02.26.12

8 months ago, right after Evan was born, I made these grandiose plans to send out  the following Welcome Announcement. However, that never happened. Therefore, if you would consider yourself to be on the mailing list for this welcome announcement. Please, feel free to print the announcement and mail it to yourself, and sign it "Kind Regards, The Wilkins". If you do not consider yourself to be on our mailing list then, save yourself the stamp.

Now. Because I have been forthwith about the whole welcome announcement ordeal, I can go forward and let you know that I JUST recently purchased the CD that had all of Evan's professional newborn photos on it. For one thing, it was stinking expensive. For another I now own the rights to all of them and it is absolutely not illegal for me to post them all here, which is what I'm going to do. Right now. So without further adieu, here are the missing photos for all to see-straight from the archives!

 

Isn't he cute in color AND black and white?

 

 

In case you were wondering, the hat came from the hospital. They had Jason pick a hat for him out of a box, and none of them in there would fit his tiny head other than this one. I love that hat. It's in his keepsake box. It now fits on his big toe.

 

 

The outfit he's wearing is not a preemie size, because we didn't know he was going to be a preemie size. I mean especially with how much weight I gained!

 

 

We have this picture (above) hanging above Evan's crib in the nursery and it's on our mantle over the fireplace. I mean Dawson is everywhere else. So.

 

 

I love his cute monkey booty!

   

 

Aww this picture (above) is one of my absolute favorites. I wish I looked as cute when I sleep. Maybe I'll try getting my picture when I sleep tonight in order to see.

 

 

I think this picture makes him look bigger than he actually is. By an extra 1/2 inch, at least.

Happy Newborn Picture Publishing Evan. Love you.

A Place Called Home

We just returned from our trip home to Indiana. Yes. We DROVE. As in, sat in our car for 2 days, a total of 18 hours with a 7 month old and  a 6 year old. I'd say we have got the 2 best travelers this side of the Mississip. The other side of the Mississip is probably jealous. Dawson watched movies on his portable DVD player the entire time and when Evan wasn't napping, he was pretty well content just playing with the toys we packed for him. He had a few minor break downs. But I saved the day with SNACKS. And a few rounds of peek-a-boo while I was sandwhiched sideways between their 2 carseats because my butt's too big to fit the regular way. All that to say, we spent some much needed time with my family. I didn't take any pictures of all the food we ate for several reasons. Let me list them:

1. No need to present evidence of the reasons behind the aforementioned big butt.
2. It annoys me when people post pictures of food on FaceBook. If you are a contributor to that annoying habit, we can still be friends. I think.
3. I would have less room for pictures of things that really matter. Like pictures of me.

Speaking of pictures...

You would think between my and my sister Karen that we have enough children to start a school.

I was blessed to get to have lunch with 2 of my roommates from college. They look EXACTLY the same as they did in college. Kate is on my left. We met each other doing My Fair Lady in college. I still remember my one line. Danielle is on the right. I met her through Kate. She taught me to play basketball and she calls me Joyous.

I love this picture of Evan.

We went and visited this little place in Ligonier called Pumpkin Fantasy Land.

Sounds ghetto, but it's way less ghetto than the pumpkin places they have in Colorado Springs! They don't grow pumpkins here, they buy them at WalMart and throw them out into a field for the unsuspecting children to go pick one out.

I can't stop laughing when I look at this picture of Dawson with the car.

Here, I am putting our names on a sign-in sheet they have for guests. I thought they would want to see that a family from Colorado Springs had visited. Then in the "notes" section I wrote "Enchanting" to let them know I'm cool. 

No explanation needed for this picture.

Okay. So. Jason has an obsession with the "fish eye effect" setting on our camera. One entire night he sat taking pictures of my family using that setting. I'll spare you the time it would take to look through all of them and just give you one.

We got to go to the Apple Festival.

Nothing like walking one strip of road in search for food while being smashed in on all sides like sardines. I love it. You also run into a ton of people you haven't seen in years. Typically, I do my hair on the day I go because people I won't recognize will be scrutinizing my looks.

On our last night, we went to my sister's house and had beef n noodles with mashed potatoes. That is one of my favorite comfort foods. Jason will only allow me to eat it from October through February because he considers it to be "seasonal". I'm rocking the quotations in this post.

This picture really makes me miss my sisters and especially my sister Bobbie who was traveling and couldn't be with us. I bought her a maple bun bar from the Apple Festival. And then I ate it in her honor.

I love you and miss you dear family!

The Inmate

Evan has this outfit. We think he looks like a prisoner when he wears it.

Of course, if prisoner garb were fashioned after this model, and had

 "Mommy's All Star 36" there would probably be a lot more people wanting to go to prison just so they could wear the jumpsuit, you know? 

That is the end of the segment that has anything to do with the title of this post.

This is my cat Subito. She lives with my mom.

Speaking of my mom..

My sisters and I have some great ideas. Like the time we thought it would be fun to take a dish towel and pull each other on the slip-n-slide, because there was no hill to propel you down. See how fun it looks? And then. I had another great idea.

Let's pull mom on the slip-n-slide!

She liked it.

This is me back before children with highlighted hair. Seriously, I have hair issues. Are there hair counselors?

 On this day, September 22, 2006:

Dawson got his first tooth.

Okay. So there's a slight chance that the tooth didn't sprout to the surface on this day. Only slight. But it was the day I noticed and tried to take a picture that didn't caputure the actual tooth. Maybe I should have done an x-ray.

                      Let's end with a side by side. Dawson & Evan:

   

Chipmunks & Milkshakes

I love Ghost Towns.

I also love Muenster cheese.

Back to Ghost Towns...

Yesterday we went to St. Elmo, Colorado near Buena Vista. St. Elmo is the oldest intact Ghost Town in the West. I know this because I read it on a bulletin board yesterday. I try to stay informed. You should too.

These first few pictures are the view on our drive into St. Elmo. You should know that the drive is directly into the mountains with no outlet and it's a dirt road. This is why you should not have husbands drive.

Upon arrival, if you look to the left, you will see a block of railroad ties piled and laid out with people feeding chipmunks. Aren't they cute?

Evan didn't quite grasp the concept that we were feeding the chipmunks and he was not to be eating them. Don't panic. It's not like he doesn't know any better because we feed him chipmunk at home. Sheesh.

Dawson is the Chipmunk Whisperer.

Let's take a stroll through the Ghost Town now.

This is a bridge.

The bridge has me, Evan and Dawson on it. We are smiling.

I wonder if the bridge is an antique? I've never seen one sold in an antique store before. Someone should check on that for me.

I would like to call this "The Bubbling Brook". This is because I was watching Anne of Green Gables the other day and she inspires me.

The pictures below are of the old St. Elmo Schoolhouse. I found it fascinating!

Dawson was running to attend school. Or because I told him I would race him but I lied.

Now, The inside was protected by glass. They had collected items that would be used during the time period the school was used. I was sad that the items weren't original to the school, however, I could understand why people would want to pillage and plunder a school instead of a bank.

This shot of the Aspen leaves is just Jason being fancy.

This picture is of the St. Elmo Hotel. The last time it was in use was in 1880. I know because I read it on the paper that was taped to the window. I try to stay informed. The 1880's were kind of void of color, in my opinion. I wanted to go in there. So I broke the glass in the window in the far right corner. NO! Do you seriously think I would do that? I really do want to know what it looks like inside. If the private owner of this hotel would please read this blog and contact me to let me know I can go, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

I know many of you are impressed right now as you gaze on this photograph that I can read Italian. The flyer says: "If you can read this, you can read Italian".

Evan fell asleep just as we were leaving St. Elmo and he fell asleep grasping one of the the little rings in front of him. I unbuckled my seat belt and strained to reach back there with one hand and get a picture of him. You can tell by my angle that I managed to also squeeze myself and my sunroof into the picture. That's how flexible I am.

On our way home we always stop in Buena Vista at this little dive and get a peanut butter marshmallow milkshake.

Jason waits patiently in line at Hamburger Alley. Only it's just a sign saying Hamburger Alley. It's not really Hamburger Alley.

And this is Evan waiting patiently while daddy waits patiently. I don't know why he thinks he can eat our camera. We only feed him chipmunks.