All I Want for Christmas...

This year was the big year, the year Eva would really get to understand the reason we celebrate Christmas, as well as get excited about Christmas morning and Santa. Yes, we do Santa, but we don't emphasize him. We go see him, we sing his songs and Santa brings a present, but we tried to always talk about the reason for giving and receiving gifts and the first gifts that were given on Christmas. She is really starting to understand Jesus being born on Christmas and the whole story really. She can tell it to us more or less.This year we asked Eva what she wanted forChristmas and her first reply was,"Lots of presents!" (we have a very satisfied 2 1/2 year old right?) I hope maybe some of this is being the first and only grandchild for many... I hope. Then, Eva got hooked on a Belle Baby doll from t.v. not to mention all of the other Disney Princesses. Man, do they have a gold mine audience in all 2-8 year old girls! So, we went searching for all things princess and baby doll. By Christmas Eve, we were concerned that her big present from Mommy and Daddy was going to be a bust because of the weather. (pics below) We finally got to pull it out today, only a

couple of days late, and she LOVES it!

Our Christmas holiday schedule was pretty good. We had a family Christmas dinner at my house on the 21st with my dad's side of the family. Don't be deceived, I did not cook. My mom brought everything. I am very lucky! Unfortunately, my grandmother couldn't be here this year and is not doing well at all. Prayers for her to have peace would be wonderful. My nieces brought Eva a huge Disney Princess

dress up case with jewelry and outfits. They are pulled out every single day multiple times, but right now we really only put on the Cinderella costume. Thank you Kayla, Karmen and Cole!

We left on the 23rd to go to my parent's house at the lake to do dinner with them and my brother all together and so they could have some time with her to open a few presents from them alone. She loved her Bitty Baby doll that Mom got her with all of the accessories, which is really what she likes the most about most things... not at all like I was as a child...aka the Trinket Queen. Her Uncle Cullen got her the funniest riding toy. it is a green inch worm that moves when you bounce on it.

Actually really cute. We had an awesome dinner that my Mom always cooks, again and then a late night with Eva. The next morning Mom cooked breakfast, mainly so Eva could have some bacon, her favorite. We ended up heading back to get home

in time for Church.

Our church does two traditional Christmas Eve Services, but they have a children's program too that is so sweet and special for the kids. The kids all get to go in and pick out a costume from an angel, manger animal, Shepard, king, Mary or Joseph and take part in a reading of the Christmas story. We sing songs as the story moves along and then all go outside to put the baby Jesus in the manger. Eva liked the songs and her costume, but once she got up front for her part in the story, sort of freaked out. I had to pick her up and watch the rest. Then, we went to a come

and go personal communion before heading home.

Eva went to bed after attempting to help make sugar cookies with Royal icing for Santa and the reindeer. Since I was in a big hurry as it was getting late, we didn't get the icing just right, but they turned out okay.

I only have pics of the half eaten ones that Santa got after Eva put them out by the fireplace. She went to bed quite well, but woke a couple of times in the night for me to come to her and her to tell me, "Santa coming to my house?" "Yes, baby girl. He is going to come but we have to go to sleep." It was obviously on her mind. The next morning, she was still asleep at 7:30 which we were surprised about. This is what happened in pictures.

Next, at about 10:30 we headed out to Grant's parent's house and his MeMaw's for lunch and cousin present swaps. We only gifts for grand babies now because there are FAR too many cousins. Eva ended up with WAY too many gifts, but all of them she loved. (Secretly, I have put up a few for later days when we need something "new" to get through the day. My mom used to this for me and my brother as well.)Here is Eva at her Mimi and PawPaw's house getting gifts from them and her three aunts and uncle.

Thankful Thanksgiving...

Since I only post once every one or two months, I will give a little update on what we and Eva are doing now a days.

My little two and half year old is such an entertainer. She is constantly telling us things she learns at school and asking us questions that shock us. I love this stage and how Eva is such a sponge just soaking up knowledge and taking in everything. This past month she has learned her months of year, minus September and November. She just skips them. Then she started spouting our her days of the week, sometimes we have Sunday. We are currently obsessed with anything Disney Princes, stickers or bandaids. The child wants two or three bandaids a day. I do not know why...

This post never made it to publish before Christmas, so I will just fill in some of Eva's sayings...

When she is mad or doesn't want you to do something, "You not do that!"

When she is surprised or being dramatic," Oh MY GOODNESS!"

When she is trying to schmooz you, "I love you SO much!" or just be sweet.

She is now singing all christmas carols from Away in a Manger to Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and Santa Claus is coming to town.

She knows her Days of the week, her months of the year (minus September and November)

She also can count to 20 something before losing the repetition of the numbers and then says 100!

I am sure there are more.

This year we are thankful for so much, but I know we cannot take it for granted as this year held much sickness for members of my family. We pray the coming year will contain more healing.

: Hello Blog World. Here's a brief update...

First Day of School in August.

Before my Aunt Amy's wedding party with my Aunt Hannah. Am I happy?

Watching the Tide Roll with my cousin Way Way.

I kind of stole the show as the flower girl at Amy's wedding on October 8th. Danced a little jig at the top of the isle before I walked down.

Going to dinner with Mommy. Had to have a fruity drink like her!

Where's the punkins? My three Aunts, daddy and mommy took me to the pumpkin patch before Halloween.

Mommy! It's Snow White! I'm Snow White! At Boo at the zoo. Fun stuff.

Where have we been?

Well we've been doing a lot. But... My computer crashed almost two months ago and we have not gotten one yet. So, we have been potty training, visiting the grandparents at the lake, going to the beach with the frog potty in the passenger seat, and playing with friends. Here are a few picks until I can get some details up. FYI potty training went well and my lite two year old is sleeping in her big girl bed just fine as we speak. We started that at the beach a couple of weeks ago.
Hopefully I can rejoin the blog world soon!!

My Baby was 2! on Cinco de Mayo

Eva's Birthday Morning!

And, now it's official. We have a two-year-old. We have felt the twos for a long time now, but as of May 5, we are two. I do not know what most two year olds are like, but mine seems to pushing four. She talks non-stop, and most of it I know exactly what she says. She is seriously hard-headed and seriously funny. Eva's personality is hysterical. I sometimes feel like her sense of humor is seriously mature or mine is seriously immature, I guess since I teach 13 year olds I will go with the latter. Of course, she still is surely two. She gets frustrated and hits, or sometimes just hits for no reason as in Sunday School this morning, but she also is the most loving, sometimes clingy, child. She truly shows unconditional love in the meer moments after being scolded or spanked. Her feelings will be hurt, but she wants so badly to be held and hugged and kissed and I want so badly to comfort her. I love her more than I thought ever possible. It is amazing how priorities change without even a second thought. Grant and I get quality time together everyday, we get to go on a date every now and then, but we could care less if it is pizza and tv and talking, or dinner and movie, because we love to be here with our baby girl. I cannot wait for the next two weeks to be over and my summer to officially begin so that I can enjoy more times like I have the past few weekends.

We did have a birthday party for Eva on May 5th. We just invited family and few family friends with kids Eva has played with. We ordered Cocina Superior for Cinco de Mayo and had cake and cupcakes from Louise's Cakes and Things. She had a great time and so did we.

This is the precious cake! I ordered it the DAY BEFORE! I thought I would try to make her cake, but who could beat this? It is strawberry cake and buttercream icing with fairies and butterflies! And it was YUMMY!

Is this mine? I love CAKE!

And, presents... This one is wrapped in Dora! I think I'll open it first. I LOVE Dora too.

This is my friend Katelyn. I LOVE her too! My mommy and her mommy have been friends since they were in middle school!

pushing my friends around on my car. I didn't want to share at first, but I guess I like being in charge...

My friend, Ashton

Of course we gotta eat too! A little mexican and juice. I look so sweet, but only moments after this picture I fed my food to Lucy!

AH! I love being 2!

Easter, what am I late with this?

So, Easter was almost a month ago, but we have had A LOT going on around here so this post is quite a bit late.
We ended up taking Eva down to the lake for Friday and Saturday to see my parents and ride on the boat a bit. She is truly a lake baby. She loves the boat, loves outside and loves her Mamama and Papa. We hid eggs, went out to lunch, rode on the boat (she slept) and played with chalk. The child loves chalk, but lately she loves to dump it out and organize it and put it up more than she does color with it. Honestly, I don't know where she gets it...
These are our pics of the lake.

Sleeping on the boat!

Ha! fooled you, I'm awake!

Then, Saturday afternoon we came home so we would be able to go to church for Easter Sunday. I love my church, and I love my church on Easter. Our music is amazing, our sermons are phenomenal and the praise and love for the risen Christ is overflowing. We got to snap a few pictures before we left and then a couple of Eva infront of our flower cross, a tradition at Trinity every year. It was very crowded and my daughter is a camera ham, so these are all I got.
now do you believe I am a HAM!

After church we went to Pleasant Grove to eat with Grant's family and hunt eggs. Eva is obsessed with eggs. Ever since our church egg hunt a week or so before Easter, that is all she wants to do. She asks for her basket and eggs. If you remember she only found one egg at the official egg hunt, but with all of our practicing, she is a professional. And we don't want no stinky real dyed eggs, just the plastic ones please! Here are our family pics from PG and the egg hunting. It was a fabulous holiday and we had wonderful time with all of our family all weekend. We are so blessed. Especially with what came later that week. Mommy and Daddy with Eva

Mimi and Paw Paw

The whole family minus Doug, taking the pic, and Aunt Amy, sleeping off her 4 in a row!

I love my Aunt Hanny!

As you all know by now, the horrible storms to ever come through Alabama devestated our state on April 28th. Some of the worst damage (and all of it was bad) was in Pleasant Grove, where Grant's family lives and has always lived. Well, that day we got out of school a bit early becuase of the weather coming in. I left even earlier to get Eva and got her home. As the storms began to get closer to Mississipp's line I began to get more nervous. I have always felt safe in Homewood, not becuase a storm will say, Oh, that is Homewood, I won't go there, but because we are on the mountain and have always had this sort of buffer. We just don't fall in that alley that the path or tornadoes always take. Well, that morning as I was getting dressed the first of the storms went right across the mountain in Vestavia and Cahaba Heights, very close to us. So, this afternoon I am realizing, we are not safe, anywhere. I am at home alone with Eva and if our tv goes out we have no way to know what is going on or how bad it may be. I would be scared to death, so I load up and head out to Pleasant Grove. Yes, right into the heart of the storm to come later.
As the storm passed Tuscaloosa and torn the city apart I heard James Spann telling Pleasant Grove, Hueytown and Bessemer to get to the place of safety. We all headed to the basement, the main reason I went out there in the first place. As it came close it was very loud, you could feel the noise. A few minutes later it was passed and we went outside. Trees were blocking the only road to their house and a large one was laying across our cars and on the back corner of the house. We had escaped with no injuries and very minor property damage. But, imediately we know there is more going on. People are screaming, ambulances and fire trucks are blaring and we find out later that a few blocks away, everything is gone. It takes several hours to get intouch with all of Grant's extended family who still lives in different parts of Pleasant Grove, but miraculously everyone was safe and no one lost anything! The same was not the case for many families and several close friends who Grant grew up with and went to church with for his entire life. The following weekend I stayed home to take care of Eva instead of go to dear friend's wedding, because Grant needed to help his town go through the pieces. He was torn apart, but felt some healing in being able to help. He is such a hard worker and such a loyal man that there was no where else he could be but there. While there is still much to do for his friends and the people he loves who lost so much, he knows he will be there, and we will be there to help in the future as well.
Since this horrible day in April, I have been moved to tears more from the outpouring of love and giving and selflessness that the people of this state, and so many others, have shown than I was at the fear and terror I felt in the midst of the storm. These are a few images Grant was given and some that he took, of his home town after the storm.

The upclose are images of his cousin's house, completely gone. They survived with the father standing over his wife and twin children in a corner of their basement. Miraculously, a wall collapsed and was held up just above them by a baby changing table. The airial views are of PG, the actual path of destruction that is now there.

Please continue to pray for all our state as this process of picking up the pieces of the lives that are left continues.

The Zoo and The Egg Hunt

Sisters

(just after I snapped this, Lucy looked up and made the perfect doggie smile!) poo.

We had such a wonderful time this past weekend. It was quite hot already, but we enjoyed all of our time outside. Saturday morning we went to the zoo for a little while. Eva wore her monkeys; she loves to pretend she is a monkey. She LOVES the zoo. We have to see Nala and Simba of course. Then we got to see giraffes, and the new elephants. She even got to see the elephants play in the water! The first time this has happened at their new exhibit. Told you it was hot! In the monkey exhibit, she loves to see them, but has to keep her distance even from the glass windows. The little spider monkeys got her a bit shaken up, but only for a moment. Here she is admiring the sleeping lions.

On Sunday morning we went to church. Eva wore her bunnies and was a very good girl at Sunday school and the nursery. After her nap we got to go hunt eggs. The children from church all gathered at Homewood's Overton Park for an egg hunt. There were TONS of eggs all over the park and the hillside. Here is her before picture... Once again, no normal smiles, just really big "cheese."

Here is Eva finding an egg. How many eggs did Eva find? Oh, this was the only one. We were much more interested in the park and the leaves and the slide and the treats. Two other kids who had about twenty five eggs a piece offered her one of theirs, so we said thank you. She did not really care. Me, I was a stressed, sweaty mom, because my almost two year old was running around the playgroung trying to climb up narrow, metal ladders to the slide by herself. I had a horrible fear that we were going to fall off, hit our chin, maybe knock out a few teeth, and end the egg hunt for everyone. However, we did not. Eva had a great time and headed to the snack table, which was soooo cute and I wish I had taken a picture of the precious decorations. I plan to steal them for my next party. Here is Eva eating her cookie, or picking her sprinkles off the icing. "Cheese!"

All in all, we had a great weekend. (I think secretly Eva can read, because since my last post she has had very few melt downs at all!) Keep it up sweet girl!