Cousins! Part I

Warning: There are lots of pictures coming in the next two posts. When you have 4 adorable kids together, you can't help but take lots of pictures. :) With 3 of the 4 very active, however, many end up looking like this:

This past weekend we went up to Kjerstin, Nick and Bridget's in Baltimore. Chris, Kate, Lana and brand new baby Drew drove down from Lancaster to meet us there. This was the first time we got to meet baby Drew and he is just the sweetest little guy! He was pretty outnumbered so maybe it is good that he's still too little to realize it. :)
I love all these father/son pictures. :)

Here's Evie with her newest cousin! Doesn't he make Evelyn look big?

Evie liked Alana's shoe and Lana was quite patient with her :)
Kate brought matching outfits for all the girls so they of course had to quickly change into them when we arrived. :) Bridget and Lana were very thoughtful of Evie too and helped her find some good baby toys. :)

Lana also liked to try to hold Evie and give her hugs. Sometimes it was more successful than others.
Bridget and Lana thought it would be a good idea if all the girls played in the pack-n-play. :)
It was kind of a small space so it didn't last too long. :)

Lana as the oldest and most decisive is kind of the of the ring leader. Whatever she did Bridget and Evie thought it was quite cool. :) Evie felt like quite the big girl hanging out with Lana and Bridget.
We had a nice picnic lunch down at Fells Point. Bridget and Lana loved the pier the best and ran from side to side to see the ducks on one side and the boats on the other.

Evie was very interested in what they were doing...

I know it won't be long until she's running with them!
Story time with UnChis/Daddy: (Drew didn't last too long - he was getting a little squished)
More baby Drew...

Saturday night Bridget and Lana had a sleepover in Kjerstin and Nick's room. :) Sunday morning as we were packing upthey discovered the air mattress. They thought it was the greatest thing ever, especially when Nathan would bounce them on it.

Evie and Nathan were the favorites of the weekend (and UnChis and Baby Dreeewwwww). Lana referred to Nathan as "the nice man" before she remembered his name. :) It was fun to spend more time with Alana (and Bridget) without competition from the aunts and Grandpa. ;) By the end of the weekend they were both saying "Nanan", "Nen" (Jen), and "Evie/Ebie". :)

Thanks, Kjerstin, Nick and Bridget for letting us come and stay with you in your new apartment! We loved spending time with everyone!!

(Park pictures from Nathan's iphone will be coming in a bit :))

Happy Father's Day!

The day before VBS was Nathan's first real Father's Day. Real meaning with Evelyn named and on the outside. Last Father's Day he got a hatchet (that seemed fatherish), but we didn't even know at that point if Evie was a boy or girl! We've decided that these holidays are much more fun once you have a child to share them with. Evie woke up bright and early on Sunday all ready to help Daddy celebrate. Patience doesn't really run in our family so we opened gifts first thing while we were all still in bed. Evelyn loved helping. :)

New speakers for the car weren't quite as exciting as she had hoped... Thankfully Nathan thought they were. ;)

Putting them together though was pretty interesting!

The night before Father's Day we took a picnic out to the James River and enjoyed it with Nathan's parents. It was fun celebrating a double Father's Day! Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures. :( It was a lovely evening though with a nice breeze off the river. The elder Mortiers (;)) brought their canoe which was great and Evie enjoyed wading in the river.

The week of Father's Day we also went to CDR's Fatherhood 365 Father's day picnic with Kizzy, Jason and Bella. Kizzy worked at Ferguson with me and Evie and Bella were born less than a week a part. It was so good to see them again! Look at all of Bella's gorgeous curls. The picnic was nice - good, free food and free Fatherish gifts for the kids (ie a board book on tools, a tools puzzle and a frisbee - Nathan and Evelyn were thrilled! ;)).
Happy belated Father's Day, Nathan!!!

7 1/2 months!

I tried to post Evelyn's 7 month post last week, but for some reason it deleted itself! Here I go again, hopefully it will work this time. :)
The last month and a half have been rather busy for Evelyn. She is quite the little mobile girl now, which is making life exciting for us! :) Not only is she very into crawling now, she also loves to pull up and climb on anything she can. The coffee table, her crib, and her toy basket are her favorites. She's slowing getting better about being able to get back down after she's pulled herself up. Usually though she panics once she's done standing up because she doesn't know how to get back to sitting. Going from the floor, to sitting to crawling and back she has down though.
She has relearned how to do high-fives and thinks they're the greatest. She beams and beams and is so proud of herself. :) She also learned how to clap last week. I had been trying to get her to do it before but I think it took peer pressure from 70 clapping and singing VBS kids for her to finally get it. :)
Evelyn has had some pretty rough nights lately which I attributed to her having a cold. However, this morning I thought to feel inside her mouth and she has two little bottom teeth poking through! No wonder the poor baby has been sad. :( This also explains why she's been gnawing on the coffee table...
She continues to love music, people and stores, especially stores with carts that she can ride in!
Evie is just so much fun and we're loving every minute of it! :) Here are a few pictures from how we celebrated her 7 month birthday.
We had never been to the Yorktown farmer's market so we thought we'd check it out. We loved it and enjoyed cooling off in the York River afterwards. Evelyn is quite the little water baby and enjoy the sand and water (she and I have also started Mommy & Me swimming lessons this month :)).
In the afternoon we went on a picnic in CW with our friends the Tennants. It was SO boiling hot that we didn't stay out long. Just long enough for lunch, ice cream and a short walk. We did see an artist downtown. Jackson and Connor were fascinated by him. :) Connor stood as close as he could. :)

7 Months

Aunt Katie's Visit - Part II

Katie, Evelyn and I spent one whole day at Maymont in Richmond. It was a beautiful (and HOT) day. It was perfect to be outside, get a tan, enjoy the fountains, flowers and animals.
On our way to my favorite garden, the Japanese Garden, we passed several cool animal displays, including the birds of prey and bears! Here's Katie with the great horned owls and her checking her wingspan compared to a hawk and a bald eagle. I'm afraid you still have some growing to do, Trina, to catch up to them. ;)

The bear was right by the fence and quite active when we walked by!
We spend most of our time in the Japanese garden. This is where we had our picnic lunch and spent quite a bit of time sitting by the waterfall dangling our feet in and enjoying the spray. :)
There was a large pond in part of the Japanese Garden with lily pads that you could hop on to cross to the other side. Aunt Katie did it, but I told Evie she needs to wait a few more years.
Even though she couldn't do it, Evelyn was very interested in what Katie was doing, so much so that she refused to sit back in her stroller and sat bold upright watching everything around her. I had to adjust her straps so she wouldn't hurt herself!

After all the Japanese garden excitement, Evelyn fell fast asleep on Aunt Trina and we found another fountain to soak our feet in and stay cool. :)
   
The Italian garden and house were quite beautiful as well, but we didn't spend as much time with them... we were ready to head back and get our ice cream by this point.
Oh and here is Katie with the massive trees... unintentionally doing a classic Twilight pose. ;)
We miss Aunt Katie so much! We're glad though that she is moving to Pennsylvania soon and will be much closer to us! Trina, you're invited any time you want to come!!!!! :)