8/20/10

I have 2 great little helpers who love giving Evie her binky whenever she cries.  I love how she looks when sleeping. At her 1 month check up she weighed 9lbs 10oz. she is up to the 75th percentile for weight after being under 50th % at her first checkup. she is also in the 75th for height. It seems strange to me because Kara was always 99%, and Kiersten was always way off the chart on height. But I guess she has plenty of time to catch up later. We love her just as she is, short or tall. maybe it'll take her longer to be able to get into the cupboards and things.

Someone mentioned to Ben that I have not been in the blogs lately. So here's a picture to prove I'm still around. These days I can usually be found wherever Evangeline is.

These stools had suede on them that I had to scrub after every meal. So I decided to cover them with vinyl. Here is how they turned out. It was pretty easy to do. It was my first time using a staple gun, and my first time using Ben's drill without his help (or permission). The girls were a lot more excited about it than I thought they would be. They are both really into dresses lately, especially Kiersten. I can't get her to wear pants lately.

I thought it was cute the other night when Ben was helping Kara read. she's been learning to read words for a few months, and I have started teaching her to read sentences. I was just writing simple sentences on paper, since most of her books have some words that are still a little hard for her. A few nights ago, Ben came home with these early reader books for her. They are perfect. And she is so proud to be able to read an entire book without us telling her any of the words.

Ben thinks these jammies make her look big. but I think she still looks pretty small. They have Kiersten's name embroidered on them, but she doesn't mind.

cute baby getting ready for a bath.

just a funny picture at the end of a smile.

Here's how she looks as of today. I sure love her little face!

crazy around here

just wanted to update with some pictures for Ben to see while he's in salt lake. Just in case he doesn't miss us enough already.
Evangeline loves baths, just like both of her sisters did. She especially loves getting her head cleaned. We finally got out the baby swing for her. She likes looking at all the different lights, and toys on it. I got these cute overalls at the store for just $3.

here she is doing her baby push ups. she is getting better and better all the time.

Kara joining Evie for tummy time.

more swinging.

The girls did a project with water colors the other day. Kiersten painted her face like this, and then was horrified when she saw herself in the mirror. she started crying and begging to have it cleaned off.

We also got out our farm play yard for the baby. It seemed like she was getting bored laying around all the time. She loves looking in the mirror the most. the girls always want to play with her, but I think she prefers when they leave her alone.

getting ready for a nap. she's pretty good about going down for naps when I want her to. she's a pretty good baby all around. She's definitely my easiest newborn. I don't know if that's because of her, or because of me.

The girls after their bath today. they sure miss their daddy, and I get to hear about how much they miss him all day.

funny faces. Kara loves making funny faces. Kiersten isn't very original. She usually just copies whatever Kara is doing. (which, honestly, is usually this same type of thing.)

7/31

we drove up to Idaho to see ben's dad, and to break up our drive home. Here he is meeting the baby. I love how she is reaching up to him. Katie and her boyfriend, Brennan came over. He did pretty well with Ben's endless teasing.

sleepy time.

there is usually an impromptu concert when we go to Papa's house.

The Miller's happened to be having a reunion this weekend. We were able to go to the lake with everyone on saturday, and to dinner.

The girls had tons of fun. They did get a little more color than I'd have liked. We just aren't used to that idaho sun.

Everyone was glad to meet Evangeline. Here she is being held by Ben's aunt DeeAnn.

It was a little hard to keep track of all the kids, and we had a few scares with missing kids, but everyone was found in the end.

Kara playing in the water.

my Kiersten baby.

getting ready to leave for dinner. Kerry and Lana got there right as we were starting to pack things up.

I woke up from a nap to find that Papa had given Karalee a guitar to play.

Kiersten soon joined with a drum, and they got Papa to dance for them.

They love playing with all of the animals, especially poor Boo-Paw, who they are constantly picking up, or chasing around.

Playing fetch with Duke.

Evie was happyto be able to relax out of the carseat, which she now hates being in. Her cheeks are starting to get chubby.

we left at 1 AM to drive home. Ben slept from the time we got back from dinner, til about 12:30. I kept the girls awake as long as I could, but they were out by the time we were ready to leave. They still slept for most of the night in the car though.

7/28 & 7/29

We drove from PG to salt lake to attend Grandpa Howard's funeral. Shirley's brothers both drove out from california. Evie got to meet lots of family members. Here she is meeting her Aunt Debbie. Aunt Katie was excited to meet her too.

And of course Grandma Howard loved holdintg her newest great grandchild.

Ben's uncle Skip at Shirley's new house in Smithfield. she got moved in the same day as the funeral.

Abby, Tommy, Ben's aunt Vicky, and his mom Vicky.

Playing a game in the new house with Nancy, Victor, and Vicky.

Grandma VanSickle holding little Evangeline.

I didn't have my camera at the funeral or burial, because it was buried in our car, but it was a nice funeral, and I'm glad we could be there for Grandma Howard. We already miss Grandpa Howard, and things are so different wthout him there.

7/27

This is a picture from last week, I just wanted to sneak it into this post. Mom and Dad left on Friday morning. I got a few pics of Dad with Evangeline. He did panic a bit when she started puking while he was holding her. It sounds like they had fun driving home, and stopping at lots of fun places.

We left home at 10:30 PM on monday evening. We finally arrived in Pleasant Grove at 4 pm the next day. Jackie and Josh were nice enough to let us spend the night at their house. Here is cute little Cash wearing Ben's hat.

Evie and her cousin Kaymie. They are just 6 months apart in age.

Laynee, Kara, and Kiersten playing in Cash's room. He has lots of fun toys that he shared.

Angie's little Kyrie. She is just adorable, and reminds me so much of Angie.

Shelly and Angie both came over with their families, and Nic came over too. So we took all the kids outside to play for a while.

Nic and shelly

Angie holding little Evangeline.

Ben and Nic went to the store and got ice cream for everyone, and Shelly brought some brownies. Laynee and Kara are just like 2 peas in a pod.