Mickey's Very Merry Christmas

Well my mom is in town and we girls went up to Disney! Her husband Larry was in Tampa visiting his daughter and grandson so we met up with them. It was a little stressful ride with the rain and timing, but once we were there Eva was so amazed by everything that it was worth it! She was excited to go on the "Train", the monorail, and seeing all the Christmas lights inside main street. Her eyes were filled with wonder and that expression never left her the rest of the night. We saw the castle pre-parade show, the parade, fireworks above our heads and got to go on several rides: Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Its a Small World, Dumbo and the carousel. Even though Eva was tired she was so content. Quite a few times when we got off a ride she would say, "Was fun! Was Fun! Yay!" We ate at one of the space restaurants and several Disney Characters came in and danced with the kids. Eva danced with Pluto and Goofy with Larry and my mom. It was so cute! At the end of the night to top it all off we got to see some of the snow! Eva really lit up when she felt it falling on her. By the time we left the park Eva was asleep in my arms. The only thing we missed out on was a churro and hot chocolate.

December Happenings

As it is for all of us, December is a busy month. Sorry for less updates, but here is what happened in our life in the past two weeks:

Eva read about practicing humility

She got to hang out with her friend Preston

She worked on her Cyclops impression from X-men

Aimee and I went to a Christmas party, and we ran into none other than Edward Cullen from Twilight!

Or, at least a cardboard cutout of him decked in holiday apparrel

Aimee surprised me with cookies. My family loves me :)

I know, I know, we shouldn't be doing this... It's just too cute though!

Finally, an Update!

Between a near-computer crash and the holidays, we've been busy. Thankfully we only lost our address book and pretty much all of our e-mail pre-November (please send us your e-mail addresses!) but we did not lose our pictures and videos of Eva!

Here are some fun photos from the blog hiatus:

What do you mean, "what are you doing?" Isn't it obvious?

Pretty toes

Daddy and Eva playing with the train under the tree

Playing in the fountain at the mall

I'm ready for Aspen Grandma Beth!!! Or at least, half-ready!!!

Check me out, I'm a ski maven and I don't even know what skiing is!!!

We went to the park...

Looking stylish on the jungle gym

Every night Daddy lets me tell him all the colors on the stained-glass lamp. There are so many!

Can you say no to this face???

Happy Holidays from the Honses!

Pardon of Lack of Postings

We are currently dealing with a computer crash... wish us luck! Hopefully we'll have more picture of Eva coming soon.

Honey

Lately Eva has been trying to say everything that I say. Its really cute when she tries to say whole sentences back to me. Very hard to translate :). I call her and Justin honey a lot, so now that is her favorite thing to call me. Yesterday she spilt some water on the floor. She stood over it, "oh, honey, honey" calling to me to look at her uh-oh. Here little friend Gabi was wanting attention from his mommy and was getting impatient and Eva's nurturing side came out, "Oh, honey. Aw hold on honey aw. Hold on." This morning she called to Daddy to come down stairs, "HONEY!"

Today we had some food for the ducks. Eva picked up and said, "Feed the ducks" and walked to the door. She is wonderful. I love her little voice and all the fun things she says and tries to say :).

Favorite Song

The past week or two Eva has become addicted to a song. Whenever we are in the car she has to be listening to it constantly. She knows what track it is! I put in Fleet Foxes for her thinking she would like the harmonies. The next time we were in the car she kept saying, "two! Two!" I had no idea what she was talking about. "Again! Again!" Trying different things I finally got to the song she wanted. Now she tries to request the song by singing the part of the song she likes, "eee-i. eee-i." She sings several words from the song, "summer...fall...snow...". Check it out! The video is really cool too. Its not very long.

Tonight Justin and I needed to listen to something else. We put on a different song and she just yearned for her song, so after ours was done we put it on and the first thing she said was, "Better. Yeah."

Trick or Treat!!!

Justin here. When I think of Halloween as a kid, I remember compromising (or integrating) your cold weather clothes into your costume. In Pennsylvania it's typically a brisk 40-50 degrees on an October evening, but you didn't care because you were having fun.

Florida is different. And when you are taking a little one such as Eva, you should really go trick-or-treating while it is still light out, so we did. Unfortunately that also meant it was still about 85 degrees outside at 5 PM. And we were wearing costumes. Yeah, it's been a little warm this year.

Aimee dressed as the "bun in the oven", and as you can see, I was the bun maker.

We initially thought we were going with a small group of friends....

Look at them run!

Hurry up and wait!

Eva was an American Idol contestant. She totally won.

Eva can't wait for the candy. Daddy can't wait to get out of this costume and rest this evening!

Halloween Card from Poppop

Potty Progress

Well we have been trying to gently coax Eva into going on the potty. My mom got some M&Ms for us to reward her with - hey I'm cool with bribery. She was resistant at first, then she started at least telling me that she was going, and now we have blog worthy news.

Last night when Justin got her out of the bath he asked her if she wanted to go, but she said no. So he had her just sit and asked her to try. He turned around to give her privacy and she instantly started going! They had quite a celebration! M&M's, music and dancing. Today I wasn't have much luck but just a bit ago I was taking her into her room for nap when she started to point to her potty and ask for it. I was reluctant because I hadn't had any success all morning so I said, "Do you have to go potty?". And she actually - for once said, "Yeah." So I did what Justin did and she went! We had a celebration too. She was so proud, she kept going back over and looking at the potty with a giggle saying, "see look!"

Daddy Night

Usually when Justin and I go out with friends during the week we both put Eva to bed and the one of us goes out. We both love being there when she goes to bed and taking part in the bedtime routine.

Now that Justin is back at work after vacation Eva has been missing Justin like crazy. So last night we had dinner together and then I headed out.

Well Daddy and Eva had a great time! Justin was so happy to have time with Eva and she with him. They went for a walk, bath time, dance time... Justin was so pleased and seemed to have treasured that time with her. I wasn't missed and I can honestly say I am glad :).

Baby #2 Update

We got our 20 week ultrasound for baby #2 this past Tuesday and we found out the gender. It's a girl! You can see pictures of the ultrasound here http://honse2.blogspot.com/

Beach

Dr. Appt - 18 Months (3 mo late)

Well we took Eva to the pediatrician for a check up on Thursday. Upon hearing Eva talk and seeing that she knows almost all her colors, shapes and can count to 10 the doctor was very impressed by her. He said that she is reaching 3 year old milestones. He encouraged us to start teaching her to read! He said that when his son was 6 years old he read and comprehended the Chronicles of Narnia. It was very exciting.

She received two shots, HIB and Hepatitis A. She freaked out but as soon as the nurse mentioned a sticker she was fully recovered :).

Age 21 months

Date 10/22/09

Weight 22 1/2 pounds

Length 31 1/4 in.

Head 18 in

Bubbles and Floss!

Eva blew bubbles for the first time on her own! Very exciting.

Last night we had steak and I had to floss Eva's teeth for the first time! In three of her teeth huge chunks. But it was fun and she actually enjoyed it. She even did a little herself.

Gracie Visit!

Justin's Mom and her friend Ray are in town! We have been doing lots of fun things together lately. Check it out.

At the pool

Busch Wildlife





Yay Daddy got to come with us

Three's company too
River Center Touch Tank
Sea Cucumber
Sea Urchin
Pencil Urchin
Sea Star
Snail/Conch
Snail coming out a little and adjusting for a more comfortable position
Checking out some empty shells, Eva said, "All gone"