for dessert.

Happy 86th Birthday Great-Grandma Burke! 

Grandma Schnittker and Great-Grandma Burke

Great-Grandma Schnittker getting her time with Evan as Aunt Tracy watches 

More Chillin' with Daddy

Evan and Daddy watching TV together

A Long Weekend Visit from Mamaw

I didn't have to work on the Monday of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Mamaw didn't have to watch my niece and nephew, so she decided to make a trip up to visit us over long weekend. We were so excited to see her and she, of course, was so excited to get to spend so much time with Evan again. We didn't do a whole lot while she was up here, but she didn't seem to mind. She spent most of her time hanging out with her little man Evan.

Playing with Mamaw on the floor.

Sucking on fingers with one finger up his nose. 

Getting some love from Mamaw

Heading to Church

All dressed up and ready to go to church.

Sleepy Day with Daddy

I came home from work one day and this is what I found. I guess that they had such a busy day that they had completely worn each other out. 

Two Month Shots

Nick had to take Evan to get his two month shots by himself because it was the same day that I had to go back to work. Needless to say it was a hard day for all of us. I was sad because I had to go back to work and was away from Evan for so long. Nick was sad that I had to go back to work because he was enjoying all of the family time while I was at home. Evan had to get shots in both of his thighs so he wasn't a happy camper either. Nick said that Evan was a real trooper. He received a shot on each thigh by two different nurses who stuck him at the same time. Nick said that he cried for about 45 seconds and then was fine except for a few whimpers every once in a while. I felt so bad that I wasn't there for him. I couldn't stop thinking about how he was doing all day long. When I got home that day Nick was changing Evan's diaper. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of his cute little thighs with the band aids on them. He was a bit fussy that night and developed a bit of a fever, but overall he was fine.

Notice that his shirt says "Mommy needs a date night!"

I love those chunky little thighs!

Farmer Boy

Nick put Evan into this adorable bib overall outfit today and sent a picture to my mom saying that he was ready to help out on the farm. She responded saying that they could definitely use his help. As of today, they are up to 22 baby goats and are bottle feeding 2 of them. 

Happy New Year!

Sleepy Boys

Uncle Hoss and Evan taking a nap together.

Christmas Caroling

Every year my family, along with a few other people from their church, go Christmas caroling to a few houses in their neighborhood as well as in town. They always make up a plate of cookies to give to the person and then sing 4 or 5 carols to the person standing at the door. I always look forward to caroling with my family, but haven't been home for the last several years when they have done it. Nick had never been caroling before and I wanted him to have that experience. We were not going to be there on  the night that they had originally planned to go caroling, so they decided to go to a couple of houses while we were there so that we could be involved. The first house that we went to was a friend of my Aunt Marca and Uncle Chuck. Then we went into town to visit my Great-Uncle Bill, a Pearl Harbor survivor, whom I hadn't seen for a couple of years. It was great to see him and to introduce him to Nick and Evan. 

Standing on the front porch singing Christmas carols. 

They invited us inside to get out of the cold. 

Singing to Uncle Bill on his front porch.

Noah, Aubrey, Nathan, Dad, Nick and Evan singing to Uncle Bill. 

Uncle Bill meeting Nick and Evan for the 1st time.

Me, Evan and my Great-Uncle Bill. It was so nice to see him again. 

Chuck and Uncle Bill are both veterans. 

Aunt Marca, Uncle Bill, and Dad

Nathan and Aubrey

Chuck and Aunt Marca saying goodbye to Uncle Bill. He was really excited to see all of us!

Evan and Papaw are worn out from all of the caroling! 

Crazy Cousins

My mom had to watch my brother's three kids on Monday, so Nick, Evan and I hung out with them for the day. Boy does my mom have her hands full with those three! They are full of energy and always into something. We thought that she could use a little help, plus she wanted to hold Evan as much as she could. 

Nick trying to put a brush through Aubrey's tangled hair. 

Mamaw holding Evan while Noah was trying to get into the picture. 

Noah 

Nick putting Aubrey's hair into a ponytail. This is quite a hard task because it's hard to get her to sit still.

Nick braiding Aubrey's hair. Good job Uncle Nick! 

Caleb

Noah, Caleb, Aubrey and Evan

Caleb and Noah being goofy!

Tom Family Christmas

My mother's family gets together every year at Christmas. This year we went to my cousin Cary's brand new house which had plenty of room for everyone. The Tom Family seems to grow bigger every time we get together. Evan is the newest member of the family, but we recently found out that my cousin Beryl, who unfortunately couldn't make it to Cary's house, will be having twins this spring! My Grandpa Tom, who already has 12 great-grandchildren, was really excited about the news. He said "We're just going to skip 13 great-grandkids and go straight to 14!"   

Aunt Jeaneen sitting with some of the 10 of the oldest great-grandchildren. Evan and Avery (who wasn't able to make it to Cary's house) were the only two not sitting at the table for lunch.

Another view of all of the great-grandkids.

Grandpa Tom and Skyler (the youngest of his grandchildren)

Angie, Nathan and Nick

A serious conversation taking place at the table. 

Steve and Uncle Randy talking insurance. 

Megan, Jay, Steve and Rachael

Uncle Larry and Dad

Nick and Bryce

Mom holding Evan and sitting next to Grandpa Tom

All of the kids upstairs enjoying the awesome playroom. 

More playing

Angie holding Evan, sitting next to Zoe

Nathan playing with Shamus

Aunt Merrilee taking her turn holding Evan. She has one grandchild of her own, Avery and two more on the way! 

Aunt Jeaneen with her girls, Cary and Betsy

Grandpa Tom with all of his great-grandchildren (except for Avery)

Evan, Nick, me, Mom, and Dad

Nathan, Noah and Uncle Larry waiting for the instructions for the gift exchange. 

Uncle Larry, Emily, Betsy, Andrew and Aunt Merrilee

Megan holding Evan, Bryce holding a very tired Shamus and Rachael