Evan's Birthday Celebration

We had a small party at our house for Evan. I wanted to make sure we did the party as far away from Christmas as possible. While it was so exciting to have a baby in my arms last Christmas I am now stressing about how I am going to make it special for him years to come. We have a birthday tree in our family room but I am going to need to get more creative than that here in a few years. Thanks to all our friends and family for helping make Evan feel special. xo

Santa!

Every year our neighborhood does a fantastic job of putting on this huge Santa event. Hot chocolate, writing letters, visiting Santa and then to top off the night Santa comes around on a fire engine to street corners and you go out to greet him and donate a gift. It's MY FAVORITE event here. It's so much fun watching the kids become so excited running down the street in the dark.

Here are a few of our time meeting Santa! Colin walked in as if there wasn't a huge line of kids " HI SANTA!".. he's a nut ;)

cake!

evan enjoyed his first taste of cake and I am pretty sure he decided he liked it :) thank you to my sweet friend carrie for helping me contain the mess. xo

Evan Is One!

My sweet Evan. From the moment I took that pregnancy test I was terrified. Your brother had just celebrated his first birthday and I thought that I would have to perform a miracle to raise two babies just 20 months apart. Thank goodness not everything goes according to my plan. I could not imagine our family without you.

You are the worlds sweetest. I knew that the moment it was just you and I in the hospital and I got to just hold you for hours. I just looked at you and your gigantic cheeks and knew that everything was going to be ok. Crazy but ok.

You have such a sweet disposition. Your smile is unlike any smile I've seen. I'm not quite sure where it comes from but I love every turn of it. I love your thighs. I could eat them. I love the smell of your hair and the way you rest your head in my neck if only for a second.  I love the way you touch my face while I try to rock you. I love your voice and the way you say dada when I say momma. Your patience, oh my. You have such a strong connection with that wild brother of yours. Sometimes he is the only one who can get you to laugh. The laughter you and your brother have together make me feel like I am doing something right.

I hate that this year has slipped between my fingers. It has been a crazy year.  There are month's where I feel I haven't documented enough. There are nights where I just wish you'd still let me rock you and stay my baby.  Then there are days where your father and I are running on a spare but I wouldn't trade the best surprise life's given us. You are a perfect puzzle to this family. I love you, happy birthday!

Evan First Year from Katie Smith on Vimeo.

just hanging out

reading about Santa, being brothers, terrorizing tuck and laughing while dancing. the boys pretty much entertain one another and torture tucker in the process. They just bug me when they are hungry.. which is often.

entertainment

this pretty much sums up colin in photos. every time evan wakes up from his nap colin insists on going up with us to get him. he loves to be the first face evan sees. It's adorable... evan is colin's number one fan.

searching for the tree

I think Colin was confused as to what we were doing in the middle of all these trees. He was mostly excited to talk to the guys as they put the tree on the roof and talked about where we were going for lunch. I do love our little christmas tree tradition :)

thanksgiving

Holidays are always fun and exhausting all at the same time. We do lots of traveling and TONS of eating...

air + space

Colin loves all things that move.. cars, trucks, planes.. everything. But ask him to go into a truck or plane he is terrified. So on our way to the air and space museum we parked and he said "no want to go". The child is really scared of everything. I am told Justin was this way as a child- just sayin'. But we have to just push through and give things a try. Once inside Colin was fascinated. His brain couldn't handle all the excitement. He just kept turning in every direction saying "daddy lets go", "come on", "see!". It's just so fun watching their brains take everything in. I think we will be going back :) I was actually quite impressed with the place myself. It's a great place to take the kids on a cold day.

cousins.

I wanted to get a picture of all three of them together before it REALLY got cold but it just wasn't happening so I opted for individual shots instead. Thank you Ryan for helping me with the lights.. you are a good uncle! Merry Christmas, I mean Happy Thanksgiving ;) xo

ham.

he's a little excited over halloween.. although when we ask "colin are you excited to be a fireman?!" he replies "nope." awesome.

bubble

oh pinterest I love thee... i wish i could take credit but some other brilliant mom came up with this fun idea on some corner of the internet. all you need is a box fan and a duvet cover and a cute kid :)

justin's birthday!

This handsome man celebrated his 31st birthday this weekend. His baby face shows no age.. it's just not fair. I've already warned him if he keeps up the ageless look he's going to shell out for some botox for me. Colin picked out a few $1 birthday presents at the $1 sections at target. He was so excited to go shopping for his birthday.

Happy Birthday to the fun parent, the ageless man and the guy that keeps me laughing every day. We love you :)

happiness

I am trying to up my blogging a tad as I am in the (tedious) process of creating a blog book on BLURB. I can't wait to have the final product in my hand. So bare with me :)

The look on this child's face when he runs to the backyard to play is so sweet. I love watching him get so excited over something. It feels like Christmas morning watching him play. He's been requesting his dinner outside he doesnt want to leave.. it's a bad habit I said yes to because it was so adorable. Now I am paying for it.. every single night. 

apple orchard

It isn't fall with picking some apples and buying some real cider. When we first got there I think Colin and Wilson thought they had to clean up the entire orchard picking up all the apples. Then Colin and I went home and Colin decided to give our house the stomach bug. Good times.