Evey and Friends!

As Evelyn has grown into her seventh month, her social nature has blossomed! She has always been comfortable with other people and is ever curious about her surroundings - now she is building her sociability... making friends!Birthday weekend Picnic: Part Deux brought us to Newell Park, near our house, with new found play friends Maggie, James, Luke and Evey. Getting together with the kids of Mommy and Daddy's friends proves to be a success on multiple levels! A park to run around (or in Evey's case, roll around) at, beautiful Sunday summer afternoon and relaxing back in the camp chairs with friends while we watch our children entertain each other!!

All the kids Evelyn has been around are older than her. The girls at daycare are at least 6months to 1 year older, her cousin Eli is 1 year older, and Evelyn was by far the youngest one at ECFE. This weekend was different! My friend and college roommate Melissa visited Minnesota this weekend. We had the opportunity to watch Evelyn and Nora, Melissa's 11 month old daughter, for a day and they had so much fun together! Evey was overjoyed to have another little girl to play with that could do the same things... rock and roll back and forth, grab fingers and toes, shake rattles! After waking up from naptime, she squealed in happiness when she saw Nora and reached up to hold her hand. When they were both playing on the floor Evey rolled over to Nora and they tried to hug each other. Then they relaxed, laying head to head, grabbing their own toes and "talked" to each other!!

It wouldn't be summer without the classic drive-in movie marathon, though typically it is warmer than a blustery low 60 degree day. Dressed in her lilac sweater and eggplant knit hat, bundled up in Grandpa's Irish wool blanket, she intently watches Eli and his tiger stripe bouncing ball while we wait for dusk to fall. This is Evey's first outing to see a movie - watching the mini coleman grill with sizzling brats and burgers, the other restless children running between cars in a game of tag and make-believe, the gently falling darkness signals us to settle in to our camp chairs as the movie reel begins to roll... we let her watch the first half hour or so of Ice Age 3 before retreating to the warm car and her carseat-turned-bed for the night. She fell asleep beneath the stars - Ursa Major, North Star and the animated characters of the Ice Age.

Evey joins in on the animal parade! Ellie-font, Buster the Christmas Bear, Quack, Lizzie the Froggy, Snuggle Puppy and Princess Evey-lou climb aboard the toy bin trolley destined for the Land of Nod! All aboard!