Eve's Birthday

I can't believe that it has been two years since Eve was born. She is growing so fast and entertaining me more and more each day. I am so happy to be her mom, she is the sweetest little person!

She loves her tea set that she got for Christmas. She has had many tea parties... which require us sitting down so she can serve us. I am glad that we got her a toy that she enjoys so much! Now we just need to invite little girls her age over for tea parties... she would enjoy that so much more!!

Happy Birthday!!

So Sunday was a big day!! Ian and Eve got to share another birthday together. It was a lot of fun. We woke up in the morning and let her open a present (the book Olivia-she is obsessed). Then we went to my mom's. There she opened her Fancy Nancy themed presents. At church she got just what she likes most.... lots and lots of music! Not once did she have to ask for more music please.

Then we headed home and rested for a while (opened and played with her tea set) before heading over to Ian's grandparent's house for the party. The party was for family which there is plenty of right now. Ian's parents and sister are in town, or course his grandparents are here, my mom, Alice and Andrew. It was a wild party. We enjoyed lots of finger foods and angel food cupcakes with strawberry cool whip frosting.

Ian's family really outdid themselves with the presents. Just when you thought it was over more presents were opened. It cracked me up. I can't even list all of the things that she scored. Now she is obsessed with presents. She wants to open more presents please. We keep on telling her how many sleeps before Christmas when she can open more presents. She cracks me up.

The day after her birthday we went to the doctor's office bright and early for her 2 year checkup and she did amazing. She didn't even cry when they gave her a shot!! I couldn't believe it.

She got to finish off that day with a sleepover with Grandma Kim, Anica, Al, and Grandma and Grandpa Sybesma. She loved it!! Of course she is so in love with sleepovers that tonight she is away again... with my mom, Andrew and Alice. It is nice to have the quiet... but weird having her gone so much in one week. But everyone isn't home all of the time for her to party with them so it is nice for her to be able to do that... and nice for me and Ian to have some time to ourselves. Maybe that is her birthday present to him.

Busy Girl

Eve always wants to do the things that we do. Her favorite place in the house is the office. We keep the door closed so she can't get in there are destroy everything all of the time. It is kind of nice to know that there is one spot that I can depend on to be clean.

When Eve does get to go in the office one of her first stops is usually to the treadmill. She is obsessed with "running" on the treadmill. This time she even got my running shoes on so that she would really be ready to run. I think it is adorable. Nothing like running in the tutu, running shoes, and pajama shirt... that is style!!

Baby Pumpkin

Last Saturday we decided to carve pumpkins. When we went to the store to get them Eve decided that she needed a baby pumpkin. What was hilarious about this is that the store we went to only had baby pumpkins for decorations so we had to go to an entirely different store to get Eve her baby pumpkin.

She loved the process, especially the special tools for carving. She wasn't really into the guts this year but she had fun. You can see the picture of her pumpkin. She got to choose various shapes for the eyes, nose, and she was determined that the mouth had to have teeth. She is really proud of that pumpkin and keeps on trying to sneak him into the house. It has been very rainy and I think she is afraid of that poor baby pumpkin drowning. We have to empty the rain water out of him every day. She also has to give him a kiss every time that we leave the house.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween. Eve really liked the idea that she could go scare people with her scary tiger growl. We just went to a few homes of people that we knew and that was enough... she was exhausted by the time we got home. It was a fun night though. Then we had a movie night with my mom and Alice once Eve went to bed, that is when we ate our scary spider web dip.

The highlights for Eve were her special flashlight (glow stick), candy everywhere, and big scary teeth.

Sometimes it is so nice to live in Alaska. The beginning of October was so nice we took advantage of just about every sunny day we could. The jogging stroller got lots of use and our little legs did too. Eve enjoyed grocery shopping (mushroom hunting) and just running around in the woods.

About two weeks ago we were out walking on a trail towards a fishing platform and Eve was running ahead full speed when I saw the little black spot a mom does not want to see her child running towards. I told Ian that he had to grab Eve right away... then we backed off so she could see the bear that she almost ran right into. When Ian picked her up she thought that she was running towards a dog!! How hilarious! Of course when she was running right at the bear my heart about stopped, but now that I am calm and my baby is okay I can sit and laugh about how crazy living in Alaska can be.

Contemplating Life

As I wandered down a leaf littered woodland trail I happened upon this delightful creature. She appeared to be quietly enjoying the crisp fall day. Each sip of her bitter brew strengthen the grasp of concentration. The depth of contemplation of this being only merits one topic to ponder, that of life itself.