From 70 to 27

Playing in Daddy's closet sure is fun!

Peek a Boo - it's Evie!

Evie loves her "Evie Tails."



Pink and purple are always a hit!



She can't take her eyes off of herself!

It has been one crazy weather day. We have had torrential downpours, booms of thundering, bright flashes of lightening and then the skies cleared. Carl announced that today is the last day of winter meteorologicaly speaking. That is some fantastic news! It has been one long winter.


Evie and I stayed home to enjoy the rain. We did a few things around the house and then snuggled up under the covers to read some books. It was pure bliss cuddling with my sweet girl while listening to the pitter patter of the rain and reading all our favorite books.


Evie napped and I caught up on my school work. Week 3 is complete. Only one more week to go and I will have completed the requirements to renew my teaching license for 5 years. It is hard to even imagine my life in five years. Evie will be 7 and we will have a little boy. I wonder where we will be living and what we we will be doing with our lives. Time will tell but I am enjoying our life right now just the way it is.

Elmo, Double Dates and Babies!

We took Evie to see Elmo at a local toy store yesterday. Elmo was making an appearance to celebrate his birthday. Evie was not impressed with him although she talked about him all the way there and for the rest of the day yesterday. I am pretty sure that she did not expect him to be quite so large. Evie might have liked the experience a whole lot more if they had some cake since it was supposed to be a birthday party.

Carl took Evie to the park which was a huge help while I stayed home to clean house. Of course, I'd rather be at the park but we spent nap time sitting outside in the sunshine which meant everything needed to be spiffed up a bit. It's good for Carl to have a chance to be with Evie alone and I must say it was quite wonderful to be in my house for an hour alone even if I was steaming the floors.

The highlight of our weekend was a double date with Courtney and Christian to Wild Ginger. It was so much fun and we cannot wait to do it again soon. I was a little hesitant when the babysitter arrived because she looked so young but Evie was already in her crib. Paige, our favorite sitter, has a little sister who wants to learn about babysitting so I am letting her practice on Evie. Just kidding, Paige was right across the street with the boys and Evie was fine with Shelby. I was a little nervous until I got the text that Evie was asleep. Courtney and I were laughing because we both babysat while in middle school but it's a lot different when it's my little girl.

We came home from dinner and our baby monitor was not working. That was not the best news but we needed a new monitor for baby boy anyway. We headed out to Babies R Us and they were not overly enthusiastic about helping us so we came home to do a little research. Evie had a blast checking out all the baby gear and wanted everything in pink. She comes by that honestly which is why we need a few things this time around. Pink blankets, sleepers and bottles may not be his first choice but then again everyone keeps telling us that second children are more laid-back.

I found a baby monitor that other moms raved about online at Costco so I headed out to get it during nap time. Carl and I love it! We can talk to Evie while she is in her room on the intercom and she gets really spooked out. That will be great when she tries to do crazy things. We tested it out during time out this afternoon. It was pretty funny to see her reaction to hearing her Daddy's voice but not seeing his face.

Weekends go by too fast! Hope you had a good one.

Time Marches On

It really is true - the older you get the faster time goes by. Evie is literally changing before our eyes. Today, I looked at her and it was as if she grew into a Big Girl over night! That made me decide to jot down a few things about Evie so I can still remember her just the way she is now when she is a surly teenager.

Manners: Evie has excellent manners. We taught her to say please and thank you but she has really run with it and uses her special words all the time. At Target today, she told the automatic door"thank you" for opening as we walked in and she always add the person or objects name after her thank you. She will say, "thank you door or thank you Daddy." It's so very sweet! She uses her manners with her baby dolls too and will say "thank you" to us if we forget.

NO: Evie is still loving the word "NO" and it does not come out quite as sweet as it used to when she was smaller. Ignoring her works well and so does being silly. Anything out of the ordinary turns her mood right around.

Covers: Evie has somehow decided that covers are really fabulous and asks me to cover her up all the time. She carries her blankets around the house in the morning and covers herself up while she watches her favorite show, Super Why.

PINK: Evie continues to be fascinated with the color pink and wants everything in that hue that is so special to her. She always chooses pink if it is available just like her Mommy.

Brother: Evie has mixed feelings on her brother. She is still in denial much of the time that she is actually going to be getting a real live baby at her house. Other times, she has cute things to say about him. Yesterday, he was really moving around and his head was on my left side. I showed Evie my tummy and pointed out the protruding spot while telling her that was her baby brother. She was very concerned that he might be stuck and kept saying, "baby stuck."

Projects: Evie thinks that projects are so much fun and will work on a project for a good 15 minutes. We went to Messy Art this morning at the bookstore and she spent nearly 20 minutes adjusting her yellow and blue circles just the way she wanted so that green would appear when the liquid starch wash. Evie loves writing and will make circles all day long. She is actually very good at making circles!

Talking: Evie continues to talk our ears off and really says some funny stuff. She was concerned yesterday about the man changing the light bulb on the street lamp using a cherry picker. She kept saying, "uh oh, boy sky." She loves to talk about her little friends across the street. We saw them the other day getting in their car and she told me - "Boys, they cute." Other days, she tells me they are busy or night -night if I ask her what they are doing. She still calls band aids "mermaids" and she says "againt" 100 times a day.

Prayer: Evie loves to pray and folds her little hands so sweetly while we all settle down at the table. She is ready to pray breakfast, lunch and dinner. Once is not usually enough for her so we do round 2. Evie points out crosses and makes her hands into a little bible. She says "AMEN" and can finish the prayer that I say with her on the nights that I put her to bed.

Numbers and Letters: She loves the letter E and the number 2. Everything is 2. Evie is able to identify a lot of letters and mommy needs to help her more with this since she is so interested.

Technology: Evie loves the iPad and can scroll quite well. She likes to look at pictures of her friends, watch videos of swimming and play games. We let her play with an old iPod and she calls it Evie's pad.

Holidays: Evie has not quite figured out that holidays come and go. She is still reading Thanksgiving books, singing about Ho Ho and using her Valentine stickers.

We just love Evie to pieces! She is such a joy and we cannot even remember what we did before she was here. We feel so blessed to have our Evie!

Back in Action

Evie is feeling much better and it has been my toughest day of the week. We can hear the mucous in her throat and chest so at least it seems to be moving out of her lungs. Her fever is gone and her coughing episodes have diminished.

I kept her home from school and by 10:00 wish that I had sent her. We went to get my emissions test done for my car. Evie told the lady, "Evie's car next." Demanding little thing! Luckily, the attendant thought that Evie was quite cute.

Our next stop was Publix and we had to literally hunt down a car cart. You know those carts that are super hard to maneuver around but that the kids love to drive through the store. We finally found one!

   Evie was exhibiting major signs of sleepiness so I put her down super early for her nap. She slept for 3.5 hours and woke up happy as a clam. Evie was so proud that she was wearing her socks on her hands instead of her feet.

Well, the happy part lasted for about thirty minutes. We did every activity in the house to keep the peace. Her favorite activity was one that I saw on the Internet. Draw a bunch of circles on a piece of paper and give your child a sheet of stickers. Their job is to put one sticker in each circle. Simple but it worked like a charm. We did it three different times.

Evie is also into tables these days. She thought the little thing that keeps the cardboard off the pizza was marvelous so marvelous that she ate her dinner off of it last night. She also likes to use shelf helpers as tables. They make a handy spot to hold her books and she puts her legs under it.

I have never been so happy to see Carl walk through the door. Evie was still in Mommy-mode but I had a short break. Now, it's time for MNO and I think I have earned the night off after this week. Can't wait for some yummy Mexican food and conversation with my mommy friends.

Wordless Wednesday!

Round 2

Evie is coughing again so we headed back to the pediatrician. She asked to take a nap about 11 and I had to wake her up at 4 for our appointment. She asked for "more nap" when I woke her up. Carl met us at the doctor and Evie was so happy to see her Daddy.


We were able to see our regular doctor today and she was fantastic. It was so refreshing not to have to sit through a 20 minute monologue regarding all the things that are not wrong with Evie. She focused on the symptoms that Evie is exhibiting. Dr. K checked her out and heard a spot in her lungs. I asked if it was the same spot as last week but the notes from last week did not have that information.


Dr. K chose not to do another x-Ray which we all greatly appreciated especially Evie. We are hoping a second round of antibiotics will do the trick. It looks like another day at home is in the works for tomorrow. Three days in a row at home is a record for us but Evie needs some time to recuperate. Carl and I are enjoying all the snuggles from Evie. She is a really fabulous patient happily sitting on our laps and ready for lots of books. We got her settled into bed after a little sprite which she loved, some vapor rub, pink medicine and some vapor plugs that the doctor suggested that we try. Spring, we are ready for you - it's time for warm weather, tulips and picnics at the park.

20 Weeks - Halfway There

I have been slacking on my weekly updates for Baby Boy! We are so excited to meet him but are just a tad busy with his sweet, precocious older sister. I cannot believe that we are halfway to meeting our little boy. July seemed like a really long way off back in November when we found out Baby Boy was on the way but now it seems like it's really quite soon.

Baby Size: Our baby is the size of a banana. He's is about 10 inches long and he weighs 10 ozs.
 
Total Weight Gain: 8 pounds but that number is growing quickly!
 
Maternity Clothes: Yes, maternity jeans are so amazing that I may just wear them after the baby is born. I tend to wear maternity clothes so that I do not stretch out my good stuff - well, perhaps I should call it my non-maternity stuff.  I learned that lesson the hard way while pregnant with Evie. My favorite cute black dress was stretchy and fun so I decided it would be perfect to wear while pregnant. Well, now it is all stretched out and ready to wear as a maternity which works nicely while pregnant.
 
Gender: It's a BOY! We are still shocked and cannot believe that we are having a baby boy. Carl and I both saw ourselves with two girls but are so excited to have one of each. We get lots of feedback from everyone even the random grocery bagger regarding the gender of our baby. Sweet things such as that we will be the quintessential American family  to not so sweet things like then this can be your last baby! We are pretty sure this will be our last baby but you just never know!
 
Movement: Baby Boy moves a lot at night just like his sister but not so much during the day. Although, I am so busy chasing after our Tennessee Tornado that I may not even notice his delicate little kicks except when in bed at night.
 
Sleep: I LOVE my sleep and it's still going pretty well for the most part. I have noticed some difficulty getting back to sleep once I wake up for a bathroom break or to move Carl to his side of the bed. He thinks this is the perfect time to invest in a King size bed so we are on the look-out for a good deal.
 
What I Miss: Pregnancy is really fairly easy for me. Don't hate me because I had a pretty rough recovery with Evie. We all get our due at some point either while trying to conceive, being pregnant, delivery or recovery.  If I have to pin something down to miss then perhaps it's sushi. I suddenly have a desire for sushi which I eat about three times a year. So far, I have not had any sushi but I am guessing that the Japanese do not give up sushi while pregnant. My philosophy is everything in moderation!
 
Cravings: I love to eat and pregnancy does not change that one bit. Carl has noticed me eating my salad these days rather than just picking at it. Salad cravings do not sound that fun though so let's go with ice-cream. I have been eating more ice-cream than usual especially Ben and Jerry's Halfbaked.
 
Symptoms: Shortness of breath especially when carrying Evie and a bag of groceries. My sweet girl loves to be held so it's worth it to lose my breath a little to have a chance to snuggle my Evie.
 
Best Moment: My nesting instinct has arrived! That is my favorite part of pregnancy and I plan to take full advantage of it because I learned the last time that not much gets done with organizing or little projects those first few crazy years months of motherhood. New mothers tend to think they are going to get so much done while their baby sleeps but guess what you are either sleeping, cleaning bottles or trying to decide if it's really worth it to take a shower that day. Nesting makes my closets look better than they have in months and my cabinets are clean and orderly for the first time since we moved in our house. My little list of projects is growing and time is getting shorter. I wish this instinct could last forever!

Weekend Wrap-up!

Evie and I had a good day on Friday! We learned something new - Costco will take anything back that you do not like! That makes me feel so much more comfortable about purchasing items in bulk since I am guaranteed not to be stuck with 100 meatballs that we will not eat! Our next stop was Brilliant Sky for story time and messy art. Evie was so sweet laying in my lap listening to Harold and the Purple Crayon. After the book, the kids had a chance to explore  chalk with liquid starch. The starch makes the chalk appear brighter which reminded me that I used to know that. Evie thought it was so much fun!

We were so excited when Daddy got home and our weekend began. I cannot remember much of Friday night since it was so long ago but I know we made turkey burgers for dinner.

  Evie slept until almost 9 on Saturday! It was so nice to have a chance to sleep so late. We took Evie to the Farmer's Market for doughnuts and she has been talking about them ever since. They have the BEST old fashioned cinnamon doughnuts at the Franklin Farmer's Market.They are called Olde World Doughnuts and they are simply divine.  Evie plopped right down in front of the duo playing the guitar and enjoyed her doughnut. We should have known then that she must not be feeling well because she was too calm all day even after all the sugar! We stopped at Home Depot to pick up a few supplies for some upcoming projects. Evie was so quiet and still - it was nice but so out of her character. After nap, she sat on my lap for two hours and was not feeling good. Carl thinks her antibiotics caught up to her but she went to bed fine.

Evie woke up on the wrong side of the crib and was a mess! Nothing made her happy. She did not like that the petals fell off the tulips or that the muffins had blueberries in them. Her nose was still running but other than that she seemed okay. We decided to walk over to the park to see if that would perk her up. Evie wanted to go to the playground or as she calls it "the castle." She was thrilled to see "her boys" there too so we had a fun morning playing with our friends. Evie came home ate lunch and crashed an hour earlier than usual. That made us feel better about her behavior, she must have been tired because she woke up quite jubilant from her nap and ready for the next thing on the agenda. Evie wants to do everything "againt" that's her version of again. We hear her say it all day and it's so cute because she just loves anything that is a little bit different. 

  We played outside and enjoyed the gorgeous weather! Evie likes to play with our umbrella but she calls it a "brella." All that running around must have caused Evie to work up an appetite because she actually ate her dinner which she almost never does anymore.  Evie and I took a bubble bath and then Carl put her to bed. Weekends go by too quickly but we are enjoying being together in our house! I think this is the longest we have stayed in town since right after she was born. Hope you had a terrific weekend and that your week gets off to a great start!

Meal Swap Details

I have had lots of questions about meal swapping. It can be a ton of organizing but it's so worth it to have several dinners in your freezer ready to go. There is a huge amount of resources on-line about meal swapping. I searched through everything that I could find, read a few blogs, and chatted with my SIL who meal swapped with her neighbors. Some people get together to share and discuss recipes in advance. Other people deliver hot meals to their friends on an assigned night- that sounds fabulous to me!


We use Meetup to organize our activities in my MOMS group so I decided that Meetup would work to organize meal planning too. I drafted an email to the board for my group and recruited some friends to participate. We have swapped three times and have learned something new every time. It seems to work best for us if we keep the group around 5 so it is not too overwhelming for anyone to prepare their dish. It takes me about 2 hours to prepare my meal and I have learned not to make my most time consuming dish. Most people just want a meal that is tasty and different to them - they do not care if it is gourmet.

 Our biggest problem has been packaging the meals. We learned that sometimes you get what you pay for with containers when baked ziti went everywhere making a HUGE mess. We may invest in glass containers to cut down on our packaging expense once we get the hang it. All of us meet in a central location with our meals with directions attached and a cooler. It takes less than 5 minutes for the actual swap.


Meetup allows you to post activites so I posted the meal swap and different moms signed up with what they were bringing. We have had stromboli, meat loaf, casseroles, soups and lasagna. My favorite part is coming home with lots of frozen meals and trying new things with my family. Not to mention the time it saves not having to prepare dinner every night. Try Meal Swapping with your friends. I am sure you will love it!

This is the the teaser to get people interested on Meetup:

What's for dinner? Do you get tired of thinking about this day after day? Then, you will love our Meal Swap! You will make 5 dinners and then meet us at the park to swap. You will go home with 5 new dinners for your family. Just think, 5 nights that you do not have to cook. 5 nights that you do not have to lug kids to the grocery store. 5 nights, that when your family asks you what's for dinner - you actually have an answer!

Here's the Scoop:

Make 5 dinners and package for the freezer in durable containers


Your meal should feed 3-4 adults.


Note in comments what you plan to make and if you will bring it frozen or ready to eat that night.


Attach cooking directions to the top of the dish.


Bring your food to Owl Creek Park at 4:00 on 2/15.

Below is the recipe that I made for the last meal swap. I got it from my friend Kristin and it's delicious!

Fiesta Chicken Enchiladas

1 small onion, chopped


1 clove garlic, minced (I use minced garlic from the jar)


1 lb of chicken breasts, shredded


1 cup Medium Chunky Salsa, divided (I normally use Pace or Tostitos)


4 oz cream cheese, cubed


1 can (4 oz) chopped green chiles, drained


1 T fresh chopped cilantro (I use 1 tsp dried if I don’t have fresh)


1 tsp ground cumin


1 cup shredded Mexican cheese, divided


8 flour tortillas (fajita size)


Cook and shred chicken, chop onion, cube cream cheese, and drain green chiles. Heat large skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium heat. Add onions and garlic; cook and stir 2 minutes. Add chicken, ¼ cup salsa, cream cheese, green chiles, cilantro, cumin; mix well. Cook until heated thorough, stirring occasionally. Add ½ cup shredded cheese, mix well.


I then put this mixture in the fridge until I’m ready to fix dinner.


Heat oven to 350. Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture into each tortilla and roll up. Place seam-side down in 13x9 inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; top with remaining salsa and shredded cheese. Bake 20 minutes or until heated through. I normally only fix four tortillas and then save the rest of the mixture for another night or for me to have lunch.

Baby Magic

Evie has been a real toddler today! She's told me "no" hundreds of time and has had so much fun testing limits. It's all normal stuff but it's so funny to hear her so adamant about different things such as the color of her cup or which chair I sit in for breakfast. Of course, there are plenty of wonderful moments in our day and we had a fun day together . . . we always do!

Evie had school this morning and she was telling me that she was going " see the kids at school" as we drove to her school. She's right there are plenty of kids to see at school! Evie went right in her classroom ready for a morning of fun.

I had a dentist appointment so she had way more fun than me. Evie had scratch-marks all over her face when I picked her up. Her teachers asked me if we had a cat. I told them no but that would be the perfect explanation for her face. They had no idea what happened to her sweet little face. I am sure it will be much better in the morning. Her nails are short but she may have had a sharp one earlier in the day.

She woke up ready to play with her babies. Evie loves "covers" these days and like to cover her babies up. She did a fantastic job entertaining herself with her baby dolls while I straightened the upstairs a bit.

We ordered a crib and mattress and it arrived this afternoon. Carl brought it upstairs so I guess it's really happening - we are having another baby. Evie will be getting the new crib because it turns into a daybed and Baby Boy will get Evie's crib because it matches the changing table. Let's hope Evie stays in her crib for a long time! She's a fabulous sleeper and a bed may change that at least temporarily.

Carl bought Evie some Lincoln Logs. He had as much fun as she did. They looked so cute building a house together. Playtime is quite enjoyable for us too!

I had a haircut tonight and am happy to see my new girl is excellent! Let's just hope she does not decide to go sell haircare products like the last one.  It's almost the weekend which always makes me happy!

Much better day!

"Guckling" her babies in their seat.

Storytime for the babies.

Evie telling her babies all about the book. It was her favorite of the day - Two to Cuddle.

She decided it would be nice to sit in her booster for a change but that it worked better for her on the floor.

Antibiotics are a marvelous thing when used in moderation. Evie woke up feeling much better this morning. I went in to check on her last night and she popped right up in the crib saying Mommy. That kid is one light sleeper but she went right back to dreamland when I shut the door. I knew she'd wake up but this is her second time on antibiotics and I wanted to make sure that she was okay.

  We stayed home all day to make sure Evie was back to 100%. We had a fantastic morning together sharing cinnamon toast, playing dolls and completing loads (and loads but who is counting) of laundry. She is such a good little helper distributing the clothes to everyone's specific area!

It took her forever to get to sleep at nap time because she was practicing her solos with every song in her repertoire. She woke up on the wrong side of the crib but requested me to sing to her. Evie is the only person who has ever asked me to sing for them. Trust me, it's not pretty but she loves my singing voice.

Our afternoon was a little tougher since Evie was a bit clingy but she perked right up when Daddy got home. They had a blast playing cars and having piggy back rides. Evie is constantly asking us to do things "again" and just gets so excited when we try new things with her. She also says, 'Evie too" to pretty much everything we say to make sure that she is included in the activity. We had a nice evening at home and are looking forward to a beautiful day tomorrow with highs close to 70.

What a day!

Evie is still coughing so much, turning purple and throwing up while coughing so off we went to the doctor. Let me tell you it was an experience! Our pediatrician was not in the office this morning so we saw our least favorite doctor after waiting for over an hour to see him. He spent twenty minutes telling me that Evie has asthma or allergies. Maybe so but this throwing up has only developed in the past few days. He was ready to send us along our merry way but I was insistent that there was a problem. Right on cue, sweet Evie turned purple while coughing and threw up on me. I have never been so thrilled and the pediatrician knew something was definitely the matter.

  He sent us off for a chest x-ray. That was really fun with a two year old while pregnant. They made me go into a booth to protect Baby Boy.  Evie was literally screaming at the top of her lungs, multiple people were in the room trying to hold her down and the technician was working so hard at helping us get this done in a timely manner. She was fantastic and knew just how to make Evie feel better - stickers!

   Chest x-ray showed fluid on the lungs which explains why Evie sounded like a transistor radio last night. It was so weird as Carl said at the time and now Evie thinks EVERYTHING is weird! Pediatrician gave Evie a RX for some antibiotics and we were headed home after nearly three hours in the doctors office. Evie was fabulous! She colored, played with her new heart stickers, worked on her beads and explored the area. I was amazed at how well she did especially since it was a LONG visit! Let's hope these meds clear Evie's lungs right up. Pediatrician told us to go about our normal life. The morale of this story is trust your own instincts - I knew something was wrong with Evie! Doctors are so busy being pulled in 100 different directions and often unable to take the time to figure out all the pieces of the puzzle!

Every available space was filled with supplies or dirty items! It's worth it to have a freezer filled with meals!

Fiesta Chicken packaged and ready to go!

Evie napped for almost four hours which gave me time to work on my meal swap meals! I made Fiesta Chicken Enchiladas and it was not nearly as complicated as the dishes that I have made in the past. My entire kitchen was upside down but I assembled my bags and made everyone salsa to go with their meal.

   As if my day was not crazy enough, our toilet overflowed twice and my hair salon called to tell me that my favorite stylist left the salon to pursue a career in sales! Thank goodness, they were able to give me another appointment for this week because prenatal vitamins make my hair grow at lightening speed!

     Carl came home early because the computers were down at work so he stayed with Evie while I swapped meals. We had a nice evening together. It's amazing how much more time you have when you do not cook dinner. Stromboli and salad were on our menu tonight courtesy of Christina and it was restaurant quality. We loved it and cannot wait to try out the other meals. Mexican Lasagna is on the menu for tomorrow night.

   Evie had the day off from the camera but her brother is making his blog debut. He's a cute little thing just like Evie. Let's hope tomorrow is a better day!

Happy Heart Day!

We had a wonderful Valentine's day! Evie was excited to see three pink and red balloons along with special doughnuts waiting for her at breakfast. We read some books and for some reason I read "Love You Forever" to her. I used to cry reading it to my students and I had never read it to Evie. Well, it made me teary reading it to my sweet little Valentine. Carl is reading it to her right now and she is saying, "Don't cry Mommy."

Evie took her balloons everywhere with her this morning. I have never seen $3 make her so happy. It really is the simple things with children that make them feel so special.

  We ran a few errands including registration at a preschool. Evie got in but not the days we were hoping for so we will wait and see what happens but of course I am just thrilled to know that she has a spot!

   Evie and I had a picnic lunch outside. Warm weather increases Evie's appetite because she took her turkey sandwich inside her house and ate it right up. We had fun playing outside in the beautiful sunshine before Evie took a nap at 11:30. We were up with her last night because she threw up again from coughing so hard. I am taking her to the doctor in the morning since it has happened twice.

   I had to wake her up at 2:00 to go the doctor. She was so excited to see Carl and wanted to surprise him. We had a great appointment and received confirmation that our little baby is indeed a little boy. Our ultrasound tech said that he must have really wanted us to know that he was a boy since he kept showing off for us. Carl and I are thrilled that we will have one of each and are so excited to welcome another baby to our family.

   We took Evie to the park because she had lots of energy to burn after sitting at the doctor's office for so long.  She loved having her Daddy home this afternoon and his sinus infection has cleared up so he is feeling much better. We delivered cake balls to a few of our neighbors when we got home.

   Evie was excited to open her Valentine present from us. She had been talking about it all day and somehow decided that "Ho Ho" had brought it to her. I made sure we got credit for this one. Evie got a red Volkswagen car because she LOVES cars and was so thrilled to have her very own. She played with it for nearly thirty minutes. We also got her some new lacing beads in animal shapes and a pink necklace. Evie had to strip down to her diaper to try on her necklace.

   Carl got some major husband points because he surprised me with a new lens for my camera. I LOVE it and cannot wait to see what new things I can do with my camera. I bought him two new shirts so not nearly as exciting.

  It's time to get dinner ready for my Valentine. Hope you had a happy heart day!