Gingerbread Houses

We have a tradition that we make gingerbread houses every year. We made them occasionally when I was younger but I think it became a yearly tradition with my brother's family when I visited them one year. My nephews were pretty young back then and they are both in college now. So the tradition has been going on for quite a while now. For the past many years I have also been making the houses with my BFF and her kids. Evvy and I made one last year at my brother's house but Evvy was still pretty small. This year was her first year of really decorating one "by herself." My girl loves candy. You would think that she ate it all the time by the way she talks about it and oohs and ahhs about it or maybe that is a sign that she doesn't get it very often and is excited when she does get it.

Evvy really enjoyed putting the candy on the house and into her tummy. I think she put 2 on the house and then one in her mouth. She had a couple of moments of tears when I wouldn't let her eat the gingerbread man and the candy off the house. We finally decided that we would let the kids eat the men but they really just ate the candy and frosting off of them.

OK. Have to write a sidenote of what my DD is doing right now. She is watching Pooh and the scene where Tigger has climbed the tree and is scared to jump down. So Evvy decided she needed to climb a tree also. Um, the only tree in our house is the Christmas tree. She was seriously contemplating climbing it. She was looking for where she could put her feet and hands.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of our fun day with our dear friends.

Fine motor skills!

Concentrating hard.


This is FUN!

This is hard to turn it for the camera. Don't drop it!

Time Out! I wanna eat it now!

This is the best part!

Don't be scared, I won't bite your head off little man.

Caught red handed

No one's looking, right?

First Snow of the Year

Today we had our first real snow of the season. I say YUCK. My normal commute home takes 25-30 minutes. Today it took 2 hours. I could hardly get Miss E to the car from the sitter's house. She had to stop and grab handfuls of snow to eat. She LOVES snow. She loved it last year and would always want to eat it. This year is no different. When we got home, she got her boots on and went outside and stomped around in the snow and ate handfuls of it. She got mad at the mittens which impeded the amounts of snow she could pick up and stuff in her mouth. Besides, when she tried to wipe the snow off her face, the mittens really didn't help, they made her get more snow all over her face. So she took the mittens off and continued eating and throwing snow. Then she said she wanted to take her coat off. I told her we had to go in if she took her coat off because it was too cold. So she goes inside willingly and takes her coat off and then wants to go back outside without the coat. Being the love and logic mother that I try to be, I let her go back outside without the coat (just her hat and boots). She is standing there shivering with her hands out. She ate a handful of snow and just stood there trembling. I told her to go inside which she did but then she got mad and started crying because she really wanted to be out in the snow. Such a dillema--hates the coat, loves the snow, hates being cold....

So we compromised. I went and got a bowl and went outside and filled it with snow. She then sat at the table and ate every last flake while I made dinner. It was pretty funny.

So one of us is happy that winter is here. It is NOT me.

Oh and just a disclaimer on the video. This girl is a sponge and repeats EVERYthing. The stupid was not in response to the question of "do you have the best mommy in the world." She was just repeating what I had said about a driver on the way home who pulled out in front of us on an icy road. Gotta watch my mouth :)

This is better! Snow in the warmth of my own home!

My Prima Ballerina!

Evvy really loves to dress in her "princess ballerina" outfit. She is just so darn cute in it. What cracks me up is the hat she has to wear with the outfit. So doesn't go with the outfit but it is so Evvy. She is definitely her own person. I have a couple of short videos that show just how much of a perpetual motion machine this little girl is. She is non-stop motion and talking. I couldn't love her any more. She amazes me every day.

Do you like my hat?

The hat covers my crazy hair.

I love to be upside down

Mommy needs to teach me to be more ladylike

No more pictures!








Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Halloween

We had lots of fun for Halloween this year. After our trips to the pumpkin patch, we went to a Halloween parade where Evvy got her first "taste" of people giving her lots of candy. She was in heaven just eating a small package of nims (m&m's). I like how she says nims :)

Then we had a dress up night at library story time so she got to try on her costume. She loved it. She talked all the rest of the week about having a tail on her bottom :) Then the culmination was trick or treating. She probably would have been happy going to 2 or 3 houses but we went with our friends. She was very cute and would say "trick or treat" and "thank you" at all the houses she went to. After we got home, we had a few trick or treaters come to our house and then we just hung out watching a movie. I let her eat a few candies. I think that the lollypops were her favorite. I have been rationing about 1 piece every day or 2 and only if she eats her dinner.

Here are some pictures of my cute kitty cat.

I'm not scared of monsters! Boo!

Trick or Treat buddies


YUMMY!

Wow, what a stash!

Sugar Coma

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

Evvy took two trips to the pumpkin patch this year. She went once with her babysitter and friend G. We then went with our GAP (Guatemala Adoptive Parents) group. Evvy loves being outside and running free that is for sure. She keeps me on my toes for sure. I thought she was going to trample the poor corn maze. It was gorgeous weather the day we went together with our GAP group and P & her kids.



Here are some pictures of the two trips.

Corn Maze

Wild Child

So Innocent (NOT!)
Gymnastics in her future?

My pumpkin

I Made a Circle!

Miss E was enjoying her supper tonight (ham, sweet potatoes and green beans) but she was about done with what she was going to eat so she was getting a little bit silly. She was kind of "stirring her food" around the plate and I was about to ask her to please be neat and not spill her food off the plate when she exclaims "Look mommy, I made a circle!" I look down and sure enough she had spun her food around the outside of the plate and it was indeed it was a circle. How can you get upset at that? Then she proceeds to mix a little more and says, "I made an oval." OK that one was a little bit of a stretch of the imagination. I happened to have the camera on the table so of course I took a picture of her first real circles.

Cheesy Face

I made a circle!

She is really becoming quite the chatterbox. I need to keep track of some of the things she says. She had a 7 word totally grammatically correct sentence the other night when we were out walking (subject, verb, object, indirect object and I think some prepositions thrown in there). I was stunned but for the life of me can't remember what she said now or even by the time we got home.

Some of her funny phrases lately:

• Good idea mommy! (after I have suggested we/she do something)


• I chilly mommy! (used to be "I cold")


• It very dark outside, I go night night now (mommy's loving this one and using it as an opportunity to move bedtime up a little bit).


• Where's the luna (moon in spanish)? Today I told her it was raining and cloudy and she responded "the luna is behind the clouds."


• My favorite "I lub you mommy!"

She is also into emotions. "I scared" "I sad" "I happy". Tonight when we were doing bedtime, she was trying to stall a bit after I told her no more stories (we are doing longer stories now so fewer overall books). She told me "mommy, I sad" and pouts her lips. I kiss her and she gets all giggly. She did this several times and then I said "mommy's sad" and she gave me bunches of kisses. It was very sweet.

Thankfully, she has started sleeping much better lately which is WONDERFUL for mommy. Not sure if it is the change in her babysitting routine or not. She is having a lot of fun playing with her friend Gabby every day and today they started doing their pre-school lessons. Evvy brought home her picture and put it up on the fridge with her magnets. They are learning about "calves" this week.

Hopefully I will get some more blogging done this week with the rainy weather.

My little pumpkin!

Don't know where the time has gone. I was shocked that my last post was in August. September flew by. We had an unexpected extended visit from Grandma & Grandpa courtesy of one of those pesky hurricanes that hit their area of TX. Thankfully they had no damage to their house but some of the surrounding towns had a lot of flooding and damage (5' of water in their houses). Evvy loved spending time with both of them (Grandpa went back home for a week to help out with cleanup but then came back and spent 3 days with Evvy. She had a great time going to an apple orchard, riding in a "corn tractor" and riding in Grandpa's airplane (they didn't actually go flying, just taxing across the airport. She was thrilled though. Everytime she sees or hears an airplane overhead, she says "granpa?"

Evvy started going to a different babysitter this week and seems to be really enjoying the change in pace and surroundings. She is with another little girl about 6 months younger than her and another little boy that comes a couple of times a week. On Friday, they went to the pumpkin patch and had a great time. Each child got to pick a pumpkin and they had some that were just the right size for little kids. Evvy has been carrying hers around the house all weekend.

Here are a few pictures from this week. I have a lot more that I need to get off the camera and maybe I will get caught up on blogging :)

Enjoy!
Susan