Thumb Sucker

Whenever Evan gets tired, he holds onto Dumpy, his security blanket,  and sucks on his thumb. He had only sucked on the thumb on his left hand until we noticed a week or two ago that he had sucked his thumb so much that it was completely raw! The skin was cracked and peeling and it had gotten very sore for Evan. He had to force himself to start sucking on the thumb on his right hand. He has been sucking on his right thumb ever since, which has given his left thumb time to heal. I looked at his left thumb yesterday and mentioned to him how much better it looked. He got a huge smile on his face and said, "That means I can suuuuuuuck on it again!" 

Guess Who's Walking?

Grant had been letting go of things and taking a step or two before falling to his bottom for a couple of weeks. Then, when I went to my parents house last Saturday morning to pick up the boys, he took off and walked from the chair in the living room, through the dining room and into the kitchen before falling down! Apparently he had been doing that the whole time he was at my parents' house! It is amazing how one day, he would only take a couple of steps and then a day or two later he is walking across the entire room! I love watching him grin from ear to ear as he walks around the house. 

"New" Tractor

Nick went over the Kelleys Island last Sunday with his Dad and Papa to bring back one of Papa's old lawn mowers. Evan is so excited that we now have a mower in our garage. He wants to "ride" on the tractor everyday. 

Evan had to take a ride on the "new" tractor.

Grant wanted to ride on the tractor too, so Grandpa helped him. 

Evan waited for a turn on the tractor.

Daddy took Grant for a real ride around the yard. 

Then he took Evan for a real ride too. 

Bottle Fed Baby

Aunt Marca has a baby calf that she has been bottle feeding. It was having a hard time standing and even walking, so it has just been hanging out by the barn. Evan helped Papaw bottle feed him a couple of times. He also got to help bottle feed one of Papaw's baby goats. Evan loves being Papaw's helper on the farm.  

Papaw was trying to get Grant to sit down behind the little calf. 

Papaw's Softball Game

Papaw's softball team had a double-header at home on Saturday morning, so we went to cheer him on. His team lost the first game 3-2 in 8 innings, but came back and won the second game. Evan had a great time watching Papaw jump up and down on the third base line, plus he liked playing in the dirt. It was a little bit chilly, but we all survived.

Playing in the gravel.

Trying to climb the fence. 

Papaw and the boys after the game. 

Aubrey and Evan wanted to help drag the field after the game. 

FINALLY UP TO DATE!

I am not sure why exactly I waited so long to get this blog updated. Have I been busy with the boys, school, the new house and life in general? Yes, but I still should have taken a few minutes everyday to get the blog updated. Instead I let 3 months go by without a single post and I just fell further and further behind. I can't tell you how many times family members mentioned to me that they kept checking the blog for updates and they were disappointed to see that there was nothing new posted. So, since I am on Spring Break this week, my plan was to work on the blog. That would have been almost impossible had it not been for my wonderful parents. They so generously drove up here late Wednesday night after my dad's softball game, spent the night and then took the boys back to their house early Thursday morning. I worked all day yesterday priming and painting the trim around windows and doors throughout the house. That is also something that I would never have been able to do with a 2 1/2 year old and an almost 1 year old wanting my attention pretty much all of the time. Last night I finally forced myself to sit down and work on the blog. It was so depressing knowing that I had to start all the way back at Christmas because that was as far as I had gotten the last time that I blogged in January. I spent a few hours last night and have spent pretty much the entire day today working on this silly blog. I am happy to say that I have it up to date! Including this post, I have 68 new posts from yesterday and today! That's right, I said 68 new posts! Never again am I going to let that much time pass by without updating it. I am tired of sitting here looking at this computer all day long. Even though I feel so much better about getting this blog back in order, I am upset with myself for having to basically waste this beautiful day of my Spring Break inside on the computer instead of outside doing something else. 

 I didn't go into a whole lot of detail with most of the posts because I just wanted to get everything updated. I know that I have forgotten about cute little stories or special events that took place, but unfortunately if I didn't take a picture of it, then it was probably forgotten and didn't make it into the blog. If Nick or I think of things that we missed, then I will be sure to make a post about it, but for now these pictures are just going to have to be good enough. I truly hope that you enjoy looking at all of the new pictures.

Lots of Fun!

We invited four of my friends (who happen to also be teachers on Spring Break) and their families over for a play date on Wednesday.  There ended up being 9 adults and 10 children ranging from 3rd grade down to 6 months old in our house. The kids played very well together and had lots of fun. We had pizza and tons of snacks to eat. We plan on having everyone over again, but next time it will be warmer and the kids can run around outside in the yard, or maybe even swim in the pool.

Annabelle wrestled with Gabe while Zach watched. 

Evan and Owen enjoyed some snacks before the pizza arrived. They will most likely be in the same class.  Cute little Emmalee sat on her mommy's lap. 

Gracie, Liam, Colin and Grant all tried to play with Grant's Elefun toy. 

Gracie and Colin enjoyed a brownie with ice cream. They are in the same preschool class together.