It is hot!

It is officially hot here now. September-November is the hottest time of year when the Santa Anna winds blow in...Evelyn and I have gone to the pool (the condo neighborhood pool) Monday and Tuesday this week. She really likes it. We turned on our air conditioner for the first time today. We had a great visit with Nana and Papa Fisher this weekend. They came to stay while I was in Chicago - my first time to leave Evelyn. It was hard but I am very thankful to be home. While I was gone - they installed ceiling fans and did all kinds of projects around the house. Thank you!
Here are a few pictures of Evelyn...She is walking better everyday. This first picture is in a toy car with the neighbor boy, Jude. He is 15 months old...Evelyn was so pleased with herself to be sitting in the corvette with Jude. I don't know if her dad approves of her riding in cars with older boys.





This is a picture of Brian walking up our hill on his way home from work. It is a 25 minute steep up hill walk...I think he enjoys it!

The Three of Us

My cousin Mona and her husband took this photo when they visited us at Pepperdine. We were glad to meet them and visit...

Evelyn took 5-6 steps tonight all by herself twice...

More Evelyn

The first picture is a view from our balcony of Catalina Island. The sky has been clear and the ocean a very bright blue this week. I am amazed every time I look at it.
I am trying to take more pictures of our girl. These were taken in a green area in our pad (cul de sac) while in hot pursuit of Twiggy the cat and at the neighborhood park. Evelyn likes to "walk" around trees. In her plaid hat, one of the neighbors whom we do not know well saw us and called out "Hi Henri!" Now, Henri is a boy and is twice Evelyn's size and I am not Henri's mother....Oh well. It IS a girl's hat according to Old Navy.

Evelyn is still "practicing" walking. We are thankful that her acceptable food list is expanding to include many new things. She will sign please for us now, it is so cute...

Uh oh...

Evelyn likes...

sidewalk chalk. It is no longer an object to eat , but something to make marks with on the pavement.
She also likes trying to keep up with Jude and Henry, two neighbor boys who are older than her. If she would let go of Mama's hand...she would be off and running! I know it will be any day and as with other milestones in her life - when she chooses and not a moment before then.
She still likes cats of all colors and shapes. She likes to chase Twiggy, the neighbor's outdoor cat. She is also an enthusiastic clapper - she learned to clap while we celebrated each successful bite at the dinner table.

In other news, our neighbor just informed me she killed a baby rattlesnake slithering its way up to our cul de sac at the top of the hill. And that black widow spiders live in the drain pipes every year. I don't like that...

Miscellaneous

We are settling in...I'll put a few pictures of Evelyn up for her fans. We went to a Pepperdine girls soccer game on Friday - three of the players are Brian's students. It was fun to cheer them on. There is a girls volleyball game we might try to catch this coming weekend. I am looking forward to tomorrow - because it is "CBS" morning (Community Bible Study). I know they have them in other places across the country too - but last week was my first one to attend. It is non denominational and Bible based - you are not allowed to discuss politics or state which church you are from. There are children's classes too. I think I am going to like it. There are of course many ladies from my church - but nice ladies of all ages whom I did not know too. It is 2 hours long, and last week Evelyn was angry at me for leaving her with the sweetest teachers for that long. Hopefully she will adjust.
We took Evelyn to the beach two weekends ago. We thought - she'll love the sand and water. She did NOT like the sand and water and was terrified of being near the crashing waves. It may be a while before she is a beach baby. We just went for a stroller walk this weekend at the beach, and as Brian tried to walk toward the sand with her she immediately became upset. She preferred the stroller and sidewalk...
Take care, I miss the Oklahoma fall winds that I hear you all are having out there.
Oh, and one picture is of our living room...free of boxes. I'll post more condo pictures as rooms are more "finished."

Evelyn's New Look

Evelyn trying out some new looks...blue nose...or a mini skirt that her Aunt Gail gave her. She wore the mini skirt when we went with my folks to Hollywood Blvd. We parked a little farther away from the main area than we planned - and walked through some questionable areas. If you want to stand out - walk through Hollywood Blvd pushing a stroller...Evelyn waved at everyone we passed. We may need to start teaching her about strangers.

Thank you!

Thank you for your prayers, we had a great day. The honda passed the smog test and I passed the drivers test and Evelyn ate and slept and was great all day long (it was an all day affair). As usual, she made everyone smile. Only minor problem - our car's VIN # is a "near miss" to that of a stolen Oklahoma vehicle - so the man at the DMV gave me a look and said "I've got to call Sacramento on this VIN..." I nursed Evelyn while he called in, I am sure I looked like a car thief.

And as a result of finding the DMV, I found a quilt shop!! And Enid, they have moda!

Evelyn is learning so much every day. She can respond to cues to put blocks in and out, sign for more (this is preferable to a shrill scream that used to indicate more), point to things like a nose when cued and says more and more words in context like dog and cat and dad. She is immitating us more now and that is so much fun. She is also playing by herself more - which allows me to blog.

Some day I will post pictures.

Updates

I think there is more bureaucracy here...Brian and I have been "studying" tonight to pass a California driver's license test. Tomorrow is the big test day for me. With Evelyn, I will be going by the bank to get personal documents to prove I am who I am out of the safety deposit box (that I just put in, by the way). Then I'll be going to have our car smog checked. A helpful tip - only go to smog test only centers - it has been proven by state run studies that if you go somewhere that also does repairs you are more likely to fail your smog check. You may ask - what is a smog check? Well - you have to pass to prove that your car does not pollute the environment get your tag or pay huge fees. And we were also told that you should go and get a coupon for your smog check - so Brian is off to his office to print one out for me tonight. And I have to get our new tag by tomorrow. But why the rush to get all of this done tomorrow? Well, California has a sneaky law that states you have to have the new tag within a certain # of days of leasing/purchasing a residence, and for us that day is tomorrow. Or - we can pay them more money. I am going to get my new license while I am there. I don't really know where I am going and to make sure it gets done I am skipping Evelyn's moring nap...This may be one way to get us through the DMV quickly if my baby is screaming. So - I appreciate your prayers for a smooth day tomorrow. Because after all, in the big picture even bureaucracy is small potatoes.

Evelyn is still "stepping" - not walking really - but "stepping." She has fallen a few times in the last week trying her wings with her "step step step lunge" routine and she is a bit more timid. She is hesitant to let go of our hands now - but her confidence grows daily. It may be her winning smile and not her tears tomorrow that gets us through the day.

For those of you frustrated by our lack of a phone (bad cell phone coverage up here) we have ordered a skype phone - because a land line and internet here costs about twice as much as in Oklahoma. So - we are paying for the internet and getting a skype phone which will allow us to call you all now with clear reception as much as we want...

We love and miss you all.