Evan's Birthday Photo Shoot

For Evan's first birthday, I took him to a local photo studio called "Portrait Innovations" and was really pleased with the results. Therefore, it is now my yearly tradition to take him there for his birthday photo shoot. Since we now have little Dylan in the mix, I decided to dress him to coordinate with Evan and included him in a few of the pictures. Got some really great results this year:

Nana & Pappy's Visit

Tom had to leave on June 18th for an 8-day business trip to Kansas City, MO so my parents flew into town to help me out with the boys. One of their main directives was to keep Evan distracted because I knew he was really going to miss his Dad this year! With Evan's 3rd birthday looming at the end of the week, every day was a little bit about spoiling the kid. He got his big present from my parents a few days early-- a Pirate Boat water table, which he LOVES. He also had fun at the mall, Red Robin restaurant (he loved coloring with his Pappy) and the Reston Zoo.

Cooperating with the camera

After being photographed endlessly for the first two years of his life by his papparazzo mother, I guess Evan eventually had quite enough of the camera. Seems like every time I've tried to get him to pose for a picture in the last year, he's wailed "Nooooo!" and either turned his face away or made the most pitiful expression imaginable. However, I wised up to the kid and started saying things like "Evan, make a really sad face!" or "Try to look miserable!" He always ends up laughing or smiling, despite his best efforts not to, and as a result of this little trickery, I was able to get these great shots:

Birthday Party Weekend - Part 2

On Sunday June 12th, we went up to Hagerstown, MD for the 3rd birthday party of Ava and Aiden, Evan's twin cousins. They were having their party at a bouncy house place called "Monkey Joe's," but when we arrived, we discovered that the power had gone out about 10 minutes earlier due to a thunderstorm. The twins were in tears and everyone else was standing around in the dark. While we discussed where we could go to resume the party, the power suddenly came back on and the dark mood suddenly lifted. However, the manager of Monkey Joe's then informed my sister-in-law that we still had to leave because he'd already sent his staff home. ?? Someone finally came up with the idea that we should go to the city park right across the street, so we did. There was a really nice playground and some picnic tables. Evan had a great time playing with all of his cousins, and the twins got smiles on their faces again.

Birthday Party Weekend - Part 1

On Saturday June 11th, I took Evan and Dylan to Evan's buddy Brennan's 3rd birthday party. My friend Megan, Brennan's mom, did a wonderful job with the party (at 8 months pregnant, no less!) and had a bouncy house, water table and other fun toys for the kids to play with. She went with a pirate theme and made the cutest cupcakes I've ever seen (little pirate faces). She also got pirate costumes for all the kids. Evan loved his costume to much that he insisted on wearing it again on Sunday morning.