A Look Back on Evan's 2012
In January we were still living in Lubbock. I was working at the YWCA Child Development Center & Evan attended. He had a friend named Maddox who he enjoyed playing with very much! (Look how little he was!)
In February Evan had a "first" - his first trip to a zoo! We were in Uvalde visiting Cody's parents and we all went to the San Antonio Zoo. Granddad bought Evan a t-shirt and cup to commemorate the day!
March 7th was my neice Kacey's 11th birthday so Evan & I went to Seminole to her birthday party. Evan & I also participated in the MDA Muscle Walk together in Lubbock, in keeping with our tradition of doing charity walks together. Mid-March was Spring Break, and since I was still in school I took advantage of it by taking the week off of work as well. We went to Uvalde and Evan & I spent the whole week there while Cody drove back to Lubbock to work, and then back to Uvalde again to spend a few days with us and his parents before we all headed home. Cody's parents got two new puppies, Chubby and Charlie, who Evan enjoyed playing with!
In April we made another trip to Uvalde, celebrated Easter at home by baking cookies and dying eggs and then going to an egg hunt with my friend Chelsie and her baby Remy, and Evan played (and won!) his very first game of Cootie. It quickly became a favorite of his!
May was a big month for us! Evan & I walked with my friend Haley in the March for Babies to honor and remember the life of her daughter Kylie who passed away in 2010. It was mine & Evan's 3rd year walking in the March for Babies, and definitely the most meaningful for me because of what it meant to Haley.
Evan & Haley
Cody left us on Mother's Day to move to Kansas and start his new job in the oil industry. It was only two weeks until Evan & I moved there too, but the longest two weeks of my life! I said goodbye to my friends at the YWCA on a very sad and tear-filled last day of work. My co-workers all signed a card and got me a cake to say goodbye. I pretty much sobbed in my boss's office as we were leaving the building. Little did I know I would see them all again a couple weeks later when we went back to Lubbock to visit! I severely underestimated how often we would be in town after we moved to Kansas! LOL
The month of June was spent exploring our new home, and we took a trip back to Lubbock to visit. During that visit, Evan and I attended a Suicide Prevention Walk in memory of my Dad who passed away in 1988. This was the first opportunity I had to do a walk for suicide prevention and found it poignant that it was the year that Evan would be turning 3 - the same age I was when my Dad passed away. He held a white carnantion during the walk.
Bottom left picture on the board is me & my Dad.
Evan holding his white carnation during the walk.
Also in June, I turned 28, we got a zoo membership (which we have DEFINITELY gotten our money's worth out of!), I took the cutest picture ever of Cody & Evan on Father's Day, and we visited my sister Heather & her family after they bought their first house Andrews, TX. This is also where Cody's Granny and cousins live, so it is very convenient now when visiting family! :)
Cutest picture ever!
Mommy turned 28!
July was a fun month! Haysville had a 4th of July parade which Evan loved because he got to collect all the candy getting thrown off the floats. Evan had another "first" - his first Wet N Wild Day at the zoo! The fire department turns on the hoses and sprays into an open field. It turns into a giant muddy, slippery, slidey mud pit! Evan wasn't quite old enough to enjoy it to the fullest extent, but next year he sure will! We also took another trip to Uvalde where Evan helped Daddy set off fireworks and visited with Chubby and Charlie who were, by this point, huge! (But nowhere near as big as they are today!)
The first few days of August Evan & I were in Lubbock and Andrews spending with family since no one could come visit for Evan's birthday. We came back to Kansas just in time to celebrate Evan's 3rd birthday on August 5th. Cody & I made it special for him by taking him to the zoo, then Exploration Place, and making a very special Wonder Pets flyboat cake for him. He'd been asking my to make it for months and I granted his wish. :)
In September, Evan met Blake who is our next door neighbor and they quickly became inseperable best buddies! Evan & I attended a fall festival in Derby where Evan rode on a shuttle bus for the first time. He was amazed to be riding in a vehicle with no carseat and felt like such a big boy. Evan also started a 6-week soccer clinic where he learned the basics of soccer and had a blast kicking the ball around. And of course, he & Daddy had spent the whole summer fishing and that didn't slow down in September!
Riding a shuttle bus for the first time!
Learning how to be the goalie
Fishing with Daddy
October was another fun-filled month. Evan & Blake played together almost everyday (as they still do). We went to the Haysville Fall Festival where Evan experienced yet another "first" - his first amusement ride! He rode lots of kiddie rides and then I went with him on the ferris wheel. He was in awe! On Halloween we took Evan trick-or-treating door to door, which was yet another "first" for him. He chose to be the Gold Power Ranger (not his first choice - he wanted red but they didn't have it in his size) He became obsessed with watching Power Rangers and acting out the fight scenes. It is one of his and Blake's favorite things to do!
First ride ever!
First ferris wheel ride!
Go, go, Power Rangers!
In November the leaves changed colors and Evan experienced his first colorful Fall! In Lubbock everything just turns brown, but here in Kansas we saw reds and yellows and oranges and all the beautiful colors. Evan got to play in piles of leaves and use his rake to clean them up. For Thanksgiving, we went to Uvalde to celebrate with Cody's parents, grandparents, and sister. I forgot the memory card to my camera at home, so all I had was my phone. Very few pictures were taken, but I did get one of the John Deere power wheels tractor that Evan's Mimi & Granddad suprised him with. He loved it and looks forward to using it when we're at their house.
I enjoyed watching Evan get more and more excited for Santa to come throughout the month of December. He looked forward to Christmas so much, and said that it will only be Christmas time when it snows. It did snow on December 20th and I had to explain that it wasn't quite time for Santa to come yet!
We went to Lubbock on December 22nd to see family and friends, then went on to my sister Heather's house in Andrews on Christmas Eve. We were also able to visit with Cody's Granny and some other family members while in Andrews. Evan had a wonderful Christmas morning opening presents with his cousins, Kyle & Kacey. We enjoyed the visit as we always do. As I looked back on 2012 I realized that 6 of the 12 months, I traveled to visit my sister! A few days ago she told me she will be coming in July 2013 to visit ME! About time! ;)
Family picture, best we could do!
He wanted a TMNT so bad!
This was his #1 request. A Jake & the Pirates Spyglass!
Most of his presents...not all! :)
And finally, on this last day of 2012, my baby's wish was granted - it snowed and it stuck! He spent this morning playing in the snow with the neighborhood kids and his new buddy Fishing Freddy Bear who he made at Build A Bear on Saturday with some of his Christmas money. We walked around the neighborhood and were suprised to find some really cool snowmen that the neighbors had built! Evan had been begging to build a snowman and got to do that too, though his was a teeny tiny little one that got stepped on before I could get a picture. :( That didn't discourage Evan though, he just kept playing with his friends and enjoying the snow. When it got too cold and wet, he and Blake (and Blake's sister Kenzie!) came inside and watched movies the rest of the day until dinnertime. I would say it was a pretty great way to say goodbye to 2012. Tonight the three of us are having some pizza, playing video games (well, not me...the boys!) and at 9pm Evan and Cody will go to sleep as usual since Cody has to work in the morning. I might be staying up to watch New Year's Rockin' Eve but it will never be the same without Dick Clark! Tomorrow morning Evan & I will be getting up as we do every Tuesday and getting ready to go volunteer at the Treehouse. I have high hopes for 2013 and I pray for many blessings to your family and mine!
Love, Bree
Evan & Freddy
My beautiful angel!
Evan & a snowman that the neighbor built
No comments:
Post a Comment