OK, so what's she doing?

I've been meaning to tell you guys for a long time -- Evelyn has pretty much abandoned the sign language to tell us "milk." I think it was mostly our fault. See, Evey also learned 'bye-bye' at about the same time. And that made a lot of people happy. So she started waving 'bye-bye' to everyone, and "milk" was lost in the excitement.

Fast forward to just recently. Evey was thirsty... and she signed for "water," which I didn't even really know we were showing her much. (The sign is like making the "OK" sign and then holding it to your chin) So, make it three things that she'll sign to us -- milk, water and bye-bye. Cool!

What else? She's trying to crawl. She picks herself up in the air, on all fours, butt in the air... and rocks back-and-fourth. And she usually ends up going backwards.

She likes to make this "bbbtttttthhhhhhh!" sound.

She really likes to jump up and down in her Johnny Jump-Up... she just jumps and smiles at anyone who will look.

She plays piano. Well, at least, she likes to slap away on this toy piano her grandma got her. And when she finishes, she'll look at you and wait for the applause.

She's a good eater. She's eating veggies now, like green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, etc. And apple sauce.

And her hair is really growing in.

Sorry for the older, blurry photo... new photos coming soon...

Hello from the new casa!

Well, we've been so busy with the move... here's a sign of progress: I'm blogging from the new casa! Whoo-hoo! I took Friday afternoon off (sorry, boss) to stay home while the cable guy hooked up cable, internet and a phone line.

Now the bad news: Evey is sick. She had a fever of 102.2 Saturday night... so it was a bit of a harrowing evening for us. She's doing better today... lots of naps, lots of water. Here she is with Mom taking a nap... picture taken with my PDA, hence the bluriness.

Anyway, more soon, as things continue to settle down.

MVP of the move? Trish!

And now, for the MVP of the move, the person that gets the BIGGEST thanks... our friend Trish Averill! (Pictured here with her dork fiancee, Eric "Double-Bogey" Neuteboom.)

So a huge THANK YOU to Trish, who lifted about 10 times as much heavy stuff as Eric... Eric kept asking, "Do you have any more blankets, or pillows, that need to be moved?"

Mmmmoving

Sorry it's been so quiet around here lately. No, the UFOs did not abduct us. Instead, we moved. And it's been crazy, hectic, stressful... you name it.

More to come soon. But for now, a quick photo of Evey (gotta bump the UFO off the top of the page), and a heartfelt THANK YOU to the following movers:

SCOTT WOGOMON

BART LITTLEJOHN

ERIC NEUTEBOOM

BRENT FRY

SEAN LIPFORD

and to Judy Romero for having a lunchtime feast for all of us!

More soon... once we start getting out of all these boxes!

UFOs RULE, 10-7

In our latest poll here at Especially Evey, our readers spoke out -- 10 of them believe in UFOs as the real deal, while the other 7 say UFOs are about as real as Sam Brownback's chances of living in the White House!

Thanks to everyone who voted. Just curious, did anyone have problems voting? Adrianne's computer wouldn't allow her a vote. Curious to see if anyone had similar problems.

I've never seen a UFO, but I certainly believe in them. It's a big universe, there's gotta be intelligent life out there besides us, right? And didn't they lend a hand building the pyramids?

Happy big 3-oh, Jeffy!

Jeff Heiman turned 30 recently.

We celebrated by taking Jeff to the Legends, where we ate lunch at Dave & Busters, watched the U-20 USA Soccer game, played video games (pictured, Rockhold and Jeff blow up Aliens), then went to see Transformers (pretty good!) and finally returned to his place where there was a surprise birthday party set up by his lovely wife Kendall. The party was catered by Granddaddy's BBQ and included lots of Boulevard Wheat and a Texas Hold 'Em tournament.

Of course, I won the Hold 'Em tournament (what is this, Lervik's blog?), and took home a nice bottle of wine and a macho cook book authored by some bad-ass dude, as my prizes. Eric Neuteboom took second place.

OK, can you indulge me for one story from the game? I was all in against Neuty, and it looked grim, with my king-high. He had me beat with just the flop showing. "It's OK, Neuty," I told him. "I'm going to get that king." Sure enough, on the river, up pops the king. And it was meant to be from that moment on. I busted out Jeff, then Randy, then Neuty for the win (seven players to begin). And I also won 'most inebriated' that night. But that's OK, because who's a big winner? That's right, daddy is.

So happy 30th, Jeff. And thanks, Kendall, for setting up a great party for him and his boys.

Happy birthday, Mom!

We celebrated my Mom's birthday Sunday in Emporia. Got to see my sister and her family, and of course my Mom and Dad. Got my Mum the Magic Bullet for her birthday. Not the one that killed Kennedy, this Magic Bullet is a mixer/blender of some sort. And apparently, it's a big deal.

I didn't get my Mom a birthday card, even though she loves birthday cards. Just forgot to grab one... and besides, I've decided they're not environmentally friendly. We've taken a no-card policy here in the Jones household. Instead, Adrianne made these cool gift tags with a design on them, and we write, 'happy birthday Mom!' (or 'Happy Flag Day!') on it.

But here's what I would have wrote had I gotten my Mom a card:

Dear Mom,

In 2006, I gained a wife and a daughter. Both beautiful, both the love of my life. But there will always be the one who taught me how to love, the original woman in my life -- you, my Mother. Thank you for your love and your wisdom, and thank you for loving your new granddaughter and your new daughter-in-law as much as you love your own son.

Love,

Son

P.S. Please don't try to kill anyone with the Magic Bullet, the Kennedys have suffered enough.

We're moving!

On Saturday, 8 a.m.

Who wants to help???

(actually, I already know most of who is volunteering... but I figure you can respond to this post with a, "I am!" and get tons of credit from all our readers! Or something.)

Pictured, the first truckload I've already moved. And also, the beautiful baby you'll be helping out, by assisting her parents on this move. She's eating a Spider-Man toy that Eric gave to her.

DO NOT ARREST THIS MAN!

Being deadly handsome is NOT A CRIME.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY MARINA!

That's right, my niece, Marina Janelle Johnson, turned 1-year-old!

Way to be baby Marina! We love ya!

Born with a silver spoon in her mouth? Sorry, no.

Here's Evey, at the Neuteboom's (Eric and Trish) 'couples shower.'

They received a silver spoon from Eric's mom, I believe. Apparently this is a tradition of some sort (Eric/Trish, care to comment?). Anyway, the spoon gets passed around, and when it gets to Evey -- yup, something good and shiny to stick in her mouth. And I bet the silver felt good on those teeth coming in, eh?

Got several cute photos of this. Hard to choose just one. This is the one I'll go with, for now.

EE readers love COKE!

The votes are in!

Especially Evey readers chose Coca-Cola over Pepsi! Yeeeeah! You rock, Coke! Go fly a kite, Pepsi! You stink!

Thanks to everyone who voted. The final tally was 13-4, Coke. And more important, we had 17 people visit the blog last week. Whew. Glad I'm not getting paid by the hit! (Wait... I'm not getting paid at all! $*#@!)

A new poll is up now. This one vastly more important than the last. PLEASE VOTE! Me and Evey want to know what you think!!!

Our brick at Allen Fieldhouse

An old photo here, but I wanted to get a shot of the family brick at Allen Fieldhouse up on the blog...

The brick is right next the Phog Allen, directly below his right elbow. Only five bricks upwards is Dean Smith's brick.

How'd we get such a good brick? I don't know if you know this or not, but... we're a pretty big deal.

TGIF

Not only is it Friday, but it's also PAYDAY.

Hot damn.

Have a great weekend!

Your lips are moving, but I can't hear what you're saying

Just got done with a 3-hour proofing assignment... and yes, I'm numb. I need a minute to decompress.

Happy 1-month birthday to Sadie Kaminski. I can't believe a month has already gone by... seems like just a weekend ago we were up at the hospital visiting her. Turns out it was four weekends.

And say hello to Isabella and Ben. Bella is overdue for an appearance here, but now I have a good photo of her so up it goes. Bella is the daughter of our friends Jocilyn and David, Ben is the son of Joc's sister Jessica. Ben's claim to fame is he is the youngest Laugh Olympian ever. Ben also won an autographed Chi Chi Rodriguez hat that day, if I remember correctly. Bella, meanwhile, is a personal friend of Dora the Explorer, and whenever she takes a photograph, the sun is usually setting behind her head, giving her a constant super-heroish glow.