Summertime

We love the things that Summer brings! One of our favorites is this cool park that not only has a big playground, but a water-play area with fountains. This is her little friend Annie that introduced us to the place.

It was so nice to have some visitors come this month. My high school friend Annilee came to visit with her husband Jeremy and little boy Cannon. We had a great time reminiscing and laughing. Oh how old friendships never change. We also had some friends from Virginia drive across and stop by before they got to their hometown in Eugene, OR. They have the cutest tiny baby girl, Penelope. It makes me so happy when people come stay, even if they are just passing through. It is wonderful to have people that I love in my house!

Our good friends Jess and Damariz came to town with their little boy Sam. Eric has been friends with Jess since high school and it is so fun to see them because Sam was born one day before Eva. He is much taller than her, which is not hard to do, and it is fun to compare the things they are doing and learning. They do share a favorite food: strawberries.

Here they are playing in the fountains:

Cousin Lovin'

Cousins are the best! Watch how cute Eva and Clark are when they're together. Eva likes to push him around in her walker (she thinks she's too big for it now). She tried saying his name, although it sounded more like dog, which is the word of the week. It was another great weekend at the cabin in IP.

Oh! And speaking of cousins, Eva is going to get a new girl cousin in November. Sam and Liss are having a little girl. Yahoo! Congrats to them.

A girl can never have too many pairs of shoes.

She said it! Eva's first word is "shoe." A close second is "ball." She already has a shoe fetish like her Dad and loves trying to put her own shoes on, put my shoes on my feet and pointing at everyone else's shoes and saying, "shoe."Isn't it incredible how kids learn and pick up on things you say and do? You don't realize it until you are a mom and your own child starts to say words. Sometimes I think, "What?! Where did that come from- you're just a baby!" I am also very amused by the things she copies me doing. For example, she has heard me blow my nose so many times that if you put a tissue up to her nose, she blows hers too. One day I was spot cleaning the floor and I looked behind me and the little Cinderella had my rag wiping the floor. so stinkin' cute.

Her second favorite object is a ball of which we have collected in all sizes and colors. We found one at the store that she fell in love with and couldn't wait to play with it so while I was paying the cashier, she played catch with the customer in back of us. Such a friendly girl.

Her new favorite pair from Grandma Jules.

This one makes me almost pee my pants.

Going to the pool with buddy Roan

Hi Dada

Who needs toys when you have cell phones? Eva loves talking on the phone and no matter who she is with, she is always talking to Daddy on it. I love the way she says, "Hi Dada."

Eric has been out of town in Arizona for a dental course so we have been missing him. I hate being alone at night so I usually watch a movie and make some sort of chocolate dessert that I eat half of one night and the rest the next night. This time it was brownies and the pan is just about empty. When we went to Blockbuster tonight I didn't see anything worth renting. Eva picked out a bunch however. After I set her down for 2 seconds she pulled the whole bottom shelf of DVDs on the floor. No one minded because she looked so cute doing it.

Come home soon Dada!

Bums Up!

We discovered one night when checking on Eva that she sleeps with her bum in the air. It is the cutest sight, but you have to wonder how that can be comfortable...? We have gone in her room every night ever since and sure enough, this is what we get to smile at before we go to bed:

No Hands!

Eva has this great new trick that she likes to show anyone who will watch . She stands up holding on to the furniture then she lets go with her hands in the air as if to say, "Look at me, no hands!" And then we all clap (including her). It is so cute how excited she gets.

Does her hair look different to you? We had to give her a haircut because one day I got her out of the car, wondering what she had been chewing on (I looked at her in the mirror while driving) and it was her own hair! She had pulled out a lot of it in the front. It looked silly as you can see in the sleeping picture- it was so long in the back and thin in the front. I was sad. I have been dying to put it in a curler to tame those wild stick-ups into sweet curls. I guess I will just have to wait.

As for the eating: she ate 17 bites of yogurt, 3 bites of banana and a whole strawberry this morning. Her eating is better, but there are some things she still refuses. She can tell if there is egg in anything as soon as her finger pushes it on her tray. There is no way that is going in. I tried to get tricky and made french toast and quiche, but she's too smart for that. Although, she will eat chocolate chip cookies and I guess those have a little egg....amongst all of the chocolate and sugar. She still only has 4 teeth but she uses them well. I asked for kisses yesterday and got bit.

When I am getting ready in my bathroom she likes to get inside the cabinets to see what she can rip apart. Feminine products and toilet paper can keep her busy for a while. Then in the kitchen, there are endless possibilities. It is always interesting after I have had my back turned for a couple of minutes what I will find when I turn around. This is usually how it looks:

All day she points at the window and begs to go outside. So we do and she wears out the knees of her pants. But it is worth it to see her smile as she crawls around the sidewalk and grass throwing rocks and chasing after leaves. Last week we had the brilliant idea to just put her in her walker outside and let her at it. Oh, the freedom! Luckily we live in an old-folks neighborhood that doesn't get much traffic and when it does you can bet that those RVs are going to be slow. But I try to get her to stay on the sidewalk because sometimes you can find ducks and chase after them!Yay for orange!

Cute sleepyhead girl.

Cinco de Mayo

Cristi and Brooks put on a fabulous Cinco de Mayo fiesta last week. They required a latin article of clothing so Eva got to wear a little Peru beanie that looked so cute! I brought some homemade tortillas and a few of you asked for the recipe. This is from a friend from Mexico who taught me how to make them. Enjoy!

Flour Tortillas

3 cups flour

1/4 cup and 1 T oil

1 1/4 cup boiling water

1 tsp salt

Mix flour, salt and oil. Add water and stir. Knead 5 minutes. Make small balls and roll into 1/8 inch thick. Cook in a pan on med-high heat (no oil or butter needed). Turn tortilla when tiny bubbles form on the surface. Cook about a minute on second side. Makes 1 dozen small-medium size tortillas or 5-6 large burrito size tortillas.