up to date

Hello Friends! I thought some of you may like a quick update to keep you up on our latest happenings. We are enjoying the summer. Lawrence is at such a fun age. It really makes our days and evenings tons of fun. The heat is a bit of a bummer, just because we have to watch when and how long we are outside. Lawrence inherited my sweat glands! We spend 10 minutes outside and he is dripping sweat and his hair looks like he got out of the bathtub! He will hate me for that someday when he is sitting in his high school algebra class, pitting out his shirt, and hoping that the cute girl sitting behind him doesn’t notice (or at least point it out for all to notice). Been there.

There isn’t much noteworthy news around here. But a few footnotes:

- Have you ever heard the story about how important it is to lock your car doors in Kansas? Otherwise, you might come back and find a carload of squash! I get it! We were so excited that our first garden produced… squash. Lots and lots of yellow squash. At least something likes this heat. We also got a basket of cucumbers, a few tomatoes (most were rotten), three zucchini, one nasty carrot, some bitter lettuce, a bunch of cilantro that is in our freezer, four mini red onions, and three butternut squash (even though we didn’t plant any)! Not bad for a garden rookie (me) and a retired farmer (Corey).

- On that note, I am working on my first cookbook. “29 fresh, fabulous and fun ways to fix squash”! I hope you’ll support my endeavor ;)

- I have been working hard at getting our basement in order. Let’s just say that the first time I went down there, part of me was embarrassed and the other part thought about calling ‘Hoarders’. However, in our defense, we never actually wanted to keep all the crap (yes, there is no other word for it) that had accumulated. When Corey drug me back to Kansas, he was kind enough to drive a Uhaul back with my entire townhome packed into it. The Uhaul was efficiently unloaded into the basement. Then Corey’s mom sold her house, so everything Corey could have wanted from their was packed up and unloaded into the basement. My parents were so excited that I was back within visiting range, that they visited and brought all of my crap from their attic and unloaded it into the basement. Then we had this grand idea of remodeling our entire main level. Yep, you guessed it, at one point or another, everything was moved into the basement. And then the little man was born which gave me lots of reasons to block out the basement! So that brings us to our present situation.

I have hired a babysitter to come over a few days and I have focused on tackling our basement. And it feels soooo good! I have made a ton of progress at organizing, pitching, donating, and repacking. Things were going fabulously. Until…

I was bit by a brown recluse spider. Of course I didn’t know it at the time, but by the next day the dime sized black mark made it pretty obvious. And then the red swelling began. So now I am scared of our basement and don’t intend to move anything for a good ten years. Or I am just waiting for a bug man to come out and kill those icky things. Besides reading about all the horror stories of those bites, there is very little that they do for them. Of course you have to see a doctor repeatedly, so they can glance at it and say ‘well, we just need to keep watching it’. And then they put you on medication so that the next doctor you see can tell you to not take it. And then they tell you to go to the hospital over the weekend so it can be “watched” (cha ching cha ching) so that the doctor can tell you to - keep watching it. It is quite entertaining.

- Other sick news – my thumb nail fell off last week. I wanted to see how good my car door sealed so I shut my thumb in it to verify that it sealed just fine. I thought it was ugly before so I would keep my nails painted to cover it up. Now that it fell off it is even uglier. And I can’t even paint it because it is all uneven and dry and raw. Yuck. But the sort of funny thing is I am in the process of losing a toe nail too! How ironic is that!

- Our little man is SUCH a daddy’s boy! It is so cute. He pretty much laughs, smiles and talks from the minute that Corey walks in the door at night until he goes to bed. He is happy during the day, but he is delighted in the evening! He loves playing with balls. He is also in the ‘sitting’ stage, so he loves to back up to anything that looks like it would make a good seat. He sits for half a second and then moves on to the next thing.

Until we meet again,
Abs

big birthday boy

Our little man is now one! He is looking more and more like a little boy and less like my sweet baby. Although still quite sweet most of the time. With a splash of ornery. On Lawrence's birthday we met Corey for lunch and then he met us at the park after work. He normally doesn't get to go with us because we typically go during mom hours. Lawrence showed off his balancing skills by standing on the wood chips in the wind. We have decided that he is holding out on us with the walking. He's able. Just doesn't want it bad enough and hasn't perfected it in his mind.

Lawrence loves to drop his toys and then throw his arms out. Instead of saying 'uh oh' he makes this little high pitched sound that 'says' so much.

The paper still ranks pretty high. But toys are becoming more of a hit.

And then there is the cake. This kid eats everything. Fruits, veggies, beans, dirt, bugs, wood chips, coffee beans... And because he eats so well we haven't wanted to mess it up with sweets, so he has had basically none to date. Even three days past his birthday - none.

He ate a respectable dinner of black beans, squash, peas, carrots, french toast (w/o the cinnamon, sugar, or syrup of course), grapes, and banana. In the much anticipated moment I placed a cupcake on his tray. And then the meltdown. I think it was due in part to him asking for more banana and this is what he gets. Partially due to the fact that it fell over and made a mess of his tray which he normally keeps quite tidy - he eats everything on his tray and what he doesn't want he disposes of. And it was also getting late which probably contributed.

So no cake or frosting made it to the mouth. Needless to say, I'm not real concerned. He's a Bevan - he will find his sweet tooth.

Possibly this weekend at his family birthday party. I heard the cake is going to be fabulous!

Okay, I actually made a cake that looks like a frog for this weekend! I can't wait to share the pictures with you.

spring makes me smile

I love Spring! I think it's my favorite. It used to be summer till I moved back to Kansas. Speaking of summer - it was 100 degrees yesterday :( It is way too early for that. Anyway, we have enjoyed a lot of outings this spring and here are some highlights.


We enjoyed Tanganeka Wildlife Park with Nana, Aunt Jennifer, and Cousin Lynn. We had some time with them in April and it was wonderful.

Lawrence LOVES his straw sippy. I never knew that drinking would be so much fun! Once his thirst is quenched, he just keeps drinking and spits it out instead of swallowing.

"It's all fun and games until somebody gets choked... "

This is actually all innocent. It's hard to get those squirmy babies to stay right where you want them!

This is our sweet little Lawrence throwing a fit. Face flat on whatever surface he happens to be sitting on. You laugh. Well, actually we do to, which is part of why we just walk away!

"Is it a ball? Is it an egg?"

"It didn't bounce quite like a ball. Guess it's an egg!"

Lawrence dressed in his Easter best!






My first Mother's day was pretty special!

"Eeeewww! I'm the one that gives the kisses around here."

The PERFECT Mother's Day lillies and card! I have two pretty sweet boys in my life :)

big steps

Updates from my neck of the woods:

~~My baby took his first steps!!! :( !!! I don't know if I am more excited or sad. I guess I can't call him my baby anymore. Corey and I had just gotten home from dinner out ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (thanks mom) - when he walked between us several times. Pretty cool.

~~I have been distracted with projects lately. My writing has been focused on a book that I am doing for Lawrence that will tell his birth story. Hopefully someday he will appreciate it. But if not, then I will. I did all the work anyway. At the same time, I am also trying to get his scrapbook all up to date with his major accomplishments of the last year and pictures. He has worked hard this year!

~~We are enjoying the Spring. I will post some pictures soon.

Have a happy day!

pizza on the bar-b!

I have always wanted to make pizza on the grill but just haven’t ever tried it. Since I have been on a homemade pizza kick, and the spring weather makes me want to put everything on the grill, and Shi was here visiting… it was the perfect excuse! I follow the blog Our Best Bites and they had some directions that assured me it would be a success on the first try. So Shi and I started fixing our dinner around 4:30.

First things first -- picture op! We didn't even eat pineapple, but somehow it made it to the pictures!

By this time we are warmed up and ready to get our hands dirty.

Lawrence played an important roll. He played contently and wasn't too needy.



We made everything from scratch - except the cheese. And I guess not the veggies either because our garden is barely sprouting. And not the meat because we don't have chickens or cows in our back yard. But we did make an alfredo sauce, marinara sauce, and pizza dough.

Then for the strategic part. When we raised the lid to the grill we had to work as quickly as possible to get the pizza's loaded and the lid down so our "oven" would stay hot. We planned who would do what. In the end, it didn't really matter because it took long enough that the grill had to warm up again anyway.




This process took awhile since we made four different pizzas with all different toppings. My hubby was getting hungry but he still wanted to be part of the picture magic.



We sat down to eat after 7:00 that night! Shiloh and I were wiped. BUT, the end product was well worth the wait. I think we need our own show - 'Cooking Made Cute' or 'Dinner In Just 3 Hours'.

nothing like an old friend

I am so tardy with my blogging. I have had a series of Spring Break guests and it feels like it has taken the week to get caught back up.

My dear friend, Shiloh, spent part of her Spring Break with me here in Kansas. There is nothing quite like having an old friend to hang out with. Not that she is that old numerically, but I have known her for years. Seven to be exact – I had to think about that one. I still remember the Sunday morning that she and her sister stood up in front of the whole career group and got introduced. We all became pretty quick friends since they were also from the true Midwest (Nebraska) and we lived in the same apartment complex. We had a ton of fun thru the years, some tears, ate a lot of great food, and experienced a lot of life together. My mind is flipping thru the numerous memories as I write!

First on our agenda was shopping for sunglasses…

I don't think you understand - I HATE Sunglass shopping...

My face is sooooooooo narrow, and most of these glasses are like what my mom wore back in the day...

So it helps to have a good friend to say yea or neigh. And the winner is.....

None of the above!

The rest of our adventures will follow shortly!