FAMILY! Lots and lots of family time. We went up to Maine for Catherine's graduation, hosted the family almost immediately after while they're house hunting. Oh, did I not tell you, blog world? My in-laws are moving back to town! So we've hosted a few house hunting visits. Evan has gotten no shortage of time with Papa Jon ("Bapa"), Gram ("Gigi"), Catherine ("Tat"), Joseph ("Doe"), Regan ("Ree Ree"), and Strom ("..." he can't even attempt that one yet, just rolls his eyes at you when you ask). We're very excited to only drive 15 minutes over to Waterford to see them now. Well, it's still a lot more than that to see Regan and Strom but when they come visit it will only be that far now!
Following a house hunting visit, Regan and Strom stuck around for some extra time with us, and we were so blessed to have them here. Regan graciously (like it took much convincing) used her decorating skills to help us finally decorate our downstairs family room after 3 years of using it with no decor to speak of! We now have a functional toy storage unit, some "theater" decor in the couch/tv area, and a nice mirror and table in the entryway. We went with a green/teal color scheme and I love it! She also helped us do a gallery wall which we still need a couple photos for frames, but it still looks great! Thank you so much!
We also had fun taking them out to Browns Tavern in Troy which has our favorite wings ever. We took them up to Forno Toscano Bistro in Saratoga and since we didn't have time to wait for the outside dining, we all felt underdressed together inside and had a delicious meal. We introduced them to our new favorite TV show, Community, and blew through the first season in about 5 or 6 sittings.
In the time that we didn't have them family around, we've been enjoying the heat wave and playing outside a lot. Since a critter came and destroyed my garden I repurposed it as a "beach" for Evan. Ok, it's a pretty ghetto beach. It's a tarp on the dirt with an inflatable pool and a beach umbrella. He sometimes likes it but isn't always in the mood. He has a new basketball hoop (thank you so much, Gram and Papa Jon. What a great buy!) and it goes inside and outside with us. Evan loves going for walks in the morning before it gets too hot, and we usually end with going to the park down the street. The last 3 blocks of the walk he keeps asking to go on the "bee" (slide) and every time we get to the park, he grabs his basketball when he gets out of the stroller and heads straight for the courts... not the slide! What an athlete.
What's new with Evan? Oh something is new every day. I'll try to recap. He is a CHATTERBOX! You have to know how to translate though. Depending on the body language, a word could have many different meanings.
Bee - slide (because he goes "beeeeee" when he slides down), "sliding" forward off furniture or stairs
Dis - downstairs, juice, eat, dance, cheese
Ba - ball, basketball hoop, frisbee
Bus - any vehicle with a diesel engine or squeaky brakes
Bas - bath
Byah - banana, guitar, piano
Bahp - apple, bubbles
Wiss - woods, raisins, horse
Ca-ee - Charlie (his buddy from church), or car
Wash - walk, watch (TV)
Zah - socks, shoes, snack
Coksh - crocs
Boot - book, boat
Boots - broken
Grge - George (he is obsessed with Curious George now)
He has started putting gibberish sentences together. He has so much to say, but the right words aren't there. Doesn't stop him from trying though!
He is a young athlete in the making. He is most obsessed with basketball, but also kicks the soccer ball around, throws the football, and as of a few days ago he can hike it. He can throw a ball in the air and hit it with a bat. The accuracy depends on the size of the ball. He's pretty good at throwing a ball up in the air and swatting it with his hand like a volleyball serve. He loves frisbee and I'm serious and not bragging here but you need to stand far back from him when he has a frisbee because he could take your head off! He's not only has a good arm, but a dynamite catch as well.
