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!!)

Genes

Well it's certainly been made clear that Evelyn has inherited my hilarious personality and it is seriously working out for her :) She cracks me up! Yesterday, we went to the hospital (we thought Ev had a uti, but it's just a rash..AGAIN!). While walking in I let Evelyn hit the handicap button to automatically open the door. 2 hours later, we walked out and she saw a handicap sign and said, "Button!" I can't believe she remembered! Then in the car she sang, "E. F. G." Jared sings the alphabet and has her repeat every letter but this is the first I've heard her repeat it without being asked.

She has recently begun associating children with their parents. Every time I mention my friend Amy, she says, "Hunter? Ash-wee?" (Her 2 kids).

And has learned to express her desire for a clean diaper by laying herself down on the floor, legs spread eagle in the air, and yells, "Change it!" Hysterical!!!

She has clearly inherited this great memory from her mother who scored another 94% on her 2nd Lab Practical!!! And just so you get a taste of what I do everyday at school, I have some fabulous pictures to share! (And speaking of taste, I hope you're not eating right now :/ )

Mmm. Human brain!


That's right! Nasty people try rinsing dissected cat parts down the sink.

Oh, No!

What a weekend!! We were off early Friday morning for a trip to my school, the mall, then a shopping trip in Naperville for my girlfriend Chelsea and I while Evelyn stayed at Papa Ike's for some swinging, trampoline jumping, and tons more fun!

Saturday was spent cleaning the house bright and early and 4 long hours in the A&P lab, followed by a hysterically fun dinner with Gary's parents, my step brothers, and my Mom and Gare. During dinner, Evelyn expressed no desire for the delicious lasagna, not even for cake! When changing her pajamas I noticed she was very warm, and after taking her temp realized it was 100.3! She fell asleep in the car and slept til about midnight when she woke up screaming and came into bed with us. She woke up several times in the night crying, sweating, and vomiting. We went through three sets of sheets, 2 comforters, and 1 outfit for Mommy (uck!). She would wake up crying with a fever (102.3 was the highest!), vomit, then cry herself back to sleep. She has never thrown up before and it was very traumatic. After every time she would cry, "I Saw-wee, I saw-wee! Oh, no! Mess!" It was the most pathetic thing I had ever seen and I've never felt more terrible for someone. After tons of cuddling and lots of Pedialyte she finally got two hours of sleep.

This morning she woke up feeling giddy but would revert into crying fits here and there. After a tipid bath to break her fever, her and Daddy slept most of the day away she finally had a good helping of chicken and "fwies" (by request). We finished the night by watching Finding Nemo for the first time (we are all huge fans) and a long rock before bed. I'm happy to report she is fast asleep and staying home from daycare tomorrow to sleep in with Yaya. Hopefully we're back to normal! If not, we're definitely enjoying the extra cuddle time :)