"If food doesn't cheer yu up, by golly, your doomed." --Stacy J. Blake--

Lately I have started putting some baby food into Evelyn's baby cereal, just to mix things up a bit for her. I started one week with some prunes (she was a bit constipated from eating real food). Then last week I gave her some green beans one day, which she liked ok, and this week I tried some sweet peas, which she seems to like more than the green beans. I was feeding her the other night and she was just being so darn cute after she was done eating that I had to snap some shots of her. This kid is just too funny and so much fun!







(P.S.- only 23 days til I fly out to Rhode Island for Mark's graduation and get to see him!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!)

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage." --Lao Tzu--

A couple days ago my dad came over with a box that had just been delivered for me...no it wasn't my Cricut which I have been waiting for for daaaaaays and daaaaaaaaaaays and it's still not here!!! Argh! Anywho, it was a vase with fresh flowers in it from my wonderful, amazing husband! I couldn't believe it, mainly cuz I didn't think Mark had any free time to do something like that, although I guess it doesn't take too long to order flowers, but still. It was very unexpected but very much appreciated! :) A very pleasant surprise indeed.

The flowers were ones that hadn't bloomed yet so this morning they had fully bloomed and they are so gorgeous! I really don't have a darn clue what type they are but they're beautiful! They were a Valentine's Day/Birthday surprise for me even though he already let me get the Cricut for my present but I'm not complainin'! I love how sweet and wonderful he is to me even when he's going through a rather hard time at OCS and is worn out. He still finds time to do something nice to surprise me. All I have to say is I have the BEST husband ever! I just love him so much!

Here's some pics of my beautiful bouquet.






I did have a pretty good birthday even though Mark wasn't here. I got to pick what we had for Sunday dinner so we had a yummy breakfast dinner. Then on my actual birthday I didn't really do too much except go out to eat at the Rib Crib with my parents, which that was pretty darn great, so yummy! The best part of the day though was that Mark got to call me! It was only for a couple minutes but it was still wonderful. He is doing pretty good btw, just worn out like I said. He just always says that he's tired. He stays up late a lot to study or get ready for inspections or other things. He keeps pretty busy that's for sure. He's so close to being done though! I just bought my ticket to go out there for his graduation and will be leaving four weeks from yesterday or 27 days :) I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to see him!

"The only thing worth stealing is a kiss from a sleeping child" --Joe Houldsworth--

So I was sitting on my bed the other day with Evelyn playing next to me while I read a book (Percy Jackson, The Last Olympian...great series that one is!). I noticed she was getting sleepy and luckily I had my camera next to me cuz I got this funny little series of pics.






She's such a funny little thing when she's falling asleep. Sometimes she fights it off so hard even if she's tired beyond belief. Other times I wrap her up, put her in bed, and she's out. Then there's times like this where we're just chillin' and she difts off all nice and quiet. I like those the best :)

"A daughter may outgrow your lap, but she will never outgrow your heart."

Evelyn hasn't quite outgrown my lap but she has grown a lot since she arrived! It's crazy how a big a difference a few pounds on a baby is! Anyway, this post is another before and after. I was going through some pics I got from my mom's camera and found this sweet little pic of Evelyn when she was two weeks old.



And here is her most recent pic I have.



She was so tiny and wrinkly when she was a newborn! She seems so different now that she's bigger and more active :) It's crazy how much difference four months makes! I'm excited to see how the next four months will change her!

"Other than a dimple in a cute little chin, What's more adorable than a toothless grin?"

Evelyn is now four months old and is getting so big! I took her in today for her four month check up and to get some nasty shots. She did fairly well with the shots but has been fussy tonight. :( On the upside, she is not 15 lbs and 25 inches long. She's such a sweet, happy, smiley little thing and so much fun! Her favorite thing lately is to gnaw on her fingers and play with her feet. She just discovered her feet this week and loves grabbing them.





Not much news from Mark this week. For some reason he didn't call on Sunday so I was pretty bummed about that. He has been writing short little letters to me, mostly telling about what he's up to, which is mainly doing drills, studying, going to his classes, and preparing for tests and inspections. Fun stuff right there. He's getting through it though and doing very well!

As for me, I'm still busy with Evelyn and the fam and getting ridiculously sick of all this snow! It snows, metls, freezes, gets icy, melts, freezes, melts, and just when you think it's going away it snows again! UGH!!!!!!!!!!! I'm tired of it! It's making me feel very lazy and I haven't been getting the things done that I've wanted. Stupid weather.

"Been there, done that, scrapped a page about it."

So with Mark gone I've been filling my time with Evelyn, scrapbooking, reading, and putting together puzzles, all which have been great fun and very helpful in distracting me. I thought I would share a few pages that I've done. I've been taking a longer time on them and trying to do a better job and so far they've been turning out great! I found a website, scrapbooketc.com, which has a tooooooon of layouts which are so helpful. I have the hardest time thinking up layouts so I just use their ideas or find ones I like and tweak them a bit. My favorite page though is one I can't show because it's for my sister-in-law's wedding album that I am doing for her and her husband so I can't put it here yet. They get to see it first....well when I finally finish it! I'm halfway done! I promise it'll be done soon Amy :) :) :)

"I don't want to pierce anything. I think it's outdated. Belly rings and all are, like, old." --Britney Spears--

Ok so I know that quote for today is kinda dumb but I couldn't find anything for pierced ears that I liked and I thought this one was, like, totally funny. :) haha. Britney Spears is just so profoundly wise isn't she?

Anywho, if you haven't already guessed by now, Evelyn got her ears pierced today!!! Me, my sister Emily, and my mom went to Kansas City today to take Emily's foster baby to the doctor (he got his first surgery for his cleft lip and palette last week so now his nose is fixed and his lip is stitched together, he looks so much better already!). So we stopped by the mall to do a little shopping and while we were at Icing we decided to pierce Evie's ears! Emily held her down cuz I didn't really want to do it and that's more Emily's type of thing anyway. She's not afraid to be a little rough :)

Evelyn wasn't very happy though! She was screaming by the time we had just drawn the dots on her ears and then really started screaming when they put the earrings in. Poor little thing! She had the biggest tears running down her face. Grammy had to step away during the whole procedure cuz she couldn't handle it. I stood by and took pics of course so here they are!

(Before pic, she had no clue what was about to happen!)

(Picking the spots)

(Already crying after we put the dots on her ears, she was tired and cranky and hungry so this probably wasn't the best time to do it but oh well! Too late now :)

(Putting her first earring in! Boy was she mad!!!!!!!!!)

(And afterwards! This is at home of course, she did calm down not too long after we left the store and after she got fed so she's over the whole experience now and won't remember it later!)

"A day without laughter is a day wasted." --Charlie Chaplin--

Evelyn just loooooves to watch her cousins playing and finds it highly entertaining as you can see here!



They are pretty funny kids though, I gotta admit that :) I'm so glad Evelyn gets to spend this time with them!