Evy is One!

Happy Birthday, dear Evy! She loved every minute of the Happy Birthday song…

in spite of the candle falling off the cupcake halfway through!

(I had to put this picture first because the first picture

 is what shows up on the blog link!)

 Looks like she got ahold of cousin Kam's "sticky toy" from the goody bag!

 I wanted to get a picture of these five….It was very difficult! 

But Evy was certainly taking it seriously!

 Brody finally sat down and he and Kam are both saying "cheese" (Kam is holding Brody's little brother Bentley, Brittany's new baby!) but look, Evy has turned away!

 This was the best we could do! Sweet Bentley slept peacefully through it all!

 Little Miss Evy looked like a little princess!

 Evy loves food and headed straight for Brittany when she saw her plate!

 This Nana made the cupcakes, and if I do say so, the cream cheese frosting was to

 die for, even if the frosting job itself was less than perfect!

 Mommy shows her how it's done!

 Just a few cameras on the little girl thoroughly enjoying the cupcake!

 Cousin Kam is also a serious cupcake fan.

 Oh yeah.

 This girl was loving it!

Her smile just lights up our world!

Any grandma can relate to this fabulous feeling when you are honored with 

a grandbaby's joyful smile and laughter!

Evy's other grandma is also enjoying the celebration!

She's really good at eating cake! 

The "work" table - Steph's boss and co-workers love Evy (and Steph!) too! 

(I didn't get good photos of other family and friends who were there….

no one likes pics of them eating so I honored them by not sharing!)

And there were other shenanigans going on…

Uncle Nick just couldn't resist taking advantage of the high ceilings!

Aunt Christina enjoyed some newborn snuggles from Bentley.

 Evy is waiting for two more cousins to join the family in the next five weeks, 

and I spotted the mamas with another friend who is also awaiting a blessed event!

 Aunt Molly was the official photographer for their family pic, 

and I'm sure she got better ones than I did! Evy likes to look at her daddy!

 Great-Uncle Dave and Aunt Sandy got a fabulous rocking dolphin that Evy loved!

 And of course the box it was in became an instant hit! Kam says, "I'm in a movie!" 

Evy immediately came crashing in to join him.

 She promptly took over the lead role!

 She had some fun with Great-Uncle Dave.

 And of course she let Kam have another turn in the spotlight. (That dress!)

 That Uncle Dave is such a fun guy!

 When the nearly everyone was gone and things were mostly cleaned up, 

Kam spotted the balloons and shouted excitedly, "It's a party!"

 It was indeed a wonderful party, celebrating a sweet beautiful girl 

with her loving family and friends. 

Evelyn, may God continue to bless your life and guide you with His love and wisdom.

We are so thankful for you and love you so much.

Family Beach "Wake-up Over" 2017

In spite of a very rainy forecast for our weekend, we were blessed with a great deal of sunshine! A bit of wind as well, but very little rain. Our house had a great view and was filled with love and amazing, interesting family so we had a fabulous time!

Our bedroom decor was an immediate hit when Kam toured the house. "I love these starfish so much!" All weekend it was, "Can I go look at the sea creatures in your bedroom?" At first he thought they were in a spider web, but once he learned it was a net he didn't make that mistake again. After gazing at them awhile he asked, "Where is the starfish's mouth?"

We had to share the fun with Baby Evy.

 Baby Evy has not yet completely mastered gentleness,

 but fortunately Kam is really good at it. Don't worry, I didn't let her rough him up too bad.

Before we went to bed the first night, I told Kam how excited I was to have a family sleepover. The next morning when he got up, he announced he was so happy to have a family wake-up over!

 "The wind is blowing in my hair!!!"

 Grandma Heaven!

 Kam and I ran around the hot tub about a million times. He chased me, I chased him, and catching each other resulted in hugs.

 These great men engaged in passionate debates and attempted to solve the problems of the world.

 Evy loves her daddy's music.

 Molly and Eric had a great place to do some child-birth reading.
(Only one more month til their due date!)

 We had some wonderful adventures at the beach,

 including fishing with the fantastic fishing pole he found. We walked about three blocks to Yaquina Bay State park and then it's quite a downhill hike including many stairsteps to get to the beach. On the way back I was complimenting him for being such a big strong boy because he was climbing with such ease. He informed me, "Actually, I'm a tiny boy!" When we got about a block away from our house, he said, "Let's run!" I said I couldn't believe he still had the energy to run. "I'm running out of energy," was his reply!

 "You just called me sweetheart," he said with this awesome grin!

 "Look at all those eagles!"  "Now Kam,"said I, "We've told you a million times that those are sea gulls!"

Awesome place for Eric to make some music. 

(Or "Uncle Craigic", as Kam decided to call him this weekend.)

A little guitar is a great sunset accompaniment.

Meanwhile Aunt Christina and her ice cream cone are earning major points with Evy.

 Aww!

We are not sharing many pictures of Aunt Christina because when she saw them she decided that wearing her husband's clothing in advanced pregnancy made her look like a homeless man. I don't agree but couldn't stop laughing anyway. She was wearing cute clothes Friday and all day Saturday until I started taking pictures… I feel really bad that I didn't plan photos and didn't get any of their family. But below is a lovely one of Nick and Christina!

Such great views from the deck.

 Kamden, just before his mother cut up another sausage patty and put it on his plate, whereupon he said with great expression, "Thank you, that is SO kind of you!"

  The sun was just too bright for this boy this morning! Where were his sunglasses?

 What did we ever do without all the love and sweetness these two bring to our lives?! And the joy is about to double, with Molly and Eric's little girl due in May, then Nick and Christina's little boy expected in early June!

 Love this family.

We had some interesting activity on the beach in front of us on Saturday. We didn't see anything until we noticed an ambulance out there, with someone on a stretcher. A small boat was upside down out in the surf near the shore. The boat had washed up on the beach this morning. We are hoping the person is ok.

Kam rode home with us and played here for a short time. Zeek was a bit envious of his cookie and I think Kam was more than willing to share! (And yes, I did immediately let the boy know that we don't put our cookies on the patio floor!)

I miss my family already! Nothing fills a mother's heart like having ALL her sons and daughters and grandchildren under the same roof! Each one of them is a precious gift and I am SO thankful!