Little Lady Turns ONE!

Yes, this is a little late.  Ok, VERY late.  The last couple of months have been CRAZY.  So we left off in the middle of November.  We left off with no snow, the beginning of the holidays were just in sight.
Between November 10 and December 10:
-Got 4 teeth!  She has 4 on the bottom, and two on the top...but not the middle ones, the next ones over!  She is beginning to look like a little vampire, its pretty funny.
- Celebrated John's 31st birthday!
- Celebrated Evie's 1st Thanksgiving!
- Celebrated Keshyana's 3rd Birthday Party
-Went to the Victoria Lion's Club Pancake Breakfast with the Kistners
- Baby Kate (my dear friend from college's second baby) was born!
- Had a super fun 1st Birthday Party for Ms. Evie!

Ms. Eves is so busy and I still can't believe how big she is getting.  She is still a great eater, and still a good sleeper.   She is such a good walker, and so stinking cute.  We had a fun little surprise for John on the Sunday before his birthday.  We had a few friends meet up at Champps in EP.  He was shocked to say the least.  Never saw it coming :)  We had a nice quiet night in for his birthday the next day.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at The Friday House.  It was fun to have all of the kiddos together. My cousin's little guy Tyler is so sweet to Evie, he will definitely be like the big brother she doesn't have.  He is so caring and sweet to her, he is 6 years old and just the most fun.  His little brother Dylan (my godson), and cousin Keshyana are 3- soon enough they will have Ms. Evie chasing to play with them.  
We even did a little Black Friday shopping! Eves and I went to the Galleria with Beth, Moe and Beth's mom.  She was a trooper for a the couple hours we were out.  Maybe we'll get to go longer next year!

We can't wait until Christmas, Santa is excited, too.  I just know it!

We decided to celebrate  Evie's 1st birthday the Sunday before her actual birthday.  Our little gathering quickly became 35 people before we knew it.  So many people love this little girl to pieces.  We had a lady bug themed party, naturally!  Nana helped bring my vision of her darling little outfit a reality.  Ms. Evie was anything but shy.  She of course cruised the loop all afternoon.  All her little guests were so eager to help her open all of the extremely generous birthday gifts.  She loved all of her gifts, once they were opened.  She wasn't big into the opening or the paper.

On the day of Evie's birthday I took the day off to spend the day with J and Eves.  We went to Sea Life Aquarium.  She loved it when J took her, and they were running a holiday special, so we opted for the year membership.  That way J, Nana or I could take her.  She absolutely loved it this time, too.  After we went for a special treat at the Rainforest Cafe.  She loved that, too!  The pretend thunderstorms, gorillas...everything!

This momma also had two fairly big accomplishments this months, too.
1.  We used the LAST bit of breastmilk.  We have been slowly transitioning her to whole milk over the last few weeks.  So far so good.
2.  I ran a 10k!  I know what you are thinking...seriously?  yes, the Turkey Trot 10 in St. Paul.  I committed to my neighbor that I would.  She was so great throughout the race.  Stuck be me and was so encouraging!  I would have never run almost all of the race if it wasn't for her!  It was by far the farthest I have EVER run.  But it felt SO great!  I don' think I will ever run any further than that.  But it was so fun.



Here are the final weeks of our year of weekly photos!

Monthly!

Loving on Papa on his birthday. 

A little DIY Girls's night out at the Home Depot with Do it Herself Workshop with some fun friends. 

Cookie baking with Auntie Jenny, Carter and Ryleigh.  Evie was a good taste tester. 

Very Carefully inspecting her food. 

Mama was crafting...

 

 After the 10k! It was SO cold!

 So tired on the way home from Thanksgiving Dinner!

Snuggles with Papa

 Black Friday Shopping

So tired!

Our Elf Holly came back this year with a note for Evie.  She loved finding her each day.  She just giggled each time and pointed to her!

 Fruity Cheerios!

Last bag of frozen breastmilk!

Sea Life Aquarium!

 Rainforest Cafe

 One of her favorite gifts from the Witt's!  Her stroller :)

 One Year Photos! 

the girl HATES cake, like melt down during pics hate, so fruit loops it is!

Loving on her bear 

 My FAVORITE pic from her birthday party!!

Hope all is well with you and your family!

Christmas and 13 month update to come!

xoxo
Andrea

T-Minus One Month Until the BIG Day!

Each month Evie gets more and more fun.  We got to have quite a few more firsts this month.  Evie got to visit a pumpkin patch, go to Sever's corn maze, trick or treating, Sealife Aquarium, first bite of icee, first powdered sugar donut (my fav!), First visit to the Bascilica, First St. John's Football Game/Bennie Dance Team Performance...the list goes on!

Another first this month was Mama and Baby being sick at the same time.  I haven't been sick in almost 2 years, and of course it hit both baby and I at the same time and of course it was when John was crazy at work one weekend, and so it was just us.  We were both miserable, but I got lots of snuggles and smiles...poor thing was so stuffed :(  Thankfully J was able to help with other things around the house to keep up on the day to day business.

She has continued to be a great eater, and sleeper.  So far the girl will eat just about anything we put on her plate.  She loves cheesy scrambled eggs, toast, beef, chicken, pork, all veggies, beans, shredded cheese, yogurt, seriously, you name it.  Some mornings she surprises us and sleeps in until 7...other mornings she is ready to go at 5:30!  She has fallen into a pretty solid nap routine, too.  She sleeps about 1.5-2 hours in the morning, and then another 1-2 hours in the afternoon.  It is nice to have some time to catch up on things, but I by things, I mean shows.  By the weekend, I am pooped out.  It is my time to recharge.  However, that doesn't help the To Do list get any shorter! 

Evelyn is such a cruiser, walks everywhere.  We are trying to teach her to listen and come when called, and also what she can and cannot touch.  So far we have been able to keep most of our things out...she is a pretty good listener and knows the 'Ah, ah, ahhh, No, Thank You' means that is not meant for her.  

Evie is a happy, happy little girl.  She is obsessed with reading books and her alphabet flash cards.  She has successfully picked out the D (her FAVORITE..she picks up the card and says da, da, da, da as we tell her Da, Da Donuts...the picture ont he card), Z and O multiple times.  She is such a smarty.  Her favorite books right now are Where is Baby's Pumpkin, Bedtime Peekaboo!, Baby Says Peekaboo, Fuzzy Farm Babies, Five Little Pumpkins, A Day at the Farm, Where is Baby's Beach Ball and the all time favorite of Where is Baby's Belly Button!  Truthfully, anything that either is touch and feel, lift the flap...or both!  Within the last month, she loves to grab a book and bring it over, turn around and back up into your lap.  Seriously, precious. 

Eves also loves her Kindermusik class.  She goes on Wednesdays and its a bunch of babes all her age.  She loves to drum and dance!  Great bonding time with Nana.  

Other milestones this month:  Evie likes to 'dance'.  She will sway back and fourth while standing or sitting. So. Freaking. Cute.  She also started pointing to  objects, now signs 'All Done' and 'More', Blows Kisses, still gives passionate kisses, went to her first Eden Prairie Community Center Special Event, and even went to Play Care (the drop in child care at the EPCC) she may have only been in there for 35 minutes, but it was great non the less!

OK, our month in pictures:

Introducing...SUPER FAMILY!!!!
Everyone was a superhero..even Feds and Brooksie

Weekly's:

(below we were sick as dogs, snotty noses but happy!)

Monthly:

Papa Giving Evie an 'Icee' aka Frozen Kool Aid

 Not Quite sure about the Donut!

Cheap Entertainment!

 Brayden's Baptism...this is seriously the best pic we got..she is too busy!

 One of my dear girlfriends was saying it is time to cut Evie's growing mullet..

but then I wouldn't have this cheap entertainment during bath time!

 After Auntie Katie's Performance at St. John's!  

 It was Chilly!

Out for a walk with the pups

 After Story Time with one of her besties, Annabelle, at Southdale Library...
it's so tiring!

Tool Jammies! She WILL love DIY projects! 

Uncle Justin's 25th Birthday! 

Celebrating Uncle Justin's Birthday at SeaLife Aquarium with Papa, Uncle Justin and Mackenzie! 

She loved it!

 Trick or Treating with the Neighbors Avery and Micah!  

Evie was in the wagon the whole time...but she LOVED it! She loves watching kids!

Happy Halloween!

Helping her Papa with his Fantasy Basketball draft!

How she sits in her highchair...

 Another one of her besties...Dr. Lainey!

Drumming at Music Class! Her FAVORITE!

And Drumming With SUPER NANA!  

(the only adult to dress up for Halloween cape and all! Go Nana!)

At the Pumpkin Patch!

Sever's Corn Maze with Mama and Nana!

Loves the maraca eggs at Kindermusik!

 At Chuck E Cheese with my cousin's son Tyler! She spent the whole time chasing around Ty and her Papa...I spent my time chasing her.  We let her on this ride at the end...so fun! She loves to go 'driving, driving'

And...Mama's been crafting again.  Love this blog with fun festive wreath tutorials, I LOVE holiday decor of all types!

Eve's and I were at the Round Lake Splash Pad in Eden Prairie for the Splash Time Event in July. They had a photographer there and caught this image...love her.  If you are local and have some time, check out the splash pad...it was SO fun.  Can't wait to bring her there next year.  She will love it even more!

I can't believe that in less than a month my little peanut butter will be a year old.  Am I ready for that?  I will probably cry at her party...and on the actual day.  It has been an emotional roller coaster of a year, but I know John and I would not trade it for the world.  The joy this little bug brings to our lives is something that you can never explain to expectant parents.  It was definitely one thing we were not able to read up on!  She is so fun, learning SO much every day and it always smiling.  I cannot wait to see what the next few months brings with this feisty one!

Hope all is well with you and yours, and that you will have time to spend with loved ones during this holiday season.  Remember all of the wonderful things we should be thankful for this month, and always.  I am so THANKFUL for our little family!

xoxo, 

Andrea