stacking, cards, socks, cars, mommy sense, books

Who needs blocks when you can stack canned foods and juice?

 

After Everett ate chunks of the Queen of Spades and 10 of Hearts, we fastened a "lock" on the game cupboard. He almost got through it once before I secured it again.

He also managed to push the "open" button on the dvd player. He thought that was pretty cool. So cool that he then yanked on the dvd tray until the player almost fell on him.

He recently started to try to put his own socks on and will even take them off in order to put them back on again. 

He now treats his toy cars as such and no longer just as an object to be placed inside of other objects.

Here he starts out playing with his cars on a plastic lid and then plays with the lid. It is not the cutest video ever but I just thought it was kind of funny how he uses the lid as a means of transportation.

Other random development: he now has this "Mommy sense" where he knows the moment when I wake up or am done showering and comes calling and crawling after me. He'll be happily playing with his daddy but then he just knows that his mommy is now available and he is determined to find her. His understanding of the sounds he hears amazes me. And how well he knows his way around our home.

He also now hands me books to read to him. Precious! He used to do so in the same way he hands other items to me (wanting them back after I have my turn), but now he actually wants me to read them to him when he does it. And he now will turn individual subsequent pages instead of just flipping the book closed. 

I love that the library is so close. Free books! And each one is novel! (get it?)

Bathtime

Bathtime with E has become an adventure of late. Alicia has trouble with diaper changes as well. This particular bathtime he insisted on standing and removing everything from the rim of the bathtub. Hence, the shampoos floating in his bathwater. His balance in the tub has gotten much better. At David and Jackie's he would try to crawl around and end up with his face in the water. That led to a few weeks in which he was afraid of the water. Not fun. Now he's fine and dandy exploring everything.

Owen video, Everett's into everything

Two things we forgot to add from the trip to Utah for Owen's blessing. First, Owen and Grandma having a chat.

Second, the men of the priesthood who participated in Owen's blessing.

Some Everett pictures to keep everyone happy. His mobility has increased dramatically, adding standing and walking along objects to his already impressively speedy crawl/limp. 

Nothing is safe anymore. His standing has gotten really good recently. He walks along the kitchen, pulling things out of every cabinet and drawer he comes across.

"Did I do dat?"

CORN!!! At the ward corn feed.

In other news, school starts tomorrow and my new glasses came today. Alicia says the glasses make me look nerdy. Oh well. I got them bigger than my previous ones because I got transition lenses, hoping that they'll help with all the overcast weather we'll be facing here. Overcast has always given me headaches regardless of whether I wear sunglasses or normal glasses. I already like that I have a wider field of vision with these new ones. 

New Church Clothes for Everett

We didn't really have very Sunday best clothes for Everett for his current size, so my mom sent him a couple of little suits that he can wear now and grow into as well. Thank you mom! We tried to have him wear shoes too but that didn't last long. I knew I would have to take a picture before church because by the end they were not so clean or intact. And I had to take a picture of the two of us because my FB profile picture was from when Everett was a lot younger. I thought he looked a lot like Brandon because Brandon is often dressed really nice. He also looks like Brandon when I comb his hair to the side. 

Bubbles

Videos: Everett and various toys

A: We bought Mega Bloks (heretofore referred to as Legos but are really from Mega Brands Inc.) for Everett a long time ago but he would just eat them so we put them in his closet. We recently reintroduced them to him. Here's how it went:

Apparently he would rather play with his stacking tower.

Make sure to watch the last few seconds.

He'll figure out Legos soon enough.

He has made great progress in learning how to put shaped blocks in their holes. He does so in the second half of this next video. In the first half he tries but then sneezes and stands up by me.

Our Apartment

D: Here's a little tour of our new apartment! We absolutely love it. It feels very roomy. The master bedroom is not included in the pictures because, well, that's where all the boxes are. 

A: *You're not supposed to tell them that! Call it "storage".*

D: Fine. The boxes are currently in "storage" and our room is unavailable for viewing at the present time. 

A: Once we have hangers it won't be nearly as bad.

D: The complex's location is even better than we thought. We are across the street from the stake center, where our ward meets, and also across the street from the library. All of the family is within a half mile. The grocery store is just two blocks over, AND it has a redbox. As an added bonus our bank is within walking distance, too. I've been learning the bus system, and the bus ride that will take me to school takes 25 minutes. The bus station is a little farther away than I was expecting, but we'll figure it out. 

The video is of Everett playing with a musical toy he has. It's not very loud, but whenever he touches the blue button music switches on or off. He's in our hallway.

Here's the apartment!

Gma and Gpa found us all the furniture we needed at yard sales. They're awesome!

 I expect to have many migraines here.

Ev's toy corner. I told Alicia we had to keep the giant elephant. It was an old stuffed animal of hers.

Our little backyard

Clouds. It is Washington, after all.

The "backyard" is just a long strip of grass behind the building.

 The second bedroom.

 The two most adorable people in my life.

We're in Spokane!

D: But first, Everett eating spaghetti. He ate the beef chunks and left the noodles. Mostly he just yelled at it.

Also couldn't resist taking this picture. The weather in Fallon before we left? Smoky. The Yosemite fire and a fire near Tahoe combined to fill the Reno area with smoke. 

Our move went surprisingly easily. Alicia had slowly been packing things into boxes and we'd been taking those off to the storage shed that contained most of our stuff from our Utah apartment. The goal was to leave only the biggest items (bed, dressers, and rocker) at the house, load them first, then pick up everything else at the shed. We almost did it, but still had a few boxes worth of stuff we had to pack at the house. It all worked out. Daniel and Michael were a huge help, and we managed to pack the truck in about two hours.

The truck. I was so worried about driving this thing. All my fears vanished when I first sat down in it. The whole cab is a converted Ford E-350, which felt exactly like my parents' old big blue van. The buttons on the dash were even all in the same place. As I started driving it, though, I realized the mirrors were both pointed at the ground. Unable to figure out a way to adjust them while driving, I did the entire hour drive back to Fallon (we picked the truck up in Sparks) with very limited ability to see behind me. It was terrifying. We did manage to figure out the mirrors later. 

That night we celebrated Alicia's birthday. Daniel, Hanna, and the girls came over and we partied. 

We left early Friday morning. After some tearful goodbyes, we took off for our long journey northward. We figured out how to divide up the trip so each of us would be driving for about 8 hours. Jackie accompanied us, which made a world of difference in Everett having a happy trip. I spent the first four hours in the back of the car with him, and he slept most of that time. I did too. Poor Alicia. I drove the truck the rest of the trip. We pulled into Julie's (my aunt) around 9 pm. 14 hour trip? Sounds about right. We made really good time. The next morning we got to move into our apartment. Unloading the truck took 15 minutes. It was awesome. We had a good turnout of brethren from the local ward, plus family. They even helped us get our bed set up.

After a nice family get together Sunday night, Everett fell asleep in his stroller as we walked home. Speaking of home, we should probably take pictures of that for you. Soon enough! Almost done unpacking.

Owen's Blessing

D: This past weekend we got to be a part of Owen's baby blessing. The blessing itself was wonderful. It ended up being a mini David and Jackie Perazzo family reunion. All five kids (miss you, Adam), spouses, and grandchildren were there. We even got to celebrate Alicia, Adam, and cousin Amanda's birthdays. This will be the last time we all get together for a couple years, as Michael goes on his mission this October and we move FRIDAY!!! *Slight heart attack* I should probably pack.

Update: We are now packed. Yay. 

Without further ado, here's OWEN!!

The AC was broken, so he spent most of his time in this outfit. I describe him as 14 lbs of torso and head, with relatively small arms and legs. He does have huge hands, though.

He looks so much like his mommy.

And here's the family:

The cousins. We had to include the whole photoshoot. We should have just filmed it. Too funny.

Everett is tickling the back of Elise's neck. At first she liked it. Not so much later on.

Everett "I play well with others" Marr

All of their expressions are priceless. 

We've got an Owen down!

Had to put this one in. Brinley and Owen have had it.

Just the little ones. These three are successively six months apart.

Cousins with Michael:

They're...they're all looking at the camera!!!! If it didn't end up a hair blurry this would have been my best picture of the six cousins. *sigh*

Grandparents with grandkids. This shoot did not go so well. Elise was screaming from the get-go. I included the first picture because everything went wrong in that one. Alicia made me include the second one, which wasn't nearly as bad.

Happy birthday Amanda and Alicia!

Daniel and Hanna asked for a family picture. Elise's facial expression. She's a ham.

Some candid shots:

These two are starting to get along really well. Both were very jealous of Owen, and would not stand for their mothers or fathers holding the "other" baby. I thought this little episode was interesting. Everett saw Daniel holding Elise, crawled up to his feet, and stared intently up at him. Daniel asked me what he wanted, and I said he probably wants up. I just thought it was cool that Everett is comfortable enough with Daniel to go up to him and want to be held.  

Everett mid-crawl. Notice the left foot is flat on the ground, while the right leg is engaged in a normal crawl.

The girls decided one night to play cards on their own. I don't think any of them know how to play any card games, but it was super adorable to watch them imitate the way we sit around and play cards.

It's a long story.