Easter Eggs

My two little eggs...well at one time they were...
We had a great Easter starting with church in the morning, brunch with Grandpa Bruce and Nana Joni and family and dinner with Grandpa Larry and Grandma Gigi and family.
Easter has become a favorite holiday for Evelyne, not only does she get to get little gifts, color easter eggs, and visit with both sets of grandparents and cousins....she gets to dress up and wear something in her favorite color....blue. This year we had to find a blue dress and blue shoes to match. Luckily it wasn't too difficult. Gilbert is growing so quickly and almost sitting up by himself. He sports two bottom teeth and smiles a lot, especially at his big sister.

They do look alike!

Evelyne at 5 months




I pulled a photo from when Evelyne was 5 months old and you can see how much she and Gilbert look alike! Evelyne is the black & white photo and Gilbert is in color.

I can do it myself!

Independence; we both love it and at times struggle with it. Toddler independence is definitely a struggle, however, we've learned sometimes you just let it go...dressing and selecting clothing is something i've decided to just let go. As long as we're home, I don't care what she wears as long as it's appropriate for the weather. If we go out, I'm trying to keep the same mindset and let her just wear things she selects as long as it is not inside out and backwards. We've been strangely styled these days with one green and one blue sock here, dress over jeans and tennis shoes there, every once in a while a perfectly matched outfit comes through but usually inside out or backwards...here's a photo of one such outfit...oh and shoes on the wrong feet.

St. Patrick's Day

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with the Hovde's and Peppmeiers and all the kids at McMennamin's Kennedy School in NE Portland and what a great spot for a celebration! The kids got to run around the long hallways, and parents were able to chug a few drinks in between chasing and keeping the peace. Here they are on the bench (Evelyne, Jack P., Will P., and Luke H.) I'm holding Gilbert who's almost 5 months now. It was great fun for us all and is always bittersweet as we know we're losing our dear friends, the Peppmeiers, very soon to Montana! Here are some photos of all the kids and our little dancing queen, Evelyne, a blue blur, who after everyone left wanted to party on with the band....
Ironically, Sunday morning we awoke to Evelyne's face being incredibly swelled up. One eye was almost swollen shut and she had blisters on her nose and nostrils, and forehead. She was miserable and very scarry looking. We took her to urgent care and apparently she has a bad staff (sp.?) infection in the tissue on her face. The urgent care Dr. said we were almost to the point of hospitilization but wanted us to go ahead and try treatments at home first. So scarry. She is doing much better now and is on two mega doses of antibiotics and antibiotic creams. It was so strange because the night before she was fine, nothing out of the ordinary and we woke up to such a rapid change. It's common in kids who have eczema which she does so parents watch out!

Gilbert Happenings

So, despite all else that happenend during last week, Gilbert got two new teeth, had a bad bout of eczema on his head, and seemed to grow right out of all of his pants in the length. Here are some recent photos from playing with his favorite bunny toy, his favorite sister, and his first painting venture in the baby bjorn...as you can see evelyne helped out, too.

A new house

After a time of searching and trying to figure out where we want to live, we decided to have a new home built at Villebois in Wilsonville. Thanks to both of our parents for helping us narrow the search and sending us numerous home options. Our home won't be completed until September, so that gives us some extra time to get ours in shape and on the market. We spent the whole of Nathan's vacation last week house searching and redoing our bedroom; took out the old carpet shined up the wood floors, painted trim and walls, and got new bedding, rugs, and window coverings. Why is it that your bedroom is always nearly the last thing to get done? Anyway, it looks great. Next we tackle the kitchen and clean up the yard and we're about ready to sell. We're excited for the move coming soon and excited to have a home in the villebois community. There aren't any floorplans posted online, but if you're interested the website describing the community is www.villebois.net and if you go to site photos our house will be like the one in the center top with the courtyard in the front.

A New Life

A new life; a new member of the family, Cameron Lilly Knight was born on Friday, February 9th to Nick (Nathan's brother) and his wife, Rebekah. All are doing well.
Another new life....other important news Nathan has accepted a position with ADEC in Newberg so our lives are going to change very soon! We will most likely move farther south so Nathan won't have such a terrible commute. The nice thing is all the cousins will be close by very soon.

The European

Gabe has left the US for 4 months. He is off to Angers, France to live with a family and study at a University. Goodbye was a bit teary, though exciting at the same time. He flew out of Portland to Frankfurt then on to Paris. No time to dally in Paris yet as he was right on the train for a 4 hour ride to Angers in the northwest of France. He looked so great, ready for the voyage ahead....bon voyage mon frere a bientot!

Daddy all dolled up

Oh dad, you're so fun..letting me put pretty clips in your hair and sparkly lips on you. Gilbert just looks on..he knows it's coming soon for him.

no, no mom, dogs don't eat spaghetti

First of all, here's a photo of evelyne's cool guitar "tatoo." Now to the real reason for this post:

Evelyne's favorite movie, as of last week, is Lady and the Tramp. Every morning she gets up and wants to watch it right away. Of course, we don't watch it right away, first we have to brush teeth and "get ready for the day" before we can go downstairst to watch any TV (it's really a ploy so I can get myself ready in the mornings.) I'm amazed at the things kids pick up on movies etc. She has repeatedly asked me why the dogs eat spaghetti because "dogs don't eat spaghetti, right mom?" First of all, we don't have a dog so I don't know how she knows that dogs don't really eat spaghetti, I never told her that, but she insists that the movie is wrong and I've come up with a typical lame parental explaination of..."well, dogs in movies can eat spaghetti just for pretend." Sounds perfectly logical... I get the all to familiar "how come?" "well, movies honey sometimes are just for pretend?" "but mama honey (she's started calling me honey at times...so funny) why do they pretend to eat spaghetti?" "well, because it's more fun than pretending to eat apples..."well, why" "because apples are too crunchy and then they couldn't hear themselves talking" "why are apples too crunchy...I like apples and apple juice comes from apples, can I have some juice?" "no, not right now".....see this is how my days go, so random and so funny yet from time to time i think i'd rather sit on hot coals than have to answer to some of these never-ending questions...

the real winter blast and frosty

So today we actually had snow, of course they weren't expecting it. Evelyne and dad had a lot of fun making a snowman in our front yard, which she named frosty. (i know there are photos of her w/out gloves, that was time outside just for the photo op) In all we had around 3 inches or so, and it's still snowing but not expected to last. Evelyne and Nathan went sledding at the park this morning, there were a lot of kids out but it was very cold. Gilbert and I stayed inside. It was a fun day and we made oatmeal cookies and built a huge fire to stay warm! Check out the sledding video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx0MLUDn_zs

mom, that little boy is taking all of our snow!!!

"Winter Blast 2007" came and went without much of a blast...a bit of snow here and there and icy patches about town. Of course, the media over-anticipated and the schools over-reacted with school closures. Funny thing is Evelyne really wanted to go skiing with dad in the snow and I kept having to explain there's not enough to ski on. She loved looking at it outside though and was very upset to find a little boy using snow from our yard to throw at his friends. "mom! that little boy is taking all of our snow!!!"

Gilbert is now 2 1/2 months and is really starting to express his personality. Still fairly mild mannered, he definitely knows if mom or dad aren't holding him. He's almost holding his head up all the time and can sit for a while with some help. He loves sitting on laps rather than lying down. He also really loves watching big sister and coos at her like crazy.

A time with cousins

We rang in the New Year on our trip to Eagle Crest with nathan's family. evelyne and gilbert had fun, respectively, playing with and looking at their cousins. highlights included playing with play doh, coloring, and taking a HUGE bath. as I was with gilbert, and who can really relax with a newborn, those were my highlights, too...think I prefer coloring.

Christmas highlights...for the adults

Mom got all the girls martini glasses that match our personalities...."flirtini" for Sarah, "Lolita in Paris" for me, and "Shoptini" for Sadie. We got a good laugh and will enjoy special drinks in them, each has it's own recipe on the bottom of the glass. Here's me with my siblings toasting to Christmas. And this brings me to a special note about Christmas trees. So, growing up in the country I guess should give me a special affinity for "natural" as my mom says Christmas trees. Every year, my parents get said "natural" Christmas tree and every year it seems to be larger in girth than the previous year. This year's tree at the Kelley's was "girthnormous" with "natural" branches jutting willy-nilly everywhere dwarfing the angel on top and dropping ornaments on the hour, every hour. Me, I could do without so much tree personality. Mom loves these trees. But they are a fun topic of conversation and often are right in the middle of every conversation as we have to talk around and through the branches. Until next year oh christmas tree...little full...lotta sap.

Christmas Highlights...for the kids

Making a gingerbread house was quite fun; especially tasting the frosting and candy that came with it!

Celebrating friend Seth's 3rd birthday...santa gets to bring his birthday presents as evelyne says.

Newborns and Vegas

Might be an odd comparison but follow this logic and see if you agree:

Time is virtually irrelevant as night turns to day you barely notice; lights never get turned off. You wear things you'd never usually wear out; in Vegas you might be ultra sexy but here you're ultra grungy with saggy sweatpants, mismatched socks and a coat that still doesn't quite button over your once large belly. You may as well be topless would be easier than constant snapping and lifting. You're always making bets; I bet I can take a shower, feed my toddler, do a load of laundry, and get myself ready all before baby wakes up. Doh! Foiled again. You may be driven to drink, sometimes at odd hours...so if you're up for the day at 3am you can have cocktail hour at 11am, right? So, next time those of you going through it again feel a bit discouraged and sleep deprived think of Vegas, might make the newborn haze a bit clearer to muddle through and give you something to smile about....."wish you were here."

Knights have balls

3 to be exact thanks to Nathan's friend Vicki from Chicago. Look closely at the ball Evelyne is holding it says "Knight" on it...very clever. Of course she's confiscated the blue ball and in this photo is heading off to the park with dad and is oh so excited.
The following photo is of Gilbert's first big bath experience. He wasn't totally thrilled by it, but Evelyne sure had fun with mom and Gilbert in there with her. She scolded me for using her body soap on Gilbert's head, I didn't realize I'd grabbed the wrong one. "no mama, that's for tummy and shoulders, shampoo is for hair" .... duh mom

Great Grandma and kids

Wow, I hadn't realized how much Evelyne and Gilbert look alike at one month of age! Here are two photos each with Great Grandma Doris, the first one is of Gilbert at 1 month and the second one is of Evelyne at one month.

Doorknobs & eggs

funny thing when you actually consider names of some holiday drinks...Evelyne has had Eggnog for the first time and of course LOVES it so she reapeatedly asks for it by name..."mama can i have some doorknobs after dinner with some eggs?"