Kids galore

We have car seats filled with goofy kids all over the place in the Big Red Van!

More (and better) pictures to come of the Evans cousin convention . . .

Random Stuff

Peter and Charlie have been playing with my old Matchbox cars (which delights me to no end).  I decided to get rid of my old, decrepit Matchbox tote, but not before cutting the vinyl cover off the top and bottom.

I trimmed up the edges, and bingo . . .

New placemats.

Charlie loves hers.

Niki making smoothies today.  See our little imp peeking over the couch?

Today, I was absolutely insistent that we take a family picture.  I aimed the camera at Niki, ran over, and promptly took a fantastic picture . . . and cut off part of my head.  Sigh.

I am the luckiest man in the world because I come home to, and wake up to, these three people.

My new Mustang - officially, this is my Father's Day present, even though I took delivery last week.  Some guys get a tie.  I got this.  Did I mention before that my family rocks?

I'm looking forward to spending 9 years behind this wheel.

 My 302 V8.

Charlie and the old Mustang.

One last time behind the wheel.  I bought this car before Niki and I got married; I commuted in LA for years with this thing; Niki and I left our wedding in it; I drove it multiple times up PCH and took it the length of Mulholland; GrandDad and I drove it cross-country from LA; Pie-o-neer Cafe; I've driven this from Memphis to Kingsport, and from Lake Michigan to the Gulf Coast; Niki and I brought Peter home from the hospital in it.  Great car and wonderful memories.

Niki and her kitten.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my favorite baby-daddy!  You are the most wonderful father to our little goofball children.  I love you!

We tried a little Father's Day photo shoot this afternoon, with dubious success.  I guess I will never have to worry about depriving my children of the modeling careers they were destined to have . . .

Share and share alike

Poor Connie doesn't have much of a choice whether to share her water bowl with Peter and Rocky.

Since they are two of her biggest fans, I think Connie is willing to look the other way though.

Nighty-night

For the first time in ages, Charlotte was actually showing some interest in baby dolls yesterday.  She was putting them "nighty-night" in little baskets and shoeboxes all over her room after rocking them and singing to them.  Petey was imitating her and wreaking havoc with her babies, causing Charlote much distress.  I left to go to the grocery store and Corey jumped in the shower.  When Corey got out, he found that Petey had put himself nighty-night next to all of the babies and was fast asleep!

He slept for a little while, but then woke up after Charlotte tried to put herself to sleep next to him.  You can't see it well, but right above Petey's head in the photo is the phone I got from my parents in 5th grade (my very own phone in my bedroom!).  Charlotte and Peter think it's the coolest toy ever for some reason.  It still cracks me up that my mom, who is the queen of throwing out old things, chose that as one of the few items from my childhood to keep.

Washing all sorts of vehicles

After dinner, Corey decided to take the kids outside and wash his new car.  Charlotte apparently insisted on washing her beloved Big Red Van instead, and Corey agreed.  Within moments of beginning, Peter took matters into his own hands and started scrubbing down his own set of wheels.  Charlotte quickly followed suit.  I came outside after finishing the dishes to this beautiful scene:

To be fair, Peter did a lot more dipping of the sponges into the water and sloshing around of the bubbles in the driveway than actual bike scrubbing, but it was still cute.

Charlotte did a good job of scrubbing down her tricycle though!

BUBBLES!

MONSTER ROAR!!

Time for a break -- might as well suck on the dirty hose.  Oh, Peter . . .

I'm happy to report that my van, Peter's ride, and Charlotte's trike are all sparkling clean.  Corey's Mustang, however, is still a little grungy.  Maybe tomorrow!

Utter relaxation

We could all learn a thing or two about relaxation from little Rocky.

CHEESE!

Peter's favorite new thing is to say "CHEESE" whenever a camera comes out.  He even does it with pretend cameras and things he imagines look like cameras.  This is his "CHEESE" face:

I just love the rosy cheeks.  My little bubba knows how to melt my heart.

18-month check-up

Peter got a glowing report from the pediatrician at his 18-month check-up!  I got the usual lecture about getting him to eat more veggies and dairy, but otherwise the doctor thought Petey was doing great.  He is 32 inches tall (the 40th to 50th percentile) and weighs 23 pounds, 3 ounces (the 10th to 25th percentile).  He's a skinny minnie just like his dad was as a child.

Charlotte decided SHE needed to be up on the exam table as well at one point, so I took a quick picture with my crappy cell phone camera.  She loves going to see Dr. Hood!

Dough boy

First play-dough experience ever!  He was smitten, to say the least.

Singing in the rain!

Peter and Charlotte were bouncing off the walls, so I decided that we would venture where we had never ventured before -- to play in the summer rain!  I didn't get a shot of Charlotte, but here is little Petey happily playing away with the water spout.  I think he was looking for the Itsy Bitsy Spider or something.

Yes, those are pool noodles in the driveway.  Charlotte seemed to think she needed those to play with in the rain.  I told her it wasn't going to rain THAT much!  Building an ark may be next.

No big deal

When we moved Charlotte out of her crib to a big girl bed, we agonized for weeks.  We completely redecorated the guest room, bought a twin mattress, strategized for days, and then quaked in our shoes and held our breaths when we put her down to sleep in it for the very first time.

With Peter?  We chatted about it casually off and on for the past month or so.  Then yesterday, I had a whim to take the mattress out of his crib and stick it on the floor next to the crib.  I tossed Petey down onto it for his nap, and voila!  We have a kid who seems to have transitioned to a big boy bed even easier than his big sister did.  I guess we should probably actually buy him a twin mattress, huh?

Petey "slept" for well over three hours at naptime yesterday.  At about 5:00 pm, Charlotte and I decided it was time to go get him up.  We crept in and found him wide awake, lounging on his sister's pig pillow pet on the floor next to his mattress.  How long had he been awake?  Who knows!

Last night we completely uneventful.  Petey slept like a rock (from what we heard over the monitor), but when I went into his room after hearing him fuss a little I found him lying on the floor next to the door.  He couldn't really walk around because we put him down in his sleep sack rather than with a sheet.  I think he wiggled over there after waking up (and didn't actually sleep there all night).  This is very different than Charlotte -- she still waits in bed and bellows for us to come "wake" her up.  Once she falls asleep, she never gets out of bed for any reason as far as we know.  I know she'll start getting up on her own eventually, but I keep imagining her at age 15, still yelling for me to come get her up and change her diaper.

We're on the hunt for the perfect quilt for Petey's bed, and we're still debating how to rearrange the room.  Otherwise, we're ready to ditch the crib for good!!