A "Nice" time.

Veronica (auntie Sharon's daughter) was in town, visiting from California for her mom's birthday. Lucky for us , we were invited to celebrate with them on Sunday. Both Sharon and Veronica outdid themselves by preparing the most wonderful birthday dinner for the six of us. While Grampy played with Everett; Grammy, Deona, Sharon, Veronica and I enjoyed the afternoon playing our all-time favorite card game, "Hand and Foot".

The fun continued Monday night, with a trip to No Frills Grill for dinner and trivia.


Grammy and Ev

Veronica, auntie Sharon & Deona

Don wins Trivia (TWICE!) How the heck did that happen?! :)

Everett reads Grampy's "To Do" list from his shirt pocket.

The sanitary, "blowing in ones ear". :)

Don trying hard to "suck it in" so his shirt buttons don't pop off and injure Deona across the table.

Veronica and Ev

tummy's full and about to say our good-bye's.

A great time was had by all. Veronica returns to California Tuesday afternoon. We had a super visit with the "Nice's", looking forward to doing it again soon.

A serious case of "BH"

Boyfriend has a serious case of "Bed-Head" this morning.
After returning with camera in hand, I discover he's gotten into a roll of T.P.

And again, sporting only 1 sock.

Watch out Milton Bradley, there's a new kid in town!

Everett taught his Mommy a new game today.

Number of Players: 2-4
Ages: 0+
How to Play (According to Everett):
Place something nasty in your mouth
Run or crawl as fast as you can away from your mommy.
If you get caught before you swallow the *game piece, game's over.

*Game pieces consist of: carpet filaments, carpet fuzz, dust bunnies, small dried pieces of mud, slivers of wicker, wads of paper and dead bugs.

We literally watched Everett invent this game tonight.
Eventually it got to the point where he would:
- crawl up to me with *game piece in hand
- give a mischievous smile
- insert the *game piece into his mouth
- crawl away like a bat out of hell.

Everett thought this was the coolest game ever, as it was a sure fire way for his Mommy to chase and pay extra-special attention to him.

We're amazed how incredibly smart he is as this young age. No telling what kind of games we'll be playing when he's 2 years old.
Perhaps we'll someday see the name"Everett Blake" splashed across board games in game closets, everywhere.

What's so funny?

I've been trying to get Everett to open his mouth, so I can see his top teeth coming in.
Today, (during our lunch) my plan worked...

Click on Ev's pictures to get a close up.

Crazy Mommy...

Surprise Package!

Everett received a package in the mail from Cord Blood Registry yesterday. It was an adorable peekaboo book, called "Where is Baby's Belly Button?". With the book he received a card wishing him a "Happy Birthday!".

For those of you who dont know about cordblood, it's the blood that remains in a baby's umbilical cord after the cord has been cut. Doctors discovered this blood is like bone marrow that can be used in medical treatments. Read more here at CBR.

Additionally, CBR also has a referral program, if you know anyone who is pregnant, share the importance of cord banking (more info can be found at http://www.cordblood.com/).

Should they decide to use CBR, (and no one else has asked them to use them as a referral), please have them reference "Deona Jordan". Doing so, will credit our account with one free year of storage.

So with all that said, we think the surprise package they sent Everett for this 1st birthday, was not only a sweet gesture, but very fitting.

Everett's last day of swimming lessons

Everett with instructor, Lindsey:

i like this picture, it looks like he's under water.

Last day of swimming class....ho-hum.

Playing Alone....It sounds so sad, i know.

Recently, Everett has taken to solo-play and it's wonderful watching him in action. I decided to snap some pictures, as I consider this a huge milestone in our baby boy's life.
Studies show solo-play builds independence, creativity and imagination.

Everett reading a book:


Feeling the soft texture on bunny's tail:



Having fun shaking and listening to the rattle sounds of his hammer and screw driver:


Driving his cars around the playroom.
Everett has also started making spitty "vroom-vroom" noises while he drives his cars.
Soooo cute!!




I'm so prould that Everett is learning to enjoy his own company — I'm hopeful this milestone will serve him well in the months/years to come.

AIKD!

Absolutely Incredible Kid Day (AIKD) is a day designated to honor our nation's children. It is a simple, meaningful way for adults to let children know how much they are appreciated.
Yesterday was Absolutely Incredible Kid Day; we forgot. :(
Lucky for us Everett's godmother, Ori, didn't.
Everett is so blessed to have an Ori.

a letter to my godson

Mar.19, 2009

Absolutely Incredible Kid Day

Hey little E! Today is Absolutely Incredible Kid Day, a special day for kids everywhere. It reminds us to recognize incredible kids like you. Not that anyone needs reminding how cool you are and how lucky your moms and all your family are to have such a great little guy.

As you approach your first birthday, I feel enormous excitement for you. You have such amazing moms who love you so much. You are going to grow into an extraordinary young man because of their love and support. And, I can not wait to share with you wonderful, beautiful things, and help you explore and experience this great big world in my own way.

So E, never forget that there are people who adore you just for being you. Thanks for coming into my life. You are a true treasure.

Ori

Happy Birthday Deona!

Today is my wonderful Deona's birthday. I just wanted to share her special day with all of you. She's my heart and soul and I love her so. Happy 33rd Birthday Shnookums! :-)

A recap of today:

The day started out having breakfast at IHOP with Debbie (Grammy).

On our way to IHOP:

beautiful boy.

Then birthday shopping for Deona at various stores. Later in the afternoon, Grammy watched Everett, while Deona and I ran a few errands including picking up a birthday cookie cake for a quiet celebration at home.

Ev didnt get to eat cookie-cake, but he did enjoy his own cookie bisquits:

Later in the evening, we headed over to Grammy and Grampy's for a birthday dinner celebration.

Deona having 2 of her favorite comfort foods, mashed potatoes and fried okra.

Deona gets help blowing out her birthday candles.

Jordan likes the frosting.

Dondi, Sharon and Mimi.

Roy, Matthew, Don (Grampy) and Everett.

Tomorrow, Deona continues her birthday celebration with an hour massage at Sanford House Spa.

Ten months old!

Everett is ten months old today! Hurray! We didnt do much of anything, because he's still not feeling 100%. A week ago Thursday, he had the second part of his flu shot, which happend to be the day after his first day at "Mother's Day Out". There's no telling whether he had a reaction to the shot, or if he caught the bug from school. Who knows, we're just ready for our Ev to be back to normal.
Grampy visited Everett this afternoon then later, the five of us (Grampy, Grammy, Deona, Everett & I) went to El Chico for dinner.
No pictures today, but will post some soon, we'll be in Austin for a few days, visiting Grandma, Grandpa, and the whole clan. Stay tuned for pics.

Showing & Sharing

I'm not sure if these count as milestones, but I find them quite funny and sweet.

If you've read our posts from previous months, you know Everett wakes up and joins us at 5:00 each morning; weekends are no exception. :-/

This week, Everett started to "show-and-tell" his toys. While Deona and I were half sleeping, Everett decides to show me his rubber ducky toy, by smashing it against my cheek, as if he were saying, "wake up Mommy, look at my ducky and play with me". This game continued until I got up (for about 10 minutes).

Today, while Everett was finishing his lunch he decided to share his chewed-up, soggy apple slice by smashing it against my mouth. I thought his offering was so very sweet, I couldn't help but to play along. I pretended to smack and eat his apple. He thought that was pretty funny.

Our baby boy is becoming quite the entertainer and a very generous, little boy.