The Garden in the Woods

I had been eager to visit Garden in the Woods in Framingham with Evelina since last summer, so when it was featured as one of the Free Fun Friday locations last week, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to check it out on such a beautiful day.  

Lily Pond

Pretty flower, I forgot to look at what it was

It is a wonderful location with lot of flowers and foliage, along with a beautiful lily pond.  Since admission was free, it was PACKED, but it was still peaceful and a great place to have a bench lunch in the shade.  

Enjoying lunch

Curtis Path, Evelina under the arbor, pretty flowers, garden statue, cactus

We will definitely visit again and I will plan to leave the stroller behind so we can explore some other trails.   

Chillin' in the Ergo

Blow Kisses

Evelina is a bundle of fun and happy energy in the morning. Chris is extremely lucky that he gets to spend most mornings with her while I'm getting settle in my first hour at work.  I've had a lot of fun spending time with her in the mornings this week.  This morning, she was obsessed with blowing kisses....and watching the Today's show.  I just love her to pieces. 

Tasty!!

I have a new love, the Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen blog. Each and every time I visit the blog, I wish that I could just stay home and cook, cook, cook.  There is an endless supply of yummy recipes that are just waiting to be whipped up and devoured.  Oh, to have all the time in the world.  If Evelina didn't love pulling my hair (still!!), I would put her in the back carrier and cook away.  Maybe one of these days.  

Last week I made:

Risotto Primavera -  It was creamy and so delicious, especially with roasted shrimp added.
Zucchini Pancakes - I really enjoyed these but Evelina thought they were so-so.  I think I they just needed to be a little bit more firm since Miss Evelina doesn't seem to like anything mushy.  It is a bonus that she got some vegetables for breakfast, though!!



I MUST try these soon:  

Knock You Naked Brownies - Seriously, they look like heaven
Grilled Corn Guacamole - I am a guac addict and this looks too good not to try

July 4th Weekend 2011

Yeah, I'm bad...it is now July 18th, I know this.  Anyway, here is a photo dump of my favorites from 4th of July weekend.  A trip to check out a local park, a visit to Uncle Paul and Auntie Joyce's for pool time and a BBQ, a visit from Grandpa (sadly I forgot to whip out the camera), and water table fun

Evelina and the Elf at Cushing Memorial Park

Evelina and Auntie Joyce

Evelina checking out the property with Auntie Joyce

Evelina after pool time

Our pretty girl

Evelina and Mama

Jordan's new tattoo...well put

Zonked out after lots of fun

Water table fun!!  Yay!!

Solo

Chris will be traveling for business this week, returning on Thursday night.  This will be the longest stretch of time he has been away since before Evelina was born.  This week, I will get a good strong dose of single parenthood and I'm exhausted just thinking about it (props to all those who do it everyday).  My week will consist of:

• Morning routine responsibilities. I'm usually office bound (to beat traffic) before Evelina starts her day.
• Morning drop-offs (rush hour traffic, here I come), in addition to my usual afternoon pick-ups.
• Preparing dinner and cleaning up toddler messes without Evelina having Dada to play with and keeping her from climbing up my legs in the kitchen or getting into the dishwasher.
• Potentialling dealing with bath time tantrums by my lonesome.
• Night-time wake-up duties.  Evelina has had a stuffy nose and hacking cough over the past few days and has been waking up 2-4 times a night.  Not good timing!! 

I'm praying for my sanity.

The Ball Popper

Evelina's new favorite toy (thanks Morin Family for letting us borrow)!!  She is all consumed by this toy every second she gets.  Clapping, dancing and searching for stray balls.  Thank goodness there is an off switch or else our heads would explode from the endless music.  Most of the time she hangs out right next to the on button, but other times we will catch her turning it on, going to play with another toy and then, when the music stops, turning it on again.  It is really the simple things that make little ones happy.  

Deck Dining

We've been having so much beautiful weather lately (finally!!), that I couldn't bring myself to feed Evelina inside on such a gorgeous evening yesterday. So outside the high chair went.  

Perfect Evening

I love eating outside, especially when the neighbor's dogs come over for a visit

Yummy, veggies

Very excited about peas, carrots, green beans and Lima beans

Fish face

1st Time "Coloring"

WOW!!! SOOOOO Cool!!!

Grandpa was visiting last week which allowed Evelina to get some nice bear hugs and provided her with another face to open-mouth kiss.  I thought it would be fun to break out some markers and a piece of construction paper to see what Evelina would do.  She immediately wanted to hold the marker and was even successful scribbling on the paper once we showed her what to do.  I was impressed that she didn't put the marker in her mouth right away, but she did keep writing on herself so we had to put the cap back on (thank goodness for washable markers!!).  I plan to buy some nice chunky crayons for her so this can be a more frequent activity.  

If Evelina is anything like me or her Grandpa, she will be FABULOUS at coloring and always stay in the lines. 

What's could possibly be more fun than.....

Emptying out the kitchen cabinets?  

Unrolling the entire roll of toilet paper?

Scattering clean diapers all over the floor?  

13 Months!!

Dear Evelina,

You are 13 months old!!  Another month has come and gone and you continue to change and grow each and every day.  Excitement can be heard emanating from our house almost daily as you learn and explore new things.  We've been having a lot of fun...even though you have developed a few tough toddler behaviors.

Here is the rundown of your likes and dislikes, along with some new skills you've developed at 13 months: 

• Balancing when standing without holding on for support, while continuing to play with your toys; not for an extended period, but it's a start!!  
• The strange crawl is no more, your preferred method is on all fours.
• Going upstairs; but only when you are attended!! 
• Walking with your Radio Flyer wagon or when we hold your hands;  you will always look up at us and smile.   
• When asked, you will find your dolly, Lucy, and give her hugs and kisses; it is quite possibly the cutest thing.
• Kissing and hugging Papa and I, or other family members, when we ask you for love.
• Practicing being gentle (by petting) to your stuffed animals and most importantly, to the ones you love; although, your mean streak does still appear frequently, especially when hair is involved.  
• Making faces, especially to strangers. 
• Being read too or "reading" your books.
• Waving "Hi" and "Bye", or shaking your head "No", when looking at the appropriate pages in your "Baby Talk" book.
• Stacking one block on top of another block, stacking 1 or 2 cups on top of each other or nesting the cups.
• Playing with your cone sorting stacker and trying to put it back together; sometimes you are successful with certain pieces.
• Successfully putting shapes into your shape sorter; the circle being the easiest as expected.
• Putting objects on your head as if they are hats or giving objects to me and Papa to put on our heads.  
• Playing with your musical instruments and venturing out to a new music class.
• Looking at pictures of your family, especially your Papa; as soon as you see his picture you will say Da or Dada and point with your thumb.    
• Occasionally helping us dress you by raising your arms or placing shoes on top of your feet.  
• You are quite vocal and have lots of stories to tell, but you are sticking with Mama and Dada as your primary "words" for the moment.  I have heard "Hi", "Bye Bye", and "Ball" but not consistently. We are also certain that you say "Gigi" since you will always say it when Gigi, your lovey, is around.  You will also mimic a "Moo" sound after we say it. 
• Favorite foods this month are berries, watermelon, peanut butter on mum-mums, chicken quesadilla with mango or spinach, cheese, nutragrain bars, whole wheat pasta with turkey bolognese, broccoli, grape tomatoes.  Of course, this all depends on your mood during meal times. 
• Bath time has been extremely frightening over the past few weeks.  You will cry and cry, stand up while pulling on our shirts to get out.  It has just not been very fun lately. We are hoping this is just a phase and you begin to enjoy the bath again soon. 
• Diaper changes are impossible, if you could walk around naked, all of our lives would be so much easier.  
• Throwing tantrums when we put you into the car seat....LOOK OUT!!
• Throwing things; food, cups, toys...you don't discriminate and you get a kick out of yourself.      
• Sitting in the grass has been quite unpleasant, although over the weekend, you finally started being okay with standing in the grass with no shoes and crawling around in it for short distances.  

You should be very proud of yourself little lady since I'm sure I'm forgetting so many things!!  I love seeing how much you have accomplished and I especially love seeing your personality develop more and more.  You love to smile and giggle and can be heard giggling at yourself very often.  You are sweet, cautious, quite possibly a perfectionist (like your Mama), impatient (like Mama again), stubborn (oops, just like Mama), and remain a consummate observer.  You tend to be shy around strangers at first and will stay close to me or your Papa, but after a little while you open right up and can't help but flash your pearly whites or make faces.  You are seriously the funniest person that your Papa and I know.

I can't wait to see what the next month reveals.  Will you stand up on your own without using an object for support?  First steps?  New words?  Will you learn to love the bath again?  The suspense is killing me!! Until then, we will continue to have fun and share lots of smiles, giggles, hugs, kisses and fun. 

You are the sunshine of my life,

Mommy

Great article and something to keep in mind as Evelina gets older. 

"How to Talk to Little Girls"

Although, I think I will always tell Evelina how beautiful she is.