St. Jude Evening Under the Star

My sister, Jennifer invited me to the “Evening Under the Star” event benefitting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. It was a spectacular evening held on the field at Cowboys Stadium complete with food, drinks and live entertainment by Craig Morgan (country singer).

When we first walked through the doors that lead out onto the field we were surprised to see Tyler’s picture blown up on an easel right in front! He thought it was pretty cool too. He the best time hanging out with his friends (other St. Jude patients from the DFW area) running all over, throwing the football around and best of all – having his picture taken with the Cowboys Cheerleaders – hee! What a great night!

Jenn and Ty

The gang left to right: Lisa (mom); TK; Amanda (me); Tyler; Aunt Judy; Jennifer

Whoo-weee!

Such a cutie!

He's sweet, too!

Presenting to Mr. & Mrs. Brooks of Brinker International (Chili's restaurant is a HUGE contributor)

Our Star!

Broken Arm!

Yes, you read correctly – Evan broke his little arm at just 17 months old! Last week he tumbled down 2 steep steps that lead down into our sunroom. Naturally, these are tile, so they didn’t make for a very smooth fall. X-rays revealed a broken radius and ulna on his left arm, so off to the pediatric orthopedist we went for a baby-sized cast.

We actually had the cast re-done 3 times! The first time the nurse wasn’t happy with the way it turned out even though Evan was a perfect little patient through the process. The material flipped near his palm and would have caused irritation once it dried all the way. So, once the second cast was on the doctor came in to examine it. He decided that the cast needed to have a “banana curve” to it so he suggested we re-do it AGAIN! He clearly didn’t know that we had already done it twice. By the way – the little saw thing they use to remove it was scary and Evan didn’t even flinch! I guess the third time’s the charm because it was perfect once we got it on. I can’t believe how well Evan did through it all. Maybe it helped that he was in zombie mode thanks to missing his nap for the appointment. Ha!

He’s doing so well with the cast and doesn’t even seem to be bothered by it. It’s tricky bathing him and keeping food away from it, but we’re doing okay. He did however scratch his face up with the rough texture of the cast during his nap. I made him a fancy cover out of a long sock to keep this from happening again. It makes it even cuter on him!

"I want blue!"

Scratching his hand where the splint had been - probably felt odd.

Happy to be back home. "Thanks, Aunt Jenn for the firetruck! It's my new favorite toy!"

“3 MONTHS!?!?! Really, Amanda?” This is what I said to myself when I decided to check my last post. Pathetic, I know. Well, I must catch you up then!

Evan has progressed from walking everywhere to running and he’s even learned new words! His vocabulary consists of “truck, outside, cold, hot (“Tot!”), tractor, tattoo, Nonna, TyTy, no (his favorite)” and a few others. He still refers to both me and Brett as “da-da” but I’m working on getting him to say “mama” again. He loves reading books and playing with his cars and tractors. He had his second plane ride ever this month when we flew to Iowa (his first was at 3 mos. old when we went to see his cousin, Tyler at St. Jude in Memphis). He did GREAT both there and back, thank goodness. Which reminds me…for those of you traveling with children here are a few tips: 1) take new toys that they’ve never played with before. They don’t have to be expensive and can even be something as simple as sticky tape. For older kids you can even wrap them up and tell them they get to open a new one when the clock says a certain time if they’re good. This is not only a learning tool for time, but it gives them something to look forward to. 2) Lots of snacks! Evan stayed busy eating a lot of the time. 3) Gummies to chew on or a bottle to suck on takeoff and landing. 4) iPad or iPhone for games and make sure to download their favorite TV Shows before taking off (Evan loves Mickey, Backyardigans and Jungle Junction).

You may be asking why we went to Iowa of all places. Sadly, Brett’s paternal grandmother (Leona) passed away a few weeks ago. I had only met Leona twice - she was so sweet and so tiny! I have a fond memory of her dancing at Brett’s cousin’s wedding – she was having the best time doing the Cha Cha Slide with everyone! Anyway, Lynn and Kay were so gracious to fly the family out for the funeral. It was great seeing the family and catch up with everyone. We got home that Sunday and then my paternal grandfather (Paw Paw) passed away that Tuesday. His funeral was this past Friday in East Texas. We miss you, Paw Paw! Hopefully, we’re done with funerals for a while.

On a happier note, our nanny, Edna got engaged a few months ago and asked Evan to be her ring bearer in April! He’s going to be one handsome little guy all dressed up.  We’re so happy for Edna and Jason and can’t wait to celebrate.



Airplane!




Reading a book.





Airplane!

 We have lots of fun stuff coming up so stay tuned!













4th of July

First and foremost, Evan is walking! He started a few weeks ago and has been progressing every day. He still lacks a little confidence to take more than 10 steps or so, but he's getting better every day. We saw a HUGE improvement this weekend while he was hanging out with his cousins (Tyler, Grant, Carter and Blake). I think seeing them get around everywhere motivated him quite a bit.

We spent July 4th with the Bates and had the best time swimming, eating and playing Wii Dance! Thanks to Mere Mere and Pops for their gracious hospitality and delicious food. We really enjoyed it!

Below are a few pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!

CPA Exam...

Brett PASSED the CPA exam! We are all so very proud of him, and he's definitely relieved to have this over and done with.  Just wanted to share the great news!

Evan Turns One!

Thursday, May 19th was Evan’s actual birthday, but we decided to throw his party on Saturday, May 21st. We were so excited that Meme, Judy, Megan, Preslee, Alaina, Heather and Addison came to town for the big celebration! Since Evan loves the monkeys on the Baby Einstein DVD’s, so we opted for a Monkey theme.

My aunt Judy (JuJu) made the cutest “Happy Birthday Evan” banners and cupcake toppers. Alaina painted the prettiest monkey centerpiece and helped Mom with the vines that we put over all the doorways. We were so excited that Meme, Judy, Megan, Preslee, Alaina, Heather and Addison came to town for it – they were all SUCH a big help! Also, big thanks to my mom who helped me run all my errands on Friday to get ready for the party…couldn’t have done it all without you!


Brett was king of the grill and made hot dogs and hamburgers for everyone. We also had chocolate dipped bananas (aka “Monkey Tails”), animal crackers, peanuts, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, banana punch and fruit kabobs. Alaina made scrumptious cupcakes – chocolate cake with banana-flavored frosting and banana-flavored cake with chocolate frosting. Mmmm! My friend Adrienne is a professional cake baker, so I had her make the main cake. I was thrilled with how it turned out. Tyler helped himself to the fondant monkey that sat on top. All in all it was a great party and we were so blessed to have our friends and family be a part of Evan’s special day. I can’t believe my precious baby boy is one year old.

A little piece of advice that was given to me by many: don’t wish for the next big milestone (i.e. crawling, walking, talking, etc.) because it all goes too fast, and before you know it he’ll be walking across the stage a graduation. I can honestly say that it’s already going by too fast and I do definitely cherish every minute with him. I love you EBO!

9 Months!

Evan turned 9 months old on February 19th, and boy, has he changed! He had a great checkup with Dr. G…weighs 23 lbs, 12 oz and is 30 inches tall already! That’s 95th percentile for weight and off the charts for height. By the way, he’s wearing 18 month clothes now!! He has his two bottom teeth and is working on 4 top teeth (two of which are coming in now). He’s still not crawling – who needs to crawl when you can scoot everywhere on your rear!?!? Actually, he’ll be crawling any minute, but would probably rather skip it and walk. He can stand with support for long periods of time and LOVES to do so. His favorite time is when we stand him up in the play pin Grammy loaned us. We have to make a really big deal about it and he’s all smiles and giggles! He even lets go with one hand to pick up toys and way “bye-bye” which he did for the first time on Valentine’s Day.
His newest discovery is opening and closing the cabinet doors, drawers and microwave door! We say “open….close” each time he does it and he just thinks it’s the best thing ever.
His nanny (Miss Edna) got him a swing for the tree in the front yard and he is having a ball with it! She also takes him on daily walks to the park where he tries out the big boy swings too. He’s certainly growing to be a fun little boy with lots of curiosity and new discoveries each day.

Meme got him this cute pillow pet puppy for Valentine's Day!

Learning how to stand on my own!

Mmmmm...biter biscuit!

"What are you laughing at??"