The Lewis Family

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-15T10:45:00.000-08:00

We had a nice Valentine's Day here at Casa Lewis. Eva and I baked cookies on Monday and decorated them with frosting and sprinkles. Her job was mostly quality control, but she took her duty very seriously! Eva also got to attend the Valentine's Day party in the kindergarten classes at my school (because her babysitter's son is in kindergarten). I picked her up from the party and she was on cloud nine. In true Eva form, she was bopping around the entire classroom in search of food and treats. This girl sure knows how to eat!

Normally, I'm not a fan of "character" clothing, but this shirt was pretty cute. She is in LOVE with Elmo, and she loved this shirt. Kristen, her babysitter, told me that she was pointing her shirt out to people all day.

It was hard to get a good picture of her hair, but it looked so cute. I found the idea on Pinterest, of course. You put two pigtails in, then split each pigtail in half, twist the halves into a heart, and clip it at the bottom.

Me and my sweet Valentine. I love you, Eva Simone!

Sweetest Daddy Award

2012-02-15T10:38:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I take turns sleeping in on the weekends. Last Saturday was my turn to sleep in. When I woke up, I found him and Eva in the living room playing in a fort! It was so sweet to see them enjoying a lazy morning together. Eva, of course, was thrilled with the fort and her new tunnel from Ikea. And the best part... Ryan was mopping the kitchen floor, too! He's such an amazing husband an father!

Most current Evaisms

2012-02-13T15:59:00.000-08:00

I'm currently sitting on the bed in the playroom watching Eva play, and I just love hearing the conversation she has with herself. It prompted me to quickly jot down a few of the current phrases she says that make us laugh.

While rummaging through some toys, she exclaims "hey found it!" then promptly puts the puzzle piece she just found in it's home.

While getting ready for work one morning, she came to me and said "Eva helping with laundry." She was, in fact, loading and unloading the hamper.

The other morning, Ryan was singing "Farmer in the Dell," and Eva took off to her play room. A few moments later, she surfaced with her "Farmer in the Dell" book in hand. Neither Ryan nor I had read that particular book to her in over a month or so. I don't even know where she got it from. Ryan thought she was a genius for that one.

She now says "diaper change" when.... Well, you know.

She says "rock a baby" when she wants to be picked up and held like a baby.

She requests "colors" (markers) and "paint" about 457 times an hour.

She points out hearts wherever we see them (which are easy to spot this season) so I hear "heart!" a lot.

If you ask, "Eva, who is your best friend?" she quickly responds with "Max!" Max is her babysitters 9 year old son and Eva absolutely adores him (luckily the feeling is mutual).

The Easiest Valentines Day Decor

2012-01-30T17:55:00.000-08:00

I love quick, easy projects. I don't have the attention for the long projects. Seriously, I've been working on a baby blanket since last March. So, this heart garland was right up my alley. There were only two steps (cut hearts, sew straight line) and I was done in 10 minutes. It's a little short, so maybe I'll add some more hearts. I'm sure that will only take about another 7.

Never Ending Mess

2012-01-30T17:51:00.000-08:00

You know when you just finished cleaning up the playroom and your kid then dumps the entire bag of blocks out? Or when you just mopped the floor and she spills milk? Or when you just finished wiping down the table and she dumps her yogurt out and starts to finger paint with it? All of those things happen here on a pretty regular basis. It's a good thing she's cute!

Tacoma Children's Museum

2012-01-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

The Tacoma Children's Museum just opened a new, bigger location and Eva has been twice this week. It's awesome (and free)! Eva and I had so much fun on Wednesday that we went back today with Daddy. There is so much to do there: water play, art, climbing, slides, science, building things. She never gets bored. Overwhelmed, yes, but not bored. Here are some pictures from our visit today.

This contraption sucks the scarves in and shoots them back out in a different spot. Super fun!

Watercoloring painting with Dad.

This big sheet metal wall can be painted all over!

Forrest tunnel.

Playing in the leaves!

A Bunch of Random Pictures

2012-01-28T13:36:00.000-08:00

Eva and Daddy enjoying time together before bed time.

My little ham.

My big ham. (Eva wanted to take pictures...this is what she say on the other end.)

My fun new watercolor of Alaska ... a Christmas present to myself!

Eva's first piece of framed art.

My new cheery gallery wall in the hallway.

Jump, Jump

2012-01-21T14:29:00.000-08:00

Eva experienced her second friend birthday party this morning. It's still a little funny to me to think that Eva has "friends." It was at JUMP! in Gig Harbor (bouncy house place). We honestly all had a great time. Ryan and I were pretty worn out at the end after climbing up the ladder for the slide about 50 times with Eva. I forgot the camera, so I only have iPhone pictures, but hopefully it captures how much fun Eva had this morning!

Note to self: I must make the Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting. It was g-double-o-d good.

Ctrl+C --> Ctrl+V

2012-01-20T08:51:00.000-08:00

My friend, Lindsay, just gave birth to identical twin boys. I saw an idea on Pinterest for these "copy" and "paste" shirts and just had to make her a set. I can't wait to give them to her!

Favorite Food

2012-01-20T08:48:00.000-08:00

I think it's safe to say that Eva's favorite food is spaghetti.

Love, Meghan

Snowed In Day #2

2012-01-19T17:18:00.000-08:00

What do you do when you're stuck in the house for the second day in a row? Organize. I've been meaning to re-organize the pantry for awhile now because a) we don't need to keep old half-eaten cereal that we didn't like, b) why the heck do I have 4 bags of brown rice?, and c) it looked like poo.

Here's the before shot. The recycling is overflowing... it's Ryan's job to take it out... :)

My assistant performing quality control. The pretzel thins passed.

Everything out. Yes, that is a Little Caesars box.. it's $5!... don't judge. We immediately regret eating that crap. Shoulda gone to Subway that night.

Ahh, much better! All baking supplies on top, canned/glass on second shelf, boxed items on third, recycling and break maker on bottom. Notice how I didn't take out the recycling, just made it much neater. It's freezing outside and my backyard is practically an ice rink, so I think we'll wait on the recycling.

Yeah, this is the most boring post ever. Tomorrow is another snow day. Maybe I'll tackle the linen closet. :)

Love, Meghan

Snowed In

2012-01-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

We're snowed in here! We woke up to about 6-8" of beautiful white powder this morning. Schools are closed, and even the restaurant I work at is closed, too. Ryan is working from home today, so we were able to sneak outside on his lunch break as a family to tromp around in the snow. Eva loved it. She just wanted to walk around and kept requesting a "hand" when it got tough. We built a snowman, it's super pathetic, but Eva likes it. If only we had some hot cocoa in our home this would be the perfect snow day!

Love, Meghan

Family Pictures

2012-01-16T17:26:00.000-08:00

While my family was in town for the holiday, we had our pictures taken by Alicen Lum. She is the same photographer that took Eva's newborn pictures and we love her work. I was not prepared for how difficult it would be to wrangle 4 kids (ages 6, 2, 20 months, and 13 months). She did manage to get some decent shots, and if nothing else, capture the true spirit of our current family. I especially love the last picture because it clearly shows Eva's toddler-like spirit and determination to get her cousin Stella off of that chair because as far as Eva was concerned that chair was hers!

Eva counting (and wearing a helmet... you know, for safety)

2012-01-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

Love, Meghan

For A Laugh

2012-01-11T14:05:00.000-08:00

Eva and I had some fun taking pictures in PhotoBooth on the iPad.

The "Squeeze"

The "Light Tunnel"

The "Kaleidoscope"

The "X-Ray"

The "Thermal Camera"

The funniest part to me is that I hardly know how to use any of the apps on the iPad and actually only discovered PhotoBooth because Eva knows what it is. My toddler is making me feel old.

Love, Meghan

More Than Muffins

2012-01-10T19:01:00.001-08:00

Lately I've been really into making things in the muffin pan. I blame Pinterest. For some reason, the food looks so much better because it's a cute muffin-size.

Tonight's dinner was Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie Cups (recipe found HERE). It was sooo easy (took about 20 minutes -- not including cooking the chicken which was done earlier). And it was delicious.

Some other recipes I've found on Pinterest that are made in muffin pans are:

Pizza Muffins (image from lickthebowlgood.blogspot.com)
I've made these and they are yummy!

Mini Frittatas (image from familyfun.go.com)
Haven't tried these yet... maybe this weekend.

Mini Deep Dish Pizzas (image from marthastewart.com)
These are next, too.

In other news, Eva colored her lips blue tonight. Oh, toddlers.

Love, Meghan