Evelyn reading the Jungle book...

I showed Evelyn the book Grandma "P" sent up for her. It is a great pop-up and sound book about the jungle. Unfortunately, Evelyn loves to grab everything and pull it--she hasn't learned how to be gentle yet. For now, we'll just be showing her the jungle book from a far. You can see how frustrated she got when I wouldn't let her grab it.

Lungs!

We caught Evelyn on camera tonight showcasing her vocal abilities. She also showed off her new talent of giving raspberries. Here she is, and yes that is me laughing like a hyena. I was lying next to her and I could not help myself. She is just too funny!

Rolling , rolling, rolling...

It's been difficult to get Evelyn to roll over. She doesn't show much interest in it even though she spends lots of time on the floor. She did roll over from her tummy to her back a few months ago, but she was so surprised that she cried! She hasn't tried to roll over since then. She does arch her back and look at things upside down--she's almost on her side and ready to go over, but she never follows through.

I just happened to be recording her scooting and caught her rolling over accidentally. Thankfully she didn't cry this time, although she did look a bit surprised!

Jump Around!

When Evelyn goes to Grandma & Grandpa's house, there is a special treat - the chance to jump and play! When we first put Evelyn in this play saucer, her toes barely touched the bottom. Once she could plant her feet, it didn't take long to figure out how to jump.

Oh, wait. Evelyn wants to type something:

ku7 mj9778io000ko=0l,.[p';?ccccccx5 bnhmi ik jbgv 8km n,olm c 7uvbnjm p8

Well said, Evelyn. Well said.

Just a couple more...

Tiny feet...

My sister, Ann, recently forwarded these photos of Evelyn. They were taken back in August when she was just barely a month old. Ann's boyfriend, James, has a high quality camera with a special lens that allows you to take close ups of small things (like Evelyn at that time!) It's neat to look back at how tiny she was. She still likes to curl her toes like she is in the third photo, but is doing it much less now that she's a little older.

Brush Brush!

After bath time tonight, we played with Daddy's birthday present from Mommy - a new Flip camera!

Here is Evelyn playing with her brush. We are pretty sure she knows what the brush is for. What do you think?

Evelyn with the giggles!

Hey, do you have that silly camera out again? Happy Evelyn!

She's tall enough to reach the crossbars on her play gym while sitting up. Sooner or later she'll be getting the snap undone and the whole thing will collapse! Baby doll, Evelyn & Sammy

It's interesting to see what will make Evelyn giggle. Sometimes you can play peek-a-boo or make one of her stuffed animals dance & sing. Other times it's just a silly noise that we make. Tonight I made an "achoo!" sound and she broke out in a fit of giggles! She is even more easily amused than I can be at times! She is especially giggly right before bedtime--something she has in common with her Mommy and Auntie Ann!

Celebrity

Lara had to work today (Sunday, February 8, 2009). Today, high school students could go to NMU to learn more about financial aid and get assistance from people in the know (like Lara!). Lara was also able to earn comp time today to use on a future day off, but really it was to help the kids. With her mind on helping students and gaining some comp time for herself, I don't think she was prepared for the celebrity storm that was about to rain down upon her...

When Lara left this morning, there was no way of knowing that by this evening, she would be one of the UPs most popular celebrities. That's right, Lara made it onto TV6. Not just the evening news, no-no-no, but also the TV6 website! Check out the picture below. There she is, on the right by the door! We know her!

I know you will want to share this with family, friends, and heck, even strangers. We can all say, "I knew her before she was a star." Here is the actual website, just in case someone tries to claim that we just Photshopped her into a TV6 picture. You can let those jokers know this is the big league, baby!

http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=257153

-Brian, secretly posting as Lara! I can do this! Even with her celebrity status, I can do this! Now I just need to wait for the swag!

Grandma and Evelyn...

Grandma reading a story to Evelyn in the kitchen.

Evelyn chompin' on Grandma's cheek!

Evelyn in her new sweater (knit by Grandma Winterfield.) She has some room to grow in to it yet. Grandma Rice was able to quickly knit up the matching hat from the left over yarn from the sweater.

Another matching hat knit from the leftover yarn!

We enjoyed a visit from Grandma Winterfield recently. She flew in from Naples, FL on Saturday, Jan. 17th and stayed an entire week before having to depart at 6am on Sunday, Jan. 25th. Evelyn really enjoyed having her Grandma here with her for the week. They played, read books, sang Grandma's "Zoo Song" and enjoyed some giggles together. We took lots of photos and video all week so we could send a DVD home with Grandma so she could show Grandpa how big Evelyn has gotten.

Sorting through old photos...

I've been sorting through some old photos lately and am getting the hang of scanning and uploading them to Picasa 3. It's been fun picking out some favorites and revisiting old memories.

This first photo is from my Camp Fire Girls days. Our group rented a house at Camp Wathana in Holly, MI for a weekend. This photo was taken just before we left to head back home. I can actually remember almost everyone's name:

Standing: Catarina Palazzolo, Kathy McPherson (our leader), Michelle Weisend, Jenny Engel, Kathleen Winterfield (my mom), Debbie Engel, Jennifer Weisend.
Sitting: Virginia Marsack, Me, Robin Cunningham, Judy Chapman, Karen Krok. Unfortunately, the last girl has her face covered with her hand--can't remember who that would have been.




This next photo is from my sister's 2nd birthday in 1977. Looks like she may have been dipping into the birthday cake ahead of time! She's sitting at our little play table and to the left you can see our "kitchen". We had lots of fun playing "house" in our basement.


















This photo is of my great uncles and my grandpa. From the left, Ralph Barber, Vincent Barber (my grandpa), and Harry Barber. I don't know why, but I've always loved this photo and have had it framed and on a bookshelf for quite some time. I think I got this photo after my grandpa passed away in 1991.