HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, Miss EEEEEEEEEEE!!!

To my Little Miss E, on her FIRST birthday....

What a year it's been.  It has gone by FAST.  I still have to pinch myself sometimes when I see you....you are HERE!   And you are larger than life.  You are the most perfect fit for us.  You balance out this family so well.  You and your sister are going to have the most awesome complimentary relationship.   I can't wait to see what the future holds, but please, slow down.  I want to cherish this time with you (while still maintaining a sense of myself, too!).  

It's not funny! (As i'm laughing!)

Evie-climbing up on the stove.  Stepping up on the bottom handle of the broiler, hands on the oven door...and then...to add insult...turning the knobs of the stove.  And Gary and I standing there, laughing.  What else were we supposed to do?  

Evie-I turn around for a second, and she is standing on top of the picnic table outside.  How did she manage to climb up there?  She's not even one year old yet!!!  All the other babies her age are still happily sitting on their blankies at the park, shaking the same old toys.  Not my girl.  She's standing on the picnic table, practically on top of Marea and Madison's dinner.  

Evie-dancing on the red chair in the living room at 7 a.m.  And just when i've got my eyes opened up enough to see (zzzzzzz), and decide that mustering up the energy to do something about it is IMPORTANT, like NOW (!), she gracefully steps off, as if she's done it a thousand times.  

She's a wild one, that Miss E.

We LOVE it.  

Chili's Gang Days

Today we had one of our park days with the girls from my Chili's days.  Rachel with Lauren and Danielle, Kristen with Emma, Julia with Gabe, and Cathy with Dillan and Sophia.  We often meet at Livingston park in Belmont Shore (my old stompin' grounds!) for some fun on the extra super fancy new playground down there.  The kids all play together really well and us girls get to catch up a bit.  One of my favorite things about these days (besides the fact that we have all been friends for SO long and being together is ALWAYS super fun), is that we got each other's backs.  Everyone watches everyone else's kids.  We used to be the Chili's waitress team, and now we're a team of moms.  Today was also special because we went to lunch at SuperMex after the park.  It's been so long since i've eaten there....brought back memories, for sure.  Except this time, we had our stroller brigade, and no corona's were drank.  My how things change.  And how so very much they stay the same.  

End of Summer Happenings

The calendar tells me it's the end of summer.  But as always, summer weather is here for a while longer.  This year, though, will be different because Marea is starting school soon, and the start of school always coincides with the 'end of summer'.  This is weird for me. It feels like just yesterday, I was in school, enjoying summer vacations.  And now, my baby girl will be starting school and the school year calendar will a big part of our life.  I don't want to think about this anymore!

So here's what's going on around here....

Marea is obsessed with Peter Pan.  When I start singing "I can fly", she takes off in flight wherever we are.  She's very interested in getting big, and will often say 'because i'm getting bigger' or 'when i'm big'.  She loves to crack the eggs when we cook together.  And she loves to do projects, meaning, art projects such as painting or glueing.  I've got lots of fun stuff like that and she really digs in, which is super fun for me because I love to do that stuff with her.  Recently we made a book together.  We've also painted paper surfboards.  I've got to work on teaching her to write letters.  She is really interested in that.  I think we'll start a letter a day thing, where i'll try to teach her one letter every day.  

Evie is crazy as ever.  She loves to climb up on chairs now and jump as if to say, 'look at me!! i'm doing something dangerous!'  and she has no fear.  She will often do a downward facing dog position too, looking between her legs.  She thinks this is hilarious, and it looks pretty funny.  She loves eating the tomatoes off our plants, or the ones that have fallen into the dirt, and she often becomes a filthy mess with tomato juice running all over her face and dirt all over.  She's got her two bottom teeth and the top four are right there, just not poking through yet.  She's been sleeping pretty well....she usually gets up once, around 4 a.m., to nurse, then sleeps till 6:30.  Hopefully the all nighters are coming soon!

Caw!

Evie is our tropical bird.  Her favorite expression seems to be CAW!  Which means ball, but also many other things.  She points at things and says caw.  Things in books, or things she sees on the counter.  Caw, Caw, Caw!

Marea is doing great in the pool.  She loves to jump in with only a swim ring on.  If there were several more months of summer left, she would be swimming soon.  But I don't think it will happen this year.  Swimming lessons this spring I guess.  We're going to miss the long days at grandma's house of playtime and pooltime.  I think it's one of Marea's favorite things about summer.  

FLY BY'S!

I can't believe I haven't written about the FLY BY yet.  I've been meaning to get it on video too.  It's Marea's after shower thing.  Daddy wraps her all up in a towel and then zooms her around the house, through the air.  It's a fly by, of course!  She loves it.  It's part of the routine!  I imagine Gary will be doing this for years to come (until he can't lift her anymore) and then Evie will follow.

The other thing I'm loving about Marea right now is her obsession with the dirt pile in the back yard.  Formerly a giant hole, now filled with dirt, in the corner.  We have this big, beautiful yard with a nice lawn and tons of toys.  What does she like to do?  Play in the dirt area.  Her imagination goes nuts over there.  She usually gets really involved in it when i'm inside working in the kitchen, so I get to watch thru the window.  I can't hear what she's saying but she's definitely playing an elaborate game.  Sometimes it involves roly polys, her new fave bug.  It's such messy play, she gets so dirty.  But she loves it.

Evie is a pizza crust maniac.   Give the kid a hunk of pizza crust and she's happy for hours.  Well, it's probably like this with all food I guess but it sure takes her a long time to suck away at a pizza crust.  It eventually ends up a sticky dough ball mess that I have to take away, which of course prompts lots of tears.  She does not want her crust taken away! 

She NEVER stops moving

Evie has an amazing amount of energy.  She never stops moving unless she's in her high chair eating.  And trust me, we trap here there often and feed her, just to keep her still for a bit.  She walks this house ALL DAY LONG.  Round and round and round.  Wandering.  Picking things up, waving them around, giving them a taste, tossing them on the floor and then it's on to the next thing.  Every day, all day.  It's crazy.  She prefers to be in whatever room i'm in, especially if it's the kitchen, because she wouldn't want to miss out on a scrap of food.  She will come over and tug on my pants (to the point of pulling them down once!) and let out her screams.  Is all of this cute?  Kind of.  Right now it's cute, as i'm talking about it.  But sometimes it drives me nuts!  What is cute is when she brings me books to read to her (Little Bee, Twinkle Twinkle, Bean), or her kitty, or her babies, to kiss.  And she makes that adorable nose when she brings something over....tssss. 

Marea just finished her first summer camp program at Hilltop.  A raging success.  She did GREAT, as I knew she would.  Tomorrow we're having all her friends over for a backyard kiddie pool playdate.  I think it's going to be super fun.  She made her first hopscotch in the backyard.  It was so cute, just a bunch of circles lined up.  One for me, one for her, and a tiny one for evie.  She's getting better at drawing.  She's putting thought into it and controlling the crayons.  She loves to draw Suns.  Perfect.  Me too.