party time

DSCF4293
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

we were invited to my friend juniper's mom's birthday party on saturday night. costumes were recommended, and we decided that only meant for evie (and it did). not having any actual costumes, we let evie pick between her dress from india and her dress from china.

she went with china.

she looked gorgeous (in my opinion).

the party was a lot of fun, and evie had a blast playing with juniper's niece and nephew. there was a great deal of extended laughter. oh, and confetti eggs. here she is experiencing the joy of breaking a confetti egg on daddy's head.



being in a sweetheart mood, she decided she should clean him off afterwards.



evie's new best friend hetta (juniper's six-year-old niece) took good care of her all night long.



and to top off the evening? a pinata! evie's first. she really enjoyed it. enjoyed it so much that we were up two hours past bedtime. she let us put her in her jammies before her last go at it.



thankfully, the late night of fun didn't translate into a grumpy mood on sunday. that was another good day. we headed over to the embarcadero to look at boats and sit on the giant spider statue.

evie's birthday weekend

DSCF4241
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

evie's birthday celebration began on friday. we had a party for evie and her friend laura at the presidio firehouse. lucky for evie laura's mom was into planning and put this together, as well as baked some great cupcakes for the occasion. all i had to do was show up with evie and snacks and a good time was had by all.

the firefighters gave the kids a great tour, where they got to hold the fire hose (evie was too scared) and sit in the fire truck.


(this is the other birthday girl, laura)







we continued the celebration on saturday morning with a trip to tartine, a great bakery in the neighborhood, where evie managed to polish off about 95% of a very substantial ham & cheese croissant. then we were off to the academy of sciences and some fish time. after nap, we headed off for chinese food where evie consumed a whole lotta birthday dumplings.

on sunday she and i headed out for some mommy/evie time. we walked to the subway and took a train over to another neighborhood, where we got bagels, picked out some books and got a very cool dragon.

then tony and kimberly came up and joined us for another celebration, and her official birthday cupcakes. plus they got her a copy of "where the wild things are" and her very own wild thing.



monday was playing with paloma and gladys, more cupcakes and pizza for dinner.

evie now wants presents and candles all of the time.

i can't believe how fast this year went.  it's been tough on occasion, but more than worth it.  she's such a treasure.

the birthday girl in action

DSCF4272
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

it was a whole weekend of celebration for the end of ms. evie's second full year. i'll post more pics details later, but here's an action shot from dinner last night.

evie's favorite part of a birthday?

blowing out candles. she made me keep relighting them, so she could blow them out over and over. this was probably the third time thru (there were probably three more times that followed).

not so sweet dreams

evie woke up early this morning and was crying a pretty distressed cry. i went in to rub her back and soothe her back to sleep when she looked up at me and said "i scared", then she mumbled something about "ice cubes".

hmm. she did munch on a bunch of ice cubes last night. some clean, some out of our glasses. wonder if we got all the margarita off of those first ...

that's our girl

DSCF4189
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

so last night, in case there was any question, i got just a little more proof that evie is our girl.

last night mike had rehearsal, so evie and i went out to get a little dinner. she was her usual enthusiastic self while eating (see picture from another recent meal of lamb chops). then on the walk home we walked past a coffee shop, and she pointed in and said "people eating food." i confirmed "yup, people are eating food."

she looked up at me earnestly and said "i love food."

her first unprompted expression of love.

i totally get it.

viva california

viva california
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

the rain has stopped, and the clouds have parted, so we headed down highway one to the beach today. first it was just walking on the beach and watching the surfers, then we spotted some kids swimming in a stream that runs into the ocean.

evie wanted in.

we started with wading. more water! then it was the strip down. evie had a blast splashing around and knocking over sandcastles carefully constructed by mom (the kid's part godzilla).

click on the pic to see some more pictures from the day. and if you're in michigan, this might just be the incentive to come out for a visit!

go ahead, take my picture already

go ahead, take my picture already
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

i wanted to post a picture of evie wearing her favorite new jacket (thanks grandma!), but she didn't seem very excited about having to pose. i want to see myah in hers now!

sugar?

sugar?
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

evie and mike had a little tea party before work this morning.

bouncing her troubles away

DSCF4145
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

last friday was evie's friend inara's second birthday party. i was again reminded that other moms are much more willing to plan and prepare for this type of thing. evie's pretty much going to get a candle in a cupcake for her birthday, though her friend laura's birthday is at about the same time - and laura's mom wants to throw a party together, so she may benefit from that.

the party was at a place called pump it up junior. lots of inflated things to bounce on, run through, and slide down. evie had a blast. she especially loved this big slide.



after the adrenaline of the jumping, accompanied by the sugar from the juice box and cake, evie was amped. when you add this to the fact that she only napped for a half hour on the way to the party, you'll have a little more insight to four of the seven tantrums she had that day.


(the birthday girl, inara)

grandma and grandpa!

homossassa springs
Originally uploaded by jcampioni

evie definitely warmed up to grandma and grandpa on this visit. when we arrived in orlando and were coming down the escalator to baggage claim, she managed to pick them out of the crowd. grandma saw this and i'm pretty sure it made her whole year. made me pretty happy too.

during previous visits, she'd been pretty tentative with them pretty much until we were ready to go home. she'd warm up on our way out of dodge.

this time they were friends right out of the gate.



grandpa introduced her to the joys of french fries, so i think they will be friends for life.



and the best part of all of this (beyond evie having more people in the world to love and support her)? mike and i got two afternoons away to see movies, have conversation, and do a little bowling.