Snowy Afternoon

At long last, winter has arrived. We are finally getting an actual, measurable snowstorm here! So, this afternoon seemed like the perfect time to pull out some of Eva G's Christmas goodies. She had so much fun playing in her tent/tunnel and pulled lots of toys in with her!

Christmas

We had a really nice Christmas; Eva G had a good time unwrapping her goodies and just generally being hugged and kissed and loved on. We spent part of Christmas Eve afternoon up in the mountains and played in the snow. Christmas day was very mellow and relaxing and the weather was so nice we got to take a walk and enjoy the sunshine. It was a fun time with family and lots of love and laughter.

1!!

Have a wonderful, blessed Christmas!

2

(someone wasn't feeling very cooperative and is apparently glad that we're almost done with this countdown!)

3

4

(plus a duck and a monkey after a long, busy day)

5

Getting Ready

Our stockings are hung...

 as we begin the countdown...

Santa Claus

Miss Eva had her first visit with Santa Claus on Saturday. We had been talking about Santa Claus and she recognized him in pictures (she calls him "Claus"), but we weren't sure how she was going to do when she saw him in person. She was great; she sat on his lap and wasn't afraid of him, but was definitely happy when we were done snapping pictures and she got to get off.  It was a fun weekend. We are definitely getting into the Christmas spirit here.

Gadgets

Miss Eva loves when her cousins come over and leave their gadgets laying around...

Holiday Fun

Turn up your volume! Hope you laugh as much as we did!!

Tutu Cute

Who else but an almost 2 (!!!!) year old could pull off this outfit on her way to fill the bird feeders?

Friday with Friends

This past Friday we spent the afternoon with mommy's childhood friend and her twin boys who will turn 1 in February. We had a really good time working on Christmas crafts while the boys napped and Eva got into every nook and cranny in her new surroundings.

All of a sudden that afternoon, Miss Eva became the big kid and was so good with Max and Luke. She would give them toys to play with and would pick up whatever they dropped. We're looking forward to a new generation of friends!

Max, Eva, and Luke (gently holding onto Eva's hair). Can you tell which one of the three did NOT take a nap?!

Thanksgiving

We had a super Thanksgiving weekend. It was a very cold but beautiful Thanksgiving day. We were reminded at church that morning that we have much to be thankful for and we always have something to be thankful for--even for those things that we see as bad or hard, because those are the times that we grow.

Here's a glimpse of our weekend:

We took naps

We watched an amazing Thanksgiving day sunset reflecting off of the Sangre de Cristos

We played with and bathed puppies

We made tamales

A lot of tamales!!

It was a really nice weekend and a great time to stop and realize how thankful we truly are for all of our blessings!

Thanks and Bloomers

We're excited to celebrate Thanksgiving and all of the things that includes: family, blessings, good food, and time to relax and enjoy each other. We hope you have a wonderful day and that you also have many things to be thankful for.

One of the things we are most thankful for is this wonderful little girl, who everyday amazes us and gives us reasons to smile and laugh. This morning Miss Eva was still in her pjs playing and decided to put her baby's bloomers on her head!

Cozy

Miss Eva got a box of cozy goodies in the mail yesterday. What's a kid to do, but try 'em out? (how can we possibly complain that this girl loves to wear hats!?!)

First Snow!

We somehow managed to get this far into November without any snow, but last night we got our first little bit. We were excited for Eva to get to experience her first snow, as she was really too little last winter. We went out this morning, for a few minutes and while Miss Eva seemed to like the snow, she did NOT like her mittens--hopefully that changes as winter moves along.

Leaves and Cooki(es)

After a rather chilly start to the day, the afternoon sun really warmed up so we found a sunny spot in the backyard and played for a bit. In the video, you'll hear Eva ask, "Cooki, where are you?". Cooki is our sweet neighbor who we chat with over the fence. Cooki and Eva absolutely love each other and almost any time we go out Eva asks for her.

Trick or Treat

Hope you had a fun and sweet Halloween.

Our Halloween weekend started out a bit more tricky than treat-y. Friday evening Miss Eva started feeling a little warm and by Saturday had become much more than warm. She had fever in the 104-105 category! And she was pulling at her ears. This is the first time she's really been sick and so it was a little scary for mommy and daddy. We called her doctor on Saturday morning and described what had been happening and she said to keep doing what we had been through the night and she'd check back with us in the afternoon. At 3:00 we called her to let her know that our usually happy, playful, not whiny girl was a hot, miserable, sleepy girl. The doctor offered to meet us at the office to take a look at her; she drove 30 minutes each way from her house late Saturday afternoon to meet us! (we now officially love this doctor!!! :) As it turned out, it wasn't Eva's ears at all, but a really, really nasty throat. The doctor sent us off with a prescription and instructions and the offer to call again if Eva wasn't better. It was a much more restful night for all of us as the medicine began to work and the fever was down considerably by the morning.

We had planned a little pumpkin carving party on Saturday afternoon, but cancelled it when Eva was feeling so awful. Then by the time Sunday rolled around, even though we all felt a little more rested and Eva was doing better, we just decided not to carve our pumpkins at all! So now they'll just be decorations through Thanksgiving.

We also didn't take Eva out to show her little costume. We hadn't planned on really taking her trick or treating, but had planned on going to a few houses. Instead, we just played dress up at home and handed out goodies to the little goblins who came to our door.

Whew, what a very different Halloween. But, we have a little girl who is feeling significantly better!

So, here are a few pictures of our little butterfly who refused to keep her antennae on.

 Daddy trying to get those antennae on

 Where the antennae really spent most of the time

 She had her special bag ready for the treats; it'll certainly be used next year!!

The Look

I caught Eva sitting between the bar stools looking at one of her books and tried to take a couple of pictures without her noticing. I only got a couple of shots and then got "the look" from her. She's started giving us this silly look lately, where she tilts her head down and then looks up through her hair. It's really funny. You might also notice she's sporting a shorter 'do. We went in for a little trim this morning and got about an inch cut off.

 "the look"

Hats Off

It's officially become hat weather around here the last few days; the wind had just been terribly cold. So when we've headed out to story time or to run errands, Miss Eva has worn a hat. Well, she apparently likes her hat so much that she likes to keep it on, or put it on, when we're inside! 

Here she is looking longingly outside

Pumpkin Pickin'

The past Saturday we headed out to a local pumpkin patch to find our potential jack-o-lanterns. This pumpkin patch has been around for decades and lots of local school kids have gotten many a free pumpkin over the years. It was a beautiful day to be out and even though the patch had these crazy weeds that stuck to our clothes and shoelaces, we had a good time. Miss Eva and mommy didn't have to get too caught up in the weeds, as daddy and the cousins and Uncle T. went in search of the really good pumpkins tucked in deep. So now we have some pumpkins decorating our outside steps, just waiting to be carved.

Zoo

We have a really beautiful zoo here and we picked a great day yesterday to go visit. The temperature was just right, so a lot of the animals were more active than they tend to be in the summer, yet it was really comfortable to be without a jacket. Eva had a fun time, even though she insisted that the giraffes were zebras (though knew that the zebras were zebras. Go figure!). She also got to take her first ride on a carousel; and she wasn't convinced that it was really all that fun until the last 10-15 seconds of the ride. We'll try again next time. It was a fun afternoon with the cousins who are out of school for a couple of weeks for fall break.

A trip to the zoo simply isn't complete without feeding the giraffes (Eva thought the crackers were for her initially and was going to take a bite!!

EGG in an egg

Enchanted

We spent the weekend in the Land of Enchantment. We started out in Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta. It was a great time. Our day began very early, well before dawn, and was a super fun one. We watched hundreds of hot air balloons lift off into the beautiful New Mexico sky. Miss Eva had a good time, even though it was so early and just a little bit chilly. She liked all of the colors and shapes and hung in there for quite a while and stayed awake until all of the balloons lifted off. We had a wonderful weekend and can't wait to go back to New Mexico.