Letter to santa and random going-ons

Eva "wrote" a letter to Santa today. She is BIG into writing letters lately and has used up the measly amount of stamps we had to begin with. Anyway, it was cute so I thought I'd share.

Dear Santa,

Hi! My name is Kitty. A cat. I'm 3. I've been a good girl this year. Puppy cries a lot. A puppy doesn't say "waaah waaah" when they cry they only say "OooOOOoo!" I jump and help mommy clean the kitchen. I help lion too. I'm not shy with anybody. You're kinda scary, but I like your big fat belly. I already have a present but I want you to bring me a tiger. A big tiger. I want it to roar. His name will be "two" and I'm three. I'm going to make you cookies. A heart, flower, moon and star. I love you sweetie santa.

Love,

Eva

What else is on her wishlist? A cement truck. She's kind of a strange kid. :)


An update on Lyla: Just popped her seventh and possibly eighth tooth. (She won't let me look). Mom's best guess as to what she'd like for Christmas would be paper and electrical cords, but she will end up with something baby safe. Maybe a helmet to protect her from her loving sister. We debated back and forth as to whether it counted as her first word, but she is now saying "HI!" and waving emphatically.

I'd like to add something about Jared and I, but who am I kidding. The only thing we do all day relates to work and the little stinkers.

Playtime and Taking a break

First off I've come to the conclusion that I need a break from the computer. Not that I'm spending horrendous amounts of time on here. I only check my email and read a few blogs, but I'm finding the time that I'm spending thinking about what I need to blog about and the brilliant idea so-and-so posted and oh geez I know I just painted the whole house, but I NEED to do that to my dining room etcetera etcetera. I feel like I'm living in a fog during the times when I'm not on the computer. So I'm self imposing a week long computer fast and seeing if that helps snap me out of my electronic daze. Maybe when I come back I'll better be able to discern what's worth my time and what is just making me crazy.

In the meantime, here are a few random pictures of playtime over the past few months.La la la...this is fun

Ooo...what's in here?

Meanwhile Lyla's thinking....hmmm..this isn't going to end well.

You can't see Lyla's face, but she thought her predicament was quite funny

Spiking sisters hair

I need to tell Jared to quit taking pictures of me while I'm reading to the kids. Not good for the self-esteem! :)

Further proof that Eva has Jared wrapped around her finger. HE LET HER PAINT HIS TOES! Of course he was under the impression that I let her paint mine. YEAH RIGHT. I forgot to take a picture of all the stickers she stuck all over his precious car "for decorating" the fact that he left them on there and thought it was cute just blows my mind.

Happy 9 months Miss Flounder!

Dog-gonnit. This kid insists on continuing to get older. She is now NINE months! We're on the slippery slope to a year and I am NOT happy about it. Not happy at all. I am loving the age range she's been in the past little bit. Still cute chubby baby, but big enough to interact and show off her funny sense of humor. These days she is referred to as "Flounder" or on very special occasions "Sheriff Woody" by order of Eva who decides what we will all be called on a given day and strictly enforces it. She loves to play and have baths. Her favorite game is plowing head first into Eva's giant pillow lion and the rolling all over it while laughing like a mad man. I don't get the point of the game, but it's a several times per day event. She does not like to play peek-a-boo or really anything that takes mom out of her line of sight. She thinks the most random events are hilarious and is always reminding me to lighten up.

*random side note: Do you know the sign for "all done?" It involves waving both hands in the air like you're pushing food away from you. She can't quite get it, so she alternates waving hi and clapping until we get the point. At least I hope that's what she's trying to convey otherwise she probably is wondering why we keep taking her food away in the middle of dinner!

Happy Halloween!

We had a nice Halloween this year. (Read: I actually got to eat my kids candy this year thank goodness) I made the kiddos take about a gazillion pictures, but they were pretty good sports. I think they must be used to my madness at this point.

The sisters

Real cowgirls ride pink horses. Or so I'm told.

I had full intents to make her costume. Until I saw this one and knew I couldn't make one that cute for that cheap.

What did the girls think of the trunk or treat? Eva loved it, especially when they played the hokey pokey. Lyla thought it was pretty awesome too since she got to help dad pass out candy while sucking on a dum dum. We are bad bad parents I tell you.

After this particular photo shoot, Jared took Eva on their monthly "date" to the play area of the farm. She had a blast.

Different day, same place making them take pictures. Poor kids. I guess I can't blame them for not wanting to look at the camera and smile. For the gazillionth time.

There you go grandma's! All the cuteness and none of the sugar high. You guys should really live closer so you can experience both. :)

Happy Birthday Eva!

Last week Eva turned the big 3! I've seen a few slide shows done for kids birthdays so that's what I did for her this year. The music might seem a little (or maybe a lot) cheesy, but I've been singing it to her since she was a baby and she loves it. (It was either that or her other favorite "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley) Happy Birthday big girl! You add so much sparkle to our family.

Eva on Nursery

Eva and I were playing in her room the other day when out of the blue she says, "Mom, talk to me about nursery."

Me: "umm...ok. How's nursery Eva? Do you like it in there?"

Eva: "NO. I do NOT like it."

Me: "What don't you like about it?"

Eva: "cuz, sometimes it's crazy in there and crunchy"

Me: "What do you mean it's 'crunchy' ?"

Eva: "well, when I eat rocks in nursery it makes a 'crunch, crunch, crunch' sound and I don't like that."

Me: "you eat rocks in nursery?"

Eva: "yeah, and they just crunch crunch crunch."

I guess that explains her mysteriously chipped tooth.

Vacation Part 2

*I'm warning you. This is probably the most pictures I've EVER slapped onto one post.

The next stop on our vacation was to see my Grandparents in Colorado. It seemed so stinkin short, but after loading a bazillion pictures on here I know why....we were cramming a whole lot into a few days! Some highlights of the trip:

We went fishing. Not at the usual spot, but it was beautiful nonetheless. We didn't catch a thing, but I don't think anyone minded. Eva harassed, erm, I mean asked Abba (for many days in a row...several times a day) to find her a snake. He did this last year and I guess she figured that was his duty. He caught one while we were fishing and she loved it. Wouldn't put it down. Took it around to smell all the flowers. Aaaannd it was terrified of her. The poor thing puked up his lunch, so we made her let it go.

We hung out with the fam. Did I mention I hadn't seen my brother and his sweet family in two years? It was killer let me tell ya.

We FINALLY got a family picture taken. (Thanks Megan!)


We just enjoyed the fresh open air.

We visited the sand dunes. It was fun, but hot....and sandy....and sliding down hills didn't go as well as I had envisioned.
We went swimming. This kid. loves. to. swim!
And then I cried all the way home. :)