21 Months & 8 Days

Today Eva is 21 months and 8 days...the exact same age as Lila was when Eva was born. This explains the insanity of the last year and a half! Eva is way too little to be a big sister, what were we thinking? I will say that it gets easier with each new stage and I know that in the long run having our kids so close together was and still is the best decision. Still, I really CAN NOT believe that Lila was so little when she became a big sister.

At age 21 Months

Similarities:

• Both are early talkers
• Both have a lot of friends (Eva says her BF is her teacher Dana)
• Both are very happy and cheerful girls

Differences:

• Lila was a giant and practically off the charts in her height (97% in height), Eva is average in height and nearly off the charts in her weight (0-5% in weight)
• Lila had crawled out of her crib at this point and as a result was sleeping in a big girl bed. Thankfully, Eva is still in her crib!
• Eva has a lot of hair and Lila hardly had any hair at this age
• Lila was Daddy's Little Girl and Eva is very Mom-Centered

This video is of Lila and her second meeting with Eva.

Christmas Eve

What a fabulous Christmas Eve with the Jennings. About 1 second prior to this photo Ethan, Thad, Lila and I were all sprinting to jump into the photo. It's AMAZING that this turned out. Our kids just went to bed at 10pm on Christmas Eve which is really, really late for them.

Lila helped me make dinner below you can see that she was helping me make scalloped potatoes. Plastic bags on her hands to protect her sensitive skin. Lame but necessary.

Lila and Thad with their little dogs.

I took the opportunity to catch Eva running around pushing 'Babydoll' in her stroller and pink fuzzy's. It reminded me of ME when I was her age. Coincidently I happen to have a photo of me in pink fuzzy's with 'Baby Beth'*.

*Baby Beth was later beheaded by my cousin Andy and brother Tony. They were fighting over her and pulled her head off. The story of my life growing up with an older brother and 3 older boy cousins.

 

Surprise Santa Visit

While we were at a holiday party at our neighbors Santa made a surprise visit. All of the kids were so excited that he made a special trip to see them! He had gifts for each of the kids in his big bag and he called Lila's name first. She was out of her skin excited about the whole experience and later told me, "Mama, Santa called my name FIRST". She clearly felt that being called first had some sort of significance. 

The kids were so good and each waited for all of the other kids to get their gift before all at once opening their presents. So sweet! 

We're are enjoying a relaxing Christmas Eve and will be hosting our neighbors Erik, Maria, Ethan and Thad for dinner tonight. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

All our best!

The McGeachy's

Goals

The kids will be out of school in a couple of hours and I already trying to make sure we stay focused on what we want the next week to be like. For me it's all about shifting off of our regular schedule and relaxing a little bit. Our normal daily schedule is often pretty hectic so this is the one week a year that we get to just enjoy being us, at home. At least that's what I'm going to attempt. I put the list below on our refrigerator as a reminder (mostly to me) about what we hope to accomplish while on 'vacation' at home. I hope you find my goals enjoyable!

{ McGeachy Family Goals

for Christmas Break }

Relax. Sleep-In. Shift into Vacation Mode. Bake Cookies. Be Merry with Friends. Have Play Dates. Keep the House Clean. Snuggle. Reflect. Read a Book. Read the Paper. Enjoy Hot Tea. Drink Wine. Catch Up with the Dogs. Drink Beer. Play in the Snow. Laugh a Lot.  

Visiting Santa

On Saturday we were fortunate enough to have breakfast with Santa in downtown Camas. Lila was thrilled to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas...Eva not so much. If it were up to Eva she would have visited Santa from afar. She does get into the holiday spirit and say, "ho, ho, ho" when we talk about Santa.

Getting a closer look at Santa but not too close. 

The whole crew (Eva is holding on for her life not wanting to get too close to Santa)

Eva trying to bail off Santa's lap!

 Lila had a great visit with Santa. She told him that she wants a "Button for Eva" for Christmas.

Selfless I tell you!

Pellicani Visit

We visited Great Grandma Henri, Aunt Cathy and Uncle Don last weekend. Cathy always goes all out with activities for the kids and as you can see both of the girls were very interested in the art projects. It had been a long time since we had been up to Tacoma so it was really nice to visit with everyone. We're kind of difficult house guests to have these days with Lila's wheat allergy but Cathy made an awesome wheat-free lunch for all of us. Ahhh...some people are just SO easy to be around. 

Boat Parade - Weekend in Shelton

My parents invited us up to Shelton for the boat parade this year. Our neighbors Erik, Maria, Ethan and Thad join us for the weekend and it was a GREAT time. The kids played so well together and had so much fun at my parents house. Ethan (6) said when we arrived, "WOW, this house would be great for hide an seek because there are so many hiding spots." True!

We had kind of a crazy adventure during the boat parade. With all of the rain recently there was a lot of debris in the water including a 40 foot boom stick (basically an extra large sized telephone pole). Too large around for me to put my arms around to give you an idea. Unfortunately this boom got lodged underneath my parents boat. A fellow member of the Shelton Yacht Club had to lasso the boom and pull it out from under my parents boat by going full speed in his 60+ foot yacht. It was an ordeal. When it finally released from under the boat we really rocked but were glad to be free. 

I tried to take some photos of this ordeal but due it was too dark and rainy to get any photos that captured the massive 'stick'. My parents, Scott and I all have a vivid photo of what this looked like burned into our  memory thats for sure! Remarkably there doesn't seem to be any major damage to my parents boat. Thank goodness.

All of the kids wanted to drive the boat so here are photos of each of them:

Ethan and my dad

Thad 

 Sitting in front of the christmas tree at my parents house.

Getting Holiday Ready

The girls are getting into the holiday spirit. Last week we made some ornaments and below you can see Eva putting her ornament on the tree. 

Testing New Camera

Lila was kind enough to sit still so that I could take her photo today and test out my new camera. She actually loved it and afterwards told me she liked the photos and "can you send that one to my friend Bethany?" Oh my little diva! 

Christmas Crafts and Cooking with My Girls

The girls and I got into the holiday spirit today by making some ornaments and wheat-free cookies. Eva loved painting and tried to put the paint brush in her mouth. Icky! She was very serious about her work.

Lila and I attempted adjusting a recipe from my friend Anne to make it wheat-free. The cookies were really good but I have to say they were a little deflated. They looked great when I took them out of the oven but quickly deflated. Oh well, they were delicious! 

Merry Christmas to Me!

I got a new camera for Christmas! A little early I know but we wanted to make sure that we captured the holidays with my new Canon.

Lila read her first word

Lila read her first word today! She's been identifying letters and sounding them out and today while reading a story she stopped and read the word "we". I'm so proud of her!