Merry Christmas!

It's been a wonderful day and we've all had fun.  My next post will share more details, but for now, I'll just share a pic of Evie's first visit to Santa.  She was so excited and loved every minute!  She wouldn't talk much, but she did whisper "thank you" to Santa for the jingle bell he gave her.  Santa must have known she was a good girl because he brought her lots of presents.  Evie is one happy girl!

Mama's Little Helper

This past weekend, I decided to make Chex Mix and this year I had an extra special helper…Chef Evelyn!

She was so excited to put on her apron, stand on the step stool and help.  She helped pour all of the ingredients (besides the spices) into the roasting pan and she helped me stir everything up.  I think her favorite job was being the official taste tester though…yummy!

Ta-da!

Evie loves to color and constantly asks for her coloring book.  Evie is very proud when she colors.  She spend quite of bit time scribbling when I made dinner last night, then ran into the kitchen with her coloring book shouting “Ta-da!” to show me her picture.  Not sure where she got that, but it’s kinda cute.  She’s getting better at her colors too.  She knows most of the basic ones, but her favorite color by far is purple.  If she can’t remember what a color is, she’ll just say it’s purple.  Now we just have to work on staying in the lines, not putting the crayons in her mouth and not coloring on the floor, walls or cabinets.  Thank goodness for Magic Erasers!

Christmas Parties!

We celebrated Christmas with both sides of Pat’s family over the weekend.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get very many pictures.  There were a couple of reasons for this.  1)  My kiddo would not sit still long enough for me to take her picture and 2) I wasn’t feeling well at all that day and didn’t have the patience to run around after her to try and take her picture.  Regardless, I did get a few pics and we had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas.  Evie got to hang out with Stella at Marker Christmas and boy did she have fun.  Stella was so good with Evie, let Evie follow her around and even read her a book.  Evie loved it!  She also enjoyed meeting Baby Lucas and playing with all of his toys.  She also loved all of the delicious Christmas cookies that we had there…YUM!  We had such a nice time seeing everyone and catching up, and although Evie was shy at first, she warmed up after a while.  She even hugged everyone and told them ‘thank you’ for her gifts.  After a brief trip home for Evie’s nap, we headed over to Grandma Rita’s house for another party.  Evie had a ball playing with all of the toys and hanging out with Andrew and Jonathan.  She had fun exploring her grandma’s house (even though it made me a nervous wreck that she was going to break something).  And she loved playing with Mickey the dog.  She loved him so much that she decided to try and give him an entire bag of saltines in his food dish…geez!

This year Evie’s Uncle Dan and Aunt Nicole were in town for the Christmas parties.  It had been over a year since we’d seen them and I think they were impressed at how much Evie had grown.  They brought Evie a present all the way from Prague!

We had so much fun celebrating Christmas with Pat’s family this year!

Just to make you smile...

A trip to pet store

Last night our plans to go to Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo were foiled by rain.  So instead we went on an adventure to the pet store!  Evie’s eyes lit up the second we walked in the door.  Bunny rabbits, puppies and birds – oh my!  We held a puppy and Evie showed us how gentle she could be.  She kneeled down to see the puppies in the cages and said “hi puppy”, and giggled like crazy when a puppy would jump up to try and lick her fingers that were pressed against the glass.  The parrots and frogs were intriguing to her and she adored the kitties.  She didn’t seem too impressed by the fish though.  Not that I can blame her.  After going to the aquarium at the zoo and seeing sharks and big, bright tropical fish, these seemed a little boring.   Outside of the puppies, she kept going back to see the giant turtle that they had there.

Our trip to the pet store was definitely a success – although Evie looked very sad when we left and she had to say bye-bye to the animals.  Don’t worry Evie – I have a feeling we will be going back there this winter!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

… in the Marker house!

 We’ve been Christmas shopping, baked cookies and decorated the house and the tree (thanks for helping Kiki, Pops and Aunt Sha-Sha!).  Evie just loves the tree!

We’ve been watching Christmas specials on TV, singing Christmas carols and reading our Christmas books.  Evie two favs are Pete the Cat Saves Christmas and Christmas with Rita and Whatsit.

We love this time of year!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love this time of year.  The festiveness, without the pressure of gifts.  The warmth of my home and the delicious smells from the kitchen.  The way that everyone comes together to just share a meal and be together.  I look forward to Thanksgiving every year – and yes part of this has to do with the fact that I married a chef who does the cooking that day!

This year I have so much for which I’m thankful.  I’m thankful for my husband.  He is patient, kind, generous and such a wonderful father to our daughter.  I’m thankful for my little jumping bean Evie.  She bring so much joy and laughter into our lives, and her wonder and imagination remind me to slow down every once in a while and just play.  I cherish my time with her and I am so thankful to be her mama.  I’m thankful for family and friends.  Their support and love means so much to me and I don’t know where we’d be without them.  I’m grateful for my parents who would (and have) dropped everything to come to Columbus if we need help.  I’m grateful to my mother-in-law who has babysat for a sick Evie more than once because I have to go to work.  I’m grateful for all of the love, kisses and snuggles that my baby girl gets from her grandparents, great-grandmas, aunts and uncles.  I’m grateful for friends who have visited me in Columbus and all of the good times and laughter that we share.  I’m grateful for our home and good health.  The list could go on and on.  Today, I’m grateful for this time to be thankful because all too often I get caught up in what I don’t have and I forget to be thankful for my blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!

I wuv ew!

Evie has a new thing these days.  She loves everything!  We’ve been watching the Garfield and Snoopy Thanksgiving specials.  I asked her the other night if she wanted to watch Garfield and she gasped and said “I wuv Garfield!”.  Do you want to watch Snoopy…gasp “I wuv Snoopy!”.  She saw her paci on the floor and said “I wuv paci!” (insert happy dance and twirling).  And last night when I got her out of the bath, she called out “ Daddy, where r ew?”  I wuv ew!  I wuv ew!”.  It was so cute.  She makes me smile every day!

My girl likes her accessories! (Sorry the pic is kinda blurry!)

Fingerpainting

First came this....

Then came this. Oi.

Weekends are the best!

Thank goodness for the weekend!  We really need it after the hectic weeks that we have at our house.  It’s so nice to get to relax a little, sleep in a little and spend a lot of time with my baby girl!

This weekend we had a visit from Kiki and Pops.  They came to help us get our new couch (thank goodness for their help!).  We had such a nice visit with them.  Saturday, we took Evie to Story Time at the library while the guys watched some football.  We went shopping, played outside and Evelyn kept us all entertained with her antics.  My child is a drama queen (well, princess since I am the reigning drama queen in our house! ).  We enjoyed some delicious Chicken Tortilla Soup courtesy of Kiki for dinner – YUM!

Sunday morning we went out to breakfast and then Kiki and Pops headed back to KY to avoid the storms that were headed our way.  Oh, and Evie got her hair trimmed… a first for her!  It was just a teensy, tiny bit in back, but I was so nervous about it that Kiki had to do it.  Now maybe the rest of her hair will catch up to the back!

Go Wildcats!

Singin' in the rain

Yum!

getting a trim

Time flies...

I’ve gotten bad at updating my blog these days.  Between work and running after Evie, I feel like I don’t have much time for anything else!  But I’ll try and be better.

Life is pretty good these days, if a bit chaotic at times.  Evelyn is growing, learning and changing every day.  She’s a talker.  She can tell us much of what she wants and we can understand her.  Not sure if anyone else could though!  She cannot say “s” or “v” well so any words that begin or contain with those letters are a challenge.  She knows her name and will tell you.  Well, most of the time.  Half the time she tells people that her name is Pa Pa.  Must mean she loves her Pops!  The other half of the time, she says that her name is Evie, but she can’t say the ‘v’ so it comes out as Ah-ee.  She says Marker perfectly though!

She is still completely obsessed with her books, something that thrills me!  I have always loved to read and I’m happy that I get to share this with my little girl.  We are starting to move on a little bit from the short board books to longer books.  It amazes me that she’ll sit through them.  She’s got a lot of energy and does not sit still very often.

I’m hoping to do some Thanksgiving crafts with Evie this year.  I missed the boat with Halloween so we’ll see if we can get something done for Turkey Day.  I have some finger paints that I’ve been waiting to try with her…but I’m still a little wary.  She still has a tendency to put everything in her mouth and I doubt she’d be able to resist tasting the paint.  So far, the most we have done is buy those holiday window clings.  They are simple and non-messy.  She can do them all by herself and she loves them.  She will stand in our front room and take them on and off the windows and just have the best time.   I need to figure out some activities for her to do now that it is getting dark so early.  We used to walk and go to the park, but that’s going to be hard to do during the week now that the time has changed.  There are some play cafés in the area that I’ve been wanting to try.  They has an indoor play space for the kiddos and parents can sit around, mingle and drink coffee.  Maybe now is the time!  I can be sort of shy in social situations like that, but I think it could be good for me and Evie.  We could meet some new people and have some fun!  Time is flying these days and I just want to make sure I’m making the most of it!

A little late...

This post is a little late.  I wrote in in October and forgot to post it...oops!

I wish I could video Evie doing all of her cute little mannerisms these days.  She is just bursting with cuteness (at least in our eyes).

We went to Michael’s Craft Store last night.  Of course there are lots of Halloween decorations around and Evie is scared of most of them.  I picked up a squishy plastic spider and asked her to touch.  She did – and then proceeded to glare at me and give me the dirtiest looks because she didn’t like it.

When we got home, we decided to color.  I got her some new crayons and a Minnie Mouse coloring book (to which she yelled ‘Mouse! Mouse!’ when she saw it).  She proceeded to lie on her tummy on the ground and color away. And she only tried to eat the crayons twice!  That’s progress!

She loves copying me right now.  We got her a little broom and whenever I sweep the floor, she runs and gets her broom so that she can ‘help’.  Yesterday, I was running the vacuum and when I turned around, she was behind me mimicking my actions with her toy lawn mower.  I made the bed and patted the edge when I was done, and she had to come over and pat the bed too.  I smacked my lips and said “ah!” when I took a drink of water, and she did it as well.  If I put on chapstick, she needs some too.  If I lie down the ground and pretend to sleep, she will lay down right next time, shut her eyes and pretend as well.  She always looks so proud when she copies me.  Let’s just hope she only copies the good things!  Note to self – BE ON MY BEST BEHAVIOR!

She does not like it when Crosby gets near her food and she will tell him that in no uncertain terms.  If he so much as looks her direct while she’s eating, she will wag her finger at him and screech ‘ No Cos! No! No!”.  She had a small bowl of crackers the other day and managed to spill it on the ground.  “Oh no!” she cried.  And the proceeded to freak out because Crosby came over and tried to eat the crackers before she could pick them up.  He got few and she threw an all-out fit.  She flung herself on the ground and cried “no! no! No Cos!”.  Obviously we are still working on sharing…

Her current favorite song is Skinamarinky Dinky Dink.  I found a video for the ‘Elephant Show’ from the 1980’s on You Tube and played the song for her.  She was so excited!  She sang along as best she could and did the hand motions.  Adorable!

Evie is kind of obsessed with boo boos right now.  She has a few scratches on her knees from falling down and when she sees them, she will gasp, say “oh no!” and continually repeat ‘boo boo’ until I come and kiss it.  If you tell her that you have a boo boo, she will insist on kissing it to make it better.  

We love Fall!

We’ve been having a lot of fun this fall… 

…taking walks, looking at all of the pretty leaves and going to the park.

…apple picking with Aunt Shannon when she was in town.

…watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”.

…visiting a pumpkin patch and picking out the perfect pumpkins (Evie used the ‘sit test’ to pick hers :) )

,,,visiting GG Mitchell (and having a surprise visit with my cousin Abby and Aunt Shawn) and feeding the ducks at the lake.

…having dinner at The Greyhound with Kiki and Pops (Any restaurant named for a dog is sure to be a huge hit with Evie, especially when they have statues of the dog all over the place!)

…visiting the airport to see where Kiki works and  watching Uncle Adam raise money for charity in the Plane Pull (Evie cheered so loud - Go Uncle Adam!)

…and going to the Latonia Halloween Block Party in KY with Kiki, Pops and Aunt Shannon.  Evie-Mouse loved the games and especially the petting zoo.  Afterwards, we hung out at Shannon’s new apartment and had a spaghetti dinner – Yum!

We love this time of year!