The Accidental Boilermaker

The library had a special story time this morning.  It was geared toward slightly older kids, but Evelyn behaved and attended well to the stories.  The theme was snow day so after the stories, all the kids got to make a snowman with the letters of their name. This afternoon was my 37 week appointment.  Nothing new to report - baby is measuring right on track and is still head down.  All good news.

Here's a quick recap of our Christmas weekend.  Evelyn woke up pretty early Christmas morning; she must of have known Santa had left her some presents.  We opened stockings first. She, of course, wanted to help Nate and I with our stockings too. Enjoying an orange from her stocking and peeling it all by herself. My parents arrived in the afternoon on Christmas day.  We had lasagna and opened presents. Saturday morning, Evelyn helped make rice krispie treats. Meredith and Jeremy drove over for the day.  Jeremy taught us how to play Munchins.  It was fun, but a little tricky, especially because we were also trying to watch a movie at the same time. Sunday we relaxed and today Nate had to go back to work.  Evelyn, my parents and I ventured outside for lunch before they left for Chicago.  When Nate got home today, we played around with our new camera tripod.

It's almost Christmas!  Evelyn and I went for a walk in the morning, Nate came home from work at lunchtime, and then we had a dinner party in the evening.  After dinner, we all went on a carriage ride through the Fantasy of Lights.  We had two almost 2 years olds and one almost 1 year old so the carriage ride was the perfect way to see all the lights, especially because the weather was so nice. Cinderella's carriage Gingerbread house Edy's Ice Cream (they have a big plant in Fort Wayne) Yesterday, Evelyn and I made hot chocolate cookies . And right before bed, she left a few out with a glass of milk for Santa.

Today we visited the botanical gardens with Katherine and Tom.  The gardens are mostly indoors, which makes it a nice winter time activity and are not very big, which makes it a good activity for an almost two year old.  Evelyn's favorite was probably the talking tree in the kid's discovery center. The north woods exhibit was my favorite because it just felt so Christmasy and festive.  The greenhouse smelled really nice too. There are two other greenhouses, the tropical gardens which had fun waterfalls, and a dessert garden.  We spend most of our time in the north woods. Evelyn was pretty convinced she could move the ax. Kate and Tom left for Chicago after lunch and I had my 36 week appointment.  Everything is still looking good for me and baby.

We celebrated Christmas #2 this weekend with my sisters coming over on Saturday for lunch and presents. Evelyn enjoyed helping everyone open their presents. And then she got to play with her presents.  Play-Doh from Katherine which was a huge hit. And crayons that you can use to draw on the windows from Meredith. Playing with Jeremy and watching Purdue basketball at the same time.  Meredith and Jeremy drove back to South Bend after the game, but Katherine is here for a few days.  She babysat Evelyn Saturday evening so Nate and I could attend the end-of-the-year bike team banquet.  It was nice to meet all the people Nate has been biking with the last few months. This morning, Katherine taught Evelyn how to make bagels. They taste as delicious as they look! 

Today was Evelyn's last gymnastics lesson so I tried to take a few pictures.  She really loved tumbling so maybe one day we can sign her back up. Today her favorite activity was running down the ramp.  Technically she was supposed to do a forward roll or a log roll. Tossing the balls into the basket was lots of fun too. The trampoline was always one of her favorites. My 35 week appointment went well.  The doctor actually got called away to a delivery, so I saw the nurse practitioner who was very nice.  Me and baby got a good report and now I see the doctor every week till the baby comes. 

We had our DeYoung Christmas this weekend in Fort Wayne.  Ben, Amanda, Isaac and Joshua came down on Thursday and stayed at our house.  Overall, the cousins played well together and seemed to enjoy each others company.  Friday we ventured out for doughnuts in the morning and then went to a park in the afternoon. Saturday morning meant presents!  I think everyone made out pretty good.  I'm most thankful everyone was willing to drive to us this year since the doctor said no travel for me after Thanksgiving. Isaac was super excited about his new circuit board game. It really did not feel like winter this weekend.  Almost 70 degrees on Saturday, so we loaded up the wagon and stroller and went for a walk through the neighborhood. We also continued our tradition of decorating sugar cookies.  I was very impressed with how well Isaac and Evelyn cut out and decorated the cookies.  They didn't get bored and didn't make a huge ...

We are starting to get in the Christmas spirit.  Friday was the living nativity and then on Saturday we hung our Christmas lights.    On Sunday, Evelyn helped Nate set up her inflatable penguin. It was hard to tell if she was more interested in hammering in the stakes or the penguin itself. Sunday morning we went to a paint with Santa event with Bella's family.  I was impressed with how well Evelyn painted her cookie plate. I kind of was expecting a mess of colors that would end up looking just brown, but she did a good job. Santa went around table by table to say hi to the kids and Evelyn was super into him then, repeating "Santa" and "Ho Ho Ho." But when it came time to actually have her picture taken with him, she wasn't feeling it.  Thankfully, she wasn't too afraid that she wouldn't take a few pictures with me. In all honestly, I think her favorite part was the donut holes.   After painting, we had lu...

Today was a much better day.  Evelyn's friend Bella came over to play while her parents went out to brunch.  The girls played nicely together with only a few squabbles over toys. After dinner we went to a drive-thru living nativity at the church we have currently been attending.  It was pretty neat with real llamas and camels.  We rolled down Evelyn's window so she could see and hear better.  You drove through Christmas present before seeing scenes from the first Christmas. Mary and Joseph in the stable before baby Jesus is born - this is the scene Nate and I jokingly said we should have volunteered for. The three wise men and with three real camels, probably my favorite.