Pumpkin Patch

Oh, blog of mine, it has indeed been a long time. It's been so long I don't even know where to start! We missed the entire summer of Stroller Strides, swim lessons, picnics outside. And, then there was our vacation in Bend, Oregon. That was a treat! But rather than try to catch up life events over the past four months, I will just start here. Our weekend at the pumpkin patch. It was DELIGHTFUL!! The sun was out, the pumpkins were plump and just right for the pickin'! Eva loved the whole experience of riding the horses to the patch and picking out her most beloved pumpkin. We enjoyed sunny seventy degree weather afterwards and ate tamales and drank ginger mint lemonade. Life doesn't get any sweeter or savorier now, does it?

Songfest 2012 at Lakeside Montessori School was one of the highlights of my life for sure. As mothers we live for these moments. It's our paycheck, our moment of glory when our little ones are freshly scrubbed, primped and propped up for the entire world to see how lovely, charming, and delightful they can be. And she did not disappoint. My heart swelled with pride as my little girl took her place on the risers for her performance. She was right on cue with her teachers and didn't miss a beat. Eva only goes to preschool 2x a week for two and a half hours so the fact that she knew the songs so well impressed me. She didn't seem nervous at all. I think she's a natural performer. Her classmates couldn't be more adorable either with the little boys in suits, suspenders and the girls in their dresses. It was like Easter without having to sit through the mass. We celebrated Eva's big day with ice cream afterwards, which should be a tradition in my opinion. Happy Songest, y''all!

Mt. Rainier for Julie's 40th Birthday

I've been woefully behind with posts since Snowmeggedon 2012 in the Northwest. The day all of the snow/ice/storm craziness started we were in the pinnacle of it up at Paradise, the last outpost before people climb Mount Rainier, to celebrate our dear friend, Julie's 40th birthday. You couldn't have picked a more picturesque scene for a birthday celebration. Our first day the snow began to fall big white fluffy crystals, the kind perfect for snowball fights. We had a feast fit for kings prepared by Julie's husband, Joel, and celebrated her birthday on Saturday and our friend Karen's foster son, Kelvin's, birthday on Sunday. I prepared the birthday cake for Julie, my first chocolate ganache cake. We had a wonderful time celebrating this milestone birthday with friends. And, the best part was that we were able to extend this holiday another week when we returned because of the snow/ice storm here in Seattle. Hooray for holidays!

Snow Day January 18th, 2012

OK, so the top picture may be the most awesome picture ever of our daughter! I love the contrast of Eva's ear piercing scream and Wyatt's happy go lucky contenance after both of them were sprayed with a bucket of snow coming down the hill. Eva is such the drama queen! Whatever emotion she is feeling she feels it so intensely. To this day, it really takes my breath away. We were sledding the other day and had hiked to the top of our development for the best hill. It took us about 25 minutes to get there. She was properly bundled and she got a ride up the hill the entire way from her Clydesdale (insert mom here). Once we got to the top, Eva completely lost it and started screaming at the top of her lungs, "I'M FREEEEEEEZZZING!!!!! TAKE ME HOME!!! I"M FREEEEEZINNG!! Anyone walking by at that moment would have called me in to CPS for sure. She really made it seem like I was inflicting some serious harm on her. I tried as best as I could to hustle down the hill and get her home but it did take 25 minutes or so. Imagine 25 minutes of the sentence above repeated nonstop until we got home. I never knew how much temperment plays into the whole kid mix until I became a parent. The positive side of her heightened emotions is that when she is happy, you really feel it too. She did much better on day two of our sledding adventures for Snomeggedon 2012 and everyone could see her radiant smile and sparking eyes as she flew down the hill. Oh, how I love that girl!


That's my girl!

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

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.

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!