I love you all the time.

Mama. . . please do not wake me up from my nap!

Touchdown!

Ranch dressing makes everything better!

We had a pretty low-key day at home. Evie napped this morning for the first time in five days. I woke her up and she was wide-open just in time for the playdate that we hosted this morning. We had five babies and their moms : Teegan, Jacob, Keegan, Jayden, and Cassidy.  Evie hit every single one of them. Oh Dear! Obviously, I am working on this behavior and am praying this stage passes quickly. Evie has no concept of gentle. I try to remind myself that everyone's baby has some type of "issue" and hitting is Evie's "issue". Maybe we will have something more interesting to deal with next week, like eating all of her veggies without dropping any of them on the floor. Carl's sweet cousin Elissa, just made my day by emailing me to let me know she is having these same issues with her darling daughter, Taylor! Although, I am so sorry that Elissa is going through this it makes me feel so much better. Maybe it runs in the family. In the midst of the chaos during the playdate, I did not take any pictures even though my camera was sitting right there with me. I was too busy hovering over Evie.


   We had a fun playdate except for the behavior mentioned earlier in the post. It's always good to hang out with friends. I made orange sourcream muffins with poppyseed topping. Evie thought they were quite delicious. The kiddos had fun with the tunnel and of course had some snacks. It's really interesting to see how just a few months makes such a big difference in terms of development. One little boy went into our pantry and brought out a bag of goldfish. His mom told me that she has to hide the fish at home. That's good to know. Evie brought me a miniature bag of M&M's this afternoon.


    Evie destroyed the kitchen after lunch scattering goldfish crackers across the freshly swept floor as if it were an ocean, pulling the pots and pans from the cabinets to use as cymbals, plucking neatly folded dishtowels from their drawer and tossing them carelessly onto the floor and let's not forget about her taking each magnetic letter off of the fridge and dumping them into the dishwasher. She keeps me on my toes that's for sure.


   She loves to hoist herself onto the little stool in her bedroom using my hand for that extra push. It's quite fun for her to jump off and on the stool  multiple times. She was out like a light so stool  hopping might be our new daily activity. I spent naptime making baked ziti. Every single pot and bowl that I own is in the dishwasher but my kitchen smells delicious. It was so nice to pop that baby in the oven and dinner was on the table thirty minutes later. Maybe I should try naptime cooking more often. It sure is a lot easier without Evie's help!

     Evie discovered that she really has a taste for spinach. I make a salad every night not sure why since I rarely eat mine. Something about preparing a salad makes me not want to eat it myself. I eat salads that other people make and love eating them at restaurants. Evie helped me out by devouring my entire bowl of spinach drizzled with creamy ranch. Works for me!

   Evie's aunt and uncle gave her a book called, I Love You All the Time and it was perfect for today : "I love you when I tell you  , "NO!" and when I say, "All right." I love you when I'm mad at you and when I hug you tight. I love you all the time."

 I could not have said any better. I love you, Evie - all the time!