Enjoying the warm weather tease

We knew the unseasonably warm weather wouldn't last long, so Evalee and I took advantage of it this week. We went for walks with the stroller, sat out on the porch with the cats, and even took a trip to the Orion park to swing for a little bit. Eva was a little hesitant about the swings at first, so we got on one together for a while and then I tried the baby swing again. The second time, she loved every second of it. I am excited to hang up the swing she got from Aunt Jodi for Christmas outside so we can swing this summer too (though as I write this I'm watching the snow fall outside and reminding myself that it'll be a while still).

We've had a busy last couple of weeks. Last weekend was Valentine's Day weekend, so Grandma and Grandpa Kershaw came up Friday night and stay the whole weekend so Daddy and I could go out on Saturday night. We went out to eat a couple of times, and Evalee enjoyed people watching as usual. Sunday we even took a trip back to Walmart, despite my hatred for the store, because I was in need of supplies that unfortunately are only available there. Happily, everything went smoothly and I left in a good mood this time :). It was nice to get out and have dinner with Travis, but it was also nice to come back home to hug and smiles from our baby girl.

This weekend Travis had to work another surprise Saturday shift, so we didn't get lots of time to be together as a family, but we made the most of what we had. We had a nice weekend filled with wrestling on the living room floor, snuggles on the couch, and lots of laughs all around over Evalee's sheer goofiness.

Last night we both felt like a million bucks as we watched her master new skills. Earlier last week she started mastering putting lids on containers. Once she mastered that, we started giving her more than one set so she could start figuring out shapes and sizes and identifying which go together. Watching her tiny little mind work as she flipped and turned, turned upside-down things right again, messed up, and started over until she got it right was truly amazing. Then last night she figured out how to get all 8 of her stackable cups together in the right order. Sometimes it took a few trial and errors until she got it right, but she never gave up. We made sure to clap and cheer for her every time she got it right, and the proud smile she got on her face from our cheers will forever be etched in my mind as one of the greatest things I've ever seen. To put it simply, she's brilliant. :)

And if that wasn't enough, we think she has started to officially say her first words with some consistency. She's been saying some things in an indistinguishable language, usually getting the right amount of syllables out for the item she was trying to talk about. Usually, she even gets the vowel sound she's going for correct. But lately she's been saying "kitty" when she sees the cats pretty well. Sometimes she leaves of the "k" and just says "itty" but I think it's close enough :). Then in the last couple of days she has started saying "mumumumum" whenever she is crawling toward me or when she is excited to see me come into the room. That one has kind of thrown us off-guard because we haven't even been working on "mom" very much, but she does it consistently enough that we figure that's what she's going for.

I'm hearing a little one waking up, so I'm off... :)

First day out in the snow

I don't know about this, Mom.


This reminds me of a look we get from the cats when we bring them back inside from the sunporch in the summer.
Forging through the drifts

Getting to know the snow.
Loving the fresh air.
What are you doin to me, Daddy?
Having a nice one on one time with Daddy.
Hey guys!!!
Our baby was here.

Snowed In!

How do you work this thing Mom? We need to start another episode of Lost...
Lovin' on her lovie.
Amazed by the snow.


We had a crazy week filled with snow! School was cancelled on Tuesday, anticipating the blizzard that was set to come anytime between 10 and 2. It started lightly snowing around 9:30 and by the time Daddy went to work at 1 the snow was coming down pretty steadily. Eva and I had a good time playing inside and looking out the window at the snow coming down. We watched the news and cringed at the projections, knowing Daddy was out in the thick of it (quite literally) driving on the very roads they were deeming impassable on the broadcast. There were a few (or more than a few) paranoid phone calls to my mother, but we made it through the night. The realization that Travis was not going to make it home started to set in a few hours before his shift ended and was confirmed when we both agreed not being able to tell where the road ended and the ditch began was a good indication that the road was bad. I was pretty bummed, but knew that it was of course what needed to be done.

So it was a little more sad when he made it all the way to our turn the next morning, only to see that the snow was taller than his car in the road and couldn't make it the final stretch. So, Eva and I hunkered down and chased the cats and each other and made the best of it. Our unbelievably nice neighbors banded together and plowed out our driveway so Travis would be able to get into the garage when he got off work, and I was so thankful I almost cried. The snow was up to their waists out there! Oh was a relief it was to see Travis's face around 11:30 Wednesday night!

We didn't have school again on Thursday because the roads weren't all plowed yet and with the wind chill it was supposed to be -30 in the morning. So we let Daddy go to work again and spent the day looking at books and watching a little Sesame Street.

It was nice to wear pajama pants for three days straight, but it was also nice to get back to the swing of things this morning. (Sorta. I mean, it was Friday so I still got to wear jeans to work.) The days off just really made me look forward to this summer all the more, when we have 10 weeks of together time to spend!

if I had bothered to learn the fight song, this is where I'd post a line from it.

Even though I don't know the NIU fight song, it doesn't mean I don't love my alma mater. This week we decided to sport our NIU wear in honor of Evalee fitting into her NIU outfit from Uncle Trevor and Aunt Ashley :). For some reason we didn't take any pictures of Eva and I, but we got lots of cute ones of Eva and Daddy, including a few belly bloops.