The North Hole

Annabelle is a bit confused, she is under the impression that Santa lives in the "North Hole". Which I think is something like the North Pole or a black hole, but I am not sure.

Additionally, she says she doesn't want any presents this Christmas. I truly believe it's because she knows that Santa has to come our house to deliver the gifts, and it scares her to death to think about a stranger in the house! She is over thinking things too much at such a young age!!!!!

Cooper missed the memo...

that she is only 7 months old! She is trying to stand up against the ottoman, she is trying to get up the stairs, she's shaking her head back at us when we tell her no, she is under the impression that she is much older than 7 months!

She now weighs in at 19 pounds 12 ounces, she is one meal away from being out of the carrier!






Here is a picture of Annabelle dressed as Cinderella! And yes, that is makeup you see, Nanny Kara is the official makeup artist of the Evans family!

A turkey, a birthday, and a NASCAR...

Happy Thanksgiving (belated)! We made our way to Charlotte, NC via my parents house last Tuesday! We stayed with "Emme" and "Papa" for two nights and then headed to Charlotte for Thanksgiving and to celebrate my Grandmother's (Nana) 90th birthday!







Emme & Papa had a great feast for us and of course the kids were SO excited to have cake and watch Nana blow out her candles. We also had a chance to visit my other Grandmother (we call her "Cooke") on Thanksgiving and again on Friday. The kids had fun riding the elevators at the Embassy Suites and running around with their Emme.




























Finally, Carter got to see a REAL LIVE NASCAR, in person!!! He was so excited, I think prior to that he thought all cars were matchbox size (that's what they look like on tv too!)

Tree Trimming!

Luckily, no one was hurt in the decorating of this tree (although it was close!)...Where is Annabelle you ask????? She didn't really feel like participating in the festivities, she put her one Dora ornament on the tree and was outta there!!!!

True Story!

Yesterday, Carter and Annabelle were at school. Sometimes, on Fridays, they all stay until 1:30 (which they call "lunch days"). Well, Olivia was home again (she has a double ear infection) so it was just the two of them at school. So, we get in the car to come home and Carter announces, "Aidan scared MY sister!" So, I asked what Aidan did, which consisted of just some growling and some hand gestures, and I asked Carter what did he do after he scared her, he said, "I told him NOT to scare MY sister, and you are making me very angry!"

So, I am happy to report that while they aren't always nice to each other here, at least I know that they have each others backs at school. I actually thought about how lucky all 3 girls are to have a big brother like Carter. We will see what happens when they want to starting dating his friends...

No offense....

To anyone, especially Annabelle and Carter. BUT, Olivia stayed home from school today with a slight fever, and usually it's complete chaos here, and I can't even sit down. However, having one 2 year old and one baby here is like a VACATION. Now, Olivia is almost 3, and she's a very low maintenance girl, but I have actually taken a shower (she entertained Cooper), did some laundry, gave them both a bath, and was able to sit down at the computer for what is now going on 20 minutes!

The only downfall was Cooper lets me watch Oprah, I asked Olivia if she wanted to watch Oprah and of course said "No, I want to watch Diego!" But, I'll take that all day long!

Digital Scrapbooking!

Here is a sample of my newest hobby! This is my first attempt at this using Photoshop, it's fun and I hope to be able to make some albums for the kids! This one isn't real complicated, but it's a start!!!

A turkey dinner...

Saturday we went to "Grandma & Grandpa's" house for a "turkey dinner" (as Carter called it). The kids had a great time playing in the leaves and riding to the park in their Grandpa's trailer, although by the picture you can tell that Carter was less than pleased that they had to come back!



Annabelle asked if she could have some "Jack-o-lantern" pie (which is pumpkin pie). Olivia also performed her best "Twinkle Twinkle" which ended with her famous "booty booty" dance...

We all had a nice time and the kids were completely "pooped" when we got home!!!!

Baby in a cage!

This is what happens when you turn your back for a second around here! The funny thing is (I thought about this later), is that my answer to Carter asking if Cooper can stay in there, was "Sure, as long as she isn't crying!" Only a mother of 4 would answer the question that way...

A nice peaceful weekend...and a revelation!

Jason and I had the opportunity to get away to Milwaukee this past weekend. We went up there to snoop around the Bar Louie while getting a couple good nights of sleep. Anyway, we had a FANTASTIC time! Milwaukee is fun, there's so much to do and the weather was perfect. We checked out the Bar Louie, visited the BW3 and "stole" some ideas from a great Irish Pub!

We also checked out the Milwaukee Public Market which was really cool, and had some pretty good lobster bisque. Then, on Saturday night we went to Mader's a great German restaurant where we had some German beers (mine served in a boot) and some pretty good German food. It was a really fun evening!




























Then, we actually really started to miss the gang, so we got home Sunday and were greeted with tons of squealing and happy children, who had a pretty fun weekend themselves.

The big revelation came when on Saturday Carter was having his morning constitutional (if you get what I mean) and yelled out to Kara, "Hey Kara, you are our BABYSITTER!" I truly believe that it just hit him at the moment that Kara was actually working here and not just coming here every week for her health! Carter is such a smart boy though, it's so fun to watch his brain figure stuff like that out!