Ash Wednesday

First ashes

Watch Out World: Our Boy is Mobile!

That's right, a few weeks ago Evan started crawling. It started out as the "commando crawl" with him pulling himself along on his tummy using his arms. Now, it's progressed along to more of a hybrid crawl with him sometimes staying on his tummy but sometimes he gets up on all fours. It's surprising how fast he can get across the room. I sure have to keep a close eye on him. We've created a little gated area for him to play safely in (see pictures below), which we will be expanding soon once we rearrange some things in the living room.

Evan is now eating solid food like a champ! He's tried all the stage 1 food like apples, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas, etc. He's now moved on to stage 2 foods which are a little thicker and include a few meats. This week he tried yogurt and liked it a lot. We've also started giving him a few table foods to try like avocados and Cheerios. He's learning the pincer grasp so he can almost pick up Cheerios by himself and get them into his mouth. So far, he's liked almost all the food he's tried. He wasn't a big fan of green beans or peas but he still ate some of them. It's so fun to see him try new foods!

It's been kind of cold and rainy lately but we've been getting out as much as we can. Evan really enjoys stroller walks in the park when it's warm enough. We've been enjoying hanging out with the moms and kiddos from the Mom's group at church. Here are a few pictures from the last month.

It's never too young to start the Starbucks!

Already learning about tractors (grandpa Pieper would be proud). Thanks for the book Kathy and Dave!

Evan's new play area (we don't like to call it a cage :)

Visiting with Yoda (a gift from uncle Chris)

Helping mom with the laundry

"Mom, I really want to get at that toy car!"

Evan's First Christmas

We just wrapped up a whirlwind of holiday activity for our family. First we traveled to San Antonio for Christmas with Patrick's family. We had a great time visiting with everyone. Thanks to aunt Helene and uncle Jorge for their wonderful hospitality. Here's the whole crew on Christmas.

Grandpa with his two youngest grandsons

Grandma with the little guys

Next, my parents came to our house for New Year's. Good thing too, since they were snowed in for Christmas anyway! We celebrated Christmas (part 2) with them and my brother and sister-in-law. Evan was actually awake to open some gifts. You can't resist taking at least one bow-on-the-baby's-head picture!

Grandma and grandpa got him a jumperoo for Christmas. He loves it!

Here's the other side of the family on New Year's Day

Ahh...our first Christmas as a family of three!

Of course we took a LOT of pictures over the holiday but these are just some of the highlights. This month Evan also had his 6 month checkup and wow, has he grown. He's up to almost 17 lbs and 27 inches long. He grew 2 inches in 2 months! That puts him at 50th percentile for weight and 80th percentile for height. We may have a tall boy on our hands.

Thanksgiving and more...

The last few weeks have been a flurry of activity for our family. The weekend before Thanksgiving we decided to take a quick trip to Fredericksburg. Evan's first official vacation with Mom and Dad! We had a great time. We had perfect fall weather to enjoy walking around town. We stayed at a guest house, which was great because Evan had his own room for his crib.

Evan and Patrick hiking at Lady Bird Johnson Park

Enjoying some pastries in Fredericksburg

Our guest house

The Christmas Pyramid in Fredericksburg town square

Now, on to Thanksgiving. We we able to travel to west Texas and see both sides of my family. We had a great visit and Evan did remarkably well given the many hours in the car.

My mom's side of the family

My dad's side of the family

Evan looking at his first Thanksgiving card from grandma

Relaxing with uncle Chris and aunt Robyn

Wedding Fun!

This past weekend Evan attended his first wedding. Patrick's sister Helene was married to Jorge on Saturday. We all had a great time and it was fun to have an excuse to get all dressed up. Evan looked so cute in his "big boy" clothes. He was a big hit at the reception and got to meet a lot of extended family and some of daddy's friends from college. Congratulations aunt Helene and uncle Jorge!

The happy couple

Evan dancing with the bride

Our family (yes, momma has curls!). We almost forgot to take a picture until the night was almost over so Evan was already in his carseat.

Also, check out new video (right-hand column) of Evan trying cereal for the first time.

Evan's Halloween

Evan was asleep (or almost) by the time trick-or-treaters came around, but he dressed up on Wednesday for our church Mom's group Halloween party.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Evan's Travels

Little Evan has been quite the traveler lately. First we went to San Antonio in late September to visit Patrick's family and attend his sister's wedding shower. Then, this past week we traveled to see my family in west Texas. Evan was such a trooper! He handled the 5-6 hour car ride well and even made it to his great-grandmother's house near Lubbock. The highlight of the trip was Evan getting to meet his great-grandparents. It was quite a sight to see each of them hold him for the first time. I feel so blessed that they were able to meet him. My parents were nice enough to let us stay with them while Patrick traveled to the east coast for work. Evan had a great time with his grandparents! Here are a few pictures of all our travels. More pictures to come soon!

Evan meeting his newest cousin, Nathan (he's only six weeks younger than him)

Hanging out with grandpa Pieper

Meeting great-grandma Maeker for the first time

Meeting great-grandma Pieper for the first time

Four generations!

Dancing with grandma