Mr. Caleb

While he is definitely a mama's boy, Caleb is certainly showing signs of being just as independent as his brother - if not more! He is still trying desperately to get somewhere. He is a strong little guy and we have a feeling that any day we're going to look down and he will be cruising on his own. In the meantime, he has decided to take food into his own hands. Meals have certainly taken on a new meaning with Caleb trying to do it himself. He turns six months tomorrow and finally - Caleb will get have his first taste of real food - even if it is in almost liquid form....

Ryan takes on Oregon

Well Ryan has certainly adjusted well to Oregon. He loves the rain (except for when it is raining too hard to go outside). He jumps at every chance to use his umbrellas (Thanks Uncle Rigo!) and to wear his nifty bug rain boots. Meanwhile, we are becoming quite creative on thinking up ways to harness his boundless energy indoors. Daddy taught him to build trains with his blocks. This is a picture of Ryan's very own version of Thomas the Train - built all by himself!! He's pretty creative....maybe another engineer???

We've also discovered a few fun places for him to play indoors. The Boys and Girls Club have a toddler indoor park four days a week while the big kids are in session. Basically, they turn the gym into toddler mania with hundreds of toys and play structures and wagons, etc. It's great to be able to just turn him loose and watch from the side as he and the others learn to play together.

So far, Ryan's favorite has been the Children's Museum in Portland. He was thoroughly entertained for 5 hours! His absolute favorite was the water works room. Guess he figured if it's raining outside why not get soaked inside! He also took a toddler painting class (aka "parents trying to avoid knee high hands covered in a multitude of colors!"). He also enjoyed story time, where of course he had to be right smack front and center. He sure doesn't miss a thing :)

What we've been up to

In the past six weeks, we've certainly covered a lot of ground. The first week we were here, we took a break from unpacking and visited the beach town of Newport where Ryan was fascinated with the sea lions. We also went on two great hikes with John's mom, one of which was 120 acre piece of property in the hills that her parents used to own. We enjoyed the tall trees on both hikes and of course made lots of stops for blackberries.

Ryan has shown a lot of interest in kicking around a soccer ball so we signed him up for toddler soccer. Basically it is ten parents chasing around their ten two year olds while the coach tries to get them to play soccer related games - it's pretty entertaining for the parents who are watching :) We go once a week and boy do Ryan and Daddy look forward to it! After soccer, we usually go to the farmer's market. There is a small one in Albany and an even bigger one in Corvallis where Ryan met a balloon making clown. We have also gone to the Corvallis Fall Festival where all of the local artists had their art for sale. Pretty neat.

The boys have both grown so much in the past month. Ryan is becoming more of a boy everyday - He and mommy even built his first fort the other day. It should be interesting seeing what mommy can come up with to channel his energy as the rains set in...

Caleb on the other hand is trying his hardest to convince us he is actually a grown up in a baby body. He started rice cereal for the time about a month ago and he was way into it. Now, he takes every opportunity to show us he is ready to move on to meat and potatoes by grabbing our food whenever he can. He is also trying really hard to get somewhere and will be mobile in no time. Big brother better watch out!

The Big Move

So after a year and a half of saying "We're moving to Oregon" - we did it! On August 30, after loading up the U-haul the day before, we headed on the open road for our 11 hour trek north. John and Shasta the dog drove the U-haul (the biggest one they make!), Judy (John's Mom) drove the 4-Runner, and Wendy drove the mini-van with the boy, the baby, and, Sammy the cat. Caleb slept almost the whole way (except for crying the last hour and half when he finally said "I've had it!"), Ryan read books the entire time, and Sammy just lived in fear of where she was being schlepped to next. Whirlwind arrived in style a few days later on a huge fancy trailer.
We arrived at our new home at 10:30 at night, weary, but very excited to finally be in Oregon.
The house we are renting is little, but will definitely keep us happy until we find a home of our very own. There is a big backyard and Ryan loves to go out and pick what is left of the raspberries. As for the house search, we have looked at everything there is to see (about 50 +/-), but we have finally narrowed down where we want to live and what type of house/lot we want. Now we're just waiting for the right house to come on the market :)
As for everyday life, John started work at his new firm on September 17. It is a two man (now three man) firm. His bosses are great and he is very pleased with his choice of firm. Wendy of course is home with the kids and having a blast. Every other day, she and the kids go the barn to clean Whirlwind's stall. Caleb hopefully naps and Ryan helps Mommy by opening gates and attempting to scoop manure into the wheel barrow.
Oh, and the rains have begun .....

Welcome

Hello from Oregon! With so much going on in our lives and in yours we thought we'd create a space where you can keep up with the crazy shenanigans of "The Evans Bunch". Our hope is that you'll check in from time to time as we share exciting and funny things that happen in our lives. We're new at this, but we'll try to update it regularly with pictures (of the boys mainly - don't worry) and updates on the wild and crazy things they do. We miss you and can't wait to hear from you! Enjoy :)
Luv,
John, Wendy, Ryan, and Caleb