Things I Love...

1. How cute my little man looks wearing his headphones for music therapy.

2. Multitaking at its best!

3. Waching Evan learn how to self feed. Oh so messy...

4. Spending lots of time reading to Evan. He loves books.

5. Hayrides at the sunflower maze we visited for Mother's Day.

6. Watching Evan and Dan round the bases at the Rays game.

7. Watching Evan play in his pool.

8. Jumping waves at the beach. I love spending time at my parents Indian Shores Beach condo. It is the perfect getaway!

Fun Times

Neil and Kire got married on Friday, April 29th. Kire married my brother-in-law, Neil. It was a beautiful day. Evan was in the wedding as a ring bearer. He looked so cute in his little tux! Being at their wedding brought be back to when Dan and I stood in front of God, our family, and friends and said our vows, almost 4 years ago. The reception was held at The Event Factory. The hall was decorated beautifully and looked like it was out of fairy tale. The bride and groom even rode in the reception in a Cinderella stagecoach.

The day after the wedding we went to a Touch a Truck event. There were so many different types of trucks for the kids to explore. Evan had a lot of fun.

This year we are proud to say we raised $330 for March for Babies. We are so grateful to our family and friends for supporting us and donating to this amazing cause. The money raised will go towards research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives!

On Sunday we ended our fun weekend celebrating Steve's 30th birthday at a WWE wrestling event. When we got to the event our tickets would not scan so they sent us to customer service where we were told a manager would be out to talk to us. We were worried there was something wrong but when the manager came out he told us they had to put a camera in our seats so they gave us new seats. Well, these new seats put us in the first level, first row, right behind the production crew. The seats were awesome!

Since we had such a crazy, busy weekend Evan and I wanted to continue the fun this week :) Here is Evan enjoying a mini cupcake- no reason other then it is fun to see him happy! He loves sweets just like his parents.


Evan and I went to the pet store and checked out the animals. This pet store is not the best, they don't have any cats or dogs... but Evan didn't seem to mind. He had fun checking out the fish, birds, turtles, and some bunnies.


Here is my happy shopper getting supplies at the party store for our Cinco de Mayo dinner. I love being a mom :) Check out our cute decorations!


Here is Evan with the maraca I made for him. Who says crafts are just for the kids?! I did this while Evan worked on some finger paining :)

Our family enjoying our Cinco de Mayo fiesta. Evan even tried black bean and Mexican style rice and actually really liked it!


Hope everyone has a fun Mother's Day weekend!

Hoppy Easter

I love Easter... I love the pastel colors, pictures with the Easter Bunny, dying eggs, egg hunts, Easter baskets, candy, cookies, getting together with family, and getting dressed up for Easter Mass.

Evan's picture makes me laugh this year... it looks like he is thinking "I am too cool to smile for the Easter bunny!"

Dan's parents came over on Saturday at visit and bring over some Portuguese Easter Bread. Nuno made each of us a small loaf of bread. My sister and I use to make this type of Easter bread with my Granny when we were little.


So, Dan and I were looking for a fun way to teach Evan about the true meaning of Easter. I did some research and found a recipe on how to make resurrection rolls. We made them Easter morning after church. Making resurrection rolls is super easy, and they're really yummy! It is a great way to use them to teach kids about the Easter story. Even though Evan is still really young we want to start these traditions early!

Resurrection Rolls aka "Empty Tomb" Rolls

Ingredients:
1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough
8 large marshmallows
Melted butter
Cinnamon
Sugar

Directions:
Give each child one triangle shaped section of crescent roll. This represents the tomb.
Each child takes one marshmallow which represents the body of Christ.
Dip the marshmallow in the butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture. This represents the oils and spices the body was anointed with upon burial.
Lay the marshmallow on the dough and carefully wrap it around the marshmallow.
Make sure all seams are pinched together well. (Otherwise the marshmallow will "ooze" out of the seams)
Bake according to package directions.
Cool.

While the resurrection rolls baked, the marshmallow melted away, leaving an "empty tomb". Isn't that cool?! Jesus has risen!

Celebrate God's love! Hope everyone had a hoppy Easter :)

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Fun With My Boy

I woke up this morning and realised Evan and I didn't have any plans for the day. This is a rare occasion for us so I decided to take advantage of our open schedule and took Evan to Bounce-U. For those of you who don't know, Bounce-U is a place for kids that has inflatable bounce houses. They have a toddler playdate in the mornings for the little ones. It is nice because they are never really busy at this time, there a no big kids running around, and they turn off the loud music. Evan had a really good time today. He loved walking around and exploring everything. His favorite thing to do was go down the big slide.

I sure do love this smile!

Memories of Anna

Last week I heard the devastating news that one of my best friends, Anna had gone to Heaven. It was very unexpected and I keep asking myself why this happened. My life will never be the same without her. It has helped me to look through my old scrapbooks and photo albums and remember all the good times we shared. There were so many...

Anna decorating for Kelly's bridal shower in 2001. Anna and I hanging out at my parents house. Anna, Tiffany and I. Best Friends. We were in eachothers weddings. Trip to Seattle for Alison and Bob's wedding. Anna and Shawn meeting Evan. Oh how she loves my boy.

I miss you, Anna.

Today We Celebrated!

Evan has started taking steps by himself! And we finally got it recorded.

I could not decide which one I liked best so I posted them all :)







I have been reading a blog, Enjoying the Small Things, by Kelle Hampton for about a year now. I love the way she combines writing and photography in her blog. Kelle found out when she delivered her daughter, Nella, that she had down syndrome. Her writing celebrates the good and recognizes all the beauty life. She has been a real inspiration to me!

This is quote from a blog post she wrote yesterday:
"When they tell you your child will have delayed milestones, it means less that you will struggle and ache for those events to come but more that when they do come, your heart will leap, your soul will celebrate and your arms will stretch to hold and kiss the growing one that forever surprises you."

Today, we celebrated Evan learning to walking and we are so very proud of him!

Tuesday

Here are some pictures I took from today!

I found this cute garden kit at Walmart and just had to pick it up. Evan and I planted some cucumbers and tomatoes... fingers crossed I don't kill'em!

Evan has been getting his eye teeth or as Dan likes to call them his vampire teeth :) So... he has been a little on the winy side this week. To keep his mind off those darn teeth we have been spending a lot of time outside.


Today Evan drew with crayons for the first time! Evan got these really cool TaDoodles Crayon Buddies for his birthday. They are perfect to help him in developing his gross to fine motor skills. Plus they are really FUN!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Quick Update

Last weekend Dan ran in the Gasperilla race. This was his first 15K. He finished the 9.3 miles in just under 2 hours! He got a medal for completing the race. I am very proud of him. The race started at 7:05 am and he had to be there an hour early. Since it was so early, Evan and I opted to cheer from home. Dan is looking forward to training for his next race... a half marathon!

Our family has been really enjoying the beautiful weather. We decided to renew our Lowery Zoo passes this year. So we woke up Saturday morning, had a lazy start to the day and then headed over to the zoo. Evan loved seeing the monkeys and fish.



Evan has been working hard on his walking and can take about 4-5 steps now! He wants to walk so much and tries to every chance he gets. :) We are so proud of him!



Hope y'all have a great week!

Challenge 5

This weeks photography challenge is about composition...

1. Keep it simple - I eliminate wasted space in this photo to fill the frame.

Original shot

Cropped in Photoshop

2. Apply the rule of thirds


3. Keep an eye on the horizon

I positioned the horizon about 1/3 of the way up on the photo to focus on the sky.

I placed the horizon about 2/3 of the way up on the photo to keep the focus on the water.

4. Frame your subject- this is a picture taken back in November. But it is a good example for this exercise :)