Evan's 10th Birthday!

Well, it finally happened - I now have a child in double digits!!! I can't believe how fast the past decade has flown by!!! Evan has been such a blessing to us in so many ways. Not only was he our first born, but he held our family together at the ripe old age of 2 when my dad was diagnosed with his brain tumor and we were moving out of our house in Cincinnati to move to Fishers! God's hand was in everything during that time - and I believe he gave us Evan to help all of us cope, in ways he still will never quite understand! So today, I thank God for his life and his continued blessings. Evan, we all love you more than you could ever imagine - but I hope you always know and love the One who loves you even more than we do!!!

So we gave Evan his choice of places to go tonight to celebrate (he and Grant are having a joint birthday party in a few weeks). So, he chose Ben and Ari's (one of their favorite places to go). We munched on pizza and then it was on to the games and prizes!!!

We've known Leonard for a long time (the owner of Ben and Ari's), so he graciously took this famly photo for us!
Evan with his "prized" penguin!
Evan and Blake on the waverunner game.
Grant got a baby penguin to match Evan's larger one!
The younger boys giving the birthday boy a big, brotherly hug! And let me tell you, that doesn't happen often, so I was glad to get it on film!!!

So I just had to throw in a "baby" picture of Evan. This shows you just how old he is - this is one of the first pictures we have of Evan on a digital camera!!! It was taken when he was about 2 1/2 in 2000 after we could finally AFFORD to buy a digital camera!!! Guess that also explains why his photo album stopped around this timeframe as well!!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I haven't been taking many pictures so far this year, but here are a few from just before New Year's and yesterday!

Two of my closest girlfriends from my college days. Colleen is on the left and Tammie is in the middle. We got together for breakfast just before New Year's. It's a shame it's been years since we've all seen each other together, but we're going to change all that soon! Tammie just moved to Atlanta (where my sister just moved to as well), so hopefully I'll see her more than we have in the years since I moved to Indy. Colleen and I just have to make it more of a priority as she still lives in Cincy! What can we all say - we're busy with our families and kids - but we still love each other as much as we did 15 years ago!!!
Evan, his iPod, and the makings of (hopefully) another Pinewood Derby Car winner for Cub Scouts!!!
Blake can be quite interesting. This morning I came downstairs from folding laundry and there he was under the family room coffee table: pillows on 3 sides and the "gate" we usually have across our stairs (to keep the dog downstairs) on the last side. So, he's gated under the table with a flashlight, his brother's Nintendo DS and his Uniqua doll from the Backyardigan's. He's just under there playing the Monster Truck game, completely oblivious to everything else! Too funny!
Yes, most people make their Christmas cookies BEFORE Christmas - but they get eaten up so quickly that we had to make another batch for New Year's Eve!
My 3 boys helping bake and decorate! Who said only girls bake!!! ;o)