McCousins at Thanksgiving

We all know that our time at Nannie's house is fleeting, so every opportunity we get to take pictures and make memories there, we embrace.

Halloween 2014

Fun trick or treating with this Jedi, Cleopatra, and our lil' cowgirl

Lazy Weekends

Evlyn Everyday

Dear Evlyn,

You are 2 years old, and I've been terrible at keeping the blog up to date with all your hilarity. In an effort to quickly record some of our favorite Evlyn things, here's a top 10 list...

10. "Daddy Hug" -  When Mama is holding you and Daddy is nearby, you like to point at him and ask, "I wan Daddy Hug, pweez? Daddy? Hug?" You'll ask repeatedly until we squish you in between us in a giant bear hug.

9. You like to be naked. A lot. Alllll the time. It's hard to keep clothes on you, and I have literally been duct taping your diaper on at night.


8. "I wuv you" - When any of us tell you we love you, we always hear you say, "I wuv you, too", usually accompanied by a big hug. We ALL love it - Bubba and Sissy too.


7. How you take delight in the ceremony of greeting people at the door and seeing them off. When my students knock on the door, you love to knock back from the inside of the house. When they leave to go home, you (loudly) proclaim, "buh byeeeee!!! See you! Hab good day!", until they're all the way to their cars and sometimes driving away.


6. Greeting Daddy - Everyday, when Daddy gets home from work, hearing the garage door sends you into a frenzy. You jump up, eyes wide, and yell, "Daddy home!" Then you run to the garage, fling the door open, and run to him often before he's even turned off the ignition and opened his car door. You always hug him and give him a kiss.


5. Sometimes when I ask you to stop doing something, or clean up, you'll hold your finger up to your lips and whisper, "Mama, shhhhh. Be quiet. Hush."


4. You climb out your crib now, so naps are sort of becoming extinct. I can usually tell when you're tired enough to take a nap though, because you act like a pin ball in an arcade game. Crashing into one thing after the other and making the maximum amount of mischief possible.


3. Just some of the adorable Evlyn pronunciations...

Brother Jonah: Bubba Joonah

Gracie: Sissy or Gwacie

Peppa Pig (your favorite show): Puppa Kib

I'm finished: I'n bishy

Cliff Bar: BeeBo

Yogurt: Eeegurt

Flower: Sour 

2. Church - You have grown to love church. When we drive past it, you point out the window yelling, "Chech! Chech! Wanna go to chech n' pway!"

1. Kisses - You STILL have the best pucker of anyone we've ever known. You're more selective about giving out kisses right now, so every kiss is a treasure.

McCousins at the Arboretum

 

 

Silly Sweet Girls

 

First Day of Kindergarten: Gracie

Topsail Island, North Carolina

After a long day of traveling, we arrived at the beach house on Topsail Island where Sebastian, Joy, Mike, and ocean views were waiting. 

Evlyn and Gracie's first time in the ocean...

Late afternoons and early mornings on the beach with the McCousins. After a couple of days, everyone's starting to relax...

Jonah's 9th

 We were so blessed to have Ross, Tracie, Sierra, and Brandon in town for Jonah's birthday. Jonah felt like a million bucks having his teenager cousins there.

Favorite gifts were, a Nerf Super Soaker Arctic Shock Water Blaster, a Nerf rapid fire dart gun, a video camera set up, and a science experiment kit, plus lots of Minecraft t-shirts and Lego kits.

Gracie is SIX

Oh, my sweet girl. How are you six already? I so wish I had been able to find the camera flash to better take pictures of your party, but since I couldn't, the phone did the job.

You are the family cheerleader, always excited for other people's successes. You love to rejoice with those who rejoice. I see a precious heart developing in you, and I'm so blessed by your sensitive and caring nature.

 This year, you wanted to have your cousins over to swim, and requested a Barbie cake. Besides that, you asked to go to the Dallas Arboretum Children's Garden and shop at the mall. A very, very Gracie kind of day.

Your favorite gifts were your first Lego sets, cute outfits from Meemaw, Barbies, Ever After High dolls, and some Disney Infinity characters for the xbox game.

That time we dressed up as cows...

Anything to get free chicken nuggets!

4th of July

This was our first year to spend 4th of July at Lake Kiowa. The day was so fun. The kids helped decorate Meemaw and Papaw's golf cart from the community parade. Jonah rode on the cart for the parade and the girls stood by and caught ALL the candy.

Tinky and Evlyn

Evlyn sure loves her "Tinky", and bless her heart, Tink treats Evlyn exactly like a puppy. Licking her clean, herding her away from danger, keeping constant watch, and even nipping her heels to discipline. There's definitely a special bond here.

Father's Day 2014

We celebrated Daddy, but we also did some yard work ;)

That time we found a kitten under our car...

That day we got Hucky in the mail...

Jonah got a stuffed wolf from the zoo last month. He named it Husky. Ev loved it *so* much that he's been letting her sleep with it, hold it in the car, suck on its ears and everything. We finally ordered her one so he could have his back. It came today and she's sooooo excited! She keeps kissing it and saying, "Beebee's hucky!"

Evlyn's 2

Oh, my darlin' baby Evlyn. You are sunshine and mischief personified. We celebrated your 2nd birthday at Marmee and Grandpa's house with Nannie, the Snelsons, and Aunt Kaki.

When we got home, we celebrated again with Meemaw, Papaw, and Angie. You love your family - every chance to be with everyone at once, you love it. Absolutely love it.

One less tooth

Mother's Day

A lovely, low-key day topped off with ice cream...