Baby Emily

Evan's cousin Emily was born on Thursday, January 21, 2010. Today our whole family got to go and visit her!

Evan got to hold Emily. At first he seemed like he was not very interested, but as soon as I went to take Emily from Evan's lap, he grabbed her right back! Later he tried to give Emily his trains to play with. Evan loves trains, so that was a very sweet gesture!

Emily Marie Nickel



"I love you Emily!"



"Here Emily, you can play with the trains!"



Aunt Rachael and Emily

Weekend Fun

It snowed several inches in Louisville last weekend, so we all bundled up and went outside to play. Evan enjoyed walking in the snow and hearing the crunching sounds. He also liked seeing his footprints. He thought sledding was fun, but nearly as much as much fun as last year. Evan did not like to touch the snow at all. He didn't even like it when the snow got in his gloves!

Ready, set, go!



Whee!



Hey! I can't see!



Making footprints in the snow.




Walking in the snow is fun. Crunch! Crunch!



Stop taking my picture! I am trying to play!



Evan and Mommy



We also went to a train show last weekend. There were lots of model trains and Evan loved watching them travel around the large displays. Evan also liked playing with the trains on the train table, even though he has one here at home. I guess there is something fun about playing with something new!

Happy New Year!

Carl, Evan, and I celebrated the New Year at home this year. We ordered Chinese food and had a small family party. Although Evan did not make it to midnight, he enjoyed pretending to welcome in the new year by helping us count backwards, shaking a noise maker, and yelling, "Happy New Year!"

Evan loved yelling, "Happy New Year!"



Carl and I stayed up to welcome in the new year.




During Evan's bath time on New Year's Eve, we let him use his bathtub paints for the first time. Carl showed Evan what to do by painting the letter E on the tiles. Evan got very excited and started painting the tiles. Later on he stopped to admire his work. He pointed at the letter E that Carl made and said, "E!" I thought it was a good guess and so did Carl. We then painted other letters on the tiles. He got most of them right! We couldn't believe it! We are proud of our little boy!

Newport Aquarium

We took Evan to the Newport Aquarium yesterday. He absolutely loved it! He really got excited when he got to see the rays, eels, turtles, and sharks. Of course the fish, alligators, lorikeets, otters, starfish, penguins, snails, shrimp, crabs, frogs, and jellyfish were cool too.

Evan enjoyed looking at the fish when were first got to the aquarium.





Petting the starfish was fun!



Looking at the huge snapping turtle.



"Wow! That is one big fish!"



The alligators were a hit with Evan. Some were lounging on the deck like the ones in the picture below, but others were swimming in the water.



Evan liked sliding off the giant frog after I took his picture.



We tried to feed the lorikeets, but they were not hungry.



Evan liked looking at the ray with Daddy.



We got to walk through several tunnels and see fish, sharks, and rays. Evan really liked the tunnels.



The jellyfish were beautiful.



Taking a break for some milk.



Santa was scuba diving!



Evan LOVED the sharks!







Evan got to pet a shark! After he pet the shark he smiled and said, "I did it!" It was so cute!



As usual, Evan enjoyed seeing the penguins.

Louisville Science Center

Carl and I took Evan to the Louisville Science Center for the first time this week. Evan had a blast! He really enjoyed the special area for kids, where he got to pretend to drive a bus, play with dinosaurs, and crawl, climb, and slide in a large play area. He also got to play at a giant water table. Evan enjoyed seeing the rest of the exhibits too, especially an exhibit with animals and insects. We will definitely be going back soon!

Evan got to "drive" a bus.



Evan took a dinosaur for a bus ride.



Playing in the water at the giant water table.







Evan and Daddy built a tower together.



Looking at the cool insects!



"Whee!"



Evan let the dinosaur slide too!

Christmas 2009

On Christmas Eve we went to church. Evan did well, although he was unable to sit for the whole service. He enjoyed all of the singing and he also enjoyed seeing the shepherd and his sheep during the children's message.

After church we came home and ate Chinese food with Bonnie Mom and Grandpa. Grandpa also read The Night Before Christmas to Evan.

On Christmas morning we celebrated Christmas at our house. Evan enjoyed opening all of his gifts. It took him a lot time to open all of the gifts though, because he had to stop and play with each new toy before opening another gift. He liked all his toys, especially the planes and helicopter. We though Evan's favorite toy would be the remote controlled school bus, so we let him open that last. He surprised us though! After Carl made the bus drive around and beep, Evan placed the bus in the box and politely said, "Back!" He is such a funny guy!

After Evan's morning nap, we headed to Granddaddy and Grammy's house. Aunt Heather, Uncle Josh, Jackson, and Caleb were there too. We opened presents first. All of the boys loved their new toys and clothes. After presents, we ate lunch. Mom did a great job and all of the food was delicious!


After Evan's second nap, we went to Aunt Rachel and Uncle Teddy's house. Bonnie Mom and Grandpa came and we all opened presents and ate dinner. Evan spent a lot of time playing with Aunt Rachel and Uncle Teddy's dog, Toby. Toby is over three times the size of Evan and Evan just adores him.

Our Chirstmas tree on Christmas Eve.



Evan opening his first present of the day.



Playing with Thomas!



Evan was happy to get an Elmo doll. He LOVES Elmo!



Evan and Daddy playing with Evan's new Play Doh.



This is what the room looked like after we opened our presents. It was a mess! We had SO much fun though!



Aunt Heather helped Jackson open his new toy.



Jackson loved his flyboat. He played with it for a very long time before opening any other gifts.



Evan helped Daddy open his new golf bag.



Opening presents was hard work! Evan had to take a break and have a cup of milk.



Evan enjoyed playing with his new flashlight.



All of the boys enjoyed playing with Evan's new guitar.




Daddy helped Evan open one of his presents from Grammy and Granddaddy.



Evan LOVES Toby. He kept going over to the gate and calling for Toby to come and play all night long.



Evan got some new paints for the bathtub!




Evan enjoyed talking on the phone to his Great Grandma. He said, "Merry Chirstmas!"