I have to start our Christmas post with this pic. A house in our neighborhood goes all out with lights. Every square inch of yard, roof, and house is covered. This scene is Evan's very favorite part, and he would ask to see it every time we got in the car. It is pretty dang cute.
We had so much fun spending a couple days with Nate's brother and his family before we headed up to Idaho. Too much fun, I didn't take any pictures there! We also stopped on our way up to Idaho to have dinner with my sister and Evan helped her make sugar cookies. Those are two very talented cooks!
She gave him an early birthday present. He wasn't totally sure what to do with it at first. But don't worry, by the end of our vacation, Evan was a pro at opening gifts!
She gave him bones gloves that glow in the dark, and they terrify him! It's hilarious :)
Once in Idaho, Evan had a blast having Daddy around all day, every day!
All Evan had been talking about for at least a month was building a snowman when he got to Grandma's. We only got snow one day our entire trip, and it was pure powder! No snowman, but we still did go play in it and kick it around before it melted.
We FINALLY got to meet sweet Millie (she's 8 months!), and she and Evan hit it off right away. She is more adorable than all of her pictures I've seen, and we were so thankful to get to spend some quality face time with her parents. We miss you, Hartwell's! (They are working on a PhD at Purdue).
Evan reminded Grandma Fuller every day to turn on the Christmas tree. He would go and examine it and talk about all of the ornaments he could see, every night. Here he is on his birthday with Grandma's tree!
This birthday was lots more fun than last year's, because no one was sick this year! Hallelujah!!
I made mini funfetti cupcakes to celebrate.
They were a huge hit with the birthday boy!!
I think he was most excited about having all the balloons on his chair, but he quickly got the hang of opening presents, and learned to automatically give me a cheesy smile any time I said his name ;)
I was excited he immediately started reading his new $1.00, last minute purchase, book. This boy LOVES to read, and it makes me so happy!
He didn't need any help at all with that wrapping.
It really was pure joy on this boy's face, all night long. It's like he couldn't believe these were all his. I guess that's what happens when you only get to open presents once a year! You forget what it's like!!
He was spoiled just enough for his birthday, and learned the words to "Happy Birthday", which he likes to make me sing to him regularly.
Apparently Evan's birthday tradition is to go bowling, because we have been in ID so far for each of his birthdays, and it's kind of the only thing to do in town! This year he was big enough to get his own cute lil bowling shoes. I was obsessed with them.
And good ol' Pop-n-Pins has a special kid ball that weighs about 4 pounds. It was way funny how excited Evan was to have his own ball, and that it was pink!
I guess he's been bowling often enough (as in like 4 times ever), that he's got it figured out. He knows right what to do, and doesn't even need any help.
We were having so much fun, we didn't even realize how very much past bedtime it was. Note: I look so tired in every picture because Evan decided our first night of vacation, that he would no longer be sleeping in a crib. He just up and jumps out. Transitioning from crib to no crib on vacation is a terrible, horrible, rotten, exhausting thing. Thank you, son.
I feel lucky that we were able to go to the cemetery on Christmas Eve with lots of family, and teach Evan about this very special tradition. We light candles and sing Christmas songs, and talk remember loved ones lost. I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to teach Evan about death, resurrection, and eternal families. That's a bit much for a 2 year old, but it was a good teaching opportunity for me, and it's never to early to start! Lucky for us, there was no wind this year and it was a quite pleasant 14 degrees that night, the warmest it's even been since I've been going!
I took hardly any pictures Christmas morning, because I was too busy soaking it in. Christmas was so much fun with Evan this year. His just couldn't get enough of it! We have him this cute little pup tent, and had it set up Christmas morning. He saw it first thing and started laughing and squealing, then played in it most the rest of the morning. After he would open a present, he would take it in the tent to play with it.
And of course, mommy and daddy had to play in it, too. It's just the right size for all three and half of us.
It was wonderful to go to church on Christmas, and like everyone else, I think that should be mandatory from on. It set a nice tone for the rest of the day, even though it made us shower and get dressed for the day. Not our Christmas norm :)
We attended a neighborhood Christmas party in ID, and Nate had a VERY proud moment in teaching his son to play ping-pong for his first time. Evan appeared to love it just as much as his dad does. My favorite part is that he is so excited waiting for the ball to come, he can't contain himself and hops up and down. (Sorry for the shaking camera, I was laughing too hard)
Awesome times bowling! And Evan randomly says a few times a week, "I wanna go bowling, Mommy...please?" (Imagine a small whine to go along with that each time I say no.)
