Does anyone need a model?

I know I haven't posted in nearly 4 months and there are no good reasons...I hope to make up for it with these pictures of Eva!

Miss Eva is so photogenic and she is so much fun to dress up and accessorize! Today's outfit - barrette by Mia and Mackie in the Mirror, dress by Ollie & Mae (check out Elizabeth's work on Facebook and Etsy!), necklace by mommy and boots are Joyfolie.

PS - I really will try and blog more!

Check out the highlights in her hair!

"Geese!"

"Geese! Pond!"

Baby girl loves her boots!

So pretty!

"Duck! Quack quack!"

Cow Appreciation Day 2013

I know Cow Appreciation Day was well over a week ago, but when you have a preschooler and a toddler (sniff, my baby is a toddler!), life just gets away from you!

For those of you that don't know, Cow Appreciation Day is where Chick Fil A (the only fast food place I got to, hehe) gives you a free meal for wearing a cow costume :) Totally worth the effort in my opinion.

Being the cheapskate that I am, I didn't want to buy a cow costume (side note - at last year's giveaway, I saw a man in full on cow costume, udders and all!) or spend too much money assembling one.

What I did manage to do was spend less than $1 - 58 cents plus tax to be exact. This does assume you have some available materials around, but even if you didn't, you should be able to assemble reasonably decent cow costumes for under $5.

Supplies Needed
-white shirt(s) - I pulled a 3-6m tank top for Eva and took one of Chris's undershirts for me (and him too)
-2 sheets of black felt (this made plenty of cow spots for both shirts)
-white yarn
-2 headbands
-2 binder clips (or safety pins)
-fabric glue or tape (I used blue painter's tape, it was the first thing I found!)

Instructions
-Cut 2 skinny strips of black felt for the tails. Fold one end over and staple (or sew if you're ambitious) to make a loop. Stick a bunch of yarn through (loop in a circle), then tie off in a secure knot. Cut through the end and fluff up a bit to make the tail.
-Cut 4 ear shapes from the felt. Cut a little slit through the end of the ears and tie to the headband.
-Cut a bunch of cow spots out and tape/glue to your shirt.
-Binder clip/safety pin the tail to the back of the shirt.

Voila! You have 2 easy easy cow costumes :)

Front of the cow costume!

Look at that little tail go!

The baby cow and her mama.

Zoo Trip

Chris had the week off last week and because the weather was pretty nice, we headed to the zoo!

This was the third visit for us this year, and it was TONS of fun, as usual! Instead of seeing the usual animals (bears, big cats, dolphins), we checked out the more exotic animals. We saw lots of turtles and birds :) A lot of the animals were also really close to the fence, so I got some pretty good closeups.

During the summer, Brookfield Zoo also has a stingray exhibit, so we decided to go! Sadly, there was a summer camp group in there that was splashing and being rather obnoxious, so I ended up being the only one who got to touch a stingray. Poor Ethan - he was so excited about being able to meet Mr. Ray!

Here are the highlights:

Lion ride :)

Well, hello there

Wombat butt :)

Pygmy hippo!

Mr. Rhino

Peacock in full glory!

This gorilla was awesome - he was resting, then decided to look for a different spot to lounge, so he picked up his bedding and climbed up higher :)

My little otters :)

Buffalo on the run! They alternated between grazing peacefully and running like crazy!

Check out the gorgeous colors on this guy!

Just a really neat view of a turtle swimming

My little fruit bat

Remember that scene in the first Harry Potter movie with the huge python? This is what this reminded me of!

Ethan wanted to take a picture with the friendly bear outside the gift shop

Mr. Ray & Co

The most adorable little turtle - this little guy was crawling around and Ethan claimed it waved at him :P

Eva the Pig

15 months old!

I really should blog more!

Now that my baby girl is almost 16 months old, I am FINALLY getting around to putting up the 15 month post.

What has Eva done this past month? Let's see...

We've been going outside when the weather permits (random rant - the Chicago weather has been so crazy! It's hot, it's cold, it's hot again, it's muggy, it's windy - it makes planning fun outside activities hard!), lots of library trips, books, swings (sometimes we go in the big kid swing!) and I think it's about time to bring out the water table!

Eva's very interested in learning about body parts - she'll point at something and ask "wha da?". So far she can successfully answer "where's mommy's nose?". "Where's Eva's nose?" gets an enthusiastic point to her tummy though :P She's very chatty, but not really using words as much as I think she should. We need to work on that! But she did add "uh oh" to her vocab :P

I love love love my baby girl and I know you do too!

15 months old!

Sibling love!

Trotting up and down the sidewalk like a maniac!

Mama love!

Kiddos love their Jojo (Uncle Kevin)

Eva at 14 months

Now that Miss Eva is nearly 15 months old, I should do her 14 month post, right?

Our biggest development is walking! I know in last month's post, I had mentioned that Eva would walk with the proper motivation. Now, it is more consistent! The week before she turned 14 months, we had a playdate at one of Ethan's classmates' homes. For some reason, Eva just walked all over the place there! I thought it was a fluke, but when we came home, she kept walking!

Her vocabulary has expanded. Her favorite words are mama, mum-mum (her word for food), dah-gee (doggy), dah-ee (dolly) and duh (duck). Eva loves going on walks because she's sure to see plenty of doggies!

We are finally into our 12 month wardrobe, but a lot of her 6 month wardrobe still fits - especially the tops!

Eva is still my good little eater, but still needs (wants?) mommy to feed her. Self feeding attempts ends up with food getting squished and/or flung on her outfit. 

I am glad the weather is FINALLY getting nicer, because now we can go on bike rides, play on the swingset and go on walks.

See you next month!

The day Eva decided to walk!

Monthly picture - I forgot to make the sign. But we are sporting our first bun - perfect for her "Future Ballerina" outfit

Monthly sibling shot

Banging on the window for ducks

A Quick March Roundup (including Easter)

I have the best intentions on doing timely blog posts about fun things, but life and children get in the way! So here's a quick round up of some of the fun things we did in March, including Easter!

Face painting at the Whole Foods Easter Egg Hunt - Ethan chose Spiderman, of course!

Picking up eggs :)

Quick picture with the Easter bunny

Fun outside - come back nice weather!

Eva is having more fun than this picture suggests :P

A trip to the zoo!

Easter dress!

Eva Marie at 13 months!

I can't believe that Miss Eva is over 13 months old now! Now that she's bigger, instead of the usual monthly post, I thought I'd do more fun pictures of what she was up to in that month! Along with some random fun facts :)

This month, Eva finally started walking. I won't say she's great at walking, but if she's properly motivated (food is usually involved here), she'll walk across the family room. And we have a pretty big family room! We also currently have 3 teeth coming in at the same time - 2 top teeth and a bottom tooth. She is eating the same dinners as everyone and she likes everything! She does love her Mexican food!

She is still my teeny tiny girl that is still too small for most 12 month outfits. Dresses are okay - pants are still too big, even with her big cloth diapered butt! Oh well. We'll just get more wear out of our wardrobe, right?

Anyways, I said this wasn't going to be a big post, so here are some pictures of things she's loved doing this past month.

Looking crazy!

Standing like a big girl

<3 her Bitty Baby (aka Baby Dolly)

Monthly picture!

Crazy bedhead drive with Ethan :)