Our Christmas at Home

I know it's February, Christmas is so last year, but I just hadn't gotten a chance to put up our Christmas pics yet and I had to get them in order. So here, finally, they are:

This was our first Christmas in our new home and the first Christmas Eva would remeber...

...and she liked it very much!

Reading about Baby Jesus Chrsitmas morning.

First presents

The ladle was "favorite."

"Best Favorite"

Daddy liked DC+You+Me

(took him to the Newseum downtown)

And family came to visit us in the new place!

This year we all gave to charitable causes and read about them together around the fire before Reese's s'mores and cocoa. It was a special time.

And of course we had to take a family portrait!

This is the Hawkins' side of the family clan, my dad's brother George and Grandma Anna with Aunt Sue (the three all clustered center-right). The rest is "us."

Outtakes!

My favorite outtake. Nice melon, Dad!

And the Hawkins, Hawkins, and Campbells

Hope you all had a Hapi Christmas, everyone!

The BIG Snows

I know I already posted this picture, but it's just so stinkin' cute!

We got hit with an incredible amount of snow in one day (at least it was to me the Carolina girl) this past December. We felt quite buried even tho it wasn't quite 2ft. It was gorgeous to have a white Christmas, but it took until this past week for it to melt! Amazing. Eva loved shoveling with Daddy and telling everyone to "Look! Shnow!" each morning, but if you invited her to join you for a walk in it, she wasn't game. She didn't want to get "Wet dirty." It would be, I'm sure, intimidating to a little one to try to walk in something up to your waist!

Now again, we've been hit with an even bigger amount of the white stuff so it reminded me to put out this post! This is what it looked like then (in December) and what it looks like now only a bit more ...and more fore casted for this evening! Crazy Ol' Man Winter! Approximately 42in so far this season and still counting!

This is the creek in the back yard.

We should probably fix this...

Getting Ready for Cupid

It was a thing of beauty to behold when she was done, and so she beheld. (Soberly)

Headed to Mimi & "Gramper's" house the week! Yay!

In my mind I've gone to Carolina...

Peach-B-GONE!

In December we finally got to painting away the peach! Hooooooray! Sorry to all you peach-lovers out there, but I was so so happy to see it go. It was really more of a creamsicle orange, especially when all the sunlight would pour in through the slider in the afternoon. I felt like i lived in the belly of a salmon. Ew. (not really, but you get the idea.) We needed to freshen the white on the ceiling too, so you'll see we had to protect everything. It took us 10 days, (6 more than we planned) but when it was done, it was my wonderland. (video to come, i promise) But what a job!

This picture shows the colors I decided on (there tested on the wall) AND it shows our first snow of the season falling outside the window.

Snow is falling again today all over the east including here in Spotsy. Up next I'll tell ya about our Big Snow right before Christmas!
(here's a preview)

Lately with Eva

"Lately with Eva" sounds like a talk show... anyway, lately, my sweet Evangeline (20mos and 25lbs) has become ever more the delight to her Mummzie and Dad. She's talking in sentences now which so often crack us up! I'm diligently trying to write her "funnies" down so I won't forget these joyful, leaving-babyhood days as she's learning her world. The other day (well it was a month ago) we arrived home from a trip to find that snow had covered the yard in melting patches. Eva was quite displeased. She scrunched up her face and declared, "Yucky!" She pointed at the muddy water, "Mess. Grass mess, look."

Also, thanks to Sesame Street (and Mummzies positive reinforcement??!), she loves counting. She started this before Christmas and it was fabulous fun to "show off" our 1-10 trick for all the family! I'm pretty sure tho that she only grasps the number concept as far as three. She can go get you 1, 2, or 3 items, but beyond that it gets fuzzy. We are also practicing following instructions, which she thinks in a most delightful game. I'm trying to describe things to her and see if she understands; I guess it is a fun game! "Eva, can you go get Mommy a big book?"

Room-time is also going swimmingly. She has 2 times a day that she has playtime in the toy room for 45min to an hour. Most days it's with a video for company, but we're working on just the playing. I've tried to have her do a craft of some sort during this time, but that ended quickly when she bit the tops off the markers she was making her art with. What a (cute?) little animal. She really seems to enjoy the daily routine of it all tho and so does Mummzie. Order is a blessing!

She delights in helping Mummzie with chores around the house each week, especially sweeping, and daily brings reports of messes she's discovered... even if it's just one raisin. "Mommy! Mess! Ray-in!" (said with great disgust) And she's learning that when she makes a mess that she needs to help take responsibility for it either with helping clean it up or by telling Mummzie she's sorry. (for dropping her bowl of cottage cheese on Mummzie's new boots)

Today was one of the funniest moments we've had with her using her new apologizing skills. Babygirl was hanging out with Daddy watching "foo-bul yay!" on tv in the playroom when she realized that she needed to "go." (she's very conscious of her bowels..good for training this fall!??) She reported her need to Daddy with typical concern in her voice. Have I mentioned before that Eva is a very private potty-goer? She doesn't "go" unless she's alone or thinks she's alone. And often her favorite "spot" to go is in her playroom during room-time, so you understand her predicament here. So Daddy (not wanting to miss the gripping play-off game?) suggested she go in her bedroom for her needed privacy. (sorry to disappoint, but this is not the setup to a poop disaster story, Tiff and Jess.) Well, after some convincing and reassurance, off she went to her room to "take care of business." A moment or two pass... then we hear from her room, "Sorry, Mommy." And another moment passes, "Sorry... a diaper a change?"

That's my girl.

My girl is also growing in being kind (not abusive) to her baby dolls. Her favorite game used to be smacking them against things or throwing them across the playroom. She would make screaming noises and everything. (Perhaps another "game" learned from her older boy buddies?)

Now there is only love for "Baby Clow-dee-er" (Claudia) and "Boy" (not pictured)

Goodbye Baby Mullet! (Eva's First Haircut)

Yes, the time did come this autumn to give the pretty curls their first snip. Some of you may say, "Noooo! Baby girls don't need hair cuts, they need piggy tails!" And I partially agree with y'all. Problem tho is that she started to need something done with her hair every time we were to venture out (otherwise she just looked shamefully shaggy) and that's when I decided that she could use a trim. Some of you may say then, "Of course she needs something done with her hair! She's a girl!! She'll always need something done with it!" And to y'all I'd say firstly, to calm down, and secondly that I delight in fixing my beautiful child's hair, but simplicity is an enormous blessing and often a necessity when one has many a duty to attend to, and so I acted thusly.

Before:

Teeth brushing = Eva sitting still

She likes her "dress."

After:

Over all, it went well. It took 5 minutes and one toothbrush, and Chicken Nugget stayed still and happy the whole time. Her hair is curly back there, so Mummzie's flubs where mostly camouflaged. And she's so goshdarned cute anyway that nobody would notice.

Postcards from Eva's Autumn

Mimi and uncles visit in October

Discovering YEEVES! (in October)

Spoiling the cousin Thanksmas picture in November

Considering re-DECK-orating in December

"Yep, this place could really use some help!"



"I'll take my compensation in tiny stones, please."