Videos

By the end of the day, all the new videos will be up on the YouTube page!! They're from the past 6 weeks....enjoy!

peek-a-boo

After church today, I wanted Evan to stay awake for the ride home as it was just a bit too early for him to be napping. This meant that one of us had to sit in the back and entertain the poor little guy. Well, since Scot loves sitting in the back with E, I drove home. After just a few minutes, I hear Scot saying 'peek-a-boo' and Evan giggling - it was the cutest thing ever - LOVED it! Scot is such an amazing dad!!

The other news to report is that Evan is finally wearing SOME 3-6 month clothes!! A lot of 0-3 stuff still fits, but I just couldn't wait for the cute 3-6 month stuff I have. So pretty much the only thing that fits are he arms (and even then they're a little long...) but he looks pretty stinkin' cute in his new outfits!!

pictures are....

UP!!!! Check out the Picasa page to see December and Christmas pictures!!!

Baby's First Chrismtas

There will be pictures to come - I promise. We had 3 different camera going yesterday and the day before and I'm still waiting on some to come in. But keep your eye on the Picasa page (and the You Tube page!).

Our Christmas was lovely. Christmas Eve day was spent int he springs with family. I about and hour with the in-laws and then headed over to my folks, leaving Scot with his parents. The whole afternoon, I baked like a fiend with my mother. She made little gift boxes full of cookies for all her neighbors. We made 4 different kinds of cookies and decorated them and bagged them. It took all afternoon! But it was so fun. We were too busy and with Evan's schedule, we were unable to make it to the Christmas Eve candle lighting service we usually go to, so instead, my dad read some scripture and we sang. It was neat. But I have to admit, I like the actual candle lighting and singing Silent Night in a dim sanctuary better.

Christmas morning was wonderful! Scot's Uncle, Dave, who lives 3 miles away, came over for breakfast and that was fun. Still in our PJs, he was very gracious and didn't mind. Scot and I did our stockings and gifts while Evan napped and then when he woke up he did his own stocking! He was so cute!! Something I did was re-wrap packages - people gave me toys at my baby shower that were more age appropriate for right now, so I'd been saving them and then I just wrapped them and gave them to him. It's not like he knows the difference and it was fun for him to try and open them! So thank you to anybody who got us older toys!! The only thing we actually bought him was this little Oogolo Ball - it has lots of holes in it and it's flexible - really neat with lots of colors - he loves it! His little faces were adorable!!

My folks were here about noon and we did gifts with them and then dinner. Dinner, thankfully, turned out really well (I made a traditional French Canadian Toutier (meat pie), my green bean casserole and a creamy sweet potato soup. Mom brought the other sides.) The neat thing was that my brother, who hates sweet potatoes, loved my sweet potato soup (we didn't tell him it was sweet potatoes until after he had scarfed it all up - pretty funny). Since it was so gorgeous out, we went on a nice walk in the open space behind the house after dinner. Evan got a new coat from my folks and so we tried it out!! Tell ya what, that kid made bank this year Christmas gift wise. Pity that he won't remember it - but it is nice to have a few more toys. We were getting kind of tired of the 3 he had - I think he had learned about them all he could for now. So the new additions will be good - but now where to PUT them all??

It always seems that the after-Christmas blues are inevitable - but not this year, I'm almost busier AFTERWARDS then beforehand! But I love it. Scot's bestman from the wedding is coming over this afternoon with his girlfriend and I'm making a huge thing of Fajitas for lunch(I found this Fajita spice/seasoning recipe that I'm excited to try out, if it's good, I'll pass it along) then we're just hanging. Scot is skiing tomorrow with his family and so I'm hanging out with one of my best friends! Monday, one of my dearest friends is flying in for the week - that will be one fun-filled week for sure!!! Once she leaves, I'll be heading down to the Springs to hang with the family and meet my brother's girlfriend who is visiting! So the next 2 weeks are quite busy for me. Hopefully I'll be able to get on and update this thing fairly regularly (or at least get pictures up!!) - but if for some reason I don't, I'm still here!!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!

Our Christmas Letter

Eskestrand Escapades – 3^rd Edition

We greet you from colorful Colorado with the greatest of joys as this wonderfully full year draws to a close. We hope that you are doing well and that the year 2008 has been a blessed year for you and your family.
Scot and I started off the year with everyone finding out about little Evan. The pregnancy was a very smooth and uneventful time for us and I enjoyed being pregnant until the very last moments. Evan was born July 2^nd and the real adventure began! From the get-go, Evan has been an easy and even keeled baby. When he was just 11 days old, he made his first road trip, MO to CO in two days and he did great! Since moving, both of his great-grandmothers have been to visit, as well as a great-aunt and some friends. Evan has a very pleasant disposition and is such a joy to our lives and so far, every day has been new. His little personality is starting to show through (he's such a ham!) and we're excited to see what the Lord does in, and with, his life. My folks (Grammy and Grandude) get to see him almost weekly and they love seeing all the new changes. We make a trip down to Colorado Springs to see our parents about once a month and it's always a nice break. We are so blessed to have our families just an hour away!
Scot finished out his "book years" in mid-July and was given 6 weeks to move and get settled. The timing couldn't have been better as this allowed Scot to be around for Evan's first 2 months. Scot loves being a father and watching Evan grow, and it's fun for me to see their interactions! He is jealous, though, of missing all the firsts (Although he was with me when we saw the first back-to-tummy roll!). Right now, Scot is in the 'rotations' phase of his medical school training. Essentially, he shadows a doctor for a month learning all he can. He's already had Radiology, Anesthesiology, Psych, OB/GYN and Internal Medicine. He is greatly looking forward to his Cardiology and Surgery rotations as he has taken an interest in them. In his free time, he likes to run in the open space behind our house, play hockey whenever possible, read, and spend time with the family. He loves it when I need to run errands on the weekends and he's needed to 'babysit' – I come home to stories of such grand adventures! Flying and riding horses, fighting the bad guys and rolling around on the floor…these are just some of the things I hear about!!
While my stomach was expanding in Kirksville, I worked and planned for Evan's arrival as best I could. I was thankfully able to work up until the last week and then I just quit and my mom came out to help me prepare. We had such a great time bonding in that week. We ended up walking a lot (up to 10 miles a day! – we were trying to get that baby out!) and just chatting, it was fantastic. Upon moving, I had my plate full. Unpacking a house and getting into a routine with a newborn are not things I suggest doing simultaneously. But God is good, and we were able to get it all in order and have a baby who slept through the night within a month of moving. I absolutely love being a mom – it's my dream job and better than I could have imagined. I keep busy with Evan and normal house-hold stuff along with attending a ladies Bible study, hanging out with friends, cooking, dinner parties, tea parties, book clubs, walking and exercising, and blogging in my free time. There is a wonderful church here and we have gotten really plugged in with the church family. We have also had the opportunity to entertain quite a bit, both for dinners and over-night guests. I love it! If you're ever in the area, please let us know – we have a guest area all ready for you!!
This holiday season is a very sweet one with family being so close. We had a blast at Thanksgiving with my parents and good family friends. Jared came home, too, and it was great to have a few days just hanging out with him. He adores Evan and the two of them get along great. He loved making Evan laugh and showing him how "real men watch football". I am hosting Christmas this year and I'm really looking forward to starting some traditions with our new family.
We hope this letter finds you all in good health and looking at the coming New Year with joy and gladness! May the Lord bless you in all your upcoming endeavors! Have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy 2009!!
Love,

Scot, Sarah and Evan Eskestrand

10 days til Christmas!!

I can't believe it's SO close!! I still have so much to do! This week is pretty busy with baking, tutoring, and a gift exchange with gals from church. I'm meeting up with friends I haven't seen in a couple years, meeting up with more friends from college, going to Bible study, having people over for dinner....I still have to wrap gifts (but they're all purchased, at least), make Evan's stocking, and email our Christmas letter. All this while maintaining a house and keeping up with an ever-growing and advancing almost 6 month old! Oh yeah, and I'm hosting Christmas dinner. :)

But in all this hustle and bustle, we are having fun. Scot and I had a very enjoyable weekend hanging out together. I had my book club dinner party Friday night (it was a blast!) so we didn't get to spend that time together like normal. But we made up for it on Saturday and went light-hunting! We saw tons of pretty houses (lit and un-lit alike) and really just had a fabulous evening! Sunday was church as usual and since it got down to 8 degrees, we hunkered down and stayed warm inside!

Here are a few pictures from the past week!! I hope your week is nice and busy but not stressful!!


Getting a bath at Grammy's! (I swear, she LOVES giving this child a bath more than I do!)


All swaddled up....


Evan was playing with a headband of mine and Scot decided he would put it on Evan's head! My little Ninja baby!


Just playing around before bed!

busy weekend

We had such a busy weekend, but it was a blast! We got our little tree on Friday and that was so much fun. We didn't get a permit in time to go cut down our own like we wanted to, but it's probably for the better with Evan in tow this year. We dressed the tree while listening to Christmas favorites, it was really fun!

Saturday I was down to the springs for a couple days. Britt's baby shower was Sunday and so I decided to just go down for the whole weekend! Mom and I made Christmas cards, watched a really old Christmas movie (Christmas in Connecticut), ate popcorn, and drank tea!! It was wonderful!! Britt's shower was a lot of fun, too. It was good to see her and the cute little belly!

I left the springs Monday afternoon and ended up just missing the snow storm (praise the Lord!) I'm going to work on getting the Christmas letter all written and hopefully get some cards out by the end of the week. Most of the letters will go out via e-mail (and posted here), but I like to send a few cards out to family and such.

Evan is now is size 2 diapers! I decided this morning to not try and push finishing off the size 1 package. But I have to admit, even though size 1s were getting a little tight, the size 2s seem HUGE on him! haha. He's still in 0-3 clothes, but I'm sure now that we've started solids, he'll bump up to 3-6 pretty soon. Hopefully by Christmas, because he has a really cute PJ set for that's 3-6!!

input...

Evan's been on rice cereal since Sunday. How long do you guys have your kids on cereal before you started them on veggies? I've heard/read a lot of varying opinions....I'm leaning towards starting sweet potatoes on Monday. Did any of you go that fast? Evan seems to love solids, but since this is all so new to me and I wasn't planning on starting veggies til after Christmas, I need some input! Thanks in advance!!

5 months old

Evan is 5 months today and it's so hard to believe that it has been that long. Scot and I were talking last night about how fast time has gone by - and we know it will just continue to go faster! Here is his one hour old picture, one month, and the picture from this morning!! What a difference!

The Nutcracker

The first time I went to the Nutcracker with my mom, I was 4 years old - that's 20 years ago!! We went very consistently until we moved to CA and then VA where there weren't any ballets we could get to in a reasonable amount of time. And then came college and being married. Last night, I was able to leave Scot and Evan at home (with a bottle) and mom and I went to the ballet for the first time in years!! (I have an amazing husband!)

It was great!! We had the best seats ever!! We typically sit Mezzanine level in the front, and that's great, too, but this time we were first row Orchestra which was spectacular. We could see expressions on the dancers and hear the blocks on the floor!! (We also got to see the conductor's hair get all messy from his head banging - it was pretty funny!)

The Ellie Caulkin's Opera House in Denver is gorgeous and we had fun walking around at intermission admiring the architecture and interior design of it all. The preformance itself was great, too!! After seeing so many Nutcrackers, we have our favorite parts and we like certain aspects better than others, but over all, it was a very well done show and we enjoyed ourselves immensely!! The Dance of the Snowflakes is still my favorite and this performance of it was not disapointing.

Of course, this got me in a very Christmasy mood and so all my decorations are out (I don't have many, so it didn't take long) and I'm greatly anticipating our Christmas tree which we should get this weekend!


Scot snapped a quick picture in the hustle of everything!

eating cereal...

...and that's not Cheerios I'm talking about! We started Evan on solids yesterday and he did great! Ate it all and only made a few faces! Our little boy is starting to grow up and not be so babyish...
In his new seat! He loves sitting with us as we ate, it's amazing! He especially loves the mat on the tray, although he hasn't figured out hat he can't grab and pick the numbers or letters up yet. It's pretty cute to watch him try, though!


I let him play with the spoon as I got the cereal ready. Obviously, he really enjoyed that!


Here we go....


All done!! He ate it all, and yes, I know his face is covered, but I promise, he really did eat (not wear) the cereal!

purely pictures...

Here is the pure picture post I promised...more pictures are on the Picasa Page! These are just my favorites. The pure text post is right after this one!!















Our first night home as a 'family'
















With his Uncle Jared!!


This is the "mommy, I love you!!" face


Probable my favorite picture from the whole trip!! This is a very Evan face


Snuggling with Grammy


Playing in Grandude's hat!


Getting in to the peanuts - don't worry, he didn't actually eat any!


Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!


The whole family


What is typical for my family the day after Thanksgiving - working out! haha


Eating all by himself!!


Who gets their wish granted if the wish bone ends up like this?!?