I thought it would be fun to show you the progression of Eva's temper. She makes us laugh. Who does this remind you of, family?

Verenice

When I was in college, my girlfriends and I always tried to perfect Matthew's mom's chocolate chip cookies. I am sad to say that we could never do it. We came close a couple times but it was never the right consistency. I know that everybody prefers their chocolate chip cookie a certain way, but these are definitely some of the best I have ever had. Well, I am not the first to tell you that I am not a baker. Chef, maybe, but not a baker. I just don't have the patience. However, believe it or not, Matthew has the most patience when it comes to making sweets. He is really good at it. And, I thought it was about time that I share how beautiful and delicious his cookies turn out. I don't know how he does it but he does it real well. Eva and I love it when he makes us cookies!

I couldn't resist last night and I had to take out the camera to share Eva's latest, "it has to be my way guys." Sometimes I have to tell myself that I am the adult in the relationship here and not her. But this battle was kind of a cute one so I let her win. Since her little friend Meg comes over and watches Eva once or twice a week, Eva has learned from her that little girls sit in the big people chair. Or as Eva likes to call it zeja(silla in spanish ). Even though she can't even reach to eat her food she still has to sit there without her booster. It cracks me up to see her. However, she never ceases to amaze me with how good she is a eating her food.
The bottom two pictures are from the zoo trip we took today. My friend from work wanted to have Eva and I come along with her. Eva was soo good. She is finally starting to understand that there are animals there and she started to wave good-bye to them as we would leave to see more. I think she really enjoyed the birds. We all did! Some people that were there gave us their food and I couldn't believe how the birds just come up to you and drink out of this cup. It's really neat. Can't wait for more sunny, nice days to take Eva back.
ps. Grandma Carla, Eva personally picked out her jacket today, the one that you got her for Christmas. It has become one of her favorites!

Enjoying the time I have to be with these people...

Life seems to be moving faster than I can keep up with. If I'm not working on my teaching job, then I am working my masters and trying to figure out how I am going to finish in May with 360 hours of practicum time along with my FULL TIME job. Oh, the stress. But, I am realizing that because life moves so fast I just have to sit back and enjoy the moments I get to spend with the people I love most, my family. Eva and Matthew are my pride and joy, and River is up there too. It it wasn't for them I don't think I would work as hard as I do everyday. I count my blessings every day for the things that I do have.
Stories behind the pictures, Eva loves piggy back rides on her papa and why is she not dressed you ask? Well, because it has become stinkin' hard to get clothes on the child or to take them off. She has even started to tell us, "no, nigh, nigh, no."
And the ones with River, well, she just loves River and she loves to give her kisses!

Fun times

A couple weeks ago we went to the Children's Museum and spent some time there. It was quite the adventure. We left with the intention of being on the Max by 10:30 but didn't get on until 12:00. It's hard when you have a lot of children ( we went with some of Eva's little buddies). However, by far the Max was Eva's favorite part. And mine for that matter. It was great not to have to hear her whine in the car because she hates being in there. She loved being able to stand around on the Max and see out the windows. I loved seeing her so happy.






Once we got to the museum she was overwhelmed by all the kids and things to do but what did she find to play with? The BABIES of course.










Here we are ready to head home. This picture makes me laugh. I forgot to mention that the day we went it was snowing and cold. Not exactly the best day to go but I think that was what made the whole trip so memorable. It was fun to spend the day with Eva!

Poor Baby

Okay, so I am not trying to publish evidence of child abuse but I thought I would show you guys what we mean by Eva being a little dare devil. She's gotten really good at slidding down the stairs at her abuelita's house, something she really mastered at her Grandma Carla's house. Well, the other day while Matthew was "watching" her, she managed to catch her leg on a step. She then proceeded to do some sort of twist in the air and fall about a foot from the step, face first onto the hard wood floor. OUCH! I know this is hard to believe but I swear nobody pushed her down the stairs. We felt so bad, she had the BIGGEST bump on her head. Then, to top it off she had her eighteen month appointment this last Monday and I was afraid they would report us to child protective services. Don't worry, they didn't. You might be interested to know though that she is in the 90-95th percentile for both her height and weight at a whoppen(sp?) 27 pounds, but her head you might ask? Only the 75th percentile. I wonder if all the falls to her head have any effect on this?

Eva's in Nursery

Eva's been to nursery a couple times now and she hasn't been too successful. The first time, she was so horrible that Matthew had to walk out with her in the halls. The second time she mangaged to stay by herself the third hour but she was a little "sad" and was only content if someone held her the entire time. And today, her third time thus far, Matthew stayed with her the entire time and he says she kept coming to him crying for no reason at random times. Not sure how you get your child to like it there. Matthew even made her crown for her today. He's such a good colorer :) Well, no matter what I think she makes one cute child of God, like her little crown says. The joy of transitions.