Happy Birthday Drew!

Today is Drew's 27th Birthday!! He always has to share his birthday with New Years Eve celebrations, but at least we always have a party to go to on his birthday!! Happy Birthday honey... I love you.... Thanks for being such a wonderful daddy and husband.... Evan and I are so blessed to have you in our life!

Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas! Great times with family at each and every gathering (not to mention all the yummy food!!). Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get my camera out at every get-together, but I've included lots of pictures! Enjoy :) I hope your Christmas was as blessed as ours was....

Christmas Eve...

Hugging Erin on Christmas Eve... Priceless :)

More Christmas Eve...

Christmas Eve....

Doris got the Moo Moo this year!!

Christmas Eve with the Bakers....

Drew playing pool on Christmas Eve....

Evan showing Cal his toys...

Grandpa Brad and Evan on Christmas Eve...

Cars in his stocking from Santa...
Evan and his shopping cart from Santa...

What else is in here???
Blurry, but I had to post it :)

Our family on Christmas morning....

A sleepy Laura and John on Christmas morning...
My Grandma and Bob on Christmas morning....
My Grandma and Grandpa on Christmas morning...
The traditional Christmas morning breakfast...
Grandpa Clark and Evan on Christmas morning....

Evan and Grandma Beth on Christmas morning....

Evan in the middle of a pile of presents!! The car in the background is a beanbag from Aunt Laura...

Evan pushing his new wagon around the house... We're so excited to use it this next summer...

Evan and his new car/train table... He loves it so much it has now become our new coffee table in the family room!!

Looking at the tree with Mommy...

Sitting in his bean bag....

What a life....

Now which new toy do I play with next???
Dimples :)

Christmas Randomness.....

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. The flu bug has hit our house in the last week or so... We've all 3 had it and are hoping that we've gotten it out of our systems for the winter... It was no fun! Really made us appreciate all of our family who was willing to step in and help out with Evan while we were under the weather....

Evan has had his 15 month check-up with his pediatrician since my last post (even though he is really almost 16 months old).... Our little munchkin weighed in at 27 pounds, 14 oz (80th percentile), 32 inches (75th percentile) and his head is 19 3/4 inches (100th percentile- just like his daddy!)... The doctor says he is very healthy and doing wonderful! Here are a few stats on the little man and what he's up to these days...

*He's toddling all over the house and loves to explore new places and things!
*He still loves his toys- although he sometimes tires of them and wants to play with all of the things he's not supposed to have (just like any other kid his age!)....
*He absolutely LOVES books.... He loves to flip through the pages himself, but has started to carry a book to you and climb on your lap and ask to be read too... It's too cute!!
*He knows several signs and uses them regularly (more, eat, please, and thank you)
*He has started to say a couple of words although they're not always very recognizable!
*Although he doesn't talk too much yet, he knows LOTS of words that we say and understands so much (even more than we sometimes realize!)
*He's starting to throw little tantrums and let us know when he's not happy with something- we're wondering if we're going to have a stubborn little guy!!
*He loves to give hugs and kisses (and not just to us, but also his stuffed animals)
*He still takes a pacifier during his naps and nighttime, but we'll be taking that away soon (please pray for us- we know it won't be easy!)

We have been constantly reminded this Christmas season how important family is and how blessed we are to be surrounded by such wonderful family and friends... We pray your families have a joyous Christmas..... Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Evan checking out the Christmas tree...

Pushing his new corn popper around the house...

Playing with his buddy Caden in the church nursery...

Looking all handsome in his big boy jeans!!

Books, books and more books...Kissing his bear- I just loved this one...

So Much Fun!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

He's Into Everything!!

Well, things have sure gotten exciting around our house... Evan is officially "toddling" around and into absolutely everything!! We've had to do some additional babyproofing in the last week.... He keeps us on our toes, but we love watching him discover and learn new things everyday...Here are some pictures of the little man in action this past week... I'm going to try and upload a video in the next day or so of him making his animal sounds... We've still got a little work to do, but he knows the cow and sheep pretty well now...

I love how he's figured out how to stand on his tippy toes... He's doing everything to reach my camera case...

And he reached it! Oh, and in case you're wondering- we don't usually let him run around the house naked, but he's so hard to change anymore... He just won't sit still for a minute!!

Walking in his new Air Jordan running suit... Thanks Grammy and Grampy!!

It's funny that my parents bought him this because Drew always calls him Jordan- he always has his tongue out when he's playing... It's too cute!!

He's really thinking about the tower he's building....
I love his expression in this one... :)
This boy LOVES to read!!
Big smiles!! Funny story- Evan has had this farm since his first birthday in August and I never knew that it actually made the animal sounds until we were at our friends' house this weekend in Indy and his farm was making noises.... Drew has been teasing me that I was so anxious to start playing with Evan's toys that I didn't read the instructions and put batteries in it...Thanks Elias for showing us how the farm works!!

Tis the Season and Basement Update...

This is post is going to be a little random, but there are lots of things to update. Sorry it's been so long since I've posted- we've been a little busy around the Baker household. Our Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful. We got to spend a lot of time with family and it was great to see our out-of-town family that we don't get to see very often. We even got a chance to see our friends Josh, Julia and Ethan who were visiting from Ohio. It's always great to catch up with friends... Would you believe I didn't take one picture all weekend? I guess I was just too caught up in the festivities to get out my camera :( Our little man is officially walking and now into everything! Walking has definitely opened up a whole new world for him, and he's loving this newfound freedom... We also have our house all decorated for Christmas. This is the first year we've been able to hang our stockings by a fireplace... Drew and I are really enjoying the fire in the evenings after Evan is asleep.

Walking down the hallway....

Our new skinny Christmas tree... We had to get a new one this year because our old one was too wide to fit upstairs and too tall to fit in the basement....

And the stockings were hung...

The nativity... I know it's so easy to get caught up in all of the "trimmings" of Christmas, but I pray that we all remember the true meaning of Christmas this year....

I also realized that we haven't updated any basement pictures lately to show you our progress.. So here are a few for those of you who have been asking for pictures! It's definitely still a work in progress, but we're getting there slowly but surely. The main room is pretty much done except for new trim and doors, and window treatments. Then we still have to finish the other 3 rooms and bathroom down there... Here are some before and after pictures for those of you who have forgotten what it used to look like...
Before pictures with old bar....
Before pictures...

After- with ceiling, flooring, paint, furniture and pool table....

Furniture and toys- Drew has a big-screen tv on his wish list for the basement....

We still have a little bit of the old trim to put up around the doors, but eventually we plan to replace all of the trim and doors with new...
The pool table that Drew's mom won on "The Price Is Right" several years ago. Drew's aunt has had it at her house, but they let us have it for our basement since they rarely used it.... We've already had lots of fun playing...
The old bar with a new painted look. We'd eventually like to at least replace the countertop, but it works alright for now...
The spare bedroom before- paneling, yucky carpet, and no ceiling....

The spare bedroom after that we had drywalled. All ready for paint and carpet someday...