Little Fish Party

Even though it was chillier than we might have liked for a pool party, we had a blast at Evie's "Little Fish" birthday party last weekend.

She sang along to her own "Happy Birthday" serenade

 

Of course, the kids don't mind chattering teeth and blue lips, as long as there's always an audience to "watch this!" every. single. time.
(Oh and skinny dipping too!)

She got lots of help from the boys in opening her fun gifts, and a well-timed musical card turned the whole thing into an impromptu dance party.

 

Gotta stay hydrated

And our celebration was was extra-special because we had Grandma Vegas in town as our guest of honor.

Also, yay for more babies! 

Thanks to everyone who came to party with our big two-year-old! We love her so much.

Evie's Two!

She's two. My funny, sweet, feisty, smiley, stubborn girl is officially a two-year-old.

 She loves playing in water, being outside, trying on other people's shoes, and taking off all her clothes.

 She's got a soft spot for babies, animals, and anyone holding food of any sort.

Her favorites include: Minnie Mouse, her play kitchen, play-doh, and painting.

Doing her best "Church Lady" impression

She refuses to hold hands when she's walking, but then begs to be held close when she's spooked or sleepy. She thinks the words "tootie tots" make for the funniest joke ever told, every single time. She's such a big girl in so many ways, talking like crazy, learning her colors and numbers, going down the slide by herself; but on the flip side, we still can't leave her alone in Sunday school and her binkies probably aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

 New birthday play-doh!

Special birthday boat drinks

Little lady in her new heels from Grandma and Papa 

That whole "lady" thing never lasts long...

We had a fun day together, celebrating our big girl. Evie's only requests were doughnuts and cake "with ice cream on it." (My little health nut.) Well, we covered those and added in the zoo and some presents too.

 

Getting her face painted as a "rainbow kitty" -- she quit halfway through.

I tried recounting the story of her birth to her the night before her birthday. I was getting all emotional and teary-eyed, remembering that magical night. She was less than impressed and started crying. She was way too tired and just wanted to snuggle without having to listen to such a boring story.

Well that night was anything but boring and I only remember how happy and in love I was the moment I first held her. And she's brought us all so much more joy in her little two years than she knows.
My girl, my little Evelyn Kaye. 

A Little Bit Lazy

I haven't brought my camera anywhere lately. Even at home, when there's something worthy of a picture, I just grab my phone. So I've been a little lazy in the photography department as of late. Apologies. 

Most notably, we finally got to meet our new cousin (and niece) Eliana Grace Boehm! We were even lucky enough to be with Aunt Amanda when it was time to go to the hospital. It was a very exciting day! 

She's such a little doll.

Evie is in love and wants to hold her all the time. She snuggles up to her and gives her kisses and hugs constantly. She says things like "Baby Ellie suuuuper cute!" and "Aw, baby, sweet!"

Julian has gone through a recent phase where he's been afraid of babies. One of my best friends, Jenny just had a little girl about a month ago and when he tried holding little Reese for the first time, she started crying. He was terrified. Seriously, like shaking and holding back tears for the rest of their visit. He wouldn't even be in the same room as the baby and kept asking when they were going to leave. (So polite.) Luckily, he's slowly getting past it and has held Eliana a couple of times and is much less nervous around baby Reese. (Although I still don't think he'd hold her yet.)

 We took a fun trip to MSU the other night on a whim. We got to see the new screens and hear the new sound system they're putting in at the stadium.  Mitch and I love to show the kids our old stomping grounds and know that one day they'll think our stories about college are sooo boring. So we make the most of it now when they think the Sparty statue is awesome and just walking around campus is an exciting adventure.

 Future Track Stars

Julian has really started getting into how things work lately. I let him take a couple of ballpoint pens apart to see all the pieces and try to put them back together. He spent a good 10 minutes figuring out the inner workings of the screen door latch and the deadbolt. He's always curious.

A classic example of Julian's "curiosity"

And little Miss Evelyn will be two in two days. I actually can believe it, she seems to grow up by the second! We'll be having a birthday party for her in a week...pictures to come. (I promise to use my real camera for that one.)

Oh and lastly...

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...

maybe I have a little, tiny reason for feeling lazy lately...

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:)