Eva lately in January

It's been a while since I've updated, for a variety of reasons. 1. We left our camera in Williamsville on Christmas, so we haven't been able to take pictures for a few weeks. 2. We've been taking turns being sick. 3. Why are there no hours in the day lately?
Regardless, I feel like our little girl has really been growing and changing in 2012. She's starting to try to speak in sentences, which is pretty fun. We still don't understand her most of the time, but she's getting more and more clear. She likes to look for people and toys by calling out to them and saying, "Are you?" as she wanders looking. She's starting to really like the puzzles she has and still loves sorting her shapes in her different shape sorters. We got a few new movies over the holidays, and she's enjoyed all of them (especially Sleeping Beauty) but none can still match up against Beauty and the Beast and Tangled. She loves Beast, and has lately been saying "Beeeeeeas!!" every time he appears (which, if you're wondering, is often). She also looooves The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That. The only problem with that is we only have 8 episodes of the show on Netflix, so we've had our fill of the show moreso than others. She likes to dance to the end credits of movies and that dancing usually involves her new Flynn Rider doll. She's been more brave when it comes to trying new foods, and I've renewed a pledge to myself to offer her more fresh choices at mealtime and snacktime.
She is getting more and more interested in letters, coloring, and writing. Grandma has stencils that we found at her house, and the crayon and colored pencil box is always the first place she goes when we get there. She is starting to identify some letters pretty well, but she tends to call almost all the letters she sees "e" and "i".
She's also getting more and more silly by the day. She's always trying to find a new way to make us laugh and keep us guessing, whether it's using her flashlight to look down our throats or hiding under blankets to try to scare us.

Furness family Christmas

"You there, boy! What day is it?"
"Why, it's Martin Luther King Day, Sir!"

"Then I haven't missed it! The spirits have done it all in one night!"

This year we celebrated the Furness family Christmas a bit later than usual on MLK Day weekend.We came down early on Saturday to spend some time with Grandma and Papa. We even made the day extra special by going to see Eva's first movie in the movie theatre: Beauty and the Beast in 3D. Beast has been Eva's number one movie since around Thanksgiving time, so we thought it would be a good one to go see for the first time. She didn't want to wear the glasses, which we thought would probably happen, but I think she was more well-behaved than most of the other kids there. So all in all, I was proud of her first theatre experience. She finally put the glasses on for the last 90 seconds of the movie, purely to drive me crazy I think. Then we met up with the rest of the family for pizza before heading back to Grandma's house to spend the night.

As is usually the case anytime we spend the night somewhere, Eva didn't sleep very well. She wasn't interested in going to be until wayyyy past her bedtime and then was up around 5-5:30. The ever-insomniac Grandma heard her stirring around and came in to get her so Daddy and I could keep sleeping. But the loss of a few hours of sleep made Eva a little less than her usual bubbly self by the time we got to Great-Grandma Furness's house. She did enjoy a round of beating Cody with foam swords with her cousins, however, and trying to coax Yoda out of her kennel.

We had some pool time reserved at the fitness center, so we suited up and headed out. Unfortunately at this point in the day Evalee was already short on about 3-4 hours of sleep AND we were arriving right around naptime. Those two things in combination meant that Evalee was NOT going to play and have fun with her cousins in the pool. Everyone tried to convince her to get in, and Alex was even almost successful, but in the end the tired and grumpy took over. So, we just snuggled and watched everyone else have some fun. Despite her extreme tiredness, Eva refused to miss out on any of the action and didn't fall asleep until we got in the car to head back to Grandma Furness's. After she was asleep, an airplane wouldn't have woken her out of that nap. We spent the afternoon and evening eating snacks, opening presents, and catching up. Eva got an Aqua Doodle, a Color Wonder book, a singing kitchen toy, a Sing-a-ma-jig (which, let's be honest, Travis has enjoyed as much if not more than she has), and a Princess back pack. She has been thoroughly enjoying all her gifts.

Since all of three of us weren't operating on the best of sleeps and we knew it'd be another rough night if we stayed in Williamsville, we decided to drive all the way back so we could all sleep in our own beds. We were very glad we made that decision, since Eva let us sleep in until almost 8 the next day! 

We were really happy we got to see all our cousins we don't get to see very often and share some laughs.

We got to meet the newest member of the family, Holly Cowen. She was so tiny!

Miss Amelia and her gorgeous smile

Eva trying to reason with the dog.

The beatings took place on the sun porch.

Toddlers and pictures don't always work out.

as seen in this picture as well

"And just why do you think I should get wet?"

I have no idea.

Amelia lovin up on Holly.

Kershaw Christmas

The morning after Christmas, we packed up and headed down South to see Travis's side of the family. We had some doughnuts and biscuits and gravy for brunch before gathering around the family room for presents. Eva eagerly opened her first present, a set of Princess books, but then quickly lost interest in the rest of her stack. She also took an excursion from presents to try out her daddy's old tricycle. We finally convinced her to do some more opening, though, and she got some more thoughtful and fun gifts. At this point, I think her Flynn Rider doll has won the popularity contest from that Christmas. She likes to find him to dance with when there's music playing, and she usually can't walk by him without giving him a little love squeeze. After presents were opened we had a nice lazy afternoon filled with naps and movies and  a boisterous dinner at the table before heading back to Aunt Molly's to spend the night. Alex and Eva had a good time playing with Alex's toys and watching Mater (kinda) and Eva did NOT want to sleep when it was well past her bedtime. It took about 90 minutes of coaxing from yours truly in the dark, but eventually she gave in.
The next day we met up with Grandma and Papa for lunch at Chili's (a favorite of Evalee's) before heading back home. We were bummed to find out on the drive back that we left our camera AND Travis's new glasses/sunglasses at Adam and Molly's. So our adoring fans will just have to wait for those pictures.... :)

Christmas Day

We woke up on Christmas morning anxious to see what Santa had left Miss Evalee on our tree. She tore right into her first package to find a baby that you can give juice and bananas to. She was thrilled and so excited to play with her. And for her, Christmas was over. It took a little persuasion and gentle words, but eventually she understood that opening a new present would not mean that the baby would disappear. She got 7 of the Disney princesses, lots of books, a couple outfits, and a few other small toys. Despite being surrounded by new toys, she requested that we watch Tangled very shortly after presents were opened and there she sat, contented with her friends amid the piles of paper and boxes.
We then had some Christmas morning breakfast of doughnuts and pancakes, the two "musts" from Travis and I's childhood Christmases. No other pancakes in the world compare to Grandma Adams Christmas morning pancakes. I was planning on making eggs, but realized we only had enough for the pancakes. It turned out for the best though, because man were we stuffed! We then had a quick leftover lunch at Grandma's before heading over the Aunt Carol's for an afternoon of games and fun. Eva fell and hit her head on an end table soon after we got there, so she wasn't really herself all afternoon. We ended up leaving shortly after supper because she was just so cranky.

So, we came home and watched The Bears play not-so-great, cleaned up all the madness, and started to pack for our next Christmas adventure.

Eva's 2nd Christmas

There was much anticipation for Christmas this year, but mostly on my end. Starting in early November, I was pretty excited to find Evalee some toys that would make her eyes on shine on Christmas morning. I made lists; I read reviews; I searched toy catalogs; I did everything I could to choose just the right things to put under the tree. And I had a blast. This year was the first year she had definite interests and preferences, so it was exciting to consider her personality and find things that I knew she would love. Last year was more of a guessing game. So, in that spirit the Christmas music and even a couple Christmas movies found their way out of their boxes before that day after Thanksgiving deadline. Next year I'm going to try really hard to stick with my rule, but we'll see how it goes.


Christmas began on Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandma was a little worried when Grandpa had mentioned the night before that he had "some shopping to do" and wasn't sure when he'd be home, but thankfully he showed his true manly spirit by buying the gifts he needed and washing his car before 11:30 a.m. We had a very nice dinner on Great-Grandma Evelyn's plates for the very last time in Grandma and Grandpa's current dining room (God-willing). When most of the dishes were done and things settled down, we gathered around the tree for presents. Evalee was pretty interested in tearing open her packages right from the start, but her nap loomed above her head and a couple presents in the tired set in. We elected to simply set her gifts aside and let her open them after her nap. We received lots of nice things -- Travis got some much needed new shoes and clothes and I got a stand mixer, among lots of other great things. Grandma also surprised us (sorta, haha) with another year's membership to one of our favorite places, the zoo. Eva can wave to the elephants for another summer to come. After her nap, Evalee opened the rest of her presents. She was very excited to see her Sesame Street bus from Uncle Eric, her Cinderella carriage from Grandma and Grandpa, and her princess pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa. In fact, she immediately put the pajama pants on over her jeans and proceeded to wear them for a good half hour.
Before we knew it, it was time for a quick leftover dinner and to get ready to go to the church service. Evalee wasn't too excited to put her big fluffy dress on, but she loved swishing it around once it was on. We sat right behind my cousin Abby and her family, so Eva was delighted to get to hug and pet little Drake once again. I'm sure he doesn't remember his stay with us back in the summer, but Eva sure didn't forget about the little cuddlebug. While Drake sat contented in his mother's lap in front of us, Eva was nothing but rambunctious through the whole program. She hopped from one lap to another, waving and calling, "Hiiiiiiii!!" to familiar faces behind us and trying to rally up impromptu carol singing, toting her heavy hymnal along with her. Although it did serve for some warm-hearted laughs around us, I'm hoping we have a bit more well-behaved 2 year old on our hands next year. Who knows, she may even find herself up on stage to sing by then!
After church it was a quick trip to Aunt Billie's to see all the familiar faces of her rough and rowdy Christmas Eve bunch at the bar. We stayed long enough for a drink and some laughs (and long enough for Eva to torture another baby with all her love pats) before heading out to get our little one to bed for Santa.

Oh Niabi Zoo, we missed you.

Tonight we decided on the spur of the moment to go to the Light Up The Zoo event at Niabi. This is the first year they reopened for a week to visit the zoo all lit up for Christmas. We all bundled up and set off to wish all the animals a Merry Christmas. Obviously many of the animals were not out to see the children at night in the middle of December, but some were and Evalee had a good time seeing them. We visited the elephants first, as usual. She very excitedly told the light up elephants stationed outside the elephant habitat "HIIII!" and then was even more excited to peek into the elephants' window and see them eating their dinner. She could have waved at them through that window for an hour. We also got to see the sleeping monkeys, the mama and baby giraffe, the swans, lots of birds and reptiles, and zebras. It was cold, obviously, but there wasn't a wind and it was wonderful to be outside for a while and moving around. The carousel was running for Christmas, which was very The Catcher in the Rye-esque, so we couldn't resist a ride. In fact, Evalee bolted for the carousel the minute it was in sight. She chose a rooster to ride this time and spent her whole ride laughing and saying "buck buck buck" like a chicken. The moment spinning around the carousel with Christmas music playing, my baby girl's eyes filled with happiness and excitement, and my husband standing proudly by just may be my "Christmas" this year. Every year, it seems, I have a moment that, when I close my eyes and think of Christmas, it comes to mind. Last year's moment was on our couch: cuddled under a blanket with a sleepy Evalee with all the lights off but the Christmas tree and watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The year before, it was a moment of solitude, sipping hot cocoa in the dark waiting for Travis to get home and listening to Christmas music over a cracky radio. I never know when it will hit me or what it will be that sparks it, but the feeling -- the moment of pure, absolute peace and happiness -- always feels the same.

Sleeping monkeys

All bundled up to see her friends

"Merry Christmas monkeys..."

This is the best we could do for a picture together.

Pure joy.

All those days, chasing down a daydream

One of the many, many perks Travis's job offers our family is the opportunity to get tickets to events around the area for $2. When the opportunity to take Evalee to Disney on Ice came up, it had to happen. We invited Grandma and together the four of us headed out to the iWireless Center for an afternoon of Disney Magic. Our seats were pretty great, but there really isn't a bad seat in the place. Evalee loved the exercise/dancing part at the beginning where the kids were encouraged to get out of their seats and dance around for a while. Then the show began. We got to see Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Snow White, Aladdin, The Lion King, Rapunzel and Flynn, and a few others that I can't think of at the moment. Hands down, her favorite part was definitely the Tangled segment. Unfortunately that segment was only one song long, but I'm not sure she even blinked the entire time Rapunzel and Flynn were skating. The ceiling was filled with floating lanterns and it was all very pretty. At the very end, all the princesses and princes came out, even the ones that weren't in the show, and waved to all the screaming and adoring little girls in the stands. It was pretty cool. As a souvenir, we even got a Princess banner to put in her room next to her Sesame Street live pennant. It was a fantastic afternoon.

She enjoyed joining in on all the applause.

Saying hi to the princesses before we left.