Merry Christmas From The Evans

Yes, I know it's not the traditional Christmas card with the traditional colors and such.  And that's why I LOVE it!  I had high hopes of getting some cute Christmas pictures of Eli this year.  Well that didn't happen.  He refused to smile for the photographer and the pictures just weren't my favorite.  This makes two years in a row we've used beach pictures for our Christmas cards but oh well.  What can I say?  I love beach pictures!

I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful Christmas this year.  Enjoy your family and we will do the same!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!



iPhone Party Pics

Here are a few of my favorite iPhone pictures from Eli's party.

Enjoy!

This is the only picture I have of his cake.  I'm such a bad mother.  I completely forgot to get a picture of his cake.  My friend, Juli, had my phone during the ENTIRE party taking pictures for me!  Without her I wouldn't have half the pictures I have!  Thanks, Juli!  What an awesome friend!

Juli remembering to get a picture of me and Chad!

I love this picture!  Not only because it's a great picture of the beautiful girls in the back, but because of the kids in the front.  I love how Finn has a huge smile on his face while Campbell is talking to him.  I just wish I knew what they were talking about ;)  Gotta love 3 year old kid conversations!

Me, Juli, Kacey, Kristin, and Alison.  Friends and coworkers!

Sweet boys!

The kids checking out the cake!

me and the birthday boy

yum!

Campbell Apple

One of my favorites from the party

Eli and his friend, Alexi

He had such a good time at his party!  I don't think he wanted it to end!

Playing with the gifts he received from his friends!

Thanks to all of Eli's friends (and their mommas/daddys) who made his party so much fun!  It wouldn't have been the same without you!



Party On, Garth!

The day after Eli's birthday we had his birthday party.  He had been talking about his party for a month before his birthday!  He was super excited, especially about his "cake with 'Ego' (Diego) on it".  I had this shirt made specially for his party.  I thought it turned out very cute! 

I love this picture!  It's so Eli!

The party room before it was destroyed by 8 kiddos ;)

Climbing up his favorite slide.

He likes to come down on his tummy!

Friends hanging out

Eli's best friend, Alexi.  We were attempting to get a good picture of the two of them.

My friends & co-workers... Alison, Kristin, and Kacey.  I'm so lucky to have such good friends who have children close in age to Eli.  It makes those little "phases" (I told you about in the last post) so much easier when you know someone who knows exactly what you're going through!

Eli's friends, twins Jake (lying down) and Jack (standing up).

He was excited while we were singing Happy Birthday.

And he did great blowing out his candle!  All on his own!

Our poor attempt at a family picture. 

Finally getting to open gifts!  We had to make him concentrate on opening them after the first one (it was a tractor).  He just wanted to play with the tractor!

I have more pictures from my iPhone but for some reason Blogger isn't letting me upload them at the moment.  I will do a post tomorrow of just pictures from the party.

Until then!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Eli!

I can't believe I'm writing about Eli turning 3 years old.  Where did the last 3 years go?  It seems like yesterday I was pregnant and waiting for him to arrive.  His arrival was planned for a long time before he was even here.  He has brought more joy to our lives than I could have ever imagined!

His favorite things right now...(in no particular order)

1. laugh and "tickle"

2. hide from others, but he's a terrrible hider.  He starts giggling and when asked "where's Eli" says "right here"!

3. watch cartoons (Diego, Dora, Team Umizoomi, Bubble Guppies)

4. play outside

5. build "towers" with blocks

6. play with his friends (If you ask him who his friends are he lists: Grant, Tyler, Alexi)

7. go to "church" (Mother's Day Out)

8. eat cake

9. color/crafts

10. play on the playground

11. read books



He's 100% little boy.  He's loves playing in the dirt and being outside.  I think he will be athletic like his daddy!  He can kick a ball, hit a ball with a bat when pitched to him, swing a golf club and actually hit the ball and throw a ball pretty well too.  Soccer didn't go so well this fall mainly because he didn't have the attention span to sit and listen!  He can run and kick the ball just fine!  

He loves to ride his "bike" (tricycle) so we thought he would love a real bike for his birthday.  This picture below is his face when Chad was bringing out his new bike!

I did lots of research and we decided on this balance bike.  I think he will do really well with it once we can take it outside for him to really ride.  You could already tell a difference by the end of the day with him riding it through the house!  He was starting to pull up his feet and coast!  They are really cool!  Maybe Santa will bring him a helmet?

Birthday breakfast of fruit loops and a banana

Birthday lunch of Chick Fil A and a special cookie from Rick's Bakery.  Evidently the cookie makes him act silly like this picture below...  Note the icing all over his face and hands :)

All day long he asked for cake.  It was pretty sad actually.  I guess at this age he relates birthdays to cake and candles.  He didn't understand why he couldn't have his cake!  I had anticipated this being an issue, so first thing that morning we headed to Rick's Bakery and bought a small cake for the day.  His big cake would be at the birthday party the next day.  Rick's Bakery always does a fantastic job at making their cakes look great!  I tried waiting until Chad came home from work before we cut it but Eli just couldn't wait any longer!

He finally got a piece of his birthday cake!  He enjoyed it, with blue teeth and all!

Eli is definitely a very special little person to us all!  I love him more than I ever imagined.  I am so lucky and grateful to be his mom!  He is proving the saying "You think the two's are bad, wait until the three's" to be true!  It seems the past month or so have been very trying on our patience.  I know this is just a phase and will pass just as all the other phases.  I look forward to the many years to come with my sweet boy!



O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

This one is a little blurry but you get the idea.  He was so excited!  It's hard not to have blurry pictures when you use your iPhone to take pictures of a 3 year old who won't sit still for longer than 0.2 seconds!  Maybe I will get that new camera lens for my DSLR I've been wanting or a new point and shoot I'm in desperate need of for Christmas.  Hint, hint... Santa.

Can you guess who hung these ornaments?

The year Eli was born I did handprint molds of his tiny little hands and made ornaments.  It's fun each year to compare his hand to how small it was when he was born.  He was fascinated with it this year.



Notice the small chunk out of the side of the ornament in this picture?  His second Christmas (he was 1 yr) he took a bite out of it.  How appropriate?!

I'm not completely done with the top. I was trying something new and need to go get more of the curly sticks. I just need to wrap some presents now!