New Schedule

I have been part-time for almost a month now. It has been amazing. I cannot tell you how awesome it has been to spend more than 3 hours per day with my child. The weekends have become enjoyable as we don't have to spend our two days off running a weeks worth of errands. The simple enjoyment of being able to do a load of laundry, unload the dish washer or run an errand while home during the week is incredible. I was worried how Evy would adjust to her new schedule of 3 days at school and 2 days at home. She has had a little bit of trouble but I can tell it's because she loves being home with me. She now gets sad when she has to go to school and drop-offs have been resulting in tears. When she went 5 days a week drop-offs were a piece of cake, like she didn't even know we were gone. I can tell she's a little confused about what she is supposed to do each day. This morning when I put her shoes on she said, "Where I going?" And when she wakes up in the morning she asks if she can keep her pajamas on. She knows that if she has to get dressed right away it means she is going to school. This has been a little hard, but it has just reaffirmed my decision as she obviously prefers to be at home. So do I.

Noah and Yoda

Evy got this Noah's Arc Little People set for Christmas. She was calling Noah, Santa so we corrected her and told her his name was Noah. "Yoda?" she asked. No. His name is Noah. No-Ah. "Yo-da." It's really funny, but also baffling because we know she has no problem saying the word no. Apparently, she just can't put it together with the sound "ah".

Merry Christmas!

[Grandma Joan and Papa Jake gave Evy this Piddy Dess]


[Evy obviously reads this book at school. She was able to read it to us from memory when she opened it.]


[Evy followed her cousin Kate around and copied her every move!]


[All the crazy cousins on Scott's side]

Christmas with a two year old is so much fun! We are lucky to live near all of our family, but that usually means we only get a 24-hour visit at each house as we make the rounds over the holidays. Things end up being pretty rushed, but we make sure those 24 hours with each family are jam-packed with fun! Scott is putting Evy to bed and she is exhausted! After she climbed the stairs to her room she stopped and sat down and said, "I just rest here." Hope your holidays were as exhaustingly fun!

Found!

A friend sent me this the other day. She found it on her phone. Obviously, it's from a much warmer time of year but I was thankful she sent it along. Very rarely do we get a photo that includes both Scott and me. Lets be honest, we're all much more interested in looking at photos of Evy!

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

Evy loves to read books about you and watch you in movies. She waved at you at the mall this week, but tells us she is not interested in sitting on your lap. If you recall the incident from last year you probably aren't that disappointed by this. Evy would like to ask you for "dollies, popcorn and books. "She has been such a good little girl (for a 2-year old) and is having fun talking about everything related to Christmas. Her favorite Christmas songs are Jingle Bells and Rudolph and she picked out a Care Bear ornament to hang on our Christmas tree.

We're looking forward to your visit!

Funny Things Said by Evy

As we were getting in the car yesterday I told Evy she could bring Elmo, Baby Bear or Dolly with us because Bunny is too big to bring. She said, "No, mom. Bunny is just right." I let her bring the bunny because I loved her answer so much.

A Cluster of a Weekend

The objective was easy; spend the weekend in Chicago and celebrate my nephew's second birthday. But things can never be as easy as they sound, now can they? Friday morning we discovered that my problem-child of a car was leaking a lot of oil. A consultation with the dealership resulted in a no-go for driving my car to Chicago. After a lot of negotiation I was loaned an SUV. Obstacle 1, taken care of. Saturday night, just before the birthday party Scott was opening a beer bottle. The top of the bottle shattered and sliced his middle finger. Two hours at Urgent Care and 5 stitches later obstacle 2 was taken care of. On Sunday morning we left around 9 a.m. to return home. Four hours, two detours, two stand-still accidents and 100 miles later we checked into a hotel. I've always wanted to visit Princeton, IL. Things were looking up when I realized our hotel had a pool and there was a wal-mart next door. I just needed to grab some shorts for Scott and he could go swimming with Evy. See obstacle number 2...no swimming for a guy with stitches. Crap! For $6 I secured some sweet shorts that say "Dream" on the butt and suddenly had myself a white-trash swimsuit. At 10:30 a.m. this morning we arrived home safely. Obstacle 3, tackled.

Don't Steal Moon!

Last night when we walked out of daycare Evy said, "Oooooh! The moon!" The way she observes everything continues to amaze me. Of course, I didn't even notice the moon in my hustle to get into the car. Halfway home she started whining. Something about the piece of paper she was holding. She said, "The moon is going to take my paper!" "Don't take my paper, moon!" Good grief. At least she's a silly little grump.

Play Nice

At the open gym this morning Evy wanted to play in a bounce house like the one pictured. The slide doesn't have steps up to it--just one huge step so Evy couldn't get to the top of the slide by herself. She was the only kid in the bounce house so I decided to take my shoes off and get in to give her a lift. We were having fun when another child came into the bounce house. His mom was right behind him and didn't want to get in. She looked at me and said, "Well, now I can't tell him I'm too big" in kind of a snotty tone. I'm sorry that I ruined your lie ma'am. I took the high-road, smiled and offered to give her son a boost up the slide also. I wanted to say "Well, it looks like you might outweigh me so you could still tell him you're too big." Play nice kids!

Allergies?

Evy has been having problems with her eyelids lately. Two weeks ago we were at the doctor because her left eyelid was swollen and on Saturday she woke up from her nap with this monster. We took her to urgent care today and they think it is some sort of allergy. The doctors aren't too concerned with it and it doesn't seem to bother Evy but it just looks so sore! Have any of you ever experienced this with your kids??? It's not pink-eye. The eyeball is not red and there is no drainage from the eye. Just a huge, red, swollen eyelid.

The House That Evy Built

Scott was out of town all weekend so this project was a perfect activity to keep Miss Evy busy and sitting still for 45-minutes! She wanted to eat all the candy so it's amazing that any of it ended up on the house. The frosting was a mess but at least I can use the excuse that a 2-year old made it. It probably would have looked the same way if I made it myself...

Full-Time Fun

This was the first Friday on my new reduced schedule and we had some full-time fun. It was a bonus that my brother had a continuing ed class in town so we got to hang out with my sister-in-law, baby Mason and Evy's "buddy-boy" Jacob. We hit tot-time at a local gym in the morning and then went swimming and bounced on the bed (a lot!) at Jacob's hotel. Jacob and Evy like each other a lot, they just display it in different ways. Jacob loves to give Evy hugs and Evy prefers for him to stay out of her space. They did agree on one thing...kissing baby Mason. Poor kid, about got smothered.