Christmas 2010

This Christmas was by far my favorite. Evelyn was totally into opening presents, we got to see most of our family and, besides Evelyn's Christmas Eve blowout that ended halfway up Grandma Rainbow's white satin curtains, it was perfect!

Evelyn definitely had the Holiday spirit in her this year, chanting Frosty the Snowman & Jingle Bells daily. She loved twirling in her Christmas dress, opening presents and shouting Ho Ho Ho. And especially loved all the cookies and goodies that have taken over the cabinets of this home via Jared's customers.

Here is our Christmas in pictures and videos...

Opening presents on Christmas Eve

After the Christmas Eve blowout...

Evelyn, Daddy & Grandma Jill playing with the new zoo.

Evelyn & Yaya grooving to Disco Mickey...

Sowwy Santa

Today was a big day for Evelyn! During a visit to the mall we played in the mall playground, saw the puppies, ate lunch with a few friends, picked up a ridiculously fat cat

And even ran into Santa. Our friend, Emma (or "Elmo" to Evelyn), decided to jump in the pic.

All of this excitement resulted in a nap on the car ride home...which caused a second wind...which then caused a further delay in any future napping...

What A Weekend!

I know it's Wednesday but I've been too lazy to blog!

We had such a great weekend! We dogsat two of the sweetest, most loving dogs around! While we were there....

Yaya got her first taste of Guitar Hero & was instantly hooked-but for some reason she was under the impression that the harder you thrust your hips at the screen the more notes you hit....


Evelyn played backup on Guitar Hero


We ate some hotdogs...


And we finished up the trip with some snuggling...


Once we were home, we spent the evening resting. When Evelyn woke up there was a hair on her pacifier. She said, "Eww. 'Gusting." (disgusting). After I removed the hair she smiled and says to me, "Gwacias, Mommy." Thank you Dora, for that heart melting moment :)

Girl's Night!

In celebration of my last day of the Fall semester, my girlfriends Krissy & Chelsea came over for a Girl's Night. We ate Chinese, drank some wine and did pedicures. Evelyn even got to join in the fun!

Here she is checking to make sure I'm doing a satisfactory job.


Looks good, now back to ordering a Scentsy.....

Baby Love

Evelyn definitely has the natural mothering skills in her. I snapped these quick pictures today as I watched her (for 45minutes) tenderly care for her young.

Here she has carefully wrapper her baby up in her bouncy chair and shoved a bottle next to her cute little face in case she becomes fussy. She then sat alongside her to say "Coo coo coo." But in the picture she is saying, "Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese."


And here she is feeding her other baby a waffle in a bowl. Notice the concentration on Evelyn's face. (It sounded like the baby REALLY enjoyed it with all off the "mmm's" and "nummy's" I was hearing).


After feeding the babies she pushed them in their swing for a few minutes before screaming, "Pee u!!! Gwoss!" She then swooped the baby up saying, "Change it" and trotted off to her room to place the baby on the changing table for a new diaper. After this, each baby got a nice bath and was put in bed. Oh, after Evelyn read them all a book! Man!! She has our bedtime routine down...only she forgot to brush baby's teeth :/

Catching On

I always knew Evelyn paid attention, but I never realized how close! She has caught on to....

1) How to sincerely apologize- Last week at daycare Evelyn reportedly hit her friend, Ava. Since the girls were the only 2 attending daycare, Shelly explained it was pretty quiet during lunch due to the tension. Suddenly the silence was broken when Evelyn turned to Ava and said, "Ava. My sowwy. You." (Ava, I'm sorry. Love you)

2) Fib- Mommy: What did you have for snack?
Evelyn: Cwackers.
Mommy: Crackers!?
Evelyn: Noooo!

3) How to discipline- When Aunt Jen's dog, Oliver, acts up Evelyn is the first to say, "No, no no Ohh-vuhr. Go!"

4) How to order take out- After Jared ordered a pepperoni & cheese pizza the other night, we later overheard Evelyn on her play phone ordering, "Pepper. Cheese. Pizza. Pwease."

4) And lastly, how to eavesdrop- This afternoon we overheard the neighbor kids squabbling outside the living room window. Evelyn looks to me and says, "Mommy. Hear dat? Boys." Then she pointed to the window (which had the shade drawn) and said, "[Open] dat. Pwease." She was totally trying to spy on the neighbors argument. 20months and already a gossip queen!

The Big (Scary) Day!

Today was Evelyn's tear duct surgery.

Unfortunately, Jared could not take off work so my best friend, Krissy, stayed the night with me to go with in the morning. We woke up bright and early at 5:15am to get ready but waited to get Evelyn in her coat until the last minute so she could sleep as long as possible. To our surprise she was chipper and talkative as ever on the ride to the hospital. She enjoyed her time waiting in the lobby talking to other patients. She was performing at her very best and when asked her age she sweetly replied, "Seven". They got a kick out of that!

When we arrived to her room they had a tiger print kids gown, tons of Christmas stickers and a beanie baby waiting on her bed. She happily slipped on the gown, stuck on a few stickers and was parading around the room making everyone laugh. When it came time for her medicine she calmly sat and drank it. After about 15 minutes it began to kick in. She was contently sitting on a chair when suddenly she lost control and, in what appeared to be slow motion, slipped to the ground. There she sat, hysterically laughing for a good few minutes. After scraping her off the ground, I brought her onto the bed to sit with me. She began to babble nonsense words and laugh simultaneously. When it was time for her to be wheeled into the operating room all you could see was a bed of white and a tiny smiling face on the pillow.

Only 15minutes later I was reassured with cries of "Mommy!" and heavy sobs-she had made it! Listening to this for 10minutes was REALLY making me antsy to see my little sweets. She was so relieved to be in my arms again and continued to cry and scream (loudly!) for a good 15-20minutes. The nurse came in to check on her and mentioned food which immediately perked Evelyn right up. While we waited for her tray we gave her some treats we had brought. Overall, she ate two pancakes, a piece of toast, a package of fruit snacks, half a tiny box of nerds, a few Teddy Grahams and two cups of apple juice. Wow. During this feast her nurse would come in every so often to check her vitals. Everyone, including myself, was impressed by how willingly she agreed to everything. While eating her feast, she was asked to let them put the heartrate monitor on her finger. She must smiled and stuck her finger out while still holding on to her fork. They slipped it on, she kept eating, they took it off, Evelyn said thank you.

Overall, the procedure went perfect. Evelyn did great and the entire staff enjoyed her. Several people popped in throughout our time there to say how adorable she was or how much fun she was. And everyone, including myself, was impressed by how good she was.

Once we arrived home Evelyn was pretty fussy. Until she saw what Daddy had waiting for her.



Then we watched a few shows before Evelyn fell asleep....for FOUR hours. After she woke up we had dinner (she ate great!), had a visit from our neighbors and went to bed at our regular time. I'm so proud of my little Bug! She did awesome!!

Here is a shot of her recovering...

Sweet Memories

Evelyn had a hard time going to bed tonight. After about 10minutes in her crib I heard desperate cries of, "Oh no! Aww mann!" I decided to investigate. When walking in I realized Evelyn had somehow (by accident I'm sure) dropped her paci outside of her crib. She was a little worked up and over tired so I decided to take her out for a snuggle. As we laid in bed together, curled up under a fleece blanket, her nose nuzzled into my neck, I rubbed her back and stroked her curly, clean hair that smelled of Johson's baby shampoo. My mouth was resting on her soft little cheek as her plasticy pacifier breath blew in my face. And to top it off, she had her little arm wrapped tightly around my neck, stroking my back to comfort me, too. These are the moments, smells and feelings I will never forget. I could cuddle like this forever!

***

I had to share this! Tonight Yaya asked Evelyn to count and she counted alright....to SEVEN!!! And she's only 19months!

Thanksgiving/Black Friday

Thanksgiving was such a blast this year! Evelyn is finally old enough to be one of the clan and enjoyed every minute of it with the big kids this year. She particularly took a liking to the two girls, Paige and Renee. She followed Nay Nay around most of the time and the next morning was asking about Paige. It was heavenly!

Due to no nap at all Thanksgiving Day, Evelyn was a little on the crabby side come dinner time. We spent dinner in the dining room alone where it was quiet enough for her to concentrate on eating. During our solo dinner Evelyn glanced up at the table seeing a picture of Aunt Cheryl and Grandpa Eli. She got a huge grin and said, "Li" (Eli). We've educated her with stories and pictures of Grandpa to keep the memory going. But the truth is, I'm just not used to him not being here on Holidays and this sweet little memory brought me to tears. We dearly love and miss you, Grandpa.



**

This year was my first Black Friday EVER! I've been researching products, their original prices vs Black Friday prices, and even went the extra mile to craziness-studying store maps to know exactly where to go for my purchases. I was so excited I could barely sleep! The plan was leave at 3:30am, get there by 4am and stand like crazy people waiting by the stuff we wanted.

Around 10pm, while trying to sleep, I got several phone calls from Jared's cousin, Angie. I finally answered to her excitedly shouting, "Walmart opens at midnight!" Thank God she called! I immediately dialed my best friend and shopping buddy, Chelsea, to alert her that the plans had changed! We stayed up until 11pm and left for Walmart. Arriving at 11:30, we quickly found the first item on our list, the Shark steam mop. Since the crazier people were already there we had a feeling we weren't going to get close enough to them to get one. Fortunately, we made friends with 2 other girls and mapped out our game plan. At 12:01 the tape was cut and we were free to grab! Our attack went just as planned-the 1st girl pushed her way through to the mops and we all formed a line following her. She finally pushed to the front and just kept handing em back til we all had one! It was SO MUCH FUN! As soon as we had our mops, I directed Chelsea to push the cart while shouting, "RUN!!!!" We took off like crazy people, taking short cuts through the empty aisles. The Black Friday deals were all in the main aisles so this way we weren't stuck in the bumper to bumper traffic.

When we finally got to the second item we wanted Chelsea continued to push the cart through the main aisle while I ran back and forth, cutting through aisles to get the things we wanted. Finally, we went to the DVD section. Talk about madness! The DVD's were torn through and the stands they were on looked rough. All the DVD's were gone but there was one remaining on the floor close to a rack-Ice Age! The only movie I wanted! So we grabbed it! We made it out by 12:10 with all 5 items we came for!!

1) Shark Steam mop $36
2) Food processer $3
3) Ice Age $1.98
4) Rubbermaid 40-piece tupperware set $9
5) $4 jammies

After checking out immediately-there were no lines by this time-we headed to the car with smiles of victory. After putting everything in the trunk we decided to go back in for round 2. It was so much fun watching the crazy people running and arguing, spilling stuff as they ran around corners. We ended up looking around some more and I did find one more thing. A pop-up tent for Evelyn. I couldn't wait the next day so I ended up just giving it to her early and we played in it for hours! We made beds inside, brought our baby dolls, brushed each others hair, and once it was night we turned off all the lights in the house and snuggled up inside to read some books by flashlight before bed. It was great!

Here is Evelyn in the mouth of the tent.


And here's a side view-it's 7x4 feet!


I am definitely going to be an annual Black Friday shopper after this. I loved the madness!!

Santa

The past few days I've been noticing how in tune Evelyn is with her environment. The other night she was in bed and I walked past her room and sneezed. I was startled when she then yelled, "Mommy!" She recognizes my sneeze, Jared's cough, etc.

Then this morning Evelyn was dragging out all of the DVD cases (Fun!!). She of course brought the Finding Nemo case to me and began pointing out the characters. First, she recognized Dori, then Gill, and finally she found Nemo at the bottom of the page. I spotted Nemo's father, Marlin, and decided to ask and see if she recognizes the difference between Nemo and his father. She immediately answered, "Nemo Daddy". I was pretty impressed considering they're practically identical (minus Nemo's lucky fin).

**

I also wanted to share a story from over the weekend.

Saturday we visited a store where Santa was making an appearance. Evelyn's bottom lip immediately began quivering at the first sight of him. She was saying, "Gah-wee" (Scary). I asked her if she wanted to sit on his lap and she of course said no. So I thought I'd demonstrate by sitting on Santa's lap and telling him what I want for Christmas. This seemed to help a little bit but after he presented her with a candy cane everything went smoothly. She told him her name, Ehh-nin, and what she wanted for Christmas, candy, and how old she is, 2. She even gave him a hug on our way out. Overall, I think she did great! Definitely an improvement from her last run in with Kris Kringle....

Suh-salts

Evelyn's imagination and personality never cease to amaze me and at this age of 19 months she can only be described as a downright good time!

Tonight before bed the three of us were playing in the living room when Evelyn did a somersault. She then declared it was my turn, then Jared's, then hers, then mine, etc. So we created a waiting line and took turns watching each other do somersaults and applauding each others victory. When Jared and I were finally somersaulted out, Evelyn began recruiting new playmates. It went something like this.....

"Doh-uh. Suh-salt. Yayyy!" (her Dora doll)
"O-bot. Suh-salt. Yayyy!" (a snow globe that apparently resembles a robot)
"Monica. Suh-salt. Yayyy!" (her harmonica)

I could barely contain the hysterical laughter! If you were there I guarantee you would have felt the same.

A few months ago I would have rather run to the store or do errands and miscellaneous shopping trips on my own, but these days the more the merrier. Evelyn is great at walking alongside me, helping point stuff out (you wouldn't believe the eye on this kid!), and is so enthusiastic about helping and being a member of the clan. And as I stated earlier, she is seriously a blast to hang out with! I'm loving this stage and would be completely happy to stay like this forever :)

In other news, since Jared's obsessive sweating has finally ruined my gorgeous, white down comforter, we decided to get ourselves an early Christmas present and buy new bedding and a new wall hanging with our 30% off Kohls coupon and $40 in Kohls cash. After 4 hours, 2 returns, and several incompetent, frustrating employees, we finally scored this beautiful, modern bedspread and picture.

Weekend Project

I've been studying like a dog and am feeling very confident going into this next lecture test. Since I only go to school Monday through Thursday my weekend is almost here!

Friday will be spent cleaning the house and preparing tons of delicious Tasetfully Simple appetizers for my Purse Party. Then I'll hopefully nap with Ev and enjoy my Ladies Night Out!!!

Thankfully, our weekend isn't too busy which is perfect because I'm taking on a new project this weekend.

Teaching Evelyn to smile with a little less cheeeeeeese!

Two Cousins

Yesterday (Thursday) Evelyn and I headed to Montgomery to spend the day with Aunt Rachel, Uncle Sal, and cousin Sal Jr.

Evelyn and Sal were SO excited to see each other! They greeted each other with smiles and hugs and had such a great time playing together. It was so funny listening to the little conversations and giggles resulting from it. At one point, they were just chasing each other through the house in fits of hysterical, adorable laughter.

While we were there we walked a few blocks away to a park where the kids amazed us with their skills! Evelyn and Sal both successfully made it over the balance beam multiple times and went down the HUGE slide alone! They both even took a try at the jungle gym. And they got pretty high up there! I was amazed! Evelyn never seizes to amaze me at the park. It seems like each time we go there she gets more and more daring.

My favorite part of the night was watching the 2 cousins walk home hand in hand. They were inseparable!! Once we announced it was time to head home you would have thought it was the end of the world! Both kids made their bodies limp, collapsing to the floor. As I was putting on her jacket Evelyn struggled to get it off as Sal lay in the doorway, blocking our exit. It was pretty cute. Overall they had a great time which was proven by the mulch in their hair, dirt on their faces and Evelyn's pink pants which mysteriously turned black. Something about seeing two cousins together is just magical. They enjoy every minute with each other so much!

Playing Taxi.


Cutest pic EVER :)



Going to the park.


Dare devils!!

Christmas??

Today was my last day of school for the week! No school tomorrow for Veteran's Day so I have a four day weekend this weekend and next weekend for Thanksgiving. Nice!! I've decided that this year I'm going to make my first Black Friday shopping trip. I plan to head to Target first for my Shark Steam mop (originally $130, on sale for 49.99!) and hopefully score some good toys for Evelyn for Christmas.

Which brings me to the point of what in the heck I should get her! God knows the girl doesn't need anymore clothes and has so many toys I don't know what to do with them in this little house! So far on our list we have a Disney Princess tea party set, a children's digital camera, and a Crayola doodle art thing that I forgot the name of. I was also looking in to getting her a Fisher-Price Spark Art Eisal. If anyone has suggestions please post a comment!! Thanks!

Bad News :(

A great morning was turned into a horrible evening tonight.

After waking up at 6am, Evelyn and I did some laundry, I finished a little homework, we danced, and ate eggies and pancakes n even made a trip to the store!! I love my Monday mornings where I get a few more hours to spend with her.

But it all went downhill after a follow up appointment for Evelyn's cough. She was prescribed two medications-1 for the cough and 1 for the ear infection our Dr noticed in her right ear. And after this, we discussed the fact that Evelyn's left eye has been watery/boogery since birth. We've done massaging, eye drops, nasal sprays, etc and nothing has seemed to work. So today our Dr referred us to an eye surgeon and we have a pre-op appointment this Friday. Evelyn will have to be given anesthesia and put under the knife. It will be a short, out-patient surgery but what mother wouldn't be worried! I'm just so nervous they will OD her or she will be the one out of a million they mess up on. It's so nerve racking. I will definitely have to take a muscle relaxer before this appointment or I will be out of control. Jared will not be going with us because we can't afford for him to take the day off but I will have 2 very close girlfriends going with me. Please keep us in your prayers. I unfortunately inherited Grandma Jo's nerves so I will defiantly not be sleeping til it's over!!

On the up side, tonight I taught Evelyn to drive her cars up and down my back and legs. And I mean, she really hit the right spots! It felt great. Hey, I'm a mom. This is as close to the spa as I'll probably ever come! Don't judge me haha :)

Sunday Funday

This morning while building a fort we were greeted with a surprise visit from our great friend, Rob, who recently moved to North Carolina. Evelyn is his biggest fan!! For about 6months after he left she was calling everyone, even females, Rob. Too funny. During the visit she showed him fort and multiple other toys and tricks, but for the majority of the visit she was cozied up with her favorite Uncle, Rob :)

After parting with Rob, I threw together white chicken chilli in the crock pot for the first time. The rest of the afternoon was lazily spent on the couch. No notes, no housework. It was great! (But rare!) Come dinnertime I was worried I would have to prepare a second meal for Evelyn. But to my surprise she was a HUGE fan of the chilli and especially loved the cornbread. It was delicious and we have plenty left over for lunch tomorrow. Yum!!

Tonight I also got my run on for the first time in a few months. I was jogging strong during the Summer, my 1.5 mile route every night, but once school came I'm so tired after getting Evelyn to bed and doing some studying that I just haven't had it in me. I've been battling with weight loss since Evelyn was born. I go in shifts of great work out and exercise, to eating tons of junk food and being a bum. I've realized that my break in exercise is basically my mind set. Every time I've ever began an exercising regimen I usually give up. It's really not hard to keep it up but I guess I usually quit because I have every other time and figure it's coming regardless. I'm going to try my hardest to stick with it this time. I feel so much better and usually see results quickly. Pray for me to stay strong!!!

Stick-uhhs

What a morning!!

We got a recorded call from our Dr's office at the beginning of the week that said, "Friday." And hung up. So I assumed Evelyn had a wellness check up at our regular scheduled time, Friday at 10am. We ALWAYS schedule at 10am. So on our way, I called and asked what time our appointment was. They said, "Your appointment was at 9:15, you'll have to reschedule." I explained that my daughter was scheduled for a wellness check but has developed a barking cough. They said they were booked. Nice. So we turned around, and 15minutes later received a call that they would see us. So we again turned around (annoying!).

After waiting for 45minutes, we were seen by the Doctor. Evelyn is still weighing 24pounds and is still very advanced our Dr explained. Then it was time. We stripped her down and she was enjoying her naked freedom when the Nurse walked in. Duhn duhn duhn!!! I barely held her arms down and pow pow! Two shots. Evelyn screamed and began to cry until I held up 2 Dora band-aides to which she replied, "Ooh! Stick-uhhs!" with a giant smile. And that was it! She happily got dressed and trotted out to the waiting room to show Yaya her cool stickuhhs.

Our Dr informed us to begin using our nebulizer and humidifier again and if the coughing continued, to call them on Monday. On the way home I was wondering, "how am I going to pull of the neb treatments!?" Tonight I demonstrated how COOL! the nebulizer was and Evelyn wanted to try. After a few minutes she was disinterested. Then suddenly I got an idea!

That's right! A Dum Dum sucker stuck in the side of the nebulizer. Pretty clever if you ask me!

Icky

After Evelyn having a fever/diarrhea Sunday and Monday, Jared and I both woke up feeling icky yesterday. After school, Evelyn's daycare kept her two extra hours so Mommy could take a much needed nap. Thankfully, yesterday was also Jared's Grandpa's 94th Birthday Celebration! I decided to stay home and take advantage of a few hours alone while Jared and Ev enjoyed the festivities with family. I ended up taking another short nap while they were gone and was glad to see they returned home with chicken noodle soup and mashed potatoes for me :) After taking an Airborne pill*, I ended up sleeping for 20hours and not attending school this morning. I did contact my teachers to assure this was ok and they were more than happy to let me rest. And I was more than happy to hear from my A&P teacher that I still have an 82, a low B. Which can definitely be brought back up to an A. After resting all day (Evelyn did attend daycare), I am feeling 100% and am prepared to do tons of studying tonight.

As for Evelyn, she is clearly feeling 100% as well. She proved this by walking the entire 3 blocks to Jared's mom's office this afternoon. There, she proceeded to color tons of pictures and even took a few calls for the office! After a yummy dinner of pork chops, white rice, and broccoli/cauliflower/and carrots in cheese sauce, she enjoyed a very splashy bath. While in the bath, she layed on her stomach and swam, saying, "Swimmin. Fwoggie." Where does she learn these things? I don't ever recall seeing a swimming frog on any shows or anything with her. She just must be a natural genius!!

**If you haven't hear of Airborne pills, they're a new over the counter cold remedy. You fill a glass with 6oz of water, drop the Airborne in, and it dissolves similar to Alka Seltzer. I've used them once already this year when feeling a flu coming on and I swear by them. They totally help!! You should check them out. They're about $8 at CVS. Probably cheaper somewhere else, CVS is a rip!!! But it's worth it. They'll last.

The Overachieving Blues

Besides a small nervous breakdown on my part, today was a good day!!

After waking up every half hour throughout the night, Evelyn slept in until 9am this morning. When she woke her 102 degree fever from the previous night had gone down to 100. Due to her high fever, she was unable to attend daycare and spent the morning with Yaya. It was hard leaving her this morning but duty calls!!

First thing this morning I got the results of my second Lecture test. A big, fat F! I have NEVER gotten an F in my life! So needless to say, my A just went down to a low C. On top of that, I took my third Lab Practical this morning and I'm pretty sure I got a C. The Lab grade I blame on myself. I've had a little too much fun these past few weeks with Evelyn and didn't dedicate enough time to studying the Lab. As for the Lecture test, I knew I was going to bomb it. I've talked to tutors, peers, my teachers, and for some reason I just did not get it...AT ALL!! Fortunately, I talked to a good friend who just received her RN and she assured me she has never been asked the function of a motor neuron junction since she received her RN. Phew!

In preparation for our new, upcoming Lecture chapter, I have dedicated my evening to reading ahead, checking out some pictures, and browsing over the power point notes. After getting down on myself this morning I've decided to keep my head up and go full steam ahead trying to still earn my A. Hopefully it works out!! I know I've got a lot on my plate- a full-time course load, a full time parenting job, and an OCD cleaning problem!! I know it's a lot, but I still want to get my A's and I know I have the smarts, the strength, and the will power to do it. If not, C's get degrees! Haha.

After returning home from school, I was greeted by a gigantic hug from Evelyn! After she told me about her day with Yaya we had a snack and played house. Because she didn't eat all day, she got to pick out dinner-"roni" (mac n cheese) and left over ham. After an extra bubbly bath Ev picked out a movie (Finding Nemo, of course!) and willingly headed to bed. No temp and no fight at bedtime is a very sweet ending. Now it's time to hit the books before bed!!

Halloween 2010

What a great weekend!! We...

Got to visit my nephew, Sal.


Practice riding a trikey.


Got to Trick-or-Treat for the first time. At every house, Evelyn would knock on the door, say "Tweat!", take a piece of candy, say thank you, then immediately turn around and run to the next house. She got it down pretty fast!! (You can't see her banana or cute, coiled tail in these pics :(



Even Mommy and Daddy had fun at a Halloween party the night before. Jareds sweet dance moves stole the show but he unfortunately lost the costume competition to Pee Wee Herman :(

Our Family Is Gangsta

WHAT a weekend! Saturday night, we used Evelyn as a decoy and had Pa (Jared's dad) come babysit while we "ran some errands". Those "errands" were decorating the local Elks club for his surprise 60th birthday party!!! It was amazing! It was The Three Stooges theme with a cake showcasing a beautiful Three Stooges logo with Pa's head superemposed over Curly. Priceless! It said Happy Birthday to our favorite stooge! And said "Nyuk nyuk nyuk" and "soitenly" on the sides. It was hilarious! We had great food, our whole family, and a DJ with karaoke.

Evelyn got the party started (of course!) with her sweet dance moves and by the time she was ready to go home she could barely stand. I of course had to karaoke my signature song-Proud Mary by Tina Turner, and also did a few songs with Jared and hsi cousins. The night was a total success and so much fun! Towards the end of the night, it was only Jared, his sister Jennifer, her boyfriend Chris, and I dancing to anything we requested the DJ to play. It was mainly Tupac and other gangsta music! Hilarious!!

Speakin of gangsta's, meet the newest member of our family.


Nothin like rollin down the street, rockin Dora, and sippin on Juicy Juice.

PS Evelyn insisted she be buckled in. Safety first!

The ER-Our Second Home

That's right!! Another ER trip tonight. Apparently, while I was at school, Evelyn fell and hit her chin, which caused her to bite her tongue, which caused her tongue to bleed "Alot. Like for the past 2hours," Jared says. He made it seem like it was just a bitten tongue, but when I came home form school to see my 19month olds blood soaked t-shirt, it was clearly another story. She was a hot mess! Red faced from crying, dirty blood-stained cheeks with tear streaks on them, and of course her bloody pacifier smearing bright red blood all over her chin and nose. After waiting in the ER for an entire hour, we were finally seen by the Doctor. It took 1 Doctor, 1 Nurse, and both parents to hold this girly down while the Doc looked at her tongue. He decided that since the gash wasn't a cm in diameter and not very deep, we should try a popsicle to see if the bleeding subsides. It didn't! So we waited some more, had another popsicle, and it was still bleeding (for 6 hours now). The Dr then decided to sedate her and stitch her tongue which we were NOT looking forward to. After another hour of waiting, the Nurse called our name for her to be sedated. We were so glad to show her that the bleeding had subsided. They decided to try one more popsicle to make sure it wouldn't bleed from food or water, which it did not. So, now sedation and no stitches, just a 48hour liquid diet which I would gladly take over the alternative. Phew! I was SO scared for her!

So.....5hours, 3 popsicles, and 2 t-shirts later, we were finally ready to go!! After some Dora chicken noodle soup and a bath she is now sound asleep in her clean, fresh sheets and blankets. Goodnight!!!!

More Pumpkin Patch Fun!!

What a fun night! Jared, Evelyn, my brother, Garrett, and I all headed to Pa and Yaya's for a delicious dinner of roast beef, roasted garlic potatoes, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, corn, and fresh baked apple pie for dessert. Before dinner, Jared, Evelyn, and I headed to a local pumpkin patch. We picked pumpkins, hung out with some friendly goats, swung, and played in a playhouse (we skipped the haunted house this time!) It was such a great time and we ended up running into some friends of ours while there. After dinner, we had some old-fashioned pumpkin carving lessons from Yaya. Our pumpkins turned out great and boy did it bring back memories! I haven't carved a pumpkin for years!! Here are the results...

Close up on Evelyns and my Dora pumpkin.

And here are some pics from the Pumpkin Patch...
Evelyn and Ellie.

Evelyn kissing the goat (aka, puppy).

And YES!!! ALL of Evelyn's hair is in one pony!! :( She is growing too fast!!

Punkin Patch

Saturday we headed to Sterling IL to visit a "punkin" patch with some great friends of ours. It was a first for us! We had such a blast! We bought 2 wristbands for $5 a piece (Evelyn was free-score!), and with this we rode a hay rack ride, walked through a corn maze, picked punkins, played in a corn-filled playground, visited a petting zoo, jumped in a bounce house, got our face painted, and visited a haunted house that the workers explained was "not scary, it's for kids". Evelyn did great walking through the ghouls and goblins and the blood streaked walls, but once we hit the strobe lights, it was a different story! The remaining 5minutes (that felt like 5hours!) was filled with piercing screams and shouts of, "I saw-wee, I saw-wee!" It was so heart breaking. But once we made it out, it was nothing a piping hot, fresh baked apple cider donut couldn't cure!

Here are some pics of the Punkin Patch-
Evelyn and Ellia. Jared says, "this is so dumb. Why would you put your face in the side of his face?" We were dying laughing! And I love Evelyn's expression.

Even the big kids had fun!

Playing in the corn playground.

Punkins!

Daddy's girls :)

Me and my peeps.

Duckies

We almost went two consecutive napless days in this house! :( Yesterday, Evelyn woke up at 5am from a bad dream, fell back asleep at 7am, and we both slept til 10! I haven't slept that long in years. It felt weird. Since we woke up 2 hours before her regular nap time, I figured we'd see how it goes without one since napping any later would result in waking up at dinner time, then not being tired at bedtime, etc. So I made plan B. We went grocery shopping and Evelyn slept a half hour on the way and a half hour on the way back. So it was fine.

Today was a different story! At naptime, I laid Evelyn down in her crib and told Jared who was also sleeping (he's working nights) that I was running some errands. An HOUR later, I returned to find Evelyn giggling and jumping in her crib. I laid her down and waited a little longer but I could tell she still had tons of energy stored up. To get rid of it, we drove to the lake and did tons of fun stuff. Including....

Running up a "mountain", as Evelyn calls it.

A little swinging and sliding.

Posed for a few pics.

And fed the duckies.


After walking around the ENTIRE lake (over 2miles and Evelyn seriously ran most of the way!), she was more than worn out but still wouldn't shut her eye! Not even to her lullaby CD I had playing in the car. But finally, she was lulled to sleep by some ACDC and slept for a good 2hours! And is now, quietly in her crib. Phew! Back on track.

Another Tiring Weekend

What an eventful weekend!

Friday
We attended a my cousin Jessica Noffsinger's Sweet 16 Birthday party in Buffalo Grove with tons of family, great pizza and pasta, and thankfully the kids made it out of the bounce house alive!! It collapsed like 4 times with hysterical, traumatized children inside!! Evelyn spent the entire night wandering around hand in hand with her cousin Sal :) :) :) :) They had such a good time together and we all enjoyed watching them hug and kiss and enjoy each others company! Everytime they would separate Baby Sal would yell, "Eehhhnnn!!" (Evelyn!)

Saturday
I scored a new Coach bag at a purse party, made and decorated 48cupcakes for our friends surprise birthday party and Jared and I hired a babysitter and hit the town with some great friends.


Sunday
This morning we slept in until 9am and while Daddy napped Evey girl and I went out for lunch and stopped at the lake to chase some ducks and play on the playground. Evelyn had a great time watching the "duckies" and it was hysterical to watch. She also ran down a hill for the first time. HUH-LARIOUS!!!
We finished up the day with a nap, left over spaghetti, oven baked chicken, and mashed potatoes for dinner and another trip to the lake with Daddy.

Relaxing in our pj's now and SO ready for bed. I can't wait to spend two whole days with my baby!!! (I have a 5day weekend, Thursday-Tuesday off!!)