It's my party and I'll cry if I want to....

Since it was such a success on my social site, I thought I'd post Evan's reaction to me not letting him go down the weathered/splintered steps to the back yard with hard concrete at the bottom. I was trying to pose him for a cute picture for his birth mom Courtney/Brooke (goes by both) who requested I text her a photo. :D LOL. This is not the one I sent though it would have been hilarious. :) Cute little tantrum baby...

Happy Birthday Courtney/Brooke!

Evan's birthmom Courtney also goes by Brooke and today is her 19th Birthday! We want to wish her a very

Happy Birthday

today and our wish is for you to have a great year, full of love and success. We are greatful you are in our life and we look forward to seeing you again in October! We can't wait. Please feel free to laugh at me for dropping the camera at the end of this video. LOL. ;) I hope the rest of you will leave comments for Courtney on her birthday too.

We love you!

Mike, Lila, Evan and Pets... :D

Reaaaaalllly Old School

I was going through some pictures my brother Carl put from slides and negatives to disc for the family of my Mom's dad's photography. I just felt like posting a few to share. I couldn't find a good one I liked of my mom with her twin brother yet, but there are hundreds more to sift through....

My two oldest brothers, Carl and Wade 18mo apart in age. cutest picture ever.

My daddy Allan

my mom's parents, grandma Grace and Grandpa "E". the funny thing about this picture is that they aren't smiling. they were always smiling and laughing and had the best time but every picture of my grandmother, is this face. They are both in heaven now, together. ;)

great shot of grandpa "E".

My mother is the cutest little thing on the left (karla) and her beautiful older sister is on the right (graylyn). Los Angeles circa 1946ish?

My Aunt Graylyn was a talented artist. She was very quirky and had a great sense of humor in her art as well. The drawing above is one of a set she did for my Grandfather of his golf game, they were very entertaining. I have 3 of the 6 or so prints she did, that I need to frame and display at my house.

ham n CHEESE ;)

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... Hello 11months!

SAY IT AIN'T SO MAMMA!!!?? I"m not ready to grow up! (he he he)

someone found his reflection for the first time in a full length mirror. ;)

gang, i'm a handsome devil.

what you lookin' at?

must see...

this post on my friends blog. priceless. get ready to laugh.

http://http://fantastic4fam.blogspot.com/2009/09/learning-to-take-turns.html

Good Bye 10 months.....

Happy Grandparents Day!

(sorry i couldn't find the one i really like! rrr!)

Evan is very lucky to have 2 sets of Grandparents (sans Michael's dad who died when he was 12) that love him. Here some impromptu photos of his Grandma Karla, Grandpa Allan (facinated with Grandpas mustache!) and Grandma Jennie and Grandpa George.

happy birthday cousin luke!

I don't look happy because my mommy wouldn't let me eat the sign I made for you but I realy am happy that it's your first birthday! mine's coming soon! miss you cuz'. love evan

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OUT OF ORDER

Our computer is down. Please enjoy this picture of the best looking people in the family till it comes back up. booooooooooooooooooooop...... ;)

OW!

My oldest brother Carl mentioned to me that kids in our family need to learn to hit their own head and say "Ow". Evan's got part of it down pat, hope uncle Carl is proud. LOL ;) lol. Enjoy.

One Year Ago Today PART II

I was still holding on to her. Hoping Charmaine was very private, over due and/or running from the abusive birth father and she would be ours. It was my day off (Friday) and I was still feeling depressed from the LAMEST EMAIL KNOWN TO MAN, sent exactly one week from this day. I still had the bassinet out, staring at it with all the pink things spilling out over the edges, thinking about her, praying for her trying to let go of her... At the end of the day, the phone rang. I stared at it willing it to be someone telling me, "Your prayers have been answered, she's born and she's yours, come get her!" I couldn't believe it, it was my caseworker "C.Y.", my heart stopped... He was calling to apologize, as Michael had called him earlier in the week to tell him the email was inappropriate (and devastating). I told him I didn't want to be a person who was bitter and angry so it was fine (though it got worse later when he became even more unprofessional), I wanted to move on and focus on positive things. Specifically, I told him I wanted to concentrate on being chosen again. He said, "Are you ready for this?".... (the rest is here, in this past post) http://michaelandlila.blogspot.com/2008/09/you-will-not-believe-this.html .
When we heard this, we were very excited but also concerned about betraying our little girl. We prayed so hard. We wanted it to be so true! We embraced it quickly and decided to move forward with faith that Heavenly Father would make it be the way it should. We were very excited to meet Courtney now and this little boy who would be named EVAN, "God's gracious gift. ;)

VIDEOS!! "Fanny", ROWR, Bamboo Forrest, 'tude, Chimes, Rocking & Greenway

Sit back and relax, this is a good 7 minutes of fun and frivolity. ;)

I gave Evan a dollar store fan I won at the skating rink a few years ago. It lights up as it spins and the blades are a flimsy plastic so they don't hurt when he touches it. He is mesmerized by the lights and spinning but, cranky as he was (cause his mom was filming him be cute rather than put him down for a nap), when it broke it was like Lord of the Rings, "My Precious". He's gotten quite attached to things these days. Nothing particular, just what he's holding currently when he's tired.

Cherilyn, You remember "Fanny", this is a sweet 2009 version of her. ;) xoxo... ahhh fanny.... LOL

This one is just cute. He got a new Dinosaur you can sit on or in his case, stand next to. So when I ask him 'Where's your dinosaur?" His back is turned to me but he starts sort of 'growling'. It's amazing basically. It's so much fun to what each day brings in how he interacts and understands what we want or what we are saying. ;) ugh! I LOVE being a mom!

Sample from the Zoo's bamboo forest. ;)

Bird Demo at the Zoo and the 'tude' I mentioned in Zoo post. classic. ;)

There were chimes at the Zoo's playground. Evan was very good at it. ;)

We bought Evan a rocking chair cause he keeps 'rocking' on stuff. He just picked it up on his own! I'm going to paint it soon but can't decide what color. I considered an ochre (sp?) color, crackle medium then white so the ochre shows through OR white with an antiquing rub... decisions....

We went to the local greenway last Saturday as mentioned in a previous post. Here is the sadness that is my body that I am willing to reveal to you all here. ;0) Enough about me, look how happy our baby son is to get to splash in the river. lol

This and That

Let me out of my room mommy!!!!

On our way to Run errands last Saturday. It was a beautiful day out and we had the windows down as we drove. ;)

Smokey, Michael and Evan on the local Greenway for a walk. It was beautiful out, did I mention that?

Dipping Evan's feet in Stones River. He Loved it sooo much, he wanted to put his feet and hands... forget it, he wanted to take a 'bath'. Pretty sure it would have been a little chilly and 'scummy'. ;) Michael would have never allowed it. I would have. ;) he he he.

First Ice Cream Cone! ;) I... think he liked this.

Evan's first ride on the Lawn mower. I think he liked this too. I know daddy did. ;)

I see you daddy!

ZOO MEMBERS!

[I back dated this post so it looks like the day it happened but I really only got to it friday. he he.]

Mike and I are official Zoo members! Whoo hoo! I just registered online and ta da! The membership that we purchased allows us to bring 1 friend for free so we brought Liz. Thanks for going with us Liz and Hayden, we had a GREAT time with you and hope you will go with us again. Since Liz has babysat for us, we haven't really done anything together (this is ALL because, we used to hang out all the time BEFORE I had a baby, now I just want to stay at home sucking all the life out of that munchkin ;) he he). I hope this is a new trend since we really liked our day out. ;)

Right when we got to the Zoo, this woman was doing a demonstration on the birds. Look at big Evan standing there all by himself. Liz, the good mom, I think was trying to keep him from touching the dirty rope 'fence' but I didn't realize that till I was looking back at the pictures. lol. I have a great video of Hayden giving his mommy some 'tude cause she was helping him or keeping him from touching the rope. I'm sorry, it's just really cute. BUT LOOK HOW CUTE THAT EVAN IS! He is getting so humongous and could be walking this month I think. He's just so interested in standing and furniture surfing... we'll see... ;)


Evan playing chimes at the Zoo's Playground that is very cool!

Evan didn't really care about the bouncy area with all the new kids. As you can see, this other child was very happy about it. lol.

Liz (with baby "L" in the belly) and Hayden ;) cute, i know.

awww. We just LOVE to swing!

YIKES! Evan's about to be eaten by a ferocious Hippo. Hayden's next, WATCH OUT! he he he.

Michael's biggest fear. Evan being eaten my his least favorite animal A HIPPO!!! shhh, Michael's really scared of them.

Meerkats are so cute and they all came running out soon after we got to this part. they were very lively.

the Coi, you could easily not know were there but they really liked us and were so beautiful. This is under a little bridge by the Jaguars.

Hayden, Evan's best friend. ;)

Hilarious pictures of Evan and Hayden in the Bamboo 'jungle' that's along the path. We were near the Jaguars.

beautiful

Silly boys!!

Chewing on a dirty bamboo leaf he got off of the ground. lol. ;) Just before the Zoo Nazi stopped us from having fun in the bamboo with our babies. ;) A volunteer came up to me while photographing my baby, who was completely adorable by the way and how dare she stop us (LOL)! anyway, she told us we had to 'stay on the path cause there could be poison ivy'. i then threatened HER with poison ivy... (JUST KIDDING! but it would have been totally awesome! lol). so we begrudgingly walked away. wha wha wha... but we will be back lady! ;D

This Giraffe was SOOO close! It was super cool and we had a blast looking at and taking pictures and video of him.

in love?

ELEPHANTS!!!!

You can't tell but it's raining as we left the zoo. My hair and non-makeup was already nasty. Sorry. I'll try to look respectable the next time I post my picture. ;)

Best friends making faces and noises on the drive home. ;) I just love these friends and hope when Hayden's baby brother gets here, he won't forget his friend Evan. ;)