Birthday Boy!

Evan turned one year old last Thursday, the 21st. Everyone says it, but it's so true... they grow up so fast! All day I was saying to myself "Exactly one year ago I was...". At 4:30pm I grabbed Evan as he was enjoying a snack of goldfish and I put him on my belly like they did when he first arrived. Yup, they definitely change a lot in a year. He was squirming trying to get more goldfish into his mouth!

We didn't really do a lot of special stuff on his birthday. It was just Jack and me with him, and he didn't realize we were paying extra attention to him and trying to give him special treats at dinner.

We officially celebrated on Saturday with a little party for him which included our families. Evan got a bunch of new toys and clothes (thank you everyone!). So we should be all set to deal with cabin fever now! We sang to him in typical McDade fashion (horribly out of tune and sync). We had pizza, ice cream cake and cupcakes, with way too much left over. He had his first tasty treat - a cupcake! He had dinner first, and then played for a little and when we put him back in the high chair for the cupcake he burst out into tears! He was having so much fun playing and was very upset to be confined again. He eventually stuck a ball he was holding into the frosting and then put it in his mouth and realized what a treat was in front of him. He devoured the whole thing, aside from a few bites he shared with me and some bits and pieces that got stuck all over his face! Evan had a great time with his new toys and playing with his cousins. But most of all, he showed off and took his first steps! He hobbled a little the last couple days with steps that we were hesitant to actually count. But then in front of everyone at his party he went and took 9 steps! And then he applauded himself!

Watching Timmy Time with Aunt Catherine







Evan with cousins- Tiffany (15 mos), Levi (4 mos) and 1 year old Evan!

Catching up

I feel like there's so much to blog about that I never get around to because of my future techie kid who gets jealous when I use the laptop. So here I go catching up...

Labor Day - We had a blast at our friend's Andy & Aubrey's BBQ. There were a bunch of other families and friends there. Evan had fun "playing football", holding lovey up at gunpoint, playing with bubbles and dressing up as a cowboy. OK, maybe we had fun staging most of that, but at least he went along with it!






Thanksmas - about a month ago now we celebrated "Thanksmas" with my family. We got together with my parents and sisters and their families (sans Erika who is doing grad school in Boston, and Sabina/Steve/Levi who were visiting his side of the family). We celebrated all of the cousin birthdays, ranging from January - October. We went apple picking and on a hayride. We also had a Thanksgiving dinner since my parents are in Florida for Thanksgiving and all us daughters celebrate with our in-laws. It was a beyond gorgeous day... warm and sunny, bright blue sky.




Scotland comes to Clifton Park - we had visitors from Scotland for about a week! A hopeful hire for Fingerpaint and his wife flew over for an in-person interview and to get to know the area. Jack had networked with Steven Grant through Twitter. Turns out the Grants are the Scottish version of us! They're celebrating their 4th anniversary this month, have a 1 yr old (and a 2 yr old... they're ahead of us on that!), visited the Dominican Republic for their 1st anniversary, love all the same shows as us... needless to say we had a blast with them. We found ourselves thinking in a Scottish accent by the end of their visit! Steven went in to the office with Jack for 2 days and Sarah and I got together with Sara J and Danielle (FP wives past and present). We had a great time showing them around the area and just hanging out getting to know each other. I must admit, the thought of hosting guests we had never met was a little intimidating, but I'm so glad we had the opportunity and pray that it's just the beginning of our friendship with them.


Celebrations - Jack celebrated his 27th birthday (we're the same age!) on Oct 1. We FINALLY went on a date! We got a babysitter and set off for dinner at the newly opened Buffalo Wild Wings. Well, it was their first Friday and we were looking at about an hour wait. We found it silly to be paying a babysitter a mile away while we sat around for an hour so we went to Sakura (sushi and hibachi) for dinner instead. We were determined to see a movie that night since we've only been on 2 movie dates since Evan was born. We had slim pickings but opted for "The Town" starring and directed by Ben Affleck. We were very pleasantly surprised. Although the story is nothing like the Departed, it impressed us to that degree.

Oct 1st also marks a new celebration in our family... Steve and Sabina Ronald's anniversary! In a very special and intimate wedding celebration, Sabina and Steve tied the knot! Here they are with their little "Ring Bear".



We also celebrated our 4th anniversary on Oct 8. We're officially celebrating with a date night in 2 more weeks when my sister will take Evan for an overnight but as an unofficial celebration we went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse with Evan in tow.


Surgery - we had to postpone our anniversary date because I actually just had surgery. If you're shocked that you were out of the loop, don't be. I actually hardly told anyone beforehand because I myself wasn't even thinking about it... probably a good thing so I wouldn't get worked up! When I was pregnant with Evan they discovered a cyst on my ovary that they kept an eye on for the next year and when it didn't resolve on its own, they recommended having it surgically removed. I put that off for about 9 months and then finally went for it. It was outpatient surgery, and lathroscopic, and also really downplayed. We also didn't tell many people because the way it was explained it seemed no more intense than getting some fillings at the dentist. Well I spent about 8 hours at the hospital (3 of which were pre-op) and left with 4 very small yet very sore incisions, very nauseous and very groggy. Jack stayed home the rest of the week. Evan plays quite aggressively these days! The first few days were pretty rough but within a week I was pretty much back to 99%.

Well, the bub is up from his nap so I will leave with a few more autumn pics.