Evan.

I'm having a hard time admitting that my little babe is now in his tenth month of life. I posted some pictures of him last week - and then never got around to telling you about this little boy with a smile that takes up most of his face.

If I had to describe my youngest child in one word, I'd say happy. He's got a beautiful smile and is almost always sporting it.

He gets attention every where he goes - flashing his smile and flirting with anyone who will flirt back. I sometimes worry he takes too much of the spotlight from his older brother. Then I realize that my boys, as much as they resemble each other, have two totally different personalities. While Evan loves to soak up attention, Lane has always preferred a quiet, more intimate, social setting.

Not this guy, he loves to be out and about. He's happiest when we are not at home. Last month, unfortunately, he had to spend a little too much time at home, as both boys came down with pretty nasty colds.

Now that he's feeling better, Evan's showing us a whole new side of his very active, very vocal self.

He's a talker. A phone talker that is. He's obsessed with phones and will whine and yell until whoever is actually talking on their phone hands it over to him so he can talk to. This can create a problem when his papa is at home on work calls. If it happens to be a friend or family member on the phone, Evan is happy to listen to his loved one talk to him while he flashes a smile and occasionally talks back.

If there isn't an actual person on the phone, that is alright too. He knows exactly how to hold the phone and will just have a conversation all on his own. Oh, and if there isn't an actual phone, he'll find something that will work - his hand, one of Lane's cars, the remote control.

The remote. He's obsessed with that too. Don't be shocked if you are at our house, happily watching 60 Minutes only to find the TV flipping channels. It is not a ghost. It is Evan with the remote again.

When he isn't talking on a phone or using the remote, he's playing. He doesn't really have a favorite toy - he has made up a few of his own games. He loves to play chase. You can chase him or he can chase you, just be warned he crawls fast. Speaking of crawling, he has this funny little habit of always having something in one hand while he crawls - a toy car, a wash cloth, a piece of paper. He'll use his found object as an anchor of sorts and push it along with him as he moves around the house.

Bath time time has become a lot more enjoyable now that Evan actually enjoys cleaning himself. One night, something changed, and now our babe loves getting a bath. He moves around the entire time, playing with toys, splashing water, and his favorite, watching and talking to that adorable baby reflected in the water faucet.

I don't know what to tell you about his diet. He eats. A lot. Baby food is totally out. He loves chicken and rice, meat loaf and hamburger. He gets his own slice of pizza and his own Happy Meal now.

I could go on and on about this baby. How he is the spitting image of his papa. How he still doesn't have a lick of hair on his head. How he can now sip his water from a straw. How we swear he says his own name when referring to himself - and to his brother. How he waves good-bye, always a few seconds short of the person leaving to see. How he is such a great sleeper - still naps any where and sleeps a full 11 to 12 hours each night. How he's just so big - wearing 12 and 18 month clothing.

Most of all, I'll tell you that we just adore him and everything he's brought to our family.

I do believe I'm addicted to sweet baby boys. I've got two of the sweetest boys ever made - and if they keep growing up so quickly, they are going to make me want just one more.

Giggielicious.

Country Living Fair.

I have not officially compiled a Fall Fun list, but Papa and I did mentally make a note of all the fun activities we want to do with the boys in the next month or two. With pumpkin patch being highest on the list, my second to do was take the boys to Stone Mountain for Country Living magazine's fair.

I love Country Living magazine. Every month, I take the new issue, go in my room, flip through it cover to cover, look at all the pictures, then take my time reading each article through the month. I have a binder full of pulled pages with decorating ideas, recipes and coveted items.

Last year, the magazine hosted its first ever fair at Stone Mountain. I wanted to go so bad but I was pregnant and sick and had a sick kid. So, I missed it.

This year, I was going. And, I did. The boys and I met my mom and enjoyed a fun day at the fair.



This pumpkin patch was Lane's favorite part. He loved all the different colors and shapes and textures of the pumpkins. I was pretty sure he was going to pull a pumpkin out - and bam, my kid was going to be the cause of that pumpkin tower crashing down.



Thankfully, that never happened.



I tried my best to get some pictures of my two boys with the pumpkins. I'm pretty pleased with the few I got.



I like these outtakes too. And, I kind of hope Lane will always want to wear red Converse. Really, I love his little feet in those shoes.

In addition to playing at the patch, we ate a bunch of fair food; looked at a lot of really cool treasures; chatted with some interesting people and had a lot of fun. Oh, and walked a lot.


My mom got Lane a really cool recycled journal made from an old Grover book. He enjoyed writing in it while being strolled around. And, surprise, surprise, Evan added yet one more place to his list of loud, busy places he has now napped.

Don't tell.

Can you keep a secret? Good. Do you want in on one?

Sometimes, while Lane is at preschool, I let Evan play with all the toys he wants in Lane's room.

Lane doesn't have a clue.

The Pumpkin Patch.

Friday afternoon, I dressed the boys and decided it was time to get out of our house. We are behind on our Fall Fun list because a not-so-fun cold got the boys again. With James heading out of town (or so we thought) for the weekend, I wanted to take the boys out for a while and begin enjoying the beautiful weather and all the cool activities around town.

We made our way to the pumpkin patch close to our house - only to be told we had to leave because mornings are only for reservations. Bummer. At this point, Lane was chanting from the back seat, "I want to go to the pumpkin patch. I want a lumpy bumpy pumpkin. You can get a bruised pumpkin. Evan can get the littlest pumpkin."

Does anyone else read "The Little Pumpkin" at Halloween time? We do. Last year, we were reading it until Christmas time.

With my plans put on hold, I had to rearrange my bearings and figure out where to go next. We headed a few miles down the road to a small church right on the highway that sells pumpkins every year.

How would Lane now that wasn't a pumpkin patch? When we got there Lane was thrilled with the 75 or so pumpkins placed on the grass near the pumpkin patch. With cars whizzing by, we looked at all the pumpkins - the big ones, the little ones, the lumpy bumpy ones, the green one, the tall ones. You get the idea. Read the book.

We played around for a while. Snapped some cute pictures. Found the perfect lumpy bumpy pumpkin. Put our money in the honor system box and took lumpy bumpy home with us.

I think I might just take the boys back this afternoon.












Notice Evan's little red hat? Lane wore the same hat the first time he went to a pumpkin patch.

Evan Eats.

Spaghetti.

We'd had a busy morning. By the time we found our way to the table for lunch, I warmed up some left overs for Lane and poured a little of Evan's favorite food - peas and carrots - on the table for him.

Feeling rather friendly, Lane told me he wanted to sit next to his brother and promptly moved his chair as close to Evan as he could get it.

The two ate their food without any incidences - surprisingly - until Evan found his area empty and went searching for something else.

That's when I heard Lane ask Evan if he'd like to taste his spaghetti.

I thought about stopping him - worried that Evan might not be ready for a noodle. Then changed my mind when my heart won at the thought of my two boys sharing a bowl of spaghetti.

Lane, not one to share so easily, placed a single strand of spaghetti in front of Evan and carefully watched as the little guy set out to pick it up from the very sticky table.

With a pincher grasp of a pro, Evan finally maneuvered the noodle into his hands and toward his face.

Only I think all of you will be shocked at what happened next. Our little eater took a good long look at the noodle and then quickly sent it over the side of his chair.

Oh well, better luck next time.

Make that four.

Evan's only going to sit by and watch Lane and his best friends have all the fun for a little while longer.

It appears as if we will have four amigos in our bouncing bunch.

Little boy.

Dear Lane,

Sometimes, I look at your face and wonder where the time has gone. It feels like just yesterday that I held you in my arms and stared at your face for the first time.

Other times, I wonder what I did without you. How did I spend my time. What did I find important. Who was I before I was your mama.



I feel as if I've known you forever - even though time flies with you in my life.

This must be every mother's challenge.



How to absorb every bit of her children when time seems to pass so quickly.

I try to give you the best life possible. I love you every day with every thing I have.

I make sure you have fun. And try to teach you all your little mind can comprehend.

I want to freeze time and keep you right where you are - right now.

I think your perfect.

I love seeing you smile with pure joy.

Your baby teeth and little boy cheeks.

And sometimes, I get a glimpse of you years from now.

The you you will be when you stand as tall as your papa.

And I know I will be just as proud to call you my son.

Wild animals.

"Mama, come look," he called from the front door. "I see a wild animal."

"A wild animal," I asked. "What kind of animal?"

"A munk," he said.

Sure enough, outside, sitting on our front steps, was a tiny little chipmunk. He sat there for a few minutes looking right back at us and making little chipmunk squeaking noises.

In case you are wondering, my little animals never wear pants.

Evan Eats.

Mac and cheese.

I'm not really a boxed mac and cheese fan. Sure, as a college student, I ate my fair share. But as a child, my mom never prepared the boxed stuff. Now that I eat a gluten free diet, we don't ever have the artificially orange looking stuff in our house.

When I ran across some gluten free boxed mac and cheese at the grocery store, I thought I would give it a try.

Here's what Evan thought of it. I sprinkled a few noodles in with his green peas one afternoon.





Considering all the peas are gone, the noodles are still on the table and he's got a bowl in his mouth, I'm going to take that as a hint to just skip pass the boxed stuff for now on.

We might have found one food my little foodie won't eat.

The fair.

Somehow, these pictures got lost in the shuffle. A few weekends ago, we took the babes to the fair. The gates were open for free entrance and all kids got to ride for free from 10 to 11 am. So we figured, what the heck.

My mom was on our side of town because she spent the night on Friday night so James and I could go out on a date and she could spend some quality time with the boys.

We got to the fair bright and early and rode a grand total of ONE ride. The merry go round.

Lane wasn't really interested in any of the other rides.


He did, however, enjoy a hot dog as an after breakfast/before lunch treat.

James looked forward to one thing about the fair - fair food. He ate plenty of it.


Lane did enjoy this game: throwing a baseball. Shocking.

We spent most of our time in the petting zoo. Lane and I posed with a cow for a picture - and she decided to take a break from eating her hay to eat my hair.

Priceless. I'm so glad these pictures were caught so my face can be forever remembered at this moment.



We ended our day by meeting up with some friends - and Lane had fun playing with his pals.

Evan added one more place to add to his list of loud, busy places he's napped.

We only though it appropriate to take a family picture right in front of the jumbo hotdog/cheesy nachos stand.



Suits this family, right?