So thats what "toddler" means...

Evan has only been 12 months for a couple of weeks now, and we've already got big news! You guessed it...he's walking! Thats right--Evan took those all important first steps this last week, and he's walking all over the house. Every day he gets a little steadier and walks a little longer. He loves it too, and is so proud of himself--he just laughs and smiles the whole time he is walking. Here's a video:

Needless to say, we are very proud parents. I love the way he holds his arms up. He still needs something steady to pull himself up on in order to stand up, but at the rate he's going, I imagine he'll pick it up pretty quickly.

All around, things are going great in the Smith household. We are having a relaxing long weekend, enjoying life and occasionally getting some things done. We are planning on having a garage sale next weekend, so we are going through all of the things in our basement. We're pretty excited about getting rid of some clutter, and any money we make will be an extra bonus. Hope for good weather!

By the way, Mike and I have a new love in our lives. It's name is Keurig, and it lives on our kitchen counter and makes us coffee. And tea, and cocoa. It makes single servings of whatever you want in seconds, so everybody gets what they want. Of course, we've both been drinking ridiculous amounts of coffee, just because we can. And it's fun. So life is good.

Cake!

I finally figured out how to edit videos. Turns out it's not hard. At all. Especially if you have "video editing for dummies"--aka Microsoft Movie Maker--which I downloaded (for free-yippee!) in two minutes and then had my video cut to size in another two minutes. Easy peasy. So, thanks to my minimal computer prowess there is now a video of Evan's cake-eating for all to view.

On the opposite end of the spectrum from computers and technology is Heath, Ma., which we visited yesterday to go to the Heath Fair. My friend Anne, Evan and I drove out and met up with our friends Sarah and Jarrod, whose grandparents live there. They own a pair of Belgian horses which pulled a wagon all day giving rides to fair-goers and also participated in Evan's favorite part of the day--the parade!

There were all kinds of classic cars and tractors (along with a few vehicles from the '80s. Those aren't 'classic" yet, right? Just old.) He especially loved the fire trucks, though. He's a boy, through and through.

Second favorite part of the day? Petting zoo. I say second favorite because Evan is slightly terrified of farm animals (makes sense--most are ten times his size) but he seems to be warming up to them. He even touched this one!

He did surprisingly well until we were swarmed by a group of sheep later in the day--I think he might be done with large animals for awhile. Good thing we live in eastern Massachusetts.
Anyway, we had a great day, made much more interesting by a GPS malfunction that caused us to drive for an extended period of time on gravel roads that often ended with no warning. Which, turned out to be a really good way to see a part of Mass. that we'd never seen. Who would've thought?

Birthday Extravaganza! (sort of)

Evan (and family) has made it through a whole year! Hooray! Thanks to everyone who sent their love our way on Evan's birthday--we had a fabulous day. We didn't really do much-- I made a cake, we had some friends over for dinner, and of course, we had some adorable Pooh decorations and balloons. It was kind of a weird experience, because we felt like Evan's first birthday should be a big deal, but it was pretty much like any other day. Evan of course didn't really care about his birthday (although he was excited about his cake--more about that later) but I imagine we can expect that to change for his next birthday. I feel like this birthday was just practice for all of his birthdays to come. I have learned, for instance, that when singing "Happy Birthday", you should hold the cake with birthday candles away from yourself so that you don't blow the candles out. Lesson learned.

Anyway, we had a great day, and Evan already seems older. For the last couple of weeks, he seems to have been getting bigger and bigger, and we are so proud of him and so ready for him to begin exploring his new toddler stage.

So, onto the cake. I made Evan a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (due to my recent success at grandma's ("mamo's") birthday), which I must say, was delicious. Still is. I might have another slice for breakfast. Evan agreed.

Here's the cake pre-Evan:

And here's Evan's reaction to it. Note how he touches it first very cautiously with one finger. He does that with everything. Such a smart boy. Then of course, he just digs right in!

--Sorry--trouble uploading the video--i'll have to work on it tonight and get back to you. Until then, I know you'll be waiting on the edge of your seat. Here's another picture to keep you going until then.

He had a good birthday. Thanks for all of your love and support throughout his first year, and all of his years to come! Tomorrow Evan and I are heading to the Heath fair with some friends, and word is that we get to be in a parade. Oh boy! Mike will be gone for a class all week, and I am already looking forward to him coming home, even though he hasn't left yet. Also, my friend Sarah is coming to visit later this week, and i can't WAIT for her to come. We are going to have an excellent time.

Happy days to all!

Back From Montana

Evan and I just returned from a solo trip to Montana for a few days for grandma's 75th birthday celebration. We had a fantastic time, and Evan is a wonderful traveler (he's an angel anyway) so all around it was a good experience. Sure feels good to be home though! Evan's been having a grand time playing with all his toys again, as well as the dishwasher, the printer, Cody's water bowl, and all of his other favorite non-toy items.

It felt really good to be in Montana again with all the sights and smells that I grew up with (not to mention getting to spend time with my fabulous family)--not much has changed, which is reassuring. Evan had a wonderful time too, playing with his cousins,

and experiencing lots of new things, including horses,

and crazy old cowboys.

(just kidding, uncle Johnny, I don't think you're old!)

We got to see some pretty awesome weather too--they don't call it "big sky country" for nothing--sometimes you can look in every direction and the weather is different in each place. Wierd. Have you ever seen clouds like these?

They produced a pretty awesome thunderstorm.



Anyway, now we're back in incredibly crowded Massachusetts and continuing with life as usual. Although, more excitement is on the way, because saturday is Evan's first birthday! Let the festivities begin! Actually, I'm just making a cake and we're having a few friends over, but I think it will be a perfect birthday. By the way, no walking yet, but we'll keep you updated. What a big boy.

Stay tuned for "baby with cake-face pictures"!

Is this thing on?

So, apparently I've made a blog. I'm not quite sure why yet, but it seemed like it might be fun, and other people's blogs are so addictive...so we'll give it a go. It's kind of overwhelming to have a blank canvas to fill with only your own thoughts and ideas, so I imagine i'll have to take it slow. Who knows? Maybe i'll be able to talk Mike into writing a post or two as well.

So what's easy to start off with? Evan. I'm really good at talking about Evan. He's almost a year old, and adorable, and pinchable.

And--he's trying to walk, which is slightly terrifying. Not because I'm worried that he's going to get into everything--he already does that--but how can my little newborn infant baby boy be walking? He has a little push-car that he is now obsessed with pushing around the house and he looks like such a big boy walking everywhere. At the same time he's so short and pudgy that he doesn't seem like he should be physically able to walk...mama's little enigma.

It's only a matter of time now, he'll be a champion walker before we know it, and really I'm only slightly sad about little newborn Evan growing up. We have so much to look forward to, and I can't wait to experience all the learning and growing he has ahead of him!