Eva is 1!

Eva is 1! I can't believe I have a 1 year old now :) She continues to amaze me with how sweet she is.


Weight - 18lb, 2oz (26%), height is 27.25 inches (3%) and head circumference is 18.5 inches (92%!). With these proportions, Miss Eva resembles a bobblehead!
Clothes - no change here! Short sleeved 6m onesies for layering. The majority of the wardrobe is still 9m, with a few 12m things. Carter's fits really big!
Diapers - the question is now will Eva need her diaper rise adjusted before potty training? I'm guessing it will be close!
Sleep - Thank goodness Eva sleeps so well! Naps well, sleeps through the night.
Eating - we're transitioning from purees to table food! Eva has quite the appetite and loves everything so far - chili, mac 'n cheese, sandwiches...you name it, she eats it! We were going to go down to nursing 5x a day, but I chickened out. And it's not like she's overweight!
Likes - this girl loves her doll! She will crawl across the room in search of "Dolly". Also loves frosting and cupcakes!
Dislikes - having her runny nose cleaned, leaving headbands in her hair
New tricks - hugs and kisses :) Hugs largely consist of collapsing on you and patting you, kisses consist of leaning in and licking your face/nose/cheek/whatever she wants to! At her 1 year photoshoot, she ate the frosting off her cake and shouted "cake, cake!".

Here are some pictures of the birthday girl on her birthday!

Good morning Miss 1 year old!

Excited to be 1!

Sibling <3

Snacking on some blueberries at Grandma's!

Noone is as pretty as Eva!

Birthday girl chowing down on some Chick-fil-a

Cupcake, pre-Eva

Hmm...

Eva really likes frosting! This cupcake was confiscated shortly after the picture. Dealing with babies coming down from a sugar high is not fun!

Valentine's Day 2013

We didn't do anything spectacular - just stayed in. Chris went out to NIU to speak to their ACM organization, but he brought back some super yummy takeout from a Mexican place we used to go to.

Chris and I also did what was supposed to be $10 presents, but ended up being $15 presents - it was fun being creative! I got him some Guinness and a "beer and pretzels" cupcake. He got me a tripod for my DSLR- yay!

Ethan did have fun at school - I found some Spiderman Valentine cards for him to take to school and share with his friends. We also made a super cute Valentine's Day banner :)

Beer, "beer and pretzels"

Sibling love :) Eva's shirt says "True Love" and she's wearing a matching Minnie Mouse hair clip.

The banner! It started out as a Valentine's Day snowman, but then he wanted to make a heart for each member of our family, so we made a banner instead.

Daddy's heart

Mommy's heart

Ethan's heart

Eva's heart

Ethan at 3.5

Interview with a 3.5 year old - the answers are all his, I've clarified in parentheses :) 

Ethan has grown up so much and we are so proud of him - he can be difficult at times, but overall he is a very sweet boy.

1. What is your favorite color? Red

2. What is your favorite toy? Train table

3. What is your favorite fruit? Bananas

4. What is your favorite TV show? Alfie and Jack (Thomas's Trusty Friends)

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? peanut butter sandwich

6. What is your favorite outfit? Spiderman shirt, Spiderman underwear and Spiderman shoes (don't worry, pants are involved too!)

7. What is your favorite game? Candyland

8. What is your favorite snack? bunny crackers

9. What is your favorite animal? Pooh bear

10. What is your favorite song? Spiderman

11. What is your favorite book? Ironman

12. Who is your best friend? Mommy (<3!)

13. What is your favorite sport? football 

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play with my dump trucks

15. What is your favorite drink? milk

16. What is your favorite holiday? Valentine's day

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Pooh bear

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? cereal and milk

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? cake (we took him to Sugar Path for a half birthday treat)

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Batman

Sibling picture :)

The Scarlett (red velvet) - there was a raspberry on top, but someone snatched it up in a hurry!

A Sneak Peek...

Eva turns 1 in a week - yikes! Her party won't be for a little over a month, so I thought you would enjoy a sneak peek into what I have so far...

The theme will be ballet. And pink. Lots and lots of pink :)

The outfit- the shirt by Emma B's Baby Boutique, Crown Princess Babylegs, sparkly pink tutu made by mommy

The hair pretty - by Mia and Mackie in the Mirror (who else, right?)

The invite - by my wonderful friend Zaianne (these will hopefully be in the mail sometime next week)

Chinese New Year

My little dragon baby just celebrated her first Chinese New Year with everyone!  We went and spent the day at my parents' house. My brother came home (he lives and works in St. Louis) for the weekend and we got to meet his friends Nathan and Mallory (who also happen to be Diablo 3 players, hehe).

Here are some pictures!

Beautiful girl

Eva in her Chinese New Year outfit - complete with dragon onesie and a custom headband by (who else) Mia and Mackie in the Mirror

Future piano prodigy

Playing a song for Grandpa

Grandpa with Eva and Ethan

Eva and Momby

Cheesecake- my mother's favorite dessert!

The spread

Daddy and the kids

In n Out and Cupcakes

As some of you may know, Chris was out of town last week at the SHARE conference in San Francisco. He even brought me back some In n Out (the fries were still crispy!).

The only proper way to order In n Out - double double animal style with fries well done

Other than daddy being gone, things went on normally, or as normally as they can when you've got a 3.5 year old that doesn't stop talking and a nearly 1 year old that is all over the place. Let's just say Ethan ate a lot of chicken nuggets for dinner!

I did try to get in a few fun activities and one of them was going to The Sugar Path (super yummy cupcake shop in downtown Geneva) for their ribbon cutting ceremony! The kids (and let's face it, mommy too) split a red velvet cupcake, ate some yummy snacks, and enjoyed mini cupcakes (mommy's favorite was the salty caramel!).

Ethan and the cupcake

Cupcake closeup

Somebody was clapping with joy! Also wearing one of Mia and Mackie in the Mirror's hair prettiest (seriously, check them out! Jodi makes the prettiest and most unique things!)

Ribbon cutting!

Cupcake crumb covered princess

Fun in the Snow!

We've had a decent amount of snow this year, so we've been able to have lots of fun outside!

In the morning, both kids got to go out in the snow - Ethan helped shovel the driveway (and he even did the sidewalk and the neighbors' front walk!) and Eva and mommy got to play.

We just went in the backyard with Molly (who if you remember from previous posts, is Ethan's girlfriend) - there's a decent group of hills that go from the golf course into the neighbor's yard. The hills are little, but 3 year old friendly. Even I got to join in on the action! Sadly, Eva was napping and missed all the excitement.

Daddy's little helper

Suspicious of all the fluffy white stuff

Going down the hill backwards!

Annie, the neighbors' super cute dog!

Ethan <3 Molly

Children For Sale

We were wandering the aisles at Home Depot last weekend, and when I saw this sign, I couldn't resist!

January Roundup

There goes the "blog more" resolution :P 

I thought I'd do a picture roundup of some of the highlights of January fun that hasn't been blogged about yet. Besides, I know you read my blog to see pictures of Ethan and Eva :P

Love love love that toothy grin!

Tallest person I know (Kyle, who is 6'8" I think) with the shortest person I know (Eva, who is 2ft something)

Ethan with his bestest Candyland buddy

Ethan and Pooh Bear doing yoga with mommy (I avoid the camera at all costs!)

Eva and Ethan cuddling on the couch

A camera that plays songs and has colorful buttons is way cooler than mommy's DSLR

Celebrating  Auntie Dixie and Uncle John's 40th anniversary!

Testing out the "night vision" effect on the DSLR - it looks like it's from a security video!

What this girl wants - pigtails and a pink cell phone

Pretty in pink - can you tell someone loves accessorizing this girl?

Snow children :)