Flashback Friday - Evan 12 months ago

Wednesday was Evan's 1st birthday. He LOVED his cake and ice cream. He was the cleanest of all of our boys. He had only a few crumbs in his hair. It was fun to celebrate his first year and to think back on how much he has changed. It's hard to believe that this is what Evan looked like one year ago when we were bringing him home from the hospital...



Now, he's eating cake and ice cream!

Look at my cake...


Touching the cake...

1st tentative bite...

Forget those little nibbles, it's easier to stick the whole thing in...
Whew...that was a lot of work...

Falling Down the Stairs

After his nap, I heard Andrew crying. He came over to me, and I asked him why he was crying. In the background, I heard Nathan say, "He fell down the stairs."

I asked Andrew, "Did you fall down the stairs?"

Andrew responded, "Yes."

I asked, "Did you miss a step?"

Again, a response of, "Yes."

I asked, "Which step did you miss?"

He replied, still crying, "All of them!"

I might cry, too, if I fell down all of the steps!

Evan - Almost 1 Year Old

It's hard to believe that my baby is going to be 1 on Wednesday. We have had so much fun with Evan and are so thankful that the Lord brought him into our family. Here are a few of his latest "tricks"...

- He loves to stick his tongue out. When we ask him, "Where is your mouth?" He sticks his finger in his mouth.

- He said "Mmmmm..." yesterday at dinner when he liked what he was eating.

- He says two animal sounds. "Baaa" for sheep and "Sssss" for snake. He also laughs hysterically when say "Woof, woof" for a dog. I guess dog sounds are really funny.

- He is thinking about walking and can take one lunging step. He can stand for about 8 seconds without holding on if he is playing with a toy and doesn't realize he is standing.

- He can climb onto Andrew's toddler bed and our futon all by himself. He is so proud of himself after he gets on.

- He goes up and down stairs all by himself. He loves his new freedom. We often find him in Nathan and Andrew's bedroom playing with their toys.

- He gives us hugs when we ask for them. He leans in very fast, so you have to brace yourself or you may bump heads. He also gives kisses with a big, slobbery open mouth.

- He loves to play chase with Dad. Daddy gets down on all fours and they chase each other around the house. Both of them laugh and laugh.

- He can do the signs for "more" and "please". The sign for "please" is a hand brushed across the chest. In the morning, we bring Evan into bed with us so I can nurse him. I ask him "Do you want some milk?" Instead of using his hand on his own chest, he signs please either on my chest or on my pillow. It's very cute.

- After he's done cuddling in the morning, he turns around and backs down our bed onto the floor. The bed is pretty high, but he has no fear.

- He knows the phrases "Stand up" and "Sit down" and follows those directions.

Seeing Some Fruit in our Character Training

I Thessalonians 5:11 says, "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

We have been working with Nathan and Andrew to use kind and encouraging words with each other instead of unkind and discouraging words. Sometimes it feels like we are making no progress in this area.

Today at dinner, completely out of the blue, Nathan said, "Mom, you are a good Mom. Dad, you are a good Dad. Andrew, you are a good brother. Evan, you are a good little brother."

After we all said thank you, Nathan said, "I was using encouraging words." It sure did build all of us up.

Flashback Friday - Words

We were talking today about some of the words that Nathan used to say when he was learning to talk. Some of them came out of nowhere...they were not related at all to the sound of the actual word.

Watermelon = num-a-na
Brush your teeth = odda-ott
Milk = Gilk

We would tell Nathan, say "Mama". He would say "Mama." Then we would tell him to say "Mmmm...milk, like Mama". He would respond with "Gilk".

As Evan learns to talk, we are excited to hear what he comes up with!

Evan can now say:
Dada
Mama
All Done
Wawa (Water)
Adoo (Andrew)
NaNa (Nathan)

Nathan's Joke

On his Popsicle stick yesterday, Nathan had the following joke:

What did the dentist give the marching band? A tuba toothpaste!

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Nathan made up this joke this morning:

What did the marching band give the dentist? Extra instruments!

He makes up jokes all the time, but they usually don't make sense. This one is actually kind of funny.

It Should Be a Word

I was watching some of the Olympics and was fast-forwarding through a few events.

Nathan asked, "Are you fast-forwarding or fast-backwarding?"

Time with Great Grandma

While we were in Elgin, we got to spend the weekend with the kids' Great Grandma (my Dad's mom). We hadn't seen her in about 4 years, so it was a very special time. She's 87 years old and enjoyed every moment with the 5 great-grandchildren who were there. We were so thankful that we were able to see her and introduce her to Andrew and Evan. Nathan and Andrew have been talking a lot about "Great Grandma" since our trip.

My Grandma still has her sense of humor. I was helping her up the steps to bed one night, and I said, "Let's go get your jammies on." She started laughing hard. I couldn't figure out why she was so amused. Finally, she said, "I don't wear pajamas! I wear a nightgown."


3 Generations...


4 Generations...
Grandma with 3 of her grandchildren (Deb, Pam, me).

Grandma and Great Grandma playing a card game.

We did not plan to all wear blue shirts!

Everyone enjoyed the bubbles!

Great Grandma with 3 of her great-grandchildren.

Evan enjoyed sitting on Great Grandma's lap watching the bubbles.

Flashback Friday - Nathan and Mom

It's hard to believe that this was 4 years ago!

Nathan's Story - Chapters 1 and 2

As Nathan dictated, Elbert wrote down the story.

Chapter 1: The Rain Came

...and the rain came furiously as the storm went on. The storm was very furious. Lightening flashed and thunder roared. All the people who were out got hit. The people who were out had tight umbrellas but the rain came down like hail. The people thought it was hail, but it was rain.




Chapter 2: Moonlit Night

Once at the moonlit night, after the big thunderstorm, the newsman said that there was going to be a hailstorm. And there WAS a hailstorm. That moonlit night was quiet, and in the middle of that night, there was a lot of cricket, cricket, cricket. And they jumped into the canoe. And as soon as they touched the canoe, they became invisible. And there were levels on the boat, and one boat was very special. It had hands that moved under water. The other canoes just had choppers to move the boat. But all the boats were special because they moved without rowers.


Stay tuned for Chapter 3 (if Nathan so desires!).

Pictures for Grandma and Grandpa

Here are some pictures that Nathan and Andrew drew for Grandma and Grandpa.

First, Andrew drew a "Middle-sized Grandpa".

Then, Andrew drew "Mama flying to the top of a mountain." In the picture, I have 2 wings, a big jacket, 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 feet and 10 eyes.

Andrew drew himself and a bear fishing. He said, "Grandpa helped me give the fish to the bear." Andrew drew the "Middle-sized bear" with "Big Andrew". Also in the picture is the fish eye, the big fish, the fish tail, the fishing pole and the sword (a very important component while fishing).

Nathan drew "Mama flying to the top of Mt. Everest". I have big wings to help me fly. Nathan sounded out the word BIG and figured out how to spell it himself.

Spending Time With Family

We recently returned from a week in IL and WI. We drove to Elgin, IL to spend the weekend with my family. We had a pseudo-Walkush reunion. Participants included: Pam (drove from NY), Deb and Caleb (took the train from MN), Josh and Brennen (drove from TN), Lydia (our former foreign exchange student from Spain - flew from Barcelona), Grandma (flew from WI).

It was a busy weekend with 5 kids and 4 generations in the same house. We loved every moment.

Here are some pictures of the kids fishing. They fished every day we were there. We caught and threw back quite a few! The fish in my parents' pond love corn kernels as bait.




If you look closely, Nathan and Andrew are touching the fish they caught.

Andrew's mouth is wide open with excitement at the fish they just got.