Merry Christmas!

Trimming the Tree

Girls! Girls! Girls!

Saturday We had out first of three Christmas gatherings for the season! The girl cousins got to play together while Baby Reed slept gently. It was a big festive group at the Prince residence of Turner.

The day was capped off with Ruby Dog eating the remains (8+ pounds) of pulled pork from the porch. I had the honors of dispensing Hydrogen Peroxide and presiding over the regurgitation. Now that's the holidays for you!

Evvie's Techno-Rave Xmas

By Air or By Sea

Goofing around at home, Evvie has branched out from being a "land only" terrain walker. She's been enjoying the lead-up to Christmas, and we're counting down until the big day!

The Stormtrooper

Thanks Carol!

Evvie likes to sit in this seat and be spun around and around and around. She also pretends its a boat and catches fish to eat while drifting among the waves. It's a pretty slick rig.

Snow Day!

Today Evelyn and I got some much-need one-on-one time thanks to Mother Nature and the huge early storm! School was canceled, so we stayed home and played in the snow.

It was really fun to see Evvie enjoy the fluffy stuff as a two-year-old. She wasn't a confident enough walker last year to play, but this year is a different story, indeed! She enjoyed tasting it...



and offering it to Ruby...


We went sledding on our modest hill, until I got exhausted. Evvie pulled me back inside to recuperate after all of the fun!

...there's another footprint...there's another footprint...there's another...

A cute video from our first snow day of the season!

Comment, please, on whether or not you can view this movie.
Thanks!

Advent Hug

This weekend we broke out the advent elf to help count down the days until Christmas.

Evvie was excited when mama tied his arms and legs around her in a loving embrace!

...wait a minute

Which Smith grandchild is this anyway?!?

Yes, Evvie looks an awful lot like cousin Ruby sometimes!

Make the comparison yourself at Griffin and Ruby's blog

Thanksgiving Girls

Evvie and Ava had fun competing for the cutest camera pose for Pokey!

One Way to Keep from Losing Your Marbles...

Is she magic?

No, the operative word is magnetic.

Evelyn's discovered our "game drawer" and mama's magnetic balls are her new favorite item!

Beware the Ferocious Lion

Yesterday was the renowned "Saturday-of-the-five-ponytails". It was also "Saturday-of-the-oft-undressed-2-year-old".

Yup. There's always lots going on around here.

Knock knock...

Evelyn Mae is bringing home weekly art projects from daycare. She talks about the kids there constantly, and someone has been teaching her the fine art of humor. Last night over supper, Evelyn told us a knock-knock joke. It goes like this:


Evvie: Knock knock.
Mama: Who's there?
Evvie: Banana.
Mama: Banana who?
(Brief pause. Evelyn spies the small orange gourds on the table and points)
(Evvie): BANANA ATE A PUMPKIN!

We exploded in uproarious laughter. This was the knock-knock joke of the century. Evelyn was so proud of herself that she retold the joke (without waiting for the response part) a few dozen more times that night. I'm glad to see she's developing a more sophisticaed sense of humor than her old man's limited "pull my finger" ruse.

Blogging Brandon the Betta Fish

Ladies and Gentlemen...
Introducing the newest member of the Prince household...
Brandon, the Betta Fish!

Evvie got a great fishbowl setup from Auntie Amy for her birthday, so on Sunday we set up the bowl and headed to the pet store to pick out a Betta fish. Evvie selected a blue one and named it in honor of my carpool and school intern buddy, Brandon.

The Big Two

Well, with much fanfare and family participation, Evelyn managed to turn Two today.

The day started out with a reprise of fun with Grandma Sue & Grampa Jim's balloons, then the guests arrived and we managed to fit 17 people into our little house! It's the first "shindig" we've hosted since we bought the place 5 1/2 years ago, and it was fun!

Ava and Iris kept Evelyn charmed and interested in the under-3 foot tall crowd, but Grammy managed to sneak in a snuggle with a book read to the girls together.

Evvie hauled in some great birthday loot, including a ladybug walker toy and an almost-real kitchen set. Perhaps more exciting than the gifts, though, was the opportunity to eat cake with icing. Coming on the heels of Halloween, Evvie's sweet tooth is doing backflips.

Halloweenies

This year, Evelyn got on board with the fun of Halloween. I rushed home during a free hour to spend some time with her before spending Halloween Eve in class.

Evvie wanted to dress up as a raspberry in honor of the fruit she so adores, so momma whipped out her sewing needle, some old clothes and some good ol'fashioned creativity! Evvie was the tastiest costume that I saw this year!

Momma enjoyed taking her house-to-house in our neighborhood, and greeting all the ghouls and spooks that rang the bell. Super Dog made her annual appearance (now that's one costume we've gotten some mileage out of!) and the evening was a success!

Carving it up

Evvie helped us carve out some scary faces for our halloween welcome!


And she played in the yard while mama did all the work!








We're stilll undecided as to what the little whippersnapper is going to dress up as for Halloween this Wednesday, although I'm pretty sure Ruby will be reprising her role as Super Dog again this year.

BOO TO YOU!

...maybe next year

Fun w/fang

Several uses for a new bike seat

So far the prefereed mode of transport is demonstrated above. Daddy's physical workout is equally intense in both modes.

Little Boxes

As most parents know, the box it came in is usually the better toy.





Click the picture to see Big B livin' large in his own box...west coast style...

Pumpkins and Spooks!

It's just like old times with Evvie and Dad today! Columbus Day allowed me a rare break from the higher-educational grind, while mama had to work so it's just the outlandish duo on the town! We went to Rocky Ridge Orchard to get some Halloween pumpkins and apple cider. (Non-pasteurized, the best stuff on earth!)

Evelyn helped pick out the pumpkins and had a scare-off with a ghost!

Cinderevvie

Evvie has become very helpful in some ways around the house. As I wiped the table down the other day, she wanted very much to help, so she thoroughly wiped and swiped for 15 minutes. The table never looked so clean!

Star Straw

After slurping water through it all day, Evvie has found a new use for her straw!

Sun Spots

Swimsuit Model

I realize that this blog hass gotten pretty thin in the past few months. I regret that my return to school has equalled less pictures of Evvie, less time spent with Evvie and thus, less insight about Evvie. Her mother showed me some shots they took the other night while I was at class. Apparently she saw her bathing suit and preferred to put that on rather than her pjs.

I don't think we're going to turn her into an anorexic swimsuit model obsessed with her imperfect body, but don't think that fear doesn't cross my mind when I see how delighted she was to have her picture taken.

Although I did hear that fuzzy caterpillars were going to be the latest fad in Sports Illustrated's upcoming swimsuit edition.

Just Another Pretty Face

Corn

After discovering in Pennsylvania that corn is pretty tasty, Evelyn couldn't wait for it to be cooked. "Just shuck it and Eat it" is her new motto.

First Day at New Daycare

Showing the reluctant attitude of a schoolchild, Evelyn allowed us to take a picture in her "first-day-of-school" outfit. It's a new daycare where she's attending 4 times a week now that daddy's in school all the time. So far, so good. We really like how it is operated and Evelyn seemed to survive her first day just fine.

The Treehugger

Now that she's home, Evelyn really wants to get "back to nature."