Thanksgiving and the National Dog Show

This year we stayed in town for Thanksgiving and went over to my aunt and uncle's house for the afternoon on Thanksgiving.  It was really nice to not spend 5+ hours in the car with the kids, and I am pretty sure that they appreciated it too.

Thanksgiving morning we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and then left the TV on when the National Dog Show started.  Evan was the most excited I have ever seen him about something on TV- he loved the dogs!  I got a video of him watching the dog show and saying "Aubrey..."  although we have tried to convince him that all dogs are not Aubrey, that doesn't really seem to have sunk in at this point.

It was a really nice and relaxing day, and we are really thankful for the opportunity to spend time with family and each other for a long weekend.

Costume Cuteness

Halloween has come and gone, but we didn't get many pictures of the kids in their costumes on Halloween this year because Madelyn was sick with a pretty high fever and taking pictures got pushed down pretty low on the priority list.  However, on the Saturday after Halloween I dressed the kids up and brought them into my work at Madelyn's request since she missed out on her Halloween activities.

This year we tried to work with what we had for costumes.  Madelyn had an adorable dress from when she was a flower girl in the spring that seemed ideal for a fairy princess costume, and Evan had the bear suit that Madelyn had worn at his age to keep warm in the winter.  With a little accessorizing they made a cute fairy princess and teddy bear.

13 Months Old and Walking!

About little over a week ago Evan turned 13 months old and he thought it would be a good idea to mark the occasion by taking his first steps.  I did get a video of his second and third attempts at taking a few steps, the first ones I was not prepared for!  When I shared the video with Justin he said he thought Evan looked a little like a zombie.  I'll give him the stiff legs and the arms held straight out in front of him, but the giggles seem to belie any real zombie resemblance.

It was evening in Minnesota in November, which meant it was a little dark.  I tried to lighten the video a little, but it is probably not going to win any film awards :)

In the last week and a half Evan has grown a little more confident with walking, but still generally chooses to get around by cruising or crawling.  It is fun to watch him develop new skills.  Who knows what will be next!

Happy First Birthday Evan!

Today our baby boy turned one.  To celebrate we spent the afternoon at Sever's corn maze in Shakopee, MN.  We all enjoyed the day! 

It has been amazing to watch Evan grow and change and we are excited to see what the next year brings.  Happy First Birthday Baby Boy!

Ready for the day's adventures

hanging out with Aunt Jackie

Madelyn was showing Evan how to work the tractor

MMMM....cake!

Madelyn Updates

This fall has brought a lot of changes for Madelyn's schedule.  She started preschool the first week of September and the next week she started Cubbies.

First day of Preschool!

So far, Madelyn has really been enjoying preschool.  She goes Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons.  It is only two blocks from our house and so far the weather has been pretty nice, so she is usually riding her scooter to and from school.  She loves art, playing on the playground, and the interactions with other kids.  She isn't always descriptive of what she did at school, but she looks forward to it and is always really excited about school when we talk to her.

Scooter :)

Madelyn has been a little less excited about Cubbies, but I think there are a couple of reasons for that.  Since she has preschool in the afternoon, it makes for a long day on Wednesdays, and it is also pretty late in the day for her - evening is still her cranky time of day.  Also, the 4 year olds have already earned their vests and there is some jealousy among the 3 year olds who don't have theirs yet :)  Hopefully when she gets her vest she will be a little more excited. She likes the stories and does pretty well with the memory verses.

Family photo shoot in July - it is clear who the star is ;)

All in all, that is a lot more structure this fall for Madelyn than she has ever had before.  I think as she gets used to it she will like her new schedule, but so far it has only been a couple of weeks and we are still in the adjustment period.

Paul Bunyan Land - from our family vacation

Madelyn really enjoyed the rides - no lines made a big difference :)

 Madelyn loves to be outside, art, packing things into any container she can find, and playing with her brother.  She loves to tell him what he should be doing; that is working ok for now - we'll see how that goes as Evan gets older.  Oh, the adventures that are yet to come!

Evan Updates

The summer has come and gone and Evan has gotten so much bigger!  He will be one on Saturday and it seems like time has just flown by.

In July we did a family photo shoot with the Vogel side of the family.  This picture captures Evan pretty well!

Evan is now crawling and cruising around the house.  It is getting difficult to keep track of him since he is moving with some impressive speed.  He is also working on climbing which was not on my list of skills I was hoping for him to accomplish early.  However, he is pleased with his mobility and his ability to make progress in going directions that he is interested in going.  This video is from shortly after Evan started crawling - he is quite a bit more speedy now :)

We got his first haircut about a month ago since his hair was getting ridiculously long, but it was still hard to see him go from the baby look to a more "little boy" look.  However, now Madelyn no longer suggests we help keep Evan's hair out of his eyes with barrettes or ponytails.

What is going on here?

Look at how long his hair was!

You know, this is kind of fun :)

Big Boy Haircut!

Evan also spends most of his awake time babbling and saying the few words that he can.  His repertoire includes "mama," "dada," "poppop,"something along the lines of "papa" for Grandpa, and "es" for yes, and his current favorite words of "uh-oh" which frequently follows the throwing of his pacifier and is accompanied by a huge grin, and "all done" or "ah-dah."  We are pretty sure that he has determined that he is not going to let his sister speak for him, so he is working on his vocabulary.

He really loves his sister and likes to play with her.  He also now follows her around the house if she leaves the room that they are playing in together.  Most of the time they play pretty well together, but Evan has definitely not mastered the art of sharing and Madelyn still has some room for improvement in that area as well.

pre-haircut :)

hard to read the 11 month old sign - Evan wanted to hold it

We took a couple of trips in August.  First Evan flew to Michigan with me and my sister to go to my cousin Sarah's wedding, and then right after that we went up to Breezy Point, MN with Mommom and Grandpa and Grandma for a week of family vacation time.  We spent some time at the resort and also went to Paul Bunyan Land as well as Itasca State Park.

At Breezy Point Resort

Hanging out with Aunt Becci at the Flint, MI airport

Hiking to the fire tower

Headwaters of the Mississippi

Overall it was a pretty busy summer (which is somewhat responsible for my lack of blogging) and Evan is changing from a baby to a toddler before our eyes!

9 Months Old!

On Friday, Evan was 9 months old.  He is very smiley and interactive - he gets excited any time someone is paying attention to him.  Because he wants to be on the move, unless he is sleeping he is always moving: arms, legs, hands...something.  He is getting better about not flinging himself backward all the time, but is still in danger of it at times.   Crawling has not yet happened, and he doesn't seem very interested in exploring that mode of movement.  Instead, he is working on pulling himself up and has had limited success with help to do it, and he focuses on trying to figure out how to move standing up.

Evan is very enthusiastic about food.  Frequently, the only time of day when he starts to be upset is during mealtimes when he isn't getting the food that everyone else is eating.  He likes puffs, he likes rice rusks, but really he wants what everyone else is eating.  He has finally met a food that he doesn't like - potatoes.  Although he likes french fries (yes, we gave him some) when I gave him cooked unflavored potatoes he did not think that was really something he wanted to eat.  He is getting better at mushing up table foods in his mouth, so we are increasingly letting him sample some of what we are eating.  On the flip side of that, he is being increasing difficult about taking bottles and it is frequently a battle to get him to take more than 4 oz at a time.  He does the best in a quiet room when he is eating laying down and not being held, but that is not always possible or practical.

Evan finally has had a bath time in the big tub, and he has also had a bath with his sister.  Although we generally still give him a bath in the baby tub.  He really enjoys bath time and is very good at making big splashes.

This month Evan also got his third tooth, the top front left.  He really likes to bite things, including anything anyone gets near his mouth, so we are all remembering to keep fingers and other appendages away from his mouth.

Sleep has finally taken a turn for the better.  Evan and Madelyn are now generally sleeping in the same room and they both seem to like sleeping in the same room better.   Evan goes to sleep more quietly than he did when he was sleeping in our room and Madelyn complains less often of being lonely.  He is usually also eating only once a night now, which is definitely an improvement.

All in all it has been an exciting month and we are all glad it is summer, even if it brings the necessity of sunscreen and the nuisance of mosquitoes.