the searbys

About 10:30am this morning Evan pulled a blanket off the couch, brought it into the kitchen, and layed down. It was SO sweet....but it didn't last long. In the next moment he was standing by the door saying "outside." I entertained him for awhile, we had lunch, and he went to sleep about noon.
Unfortunately he only slept 2 hours. About 5pm he thought he needed to rest again...


Thankfully Joel was home for a couple hours this evening to play with Evan before bedtime. I am determined to train this child to sleep in the afternoon.

We tried to be creative last night in trying to find something to do. We decided to use our Burger King coupons and then head to Super WalMart. We called it our White Trash Saturday Night. Evan seemed to have a lot of fun!


Nap Update:
Friday: Napped 1pm - 2:30pm. At 7:30pm had a meltdown and had to go to bed.
Saturday: Napped 1:30pm - 4pm and lasted until his normal 8:30pm bedtime....much better.
Today: Napped 1pm-3:30pm and he seems to be doing good!
Thank you for all the good advice and encouragement!

Evan has been sleeping in until about 8am almost every morning. I love it! The only problem is that it makes our morning pretty short and its awful hard to squeeze a nap in there. He doesn’t want to go to sleep until 10:30 or 11am but then I find myself waking him up at noon so I can still squeeze in an afternoon nap.

Today I decided we would try one nap. Instead of putting Evan down for a nap at 10:30….we went to the library. It was nice and quiet. He just chilled out in his stroller and looked at the shelves with all the books. I’m sure he was thinking, “How can I get out of this stroller, run to the shelf, and throw all the books on the floor?” We checked out a couple books and a movie and then headed back home.

At home we had lunch, played in his room, and I put him in his crib about 1pm. He went immediately to sleep! He typically naps for 1 ½ hours at a time. So, as I’m typing this we have hit the 1 ½ hour mark and he is playing in his crib. I’m really hoping that he decides to lay back down and go back to sleep or we are going to have a really long afternoon and evening!

Thought you may want to know what we’ve been up to since Evan’s birthday. Here is a quick picture update….

Evan has been playing with all his new trucks…

Our Buick flooded in Tropical Storm Hannah and our Jeep overheated….

We had a pizza party with our small group from church. Chris & Joel did most of the work…

I still can't believe my "little peaunut" is one year old. The year went by SO fast! I think Evan enjoyed his first year of life in Gainesville (with a few random trips to Illinois). Although only my mom was able to be present for Evan's birthday party, we invited some of our "Gainesville Family" to share his big day with us.

The theme was trucks! Evan just can't get enough of his trucks, or cars, or fire engines, or trains....basically anything that has wheels and moves needs a motor sound to accompany it.

I made his cake (with a lot of help from my mom!)


Joel was in charge of balloons. He did a great job!

He also helped with the food (and thanks to mom for making the "Northern Potato Salad."

Evan received lots of nice gifts.

He sat still for a few minutes...

Mom and I had fun getting everything ready!


No caption needed...



And now for the cake: At first Evan kind of looked at it like "what am I supposed to do with this?"


Then he tasted a little...

And it didn't take long to smash the whole piece in his mouth...

He must have needed to call someone after he ate his cake...

After the party was over we got the mail and Evan had 3 more presents to open!!!

The birthday boy on his actual birthday (the day after his party)

I think he was happy that Grandma Raymer got to come to his party:)

I'm sure the 2nd year will be just as fun as the first. I am looking forward to every minute of it!

Most of the pictures from the rest of our week in Bellflower are on my mom's camera but here are a few...

Jake, Melissa, Cameron, Jodi, David, & Paxson were able to be at the Fish Fry and in Bellflower the whole weekend so we had lots of fun! Here are Cameron and I sharing a snack (or as Evan would say, "nak")...

Evan opened his birthday present from Aunt Jodi, Uncle David, & Cousin Pax...

Uncle Jake tried to teach Evan to play guitar. He did the exact same thing Cameron did....put the pick in the big hole....

And Mom climbed on the neighbor's tractor with Evan because he was so excited about it...

Not having internet at home is really affecting my blog. I apologize! I'm currantly at Joel's office trying to check my email and cram as many blogs into one night as I can!

(Well....I do admit that I can get an internet signal at my house but only if I'm standing outside my front door, balancing the laptop in one hand and using the other hand to use the mouse. If I stand on one foot it works even better.....but I look pretty ridiculous.)

Anyhow, on Friday, August 15th Joel, Evan, and I flew to Illinois to surprise my mom on her 50th birthday. She was shocked! Dad helped us to arrange the details and we told a few other people and they all kept it a secret. Grandma & Grandpa Bridgwater picked us up at the airport and took us to Bellflower. They went inside and told mom they had a birthday present for her but she had to help get it out of the van. When she got close to the van, Joel opened up the door and handed Evan to her. The look on her face was priceless....and then of course she cried. It was a lot fun!

My parents held their annual Fish Fry in conjunction with my mom's birthday this year. They had about 95 people in their yard, garage, and house. It was a fun evening! Here are a few pictures...

Dad enlisted help from his friends to do the frying (fish, potatoes, hushpuppies, and corn fritters, yum)...

Joel samples the food...

Mom and her birthday cake...

Cameron and Evan playing washers...

David is sitting pretty in his pink chair...

Sisters:)....

The Fish Fry isn't complete without a little music from Me n Him...

Thanks mom and dad for a great time!

Here is a little sneak preview to the birthday-blog that I promise I will do soon...

Joel's parents and our good friend, Claudia, were here for a nice weekend visit. Here are some pictures from their time with us...

What a cute little boy peeking over the wall at the Park...


Grandpa & Grandma Searby had lots of fun with Evan over the weekend...



Evan warmed right up to Claudia...


Evan opened his first birthday present....

This truck did not come out of the box above but it was a bday present too...

Joel cooked an amazing stir fry...


We even used our chopsticks!