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Sponge Bob Extravaganza

Evan's first birthday was at Mac & Manco's on the boardwalk and we really had a blast. We didn't get that coastal winter storm that was supposed to happen and the day was cloudy, but nice. We bundled up and hit the boards!

Before the party Evan opened gifts from Josh and Aunt Brittany. Josh wrapped up his old Blackberry, which Evan LOVED! He put it to his ear and said 'hi!'.

Evan dined on pizza and carrots. Here he is with Grandmom:

Here's the whole restaurant (which was open to the public) singing to our baby boy (and my dad too!)

I love Bob's face here (by the balloons)

Uncle Larry gives his signature expression:

Evan eats his Sponge Bob cake (unfortunately, no shots were taken of the cake itself).

Gifts were opened...

Evan's wearing his "Make Pizza, Not War." t-shirt that Becky and Chris got him. He's got sleepy eyes because he had to skip his nap to party.

The aunties partied too!

Here's Janice, Chris & Becky (w/ Aunt Wanda in the left corner)

Once again, the MVP award goes to Jake Sullivan, who took his nap for the first half of the party, woke up and put on his goody bag glasses to party the rest of the time. He's seriously the chillest kid I've ever met. here he is with mom, Toni.

Afterward, we walked back to the cars to go to the afterparty at my parents' house.

After the party, Evan cruised away in his new Radio Flyer car. He loves to play the radio and put on the blinkers.

Evan stayed up until 10:00 to be with everyone (after a 5pm nap!) Here he is with Grandmom and PopPop. I know the balloon string is in the way, but my dad refused to pose for any more photos.

Thank you everyone for making Evan's 1st Birthday so special! We love you all so much.

Playtime

I'm going to post Evan's birthday party shots soon, but first I wanted to show off his dancing skills. Isn't this the cutest thing ever? He LOVES to dance to everything - my singing, the radio, his toys and when I say the word 'dance'. BTW, today we had our first Mommy & Me gymnastics class. The kiddies were much older than Evan, so I was a little stressed, but hopefully I'll be able to mellow out by next week. I had to wake Evan up from his nap to go, then bundle him up for the cold walk to the gym, then try to protect him from being trampled by 2-4 yr olds. He had a great time, but I think I got a few more gray hairs.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, EVAN!!!

Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, Mr. Presideeeeent.... Happy Birthday tooooo yooooou! Can you believe our baby boy has been out of the belly for 1 whole year?! What? Where did the time go. Here's our 1 year photo:

Afterward, Evan chucked his bear over the side of the crib.

Then he said 'Ya, take that!'

Here's an update... he FINALLY started eating again. He says "Yes!" very clearly and "Daddy!" I'm still Ma or Mama. He waves when you ask him to (without waving yourself!). He now forgot how to clap and waves when you start clapping. Before it was the opposite... You'd wave to him and he'd start clapping. He's very social at the playground and always makes a friend every time we go. He's not walking yet, but cruises along using one hand. He's also become very sneaky now. Aunt Ella had given him a Porsche matchbox car, which I only let him play with when I'm around since he always puts it in his mouth. One day, he of course started sucking on it. I looked at him sternly and said 'No, Evan. Not in the mouth.' I usually do this 3x, on the 3rd time, I take the toy away. Evan dropped the car to the ground and made a car noise as he pushed it along. Then he took the car and quietly crawled to the corner, with his back to me and puts the car in his mouth! BABY BOY HAD TRIED TO TRICK ME! He slowly turned to see if I was looking with the toy hanging from his lips. It killed me not to crack up. I said 'I see you, Evan! Not in the mouth.' and took the damn car away. He sometimes just gives me a very dirty look. It's really funny to see a baby give a dirty look.

At the playground

The weather has been so beautiful lately that Evan and I played at the playground one evening. Evan tried to chase the older kids (he crawled after them as they ran away).

Dance Party

Here's some footage of Evan dancing. Now anytime I sing or put on some music, he bops to it! The thing on his back is a mitten clip, but we used it to keep his pajamas pulled up.

Christmas Party IV: New Years

You thought it was over, but it's not! Mima and PopPop drove up to visit us on Sunday to stay through New Years Day. We had so much fun and Mima brought up homemade tomato bisque soup, 2 homemade quiches and a delicious cinnamon struessle.

Here is the day they arrived. We took this photo of 3 generations of Cronin boys. Evan donned his Eagles outfit for the game.

Evan is sitting on his present pile. You wouldn't believe the awesome toys and books his grandparents' gave him! Then Mike and I got to open our gifts - we were all obviously VERY good this year. One of our gifts was a navigation system for the car! Mike can't wait to use it.

The next day we headed downtown to check out the Macy's light show, go through Dicken's Village and have lunch. We also walked down to Rittenhouse Square while Mike and PopPop smoked cigars. What a great day and end to 2007 - the year our baby boy was born!

Here's Evan with his Mima before we left...

New Years Eve, Evan partied.

We had a delicious crab cake dinner. Mike and I then headed over to our neighbors' for a few minutes.

I wore my tiara... At midnight, I spoke with my parents on the phone and we ran outside to watch the fireworks as Mima banged on a pot. Here's my not-so-pretty face.

The next morning we had herring in sourcream on saltines (a tradition in Mike's family). Yuck!

Yay 2008!!!!!

Christmas Part I: Christmas Eve

I have too many photos to post, so I'm going to do this in parts. Christmas Eve day, my dad and I visited my grandparents' graves while my Mike shopped. We then met Aunt Donna and Olivia at church for the children's mass at 4. Right after Becky came over and we all walked over to Aunt Ella's party. Here we are after walking home from Aunt Ella's. Evan is leaving cookies for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. Unfortunately, he didn't understand that they weren't for him.

Here's our little cookie monster

Christmas Party II: Christmas Morning

Evan got this great little house (we saw it at his friend, Jacey's house. Evan loved it so much, we asked Santa for it). He really loved all his presents and played with each one until we made him open the next.

Evan really loved the carrot that we saved for the reindeer. He chomped away on it all morning.

Ev loved his new wrench too. My mom got because it had a knob that he can turn. Evan loves opening water bottles, shampoo bottles, lotion, really anything. He was a little confused as to why this knob wouldn't come off.

Opening more stuff...

It's a tradition that Aunt Ella comes over on Christmas morning for breakfast. She joins the rest of us in pajamas for some strata, bagels and coffee.

We're finally dressed and ready for the party (see part III).

Ev LOVES this Tonka truck that Josh got him. Notice the change in clothes. Ma baby spilled something all down the front of himself.

Christmas Party III: Christmas Party

A couple of Evan updates... My dad taught Ev how to say "Donald Duck" in a Donald Duck voice! My dad did that voice for Brit and I when we were little. That and Ernie and Bert. We made him talk like that all the time until he'd get a sore throat. I think it's very cool that he taught it to Evan. Also Evan points the remote control at the tv and clicks, following in the footsteps of his PopPop and dad. o great

Also Evan will start dancing if you yell "Dance, dance, dance party!". He even starts shaking his head to the music. I must upload a video of it. He also coughs to get sympathy from his grandmother.

Evan: cough. (a real one)

Grandmom: Oh poor baby!

Evan with wide open mouth: ..... cough! (fake)

Grandmom: Do you have a cold? poor baby

Evan: Cough!

Grandmom: Awwwww!

Evan: Cough!

Grandmom: Faker!

Evan: Ha!

O yes, the party....
Those are sweet potato/peas eyebrows. so gross.

Ev is all cleaned up and playing with his new toy.

Here's some of the family right before the "Grisly Christmas Exchange" game. Everyone has to bring a wrapped gift worth $5. Names are called out, gifts are opened, exchanged and stolen, fights break out. It's a tradition now for years. The Gagliones are notorious for wrapping up stuff they find in their pantry. Aunt Genie got one of their gifts - an economy sized can of sliced apples from BJs! What!? Not only that, but Aunt Wanda said to check the expiration date, because she didn't know how long the apples had been sitting in their basement! Aunt Genie tried to leave it in the downstairs bathroom, but my mom found it before she left and forced her to take it home... So Aunt Genie then left it on the seat of Josh's van. hehehe

Evan enjoys the festivities upside down.

Aunt Ella, Brit, Evan and Josh (Brit and Josh are in Tobago right now! They left the day after Christmas.

Jessie's in the background here.

My mom had everyone over for leftovers the next night. Mike had to leave during the party since he had to work Wednesday... That sucked. I was sad to leave on Friday. The end of Christmas always makes me sad. Also, as soon as I brought Evan up on our porch, he puked all over me... over and over again. We came inside the house, which was stupid on my part because he did it again. I was covered in it... Thank God my parents drove me home, so my mom cleaned up while I gave Evan a bath. He fell asleep immediately and woke up burning with a fever. What bad ending to Christmas.

...But then I thought about how Mima and PopPop were coming to visit for a few days. Also, our street in Roxborough goes totally out with the decorations and lights, which I'm sure will be up until Easter. No, Christmas isn't over yet - yaaaaay!!!!

Stay tuned for Part IV!

Congrats, Aunt Brittany

So I have to say it again, my sis was nominated employee of the year at inDemand... and she hasn't even been there a year and a half yet! Evan was so proud of his little aunt...

This is a cute shot, but you can't see the shirt.

Evan took off for the bath tub, so I got in to get his picture. Now you can see the shirt, but his face is crazy.

Success on the 42nd shot!

ooops... we forgot to post Evan's 11th Month Birthday

Someone refused to cooperate this time. Little stinker.

It's been a long time...

I love, LOVE this photo.

I know it has been a long time since I've updated the blog, but I've been at my parents' house while Mike was in NYÇ and their computer is hopeless. I can't do anything on it except check my email and sometimes I can't even do that. Just a few new things about Evan... He completely stopped sleeping through the night. He's been getting up about 4x a night! I've been a walking zombie. He's also barely eating solid food anymore. Is it a tooth? I don't know, but it's driving me crazy. One cool new thing... he sometimes stands on his own!

By the way, Mike called me from NYC this morning because he was at Rockerfeller Center when the Today Show was taping. He had TV's Al Roker yell "Hi, Stephanie!" into his phone as he was talking to me! Then I saw him wave behind Meredith Vieira's head. (Mike, not TV's Al Roker.)

Another update. My sister, Brittany, was given the title "Employee of the YEAR" at InDemand. Not just for Howard, but the entire InDemand. Awesome job, little Boo!

Tree hunting

I've been Christmas tree hunting with my family for 30 years now. Brittany for 26 years, Mike for 2 years and now it's Evan's first year! We usually go to Eisle's Tree and Bee Farm, which is a 5 minute walk from my parents' house. Mr. Eisle also has bees and sells honey. It's pretty cool. Last year Evan was in my big, fat belly when we did this.