It's time for the Great Minnesota Get Together!

Friday afternoon we left work a little early and headed out to the Minnesota State Fair. I have done this the past few years with co-workers and Eric has joined us the past couple years too. This year Eric picked up Evan from Day-care and took a bus from a park n ride not far from our house. The plan was for me to leave work and park at the fairgrounds and I would bring the stroller. Eric got there about an hour and a half before me. He toted Evan around in the Baby Bjorn(which is almost too small). Eric felt what it would be like to put on an extra 25 lbs:-) Plus he had the diaper bag backpack on his back with two bottles and extra clothes and diapers. The temp was in the upper 80's and pretty humid, so he was sweating pretty bad when I arrived with the stroller. As I pushed the stroller a good 1/2 mile into the fairgrounds from my parking spot only one person commented that I had lost my child. I was surprised he was the only one. It must've looked pretty funny pushing an empty stroller with no kid. While we were waiting for Dawn to arrive we got a reuben on a stick(which is one of Eric's fav's) and some Australian potatoes (sliced potatoes, battered and deep fried then served with cheese and ranch dipping sauce(a must share). Evan was getting pretty tired once Dawn arrived we headed up to the new International Bazaar(which we found has very nice family restrooms where all three of us could take care of business in one shot:-). I say this because Eric changed Evan in a bathroom where the changing table blocked the entrance/exit to the place(I think the bathroom has been around longer than changing tables). There was some music playing in the International Bazaar and Evan fell asleep instantly for over an hour. He was so cute I had to take a picture:-)

Where is Eric and Evan? Can you find them in the picture?
Yes, Eric took Evan down the Giant Slide! I tried to get one of them coming down the slide, but I ended up getting one of the guys at the end that is there to catch you. My camera was not fast enough!
Evan saw some sheep!
I think this horse wanted to eat Evan. He was a little too friendly, but very nice.

This is the thick cut bacon fried and carmelized with maple syrup. Eric, Dawn and I thought it was pretty good. We also stopped by Famous Daves to try what they are calling chocolate covered pig lickers(chocolate covered bacon). We thought this was pretty good too. It reminded us of chocolate covered potato chips(sweet and salty).

Here are a couple pictures of Evan playing in the boat cabin today. He starting to pull himself up to explore.


Here are a couple pictures from last weekend with Eric and Evan doing some swimming. Evan was pretty tired, but he didn't protest being in the water. Both of them did have a lot of sand in their swimsuits from sitting in the sand:-)

Big News!

If you have seen me lately you may have been asking yourself...Is Denise pregnant? The answer is Yes! Today we heard the baby's heartbeat, so we feel comfortable sharing the exciting news! I'm due in early March. I'm going to add a baby tracker to the blog, so you can see how many days I have left until baby #2 arrives. We won't know if it is a boy or girl for a couple months.

I bought Evan a T-Shirt that says on the back "I have big news" and on the front it says "I'm going to be a big brother!" I showed it to him tonight and he was very excited. It has a picture of a little boy on the front, so I think that is why he was smiling:-) There is a little girl at day-care who is about 16 months old and in July her Mom had another baby girl. I talked to her Mom and it sounded like she was pretty clueless that her little sister was anything other than a doll. After about 8 weeks she was finally starting to understand this other little person was not going away! Evan and the new baby will be about 16 1/2 months apart, so I can use this as a comparison to what his understanding will be of #2.

Evan's new ball popper!

Here is a video of Evan playing with his new ball popper. I got this out about a week ago and he watched it for a few seconds and started to cry. I wasn't sure if he was scared of the thing or overwhelmed by the popping balls flying around the room. It does have a rather loud fan, so that could've been it too(I read some reviews on the product and other kids are scared of it too). I got it out again and he wasn't scared of it anymore. As you can see he tries to stop the balls from popping up with the ball in his hand. I think this causes a back pressure of air which will make the next balls fly out even higher. Right now this is more of a parents toy, because I end up retrieving the balls for him that go flying around the room. He does seem to understand to put the balls on the ramp and they roll down to the bottom when he finally decides to let go of them.

Look how big Evan looks in his red chair? You can compare his size to the picture at the top of the blog.

Evan the roller

Evan will be 10 months on Friday and he still isn't crawling yet. He rolls everywhere he wants to go. The other night he rolled into the bottom of his ExerSaucer. There is a big lip at the bottom and some pegs that stick up, so he had some obstacles to overcome. He doesn't like spending too much time sitting in this ExerSaucer, but hanging out at the bottom gives you some new perspective. He looks pretty happy. I had to help him get out of there once he was done with that adventure.

Then he continued to roll over toward the kitchen. He managed to get his legs under a bar stool. He wasn't really able to get himself out of this one either and I had to help him out once again.
Then he was a very tired boy and went to sleep! He did a very funny thing last night:-) I put him down about 7:10 and went in his room to check on him about 8:00 and he was sitting up. This freaked me out! We had the baby monitor on and never heard a word out of him. When I noticed he wasn't really playing, but just sitting there I figured out that he was sleeping. I called Eric in the room to check it out. We were cracking up as Evan bobbed his body back and forward trying to sleep as he was sitting up. He just started sitting up in his crib last week. I guess he hasn't really figured out how to lay back down again. We thought it was very funny that he didn't make a sound and was so tired he just fell asleep. I laid him back down and he opened his eyes for a second looking confused and fell right to sleep. We got out the video camera, so hopefully we'll get that posted soon.
The poor little guy is getting his top two front teeth. Last night the gums were bleeding. When I brush his teeth now he protests when I try to do the top ones, so I skip it and just do the bottom ones.

Evan's Baptism

Today we had Evan baptized. His godparents are our good friends Steve and Lori. I've posted some pictures below of his special day. We give a special Thank You to those who attended. After the Baptism we went to Grandma Gay's and Grandpa Bob's to have lunch. Grandpa Dewey prepared yummy chicken salad and roast beef sandwiches. Evan took a snooze when we got back to the house and woke up when we were all done eating to have some banana and yogurt.

Evan getting dressed in his fancy outfit! Jennie do you think he could wear this to your wedding in a couple weeks?

Evan in church before the Baptism. So seriously watching all the people.


Pastor Paul and Pastor Susan(left) performed the Baptism. Evan was reaching up to the sky for some reason.

He was a little shocked when they started getting his head wet, but just closed his eyes and waited for it to be over. He didn't protest. Eric was waiting for him to flip over and start splashing in the water.

Wet Head!

Great-Grandma and Great-Aunt Michelle attended

Pastor Paul and Pastor Susan with us and Steve and Lori. Pastor Paul married us back in 2006.

Evan with his Godparents Steve and Lori!

Grandpa Bob & Grandma Gay and usMy Aunt Joyce, Uncle Tom, Aunt Barb and Uncle Spence drove from up north to attend the Baptism. We appreciate you coming from so far away! Thank You!
Grandpa Dewey and Grandma Shirley. To get Evan to smile like this we showed him a picture of himself!

Grandma Gay and Grandpa Bob bought this lovely cake to celebrate the Baptism.

I was trying to bring Evan in for a nice picture with his cake and he took a swipe at the cake. I didn't think he was that close! Quick Hand Little Man!
He decided to try the frosting and managed to get it all over his face! Yummy sugar frosting Mommy! Sorry about the cake Grandma:-)

A few more pics from Sunday!

A weekend of fun!

We finally got Evan in the lake this weekend. He tried out his wave rider that Grandma Gay got him for Easter. It took a little adjustment to get used to the water temperature, but he did really well.

The wave rider comes with propellers. Better not go too shallow and ding that prop:-)
Eric had him attempt a back float and he didn't mind too much.
Eric started singing "The kids on the bus go up and down up and down" like they do in swimming class and Evan got a big smile on his face!
Evan was hanging out in his bumbo seat watching Daddy be silly!
Sunday we went up to my Aunt Barb and Uncle Spence's for a barbecue. My cousin Dave and his wife Danielle were in town from Florida with their daughter Adrienne. All four cousins(Evan is their second cousin) gathered together for a picture. Evan was only going on about an hour nap and it was 4:00, so he was pretty tired(he was asleep before we hit the freeway on the way home). Adrienne and Ada look very cute in their matching dresses that Grandma Barb bought for them.

Dave and Adrienne

August 3rd - Ada, Olen and Evan. Olen is just over 5 months and weighs almost as much as Evan!

Looking back at March 29th....look how much they've changed!

On the way home we stopped to visit our friends Bryan and Karen who just had Baby Girl Sophie on July 24th. She is so tiny and precious! Congrats to Bryan and Karen!! Our advice to them was that it will get easier once you can get more food in them, so she can sleep longer and you can get more sleep! It will get easier:-)

This picture is a left over from our weekend up at the cabin. My parents had these goofy glasses that they got at a junk store in town. We thought it would be pretty funny to put them on Evan. He didn't like them very much, but you can't look at this picture without laughing, so I thought it was worth posting on the blog:-)