Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Chocolate Chip Rocket Ship




Jen,
I was LITERALLY crying with LAUGHTER at YOUR DAUGHTER. These are my comments:

1. She is a Thespian of the highest order
2. She could with scat Van Morrison
2A. Or wrap with PitBull
3. How is she soooooo verbal?
4. Did I see it correctly that you were trying so hard not to laugh that you had to cover your face?
5. Somebody TURN EVA OFF. I can see how she is NICKY NICKY NICKY. Only he isn't that stream of consciousness.
6. She "sings" like a Mcgill. Sorta long on the vowel, light on the tone or what we refer to in the biz as "musical intonation"
7. Her riff could be compared to Faulkner or, alternatively, James Joyce
8. Were she a poet, she would be the William Carlos Williams of her generation
9 . Were she a food dish she would be chicken fricase (sp?)
10. Were she a painting, she would be Munch's The Scream
11. Were she a movie she would be UP
12. And so on, and so on, forsooth and lack a day.

Jen and Jeff, what a wonderful child you have!!!!! She is precious adorable and an inspiration to all of us.

Love
Proud Auntie Ginn

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Blessed



We've had a flu epidemic at our household for the past two weeks. it's been pretty brutal here with the stomach flu, hard core fever body ache flu, then all of the above morphed into a sinus infection for me and an ear/sinus infection for Eva. We're hurtin' big time. And my parenting has been at an all time low since most of the time I've been solo with Jeff out of town or at work. Yeah, that one hour of television per day is so out the window and my patience has been tested as I tried to nurse a cranky, demanding toddler while I was sick too.

That said, Eva's busted out with some pretty sweet phrases that have helped me hold on to what's most important: our love for each other. We've made a tradition of saying Grace every night that has morphed into prayers. This is the time when we try to think of people that we love who need our prayers and when we also give thanks for what we are grateful for. At a certain point, I turn to Eva and ask her what she is thankful for. Without skipping a beat, she always says, "Loch." Sometimes she adds "Loch, Nina, and Jon" (our good friends). Tonight she added, "I want to bless my love. My love for my family. I know that my mommy and daddy love me." It made me so happy I wanted to cry.

Then, when I put her to bed tonight, we were looking at her new sunshine clock. It's a clock that shines bright when she's supposed to get up and then shines blue at night when she is supposed to be sleeping. As I was holding Eva in my arms and she was gazing at the clock and said, "Momma, it's beautiful. My sunshine clock is so beautiful. (pause). It must be a momma." Both Jeff and I looked at her curiously and then I asked her, "Why do you think that the moon is a momma, Eva?" She thought for a moment and said, "Because she protects people and takes care of them."

Moments like this really make it all worth it, don't they? I definitely feel blessed tonight. Flu, and all.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Santa



Fortunately, the actual picture of Santa is MUCH better! She got her scary smile out of the way with the out takes! Once I scan it, I'll post to this blog entry.

Before our Santa excursion today, I talked to Eva about the whole Santa thing and how it works. You go visit him at a mall (totally random, isn't it?), sit on a strange man's lap (weird, I know...) and then ask him what you want for Christmas (this makes complete sense). This year Eva had no stranger danger and excitedly went right up to Santa, sat on his lap, and even SMILED for the picture! Our little girl is a big smiler but never on cue. And especially not for cameras. She's always doing the opposite thing that you want. So, when she smiled, I almost fainted out of delight. And it was a genuine smile! She LOVED Santa! Last year she seriously thrashed and kicked Santa so violently the assistant quickly removed her immediately and asked that we take a family photo instead.

The best part of the whole Santa excursion was her wish list. I'm so in love with this age because she really isn't materialistic yet. Her wants and needs are so simple.She asked for a Christmas tree (which she already has), Christmas lights (ditto!), a pumpkin (Ding, Ding! Still outside on our doorstep), a blue balloon (OK, that one we'll have to spring for), and a Christmas Cupcake. How sweet is that? The list really makes so much sense if you know her well. Right now, at this moment, those are her favorite things in the world. I love this girl!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Christmas Tree Farm









On Thanksgiving weekend we got our tree groove on and went searching for the perfect Christmas tree for the year. The weather was bright, sunny and crisp, a rare treat in the Northwest this time of year. We had a great time with our friends, Jon, Nina and Loch. Eva and Loch had a great time chasing each other through the tree farm. Santa's elves would be proud.