Happy New Year!

 

I thought I should give EV the last word on Eat Your Heart Out Baby for 2011. So here are a few recent photos from her camera. Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Tutu the Park.

EV, Dada and I are enjoying hanging out over the Xmas break. But with a weather forecast for lots of rain and wind we thought we should make the most of it being dry, so we went to the park. Having a kite from Santa was a bonus.

EV likes to run through our carpark but we are apparently not supposed to step on the yellow lines.

This was the tutu's first outing to the park.

Since Xmas Dada has been wearing a lot of what I like to think of as 'Dada Badges'. I am of course assuming that only a Dada is likely to leave the house with pink and purple hippo stickers on his t-shirt.

Glory its Christmas!

Santa did bring that hula hoop EV wanted! She was so concerned that one wouldn't fit in her Santa stocking, and she was relieved to see that it was wrapped and lying beside the stocking.

EV had a wonderful time opening presents from Santa as well as from family and friends. You can see that each new soft friend was given a warm welcome. Then she took Dada outside for some bubble blowing before breakfast.

It was a glorious morning and just perfect for a BBQ lunch with Nee Nee, Pop Pop and the Uncles.

She wasn't bad at pulling crackers. Especially with a little help. After lunch EV got some more lovely gifts.....

This ballet costume was an immediate favourite. It hasn't been off since (well nearly, lets just say its on at every opportunity).

Before lunch we had a visit from Great Grandma and Grandad. Here is EV giving Great Grandma a wee gift. 

The following day (Boxing Day) we visited with Aunt Maureen and Uncle Mike and Great Gran. Of course EV wore the Ballet costume.

EV was having a wee tap dance and I took out the camera at which point she gave me a cheeky wink! Cheeky monkey. Her Dad taught her that by the way.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas Day too.

Merry Xmas!

Happiness.

Does this kid look happy to be going to pre-school this morning or what?!

EV loves her beads too. They were in the advent calender I made for her. Just a simple idea inspired by other blogs I have read, made using envelopes and pinning them to the notice board. They are the first thing on her mind every morning. Number 25 will blow her mind its so full of stuff, I almost can't pin it to the wall its so fat. Maybe I will get around to sewing one next year.

Four Sleeps till Christmas!

It's taken me a while to sit down and gather together what we have been doing lately. There has been a lot of 'doing' lately, mostly of a Christmas nature. After the Christmas tree was decorated we had the pleasure of attending a Christmas party at the Zoo for all the families at our pre-school. EV was very excited about it and I admit Dada and I were looking forward to an evening at the Zoo too.

We started off by having a picnic meal with everyone at the rotunda. Then made our way round to visit our favourite animals. One of the best things about visiting in the evening is that the animals are frisky, especially the lions. Usually the lions are all dozing when we visit, but we got to see them chasing each other.

Probably one of our favourite places to visit is the seals and the penguin enclosure. The penguins were sleeping under a dinghy, but the seals gave us a wee swim by. EV had to refer to the map at many occasions. It was a beautiful and warm summery evening, we were very lucky.

Santa's Grotto.

Ev had her first visit with Santa this year. I hadn't bothered before because I knew she would freak out at seeing him, but this year she was into it enough to grasp what was happening, so Nee Nee and I took EV to Santa's Enchanted Forest. Nee Nee and I were reminiscing about when we were both children and we went to the grotto at Farmers (an old department store in Auckland). We were pretty excited for EV.

Ev was totally mesmerized by the little dioramas. So much so that she had to take some photos herself. I believe she said "Quick Mum wheres my camera? I just have to photograph this"

Here are a few of EV's shots. 

 Then at the end of the enchanted forest was a velvet roped queue to see Santa.

Santa asked EV how old she was, was she 2? EV held up 3 fingers and said "I'm this many". Then he asked her if she had been good and what did she want for Christmas. "hoowa hoop" said EV and Santa said no one had asked for one of those. Then he gave her a decoration for the tree and we left feeling very happy. Nee Nee and I loved the setting so much we got EV to pose for another photo on the way out.

I think she looks a little bit overwhelmed. But I think she's getting the hang of this Christmas nonsense.

FYI here's a copy of the official Santa portrait.

 I need to give credit to Nee Nee for some of the photos here. Thanks Nee Nee. x

Ciao P Pop!

EV's Great Grandpop passed away on Sunday. We will miss him so much. P Pop as I have always called him was an amazing gentleman. I'd be hard pressed to think of anyone who has truly lived their life with as much gusto as P Pop. I'm looking forward to talking with EV about him and all the adventures he had and the ones we had with him.

P Pop, I will think of you and smile whenever I hear Mariachi music or when I hear that its Happy Hour.

Hi Ho Silver! You were 'Unbeeliiivable'! Ciao P Pop!

EV and the Xmas Tree.

EV was so excited about Christmas that on the 1st of December we put up our tree. She was really into it and merrily hung up decorations for me, but after a while she was over it and got out the camera and took some photos instead. I love the shot looking up the tree, its a reminder of how big things look to a 3 year old, makes our tree look huge, which its not. I was so captivated by her photos that I thought they deserved their own little photo essay. Meanwhile I was busy decorating so I only have one shot of EV dressing the tree.

She has enjoyed getting Christmas cards too, here is her first one and its from Granny and Papa. I like how she reads aloud the card to me, so knowingly (made up of course, she probably said it said Happy Birthday).

Mad for Christmas.

It is that time of year! and its been very busy.... but I will do an update for you very soon!