Walking through the Zoo... who's here to see who...

We love to watch the animals, and they love to watch us, too!

 

(Thanks to Signing Time for that catchy song...)

 

Eva waved and giggled at the giraffes, which I thought was adorable, especially as she has started to show interest in her little giraffe lovey, which she was holding at the time.

 

We had a picnic, and made Caleb, Leah and Elijah dandelion crowns.

 

like Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream...

 

The highlight was the gorillas, though.  One was sitting so close to the window, and the kids were so excited to be so close.  Then the gorilla rapped on the window with his knuckles, and the kids squealed and waved.  They knocked back on the window.  The gorilla knocked back, clearly interacting with them.  It went back and forth several times.  I have gone to the zoo so many times and never seen this kind of interaction.

On the way home we sang a song from Signing Time, "Who's here to see who, at the zoo... We love to see the gorillas, and they love to see us, too!"

Evangeline at 11 months

Evangeline Elizabeth at 11 months!

 

and... she's walking!

That's the big news this month... Eva is walking! 

And she couldn't be happier about it, either! 

 Our little girl is constantly on the move, walking with her stiff-legged first-walker gait, giggling and proud of herself. She also is climbing everything in sight. Up, up, up!

Up the Fisher Price car garage, up the baby gate (she sticks her little toes into the little holes and hangs), up the playground structure, up the stairs as often as she can.

 Eva is a happy little girl.  She has learned to wave, and she squeals when she's pleased.  When David walks in the door at the end of the day, she squeals and reaches up to him. 

She loves to eat.  In fact, she hasn't encountered a food she hasn't loved.  Strawberries, though, get the biggest squeal and hand-flapping yet.

 

She is such a good little sleeper, in bed by 6:45 p.m. and awake at 6:30 a.m. with two naps during the day!  All that activity makes this little lady sleep well!

 

Separation Anxiety still seems to be her major developmental issue. We have had trouble with her staying with anyone else, especially in the nursery at church or MOPS.  She screams the entire time she is away from us.  Just this past week, though, we discovered that she will sit quietly by herself in a stroller, or a rocking chair, just watching the other kids, clutching her giraffe. I guess with the separation anxiety, having other people hold her and comfort her was unsettling, but she could feel safe in her little space in the stroller.  Pretty cute, actually!  Maybe our little girl is shy? Or maybe it's something she'll outgrow?  Not sure.

We love watching Eva's sense of humour blossom.  She thinks her brother is hilarious, and loves it when we make faces at her. She is so ticklish, especially at her neck.  Her giggles are just amazing.  We have this great video of her laughing at the ceiling fan (yes, the ceiling fan...) that we are still trying to upload.  It is adorable. As is she!

Playground

Our buddy Easton took Eva down the slide after MOPS. She loved it!

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sent from my mobile phone

my sister, String Bean

"What's the name of your baby sister?" Asked the nice lady at the park.
"Stram Bean," Elijah responded.
"Stram Bean?" David looked at me inquiringly.
"Uh, yeah."

I've been calling our skinny, on-the-move little baby "Evangeline, my string bean."  Elijah thinks this is hilarious.  He also enjoys calling her any of the "diaper" comments she gets called with a diaper change (Little Stinky Pants is a favorite.)

Though she does get called "Fresh and Clean Evangeline" after a diaper change or a bath, I gather these aren't as fun to say.

The latest is "Evangelina, my Bambina."  He enjoys shouting "BAM-BEEEEN-ah!"
Oh, nicknames...

Lost in a tree

Eli threw his little soccer ball in one of our trees. He then pulled a chair over to the tree to see if he could find it.

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sent from my mobile phone

Swings at the Park

Friday at the Base Park
We doubled up Eva and Averlee in the swing today, and watched as they  giggled and kicked their little legs. Elijah pretended he was a fighter jet while swinging (all sorts of fun aircraft to inspire at this park on the AF base!) After a while he asked for Sis to join him. They both got a kick out of it!

Sink or Float?

Elijah's first science experiment!  Does it sink or float?
He loved testing his hypothesis.  Again and again.
Because true scientists need multiple data points.
Eva enjoyed munching on her fruit while observing the serious science going on. She giggled each time there was a splash, which egged on our budding scientist even more! Hahaha!

1st day of homeschool!

Elijah's 1st day of homeschool! Starting with the letter A. For Apples. We are using a great little preschool curriculum from "Confessions of a Homeschooler."
We worked on counting, cutting,  prewriting skills, and pen grip. :)
Here we go!!

We found water!

This past Labor Day weekend we headed up to Lake Cochiti (45 minutes north of ABQ) for some camping and hanging out with our good friends Tom and Deanna and their little one Averlee. It was the first camping trip for Averlee and only the second for Eva so we weren't exactly sure how it would go down. Although we had reserved the camping spot for two days we were prepared to leave early so as not to push them to much. We set up our tents and then Tom and I rigged up massive shade to help protect us from the New Mexico sun. Tom and I had a great time coming up with "better" ways to get things done and he had a whole trailer full of items that we integrated into the campsite (i.e. 10' conduit poles with empty water balls on the end to act as stress distributors so the conduit didn't puncture the tarp).

We had a wonderful dinner at the campsite, roasted some smores, and had some good conversation. Although the kids fell asleep pretty well, neither Averlee or Eva slept well (it didn't help it was a full moon and it was like there was a light on in the tents, although it was a beautiful site to watch the moon rise).

On Saturday we enjoyed a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and home sausage from Tom. The boys then decided to head out to an interesting structure near a cliff while the ladies enjoyed the shade.

An of course what a camping trip in the wilderness be without us stopping and climbing the tractors...

That afternoon we took a canoe out on the lake and spent some time a beach cooling off. Eli did great in the boat and helped us paddle. In fact we had such a good time canoeing that we decided to go down the Rio Grande on Labor day.

So Tom, Eli, and I put in a Bernallilo and canoed the three and a half hours to ABQ (about 11.5 miles). Eli had a great time asking all kind of great questions and enjoying the ride. He did start to get tired towards the end of the trip and was ready for us to go back to the car and drive to ABQ as "it's a lot faster than riding in a canoe."

Although it was late summer there was enough water in the Rio to have a nice trip down the river; however, just outside ABQ the river split into two sections resulting in only a few inches of water. The last mile ended up being a bit of a hike down river. Most of the time Eli rode in the canoe, but for part of it he climbed out and helped us pull the canoe down the river just like a true Lewis and Clark adventurer. Overall, it was a great weekend with friends and a good time in the water.

First Four Steps!

Our little lady took her first wobbly steps today to her Daddy at Barnes and Noble bookstore! Four steps! She was so proud of herself; you could see it in the look on her face.