Too Pooped to Pop

Evan usually gets to stay up almost as late as she wants on Friday nights. This weekend she finally fell asleep about 11:15 pm or so. She normally sleeps in, so we all win! Not this time! She woke up at 6 am the next morning. She did let us sleep a little longer. Anyway, we had a pretty full day with lots of energy expended in the pool and only a 30 minute nap. When it came time for her bath, she wanted to play for awhile before we washed her hair. When I realized that I hadn't heard her for a few minutes, this is what we found:

Family History

A few weeks ago Mike suggested I put together a montage of Evan when we first adopted her. As I finished editing it this evening, I was reminded of how grateful we are for this little girl. February 21, 2005, we met her for the first time and became a family. We bonded from the first minute and have had an unbelievable attachment. She was a week shy of 15 months when we were united, but it seems like we have been together since she was born. We will be forever grateful to her birthmother for giving us this inquisitive, beautiful, funny, little piece of heaven (most days, anyway).
We look forward to the day that we can post BREAKING NEWS on daughter #2 (aka Sydney Pyper). We have been waiting for her for almost 2 years, and unfortunately it could be 2 more. Until then, I hope you enjoy the following montage (the last for a while, I promise) of Evan's first few years. WARNING: Not for the faint of heart. Such a long exposure to Evan could result in believing her parents are completely obsessed with her!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Evan & Jax

We spent a few hours at Uncle Patrick's after Princess Camp so Evan could play with her cousins. Unfortunately she doesn't get to play with Rylie, Ian and Jax very often. Jax is a little over a year older than Evan, but they have so much fun together. She says that Jax has the coolest toys! It didn't take long before they reverted to their old roles - Evan bosses Jax around, and Jax takes it as long as he can. Hopefully their parents can do a better job of getting them together more often! Thanks Uncle Patrick and Aunt Cody for letting us disturb your afternoon! We had fun!

Princess Camp

Evan and her friend Kassi had Princess Camp three days this week. Each day the girls wore a different princess dress while they were read stories, made crafts, and learned a special princess dance. It was very cute seeing all these little girls in these precious dresses. Most of the girls were regulars at Ms. Vicki's Dance School, but this was Evan's first time. Our normally brave girl wasn't too sure about staying the first day. After she figured things out, she was fine......until the big performance in front of the parents on the last day. She came out with all the girls, stood in her place, covered her mouth or folded her arms and cried! Stage Fright! She has decided that she would rather go back to gymnastics in the Fall.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Big Girl

Evan has the best great-grandmother ever! When I was growing up we called her Grandmother, but Evan changed her name to Big Girl. We don't know where she got this name, but it was better than the first name she called her - Grand Mugger! I don't know about you, but I don't know too many women who delight in being called Big Girl. That is how special she is. Even past 80 years old (sorry, Big Girl), she will get down on the floor and play with her. I have even seen her slide down a Little Tikes slide because Evan asked her too. This weekend I caught a couple of special moments between these two while they were reading together. Evan also had a chance to play with Aunt Kim and Uncle Roland while we celebrated Aunt Kim's birthday. She also had Mi Mi running around Big Girl's house playing keep away from Pa Pa. Thanks for letting me relax for a while!

4th of July Montage

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It's Gonna Blow! Run for Your Life!

That's exactly what Evan would say each time she would run back from helping light fireworks. It was so funny! We celebrated the 4th of July almost all week and all weekend long! On Friday we grilled and had friends and family over to eat and watch fireworks. Evan loved trying to catch the parachute from one of the many she lit. (When we started them on Thursday night, she was apprehensive of being very close when they were lit. But by Saturday night, she was lighting them all by herself!) Meko, our black lab, was really interested in the fireworks. In fact, she ended up scorching her whole face because she would go right up on the ones that danced on the ground and try to catch them.