Happy Easter!

 

Happy Easter!!

 

 

 

Love,

Evelyn & Jeanie

Happy Birthday Jeanie!!

 

Jeanie had a wonderful birthday celebration for her first birthday.  The festivities started off with a trip to Zombie Burger (at Papa's request.)  I don't know who enjoyed it more - Evelyn & Jeanie?  Or Papa?

 

Evelyn and Papa being silly while deciding which burger to choose.  Papa ended up with Sara's Revenge, Evelyn chose a cheeseburger with ketchup and pickles.

Bama and Jeanie discussing their options.

A trip to Zombie Burger wouldn't be complete without a picture with the zombies!  Here's Evelyn doing her best zombie impression.

 

A Roberts/Owens family photo.  If you haven't been to Zombie Burger yet, you need to go.

 

The festivities continued at Jeanie's birthday party.  All of her Owens' family was there along with Bama and Papa.

 

Bama insisted on trying the new mix-in frosting flavors for Jeanie's cupcakes.  We had Raspberry White Chocolate, Strawberry Shortcake, Cotton Candy and Mint Chocolate.  Yum-O!

Jeanie got off to a slow start, but once she got going, there was no slowing her down!

 Family pictures are interesting when there's a 3-year old involved.  At least she (Evelyn) wasn't sticking her tongue out in this one. :)

The whole famn damily...  With 4 kids, 4 and under, we took one shot and were happy with the result.  Everyone's eyes were open and everyone was looking in the right general direction.  Perfect.  Thanks to Uncle Rusty, Aunt Leanne, Addie & Eva; Uncle Eric and Auntie Kylie; Papa & Bama; Grandpa & Grandma for helping Jeanie celebrate her first birthday!

1 Year Old... Better Late Than Never

On Feb. 28, our "Baby Jeanie" turned 1.  That's right, 1.  I'm still having a hard time with it myself.  Since I'm sure you're curious, here are her stats and Evelyn's at the same age.

Height :  31.5" (Evelyn: 30.5"), 99th %

Weight:  27.1# (Evelyn: 26.4#), 99th %

She's still a very happy girl and more squirmy than ever.  She's nowhere near the cuddler that her sister was - she'd much rather be on the floor playing and moving around.  She's so close to walking (has been for a while, but getting more brave every day).  She's babbling all the time - no definite words yet, although Ethan swears she says "Da!" when he gets her up in the morning.  Last night she waved "Hi" to Bama and Papa as we Skype'd.  She loves music and is starting to show her sense of rhythm (or lack thereof) with some funny dance moves.

I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller...

This January, thinking that 3 was about the right age to start introducing Evelyn to some sports fundamentals, I signed her up for a 5-week basketball "clinic" through our YMCA.  For some reason, when I saw the information for a "clinic" for 3-4 year olds, I thought it would be 5 weeks of dribbling, passing, shooting, defense... you know, basic basketball stuff.  About a week before the "clinic" started, I got an e-mail from the coach, letting the parents know that there would be 2 weeks of "practice" followed by 3 weeks of "games."  Also included in this e-mail was our game schedule and picture order form.  Are you kidding me??  Games for 3-4 year olds??  And team pictures??  Yep.  Silly me for being so naive.

 

Evelyn was one of 2, 3-year olds on her team - the others were 4 (most of them were almost 5, really).  This was Evelyn's first exposure to basketball (other than passing a ball back and forth in the back yard) and most of the other kids had played before and also had older siblings.  Needless to say, even though each session was only 45 minutes, we were lucky to get 15-20 minutes of good participation out of her.

 

However, I have to commend her coach, Tim.  He was wonderful.  He did a great job of spending a little extra time and attention with Evelyn, passing the ball with her one-on-one, and while the older kids were shooting, lifting her up to get closer to the basket, and even dunking a few times.  I cannot say enough wonderful things about Coach Tim.

 

Despite the fact that  this was probably a little over her head, she loved going to basketball each week and would talk about it for days afterwards.  Here she is in their final "game," getting a little help from Coach Tim.

 

 

http://youtu.be/FsVya6ziUs4

100%

10-11 months

It looks like I've fallen behind!  Time to play catch-up.

 

At 10 months, Jeanie finally figured out how to crawl on hands and knees and it quickly became her primary mode of getting around.

 

By 11 months, Jeanie has figured out how to pull herself up to standing and can frequently be caught cruising around the furniture.  I even caught her pushing one of our kitchen chairs across the floor (in an effort to get as close to big sissy as possible!)  She seems to understand when you tell her no (probably better than her sister does at this point).  She's also started mimicking sounds here and there (da, ba, ma, etc.)  Of course, her favorite thing to do is drop her cup and say "Uh-oh."  She's also found high gear when it comes to crawling.  In addition to that, she's a master stair climber.  This girl continues to be on the move, and I'm afraid that Ethan's prediction ("She'll be walking by her first birthday.") just might come true.

(We've been working on holding up her finger to indicate "1" in preparation for her big birthday next month!)

The Holiday Season

The holiday season is in full swing at our house.  Evelyn must have heard the phrase on the radio (because we all know she doesn't watch any TV, so couldn't have heard it there), so her favorite thing to say these days is "It's the holiday season!"

 

Last weekend, we got our Christmas tree (no fake ones for this Northwest girl!) and quickly got it up and decorated.  Of course, we had a little help.

As soon as Evelyn finished decorating the tree (or the 2 square feet right in front of her), she decided she needed to read a story to the tree.

Jeanie got in on the action as well.

Last night, Santa made a special stop in Waukee to visit all the girls and boys.  Ethan must have been a really good boy this year, because he got a special call from Santa who asked him if he would help during his visit.  Never one to pass up the opportunity to wear an elf costume, Ethan was more than happy to help out.  So, I bundled up the girls and braved the hour-long wait in line by myself so we could visit with the big guy in red.  In line, I asked Evelyn what she wanted Santa to bring her for Christmas.  Her response, "A candy cane."  So I asked, "Don't you want him to bring you a toy?"  And she said, "No, I have toys at home."  Her daddy was so proud.

 

 

Evelyn the Patriot

Every morning on the way to "school," Evelyn and I drive by a HUGE American flag.  When it's not flying, she asks "Mommy, where's my big flag?"  And when it is flying, she salutes and says...