The Stevenson Story

Eric finished his classes this week so he is free from homework for one month! Hooray! Unfortunately his internship is also ending soon, so job hunting as I feel it has continually been this year is also beginning again in earnest. We'll try to keep you posted. We are still hopeful though. :) Here are some fun pictures from the past few weeks. When we went to six flags with Kristen a few weeks ago it had been raining hard that morning, and then after the kids' naps there was a lull in the downpour so we decided to go and take our chances at more rain. (Since we had a free pass for Kristen, and we have passes ourselves.) It was the right choice! Since it had been raining the crowds were totally gone and we walked on a ton of rides! And it didn't rain the rest of the day. The highlights were the waterpark, Eric and me going on two rides kid-less (thanks Kristen!), and the glow in the dark parade at the end of the night. It was a perfect day! We were afraid this rid...

We might start the day building with legos or blocks. Then maybe we will build a book fort and read a little. Taking a nap with daddy is also fun. But careening off your longboard and scraping up your leg is not really so fun, but it's something Eric did recently. A more close up gruesome picture. Yum. Then maybe we'll take a walk downstairs. And stare out the stained glass window. We always have to name all the colors of the glass in the window as well. Then we'll laugh a little. I love this look. Then we'll laugh some more. Then we might notice the sky is starting to get more gray and raindrops are falling. So of course we still pull out the chalk and keep drawing trains and buses on the sidewalk. Then we fill a bucket with some water and play throw the ducks in the water. Jack loves it. And Avey loves her johnny jump up we got for $1 at a yardsale. Yep. I know the picture is sideways. Sorry, just turn your head. And once we win this monkey at a library carnival, J...

Avey got her first freckle, and being the over-thinking dad that I am I couldn't help think about what that means. Avey's growing up and growing different. Before she was just a baby that looked around the world and wondered what it meant; now, she is interacting with the world and getting a personality. I can start seeing the Aveyness in her. She is becoming a unique baby. She woke up from a nap the other day while I was studying about personality traits in the workplace and whatnot. So after she woke up I decided to do a little observation to see what kind of a personality orientation she has (so begins the twisted life she will have with me as her father). I took her out of her crib and instead of giving her some toys like she normally gets I decided to just set her in my lap, facing me, and see if she wanted to play and talk with me. Within seconds she was twisting her neck around scanning anything in sight that she could get her hands on. That tells my overly-analytic mind...

Swimming at the six flags water park on the toddler lazy river. Avey LOVED it! And Jack had fun when Avey was in his same tube. Don't worry that's the same size swimming suit Jack wore last year. It still fits him mostly. I guess his milk allergy is good for something! Jack could sit here and play with this train table all day. Jack thrilled that we're riding on the "bus" Swimming with our friends the Longs. (And the Chellis, although we don't have any pictures of that event, maybe next time) Anyway, we found the combination of life vest and floaties is a winner to keep Jack up and floating so we don't have to hold him up personally, but the life vest doesn't pull him on his back. Here is my little boy jumping off the diving board all by himself. He actually doesn't even care if there is someone there to catch him. I wonder where he got that no fear daredevil personality? A birds nest was built right above our mailbox. Very fun. I love th...

I love cake balls. I don't quite remember where I first heard about them, but I love mixing my ice cream and cake together and this is that same taste. Yum. I made a bunch for book club last week and so documented the process for all of you. First you bake the cake. Just like normal from the package. Then you break the cake up into a bowl Next put 3/4 to a full can of frosting in it. And mix it up with your hands until the frosting is all mixed in. This is easier to do if your frosting is a different color than your cake. Because the color of the frosting will get completely absorbed in the color of the cake. All mixed in Take that frosting/cake concoction and roll them into balls and place on a cookie sheet. I found that if your hands are a little bit wet they won't stick to your hands too much. Or you can use a little cookie scoop if you have one. Then stick in your freezer until frozen. You can also dip them in chocolate if you so desire. I do sometimes and not ot...