Getting back into blogging!

Well, I think it has been six months since the last time I blogged anything.  Long overdue!!!

We have had alot happen in the past six months:

1. We are expecting baby #2 in October!  I am currently 18 weeks along!
2. I no longer have my position at Eureka HS and will be starting a new position at Blevins Elementary.  I am not going to go into how I feel about this because if you know me, you already know how I feel.
3. I have a new nephew!  Baby Parker was born in April!  We absolutely can not wait to meet him in July!
4. Evie turned 3!  Such a magical age so far!
5. Oh yeah, and Marcus started working for a new firm in early January.  The change for him has been great!

I am hoping to keep everyone more informed as my summer officially starts in 2 weeks!  And then in October I will be starting my maternity leave!  So no excuses. :-)

Beware: Potty training language below!

Well, we (mostly just me) have ventured down the path of potty training over the last two weeks.  I chose to do the 3 day potty training method, which ended up for us to be 4 days.  Here is a little summary of how it went:

Day 1: We spent most of our time in the bathroom, as Evie had to go every 5 minutes.
Day 2: Evie realized she could hold it longer.  We ended up in the bathroom every 15 minutes.  Had MANY accidents.  This was the day I thought to myself, "What the heck have I gotten myself into?"  In fact, I called my mom wanting to quit.  I thought diapers had to be easier than all these accidents.
Day 3: Realized she could hold it even longer.  She went every 30 minutes.  Still had many accidents, but I was determined not to give up. 
Day 4: Began to stress out about how the heck I was going to make the 30+ minute commute in the morning with no accidents.  At the same time though, I was relieved that daycare would be helping me as we were still having accidents.
Day 5: PERFECT DAY!  NO ACCIDENTS!  You can only imagine my shock when I picked up Evie and she was still in her clothes I dropped her off in.  Amazing!  My little Evie never ceases to amaze me and leave me speechless.

Since that day, Evie has done extremely well with going #1 consistently in the potty.  However, #2 is a whole other issue.  However, I have hope.  I went to Target tonight and put together a little prize box for Evie.  She understands when she makes #2 in the potty, she will get to pick out a prize.  My little sweet pea tried for 10 minutes tonight to go in the potty (too bad she had just gone in her pants at home with Marcus while I was at Target).  I am anxious to see if this prize box idea will work for her tomorrow.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Girls night!

So with Marcus gone hanging out with friends tonight, Evie and I enjoyed a very fun girls night!  After much contemplation on how we would spend out evening, we ended up at the Galleria.  Evie had fun pulling toddler boy pajamas off the rack while I searched through the girls clearance rack.  Luckily, I found some great deals on mix and match Carters fall clothes!

Next, we headed to one of my favorite places to eat at the mall: Panda Express.  I learned tonight that Panda Express is one of Evie's favorite places too, as she ate a ton!  She couldn't get enough orange chicken, rice, carrots, and peas!

We then just casually walked roamed through the mall.  Evie always enjoys throwing some coins into the fountain, and luckily I had a quarter in my pocket.  Before we left the mall, we stopped by The Great American Cookie, and picked up a couple of cookies. 

We headed home, put on our pajamas, dimmed the lights, and enjoyed our cookies while watching The Bee Movie (which I have never seen, but have always wanted to)!  Funny thing is, Evie only took one bite of her cookie.  Guess she will have a special treat for tomorrow!

All in all, a fantastic night with my little two year old angel (and yes, she was an angel tonight).  I am definitely looking forward to many more girl nights!    

Grandpa Raymond's visit

We were very blessed to have a surprise visitor come to our house Thursday night!  Evie was especially excited to spend some quality time with Grandpa Raymond.  Friday night, we went to one of my favorite restaurants: Olympia's!  Opa!  We then went to DeMun Park and played a little while.  Evie had a great time being pushed by Grandpa in the swing.  She also showed off her skills of going down the "big" slide.

I was looking forward to spending our Saturday morning at Grant's Farm, but unfortunately they were closed due to a private event.  Instead, we headed to the zoo where we got to see the 2 week old giraffe!  (I forgot my camera, so no pictures, unfortunately).  Since Mike enjoys trains, I decided to splurge and we all took a ride on the train.  Evie enjoyed snuggling up to her grandpa as we went through the tunnels.  It was so cute!  Lucky us, Mike treated us to Gus's pretzels for lunch!  Yum!

Unfortunately, Mike heads out tomorrow morning.  I know Evie can't wait until the next time she can see him!  All in all- a great weekend so far!     

PF Changs & The Butterfly House

Sue's last day in St. Louis was a great one, despite all of us being slightly under the weather.  I started my day by sleeping in! :-)  Once we all got up and dressed, we headed to PF Changs.  Marcus especially enjoys PF Changs when he is congested, ordering the spiciest thing he can so that it clears up all of his sinuses.  Evie was a definite 2 year old as she enjoyed jumping up and down in our booth while eating rice & chicken with kid chopsticks.  Needless to say, there was food everywhere!

We then headed to the Butterfly House, one of my favorite St. Louis attractions.  Evie enjoyed the beetles...yes, somehow the beetles won against the butterflies.  Evie was slightly afraid of the butteflies at first, but Grandma made her feel better.  I enjoyed taking pictures of various butterflies and flowers.  Our next stop was the carousel where Evie enjoyed riding with Grandma.  All in all, a great day!

Marcus, Evie, and Sue at the Butterfly House

 

Eckerts Fun!

We went to Eckerts today...as in we, I mean, me, Marcus, his mom, and Evie.  While us adults had a great time, Evie (has a slight cold)...not so much! 

We arrived at Eckerts, talking the whole way about picking only good apples off the tree and doing fun things with the apples when we got home.  Evie was pretty excited and got even more excited about the tractor/wagon ride to the apples.  We got off the wagon and set Evie loose.  She just stood there...I guess she dislikes long, wet, yucky grass covered in rotten apples and ants, bugs, bees, etc...  Marcus picked her up and we were off picking our apples.  We tried to get Evie to pull apples off the tree, but she would limply try with only one hand.  I think our whole apple adventure lasted not even 15 minutes.

We got back on the wagon, purchased our apples, and then walked around the country store.  Evie had so much more fun shopping (I know this surprises all that know Evie...haha).  She found a little kid shopping cart and was off to collect her goods.  She picked out a little pumpkin, and then to my surprise had a box of pumpkin sugar cookies!  She was a pretty good driver, only running into one or two people along the way.

We then ate at the Eckerts restaurant.  Evie and I especially enjoyed the biscuits and apple butter!  We then headed home and Evie (and I) took a 3.5 hour nap!!!



Annual Eckerts family pic



Evie trying to find that baby apple.

 

Evie and Marcus telling secrets.



Raymond family fun!



Evie shopping



Second blog! :-)

We are very excited that (Detroit) Grandma will be coming tomorrow for a visit until Monday!  We have so many plans for this September tradition, one of which will include Eckerts and apples galore!  Two years ago, Evie was a baby and was carried from tree to tree.  Last year, Evie would pick up any and all apples, mostly rotten ones.  We are anxious this year to see if we can teach her the difference between good and not so good apples.  I am also excited that she will get to help me make the apple pie this year! 

Evie's 1st year to Eckerts (pictured with Grandma Raymond and Dad):

Evie's 2nd trip to Eckerts:



Stay tuned for Evie's 3rd trip to Eckerts!