Evan's Savings Account--Update

Hey all! Looks like the link I had posted here in November has expired, so I guess they are only good for so long. If you need/want me to send you an individual link any time in the future...let me know and I'll send an e-mail through the savings plan web site.

Thanks a lot!

Holiday cheer...correct lyrics optional...

Correct Lyrics Optional from Rena on Vimeo.

And more photos!

Why yes...as a matter of fact Evan is wearing the same shirt in this photo (as he's worn in many other recent photos). Right now he's rotating between this shirt and his two football jerseys. Fortunately I do laundry FREQUENTLY. :) Anyhoo, please enjoy the two slideshows of Evan. The first is from Thanksgiving Day, and the second is us putting the tree up today.

Take care!

Our "'venture" to Buffalo Ridge Park!

I've been wanting to take Evan to nearby Buffalo Ridge Park since he was in utero (and Erin and her family went there on a visit here to Texas). The park is actually a space owned and operated by Haltom City. Despite some trash and graffiti, it's a beautiful park with paved trails, playground equipment, an awesome creek, and fun bridges. Evan LOVED it!

All in all, we walked over 2 miles (and Evan even had Mommy jog for a bit with him as he ran, exclaiming, "I'm the fastest big boy ever!"). Evan's little legs held up for all but the last tenth of a mile. He then rode his way to victory on Mommy's shoulders. Mommy almost cried when she saw that the car was so close (hey...adding 30 extra pounds isn't easy!)

Enjoy the pics! We'll be putting up the tree soon, so I'll share pics of decorating and some other Thanksgiving pics...

Happy Turkey Day!

Behold, the traditional paper plate turkey! Happy Thanksgiving!

Evan's College Savings Account...

Hey all!

As we approach the holiday season, many people have asked what they can give Evan. Our first answer is always, "You're too kind. You don't have to get anything for him!" And we stand by that. Your love is always more than enough!

However, we wanted you to know that we have established a college savings account for Evan that we contribute to on a regular basis. Should he decide not to go to college, he'll still be able to withdraw the funds (although a tax penalty will apply). If you're undecided about a gift, this is a great opportunity to support the little guy (in a way that his parents can't get their grubby hands on. :) :) :) :) )

But again, no gifts are necessary. We just wanted to let you know about the account.

If you wish to donate, please go here. Be sure to change the "contributor name" on the form ( I have my name listed by default).

Thanks for being such an important part of Evan's life!

You can read more about 529 plans here...

Lightning McQueen was a very fast race car...

Halloween was very exciting around our house this year. It was Evan's first time to go out trick or treating! He went over to his friend Hannah's house, and they went together around her neighborhood. They had so much fun together that they eventually decided they didn't need any more candy--they would just go back to Hannah's house and play for a little bit! The tired mommies were happy to oblige.

Here are photos from carving the jack o'lantern and trick or treating! Happy Halloween!

Lake Buchanan...

We just got back from a great trip to a cabin on Lake Buchanan! Evan had fun exploring the beach, which had all sorts of neat items exposed since the water level was down 31 feet due to a drought in Central Texas. We saw shells, fish skeletons, water plants, old stumps, and beautiful granite rocks.

We also enjoyed fun activities in nearby Burnet, TX. We went to an art festival, Naturefest, and even saw Thomas the train! Plus we ate amazing restaurant and other food grilled by Daddy. We loved our trip to the lake! Enjoy the photos...and click on any photo in the slideshow to make the images larger or to control the speed...

Soccer!

Evan started soccer practice last night...and he LOVED IT! His friend Cale's mom is the coach, and she does a great job with the kiddos. Can't wait for the first game! Here are a couple of photos of him in his practice clothes...

Football is back!

After being continually shushed and told that we were being too loud during the game ("My friends...you are too loud! Inside voices!"), Bryan got smart and told Evan that HE could be loud too!

Here is just part of his gleeful LOUD cheering. The boy's got game!

Evan learns to cheer for football... from Rena on Vimeo.

The Teeter-Lawrence Experience...

Evan and his cousin Brie bring down the house... from Rena on Vimeo.

Chopping watermelon...

Here's a cute video that pretty much speaks for itself. Enjoy!

Chopping Watermelon from Rena on Vimeo.

Catching up...

Okay...so I've had some photos sitting around that I haven't posted on the blog. Well Mommy called me on it...so here are updates. One should never stand in the way of a grandmother trying to see her grandchild. :) :) :) :) :)

Here's Evan and his new pool:



And here are our new floors!



Cute video of Evan coming in the next post...

By any means possible...

Sometimes a man just needs a good book to get things moving...

Daddy's cars...

Sometimes when I'm in the office, Evan likes to come in and play with things on the shelves. We have large built-ins, but the shelves are too small for much other than little knick-knacky items. You know those items: the junk you collect from various places (shot glasses, baseballs, bobbleheads) that you don't quite know what to do with but you're not quite ready to part with either.

Bryan has some cars on these shelves also. I would gladly part with them...but they're important to him, so they stay. Evan has always been fascinated with these cars. He looks at them, he rolls them gently when he thinks we aren't looking, and he names them off by make and model. Genius, that child.

The other day, while I was checking e-mail, I heard Evan say, "Dese are mine and Daddy's cars, Mommy. You no touch." When I looked up, Evan had put his little Lamborghini right next to Daddy's big Lamborghini. Precious.

And then, satisfied with what he'd done (and convinced I wouldn't intervene), he sat down to read a book while I finished.

At least he wasn't "reading" the dictionary like he normally does.

By the way, please note his "big boy" underpants. He's making progress!

The birthday PARTY (May 11th)

Not to be limited to one day of festivities, Evan had a lovely birthday party with his and Mommy and Daddy's friends. We had brisket, brats, potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans, and plenty of good times to celebrate. And of COURSE presents and cake.

What a great day!

The birthday (May 10th)

Well...it has taken us a week to recuperate from our wild birthday festivities last weekend! Evan had a wonderful birthday. Daddy got in early that morning, Mommy made a special breakfast, lunch came from Popeye's fried chicken, and dinner was at Casa Rita's...with complimentary birthday sopapillas! Mmmmmmm...

And of course the day was spent opening and playing with presents! Enjoy the pics...they tell the story!

Who let this happen??????

My baby will be three tomorrow. Who let this happen?

Who let him grow this much in one year?

Who let him turn into a stinky little boy instead of a chubby roly-poly stumbly toddler?


Look into his eyes. Tell me the answer.

Still cute though, ain't he? Kitty (in the background) agrees.

The big boy bed actually gets a bed!

Now that we feel fairly certain that Evan won't fall out of his bed, we have finally upgraded from a mattress on the floor to an actual bed. Bryan was in town last weekend, so he was able to go ahead and put it together for the boy!

Here are photos of Evan "helping" Daddy put the bed together. Evan thinks Daddy's even cooler now than he did before. Why? Because Daddy used tools just like Handy Manny!

Enjoy...

Easter in Shreveport...

Since Bryan has been working out of town, Evan has been really missing him (as has Mommy). So on Easter weekend, when it was looking like Bryan was going to be off for a few hours, Mommy and Evan headed to Shreveport!

And you might guess what happened next: Daddy got called to work overnight. :) :) :)

So here are photos of Easter morning...with a very tired Daddy and a happy Evan. Right after these photos, we all went to breakfast--and then Mommy and Evan headed back home.

Such is life. Happy belated Easter!

Evan and monkey--1, Mommy--0

As the mother of an almost 3-year old, potty training is, of course, at the forefront of my mind. There's this weird pressure to have your child trained by the time s/he's 3...and I'm telling you folks...we ain't there yet. I've still got a week, though. :)

We've tried a number of approaches. We've got books. We've got DVDs. We've got reward stickers. We've got pull-ups. Pull-ups are useless, by the way. Why do they decorate them with super-awesome characters? How am I supposed to encourage Evan to give up his pull-ups when they have Lightning McQueen on them? Even the cheap Kroger pull-up knock-offs have police cars and fire trucks. He loves them! I think I'll have to go back to 7th Generation ones just so he'll be bored by them.

Anyhoo...I do have evidence that some of this potty training advice is getting through to him. Recently he decided to potty train Curious George. George did quite well... Then again, I think Evan has more patience than I do.

Enjoy the slideshow. Bear in mind that I didn't intervene--all of the actions depicted were from Evan's own imagination at work... :)

Evan goes to work with Mommy...

With Daddy being out of town, Evan got to go to the cabins with Mommy today (special event going on). Here are photos of his great adventure...

Evan's first Easter egg dyeing party...

Well...I'm going to call it a party even though it was just the three of us. :) Bryan's been home from Shreveport since Thursday night, so we've been enjoying lots of family time! Yesterday we enjoyed the beautiful 70-80 degree weather and grilled, played in the fort, and dyed Easter eggs!

As you can see from the photos, Evan had a really great time with it. He wanted to go "play with eggs" again today... I think he did a great job for his first time. I'm sure he'll get more experimental as the years go by...

Great weekend!

Catching up...

Yikes! Bad Mommy. Bad blogger. I've had a devil of a time keeping up with things lately. I could make up excuses...like a conference in El Paso and general malaise...but the truth is that I just haven't been diligent enough about updating Evan's blog!

Just to catch you up...here are the photos I've taken since I last posted. Please read the captions to see what's going on. As always, click on any photo in the slideshow to enlarge or to control the speed...

Our recent redecorating...

Lately I've been struck with an extremely rare case of spring-cleaning-itis. I'm tired of all the junk that seems to accumulate around the house, and Bryan and I have been working to purge it. As such, we did a little furniture "redecorating" (we moved stuff around), and Evan was more than happy to help.

As you can see from the photos, he dusted and eventually helped Daddy shoot some pool on the table that is now in our dining area.

Now on to the closets!

The haunting...

Fun video of the tail end of Evan's trip through the house with a blanket on his head (looking vaguely ghost-like).


The haunting from Rena on Vimeo.

Evan's musical revue...

I think the videos pretty much speak for themselves even without my witty commentary. I was in the kitchen making dinner when I heard Evan in the other room singing "The Turtle Song." Fortunately I got him to sing it for the camera. Not sure what the spinning in circles was all about...

The second video is evidence that I'm a bad mother. This video has been sitting on my camera since before Christmas. AND I COMPLETELY FORGOT IT WAS THERE. In fact, I barely remember even shooting the video. Oh well. Such is life. It is a delightful holiday medley. I think you'll especially enjoy "O Christmas Tree."

Happy viewing!


The turtle song from Rena on Vimeo.


Holiday Medley... from Rena on Vimeo.

Obsession...thy name is McQueen...

Okay...so if you read my recent post about Evan and his big-boy bed, you'll know that he's currently got a bit of a "Cars" obsession. Since we wanted to gently discourage him from sleeping with his laundry basket, we decided to get him his own "lovey" to sleep with in the bed. There appears to be a shortage of stuffed automobiles. In their absence, we substituted a Lightning McQueen pillow (which conveniently came with a fluffy Lightning McQueen blanket).

Evan LOVES his pillow...although rather than cuddling with it as we had envisioned, he chooses instead to sleep with his head on it. He actually threw his big pillow OUT of the bed the other night when I was tucking him in so he could have room for the little pillow. Sigh.

He also likes to drag both the pillow and blanket around wherever he goes...we think he may be turning into Linus.

But our favorite part is when he insists on holding the pillow, the blanket, AND his little Lightning McQueen car while we're reading--you guessed it--CARS!

As we speak, Evan is napping, but Lightning McQueen is in the front room with a tractor...just like in the movie.

Beautiful randomness...

And why shouldn't a dog drive a tractor pulling a couple of low-rider trucks?

Evan's "big boy" bed...

Well...we didn't have the inevitable "crawling out of the crib" moment that inspired us to move Evan to a "big boy bed." It was more or less our discomfort with seeing our poor boy mashed up into the corner of his crib each morning coupled with his advancing age (almost 3, you know) that led us to the "big boy bed" moment. Couldn't have our boy sporting a pointy noggin from the baby cage!

Anyhoo...the transition has gone swimmingly. We first put his crib mattress on the floor to get him used to the idea...then bought a twin-sized mattress this weekend to put on the floor (we'll get an actual bed in a few weeks once he's used to the whole "no bars" thing). A little bribery with some fancy "Lightning McQueen" bedding...and VOILA...big boy bed.

The only snag has come with the fact that he, at first, wanted to sleep with his brand new "Lightning McQueen" clothes hamper. We have since gotten him a pillow with said famous racecar that we hope will serve as a surrogate so the dirty clothes stay corralled. (Sidebar: poor Evan looked somberly at me this morning and said, "I no play with laundry, Mommy. Toys are for playing. Basket not for playing.") He also "makes his bed" every morning because he has to have every character on the comforter showing. A 2-year old who makes his bed...we're very proud.

Despite the fact that we have to recite every character and shop in Radiator Springs (courtesy his new rug), the transition has gone very smoothly. Yay big boy bed!

Anyone need a crib? :)

Like father, like son...

It's inevitable. Grandpa Tim is a gamer. Daddy's a gamer. And Evan will one day be a gamer. But I didn't expect it to happen so soon. When Daddy jokingly asked if Evan would like to play "God of War" (not as scary as it sounds)...Evan replied, "Yes, Daddy." So Daddy obliged.

Lest you think our progeny is a prodigy, he did NOT make it very far through the game. But being the most excellent parents we are, we had fun watching him. Please note that he's playing his video game OUTSIDE. The battle against obesity starts right here, my friends. :)

Enjoy. I've included the whole slideshow so you can see the range of expressions...right down to the tongue sticking out as he concentrates...

January then and now...a wee bit late. :)

I think I'm past the point of apologizing for my sporadic blog postings. We all do the best we can...and lately I tend to post in a flurry of activity (you're about to see four...count them FOUR blog postings about the wee Lawrence).

Anyhoo...falling under the "better late than never" category comes January's "then and now" post. So without further ado (or is it adieu?)...may I present...Evan "then and now..."

January 2007

January 2008

January 2009

Wheeeeeeeeeerree's Evan?

Came in last night to find Evan "hiding" under the blanket on the couch. He's at that stage where if he can't see you, you obviously can't see him--even if he is sitting right in the middle of the couch looking like a disheveled homeless ghost.

Fun photos from January...

Evan in his "cowboy" hat

With his blocks--"I wanna make de man witha backpack, Mommy!"

His "lion cub" mask