Evangeline Marie Klosson

Pretty in Pink!

2009-03-15T16:49:00.000-07:00

We had absolutely beautiful weather this afternoon and we decided that it would be absolutely criminal to stay indoors so we finished up all of our chores and headed outside into the sunshine. And, what better way to salute the sun than with a gorgeous, fabulously pink, frothy, frilly, tutu!

We haven't ventured outside much with Evie this year, it's been so cold and on the days when it's been above freezing, she'd been sick and we've been worried about getting her out in the cold. Needless to say, Evie thoroughly enjoyed her time out in the fresh air!

We didn't go far, in fact, we just headed out the back door onto the lawn. Evie had a lot of fun chasing after her ball and watching a neighbor's chocolate Lab running up and down the grass chasing after his ball.

She enjoyed switching from the squishy grass to the solid ground, stepping up and down onto the paving. She has become a very accomplished and confident walker (and runner) in such a short space of time, it's incredible to see all of these changes happening literally in front of our eyes.

Here's Evie jumping on and off the patio area...

There are lots more pictures from today here and of course, there will be many, many more tutu pictures, after all, who can resist a cutie pie like this dressed up like a beautiful ballerina!?

I don't like Oreos

2009-03-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

Evie has been really poorly again this week, with yet another ear infection. She had her 12 mo check up last Friday, complete with shots and started showing signs of fever and general unwellness and crankiness on Saturday. I took her to the doctor Tuesday after she showed no signs of improving and sure enough, she had developed an ear infection that was not there on Friday when she had her check up. She is now back antibiotics.

It's been a struggle to get her to eat anything - presumably because her ears and jaw are sore - I have tried just about everything. I finally decided that if I were sick, I would want chocolate, so I craked open the Oreos. Poor Evie took a couple of pieces and then wailed.

I am quite certain that she will develop a taste for them, but suffice it to say, for now, our kid does not like Oreos!!!

Playing in my PJs!

2009-03-01T08:16:00.000-08:00

Sunday mornings are fun in our house. We start the day with a wonderful pancake breakfast, complete with maple syrup and bananas and a big glass of milk to wash it down. Afterwards we all hang out together in our PJs and play until Evie takes her nap.

Evie seems to know that Sundays are special and that PJs are made for rolling around the floor in. When we eventually get her dressed, she behaves and plays completely differently.

Here she is lolling and running around the place in her spiffy PJs that her Aunty Kate, Uncle Jim and Cousin Betsy got her for Christmas. They are so comfy-cozy that Ken and I wished we had a pair each too!

After watching Daddy make pancakes for all of us, it's Evie's turn to mix up some delicious treats!

Mmm mmm, delicious! Thanks Evie! Here's to fun-filled lazy Sunday mornings!

Fun at the Park

2009-02-22T08:03:00.000-08:00

We took Evie to Meckauer Park this afternoon. The day had started out quite bright, but we soon discovered that this was an evil trick by the sun to get everyone outside to freeze! No sooner had we arrived at the park than the sun disappeared never to return!

We lasted about 15 minutes or so, giving Evie a quick turn on the swings and slide (accompanied by Daddy of course).

After toddling around for a bit and 'playing' tic-tac-toe, we reluctantly bundled ourselves back up and headed for home. It has been such a long and cold winter, what a mean trick that sun pulled on us. Next time you come, it had better be because Spring is here!

Brrrr, bundled up for an afternoon at the park

Runny and red noses a plenty!

Roll on Summer!

Evie's 1st Birthday Weekend Extravaganza! (Part 3)

2009-02-21T17:18:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, your aunt and uncles came to visit to wish you a happy birthday (they also called you on your birthday)! Uncle Rick, Aunty Yaya and Uncle James all came to see you. We ate our lunch together and then we all sat around and played for a while.

Uncle James arriving

Evie always has big hugs for Uncle James

... And Uncle Rick

...And Aunty Yaya!

Mummy and Daddy got you an Evie-sized kitchen for you to play with because we know how much you love playing with the kitchen cupboards and refrigerator! You also love to watch Daddy cook and now you can cook up a treat for Daddy! To go with your kitchen, we got you a singing teapot which came with cups saucers and a plate of yummy cakes, we’re sure that you’ll have lots of fun having tea parties with your bears and of course Elmo over the coming months!

"Let me wash those dishes!"

You had lots of fun showing everyone your new toys (while showing off the gorgeous outfit that Aunty Emily bought you) and then your uncles reciprocated and showed off their new toys…. (Kiddo, I’m sorry to say that your Daddy and your uncles are all dorks!)

And now for some music!

And here are the boys with their toys...

Get used to it Evie... boys and their toys... it never ends! LOL

You were given a musical drum that taps out the alphabet as well as an Elmo and Cookie Monster giggle and sound station; you got a rainforest musical chime and lots and lots of wonderful books to add to your collection! You are such a lucky girl Evie and are much loved by everyone.

"I'm getting the hang of this present opening lark!"

Evie bangs the drum!

Making fun sounds (with Elmo in tow of course)

Thanks to James, Rick and Yaya for sharing in Evie's special weekend!!! We had so much fun with you all. We really missed you Emily!

Evie's 1st Birthday Weekend Extravaganza! (Part 2)

2009-02-20T16:29:00.000-08:00

Your birthday celebrations continued when Daddy came home. I’m not sure who was more excited to open your presents, you, or Daddy but you both certainly had lots of fun doing it!

You were given so many lovely things Evie. Your Nanny and Granddad Musgrave sent you a musical stage that plays music and has a big mirror that you can look into and sing at. They also sent you a talking book that has nursery rhymes and other fun stories as well of course as your bike.

Your Uncle Jim, Aunty Katy and Cousin Betsy sent you a musical play table and a push around toy – such a lucky girl! Of course, you had just as much fun climbing on top of the box that the musical table came in as you did playing with the table itself!

What a busy day you had Birthday Girl! So many wonderful memories were made. We hope that you enjoyed your day as much as we enjoyed celebrating with you!!!

Evie's 1st Birthday Weekend Extravaganza! (Part 1)

2009-02-20T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today is your 1st birthday Evie, and what a day you had!

Mummy and Daddy spent all of last night decorating the house to get it ready for your big day. Daddy blew up all the balloons and Mummy tied them to all of the windows! We found a huge mural that had all of your favorite Sesame Street friends on it (and in particular your bestest friend, Elmo) and put that up on the wall too.

It was so much fun to see your face when we brought you downstairs this morning, you noticed each and every one of the balloons, banners, streamers not to mention of course the 3 foot Elmo in the room!!! (All of Mummy and Daddy’s hard work paid off!)

Daddy had to go to work this morning, but not before giving you your first 1st birthday present (we saved the rest of your presents until he came home). Here you are trying to figure out your popcorn walker! It’s pretty and pink and makes lots of “Pop, pop” sounds when you push it! You haven’t quite got the hang of it yet, even though you can walk beautifully, but we expect, you’ll have it mastered before the weekend is through!

You found your second present pretty quickly. This beautiful tricycle was sent to you by Nanny and Granddad Musgrave. It was very difficult to wrap up, so instead, we put it in the living room with a big bow on it for you. You were very excited to see it, and Daddy and I can’t wait to take you for a test run on it!

Mummy had to work this morning too, so we had a quiet morning but at lunchtime the real fun began because your friends started to arrive for yours and your friend Maddie’s birthday playdate!

Here are some of your friends enjoying their lunch before the real fun started… cupcakes!!!

Here you are looking beautiful in your birthday bib and tiara! We got a matching set for Maddie too, so that both of the birthday girls would look special.

After lunch, you played with your friends. You have lots of wonderful friends Evie and many of them came to see you today to help you celebrate. You had lots of fun playing with one of your friends’ feeding chairs – which was very funny because you had lots of new toys to play (not to mention your friends) and you were fascinated most by a chair!

After some play time, it was time for your cake. Maddie’s mom, Ana, picked up the most delicious cupcakes for us all. They were quite enormous and so we had to cut them into smaller pieces for you all! We all sang to “Happy Birthday” to you and then Maddie before you tucked into your cupcakes. You weren’t quite sure what to make of them at first (you even tried giving Noa some of yours) but you soon realized that they were absolutely yummy and you ate yours all up!

Later on in the day some of your friends had to leave, but others arrived, so we had cupcakes all over again! Noa, especially enjoyed hers, so much so that she got ‘caked’ in cake and needed a bath afterwards!

Evie, you had a wonderful first birthday made all the more special by spending it with your friends. And the best part of all is that this was just the beginning of your celebrations… there is much more to come!

Happy Birthday Evie!

2009-02-20T10:14:00.000-08:00

Evie your big day has finally arrived! Daddy and I can hardly believe that you are a year old; we do not know where the time has gone.

We have been spending the past couple of days thinking back to this time last year; the excitement of meeting you and wondering what (and who) you would look like. Would you grow up to be creative like Mummy, would you become a Formula 1 racing fan like Daddy!? We had so many questions; “Will she love her sleep and sleep all night like Mummy?” (yes, but not for about 4 weeks), “Will we really have to change 20 diapers a day?” (Yes and sometimes more!) “Will she really change our lives forever?” (Yes, yes, yes and in the BEST possible way!).

This past year has been the best of our lives and we are so thankful for every day that you are here, a part of our lives. We have learned so much from you and have so much to teach you and show you. We love you so very much and cannot wait to spend each and every one of your birthdays celebrating the day that you came into our lives.

Happy Birthday Evie, our Darling Girl!
All our Love,
Mummy and Daddy xxxxx

A walk in the park!

2009-02-08T16:00:00.000-08:00

The weather warmed up a little today and so we decided to shake off the cobwebs and head outside for some fresh air.

We headed up the road to Shelter Rock School, where we often walk to when the weather is nice. The school has two playgrounds each with swings, slides and climbing frames that Evie will love playing on when she's older! For now, she is content taking everything in and sitting on our laps while we swing or slide with her.

Today however, she got to have a little fun all by herself! Evie has been walking for a couple of weeks now but has been confined to the not-so-great indoors and has not had the opportunity to stretch her legs outside. Today she had a whale of a time toddling around outside, resplendant in her new red shoes!

The playground has lots of fun markings on it and Evie had a lot of fun wandering around the pretty lines as well as chasing her shadow!

She took off at quite a clip and of course fell a couple of times when her legs couldn't quite catch up with her ever determined mind! Fortuantely, Evie has had a LOT of practice falling down and does it quite well!

We had so much fun today and can't wait for more warm weekends so that we can get outdoors and enjoy ourselves some more!

James and Emily Visit

2009-02-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

Uncle James and Aunt Emily visited today. We hadn’t seen both of them together since Mummy’s birthday. Emily is a nurse and works a lot of nights and weekends, so we were really excited to see her!

We had a fun-filled day that included lots of good eats; Panera sandwiches for lunch and 5 Guys Burgers for dinner… Say it with me, “Heaven!” Emily brought her camera with her and took some great shots of Evie running around the place. She has a great eye as you can see from the pictures that follow.

Evie and Mummy

Balloon time!

Running around...

Fun with Paddington Bear!

Fingers...

...and toes

We really enjoyed sending the day with James and Emily, we really don’t get to spend nearly enough time with them, but are hoping that we will get to see them more often once the warmer weather hits. We are already planning some trips to Mystic to see the seaport and aquarium. So, bring on the sunshine Mr. Weatherman, we have places to go and people to see!!!

25 Things About Me

2009-02-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

Our wonderful moms group/playgroup friends are putting together a yearbook to commemorate the first year of each of our babies. We were asked to put together a list of "25 Things about..." to be included on each of the babies' individual pages. Naturally, my "25 Things about Evie" grew to epic proportions, and did not fit in the yearbook... so I am recording them here instead!

1. My full name is Evangeline Marie Klosson. The name Evangeline means ‘bearer of good news’. My Mummy always tells me that the best news she ever had was finding out that she was pregnant with me. My middle name is my Grandma’s name, she was my Daddy’s Mummy. I never got to meet her but I have seen lots of pictures and she was very beautiful.

2. I was born on Wednesday, February the 20th, 2008 at 1:18am in Danbury Hospital. I was born on the day that I was due! Mummy and Daddy took me home on Friday, February the 22nd. It was snowing that day and Mummy and Daddy were very nervous driving home with me.

3. When Mummy and Daddy first brought me home from the hospital, I had daytime and nighttime confused! I would sleep all day long and be awake all night! Luckily for me (and Mummy and Daddy), I figured out day from night when I was 4-weeks old and I started sleeping at nighttime!

4. My room is very pretty. It is painted green and it has pink curtains. My name is up on the wall and all around the room there are butterflies, flowers and bunny rabbits. I like playing with my wooden rocking boat. My teddy bears and cuddly friends live in the boat and I have lots of fun taking them out and putting them back in again.

5. Ever since I was very small, my Mummy and Daddy have always played lots of music for me. My Daddy used to rock me to sleep to Bob Marley. In those first four weeks we listened to a LOT of Bob Marley!

6. My favorite nursery rhymes are “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “6 Little Ducks” but I love to wiggle around (and now dance) to any music that I hear!

7. When I was 4 months old, I started going to daycare. I go for 4 days every week and have Fridays at home with Mummy. Miss Bela and Miss Patti take care of me and I love to play with all of my friends there. I am almost one now, and my mummy thinks that I have become quite mischieveous (because I like to play with things that I shouldn't) Miss Bela and Miss Patti agree with mummy!

8. On Fridays, my Mummy and I see our friends. I love getting together with my friends; we swap toys and share our sippy cups, snacks, drool and germs with each other. Mummy enjoys getting together with my friends too, she talks to their Mummies and they eat cakes and laugh a lot.

9. I’m always smiling and laughing. Even when I was a tiny baby people would tell me that I had a beautiful big smile. I’m a very happy baby.

10. I got my first passport by the time I was 4 months old. I went to visit my Nanny and Granddad in England twice and by the time I was 10 months old, I had traveled over 14,000 miles!

My 'Klosson' Uncles and Aunt

My 'Musgrave' Uncle and Aunt

11. I have 4 uncles, 4 aunts, 1 cousin and have another cousin coming soon!

Nanny & Grandpa Klosson

Nanny & Granddad Musgrave

12. I have family in 4 different time zones living in three different countries. My Nanny and Granddad Musgrave live in England and my Grandpa Klosson lives in the Czech Republic. I see and talk to my Nanny and Granddad Musgrave every weekend on our webcam.

13. When I’m not flying in airplanes, I love to ride on my Daddy’s shoulders. I like being so tall! We stand in front of the mirror and I play with Daddy’s hair and ears. If I’m feeling tired I sometimes rest my head on top of Daddy’s and fall asleep there.

14. My best friend is my pink bear. I snuggle with him every night and nap with him during the day. He has my name stitched onto him so that he knows he belongs to me. I love my bear and he loves me!

15. My favorite toy is my big fluffy Elmo (he’s almost as big as me!), and my second favorite toy is my activity table. When I was smaller I used to love lying under my rain forest mobile listening to the music and watching the lights.

16. We have 2 kitty cats; they are called Kimi and Buttons. I love to pet them both and they love to come up to me and rub up against me.

17. I started crawling when I was 7 months old. I love chasing the cats around the room and especially like crawling when I am holding something in my hands!

18. While I am crawling around, I love playing with empty soda bottles, boxes and the fridge magnets. I also love to play with the telephone, computer keyboard and anything else I can get my hands on!

19. I love food and have always been a very good eater. My favorite foods are sweet potato, peas, scrambled eggs, cheese on toast, mandarins and mango! There isn’t anything that I don’t like yet!

20. Every Sunday my Daddy makes pancakes for us all. I have my pancakes with bananas and a little bit of maple syrup. I have a cup of milk afterwards to wash it all down.
21. I got my first tooth on November 18, one day before my Daddy’s birthday. Mummy and Daddy thought my teeth coming for soooo long, but they finally arrived when I was 9 months old. I have 2 teeth now; they are my bottom front 2 and I look very cute when I smile!

22. I started walking when I was 11 months old. I had been wobbling around on my feet for much longer than that but I really started walking properly just after Christmas. My Mummy and Daddy spend a lot of time following me around the house now!

23. I got my very first pair of shoes when I was 11 months. The shoes are bright pink and are very comfortable. I love my shoes and when I’m not wearing them I try to put them on my feet!

24. I love to look out of the windows. The windows in our house are the perfect height for me and I love to run over to them and lift up the curtains. We have a family of deer that live in the woods across from our house and sometimes I see them when I’m looking out of the window.

25. I will turn one in a few days. I have really enjoyed all of the fun things that I have learned over the past year and am very pleased to have made so many friends. I hope that we will all be friends forever!

Aunt Lisa Visits

2009-01-31T17:32:00.000-08:00

Aunt Lisa visited us this afternoon. She hasn't seen Evie since before the holidays and wanted to stop by to see for herself juts how much Evie has grown!

She brought her mother-in-law, Corinne, with her and we all had fun watching Evie run around the living room taking her toys from one room to the other!

Evie loved watching Lisa blow bubbles and particularly enjoyed trying the cakes that she brought over for us. Evie's favorite was the Napolean, but she also loved the eclairs and the cannolis and just about everything she got her hands on - buy this kid loves to eat!

After her cream tea, Evie entertained us all by playing with her musical instruments - she is especially good at playing the drums!

Snow Day!

2009-01-28T22:00:00.000-08:00

We've had quite a lot of snow this winter but for some reason or another, Evie hasn't been out in it much at all. (Probably because she doesn't actually have much in the way of snow atire - I'm such a wicked mother!) This weekend, we remedied that by adventuring out on to the deck to catch some snowflakes!

She really didn't know what to make of it all at first... but she soon had fun watching the flakes come down.

Me and my bear

2009-01-28T18:35:00.000-08:00

Peanut butter has jelly, fish has chips and in the tradition of all great partnerships, our Evie has found her other half... her pink bear blankie!

The blankie was a gift from a work colleague of mine, Linda. Linda sent it to me just before Evie was born and let me know that her grandchildren each have one in similar designs and absolutely adore them. I held on to the bear for the first couple of months, paranoid as most new parents are, that she shouldn't have any toys in her crib with her until she's bigger, but she would always find him/her (we haven't decided yet) tucked away! When the time came for Evie to go to daycare, we were advised to bring along some home comforts and so we took her bear along with her. Well, we now have 2 bears because we no longer had a bear in the house when Evie was in daycare and she missed him/her!

We picked up another bear and now Evie has one that stays home with her and one that goes to daycare with her. She takes such comfort from him and likes nothing more than snuggling up for a nap with him.

I took these pictures to show Linda what a hit her gift was and thought I should share them with everyone else too!

"Come on Mr. Bear, let's go for a ride!"

"Okay, now I'm sleepy, let's get ready for a nap."

"I just need to adjust a little..."

"Almost there..."

"Ahhh, perfect! Night night Mr. Bear."

"Night night, Evie."

One Fish, Two Fish, I eat Goldfish!

2009-01-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

Evie discovered the wonders of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers today. She absolutely LOVED them!

Hey Evie, want to know a secret? Daddy works at Pepperidge Farm and can bring home goldfish crackers for you any time you like!

Toast (with butter)!

2009-01-17T18:51:00.000-08:00

When we were in the UK this Christmas, my mum would often be up early and would help me feed Evie in the mornings. One particular morning, I was giving Evie toast and my mum was absolutely horrified to find out that the toast was dry, as in, no butter or any other type of topping. Evie, not horrified. Mum, horrified.

Needless to say, the very next day (and after much teasing from my mum "I can't believe that poor baby is on dry toast and water."), she was enjoying toast with butter and then toast with butter and marmalade!

When we came home of course we had to follow suit and give Evie toast with butter. So, my gorgoeus wonderful Mum, these pictures are for you. Here's your beautiful granddaughter lapping up her toast with butter! Love you xxx

"Yes! Butter! Thank you Nanny.. was hoping I wouldn't be getting the dry stuff!!!"

" Mmmm mmm, scrummy in my tummy!"

"Now who do I have to talk to around here to get a bit of jam...?"

"Thank you Nanny, toast will never be the same again!"

Evie helps with the unpacking...

2009-01-09T17:41:00.000-08:00

I work from home on Fridays mornings and have the afternoon off. It was tough when Evie was younger, but has become much easier now that she is bigger and more independent. She is quite happy to sit and play with her toys and explore her surroundings while I tap away on my computer.

This morning (and for most of the afternoon), she took great delight in 'helping' me unpack the suitcase from our trip home! We travelled with 3 large suitcases and have been unpacking slowly but surely throughout this week. I hadn't realized I had left this suitcase open until it suddenly went quiet for a few minutes (Evie is quie chatty when sh'es playing and exploring). I looked up from my computer and found her IN the suitcase sifting through all of our things. She had so much fun pulling the clothes in and out of the case, I think she amused herself for about an hour!

"OK, I've sorted through the cardigans and jumpers, let's take a look at the undies next."

I could only stop for a couple of minutes to take these snaps, but wish to goodness that I had stopped for longer because the best picture of all was of her trying to get out!!! Of course, Evie being Evie, she did not give up until she figured out how to do it, and promptly spent the next 10 minutes or so getting in the suitcase... out of the suitcase...in the suitcase... out of the suitcase...!

"Hello Operator"

2009-01-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

Evie has many toys that either we have bought for her or that she has been kindly given. Toys in many fun shapes and sizes. Toys that sing. Toys that crackle or pop. Toys that teach colors and numbers and shapes. Toys, toys, toys!

But, regardless of how colorful and shiny or noisy and interesting any of her toys are, the most fun must have 'toy' in the house has got to be, without a doubt, the humble telephone.

No matter what Evie is doing, she will drop anything and everything the very minute the phone is being used, whether we use it to all someone or to answer it when being called. She cannot resist its lure. So much so, that it is very difficult for us, at times, to conduct a telephone call when she is around because she really likes to let us know that she wants that phone!

We have, of course, bought Evie a toy phone; my brother too gave her a wonderful pink phone on which she can dial up her rabbit, chick, dog and cat friends, but those phones are simply no good. It's the real deal or nothing for our girl! I only hope that this is a phase that she'll grow out of sooner rather than later!

Must get phone from Daddy...

"Ah, success! Now, who shall I call...?"

I've got it! Dialling, 1-800-ELMO

"Hello Elmo? It's me, Evie. Did you know I'm your biggest fan!?"

Give a girl a spoon....

2009-01-05T17:53:00.000-08:00

Evie has always been a very good eater, in that she'll try anything at least once and will almost always finish her meals. She has her favorites of course (sweet potato, squash, peas) but is pretty much open to trying new things...

In addition to trying new foods, she has also been trying to feed herself a lot lately. She has been grabbing at the spoon and is quite determined to be in charge of the food administration... For better or for worse (as the case was this evening), I decided to just go with it and let her 'have a go'.

Boy, did she ever 'have a go'!!!

"Okay, which way does the spoon go again?"

"Aha! Who needs a spoon, when I've got 5 ready made spoons on the end of my hand?!"

"Make that 10!"

"Alright, now I'm getting the hang of it, this is easy Mum!"

"See. Here comes the choo-choo train!"

"Let me check, I think there's more in here..."

"Nope, all gone. Time to clean up!"

"Hee hee, this is so much fun Mum!

"Did I get it all? I think I missed a bit" "There's a tiny bit on my chin you say?"

Evie, you are just so much fun to be around. We love watching you explore and learn. Even if it means hours of clean up afterwards, the fun is worth every minute!

Evie's Christening

2008-12-28T21:48:00.000-08:00

We had Evie christened during our trip home. We loved our wedding ceremony and setting so much that we had always hoped to have our children christened at the same church and by the same vicar if at all possible. Fortunately for us, Father Martin agreed to conduct the ceremony and he cetainly didn't disappoint. Like our wedding, the ceremony was a wonderfully personal affair with just the right amount of formality sprinkled in on top of a warm and heartfelt blessing.

Evie's gown was made out of the stole that matched my wedding dress. It's something of a tradition in the UK to have christening gowns be made out of wedding dresses and since I had the extra material it made sense to use that and not my dress.

My good friend and one of Evie's Godmothers, Lisa, had the gown made as a christening gift and she personally finished the detailing on the dress. My mum picked out the shrug and fluffy headband, which finished the outfit off a treat!

Here she is with Mummy, then Daddy and finally with us both. I had spent the previous three days in bed sick, so it was probably quite a shock for Evie to see me up and about, let alone dressed and all made up! Sadly, my dad came down with the dreaded stomach bug that plagued me over the holidays and so he was unable to make it to the christening. We did miss him terribly.

Here we are at the church. Evie is lucky enough to have 4 Godparents. Her Godparents are situated in three countries, so she'll have people to look after her whenever she visits them there!

Not all of them could be present for the ceremony, but they were all named during it and are listed on Evie's christening certificate.

After the chrsitening, we headed out of the church and across the village green to the pub for Mum's surprise party! With all of the creeping around and shinanigans that my brother and I had to pull off to keep the party a secret from our mum, we forgot to bring Evie's cake with us! It was such a shame because, as you can see, it was absolutely beautiful... oh well, my mum tells me it will keep for a long time (it's a fruit cake and no doubt steeped in booze), so we'll have some during our next visit!

Daddy's Home!

2008-12-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

Evie just loves it when Daddy comes home from work. Usually she is in her high chair eating dinner when he appears, but tonight, he was just a few minutes late and so Evie had finished eating already and was playing with her toys.

As soon as she heard the door open, she went scooting on over to the gate and couldn't get up to her feet quick enough to greet her Daddy! What a nice welcome home he had!

There's a Moose in the Hoose!

2008-11-22T07:49:00.000-08:00

Aunt Yaya and Uncle Rick visited today. We hadn't seen them in a while because we have all been sick for so long! Since we last saw them, Rick and Yaya had taken a trip to Canada to see Niagra Falls for Yaya's birthday and they brought back a wonderful souvenir for Evie... It's a Canadian Moose... eh!

We had a wonderful pancake breakfast in the morning as a belated 30th celebration for Yaya and to celebrate Ken's birthday on Wednesday. Evie at up all her pancakes and had lots of fun getting to know her moose afterwards!

Here is mister moose playing peek-a-boo with Evie!

And here's Aunt Yaya, joining in the peek-a-boo fun!

Taking care of Elmo

2008-11-14T07:49:00.000-08:00

I worked from home this morning, which I admit, is getting much easier now that Evie is bigger and can amuse herself. I put out toys for her near me and she'll sit quite happily playing while I work. Today she amazed me (as she frequently does these days) with her nurturing - not to mention dexterity - skills! I stopped work to give Evie a snack and found Elmo on the floor wrapped up all snuggly in this paper towel! Evie was off playing with something else, no doubt letting Elmo take his nap in peace!

I'm pretty sure this isn't what 9-month old babies are typically doing with their toys, but as I said before, Evie is constantly amazing us with the things she gets up to! Perhaps she'll be a nurse when she's older?!?

Just cruisin'

2008-11-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

Evie has officially started cruising around the house now. She has been crawling for some time and can pull herself up to standing without any trouble. For while she has been shuffling from one spot to another while holding on to something but not with any real purpose i.e., she didn't really realize she was moving. That all changed this weekend when she would take herself off for trips around the furniture, beginning always with her favorite spot at the ottoman.

Here are some snaps of her moving along the ottoman and ending up at the TV cabinet behind.

And here's Daddy watching to make sure Evie doesn't fall into the glass doors!

And here she is, back to the beginning again. She will also cruise along the sofas and the side of her crib. She especially loves moving along the windows in our kitchen and Evie's bedroom. We have bay windows so she moves from one to the other and then back along. I will try to get some pictures of her doing that.

I forgot to mention that she is also enjoying standing all by herself. She lets go of the furniture and just stands there wobbling for a bit before holding back on...

... or falling down!

Pancake Breakfast!

2008-11-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

Evie enjoyed her first pancake breakfast today and absolutely LOVED it! The ladies at the daycare had been hinting that she was ready for a change from the usual pureed applesauce and bananas for breakfast and suggested we tried pancakes. Not ones to have our arms twisted about eating pancakes, I mentioned it to Ken and he made them right away!

We chopped up some bananas to go with the pancakes and as you can see from the pictures that follow, Evie absolutely loved her new breakfast fare!

It's a messy business but someone has to do it!

Farida's Last Playgroup

2008-11-07T16:38:00.000-08:00

After Music Together, we all headed to Ana's house for playgroup. Today was Farida's last playgroup with us all. She is heading back to Russia next Thursday. It has so wonderful getting to know her, I know that she has had a wonderful time here in the US with Yana and of course Sophia.

The babies are all getting bigger, and need lots of toys and playthings to amuse them. Here we have Rylee with Pike (and Sydney in the background), eagerly playing at the activity table. I think that every one of the babies had a turn on this at some point during the day!

Layla was particularly impressed by it and pulled such a cute face when Mommy plonked her down to play!

Here's Sophia, wearing her princess crown made of the finest Fisher Price plastic! She's clearly going to have wonderful deportment when she is older and will no doubt be found carrying books and other items atop her head!

As always, the mommies had lots of opportunity to catch up and share and ask advice. Hot topics at the moment revolve around food... what to give, what not to give and tips for bribing little ones to eat!

At the end of the play date, Ana made a beautiful speech on behalf of us all to say farewell to Farida. After polishing off some delicious baked zitti, salad and other goodies, we were treated to champagne and a delicious pie - Ana, you are a wonderful hostess!

Farida was quite moved by our farewell messages and gift (we made up a photo album for her full of pictures of the babies and moms). She told us how glad she was to meet us all and how happy she was that Yana had found such lovely friends.

Here's Evie watching Farida thank us all.

Safe travels Farida, we really loved meeting you and hope to see you in the US again very soon!

Music Together

2008-11-07T16:28:00.001-08:00

Today we took part in a music class demo by the folks at Music Together in Brookfield. Our teacher was Don and he was really great, the babies were quite taken with him when we first got started (probably because for the most part they are with women and other babies all day long).

Don got the session going by tapping on a big drum, it seemed to have quite the hypnotic effect on the babies!

During the session we danced and sang and the babies got to play with little shakers and other instruments. It was so much fun, I'm thinking of signing us up when classes start up again in January!

Hats!

2008-11-06T16:56:00.000-08:00

While I was out sick a couple of weeks ago I taught myself to crochet! I have always wanted to learn but was put off because I (wrongly) thought that it looked pretty tricky. I bought myself a "teach yourself to crochet" kit when I was pregnant and also started knitting. I knitted a little jumper (sweater) and a blanket but really didn't get into knitting like I hoped I would (I needed my mum to be closer so that she could help me when I got stuck!). As a result, I didn't even open up the crochet kit. Then a few weeks ago I had lunch with my friend Lauren who had been crocheting hats for friends and family. She kept insisting to me that it was easy and that I should try it, however Lauren is a gifted soul and would probably insist that the New York Times crossword was 'easy', and so I remained unconvinced!

When I was ordered to stay in bed for a week by the doctor (and thank you by the way Dr. Kaplan - I needed it!), I of course couldn't lie around and do nothing, so I decided to pick up the crochet kit, and boy am I glad I did because I very quickly discovered that it's EASY!!! - feel free to insert an "I told you so" here Lauren ; ) - not to mention fast and really fun too!

After a couple of hours mastering my technique and tension, I set to work to find some easy patterns for baby hats. I found a great pattern online and modified it a little (see I modified, that's how easy crocheting is!). I made a test hat using some scraps of wool while I was sick and at the weekend took the plunge and got myself some new wool in fun bright colors.

Not satisfied with the hats as they were, I looked for an easy pattern to make some flowers. After a couple of practice attempts, I had that mastered too... did I mention I LOVE crochet!?

Anyway, here are three hats that I made Evie. I am working on some others in different color ways as we speak and will post pictures once they are all done! (By the way, excuse Evie's mucky face - I was just about to take her up for a bath when I took the pictures!)

Halloween - Part II

2008-11-01T17:31:00.000-07:00

Today we had the best day! We were invited to a Halloween party at Jodi, Mike, Olivia and Sydney's house. Everyone from play group was invited and - for the first time ever! - everyone was able to come! That's 15 Mummies, 15 Daddies and 16 babies and 1 Grandma for those of you who are interested!

Jodi and Mike were brave to open up their beautiful home to us all, not only because there were so many of us but also because as the parents of 7 month old twins, I'm amazed at how they can even brush their teeth every day let along get a house ready for a party! It takes me all weekend to catch up with our laundry... I am more and more in awe of Jodi every day!

We took lots and lots of pictures and have included some of our favorites here. It was a truly wonderful day, spent with incredible people. Ken, Evie and I are so lucky to have found these lovely, gorgeous, kind, generous and scrummy folks!

Thanks Jodi, Mike, Olivia and Sydney for a magical day, we'll forever have these fabulous memories of our first Halloween as a family.

Here are our hosts, Jodi with Sydney and Mike, with Olivia aka Mr. and Mrs. Old MacDonald and their farmyard animals.

Here's Evie, looking cute as a bug!

Wait, is Olivia doing the chicken dance?! "Cluck Cluck" Livvy!

Here's Casey (on the other side of the camera lens for a change!) with her always adorable Riley... hey what's that smell!?

And here are the lovely Corey, Randie and their love/flower child Leah. It was great to see the parents dress up too!

You're a beautiful sunflower Leah : )

Here it is, a rare sight indeed,not only because of the costumes but because this is the first picture of all 15 mums together! (And more remarkable perhaps is the fact that no two babies were dressed alike!)

And now it's the Dads' turn.

Check out Darth Vader and Princess Laya aka Nick and Sophia. Adorable!

(Nick's T-Shirt read "I am your father." Priceless!)

Here's Layla, doing her best cave-girl impression, and yes, she has bones in her hair!

The always sweet, Rylee.

Leah and her little monkey, Pike.

Here's Taylor dressed up like a giraffe to match her lovie.

Here's another beautiful flower, this time it's Sophia, with her Daddy, Brian. Mum, Yana, was inside keeping warm.

Here's the gorgeous Elisabeth with her cute little kitty, Isabel.

(Isabel's collar even had her name on it!)

Here's Katie with big and little Brewster.

And Riley again, this time with Daddy, Ryan.

And Ana, the gardener with her beautiful flower, Madelyn Rose!

Hey Evie, is Daddy buggin' you!? ; )

Halloween - Part I

2008-10-31T16:05:00.000-07:00

Halloween was on a Friday this year, so Mummy didn't have to go in to work and Evie didn't have to go to daycare. And both places (work and daycare) were having Halloween parties and parades, so we were acually disappointed to miss out on some of the fun.

Luckily, we know how to make our own fun, so Evie and I spent the morning (after Mummy finished the work she has to do from home that is) playing dress up and having fun!

Here's Evie in her Happy Halloween top!

And here she is transformed into a big scary and totally cute and scrumptious monster!!!

"What Mum? Even monsters like ice-cream ya' know!"

We are all invited to a family Halloween party tomorrow (Saturday) at Jodi & Mike's (parents of Olivia and Sydney) and so we'll be having lots more fun then... watch this space for more pictures and info on that party!

Evie's ExerSaucer

2008-10-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend, Ken, Evie and I went shopping. We nipped to Target to pick up a few essentials like a bath mat for Evie's tub and some birthday decorations for Yaya's birthday weekend extravaganza! On the way home we popped into a store that we've been meaning to visit for a while called 'Once Upon a Child'. The store is part consignment and sells new items as well. We had heard great things about it and wanted to check it out. Evie has been standing and pulling herself all over the place and we wanted to find a little walker or push-along toy to help her practice her walking. What we found when we walked through the door was this great 'ExerSaucer' toy instead!

Evie's eyes absolutely lit up when she saw it as they have a couple of these in the daycare she goes to and I know that she loves playing in them. We put her in it to see if she'd enjoy it and she started laughing and bouncing around immediately! We bought it there and then and took it home. After a quick clean up, Evie was raring to get in. As you can see, she had a great time spinning around and bouncing up and down!

(Check out the cute bow!)

Bounce! Bounce! Bounce!

Mummy gets a makeover!

2008-10-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I took Yaya for her 30th birthday makeover at Shine! I got a short cut but really fancied a differedt colour to go with it. Worried about what Ken might think, I stuck to my usual colour, however, when I told Ken about how I fancied a new look, he told me to go back and go for it! And as you can see... I went for it!!!

For most people who have met me since I moved to the US, this bold new look will proabably come as a shock, but for those of you have known me for a long time, this is more of a blast from the past! I had very dark hair for many many years, so this 'new' look is a actually an old one!

Evie definitely noticed the difference but has quickly gotten used to the new me... I'm just picturing the day when she comes to us and asks for pink or blond or black or whatever colour hair it is she fancies... how can I ever say no when my own has been (virtually) every colour of the rainbow!
Evie, just do us the favour and wait until you are 16 or so, and then my love, you can colour your hair whatever colour your heart desires. I promise!

Evie goes 'green'....

2008-10-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

Evie has been pretty fussy with her food ever since we introduced finger foods preferring cheerios and puffs over her usual - and more nutricious - diet of cereal with fruits or veg. But if there is one food we can always get her to eat, it's peas! She absolutely LOVES them! Go Evie, for eating your greens!!!

Me Love Mangos!

2008-10-14T18:40:00.000-07:00

Evie has been a little fussy with her food lately (actually she is more than likely bored with the usual quota of banana for breakfast followed by veg for lunch and dinner), so I decided to try something new for her. I bought some baby mango desert and put it in the fridge to make it nice and cool (Evie eats all her meals warm) for a bit of a change. I forgot all about it until this evening when she turned her nose up at everything and anything I offered her (well except her zwiebeck toast, which doesn't count as food in my book). I suddenly remembered the fruit and thought I'd give it a try...

Well, she absolutely LOVED it to the point where I couldn't shovel it in her mouth quick enough! She walloped every last drop, I even used the toast to scrape out all the little bits I couldn't get to with the spoon.

She was so happy with her new dinner option that I had to take these pictures of her covered in her new favorite food - mango!

Enjoy, Evie certainly did!!!

Blue Jay Orchards - round 2

2008-10-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

Today was Columbus Day and Evie's daycare was closed, so I swapped my usual Friday off with this Monday so that I could be with her.

Our fabulous 'Bosum Buddies' President, Keri, organized a trip to Blue Jay Orchards for the Mums, babies and any Dads that could make it too. Sadly Ken had to work (as would I have), so Evie and I went together to meet up with the others.

Here are all of us who made it (from L-R:) Leah with Pike, Randie and Leah, Casey and Riley, Ana with Maddie, Keri and Sophia, Me and Evie and Janelle with Rylee.

Despite the overcast look of the day, it was actually really warm out. I think most of us over-dressed for the occasion and soon wished we were in T-Shirts and shorts!

Thanks to our wonderful Casey for all of these fantastic pictures including these great shots of Evie and I here below and again at the end. We are so lucky to have a resident photographer in the group (not to mention ambassador for all our blogs!).

Jodi caught up with us all as we headed into the pumpkin patch. Here are all the babies looking pretty as a picture sitting amongst the pumpkins (eating grass and chewing dirt)!

Here's Casey's daughter Riley, looking very laid back with her pals Pike, Evie and Sydney.

Enter the Mums for pictures with the babies...

It was such a fun day, Evie and I are so lucky to have found these wonderful friends. Ladies, thanks so much for being such great company and wonderful support to us. We always have such fun when we get together and are so glad to have found you all.

Fun with Uncle Rick and Aunt Yaya

2008-10-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

Uncle Rick and Aunty Yaya came over today to visit Evie and to catch up with Mummy and Daddy who hadn't seen them in a long time (well Mummy saw Aunt Yaya just yesterday but that doesn't count!).

Evie was wearing her special onsie that Aunt Yaya painted for her at Mummy's baby shower and both Daddy and Uncle Rick were wearing their green Jets jerseys as there was a game on today.

Evie, you had lots of fun playing with your aunt and uncle and they had lots of fun hanging out with you. They hadn't seen you crawl yet and were most impressed to see you scooting all over the floor! Here you are showing Aunt Yaya your phone.

And here you are again, this time with Uncle Rick and with Daddy.

You are really finding your feet now Evie and are not content to be crawling around the place, instead you like to stand up whenever you can!

Of course, your favorite spot of all, remains, as it always has been on Daddy's shoulders!

Here is your Uncle and your Daddy waiting patiently for their dinner!

We all had a great day catching up and relaxing in one anothers' company. And the best part of all (apart from spending all our time with you of course Evie), was that the Jets won their game!

England - Saturday, Jim & Kate's

2008-09-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

Our last day at home... The morning was spent packing, packing, packing; oh and not to mention some re-packing! We had planned on travelling light both ways but of course did not! Three suitcases later, we managed to get everything in and loaded up into the car.

Our flight home was not until 6pm from Heathrow, so we had most of the day to spend together. We headed to Jim and Kate's after breakfast (and packing) for a cup of tea and some scrummy biscuits before making our way to the airport.

We managed to squeeze in a few last photos, this time of the boys with their nieces.

And of the two cousins! See how Evie is giving Betsy a kiss goodbye. Don't worry Evie, we'll be back again soon!

We had such a wonderful week at home. A big thank you to Mum & Dad, Jim & Katy for helping us to get home. We were so thrilled to meet our beautiful niece, Betsy, and can't wait to see you all again in 12 weeks and 6 days! (But who's counting?!)

England - Friday

2008-09-19T14:45:00.000-07:00

Friday was our last full day in Brighton and we wanted to make the most of it! We actually had a pretty relaxing morning (and yes, bacon sandwiches were had!) at Mum and Dad's and made plans to meet Jim, Kate and Betsy at around lunch time.

The weather was beautiful (again!), so we decided to go walking (again!) along the seafront. This time we drove to the Marina and planned on walking along the seafront to the pier and town.

Evie really enjoyed being out in the fresh air and had a wonderful view from her new stroller!

Here we are all together, we are certainly never ones ones to avoid a fun phot opportunity (I didn't add the ones where we were all poking our tongues out!

Here's Nanny and Grandad on pushchair duty, and yes, they volunteered! Evie was absolutely flat out by this point and we were only about half-way! It's hard being pushed around all day, right Evie?! ; )

We had so much fun strolling and chatting. There is so much to see along the way to the pier including the Volks Electric Railway, the beach volley ball court, a playground and mini-golf; it's a fun walk.

And when there weren't fun things to see, we made our own fun...

Below are some of the sights to be seen as we approached the pier. Top: The boardwalk where fish 'n' chips and other bad-for-you-but-delicious-foods can be had! Bottom L: This lady was taking part in a 24-hour paint off for a local charity. The paintings were amazing. Bottom R: One of the many bars/restaurants that can be found along the seafront.

And here she is in all her glory, Brighton's Palace Pier. Quite breathtaking. Ken took this shot as well as some other crackers that will be joining our 'Brighton wall' back at our house.

Evie's first time on Brighton pier -and the first of many, many visits no doubt!

After wandering up and down the pier taking in the sights and sounds, we headed into town just a little way to grab a drink. I really wanted to make a pit-stop to my hands-down favorite Brighton landmark of all, the Brighton Pavillion.

The Pavillion is so beautiful and even more so at night when it is lit from inside. We didn't stay long enough to see it but will definitely head back at Christmas to take another look and grab some shots.

We left the Pavillion to join the others who we had left back at the pub. We wandered through the Pavillion gardens and were met with this beautiful topiary garden. You've got to love Brighton, there is always something cool around the next corner!

Here we are back at 'Ha Ha's' relaxing with a pint and a packet of crisps! It was the perfect way to end our long walk into town.

Of course, it isn't enough for us to just relax and enjoy one another company, we have to make fun of one another too! Here is Jim, then me wearing Dad's glasses and having some fun...

We decided to take the bus back to the marina and our cars as the evening started to draw in and it got quite chilly. Here is Evie enjoying her very first bus ride!

We rounded out the evening, our very last in Brighton (for this trip at least), with another curry. We ordered way too much food and of course still managed to eat it all up! Come on, it's curry!!!

England - Thursday

2008-09-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

Today we all took a trip to Portsmouth. Portsmouth is a naval seaport on the South Coast about 50 miles west of Brighton. It was an absolutely beautiful sunny day and we all looked forward to the trip. Aunty Betty joined us all for the fun!

The drive to Portsmouth only took us about an hour and we passed through more gorgeous English countryside. We noted lots of places that we need to visit on our next trip home including Arundel Castle and Chichester.

We arrived at around noon and were greeted with Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower looming in yet more glorious sunshine. We were all in need of some light refreshments however and headed for a cup of coffee (and some cake of course!).

Betsy was looking extra adorable today in her cute pink headband. She is at the stage where she is alert and taking in her surroundings. She pays special attention to faces and was constantly moving her eyes between my eyes and mouth as I was talking to and playing with her. It's hard to imagine that the next time we see her, she'll be rolling around and making noise!

Here's Mum and Aunty Bet enjoying a nic cup of coffee and a muffin before heading into the shopping area. Portsmouth is really famous for its naval history and has severa museums and old ships that are open to the public, however, in recent years it appears that it has become as attractive for its shopping! The marina is filled with outlet stores (a new concept for the UK) and restaurants. I was really impressed with the place and I really don't care much for trawling around the shops!

Here are some great pictures of Katy and Betsy (above) and the three of us girls (below).

Here's proud Daddy with Betsy.

Grandad was on hand to take pictures of us all. We spent almost an hour in this Starbucks, but it was so nice to sit and chat and play with the babies.

Evie had lots of fun with Uncle Jim, who played with her feet and toes. She was squealing with delight! Not sure who was the bigger kid in this case, LOL.

After all the excitement, Evie enjoyed some quiet contemplation with Aunty Betty, who was no doubt witnessing Evie's first taste of handbag lust!

After grabbing some bargains in the stores, we headed outside to find a place to eat. We passed by some neat maritime nostalgia along the way.

Here's another nostalgic and rare sight these days... the red telephone box!

We had a wonderful lunch at Cafe Rouge but we also had a bit of a scare when Betsy had a nasty coughing bout and couldn't catch her breath. She gave us all such a fright, so much so that Jim and Katy decided to get her checked out at the nearest hospital. Fortunately, Betsy was given a clean bill of health and the three of them were back with us all within about 45 minutes.

The weather turned really cold mid afternoon and we all bundeled up while we took a walk outside. The flag next to the Spinnaker Tower was blowing about quite a bit!

We took in some of the marine-side views while waiting for Jim, Kate and Betsy to come back. The ships below are docked right outside the shopping area and tower, everything was really close by... everything that is except the H.M.S. Victory, a naval ship that I promised Ken we'd be able to see today. We managed to catch a glimpse of her masts but sadly never made it around to see her in her full glory... next time Ken I promise, promise, promise (pinky swear promise)!

Evie was pooped by the end of the day. We shopped till we dropped and took in lots of sea air so can can blame her really!?

We finished out the day with a quick look along the upper deck of the marina. On our way up we snapped a rare picture of the 3 of us!

We had a really great day in Portsmouth (Betsy's scare aside) and are definitely planning another trip when we go back for Christmas... can't wait!

England - Wednesday

2008-09-17T14:43:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was another fun-filled day and was one of the rare days that we had all planned out in advance. Jim had to work in the afternoon so we made plans to meet up with my friend Jeremy, who we were also seeing in the evening. Jem really wanted to meet Evie, so we arranged to meet up for a cup of coffee in the morning.

We headed down to the Marina (by car this time) and arranged to call Jem when we got there as he had to do a bit of shopping for dinner. Before we could call him, we bumped into him at the Asda! He looked as gorgeous as ever and we had a lovely time catching up. He had a few cuddles with Evie and we parted ways excited about spending the evening together.

We had fun shopping in the baby section of Asda and picked out some cute outfits for Evie. Nanny bought her a winter coat and I bought her some bits and bobs too including a gorgeous woollen hat. After all the excitement of the shopping, Evie fell fast asleep in her Daddy's arms (well in the Baby Bjorn).

She was absolutely flat out, just look at those legs - total dead weights!

We headed out into the sunshine and Evie promptly woke up and started smiling her mile-wide smile (Evie, we love that you are always smiling). We put on her new hat as it was a cool day in spite of the sunshine.

The crisp air worked its usual magic and convinced us that a cup of tea (or coffee) and a a piece of cake would be the perfect antidote to the chill. We found a lovely French Patisserie in the Marina's Boardwalk area and sat and enjoyed some pastries and coffee. Evie had a lunch of peas and washed it down with a drop of water from her trendy sippy cup that Aunty Katy and Uncle Jim bought her.

After our coffee and cakes, we headed back outside and up to the top of the Boardwalk. We looked at all of the beautiful boats and yachts and soaked up the sunshine while watching the world go by. The Marina gets packed during the summer months, so it was nice to be there during the off-season and to take it all in without too much hustle and bustle.

While Daddy went off to explore some of the Marina, Evie and I sat and chatted and giggled with Nanny and Grandad.

We strolled around the shops some more before heading home to get ready for Mummy and Daddy's first night out together since Evie was born!

On the way to Jem's we passed "Love's" restaurant. Love's was one of the restaurants that was featured on Gordon Ramsey's TV show, "Kitchen Nightmares". Formerly called "Ruby Tate's", Love's is a seafood restaurant that is literally a 2-minute walk from Jem's house. Ken and I stopped to take a look, here's Ken checking out a poster of an article featuring Gordon Ramsey and the show.

At Jem's we were treated to both a gorgeous buffet of fab food, and wonderful company courtesy of Jem, his partner Dave, and two of our friends (who also happen to be twin sisters) Kelly ("Evil Twin") and Catherine ("Good Twin"). Both Kelly and Catherine have had children since I moved to the US and so we had a lot of fun catching up and talking about their children, Noah and Evie, respectively.

Jem and Dave are both very creative and artsy folks. Pretty much everything you see in their flat was either made, restored or painted by them.

During the evening, Kelly decided to reveal her alter-ego, Spidey...

Even a super-hero needs a cup of tea! (Check out the gorgeous wall paintings that Dave did.)

Me with all my lovely friends (Clockwise: Emma, Jeremy, Catherine, Kelly & Dave).

We had such a lovely evening catching up, that I literally didn't worry about Evie once. She was of course in great hands with her Nanny and Grandad, but none the less it was our first night out ever! Thank you Jem and Dave, Kelly and Catherine. We miss you so much!!!

We got home to hear that Evie had woken only to look for her pacifier before falling back to sleep, such a good girl. Sweet dreams little one!

England - Tuesday

2008-09-16T14:42:00.000-07:00

After all the excitement of Monday, we decided to have a very lazy Tuesday, beginning of course with the now obligatory bacon sandwich and a cup of tea! At the park on Sunday, my Uncle Terry and Aunty Jill invited us over to see their garden. Like my parents, Terry and Jill are very keen gardeners and have a beautiful back garden filled with exotic and huge plants, trees and flowers. We went over there after breakfast and Evie had a great time touching all of the big leaves and watching the birds and butterflies flitting around. In the afternoon, we headed to Jim and Katy's house. They had been bringing Betsy out into all weathers and at all times to meet up with us, so we decided to give them all a break (from the travelling at least) and went to visit them.

Jim and Kate live about 15-20 minutes away from Mum and Dad's in a town called Burgess Hill. They actually moved into their house the day after Ken and I moved into our house!

Evie had a lot of fun rolling around the floor. While not officially crawling, she is very mobile and can drag, scoot and roll her way just about anywhere she needs to get to, as Betsy quickly found out!

After saying hello to Betsy, Evie spent some time playing with Uncle Jim and her favorite furry companion, Mister Bear. The three of them had a grand old time "talking" and playing.

After a scrummy lunch and a wonderful afternoon, we headed back to Brighton for the evening. We picked up fish and chips on the way home and, after settling Evie in for the night, we snuggled up in front of the TV and enjoyed some Cadbury's chocolate! Another perfect end to a another perfect day!

England - Monday

2008-09-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

Monday was another glorious day and so we decided to take a walk along the undercliffs from Rottingdean to the Marina in Brighton. Rottingdean is a beautiful seaside village just 2-minutes from my parents house and is where Ken and I got married. We drove down to the village, parked up and hit the seafront. Flora came with us today and had lots of fun chasing pebbles along the way. She ran around so much that she actually hurt her little paw and had to stay off of it for a few days... poor (paw) Flora...

"Oh I do like to be beside the seaside..."

Evie loved being out in the fresh air again and particularly enjoyed being in her new stroller. She can sit upright in it and watch the world go by. When she is particularly excited and happy, she twirls her little ankles in circles. I was walking beside her while Mum was pushing the stroller and took the shots below of her feet doing their thing! Too cute!

At the half-way point between Rottingdean and the Marina is a lovely little cafe. We actually walked past it as we were planning on having lunch at the Marina, but the clouds started closing in and the lure of a cup of tea and a piece of cake was far too difficult to resist! Evie was especially interested in Daddy's cake, so much so that she grabbed in from the table and shoved it straight in her mouth! Fortunately the cellophane wrap was still on it, or she'd have choked given the size of the bite she took! LOL

On the other side of the table, Jim was feeding Betsy her lunch while keeping her dummy nice and warm in his mouth! You multi-tasker you!

It started to get quite chilly quite quickly, so we wrapped up and headed back to Rottingdean, not before taking a few more pictures, this time of Evie in her adorable ladybug raincoat that Nanny bought for her.

We got back to the cars and decided to try a pub/restaurant in Saltdean for our lunch. We all bundled in to the place and after deciding it looked a little bit shady, we made a quick getaway! We finally decided on the "Badger's Watch" pub just a few yards up the road; a tried and tested favorite of ours. The babies were glad to get out of their strollers again, this time in warmer surroundings. They had fun looking at each other, and Evie enjoyed playing with her new pink phone that was a gift from Uncle Jim, Aunty Katy and Betsy.

"Let's call the rabbit" said Evie...

We had to eat up rather quickly as Mum, Katy and I were heading out for the evening with Aunty Betty to see a play. Mum and Aunty Bet bought tickets to "The Calendar Girls". The play is based on a true story of a group of (older) women who posed topless for a calendar to raise money for a memorial 'sofa' for one of the women's husband who lost a fight with cancer. The story was made into a film starring Julie Walters and Helen Mirren, which I also saw and enjoyed. The play was fantastic! When we weren't laughing, we were crying. It was a wonderful evening. It also happened to be the very first evening I have ever been out without Evie, which felt a little weird but it was great to have a girls night out!

The boys did a great job watching the babies and when we got home, both Evie and Betsy were both fast asleep!

England - Sunday, Family Picnic in the Park

2008-09-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

On Sunday afternoon, we went to Stamner Park to meet up with (almost) all of my family for a picnic and a game of rounders (similar to baseball). The picnic is an annual tradition and normally takes place in July to mark our dearly loved and missed Nan's birthday, however, the weather was so bad this year that it was postponed.

My mum is the youngest of seven children, all of whom are still with us and going strong. Those seven children went on to have 26 of their own and, at last count (with little Betsy being the very latest addition to the family), the total number of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren is 88! Ken, Evie and I had a wonderful time catching up with about 40 of them!

It was especially wonderful to catch up with my cousin Karen (pictured above) and her husband Paul . Karen and I have always been close, and it was great to see her and to introduce her to Evie. There's actually a lovely story between our families; Karen is the daughter or my mum's brother, Terry. When Terry got married, my mum served as bridesmaid to him and his wife. Then, when my mum got married, Karen served as bridesmaid to my mum. Karen then got married, and I was her bridesmaid, and yes, you guessed it, when I got married, Karen's daughter Maddie, was my bridesmaid! So, if we can keep the tradition going, Evie should be Maddie's bridesmaid when she gets married! Maddie is 18, so we have a way to go yet!!!

Here's Mum with two of her brothers, Terry (L) and Roy (R). In the second picture, she is with her sister-in-law, Jill (L) and her sister Janice (Center). Below that is Aunty Betty, my Mum's eldest sister.

Karen took some great shots throughout the day, including this one of me and then Jim, thanks Karen, I never photograph this well!

Karen's daughter Maddie couldn't make it to the picnic, but one of my other bridesmaids, in fact my chief bridesmaid, Louise, could! Louise has had a pretty spectacular year or so, starting last June, 2007 with the birth of her beautiful daughter, Amber and continuing this year when she celebrated her 21st birthday! Ken, Evie and I have been dying to meet Amber and she was worth the wait. She is 15 months now and is soooo beautiful with the biggest, most gorgeous brown eyes I have ever seen! She managed to dodge the camera (she was running all over the place), so we'll have to make sure to upload some pictures of her during our Christmas trip! Here are some gorg' pictures of Louise instead!

Here's proud Grandad and Great Uncle Roy looking after little Betsy Boo. It started to get chilly towards the end of the afternoon,, but Betsy didn't mind as she was all snuggled up in Grandad's arms.

This was Betsy's first picnic and was also the first time that she had met many of the family too, being just 8 weeks old!

Here's Nanny pushing Evie around in Betsy's pushchair. Evie was pooped after a long flight and all the excitement of meeting everyone and Nanny didn't need any encouragement to take her off for a nice stroll just the two of them.

After consuming copious amounts of cake, cream-teas, tea and biscuits, we finished up the day playing rounders. No one kept score and everyone won. It was the perfect end to a perfect day!

Nan, we love and miss you and think of you often and none more so than on these glorious days when we can all get together as a family. Thanks for bringing us all into the world!

England - Strolling on Sunday

2008-09-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

Today we started out the day with - you guessed it - bacon sandwiches and a cup of tea! Ken had been craving bacon sandwiches since the last time we were in England, so Mum has been stocking up in preparation for our arrival!

The weather was absolutely beautiful, which was a big relief as we had a big family picnic planned in one of the local parks (more on that later) in the afternoon. We decided to leave Mum and Dad's dog, Flora, at home for the picnic as there would be a lot of people there, so we took her out for a nice long walk in the morning.

Mum and Dad's house sits across from farmlands and the Sussex Downs. They go out walking with Flora every day and take in all of the beautiful scenery while getting some great exercise. We couldn't wait to get over to 'the fields' to get some fresh air and sunshine.

It got really hot out and we all quickly regretted wearing sweaters and long sleeves!

We walked for about an hour admiring the views of the Sussex countryside and coastline (you can see the sea from the top of the fields). We finished our walk and headed back to Mum and Dad's where Ken, Evie and I took a walk around the garden.

We finished up the morning with a nice cup of tea before heading off to the park for our picnic!

England - Saturday

2008-09-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

Today we all woke up feeling a little bit groggy but remarkably less jet-lagged than usual. The lure of bacon butties and a good old cuppa (tea) is frankly enough incentive to leap out of bed no matter how much or little sleep has been had!

Evie had a great night only waking a couple of times disoriented more than anything else and was on top form despite these unfamiliar surroundings.

Nanny took great delight in her first time at feeding Evie. She ate banana's with apple and strawberry and lapped it all up! After breakfast, grandad took over and spent time entertaining Evie with some teething toys. He also whistled a few tunes (she loves whistling!) and received much praise in the form of giggling and laughter!

In the afternoon, we headed to Crawley, which is about 20 miles away from Brighton, to visit my brother, and Evie's Uncle, Jim, in his salon "Jimmy Chop Chop" (http://www.jimmychopchop.com/). We had plans to see him and his gorgeous girls, (wife Katy and baby Betsy) that night but we couldn't wait until then! We were surprised and thrilled to find not only Jim but Kate and Betsy when we got there! And so our little girls got to meet one another sooner than we expected! Betsy is absolutely beautiful, such a tiny little princess and Evie was very excited to see her!

"There's no place like home..."

After a fun-filled catch up, we let Jim close up shop and headed home to order dinner for the night. On the menu, our hands-down favorite food, curry! We ordered far too much (as usual) but still managed to cram it all in and make room for a bit of chocolate afterwards!

Evie took her first 'big' bath at Nanny and Grandad's and settled down for the night a little later than her usual bedtime at 8 o'clock. Betsy fell asleep in her portable bassinet in the living room and was oblivious to our nattering and chit chat, which lasted into the wee hours...

Evie's first big adventure!

2008-09-12T15:54:00.000-07:00

The big day arrived at last! Our flight to England and the beginning of a fun-filled family week!

We started our day very early, getting up at 3am in order to make it to JFK by 5:30am. Fortunately, we packed our suitcases and loaded up the car the night before and so it was just a case of getting showered, dressed and out the door.

Evie was fast asleep when the alarm went off and continued to sleep through our showers and other commotions; she even stayed in her slumber when Daddy gently picked her up out of bed and popped her into the car seat. Evie, you really are a great sleeper (you get that from Mummy)!

Our plans to leave at 3:30 were scuppered by general "stuff" that had to be done, and we ended up leaving the house at 4am. I quietly panicked for most of the journey, until that is we got to the Whitestone Bridge at 5am, and I knew we'd make it on time.

We arrived and unloaded the car and made it to the check-in counter at 6am, perfect timing for a 7:30am flight as most people had already checked in so we didn't have to wait in line for long.

By the time we boarded, Evie was just about ready for something to eat. We settled in to our seats and got ready for the off! Evie was an absolute joy for the entire flight. Both Ken and I were anxious that she would get either, bored, cranky, pain in her ears or all of the above, but she was none of the above! She ate her breakfast and lunch, nursed pretty frequently and when she wasn't eating or sleeping (which she also did a lot of - that's my girl!), she was delighting the other passengers with her smiles and cooing. The flight attendants kept stopping by and telling us how amazing she was as babies don't always travel well.

We landed at London's Heathrow Airport a relatively quick 6 and a half hours later. We whizzed through security and baggage reclaim and were very quickly reunited with a very happy (and emotional) Nanny and Grandad.

Ahhh, it was good to be home!

A Day in My Life...

2008-09-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

OK, before you read on, I should explain the origin of this little ditty... Casey was organizing a Mom's night out for this evening (the night before our trip to England) and wanted to know who could or couldn't make it. I responded to the girls saying that I couldn't make it out because we had to get up at 3am (to leave for our trip). Jodi, unimpressed by my excuse responded with the following "Who doesnt have to get up at 3am?? ok- 4am for you lucky few." Now, ordinarily, she'd be right and I'd have gone out, but this was a special night and I had LOTS to do. To help explain why I couldn't make it out, I sent Jodi (and the girls) the following reply, which is now somewhat infamous. Jodi told me I had to save a copy for Evie's scrapbook, so this is the next best thing!

"Okay Jodi, I should have realized I wouldn’t get much sympathy… LOL
I should have expanded on “we have to get up at 3am…” Here’s what my day and evening really looks like, and trust me, I’d MUCH rather be having drinks with you all ; ) "

Emma – a day in the life
5:45am alarm goes off, hit snooze
5:55am ditto above
6:05am ditto above
6:15am panic, say “shit” about 16 times, run to the bathroom
6:17am take shower, wash hair and hope that I can find a pair of clean and ironed trousers in my wardrobe so that I don’t have to spend extra time shaving my legs
6:22am get dried, brush teeth, apply make-up
6:32am try to wake up Ken without waking up Evie
6:35am get dressed and tiptoe out of the bedroom
6:36am gather up bottles for daycare, dry collection bottles for my pump, pack pump and load up the car with all of the aforementioned plus my laptop, lunch and purse
6:40am wake up Evie, get her dressed
6:50am nurse Evie
7:00am put Evie in the car seat and leave for day care
7:20am arrive at daycare, spend too long saying goodbye to Evie and leave
7:30am drive to work saying “shit, shit, shit, I’m late” all the way there
7:40am arrive at work, connect laptop check voicemail get coffee, start work
9:30am pump
12:30pm pump
3:30pm pump
4:40pm leave work (notice I don’t take a lunch break – EVER)
4:50pm arrive at daycare, spend 10mins chatting with the care givers
5:00pm drive home
5:20pm arrive home unload car
5:25pm put pumped milk and leftover bottles in fridge
5:30pm feed cats and Evie
5:45pm take Evie for a walk
6:30pm come home, run a bath for Evie
6:35pm get Evie undressed, begin bath
6:45pm get Evie out of the bath, dry her and wrestle with her to get her clothes back on (she LOVES being naked!)
6:50pm plop Evie down with some toys while I empty the bath, close curtains, put on the nightlight and get ready for putting her to bed
7:00pm nurse Evie
7:15pm put Evie to bed
7:17pm go downstairs, wash bottles from daycare, make up new bottles for daycare
7:30pm make lunch for tomorrow
7:40pm iron clothes for tomorrow
8:00pm eat dinner – enjoy momentary sit down)
And for tonight...
8:30pm pick out clothes for Evie, Ken, Me to wear for a week in England
9:00pm gather up toys and food needed for the trip
9:15pm pack suitcases
10:15pm repack suitcases after discovering that nothing will fit (I’m nothing if not prepared for the worst! LOL)
10:45pm remember that I haven’t got toiletries out ready to pack and discover that there is no room for them and that they are not allowed as carry on (well the liquids at least)
10:47pm have a nervous breakdown
10:49pm have a cocktail
11:00pm repack the suitcase
11:10pm have another cocktail
11:30pm load up the car
11:40pm check in on Evie and realize that all of the chaos is so totally worth it. Get excited about our trip
11:45pm get ready for bed
11:46pm be in deep deep sleep
3:00am alarm goes off (see 5:45 and repeat first 3 steps!)

Blue Jay Orchards

2008-09-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

Today was a glorious day and we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and head outside. We have had a really hot summer this year but it has been far too humid and sticky to be out and about with Evie (at least during the day time). Today however, the sun was shining and a cool breeze was blowing, it was a perfect day for getting out!

We decided to go to Blue Jay Orchards for a walk around the apple trees. Apple picking season isn't in full swing yet, and the orchard was quiet, but things will be picking up soon, particularly with Halloween approaching, and so I'm sure that this was the first of many visits this fall!

Here's Evie and Daddy in front of the Blue Jay Orchards truck. Can you spot the scarecrow behind the wheel?

The orchards are set in the most beautiful countryside and are literally a 5 minute drive from our house. We're so lucky to have this beautiful place on our doorstop. We'll definitely be visiting a lot more often now that we have Evie to show it to!

The orchards were really quiet with just the McIntosh apples ready for picking. We skipped the picking part and just strolled around soaking up the good weather and wonderful views. We'll be back to pick apples and pumpkins later in the fall!

Evie really enjoyed walking through the trees, playing with the leaves and touching the apples and tree bark. Before we know it she'll be running around the place!

Not quite ready to chew on apples, Evie was very content knawing on Daddy's fingers and thumbs!

Next time Evie, we'll get you a juicy apple to chew on! Or maybe a pumpkin!