Cute Pics in October

Out cold on Great-Grandma's lap!












Evan and my cousin Marianne are great friends!











Grandmas are great for making babies laugh!











The suspense of "The Tooth Book" has Evan riveted, who else has teeth?!? He's an avid reader already - remind you all of anyone?






Oh oh! Mom's caught us!!! Quick! Turn off the game! Dad... Dad... Dad?!?

Pics in BC with Dad's Camera

It's pretty neat that both Alison and I are moms at the same time. Our conversations have shifted away from "normal" things to discussing parenting and all that. It's like some weird parallel universe! If you click on the picture you'll see the totally non-flattering squints we both have - it was a sunny day! (Great shot grampa!)









Here we are, four generations together for one picture. It's pretty different going from being one of the young people at family gatherings to mom of the young people at family gatherings. We're not the first, my two older cousins (Kim and Ken) both have a boy. Our family reunions are soon going to be all about chasing toddlers and kids around again. That'll bring some new life to the party!


What a cute shot of our two Purvis men, newly "grampa'd". Yolanda did great for a few shots earlier, but she'd had enough! And of course the panicked look on Grampa Rick's face comes standard. What cutie pies!


Grampa Al and Evan always look great together!





Evan and I decided to practice our crawling on the pier at the lake.


A couple of happy boys. It's so great enjoying a great view together!




Evan is such a little explorer, it's so amazing watching his intense concentration whenever he encounters something new. It's also a little disconcerting for people he's meeting for the first few times. As a culture, we're not all the used to being intensely stared at!

Of course a little splashing was necessary. I know it looks scary, but I had an iron grip on my boy. Was really had to keep from laughing though. Evan's crazy about splashing, and it was a long way down to the lake!

Cute Shots in January

Jailbird boy!

















In big boy PJs from Great Grandma Lewis

















Handsome in Orange!

Grampa Lewis

As most of you know, Grampa Lewis passed away earlier this year. It was a sad time for everyone of course, but also a time for us as a family to pull together and comfort each other. Grampa was an amazing man. I do have a few pictures of him that I want to share with everyone, and I thought this might be the way to do it.

What follows is my speech at his funeral, in representing the grandchildren, I've added it for those who are interested.

"I was asked to speak about Grandpa, as one of his grandchildren. To somehow express just how much he meant to us, how wonderful he was and how his memories will stay with us forever. But I found myself hesitant to stop and think about him or to try to write something done, because then his passing would be more real, more certain.

I do not want to be presumptuous and speak in generalities for all of us grandchildren. Grandpa had enough love in his heart, to have a loving and unique relationship with each of his grandchildren. It’s a little strange to put us in a group of “the grandchildren” because he loved us as the individual people we are.

Grandpa was definitely a grandpa. He always had a hug and a smile. He liked to make us laugh. He was a huge tease sometimes, but only for the fun of it. He was the kind of grandpa all kids should have, the kind that could grow a bushy white beard of Christmas and play Santa Clause. The kind that, as we grew up, would show interest in what interested us, in how our lives were developing, in our challenges and our joys.

I sat and thought of the old memories, the older ones involving the farm in High Prairie, riding with him on the lawn mower and riding on his great big St. Bernard dog. And I sat and thought of the newer memories, going to visit, spending Christmases and miscellaneous holidays. I could call anytime and say I was coming by and he would be happy to hear it, and I know it was the same whether we lived 20 hours or a few minutes away.

Grandpa was a loving and kind grandfather. One that we, the grandchildren, were blessed to have. It is very fitting that we are here to remember him, even to mourn him, because he will be greatly missed. He will be missed by those of us who had the privilege of knowing him and he will be remembered for those who will not.

Although we are all grieved by his passing, we hold on to a higher hope, that of seeing him again. As I see it, life, whether it’s one day long, or a hundred years, is very short. At the end, it’s simply a moment, simply memories. But eternity, that’s forever. Although we had the privilege of knowing him seemingly a short time on this earth, we will one day by united with him for an eternity of knowing him. I believe that that will be the greater part, the best part and something that I very much look forward to."

I ended this with a story, of how grampa and grandma chose to move to Edmonton to be close to us (including ourselves, and a few other family members who lived there as well.) This was very significant to us, becuase we were only in Canada for short periods of time and it had been 4 years since we'd last been to Canada. It just showed how important his family was to him, a family that he'd married into and taken the responsibility of fathering (and amazing feat in itself considering there were four kids at that time). He was an amazing man - not the kind that history is written about, but the kind that genuinely loves many and is loved in return.

Park Lake Sunday

We joined a couple friends for a picnic at the lake after church on Sunday. We had a great time, Evan got to "swim", play with Shilo (AKA eat toys together) and do all kinds of other little kid stuff. He also took his first steps in front of the camera (8 in total) but I can't seem to find a way to put it on the blog - so you'll just have to take my word for it.


It was a great day! Since Evan and I hadn't seen Scott for a few days it was also playtime for the boys, reunited at last! They did some wrestling, tickling and all that good stuff.
We're so blessed to have good friends and the occasional outing to one of our great man-made lakes (this is southern Alberta after all).


We're also getting so excited about mom, Esther, Becky and Matt being here. We'll have to put together a whole lot of these kinds of outings. I heard Becky thinks 6 weeks here will have her bored with nothing to do - and yet they've planned three trips away and got all kinds of family planning more times together - I think she'll be surprised when it's time to go home.




And of course we'll try to take lots of pictures! Scott's mom Barb and brother Robin are down for a visit. So much to do, so little time. It's hard to beleive I'll be back at work soon. For those of you who are worried, yes, I'll miss being with Evan, but on the other hand I'm looking forward to going back. Need some intellectual challenge - and professional conversation. Plus, I think it'll be such a great sense of accomplishment to be a professional as well as a wife and mother too!

Today's Birthday Celebration!

Happy 55th! You're looking as handsome as ever! And not a day over 55! (There's nothing like cheesecake and blueberries for a birthday cake.) Your whole family is crazy about you! You're the best dad ever!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

It's Evan's Grampa's birthday! Happy birthday dad!!! We've taken a vote and think he's turning 54 or 55. While in BC this past weekend we celebrated the Purvis boys' birthdays, they're all in May, except for Chris. Grampa Purvis turned 79 this year! We had a lot of cake, a lot of great food and a lot of time with good company.

Here's a nice shot of Evan with his great-uncle Rick. Lots of nice pictures were taken with other family members and all that, but not on my camera. For those of who you are reading this, please pass on the pics you've got! Maybe we'll post a few more later.

To dad, Happy Birthday again! We love you, we are so glad to have you here so we can spend time with you! It's always great to have you "home" (as in Canada)!

Evan Chasing Dog

Evan has fallen in love with dogs. He can imitate their barks, and he chases them around whenever he sees one. Unfortunately, all the dogs he was chasing this weekend were a little freaked out by the "woofing" little critter hot on their tails. (One started whimpering anytime Evan came after him...) So he didn't get the licks and touches he wanted.
But that's okay, we've got doggy friends in Lethbridge that are always happy to lick his face!

A few days in BC

Evan and his Grampa Al, what a cute couple of guys!


Evan discovering... something... poking a wooden bench in the setting of some of the most beautiful country in Canada.
Evan and Grampa looking at the bird.

Evan and his (kind of) cousin Yolanda (Yolanda is the daughter of my cousin Allison and her husband Rob). Two cutie pies!
Evan, his grampa and great-grampa.
Evan and I hitched a ride with Pat and Rob (aunt & uncle - usually go by "anonymous" :) and joined dad and lots of other Purvis clan for the long weekend. Kind of, we were there Thursday and came home Saturday. It was lots of fun! Great company, beautiful weather and lots of animals for Evan to discover (more on that tomorrow). BTW, if you ever think you can't see a picture well - cause it's too small - click on it and it should pop up a lot larger. (I attach the original size, so it's plenty big.)

Expressions

Some of the most frequent comments I hear about Evan are people's enjoyment of his many unique and interesting expressions. It's so amazing how babies, being so innocent of "societal" pressures, are so free in their expressions. They feel no compulsion to suppress any emotions. They can be totally open about how they feel when they feel it.
Evan is really just learning emotions - although he's always felt "free" to express his needs - hunger, sleepiness, etc... This is one of those neat little things I'm really enjoying about his age. And something I probably would never have noticed if I hadn't become a parent.

I bet that, to God, our hearts are kind of like that. What's in our hearts is not a secret to Him, and He can see everything we feel. No matter what kind of a front we've learned to hide behind. What an amazing thing it would be to be so transparent with each other. I love being able to 'know' my son (good and bad emotions), rather than to try and guess... it's usually pretty obvious.

Nit's Grad

Nittaya's graduated! Kind of... she still has a few months of school left. Here are a few pics - Evan's special do, dancing with Auntie Nittaya, Nittaya and her date (Anthony) and a happy grad shot! We skipped the not so yummy traditional grad banquet and feasted on sushi and tempura instead. Then we were off to enjoy 3 hours of the grad walk - they make those poor kids parade around for 3 HOURS!!! And then the dance. Unfortunately Scott couldn't dance, he threw out his back... since we rarely get an occasion to dance we're thinking of crashing next year's grad. We'll just pretend we're supposed to be there!

Evan's Birth Day