Good Times

Whew. We've been having a good time here in the Smith household. Heres a rundown:

Mike got a new uniform. Doesn't he look handsome? I think so--I'm a lucky girl. And aren't the patches sewn on nicely? (is that what they're called? I have no idea) I know they're hard to see, but i'll tell you, someone (me) did a very good job of sewing them on. A labor of love.

It's getting cold out (very cold-we added mittens to this ensemble shortly after this picture was taken-brrrr)

but Evan still loves the playground.

Here's a picture with me in it, simply because I wanted to join the other members of this post.

Mike and I have learned that Evan will snuggle with us when we read books with him. Otherwise, he's too busy too slow down and snuggle. Needless to say, we read books a lot in this house.

We went to Fourth Cliff (a military recreation area at the beach) with some friends this weekend and had a blast. We rented this little 3 bedroom cottage and spent the whole weekend doing nothing and hanging out. And playing Pictionary. We ate a lot too.




I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, so here's a picture of Evan. He likes his car seat.

Mike has this entire week off, and thats pretty exciting. We don't have any plans yet, but we don't really need any. It's nice to just see how things pan out. Although we do seem to have HBO (and Starz, and Showtime, and Cinemax, etc.) free for a month for some reason, so I plan on watching as many movies as possible. If you need me, I'll be on the couch.

Yes, we're still here

Ugh. It's been a while since I've posted. Really, nothing has happened that I think would be even remotely interesting to talk about. I don't think we've even taken any pictures since Halloween. So we're boring. But boring is good. We like boring.

Whats Evan up to, you may ask? Everything. I made him a little playroom in the basement, with a slide and a fort and lots of toys--all of which I just moved from upstairs, so bonus for me, extra room--and he seems pretty happy with it. A few times throughout the day he just stands at the gate at the top of the stairs yelling "BA BA BA BA" and pointing downstairs--apparently that means he wants to go play.


He especially likes to play with Rodney, whom some of you may have met, and everyone thinks is creepy. Except Evan and I, we like him. Evan likes to carry him around, sometimes uses him as a pillow, and really likes to make him go down the slide.

See, even at a young age Evan loved him. My Grandma made Rodney for my dad when he was little, and I played with him when I was little, and now, apparently, Evan plays with him. I think it's cute, and Mike thinks it's scary. But then again, Mike also thinks Elmo is scary, so I don't know if his opinion can be trusted.

So we're boring. However, if you want something exciting to do, and it's before 11:59 pm PST on Friday 11/14, go to Oprah.com (or click this link) to make a free photo book from snapfish. Yet one more reason why I love Oprah. You can upload your pictures and customize each page with text and photos to make a really neat book. On the show, they used pictures of kids' art work as a way to save the art and de-clutter. Pretty cool. Thanks Oprah!

Halloween!

We love Halloween in this house. Evan, apparently, is no exception. He had a blast this halloween, seeing all the kids come to our door, showing off for our friends who came over, and eating sugar cookies and punch. Best of all, he got to go trick-or-treating! He was really good at it, and he had a wonderful time. We only made it to three houses, but that was better than we expected. He even carried his little pail (which he picked out himself) and held it out for candy.

He especially enjoyed chewing on his candy after he got it. I think he was pretty surprised to learn that candy was actually something you can eat after you get through the wrapper. Mostly he just chewed on it for a second and then abandoned it somewhere. Although, he did seem to enjoy this tootsie roll pop, which he then proceeded to smear all over the floor and furniture. Needless to say, his time with the lollipop was short-lived.

You might have noticed, from the previous post, that Evan has two Halloween costumes. He had two last year as well. We just can't help ourselves. Actually, we thought the monkey costume was pretty creepy, so we had to buy it and take pictures, but putting it on Evan turned it from creepy into cute so our plan backfired.

It is creepy, however, when you think of it in the context of this:

...which was what we were going for. Oh well.

On another note, Evan is now officially a climber.

Notice how a) he is trying to get to the halloween candy, and b) he is using his little car as a step stool. A few days ago, I watched him carry his car over to the coffee table and use exactly this method to climb onto the coffee table. Then he danced. On the table. I am simultaneously proud and worried by his newfound upward moblity, which is why I've decided to turn the basement into a playroom.

I just recently cleaned out our basement (a feat not for the faint of heart) and am very proud of myself. I actully enjoy spending time down there now. I've been looking for a climber to put down there for Evan so he can use the basement as a space in which to climb and run around, and I finally found one on Craigslist. Fantastic! So now we're off to Natick to pick it up--wish us luck!

While we're out, want some candy?

We've got plenty.

Make a Smilebox postcard

Sleepytime

Poor Evan. He skipped his morning nap today, and was a little sleepy when lunchtime rolled around. He ate most of his lunch, but then this happened, and it was just so funny that I had to immediately sit down and share it.

Sorry if the camera is a bit shaky, but I was silently laughing so hard that it was the best I could do. And don't worry, he's now sleeping much more comfortably in his crib.

Now, off to clean up the mess we made at lunch.

First Haircut!

A very momentous day in our family has occurred--Evan's first haircut! He did great. Mike really had to talk me into it, because I was worried that he wouldn't be my little baby anymore if we cut off his little curls, but I shouldn't have been worried at all. In fact, now I realize that he was starting to look a bit crazy at times, and the haircut has been a big improvement.

Here he is before. Not a big mess, but theres some fly-aways on the sides and top that were getting a bit out of control. Especially in the mornings. Or when he had rubbed food in his hair, which is often.

Here he is after. Not a big transformation, I know, but we are quite pleased. Try to ignore the fact that his hair is spiked in the front--the lady that cut his hair thought it would look cute, and we figured she deserved to have some fun. After all, she cuts children's hair all day--probably not the easiest job there is. At least he didn't leave with a blue mohawk, like the kid before him...

Evan did a great job, and the haircut went pretty much as we anticipated. He just sat there, looking glum, and periodically tried to turn his head to see what she was doing.

Here he is, trying to look as pathetic as possible. Often, when he's not quite sure about whats going on, he gets this blank look. Silly boy.

At this point he was trying to look at what she was doing, and somewhat melted in that position. He stayed like that for the rest of his haircut--and she managed to cut his hair that way. He was a trooper, and didn't complain, whine or cry one bit--but then, we never expected him to. "Mild-mannered" seems to sum Evan up perfectly.

Yes, I Do Believe My Son is the Cutest.

Sometimes I cannot even handle how adorable my son is. I know that all parents think that their child is the cutest kid in the world, and now I am going to take my turn and pronounce mine the cutest. There. I've said it. But don't you agree? If you think he looks like he's up to no good, it's because he is. He noticed that I had the camera out, and this was the only picture I was able to snap before he grabbed it. The smirk is one we know well--it usually means the bathroom door is open and he's about to unravel the toilet paper roll, or somone has left the remote control within reach. Or left anything within reach, for that matter. What a cutie.


While I'm on the subject of life with a toddler, let me tell you what I found under the bed the other day. (Go ahead and let your imagination run wild for a moment...) I was in the process of making the bed in the morning when I discovered two things. One: Mike had changed the sheets the night before, (which was very helpful of him) but had managed to put the top sheet on sideways, which was funny. Two: Something smelled terrible near my side of the bed, which was not funny. I will spare you a description of the smell, but I must say that it is a highly unpleasant experience to have to search for the source of a gross smell by following it. Anyway, what I found was a sippy cup that had apparently once contained milk. And leaked onto the floor. And no longer contained anything that resembled milk. yuck. On the bright side, we just recently bought a handheld carpet cleaner, which works beautifully. Somehow I have the feeling I will be using it increasingly more often!



What a big boy. By the way, I finished Evan's robe and am quite pleased with it. He seems to like it as well. It should come in handy on chilly mornings.

Mike's sister Maggie is here right now for her first visit to the East Coast, and we have been having a fantastic time. It's so fun to tour around the area with someone who has never been here--we end up seeing so many things that we've never seen before! She's here until Wednesday, so I'm sure we have more adventures coming our way.

On a final note, does anyone read this? Leave us some comments-- the Team Smith blog is feeling very lonely...