The graduate

Evie and fam' had to say some tough "goodbyes" yesterday, as E wrapped up her final day of daycare at the GMICC.

All are so excited for E to move on the bigger challenges and new opportunities, but it's going to be tough to replace her friends and experience at Mills. Evie learned so much from Ta-Ta and company... and the Purple Room was truly a home away from home for her.

Thanks so much to all of you*... we'll miss you!

Stay in touch!

* Tosh, "Mol", "Shay", Misty, Genet, "Marsh", Nicolas, Addison and all E's other friends from this chapter of her life

Happy 4th

Four years ago today, Linds and I threw one helluva party... and it's been quite the ride ever since!

Here's to many more...

I love you, babe!

16 months

EJB weighed in at 25 lbs (~75 percentile), measured nearly 35 inches (>95th percentile!) and cleared her 16 month check-up with a clean bill of health. Here's the rest of the monthly update:

A few of Evie's latest tricks include:

• Playing "mockingbird" (the kid continues to try to mirror everything we say... "purple", "backpack" and "bubble" are three of her newest favs)
• Playing "checkout lady" at the daycare (I guess at each day's end, Evie insists on handing her friends parents their daily paperwork and follows the handoff with a kiss goodbye and a wave)
• Playing "foreigner who doesn't appear to speak the language, but is secretly fluent and carefully eavesdropping" (despite her small spoken vocabulary, we're constantly amazed by how much Evs understands... we test her daily with things like, "can you please get daddy's shoes?", or "can you please turn off the TV?" and she rarely fails to deliver)

A few of Evie's latest favorite things include:

• Her new pink Crocs (the day doesn't start until they're on her feet)
• 'The Foot Book' by Dr. Seuss
• Water (splashing in it, floating on it, drinking it, squirting it, saying it...)
• Joe (we're not so sure if it's Uncle Joe or "Uncle" Joe, but one of the Joes in her life is who she's most commonly talking to on her toy phone or yelling about when playing these days)

Chips!

The highlight from the past few days was definitely the few short but sweet moments we had with our long-lost friends, the Chipelewskis... in town from the U.P. for a family wedding weekend.

It was wonderful catching up and Evie absolutely adored the twins, Kaleb and Kendall (as did we, of course!).

J&J... let's do this sooner next time, OK?

Kissing cousins

Evie got her first chance to meet her second cousins (Owen, Zach and Logan) this week as Danelle and Derek (my sole Asleson-side cousins) were briefly back in Minnesota from Phoenix and Texas.

Great to see ya'll!

*pictured with E and Linds are Danelle and her 6 m/o, Owen

City Slicker

Last weekend we had a little family reunion in Chicago, piggybacking on some work travel I had the following week.

While in the Windy City we did the usual big city things: outdoor block parties (headlined by BNL), fun dining (Greek Islands, Jane's, Pequod's), beach time on Lake Michigan, et cetera. Evie loved it all, but nothing compared to the urban petting zoo we stumbled upon in Bucktown Sunday afternoon.

Thanks for hosting, J & T!

Reason #237 to love the iPhone

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Nights away from home base in Minneapolis (I've been conferencing in Chicago since Sunday!) aren't quite as bad with the daily iPhone video snipet from my baby girl.

Can't wait to see you tomorrow, Evie!

(You too, LMB!)

Editor's note: This clip is shot EOD on-site at Evie's daycare. Tosha, Molly and Shayna are E's teachers.

4th of July

Linds, E and I spend most of the long weekend hanging out with Uncle Joe and Aunt Tisha (that is… when they weren’t out on, or recovering from, Big Island). Got in some QT with the Racciattis, G’Pa Tom, Auntie La and her Joe as well.

Friday’s Twins outing and postgame fireworks, lots of beach and water time with Evie Jane plus food, food and more food pretty much sums up the weekend.

E loved it all, but it was especially fun to see her reconnect with J & T... it had been way too long (hint, hint, you two!).

Signing off... Back to reality in t minus 8 hrs or so.