18 Months and Counting!

And just like that, Eve is 18 months old!

The official day was last Friday, June 8th, but I didn't get her picture officially until Sunday.

18 months means...nursery!  This is Eve ready for Church and her first day in nursery!  (And eating cheese)

She did so well in nursery!  We just dropped her off and left and didn't see her again until after Church was over.  Two full hours!  Sounds like she got teary once, but it passed quickly.  She got to do puzzles, color, play with toys, eat snacks, have singing time, and at the end - bubbles!  Heaven!

After Church, Eve helped me make chocolate chip cookies.  I'm still on the hunt for the perfect recipe, so we tried a new one this time.  Apparently melted butter vs. creamed butter helps the cookies stay softer longer?  They were yummy, but I think I'm still hunting...

So good at stirring!

"No pictures, Mommy!  Just eating cookies!"

That's more like it!

What a happy, big girl!

Proudly displaying her first ever picture from nursery!

Yesterday, Andrew took Eve to the doctor for her 18 month check-up.  Here's her stats:

Weight: 23lbs 15oz = just below the 50th percentile

Height: 32 in = 75th percentile

And not to brag (ok, maybe a little), but Eve is such a smartie pants!  The doctor said she should know one or two body parts and about six words.  Andrew's reply?  "Um...she knows all her body parts."  And he points to his elbow, nose, toes, etc. and Eve starts naming them off.  The doctor was suitably impressed :)

In addition, Eve also knows her letters (thanks to blocks from Grandma that Andrew practices on with her!) and her numbers up to 9.  She makes a few mistakes sometimes, but in general, has them all down.  She's also learning colors! 

Eve knows tons of words, and loves to walk around the house naming things and repeats everything we say.  Sometimes unfortunately... :)  She's just starting to string words together ("I love you" - which mostly comes out "I love").  We can't believe how quickly she's learning and growing!  I blame (give credit to) Andrew! 

Eve got one shot at the doctor and, as usual, did great with it.  Cried for just a couple seconds, then recovered quickly to tell the offending nurse 'bye'.  So sweet!

Ok, proud parent moment over.  That's our little girl and we love her so much!

When in Dallas....

...do as the Canasians do! 

Marinda came to Dallas last weekend for her brother's wedding and we got to spend some time together.  Not as much as we had planned because I had to work late one night and cancel our dinner plans, but on Saturday, she came over and we made a Canasian feast!  The only regret was that Wong wasn't with us - it's never the same without a real Canasian!

The planned menu: pork dumplings and sweet and sour chicken.

The actual menu: sweet and sour chicken.

The store didn't have the dumplings wrappers we needed, so we just stuck with the main course.  And it was yummy! 

We ate to our hearts' content and I had plenty of leftovers to take to work - perfect!

It was so fun to visit with Marinda, even if it was just for a few hours.  It's nice to remember I still have some friends, even if they live far  away and visits are infrequent...

Memory Day

We celebrated Memorial Day a little early this year.  Kelly, Lance, and Reagan came down to Houston to visit Lance's family and we were able to drive down and spend a couple of days with them. 

Eve was excited to go!

"How about now, Mom?  Is it time to go see Reagan?!"

We left after I got home from work on Thursday and would should have been a 4 hour drive turned in to 5 after a stop for dinner and the construction and traffic we hit.  So we just went straight to bed when we got there.  Had to be ready for a big day of playing and relaxing on Friday!

It was a good thing we had nothing crazy planned because Eve made sure we didn't get much sleep.  She was scared to go to sleep in a strange bed (maybe we should stop using her pack n play as a time out zone - she doesn't like to sleep in it now!) and a strange house.  But we moved her to our room and finally got rest.

Kelly and Reagan stopped by first thing on Friday morning and Reagan was quick to find the birthday gift Eve had brought.  A month early, but better than having to mail it!

Beach toys!

The rest of our day can be summed up in one picture:

But of course, I'll still show more :)  We spent a couple of hours in the pool getting nice and burned!  Reagan had a special floaty and was nice enough to let Eve give it a try!

Eve tried her hand a surfing and did pretty well - no major falls!  With a little help....

That evening, we all crammed in our car (minus Lance who was still in transit from SLC) and drove across Houston to have dinner with our Aunt Alicia, Uncle Phil, and cousins Michael and Christopher.  Eve and Reagan enjoyed being car seat buddies :)

The closest we came to Houston on our weekend trip....

We had a delicious bbq and plenty of play time at their house - they even had an awesome zoo toy that kept the girls fully entertained!  Between that and looking out the window at the dog, they were happy kiddos!  At little shy at first, but warmed up to everyone by the end.

Saturday morning, we played on the swing set for a bit, had some breakfast, then got ready to head back home. 

Thanks for letting us play, Reagan!

Oh, not to forget the blackberry picking out back - fresh berries for breakfast!

One last round in the toy room with Reagan and Uncle Lance.

Eve was obsessed with Reagan's cute little Crocs and wouldn't quite give up hope that she could somehow get them on...never really worked...

Eve got to meet and play with Reagan's two cousins too - so many new friends!

Thanks again to Lance's family for taking us in for a couple of very restful days!  The rest of our Memorial Day consisted of buying furniture off craig's list  - we now have chairs to go with our dining room table!  Of course, they came with a second dining room table, so now we have two....hmmm...still in the process of finding a new home for that....