Happy Birthday Old Man

Yep, Amelia's old man turned 31 a while back. Our celebration was totally wild and included:
a round of "so big" (Yes I know standing in her highchair is not safe. I was just so proud of her for standing up on her own that I had to take a picture), fried ice cream with a candle,
a homemade card,

helping dad open his gifts,

avocados (one of Amelia's favorites),

a trip to the petting zoo with Grandma Ginnie, Poppy and Cousin G (Happy Birthday to Poppy as well as Mark and his dad share a birthday!) and

and some daddy love!

Early Christmas List

In case anyone is wondering Amelia has already started her Christmas list so far she has added:

1) iPhone. She likes the way it lights up and needs to be able to stay in touch with all of her family and friends. And if she has her own she won't have to use Papa's and mess up all of his settings.

2) A second iPhone. Why two you ask? She is having trouble playing blackjack and making phone calls at the same time.

2) More Turtle Coasters. See Mark saw these coasters at Mo & Missy's condo and decided he needed a set. Mo being the generous guy that he is splurged for a set on eBay. For most people one set would be enough. However as SOON as Amelia eyes the coasters she will do whatever it takes to get to them. No, she does not use the coasters to prevent rings on our furniture which is again what most people would do. Amelia on the other hand LOVES dropping them onto the floor. She could use another set so she can play her game longer before mom and dad have to pick them up so she can start all over again.

3) Building Blocks. Could we have three generations of Evans Architects? Amelia loved Georgia's blocks and wouldn't even put her favorite one down for a story from Grandma Ginnie. After Georgia left our condo with her building blocks in tow we found one lonely yellow one hidden in Amelia's toy basket. Sorry Georgia that your cousin is a thief.

What is not on her list you ask? Clothes. She isn't a fan. Now that she can take her diaper off we are really in trouble.

One Proud Papa

Last weekend Papa escaped the desert heat and spent the weekend with us in Chicago.

Why, how else would Papa begin a vacation than by shopping for wine? Is anyone actually watching Amelia?

We shopped at the Green City Farmer's Market so we could host a dinner party for the Lang family. Georgia and Amelia mastered sitting on bar stools during the dinner party. I'm not sure who emptied the bottle of wine between them. Jackie O even showed up at dinner! I blame Jackie.....

Who is that darling little girl? Oh, yes Amelia loves looking at herself in the mirror so it is no surprise that she loved the Bean! Amelia played in her first fountain. This is proof that she has a little Lambda in her (that is right girls, I said that).
Dad and I as proof we do take pictures without Amelia in them.

Get Well Soon!

Selling and buying a new home were not the only activities we stressed about throughout August. In early August we learned that my mom had a cyst (fortunately benign) on her spine which needed to be surgically removed. Her surgery was last week and we are so fortunate for how well it went. We spent a week in Kansas helping GranAnn recover. At this point all she needs to do is relax and let her body heal. Ha, sitting around and relaxing is much easier said than done for my mom. We all chipped in, Merrill has walked Freddy, I brought her lattes in the hospital and Mark made homemade calzones when she got home. Thank goodness Amelia was there as she chipped in by having photo shoots with Auntie M and reorganizing all of GranAnn's cds, DVDs and travel books.

New Home?

Well we put our condo on the market in July and low and behold it sold a month later. We had a couple of weeks of total panic as we hadn't even started looking for a new home. In one week we looked at 14 places and found one that we think might work. Amelia was such a trooper going from condo to condo and even a bigger help sorting through all the fliers when we got home. I sure hope she is as helpful packing.

These are a few of my favorite things:

scooting around under mom and dad's feet,

bananas (and daddy),

Tupperware, and Cheerios.

"S" is for.....

Saturday swim dates with Cousin Georgia while wearing a stylish swimsuit. Check out Amelia's rocking swimsuit. Yep, it is a hand-me-down from me. Thirty years later and the swimsuit is as stylish as it was in the 70's. Okay it looks a bit like a weight lifting outfit from the 80's but I thought it was cute! You have to trust me on this one but I have a darling picture of my dad and I with me in the swim suit. I really wanted to post it as well however in an effort to clean our condo so we could get it on the market I have misplaced the picture.