Happy Halloween!

Evy: Three Years Old

We've been celebrating for a month, but Evy is now officially three years old! On her birthday we celebrated with a pancake breakfast and opened a couple of presents from mom and dad. Then, she had two friends over to play for a couple of hours. She choose chicken nuggets as her birthday dinner so we went to the food court at the mall and then let her ride the carousel two times. What a great day for a three year old.

THE BIRTHDAY INTERVIEW

Q: What's Your Favorite Color?
A: Pink

Q: What's Your Favorite Food?
A: Broccoli

Q: Who is your best friend?
A: Ellie

Q: What is your favorite thing to do?
A: Go outside in the big park

Q: What is your favorite song?
A: Larry Boy and the Bad Apple
Larry Boy and the Bad Apple is a Veggie Tales CD that came in a kids meal from Chick-Fil-A. I can't stand to listen to it but it's what she always requests in the car.

Q: What is your favorite treat?
A: Fish
She means Swedish Fish and it's a favorite of mine too!

Q: What is your favorite drink?
A: Lemonade

Q: What is your favorite TV show or movie?
A: Care Bears

Q: What is your favorite toy?
A: Orangey
Orangey is her stuffed orange cat we found for $6 at Theisen's.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do with your family?
A: Lay down and watch a movie

Q: Where is your favorite place to go?
A: The Mall

I stole this birthday interview idea from another blog and look forward to comparing the answers each year.

A Day in the Life of Charlie

["Breakfast with my mom. My most favorite person in the world."]


["The red shopping cart means Target. We come here a lot. My mommy talks to lots of other mommies when we are here. Target must be the place mommies go if they don't go to an office in the morning."]


["We had coffee with my friend Jory and his mommy Bridget. My mommy talks about coffee a lot. She says she needs it."]


["Another shopping cart. Must be the grocery store. If I cry in the grocery store my mom gets nervous and sweats a lot so I try to sleep and be a good girl."]


["This is the 3rd outfit I've had on today. Something happened in my diaper. Mommy called it a blowout and then changed my outfit."]


["I hang out in my bouncy seat while my mom tries to get some work done around the house. I like my bouncy seat."]


["This is the ottoman in my living room. It's my favorite place to take a nap. Mommy says that babies aren't supposed to sleep on their tummies so she checks on me about every five minutes. She says she can't help being a freak, she gets it from Grandma Joan. I guess it's called genetic?!?"]

UI Homecoming Parade

[Charlie staying warm at the parade]


[Evy's a candy-collecting pro and came away with a load of candy]


[My friend Kate accomplished a miracle and got a good photo of 5 kids! These are Evy's buddies.]

Duties

I was wondering when "bathroom humor" would make its way into our house. Well, it showed up last night as I was reading Evy a book. I read, "the princess fulfilled her royal duties" and Evy looked at me and said, "Hee Hee doodies!"

The Barbie Cake

Excuse me while I brag for a moment. You see I am not good at making anything! I'm not crafty. I don't make Halloween costumes. I don't knit. And, I don't scrap book. So, I have to show off my Barbie Doll Cake creation! I baked all of the cakes Friday night and did the assembly and frosting on Sunday morning. Things were looking very bleak Sunday morning with a crumbling cake and frosting shortage, but I think it turned out great in the end. Evy was thrilled that the cake was pink and that she got a "bonus gift" of the Barbie inside the cake.

Evy's Birthday: Part 1 and 2

[We celebrated all of the Fall birthdays on Scott's side earlier this month.]


[We celebrated with my family last weekend because everyone was in town for a football game.]


[Evy was begging to cut the cake so she could play with the Barbie]


["This is Ariel."]

It's not even Evy's birthday yet and she's had two parties. Pretty sure she thinks the entire month of October is her month to celebrate.

Adorable

If I do say so myself.

The Word is Fight, Fight, Fight...

[Evy always gets treats from my co-workers. Today she scored pretzels from Susan and M&M's from Jenn! Evy said the trombone was her favorite instrument.]


[You would never know that there was a MARCHING BAND playing 4 feet away from Charlie.]

One of the coolest things about my job is the annual performance of the Hawkeye Marching Band in my office building. I couldn't resist taking Evy in for the front row view today. We were all in the car by 7:30 a.m. to make it to our early morning pep rally. Go Hawks!

All Smiles

It's kind of hard to capture with my camera, but Charlie has started dishing out the smiles!

Keeps Me Guessing

Evy used to scream if I attempted to put her bike helmet on. Tonight, she chose to wear it to dinner.

Too Much Fun at the Fall Festival

[Evy spends a great deal of her time pretending to be Kiara from Lion King 2. Here, Kiara eats her breakfast.]


["Mom, look at the cute little bunny!"]


["Hey Man! Throw me some candy!"]


[Lots of fun jumping in leaves!]

The girls and I went to my hometown this weekend for the annual Fall Festival. We ate pancakes in the park, visited a petting zoo, went to Evy's first parade, and played hard when her cousins showed up for a last minute surprise! We were majorly off schedule and that resulted in parade candy for dinner and no nap. The fun hit Evy on the drive home in the form of a major meltdown. Too much fun!

Movie Watching With Evy

Reading a book to or watching a movie with Evy comes with lots of questions right now! I thought it would be fun to make a transcript of a 10 minute period while watching Ratatouille tonight.

"Why's that little guy a mean guy?"
"What he trying to do?"
"Why?"
"Why's he getting carried?"
"Why?"
"What's he doing now?"
"Why he's going in there?"
"Why he's going on the cart?"
"What?"
"Why?"
"Why's he UGH?"
"What's he trying to do?"
"Why's the guy looking at him?"
"Why's he trapping him?"
"What?"
"Why they looking at the girls?"
"What the lady saying to him?"

17 questions in 10 minutes. Very impressive.

5 Weeks

Charlie will be 5 weeks old tomorrow. Where has the time gone? Everyone is doing great. I just went for my first long walk since delivery and feel mostly good. I am sleeping on a futon in Charlie's room since our master bedroom is on a different floor. She is doing really well, only waking at 3 a.m. to eat, but she is the noisiest sleeper I have ever heard. Grunting and groaning all night long so that wakes me up several times in the night and I might as well be sleeping on the floor, the futon is so hard. Oh well, this will pass soon enough.

We are on the go a lot and Charlie sleeps well in the car and in the stroller so that has made it pretty easy to keep up with big sister's activity level. Many people warned us that the adjustment from 1 kid to 2 is more difficult than the adjustment from 0 to 1. I am happy to report that has not been the case for us. This adjustment has been relatively easy. Evy is great with Charlie and is always excited to see her, help feed her, and put her "binky" in if Charlie is crying. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this trend continues!