St. Louis

Right around...ohh...a month ago, we visited the folks in St. Louis. It was a blast, but let me tell ya....don't send a bunch of Arizona wimps to St. Louis in the fall! We froze our little butts off. We did check the weather before we left, but it's a little hard to register what high's in the 50's feel like when you haven't been below 90 in 6 months. I think we each brought one or two pairs of socks and one pair of long pants. Poor Mom, we whined like crazy and made her turn her heater on!
Besides going just for the sake of seeing everyone, we also were there to help rip out the carpet in the basement and put in some pretty laminate. I don't think we ever took a picture of the rooms completely finished! We also played in the rain (there was plenty of it) which Eva insisted was snow. I'm guessing because it did NOT feel like any rain she'd ever seen.

We also:

went to the zoo. The goat exhibit was by far her favorite part, go figure.

an awesome pumpkin patch

and did a practice run through of Eva's birthday. (Note the chocolate cake I made from scratch, which was possibly the most technical recipe I have ever attempted! Hopefully this makes up for the wacky hot pink Elmo cupcakes I made for her birthday)
We had so much fun and are missing you guys! Not so much the cold though. :)

Happy Halloween

We had a fabulous Halloween hangin out with the fam in Tucson. UNFORTUNATELY our little chick (see below) decided not to take a nap 2 days in a row before hand, so come Halloween night when we said, "let's go get some candy!" she said "BATH." (meaning...put me to bed) I tell ya....you go through all those sleepless nights, knowing that it'll be worth it, because if nothing else.....you get to raid their Halloween stash. Aaand then they'd rather go to bed than trick-or-treat. I've never felt so ripped off. It's a good thing she's so cute.....

Thanks for the costume idea Martha...you're the best.

one year older

Profile of the now TWO year old sweetheart:

Height: 35 inches (I think)

Weight: 26 pounds

Favorite phrases "NO WAY!" and "PLAY!"

Likes:
1.) Playing...ALL...DAY...LONG, especially at the park. The first thing she says every morning is "WING TIME!" (swing time).
2.) Making people laugh. She'll do just about anything to get this reaction from someone, including strangers.
3.) Being sassy. Example: we've tried SO hard to get her to say "I love mamma". Every stinkin time she says "I....love....(long pause) EVA!" and then she laughs hysterically.
4.) Candy. The kid never eats voluntarily, unless it's sugar laden. I take that back, she'll stuff olives and pickles in her mouth till she bursts.
5.) Baby signing time. This is the only show she'll sit still for.
6.) Her big panda bear. They literally get into full on tickle fights sometimes and it's not uncommon to see her giving it a piggy back ride, pushing him in the swing, changing it's diaper or feeding him. She uses him as a pillow at night.
7.) Her mamma....as long as I'm being the voice for one of her stuffed animals. Her daddy (aka "BAYBUH") ...ALWAYS.
8.) Her cousin Shaun David. I'm not sure this love is reciprocated.
9.) Reading books
10.) Working on things with her daddy and raiding mamma's closet. Her favorite getup is my hot pink high heels, dangly earrings and a drill.

Dislikes:

1.) Meal time. The only way we get her to eat is by saying " eat it like a donkey". Don't ask me why this works.
2.) Nap time/bed time
3.) For mamma to be upset at her. If she does something naughty and I get upset, she chases me around going "hi, hi, hi, hi MAMMA, HELLO! HI!"
4.) Playing by herself
5.) Having her hair messed with



Monday was the big day! In case you're interested, here are the events of the day.

We:

learned how to smile on cue....not too successful

ate a yummy breakfast

played at the park for what seemed like FOREVER, and I still had to drag her away kicking and screaming

enjoyed her very first happy meal

napped

ate blue ice cream at the local ice cream shop

had dinner and cake (use your imagination...they're supposed to be elmo)

opened presents

was harassed even more about smiling on cue. more successfully now

went to bed


Mom finally got to have her cry about how her baby isn't a baby anymore....

September

Here's a quick photo recap of what we've been up to the last month!

We played with cousins:

Eva and Peter

Eva and Shaun David

Worked on a few things around the house

hall cabinets before:

hall cabinets after

Convinced Eva to let me braid her hair

Played in the rain

Dealt with a little illness

Toured Krispy Kreme with the ward playgroup


Built a fort

Grew an inch or two

Visited the Desert Botanical Gardens

WHEW! That pretty much wraps the month up, at least as much as I can remember anyway....

It's a.......

GIRL!

We're very excited. Here's a little snapshot of her looking nice and comfy all folded in half.

Baby is looking nice and healthy and I'm feeling much better lately. Thank goodness the exhaustion has mostly gone away, and I finally was able to stop taking nausea medication. I'll be halfway through on Tuesday! Woo-Hoo!

ultrasound

Tomorrow is a big day! We're having the anatomy ultrasound. The one where they will hopefully be able to tell if the little squirt is a boy or girl. Jared thinks its a girl...I think it's a boy. Eva just says "ummm....." and walks off when I ask her opinion. I guess one of us is bound to be right. Care to cast your vote? Use the poll at the right of my blog or leave a comment.

The fruits of our labor

It's been a collective effort.....
but we are finally getting to taste the fruits of our labor!Maybe next year we'll be a little smarter and not plant quite so many. There are 12 watermelon and 9 cantaloupe at last count that are nearly ripe. Good thing we like melons!

Celebrating #3!

Whew I'm behind on posting! Jared and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary last Tuesday. It was just a nice, simple anniversary, just the way I like it. We decided to go out to eat for dinner, which proved a mistake. Eva had been acting like a nut case all day, and I joked beforehand that we should make it easy for ourselves and order a pizza rather than try to go out with her. YEAH....it wasn't so funny later at dinner when she's chucking crackers at people and screaming bloody murder when we wouldn't let her run around. So dinner was spent with one or the other of us outside, trying to discipline her, which I'm beginning to think is pointless since I don't think she cares one bit that she's being punished. I'm thinking next year we'll have to give in a get a babysitter. That little fiasco aside, the rest of the day was enjoyable. Bring on #4!

We have such bad luck with our anniversary pictures! Sadly..this was the best of the lot.

Three things I love about Eva

One: She has a great sense of humor and is always making me laugh....

Two: She loves books....

Three: She has the greatest bedhead.....

ahh what the heck. ONE more thing I love about Eva is....


I think she's going to make a really great big sister

14 weeks along

Baby #2 is due February 2nd!

Vacation part 2

After visiting with mom's folks, we headed a few hours north to my dad's parents house in Colorado. My grandparents are ranchers and it was their annual 24th of July celebration, so there was lots to do and see.

Omi spoiled Eva and Shaun David with these teeny frosty's on the drive over.

Ahhh..the parade! Eva's never had so much candy in her life, so naturally she thought it was fantastic.
Abba and Eva going to the hamburger stand

There were more horses to see...
and cows

and...snakes. Dad is so brave. He asked if the kids would like to see one, so he just marched through some tall grass and grabbed one...while he was wearing flip flops! I was impressed.
I'm just trying to prevent her from squishing it to death.
Eva also experienced her first merry-go-round! She's blowing kisses here. What a flirt.

It was so fun sharing some of my childhood experiences with Eva. I can't wait to do it again!