More Milestones!

Evelynn has had lots of milestones lately! Not only is she 21 months old now (where did the time go?) but she is definitely going down the road of becoming a "big girl!"

The above picture shows that Evelynn is starting to dress herself! Well, she needs help putting things on, but she definitely likes to have a say in what she wears. Hence, the Winnie the Pooh hiking boots minus socks! She also likes having a say in what Hannah wears (her baby)! Grandma Buser made Hannah some clothes and Evelynn loves dressing Hannah.

Here is Evelynn showing off another milestone! Evelynn is potty training! She is doing super, and had her first dry day (no accidents) yesterday! We are super proud, and so is she!

Another big milestone is that Evelynn is sleeping in her big girl bed, well sorta. She is actually sleeping in her crib, with the rail down making it a day bed of sorts. I always thought she would be a "runner," but she has surprised me with her obedience in staying in bed. She has only gotten out of bed when she wasn't supposed to a couple of times. She also only fell out of bed (the whole 4 inches) only twice as well! Thanks goodness...I hated hearing that thud! Here in a few months we will be making the move to the real big girl bed, a full size bed, to get ready for the next baby. I was worried about this, but I am quite confidant that she will do great now.

Evelynn has also started drinking her milk out of a cup! Bye bye sippy cup! We still use cups with straws during the day for water, but during meals she now uses her big girl cup!

Last, but certainly not least, Evelynn has finally started saying her own name! Technically she has been able to repeat her own name for a while now, but now she is starting to refer to herself as "Eh-nen."

Landscaping Before and After Shots

As many of you know, we have been spending A LOT of time outside doing some much needed landscaping! I thought you could use some before and after photos to show some of our sweat equity.

Here are some BEFORE photos of the house:

Here is Brad workin' his tail off! We borrowed a tiller older than we are from our neighbor. I wish I had this on video because Brad looked like he was seriously riding a bronco until he got the hang of things!

And here are the AFTER shots:

(You'll notice the little ornamental trees are gone, but it will take a little while for the grass to fill in, despite our efforts of transplanting.)

We bumped out the western side of the front bed, and of course lined it with rock. It also has all perennial plants now, which will look gorgeous once they all fill in. I couldn't afford to buy them full grown, so you will have to use your imagination for now!

The eastern side of the front bed was bumped out a little toward the driveway, lined with rock as well, and we added a much needed pathway to the driveway. No more cutting through the grass! We also transplanted our Japanese Bloodgood Maple to a shadier location in hopes that it won't look so crispy come August. It has a gatorbag on it right now, so please forgive the tacky picture.

Now we are working with our neighbor, Chad, to get the west side of the house in working order. Here the boys are putting rock down to create an extended walking area for our very narrow driveways. I don't think the bulbs are going to stay long term, but they are there for now. I am hoping to put some creeping euonymus there in the spring.

And, it wouldn't be a proper blog entry without a picture of Evelynn.