Eva and "girl" - the little statue down the path

All has been merry and bright for us, but very busy! Now that I have a long break from school I am able to blog more. So here I am.

Christmas came and went and it was lovely. Our days were full of wonderful family and friends and we really enjoyed celebrating together. It was amazing to watch Eva's expressions as she passed by Santa at the mall, decorated our tree, opened gifts and hugged her grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins. This time of year is all the more magical with our little one around.

Mr. & Mrs. Clause had a great time staying up late to assemble a little play kitchen for their mini chef-ette. The next morning she came down stairs and started the coffee straight away! She loves her kitchen and enjoys serving up "weeaally hot." pizza and hamburgers.
Another new toy she enjoys is "Tato head", the Mrs. Potato Head. It was not a perfect match to begin with, when Eva ripped open the wrapping paper she took one look at Mrs. Potatohead and said "NO!" with a frightened expression. Once she was out of the box, Eva warmed up to her and loves to try on her earrings and glasses.

Plans for my winter break include but are not limited to: finishing my application to the MSW program, enjoying lots of snuggle time with my hubby and baby girl, taking long walks and longer baths, spending time with good friends, starting Eva's scrap book and completing a few other crafts I have on my list. Mostly just looking forward to being home and relaxed for a little while...before spring semester starts!

Love to you and yours!

xoxooxox

beautiful moments

(Click the photo above enlarge)

I love the fall in California. It is OUR season, where we actually see and even smell the transitions happening: leaves turning and falling, days becoming shorter, harvest and crush in wine country ...just to name a few.

Autumn also means so much to me personally as it is the time that my husband and I celebrate our wedding anniversary and then my favorite holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving.

I always tend to focus more on being thankful around this time of year. I reflect on all that I have and count my blessings everyday.

Today, I am thankful for family, friends and Veterans.

I am thankful for the roof over my head and my warm, comfy bed.

I am thankful for the fact that I am employed and able to go to school.

I am thankful for all of those who have encouraged me.

I continue to be thankful and to count blessings, everyday.

Happy Friday!

I loved watching as my sweet girl used not only the brush, but her hands to paint beautiful shades of yellow and green.
I loved watching her expressions as she felt the cool paint between her fingers. She was so very into it! She did not want to put down the paint brush! I am looking forward to more moments filled with discovery as this sweet baby of mine, transforms before my eyes into a little girl....sniff, sniff! Along with the transforming...comes the "NO, NO, NO!".

When does that phase end again?

Still waiting, and enjoying!

Wordless...Thursdays!

These are a few of my favorite things...

Not monetary possessions, rather:

Baby I'm yours and I'll be yours
Until the mountains crumble to the sea
Yours until the rivers all run free
In other words, until eternity

Savoring.
Mommyhood.
xoxo

distractions:

• have been keeping me from blogging
• have helped me to procrastinate
  
• have made me sad
• but have kept me hopeful
• and reminded me to FOCUS
  

Life has been so busy lately, but I have been reminded to be thankful for those close to my heart.

Pictures and more this weekend, it's time for school work.

Recently We've...

1.) Tested out the life jacket to make sure it fits well for use at the lake


2.) Picked beautiful ripe Gravenstien Apples from a friends tree and realized when life gives you apples..the best thing to do is...


3.) Make applesauce


4.) Lots.


5.) Celebrated Eva's 1/2 birthday with a her first fudgesicle


6.) Spent hours at the park, running, picking flowers and trying really hard to jump


7.) Shared a ride with a friend.

8.) Showed Dad how to BBQ


Now we are off to see family and friends. First stop Bemidji MN for Cabin fun, the it is off to South Dakota where more fun awaits. Upon our return we will hit the ground running with school starting for both Eva and I. Pictures of the trip to come...

Here's a fun clip just because this post isn't picture heavy enough :)

What a busy time this has been. A beautiful wedding, a turn-around trip to Mammoth and spending a vacation day at home with my two most favorite people in the world. There wasn't a place I would rather be then in the pool enjoying all the giggles from Eva and Eric. Water splashing, swallowing, wet little face and a proud glowing daddy. I am a lucky mama. That is for sure.

Now and Then

I sometimes catch myself when with Eva, on any normal day, wondering what a simple task like coloring, playing ball or anything really, will be like next year or even in 6 month from now. I know that each holiday, each event in our life will be different over the years as she gets older.

(NOTE: She DID NOT get a taste of beer, despite her death grip on the cup!)

Last night, I was remembering how last year on the 4th of July, she slept soundly through the fireworks while Eric, his parents and I watched in the back yard.

This year we were in backyard to enjoy the fireworks show once again, but this time, Eva stayed up to watch with us:
I am so excited for next year! And everything in between.

I hope everyone had a great holiday.

Not Just A Pretty Plant!

For those of you reading this (MOM!) that have not found Pioneer Woman..her site, is pretty wonderful. Check out the PW site for this YUMMY (and pretty) spring dessert...yes..dessert!

Wordless Wednesdays.

My Very First Frugile Friday!

I saw a commercial for these yesterday:

It usually takes me awhile to step outside of my product comfort zone, but I am very curious about this product. 

Haven't tried it yet, personally. 

Have any of you?

I found a coupon here.

On a lighter note...

How time has flown.
Life has gone from this:

To this:

In a blink, no - a blink of the eye divided by 2!
This picture was taken by our neighbor. Who has, as you can see, mad picture-taking skills
AND organic yogurt pops that she had put in the freezer.

Perfect for our two teething angels.

It seems like yesterday EC and I were pacing the hardwood floors with our slightly orange newborn bundle of joy. Dodging each crack in the lament floors and maneuvering around the well known noisy floorboard for fear of waking the finally asleep newborn.

We have moved on to bigger things and painful things. Teething. OUCH. I know it has to hurt. Even though we all went through it, I can't really imagine the kind of pain she is experiencing when her two huge molars decide to pop up at the same time. Frozen pineapple and strawberries is what she lives on for these kind of days..oh and baby Tylenol. Poor girl.

The other part of the new experiences for the ever growing Eva is the addition to our family (no, I am not preggers) ...her dolly whom she lovingly calls "dodda". We spent what seemed like hours at the store picking out just the right doll. It is her first, of I am sure, many.

Next post I will show a photo of all the snuggles and loves "dodda" gets.

Just precious.


xoxoox

Celebrating the life and the gift of Johnathan Robert

Heaven got a new little angel this morning.

A sweet baby boy was given his wings.

Rest in peace our baby Johnathan Robert.

We love you dearly and will miss you.

We know you are in a place without pain and suffering and feel

blessed for the time, smiles and laughter we shared with you.

We are praying each and everyday for you and continued strength for your parents

Gone Fishin'...

Sunday we spent a lovely day at Smith's Trout Farm, which is nestled among the forest, right outside of Calistoga, CA. I would post a link, but they do not have a website as the business is family owned and operated. In talking to the primary owner, Mr. Smith, I found out that he happily lives on the gorgeous property surrounding the trout farm, as does his children with their families.

This place truly is "away from it all" and so peaceful. We had the best time eating great food with fantastic company, oh yes, and catching trout too! In fact, I caught quite the looker myself..no picture to prove it, but trust me I got the prize for biggest fish of the day.

Some of these pictures are small, so I apologize for that..not sure what happened there!?




This one is of Eva finishing off a ewwy gooey chewy chocolate cookie. If you can't tell from this picture, this little one is pretty well covered in the gooeyness. After she snagged a cookie, she was so happy with it (and herself), I couldn't bring myself to take away her fun. You are only...16 months (this week!!) once, right?!!

Nice posing Evabug!

And as if this is not enough beauty, we stumble upon these two creatures:

xoxoxo

The Up-To-Date

Eva started parent/child swim lessons a few weeks ago.

This is the same class we were in last summer.
My baby girl is having more and more fun each time we go to the pool.

We are going to sign up for another class this month!

In other news... last Sunday was Eva's baptism.
It was so nice to have most of ourfamily in town to celebrate with us.
Here are just a few pictures:

Eva and Grandpa at Thai Pot..YUM!


Eva's Godparents, Kate and Gerald.

Eva with her Daddy outside of the church

Post-baptism, munchin' on a cracker.

Besides all of the above, I am done with my final and school (for the semester!), we are gearing up for our OC trip next weekend and headin' to the beach today and trout farm tomorrow.
More soon..

xoxox

Another of my favorites:

why do I like this song so much?

Everything but the kitchen sink...

Lots to update seeing in the past few days we have had Mother's Day and Eric's birthday.

Mother's Day was wonderful. We went to church and finalized all of the details for Eva's baptism.

Then, Eric said he wanted to take me to get my present. Next thing I know we're checking out of the Home Depot with 3 new plants and a some climbing roses. These roses were Eric's gift to me; "I wanted to get a beautiful rose plant just for you that would bloom all year around".

He not only planted everything in our little piece of earth outside of our front door, he dug up the clay soil and replaced it with planting soil.

He worked all afternoon,as Eva watched intently.

The finishing product, and a very sweet and thoughtful Mother's Day gift.

Moving on to Eric's birthday, which was yesterday. We celebrated on Saturday with dinner and drinks at 3rd Street Aleworks. It was great to have a group of great friends celebrating with us.

Yesterday being his REAL birthday, I brought him home a yummy cupcake from here. After work, I made a potato pancake pizza with a strawberry carrot salad.



Hash browned potatoes + asiago cheese + mushrooms + asparagus + even more cheese = deliciousness and a VERY happy and full birthday boy.

In the early afternoon, Eva and I went over to the Children's School at SSU. I had a meeting with the director as we are trying to get Eva enrolled in the fall. While we were waiting, Eva got to play:

Also yesterday, it became extremely quiet as I worked at my computer. I call her name,

"Eeevva???", not a peep, because...

she was working so hard to get up here:
So there ya go, a post that has it all.

xoxox