Evalana Christabelle and Lazarus Canaan

december zoo

2012-01-26T22:13:00.000-06:00

So far this winter has been so mild. We've been playing outside a lot in just sweatshirts or even sometimes just long-sleeves. On December 30th, Mo went with us to the zoo. It was a little windy, but i think the temperature was in the upper 50s.

Evalana insisted we take this picture before we left. She and Lazarus both loved watching the polar bear (the real one). And Evalana made sure everyone knew it was a boy bear because he had a penis.

We love it when Mo comes with us to do fun things!

mama lazarus time

2012-01-26T21:36:00.001-06:00

Lazarus loves to read books together

When Daddy and Evalana go to Awana, Lazarus and I get a little time together. Some evenings he's ready to fall asleep as soon as they leave around 6pm, and sometimes he's had an extra nap and stays up until they get home at 8:30pm. His usual these days is about a 7pm bedtime. He misses his sister and Dada, but we have a good time together, too.

Evalana, our snowgirl, off to Awana for "dress like a snowman night"

playroom office

2012-01-26T21:26:00.000-06:00

Daddy works from home a couple days a week, which we love. With his new job, sometimes he has to do phone meetings, so sometimes he hides in our closet or the car, but sometimes he works in the playroom.

unders

2012-01-25T21:24:00.002-06:00

Lazarus got some underwear for Christmas. He's not really ready for them, but he does look cute

spring 2011

2012-01-25T16:03:00.002-06:00

well i just found some pictures from last spring that i don't think i ever posted.

3/24/11

4/18/11 she painted her nails herself

4/30/10 (from Mo's camera)

and here are some cute ones from last spring that don't have a date on them.

He needs to have someone touching him while he sleeps, so Evalana took over while she watched a video, and i was able to do a few things

weather

2012-01-16T21:07:00.001-06:00

i like this january! today we played at a park, and now there's a thunderstorm. Tomorrow's supposed to be a high of 30, but then it's back to the 60s for the weekend. i can't believe how much we've been playing outside this December and January.
Also, i updated http://100babies.blogspot.com/2011/02/lazaruss-dedication.html with pictures.

bigger car seats

2012-01-16T12:25:00.004-06:00

Evalana is almost too tall for her Graco MyRide 65, so, for Christmas, Mo and Grandpa Greg got her a new Frontier 85 SICT. The Frontier has one of the highest harness straps, so she won't outgrow that until her torso is 20", and then she can use it as a booster until she'll outgrow it and be ready for an adult seat around age 10. She gets excited to show off her car seat to everyone. And I really love that now Lazarus's and Evalana's seats fit side-by-side! They both think it's great! Lazarus was too tall for his baby bucket seat, so now he's in the MyRide. He loves the cup holders. I miss being able to carry him inside for his naps. I'm so thankful for all our great car seats!

last time in the MyRide

now Lazarus's MyRide

new Frontier!

last ride in the SafeSeat (now being passed on to Kristen's baby for its last use)

the frontier is comfy

For comparison, here's evalana's first and last rides in the SafeSeat and first ride in the MyRide: http://100babies.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-car-seat.html. I can't find a picture of Lazarus in the bucket seat when he was new.

In new Graco MyRide, about one year old

too tall to rear-face in this seat, switched to forward-facing, about two years old

The best part is that now their seats fit beside each other! This makes both of them very happy!

Christmas

2012-01-14T14:03:00.005-06:00

Christmas Eve we celebrated at Westside and Mo and Grandpa Greg's house. The good pictures are from Uncle Alex and Aunt Bridgett.

this is the best picture i got of the two of them before church

evalana packed graham crackers for lazarus to have at church

again, the best i got of the two of them together at church

see the cute shoes Mo got for lazarus

happy birthday Jesus!

Christmas Day we celebrated at our house and then went to Tompa and Grandma Nancy's for the evening.

union station

2012-01-13T22:33:00.000-06:00

December 19th, we met Daddy at Union Station to look at the model trains.

Thanksgiving pictures

2012-01-13T22:17:00.000-06:00

Uncle Alex and Aunt Bridgett took some great pictures at our Thanksgiving celebration at Tompa and Grandma Nancy's house on November 19th.

Lazarus newborn

2012-01-13T11:53:00.003-06:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

newborn photos

2012-01-12T23:41:00.005-06:00

We finally ordered Lazarus's newborn photos. This one's my favorite.

Some other good ones

You should be able to view all the photos and order/download from Shutterfly. If you have any trouble or need the large quality for bigger prints, let me know. Sorry it took me almost a year to get these ordered. Hopefully we'll get Lazarus's one-year photos done while he's a year old :-)

Well i can't get the slideshow link to work in this post, so you can view the photos from this blog in the post above.

Lazarus's chair pictures

2012-01-12T21:35:00.001-06:00

lazarus's birthday

2012-01-12T20:20:00.000-06:00

A couple months ago Lazarus moved from the crawling classroom to the one year old room. He loves the new classroom. He was so clingy to me in the crawlers' room, but he plays all around the 1yo room. Here are a few pictures of him at church the morning of his birthday.

After church we went to Fritz's for lunch.

lazarus's first birthday

2011-12-28T23:05:00.004-06:00

I had great plans for yummy cakes, but with Joshua, Lazarus, and I being sick the weekend before, I just didn't feel up to baking. Maybe for his second birthday.

Here are the pictures Mo took.

Soon i'll also update what our 12-month-old is doing.

arizona family

2011-12-28T22:33:00.001-06:00

We got to spend a little more time with Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Chris this morning! Evalana loves being able to see her aunt and uncles from arizona, and i do too. We also got to watch the video of aunt jennifer and uncle chris's wedding ceremony, which was great to be able to see. Evalana told me she's going to save up her money to buy us plane tickets to arizona.

jump-o-lene

2011-12-28T22:19:00.000-06:00

lazarus used his christmas money from great grandpa and grandma johnson to get this jump-o-lene today. the kids had lots of bouncing fun in there this evening. ever since we visited the pumpkin patch, lazarus tries to bounce on anything he can.

elizabeth turns three

2011-12-28T13:54:00.000-06:00

Elizabeth turned three on the 19th, so Evalana and I went to her birthday party on the Saturday morning of Joshua and Lazarus's party day. Evalana loves her friend Elizabeth so much.

shopping with a princess

2011-12-28T13:21:00.002-06:00

Look who I got to shop with at Target yesterday!

When this pretty girl put her princess dress on, she said she thought it would be perfect for Aunt Kristen's wedding. Aunt Kristen got engaged on Christmas, so Evalana, who loves weddings, is pretty excited about that.
People ask Evalana what princess she is, I think expecting to hear some Disney character for an answer, and Evalana replies, "God's princess."

While at Target, we found a super cheap baby boy doll! Boy dolls seem to be very difficult to find, and Lazarus even happened to have a kind of matching outfit with this baby boy. Evalana and Lazarus were both very pleased with this new baby.

And, i'm sure you're wondering what the princess has on today. She says it's her beast costume, not because she knows anything about Beauty and the Beast, but because, since halloween, she tries to convince people she likes spooky things. She doesn't. When Evalana was insisting she likes spooky, joshua started telling a Bible story about David tending his sheep, but Joshua was using his spooky story voice, and evalana didn't want to hear any more. Here is her southern belle dress.

sweetness

2011-12-20T14:42:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend we had so many wonderful family members staying at our house, so Friday night Evalana slept in our bed with us.

Thankfully she sleeps great anywhere. Wednesday was in Grandma's bed with Grandma, Thursday was in her own bed, Friday in our bed, Saturday on a blowup mattress with Grandma and Noah, and Sunday back in her bed. Sunday evening both kids were worn out after a weekend full of fantastic family, and they both fell asleep about 6:30pm.

bed with daddy

2011-12-20T14:32:00.000-06:00

Joshua took Friday off, and this is how Lazarus and Daddy kicked off their birthday weekend

12/16/11

tunnel and tent

2011-12-20T11:43:00.001-06:00

12/15/11

decorating cookies

2011-12-20T11:40:00.000-06:00

Yes, evalana said the marshmallows at the bottom are their penises.

hats

2011-12-20T11:15:00.001-06:00

It's hard to keep a hat on lazarus when we're trying to keep him warm outside, but he loves to play "dress-up" with hats.

12/9/11

daddy night

2011-12-19T22:16:00.000-06:00

On the 13th Joshua put on his new David Crowder Christmas CD, and he was holding lazarus and dancing, and lazarus just fell right asleep in his arms.

lights

2011-12-19T22:01:00.001-06:00

On the 12th, Evalana had a late nap, so we decided to try to see some Christmas lights. We found a list of some great displays, so we checked out the Olathe ones. Evalana's favorite was "the blowup house" and after that she had no interest in lights and just wanted to see blowups. Lazarus fell asleep before we even got to the first house.

football with daddy

2011-12-19T16:00:00.000-06:00

12/26/10

first trip to church

2011-12-19T15:37:00.002-06:00

12/23/10

12/24/10

And Christmas eve

More of our 2010 Christmas pictures here.

nap on daddy

2011-12-19T15:34:00.002-06:00

12/23/10

donut with daddy

2011-12-19T15:31:00.000-06:00

12/23/10

Looks like a little Daddy-daughter outing for donuts last December

1 year!

2011-12-18T22:36:00.004-06:00

Lazarus is such a fun, sweet boy. He has started bringing me books to read to him. He still loves to cuddle. He really loves playing with his sister. He gets sad when they're apart, and they love to laugh together. Evalana's wonderful with him. They do a good job of sharing with each other, and Evalana likes to teach him things. On most days, he takes just one nap (about 11am-1pm). He loves to eat. He gets upset if he thinks people are eating without him, and he checks the table to make sure that he has everything that anyone else is eating. He does a lot of signing and says the beginnings of some words. He also loves to dance and, i think, is actually pretty good at it. He's started getting sad when daddy leaves for work, and he gets so happy to see him when he comes home. He reminds us to pray at each meal and sometimes during a meal. He now looks for the dogs and pets them. I'm so thankful for this cutie we've been able to know more and more this past year. I've finally made it back to my pre-pregnancy weight, although the shape is completely different.
As of 1/12/12, he weighs 23 lbs, 10 oz (55%) and is 30.5 in. (65%). His head is 47.3 cm (70%).

when lazarus was new and squishy

2011-12-16T22:44:00.000-06:00

Almost a year ago, when Lazarus was new and squishy.

nap on daddy

2011-12-12T15:54:00.003-06:00

12/17/10

12/12/10

girl in a box

2011-12-12T15:49:00.000-06:00

funny girl in a little box

12/3/10

ice cream

2011-12-12T15:46:00.000-06:00

12/3/10

the girl loves her peachwave and her daddy time

shopping with daddy

2011-12-12T15:38:00.000-06:00

11/24/10

well she looks comfy, but i'm not sure where the groceries go.

tired

2011-12-12T15:35:00.000-06:00

11/23/10

i guess she was too tired to make it to bed.

nehemiah

2011-12-12T15:29:00.000-06:00

A month before lazarus was born, evalana's friend, alea, got her baby brother, nehemiah.

turning lazarus

2011-12-12T15:23:00.000-06:00

11/14/10

To try to convince lazarus to turn head-down, i laid upside-down on the stairs--not the most comfortable position for me, but it worked, and evalana loved helping me.

mower

2011-12-12T15:08:00.000-06:00

11/8/10

here's the first picture joshua took on his iphone. Evalana loves going to the tool store with daddy. well she loves doing anything with daddy.

catch up

2011-12-12T15:04:00.000-06:00

okay, i'm working my way through joshua's around 1000 pictures and videos on his phone so that i can try to post all those that i haven't gotten to since he got his phone last november. it's great always having a camera with us. i just have a lot of catching up to do if i'm going to finish 2011 by the end of the year.

here's the first picture i saw. it makes me laugh. joshua was trying to put together a picture of our family as adults.

bed in chair

2011-12-06T21:30:00.001-06:00

Tonight is Joshua's last class for this semester. This is how we do bedtime when Daddy's not home. I nurse Lazarus in the chair (as usual), and I get to read Evalana to sleep beside me.

Tonight Evalana prayed to herself while she was waiting for me to be able to read to her. I asked her about it, and she said she was just praying to tell God a couple things she's thankful for.

Papa's coat

2011-12-06T20:30:00.074-06:00

Joshua put on his dad's old winter coat before leaving for class tonight. It has blue pipe glue on it, which we haven't talked about since last February when Joshua got the coat, and he hasn't worn it since last winter. Evalana asked why he didn't wash the coat to get Papa's glue off of it. And she had some other questions about how Papa wore the coat and what he would have put in each of the pockets. When Papa died in January, one of my worries was that Evalana, at the age of 2 1/2, might not remember her Papa. But God gave Evalana a great memory. She likes to talk about how Papa liked going to Bass Pro Shop and many other things she did with Papa. Although Lazarus doesn't get the privilege of remembering his Papa who visited him in KC twice in his first month of life, Lazarus, Evalana, and any future children will get to hear stories of Papa and see videos and pictures. We miss having Papa around. I'm so thankful that God promises Heaven for those who trust in Him. We miss Papa, and we look forward to Jesus and Papa and many others in Heaven. In the meantime, our kids will still know their Papa, just not in quite the way we'd like. At the same time, though, i'd never want to take Papa out of Heaven to be with us here. Heaven with Jesus is our true home. No day here on earth, not even the best days of getting married or having babies or celebrating holidays, can even begin to compare with the glorious joy and love we'll have in Heaven.
Friday i went to the funeral of a friend's husband. They have a beautiful little two-year-old daughter who her daddy adored. It was sad to think of my friend now going through life without her partner. The service reminded me again how important those stories of relatives are. And, to our parents and grandparents, please remember to work on filling out your memory books you got when evalana was born. You're leaving a legacy.

snow

2011-12-06T20:30:00.001-06:00

This morning we were excited to wake up to our first little snow.

wake up and sing the calendar

2011-12-05T20:41:00.003-06:00

Lazarus has a hard time staying away from his sister while she's sleeping. Today Evalana fell asleep later than i'd like, so i let lazarus pull on her toes, and it woke her up.

dancing kids

2011-12-04T21:21:00.003-06:00

A Very Merry Morning

2011-12-03T21:06:00.002-06:00

I love that Westside does A Very Merry Morning each December. The kids love it, and it's full of ways to help preschoolers understand the biblical story of Christmas.

Cookie Days

2011-12-02T21:13:00.009-06:00

Heather suggested we go to Cookie Day at her church, so we got to do that this morning. It's a little like Westside's A Very Merry Morning.

We didn't have time to finish the activities there, so we decorated the cookies when we got home. We'll have to make more sugar cookies for Christmas soon.

breakfast siblings

2011-12-02T20:44:00.002-06:00

Evalana rarely stops talking while we're at home. Lazarus loves her. And, thankfully, Evalana loves Lazarus just as much. Here they are at breakfast (after it'd already been going on for quite awhile).

african classical music?

2011-12-01T14:09:00.000-06:00

me: I'm going to turn on some music.

E: Please turn on some chamber music.

me: I can put on a classical station.

after listening for a few minutes

E: Could I have some African classical music instead, please?

haircut

2011-11-30T15:29:00.007-06:00

Lazarus just got his first haircut. He slept right through it. It was past his nap time, and getting his hair combed just felt so good. I wasn't able to record much since i had to hold his sleeping head up.

I also got mine cut to donate 12" to Children With Hairloss.

And Evalana's keeping her pretty hair

Lazarus's before pictures:

It's not easy to take pictures of your own head. Here's what i got:

My conversation with Evalana:

E: Your long hair was beautiful, Mommy.

Me: What do you think of my short hair?

E: I like Lazarus's the best.

Me: Do you think I should grow mine long again?

E: Yes, I really like your hair long.

I do intend to grow it out again, but it'll be nice to have it short for awhile and get a little change, too.

P.S. Joshua said if i donated my hair, he'd blog.

clean cuties

2011-11-29T21:16:00.003-06:00

slow EC

2011-11-28T19:31:00.000-06:00

Well the pottying is going quite a bit slower with Lazarus than it did with Evalana, but we are working on it. We do usually at least get the morning peepee in the potty.

prayer for Heaven

2011-11-26T18:40:00.003-06:00

Last night Evalana said our dinner prayer, and it came out something like, "Heavenly Father, thank you for our food and our family, and, Jesus, please come soon and take us to Heaven with You, and, if You don't, we'll die and go there ourselves." Then during dinner, she picked up her bread and said, "Remember when Jesus said, 'This is like my body.'" And she picked up her milk and said, "He said, 'This is like my blood,' except it was wine. And he told his friends, 'Whenever you do this, remember me.'"
Today we had our Thanksgiving dinner here with the four of us and Grandma Kidd. We went around the table to say what we're thankful for. When it was Lazarus's turn, he pointed to Joshua and said "Da" with a big smile.
Our kids are such a blessing.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T20:21:00.003-06:00

Joshua left early to spend the day with his family in Arkansas and Joplin, and Evalana, Lazarus, and I went to my mom's.

Evalana loved watching the parade. She thought those giant balloons were so great.

We got to have dinner with my mom, Greg, Greg's parents, Greg's nephew Jacob, Michelle, Michelle's roommate Randi, Doug, David, and Cindy. After dinner most of the men, Michelle, and Evalana took naps. Then they worked on some wooden puzzles.

Lazarus only had a short nap on our way over to my mom's, and Joshua thought he'd be home about 6pm, so we went home, and then we all got to watch the plaza lights turn on on TV. Evalana really wanted to be there. It was great weather for it this year, but maybe some other time.

Christmas in the Sky

2011-11-23T22:24:00.003-06:00

We got to go to Christmas in the Sky again, and we had a great time. The weather was nice. We walked up to the stage and watched the dance show before the fireworks. Evalana liked the hippo for the "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" song. Near the end of the show, a snowman came out, which she thought was great. Then Santa came on stage, and Evalana urgently asked me to hold her. I thought maybe it was because she thought Santa was scary or something. No, it was because the snowman moved to the back when Santa came out. She didn't care about Santa; she wanted to see that snowman!

11 months

2011-11-18T19:25:00.002-06:00

My cutie boy is getting close to his first birthday, and this 11-month-old is a lot of fun. He loves his sister. He also likes most family, but he’s still unsure about church. I’ve never left him in class; I always teach in his classroom, but he doesn’t like it when I walk away from him, even just a few steps across the room, and he really doesn’t like it when adults there look at him. As long as I’m beside him and it’s not his nap time, he does love playing in his classroom. At home, he and evalana love playing together. She’s wonderful with him. Spending time with these two kids is quite a blessing. Lazarus is “talking” more and more. He says and signs words I can understand. He now walks everywhere and reaches more than I want him to. He usually takes one 2-3 hour nap around 11am and then sleeps around 6:30pm-7:30am. He likes both nursing and eating. Evalana helps him with his lunch, and he’ll usually sit in his highchair for awhile. At dinner when daddy’s home, he prefers daddy’s lap.

earthquake!

2011-11-07T20:30:00.003-06:00

Saturday we had our first experience with an earthquake! About every time we go to California, I think maybe we'll feel some shakes, although i'm more scared of the idea than excited for the experience, especially as i love some hikes right along the San Andreas fault line. Apparently there was 4 magnitude foreshock earlier Saturday in Oklahoma, but we weren't aware of that. We got to spend the weekend visiting our southern family, and Saturday Joshua, Evalana, Lazarus, and I were all snug together in a queen-sized bed in Arkansas. A little before 11pm, our bed was shaking and woke Joshua and me up. Sometimes Joshua does strange things in his sleep, so I said, "Joshua, what are you doing?!" He responded with, "What is that?" and I realized he wasn't causing the shaking. The windows were rattling, and the bed was really shaking a lot. The kids were sound asleep. I was trying to think of what kind of machine they had in the garage or apartment that would be shaking everything, and would the apartment fall through into the garage? joshua was thinking that someone was breaking into the garage (below us) or that a washing machine was off balance (until he remembered there's not a washing machine up there). As the shaking continued, i asked, "do they have earthquakes around here?" After about a minute, the room stopped rattling, and Joshua got on his phone to look up the Arkansas seismology site, which didn't show anything (because the quake was in oklahoma, and i wasn't thinking about how close we were to Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas). He tried some news site and didn't see anything. Then he got on facebook, and saw that many in Kansas City felt it as well, and eventually learned that there had been a 5.6 earthquake about 150 miles away in Oklahoma. And we went back to sleep. In the morning we found out that everyone in the house slept through it and were disappointed to hear that they had missed out on it. So that's our earthquake experience we had in Arkansas. Maybe if we feel shaking in California someday, we'll be quicker to think it might be an earthquake, but i'll probably also worry that the ground's going to open up.
And, as i was posting this, i just felt an aftershock here in kc: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/usb0006lpf.php

one nap

2011-11-02T22:56:00.025-05:00

Today, for the first time, Lazarus had a one-nap day! For the last few weeks, I noticed he was trending toward that, and I've really been looking forward to it. The last few months have been naps all day long: get up, get evalana breakfast, lazarus naps, evalana rests/naps (actually, after going no-naps for awhile, she's back to napping most days) while i try to keep lazarus away from her and hopefully get something to eat, try to get everyone lunch, lazarus naps, try to quickly put together dinner, clean up, bed. This morning Mo played with the kids while I went to the dentist, then I got home a little after 11am, and Lazarus nursed and then slept for 2 1/2 hours, and Evalana took her nap for the last hour or so of that. Only issue was then Lazarus was ready for bed about 6pm, but I was still trying to clean up dinner, and next week 6pm is going to be 5pm... Oh well, thankful for my happy, well-rested children :-) Oh, P.S., Evalana has another dental cleaning/checkup next Thursday. For about the past nine months she's not liked going to the doctor, and she got a little nervous and cried at her last dental visit. We found a new video and some books at the library, so we've been reading those, and she's already watched that movie eight times; she says she's excited to go to the dentist. It seems like a really helpful movie for kids going to the dentist. I guess we'll see how everything works out next week. Unfortunately the week after, I also have to go back to my dentist to fill a cracked tooth/filling. I'm so glad we're able to get good dental care and that we're now all on dental insurance.
11/3: Well Lazarus is taking his third nap of the day today, and Evalana didn't sleep during rest time, but just now fell asleep at 4:30pm. It's too hard to keep her awake while letting lazarus sleep. Maybe i'll take a nap too :-)

chiefs

2011-11-01T13:17:00.002-05:00

Fishnet had a pumpkin carving contest last week. Joshua did a great job carving the face of Gary Fish, the CEO, into his pumpkin. Joshua won 3rd place in the chili cookoff and also won a pumpkin carving prize, so i think he ended up with $20 best buy gift card and $65 visa gift card. Then yesterday morning he got an email from Gary asking if he wanted four club-level tickets to last night's Chiefs game. So Joshua, Evalana, and Grandma Mo went to the game together last night. Lazarus and i stayed home and passed out candy. Lazarus thought it was strange that costumes kept coming to the door. And he was frustrated that I wasn't letting him crawl around outside or eat the candy. This year we gave out some fair-trade chocolate, some organic hard candies (which lazarus is quick at putting into his mouth), and some fruit strips, all with Bible verses taped to them. About 7:30 we were almost out of candy, Lazarus was ready to sleep, and the Chiefs game was getting ready to start, so we turned off our light and closed up Halloween then. Joshua took a bunch of cute pictures of Evalana at the game, so here you go. It sounds like they had a really great time. At first Evalana was just taking it all in and a little overwhelmed by all the action and noise, then she got into it and was pounding on the seats along with everyone else. Joshua sold the fourth ticket he was given since we weren't able to find anyone to use it, so they had a nice man sitting with them as well. Evalana cried when it was time to leave and go home because she was having so much fun. She fell asleep as soon as they started the car, and she was happy to hear this morning that the Chiefs won in overtime. And Lazarus and Evalana were so happy to see each other and snuggle together this morning; they miss each other when they're apart.

garage sale

2011-10-31T21:44:00.000-05:00

A couple Saturdays ago, Joshua decided to have a garage sale. While we confirmed that we mostly like donating and craigslist for getting rid of stuff, Joshua and Evalana had a great time having visitors. Evalana decided to sell pumpkin donuts, apple cider donuts, apple cider, and Miss Sarah Beth also made some cookies. Evalana wanted to give all the money to kids in Africa who need food. She raised about $20.

Grandma Kidd was also here for a visit. No way we could have done all this without her. Joshua took Friday off of work and finished cleaning out the laundry/storage room. Now we still have stuff in the garage to go through, but we're getting rid of so much and working on organizing all the stuff we have to store (so much kids stuff). As far as the mice, Cheryl brought us some poison and said we just have to deal with them this month. If we kill them all, no new ones will come once it's cold out. Thursday I hadn't seen or heard any for a few days, so i thought maybe they were gone. Lazarus woke up early that morning. I got him all changed and then went to the kitchen for coffee, when i picked up the bag of coffee, a mouse ran at us, so joshua and evalana woke up to my scream. We've heard a few more since then too, but they are eating the poison and joshua caught one in a trap, so i'm really hoping for a mouse-free winter. i'm still amazed we had an ant-free summer this year.

cozy coupe

2011-10-30T22:16:00.002-05:00

Lazarus loves riding around in this little car

pumpkin patch

2011-10-25T22:22:00.000-05:00

Grandma Kidd came for a visit, and we got to make another visit to the pumpkin patch. We went after church on Sunday. We had a great time and didn't get nearly enough time there, even though we were there for almost three hours and both kids were ready for naps. I was surprised at how much lazarus loved the jumping pillow.

10 months

2011-10-18T12:32:00.000-05:00

My son I love is now ten months old. Lazarus is very sweet and cuddly, and he’s also funny. He loves to play and laugh with his sister. He still does lots of squealing, which always makes me smile. And whenever someone else yells or he hears an echo, he does it over and over again. He babbles some in sign language, and he says some of the beginnings of words. Behbeh=byebye, dehdeh=dada, ba=ball, and he makes sounds for everything else too, but most of it I just don’t understand. He does do a great job of clearly communicating what he’s wanting by pointing, though. And he likes waving byebye to Daddy in the mornings. He enjoys eating, and he tries to pick everything up with a spoon or fork. He also likes to pray before we eat—he folds his hands together and then claps and says “yea!” at the end. Just this week he’s finally looked at and touched the dogs. Before, he never paid any attention to them at all. He does like to stare at people though. And nature. He loves being outside, and he especially loves trees. Lazarus loves playing with his daddy and sister. He squeals and tries to do everything Evalana does. His naps seem to be getting a little shorter recently. He's just a lot of fun. i look forward to being able to communicate more and more with him.

mt. vernon

2011-10-17T09:28:00.002-05:00

We had such a great weekend together in Mt. Vernon, Iowa! More coming later.
Pictures at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100372210050039.2629627.16827521&type=1&l=13cd38561d
and videos at

5 years!

2011-10-14T00:22:00.000-05:00

Joshua explained to evalana that our wedding anniversary is like our family's birthday--the day that God started our Vaughn family. What a blessing these five years have been. We're celebrating in Mt. Vernon, Iowa for my 10-year college homecoming this weekend. i am so very very thankful for my hardworking, loving, God-trusting husband!

a day

2011-10-09T16:40:00.000-05:00

The days go by so quickly. And most days are so much fun. Although it always feels like we don't have enough time to do all that we would like. Yesterday Joshua cleaned out our huge mess in our garage. Today he's working on the laundry/storage room. I couldn't think of a better anniversary gift. Although now that he's working on cutting down our weed garden and has completely cleaned out the garage, our mouse friends are wandering the house a bit more. hopefully they'll decide to leave all together. evalana and i don't care for them. So far, though, they're taking the snacks off of Joshua's traps. I did catch one on my "mouse cam."
Here's what a typical day looks like, although we're still trying to figure out a school time schedule that works well. Three-year-old school takes a lot more time than two-year-old school, and i suppose that trend will probably continue as we add more kids, more education, and more knowledge. One of Evalana's favorite parts of school time right now is learning a new letter each week. This week will be "H." Okay, so here's kind of our routine:
7am: Two happy kids wake up. They get so excited to see each other in the mornings. Joshua's hopefully already up getting ready for work. Lazarus wakes me up, and he's the best alarm clock; it's impossible not to start the day with joy with his happiness beside me. He likes to check out the window, say good morning to his sister, and then go potty and put on a fresh diaper. We wave bye bye to Daddy. Then we do our morning business--dishes, laundry, breakfast, which takes at least a couple hours. On mornings when we have to be somewhere, like tomorrow morning when i do Mops childcare at Westside and have to leave at 8:30, there's usually some crying in trying to get everything done and not being able to hold and help kids all they want. Evalana's so helpful; she usually gets herself ready all by herself, except for her hair, and even helps with packing a diaper bag for Lazarus.
10am: Lazarus take his nap for about an hour. Usually he's on my lap, and i just sit in the chair with him while i do some school time with evalana. Or sometimes she's just getting her breakfast at that time.
11am: Attempt a little more school time while trying to keep Lazarus from grabbing all of Evalana's stuff. Evalana usually does some Spanish, Bible and Rhyme, Sign Language, and some extra stuff (like learning about apples before we go to the apple orchard, or learning about China while Tompa and Grandma Nancy are in China).
11:30am: Evalana gets rest time. She usually lays down in the living room and watches a movie. For the past month, she usually doesn't fall asleep, but sometimes she does. She likes to watch things like home videos, Hermie, Read and Share Bible DVD, Sid the Science Kid, Word World, or various library dvds (this week's favorite is Going to the Apple Farm).
12:30pm: lunch time.
1pm: get dressed. play outside or run an errand, or do both.
2pm: lazarus's afternoon nap. Sometimes he sleeps on my lap; sometimes in the mei tai on me. I get to read books with Evalana, do some more school time. Sometimes she falls asleep if she didn't nap during rest time. There's not a good way for me to keep her awake while keeping Lazarus asleep. Napping in the afternoons really messes up her sleeping; she may nap for 45 minutes, but then she isn't ready for bed until maybe 1 1/2 hours later than usual. Wednesday is the only day I try to encourage a nap since Awana makes for a later night than usual for her. If Lazarus is taied to me, sometimes we make dinner or work on other projects or maybe play a game we're not able to with Lazarus's help.
4pm: Lazarus wakes up. We try to do laundry, dishes, dinner, school time we didn't get to, or whatever needs to be done before Daddy gets home.
5pm: Daddy's home! Both kids are so happy to see him. Evalana yells how much she loves him and runs outside to hug him. Lazarus squeals and squirms to get to him. He takes two very excited kiddos while I try to make dinner.
5:30pm: eat something.
6pm: I put away food and get dishes started while Joshua plays with two cuties.
6:30pm: baths. Both kids love their baths, and they usually take them together. Then put on jammies, brush teeth.
7pm: lazarus nurses to sleep while i work on the computer. Daddy and evalana might have a little bedtime snack or do any other last activities. They head to her bed, and Daddy reads to Evalana.
8:30pm: both kids asleep. usually the day hasn't actually gone nearly as smoothly as what i just wrote. Joshua tries to do a little of whatever we left undone, although most days we continue to get further behind.
9:30pm: off to bed! joshua and i get a little time to read the bible, pray, and talk.
10:30pm: sleep. Lazarus usually nurses a couple times during the night. Evalana usually calls for Joshua some time late during the night. He just gets up and goes to sleep in her bed with her. They both like their cuddles together. We get about eight hours of sleep and start the next day.
i love these days. i love my precious children and husband.

playset!

2011-10-08T07:15:00.002-05:00

Thursday morning Grandpa Greg brought over a playset for our backyard! We were getting ready to go meet some friends at a park, and Evalana looked out the window and said, "There are ladders in our backyard." She knew that Grandpa Greg was coming over, so she said that maybe Grandpa put them there. Then she looked out again in another minute, and she said, "And he has a slide. I think he's making a playground back there!" We hurried to finish getting dressed, and they were just finishing putting it all together by the time we got out there. Evalana was a little shy with the extra people around, but she thought it all looked pretty neat. Then, as soon as they left, she was so excited to try everything out! She and Lazarus have been having so much fun playing on their new playset! I just don't have enough hands to get pictures/video of Lazarus climbing and sliding.

lots of kids

2011-10-07T22:32:00.009-05:00

More pictures at
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100361020169649.2626818.16827521&type=1&l=a84fe83e70 and https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150867245455341.751313.671120340&type=3.

zoo

2011-10-05T20:16:00.001-05:00

After a little break in our zoo trips during the summer heat, evalana, lazarus, and I went again today. It was a beautiful day! Lazarus was mostly in the mei tai, and Evalana was mostly in the green stroller, and they did great. We had to wait awhile for the tram, but otherwise there weren’t really any lines or crowds this time, which was great. We got to ride the sky safari, and we all enjoyed that. When we rode the carousal, evalana insisted that I set lazarus on his own animal, rather than holding him. I wasn’t sure how that would go, but he loved it. He held on to the pole and smiled and thought he was pretty big. Evalana’s favorite animal today was the tiger. I don’t know if we’ll be able to do a zoo pass in the future, but I am looking forward to taking lazarus to the zoo as he gets a little older, too. Today he was just starting to pay attention to some of the animals. He’s funny, though; he still doesn’t care one bit about our dogs. Apparently he’s just not an animal guy. He did especially enjoy the people-watching at the zoo, though. Oh, and I did have my camera with me, but my hands and attention were full, so no great pictures of our visit today.

moses followed a cloud

2011-10-03T11:23:00.004-05:00

milk in a cup

2011-10-02T21:24:00.002-05:00

With evalana, i pumped every morning for the first six or so months. with lazarus, i'd love to be able to donate milk again, but i just hadn't found the time to pump. At the end of August, it was time for another mamas dinner out, so i pulled the pump out and left a cup of milk for lazarus. he's never had a bottle but does great with water in a straw cup, so i thought that would work well. the kids had a great time with daddy, but lazarus made faces when joshua gave him a drink of his cold milk, and he didn't have more than a couple of sips. later that week i tried room temperature milk, and he did great with that. funny that he likes cold water just fine, but make sure his milk is warm or at least room temperature.
Joshua and i decided to take advantage of Lazarus liking both my mom and pumped milk, and we went on a date! it's our first kidless date since lazarus was born. it wasn't important enough to us to go out kid-free if it meant a sad/scared/hungry baby, but, now that we had happy kids at home with Grandma Mo, we enjoyed our date and are looking forward to more! Joshua and I had lunch at Unforked, which was great.

daddy's birth day

2011-09-22T22:58:00.008-05:00

Evalana loves hearing Grandma Kidd tell the stories of Daddy and Aunt Kristen being born. She requests the stories almost daily.

shack fireside

2011-09-18T21:43:00.001-05:00

Westside pastors and friends are spending 100 nights in a shack. Tonight was Pastor Matt and Grandpa Greg's night in the shack. They also have a fire ring that anyone can spend the evening at. This evening Evalana convinced Daddy to take her there, and it sounds like they had a great time. Here are a few pictures.

taken by Pastor Matt

taken by grandma mo

taken by pastor matt

shoes

2011-09-18T20:56:00.000-05:00

Friday Mo took the kids shoe shopping. Evalana needs an 11W since she only has sandals that fit her right now, and they're getting tight, and the weather's getting colder. Unfortunately we couldn't find anything other than rainboots (which she loves) that would fit her, so we'll have to keep looking. Lazarus, though, did come home with some shoes! They're cute; I'll have to post a picture of them later. Unfortunately we got home with a 4.5 left shoe and a 5 right shoe, so Mo exchanged them for two 4 1/2s. The little walker is putting quite a few steps together now, and he thinks he is so big; he loves to try walking first, even though crawling is so much faster for him right now. And he claps and says "yea" each time he falls after taking steps.

shopping makes little girls, little boys, mommies, and grandmas tired

spoon

2011-09-18T20:09:00.001-05:00

About as soon as I gave Lazarus a spoon, he loved to use it, and he's pretty good at it too!

9 months

2011-09-17T21:30:00.014-05:00

My cutest little boy is nine months old today! He is becoming quite the little boy now. He loves to play with his sister, and he really loves his daddy time. He just pirches on Daddy's arm, with his hand on Daddy's thumb and his other arm on Daddy's shoulder, and he is happy to ride around wherever Daddy will take him. One of his favorite activities with Evalana is to play in their play kitchen. He also likes being outside. He's really using his sign language now. He says "eat" "drink" "more" "all done" and waves "bye bye." Evalana loves learning new signs to use for him. He also likes to make all sorts of noises, especially "ba," "bo," "ich" (he knows he's German), and squeals. And he likes to clap and say "ya." He has fun eating and likes most everything we've given him. He's still mostly crawling, although he likes trying out his new walking abilities. He's currently in size 18 month clothes, although I pulled out the bag of 24 month clothes since I didn't have what we were needing in the 18 month selection, and the 24 month aren't too big. Lazarus is currently 21.5 lbs (70%), inches 29.5 (88%), and his head is 18" (60%). He's got his two bottom front teeth, and his top right poked through today, and his top left is very close. Teething doesn't seem to bother him. Actually pain in general doesn't really bother him. He's a tough little boy, but he will cry if you take something away from him or set him down when he wants to be held. Lazarus loves to cuddle. He's still in our bed at night, but now he doesn't always have to be touching someone once he's asleep. He still takes all his naps on me, in the mei tai on daddy or me, or in his car seat. I just realized he's already too tall for his infant car seat now, though, so car naps are going to get trickier than just carrying him in in his seat. He's now napping about 10am-11am (or earlier or later, depending on our schedule. he'll fall asleep in the car, but not while we're out doing things) and 2pm-4pm. Then he sleeps about 8pm-7am. With his now taking only two naps rather than three, it's rarer that Evalana's nap happens at the same time as his. He's nursing every several hours during the day and 1-3 times at night. When he does nurse, he always gulps it down and is done; don't try to get him to hang around any longer than he wants. He doesn't just smile because people think a baby should; he saves his smiles for those who really earn it. It's pretty funny to see people try, though, and act a little confused about why he's just staring at them. I love this boy so much, and it's so great to be getting to know him more and more. I pray that we can parent him as God wants us to. I know God has great plans for our Lazarus.

walker

2011-09-12T15:40:00.001-05:00

Lazarus took his first step today! This morning we did MOPS childcare at Westside. Evalana loves going to her class, and I teach in Lazarus's room. Lazarus was holding onto something, stood up, let go, took a step, then tried another step and fell down. Then he clapped his hands, said yea, and then kissed himself in the mirror. This morning, while eating breakfast, Evalana said he might learn how to walk from the other babies, but Lazarus was the youngest and the only one close to walking in his class. Now we just have to work on putting a couple of steps together.
And he did it a few more times to show off for daddy when he got home.

clapping

2011-09-06T09:12:00.000-05:00

Sunday Lazarus realized that he can clap, and he's been practicing a lot since then.

jeans

2011-09-05T22:13:00.000-05:00

Evalana was in size 5s from about 15 months to 3 years, but now she's needing to move on to 8s. So we got her some new jeans (capris fit her as pants, and shorts fit her as capris, and I'm thankful that longer skirts are just the length I like them). The shopping wore us out, but we came home with a couple pairs of jeans and a skirt that will hopefully fit her well. Now I'll just need to try visiting some garage sales for the rest of her wardrobe. It's difficult to find clothes that fit her, are comfortable and cute, and are appropriate. I'm finding most things wouldn't even be good for an 8yo, much less a 3yo.

8 months

2011-09-05T22:09:00.002-05:00

i'm having so much fun getting to know this little boy's personality more! He's determined to get what he wants. He's started signing. He understands a lot. He doesn't usually get upset if he hurts himself, but he does cry if you take something away from him. He's started wanting whatever someone else has. He loves his sister and his daddy. Most days he's down to two naps now. He weighs about 20.5 pounds.

spaghetti

2011-09-05T14:26:00.002-05:00

Lazarus's favorite meal so far: spaghetti and green beans from the garden

Joshua got a funny video that he'll hopefully post later.

Here's Evalana enjoying spaghetti, too.

push walking

2011-09-05T13:34:00.001-05:00

Lazarus loves feeling big. He's always trying to stand up. He loves "walking" with a push-toy.

two teeth

2011-09-05T13:10:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to try sharing a picture of Lazarus's cute two-teethed smile. It isn't easy to capture on camera, though.

Family pool party

2011-09-04T22:10:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we had family night at Evalana's water park.

lazarus and nehemiah

2011-09-04T21:44:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we got to go to Layla's first birthday party. Here are a couple pictures Joshua took while playing with the boys. We were off watching Layla smash her cupcake into her face; she loved her cake!

bedtime on a school night

2011-09-04T21:34:00.000-05:00

On the evenings Joshua has class, i put both kids to bed myself. Usually we all get in my bed, i turn on our Bible Storybook CD (which we love and very highly recommend), i nurse Lazarus, evalana cuddles in to my back, both kids think it's so funny to be in bed together (lazarus especially giggles and tries to get to evalana even when she's asleep), they fall asleep, i try to sneak out of my little spot, and i get to do things while they cuddle together in their sleep.

Wonderscope

2011-09-02T10:07:00.009-05:00

Last month Grandma Mo quit her job! We are enjoying our time with her, now that she's in town! Wednesday Mo took us to Wonderscope. Both kids had such a good time! And Lazarus is comfortable with Grandma, now, too! Yea!

Evalana said this was her favorite part

Evalana's reaction when Mo tries to "steal" money from the cash register is so funny.

awana

2011-09-01T22:15:00.000-05:00

Evalana started Awana last week. Daddy's teaching in her class. They're having a great time. She got her new cubbies vest this week. I'm still learning how Awana works, but i think she earns patches for memorizing scripture.

ear infections

2011-09-01T21:25:00.000-05:00

Lazarus seems to have another cold. The past couple nights he's had a kind of stuffed up nose and had to be held some during the night. He has a little cough and is gagging on drainage. Because i now know that i don't know when he's sick, i decided to take him in for a doctor appointment. Evalana was so upset about having to go to the doctor. But, with the help of some ice cream (frozen juice), i got her in to the car okay. Dr. Holly said Lazarus's ear infections are worse than they were a couple weeks ago. She said we could do oral antibiotics again, but i had trouble getting him to swallow much of the gross pink medicine. And i don't like the way it messes with his tummy; it gets rid of his healthy bacteria, gives him diarrhea, and makes his bottom sore. Or we could do an antibiotic injection. The drawback to the shot is that it hurts. I liked the shot idea. Evalana did not. We decided that when the nurses came in with the shot, she could leave the room and pick out a sticker. But the wait for them to draw up the medicine took forever, and Evalana was so nervous about Lazarus's shot, so she was crying and crying, and Lazarus was trying to pull everything apart in the little very warm room. Finally they came in with two shots (i guess they have to divide up the dose for his little legs). Evalana completely freaked out. She was screaming and crying while Lazarus got his shots. Then he cried a little, and thankfully evalana stopped and was completely fine then. We had to wait there 15 minutes to make sure Lazarus didn't have a reaction. He was fine. We'll check his ears again when we go back for his well check in a couple weeks. Hopefully he'll be feeling all better soon!

evalana's photography

2011-08-28T21:43:00.000-05:00

A few of the pictures off of evalana's camera (mostly taken by evalana):

Also, I just finally added a whole bunch of pictures to the posts on Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Chris's wedding, Uncle Alex and Aunt Bridgett's wedding, and Grandma Mo and Grandpa Greg's wedding! And a few more to the nap pictures.

march visit to great grandpa moser

2011-08-26T16:06:00.001-05:00

Our March 5th visit to Great Grandpa Moser in Lincoln. Grandpa and Lazarus's first time together.

cutest stroller - happy march

2011-08-26T15:40:00.000-05:00

3/1/11

after walk nap

meatloaf and earmuffs

2011-08-26T15:23:00.000-05:00

2/28/11

This past winter Evalana's favorite food was meatloaf. She requested it about every day, and we usually had it once a week. We all liked it, and it was healthy, so we just made it a lot. Our meatloaf includes a lot of food processor-ed veggies, and Lazarus wasn't real fond of the noise of the food processor, so this is how he helped cook.

pool party

2011-08-26T14:43:00.001-05:00

Evalana had planned to have some friends over for a backyard pool party on her birthday, but, since we ended up going to Arkansas, the playdate was postponed until this morning. With eight adults and twelve kids, we had a lot of fun, although i didn't get many pictures.

Waiting for pizza

numbers

2011-08-25T09:48:00.000-05:00

Evalana wanted to share a little of what she's been working on with her school time. Usually we practice "writing" with her finger in shaving cream, frosting, paint, or something like that, but she wanted to try writing with a marker when we were putting apples on trees. I thought she did pretty well for a first attempt without any help. These are the rhymes she says when writing each number.

lazarus's noise

2011-08-25T09:20:00.001-05:00

matching girls

2011-08-24T21:32:00.000-05:00

The other morning Evalana went into her room to get dressed, and I got dressed in my room. When we came out, I realized we both matched! Although Evalana didn't want me to take her picture.

playroom

2011-08-24T21:23:00.001-05:00

Daddy did a lot of work to turn the library into a playroom. Evalana and Lazarus love playing together. I am so thankful for our two children.

I'll have to post a couple clips of Family Dup that this reminds me of.

naps

2011-08-22T13:03:00.004-05:00

3/4/11

3/7/11

6/7/11

7/29/11

8/15/11

right now

wanted to add a couple more:

8/27/11

she likes to lay with her head on the arm of the chair and her legs up the back of the chair

9/2/11