Eve’s 4yr check-up

Happy April 1st. The April Fools Day joke today was snow and school cancellation. I was looking at pictures from Eve’s 3yr check up and there was sunshine and green grass. Not today! Instead I had to take both kids to the doctor where we waited for over an hour. Sigh. They were as well behaved as can be expected for two bouncy kids in the doctor’s office at lunch time.

Eve, of course, is healthy and strong. She weighs 41lbs and is 42″ tall. The doctor didn’t tell me her percentages, but I’m sure they are fine. We know she’s tall. The doctor said she looked healthy and great. She also got an eye exam today, which I was eager for, and the nurse said she seems to have 20/40 vision. Eve was very silly and Lex was quite distracting, so I think it was hard for her to get an accurate read, but Alan and I have noticed that Eve may not have perfect eye sight. The doctor recommended an appointment with an eye doctor. More on that later.

Eve got three shots at the end of the appointment and cried the whole way home. I got a little bit of lunch in her and then put her to bed. Lex is having quiet time now and I’m trying not to eat all the cookies we have in the house. I really need a sugar detox this week and it’s going to have to begin with a purge of all remaining birthday sweets.

Today is our last day of swimming lessons, marking the end of a crazy week. We are looking forward to a quiet weekend.

Happy 4th Birthday to Eve

Happy, happy birthday to my big girl today! Just four short years ago today we welcomed her into this world, forever changing our little family. Lucky, lucky us!

Today she woke to find a little birthday something waiting for her.

Birthday table

Happy Birthday Eve!!

pink eraser

A tiny pink Samuri eraser makes her say "awww"

ribbon

Ribbon on packages is kind of like torture to small children.

crown

Lex picked out a flashing "Birthday Girl" tiara for her. She loved it :)

hugs

Big birthday hugs

The chocolate cupcakes I made for her party this weekend didn’t turn out well (literally, they did not turn out of the wrappers well and made a huge mess) so last night I whipped up a batch of yellow cupcakes (thanks Betty Crocker!) and this morning we put Cool Whip, red sprinkles, and raspberries on top.  They were a big success with her friends at school.

cupcakes

Decorating cupcakes

fancy cupcakes

Like my snazzy cupcake transport system? They all made it to school, safe and sound.

After school we decorated a princess mirror, put together her new puzzle, ate lunch, and spent an hour watching videos of her first year. That was fun.

mirror

Eve's friend got her a Decorate Your Own princess mirror. Eve loves it.

puzzle

This was a gift from me, but it ended up being much harder than I had antipcated. We did it though!

This is Eve’s favorite…

This is one of my favorites (it’s hard to choose just one!)…

Now she is napping (which took some effort on my part!) and this afternoon we are off to swimming lessons again and then out to dinner at a restaurant of her choice, which is still undecided. It is a lovely day.

An Almost-Four Year Old Birthday Party!

(I’m not quite ready for her to be four yet. I still get a few more days with my three year old!)

For her birthday this year Eve wanted a “just family” party. Over the past weeks I’ve asked her off and on about inviting others, maybe a few friends, or neighbors, or classmates, but she held firm to her “just family” idea, so this weekend we had a fun “just family” party. Luckily we have more than enough family to fill the room! :) Eve was surrounded by love and duly doted on.

lex vacuuming

Lex learned how to use the vacuum and did a great job helping us clean for the party.

cleaning the shelves

He was THRILLED that I let him stand on the counter while he dusted the shelves.

cleaning the counter

After he was done with the shelves he decided to clean the counter. This kept him busy for awhile. It was great.

eve and rosy

Eve and Rosy

mema and lex

Mema and Lex.

candyland

Eve's idea of birthday heaven is a room full of people ready to play Candy Land with her.

reading with katie

Books are irresistible in this house. If you pick up a book, both kids will immediately appear. Aunt Katie is an excellent book reader.

pizza

Eve chose pizza for her birthday dinner. I love her idea of a good party - family and pizza!

cake

Cake! This year Grampy Don convinced Eve that she wanted a Parcey Cake for her birthday. She agreed before she even knew what it was :) Parcey Cake is a Johnson family creation consisting of layer cake with a layer of Jell-O and Cool Whip between the cake layers. Eve chose chocolate (of course!) and raspberry Jell-O. Yum.

big mouth

Eve liked the cake!

eve and grandpa tom

Eve and Grandpa Tom.

classic

Classic.

wall stickers

Eve got wall sticker dress up dolls and a doll house. They were quickly put on the wall and the kids have been having fun with them.

eve on a bike

Sunday was beautiful and we got out the bikes!

lex on a bike

Lex is going to try and lose the training wheels this year.

taking a break

Taking a break with Aunt Rose.

All about Eve (from the camera)

Here are pictures of Eve from the past few days.  We’ve been having fun doing our silly things.

groceries

Eve helps put away the groceries.

pirates

Pirate fun

moving

We did some rearranging.

nursing

Eve ran in to chastise Lex and I for talking too loudly while her baby was nursing.

daddy love

Daddy love

silly eve

I love this one with the calendar in the background :)

Off to the bus stop…

The sun was shining today and we got out the door a few minutes early, so I grabbed the camera.

Joke

Yesterday I said,
“Pete and Repeat had a race” (a smile slid across Lex’s face, he loves this one)
“Pete lost. Who won?”

“THE TURTLE,” yelled Eve!
Laughter erupted in the living room. When things settled down, she added,
“As you know, slow and steady wins the race.”

For the past few weeks the kids have been waking up at 5:30. Sometimes they manage to stay in their room until 6am, as is the rule, but more likely than not Eve is out way too early. Now, with the time change, it’s 6:45 and they are both still sleeping! I got up extra early to get a shower before they woke up, but now I may have to wake them for school this morning. I guess the joke is on me this morning.

Writing

Eve has been doing a ton of writing lately. I LOVE it! She is so smart. Sometimes the writing is well spaced and evenly sized, and sometimes it’s all over the place. All the time she does a great job with the spelling (with a bit of help) and she has so much fun.

birthday card

Here's Eve writing a birthday card for her friend's party this weekend. We put together a butterfly themed present with a butterfly kite, butterfly crayons, and a butterfly card. :)

note to mommy

Eve drew a picture of me and wrote "To Tessa Love Eve" in an artistic sort of way. Then she told me a story about the special glasses she had that made my face look orange to her. She has an AWESOME imagination!

central park

We went to visit a friend this morning and Eve made her a game. It's a maze and at the end it says "Central Park Straight Ahead" The green grass at the bottom is Central Park.

Back from Doll Hospital

For Christmas, Eve got two American Girl dolls from Rosy. These were dolls that we played with when we were kids! Oldies, but goodies. They are in great condition, but a little dirty and the hair was dry and came out a lot when Eve brushed it (in her oh-so-gentle three year old way). American Girl has a cleaning and repair service they call Doll Hospital. I asked Eve if we could send the dolls to Doll Hospital for a few weeks but she said NO! A few weeks later when the dolls were a bit less novel, I wrapped them up and sent them away. I felt a bit guilty doing this while she was at school, but I’m holding strong in my opinion that sometimes Mom knows more that the preschooler, and those dolls need some TLC if they were going to last for another generation. I got lucky and she didn’t notice they were gone.

Today they came home! American Girl does a beautiful job. They came home all cleaned (with new heads, hence the shiny hair, shh!!) and dressed in hospital gowns. They even had little hospital bracelets and discharge instructions. Super cute! Eve was thrilled to see them!! :)

eve with her dolls

Happy Eve with her shiny clean dolls.

shiny hair

She loved the braids and ribbons. Hopefully they stay in for a bit because I don't think we can ever recreate that look.

in boxes

They came back tucked nicely into these boxes. Eve wants to keep them for beds.

I’m off now to wake up the poor tired girl from her nap and take her to swimming lessons.