Auntie "Nnea"

My college roomie and super-fab friend from CO was in town last weekend and we had a blast together! Many fun photos were taken of Linnea who is a god-momma to Eva - while they thoroughly enjoyed each other at the Children's Museum, Navy Pier and just playing around the house.

Thanks for all the fun 'Nnea - as Eva shortened her name. The whole weekend she was here, Eva would say, "Where is my friend? You know, Ney-ah?"  :) While many great photos from throughout her trip are on facebook, this one below is my favorite, taken the day Nnea went back home. Look at these cute girls!  :) Lots of love to you, god momma!    

 

Two Year Old Theology ?

The other night, as I was snuggling and rocking Eva to sleep just before bedtime, she heard the word "heaven" in the first song on her lullabye CD (Be Thou My Vision.) She sat up and we had the following conversation:

Eva: Mom, where is heaven again?
Me: It's up in the sky kind of, it's a beautiful place where God is, remember?
Eva: Mom, God is in heaven, but isn't God with me too?
Me: Yes, God is in heaven and God is kind of everywhere too - He is with us now, and whenever we pray and talk to God He's there too - he is all around.
Eva: But mom, I don't think God is here now.
Me: Why babe?
Eva: (pointing) He isn't on my dresser; he isn't by my curtain; he isn't in my bed with me. Where IS HE?
Me: (smiling) I know its hard to not be able to see God, but remember when Jesus was born as a baby, in our Christmas stories, that was when God lived with us and was friends with children and sick people and good and mean people. Jesus was friends with everyone, so we would know that God wants to be everyone's friend.
Eva: Where did he go after Christmas?
Me: (hesitating a bit) Well, he grew up, and did lots of cool stuff, and then he died honey, but then God made him well again and took him up to heaven, and so now we pray to God and his Son Jesus and -
Eva: (cutting me off and putting her head down on my chest to go to sleep) I still can't see him here mom. Will he come here tomorrow?

I couldn't help but thinking that she was asking the same questions we grown ups struggle with. Adults of all ages have trouble with not being able to see God and know for sure if He is with us. I wonder how understanding things like the trinity, heaven, prayer, faith, and belief in an eternal and transcendent God must sound to a two year old... I kind of love the whole concept that our little girl is wondering about all this stuff.

A Spoonful of Sugar

We've been buried under snow, colds, ear infections, work trips, church trips, and a healthy dose of good fun lately! But I am not sure where the whole last month went - it kind of flew by. Anyway....

Eva LOVES watching the classic movie "Mary Poppins" lately. It's been our go-to movie this winter when she or we are sick - which has sadly been too often.  She knows almost all the words to the songs and dances along with various scenes. Her favorite parts are the chimney sweeps (although the fireworks are scary), the chalk drawing scene and the penguin waiters, and tidying up the nursery. (She also for some funny reason loves the scene in the bank with the old guys on the day the kids visit with their dad.)  I used to sing her "Feed the Birds" as a lullabye sometimes at night, and now its right up there with "Baby Mine" and "Jesus Loves Me" as one of her top three nighttime songs!

A few weeks ago, while eating her morning grapefruit, Eva took a long time to savor a delicious bite. She uttered a big long, "Mmmmmm," and then said, "Rum punch" with a grin. I didn't stop laughing for a full five minutes. If you know our girl's favorite movie well enough, you may recognize this line from when Mary Poppins doles out medicine to the kids and herself, and each spoonful (although all from the same bottle), comes out a different color and flavor. Mary Poppins drinks her spoonful and says, "Mmmmm, rum punch," which of course Eva doesn't know is a flavor, but apparently now thinks is an expression one says when something is delicious.  :) I kind of love that. Thank you Julie Andrews.    

 

Christmas 2010!

We just had the last of our houseguests for the holiday season leave today... and we are ready to rest, catch up on normal life, and jump into 2011. But - we have had such a great time seeing family and friends this season, and have a lot of fun photos and memories from it all that I want to remember to capture.

This Christmas, Eva was 2 (and 3/4) and was interested in being part of much of it with us. She loved singing (Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Frosty, Silent Night, and Feliz Navidad, were favorites), and asked me about the other songs that she didn't know yet; "Mommy, what this is about?"  She made Christmas cookies and her own mini cupcakes from a new baking set, got hand made aprons and books and Christmas decorations/ornaments all her own this year, and helped us decorate the tree - until she got bored :). She liked the movie "Small One" - about the donkey Mary rode, and "Lady and the Tramp" (the story starts with Lady being a puppy present under the tree, and ends with the whole dog family at Christmas under the tree), and sometimes liked "Frosty II" (but not the Jack Frost character). She was even interested in the Christmas story bedtime books and hearing about how Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus' birthday (and yes, she's already heard her mom tell her that Dec.25 is not really Jesus' birthday, but that we remember it then.) She also loved the various nativity sets we have around the house and that she could hold baby Jesus and arrange the animals that are part of the least fragile set.    

A few other favorite and funny Christmas-season memories:
- Eva being part of Santa Lucia at church with Leah, and stealing the show with their singing, asking for candy, and dueling candle routine.
- Eva helping light the advent candles on Christmas Eve in MI - and wanting to dance up front to the hymns and so ultimately having to leave the service :). "I Want To DANCCEEE!!!"
- Faithfully opening her advent calendar of fair trade chocolate with me every morning, and loving the sweet treat AND learning more of her numbers.
- Looking for inflated Santas and other yard decorations as we drove around our neighborhood; having her tell me which ones are fragile
- Eva rubbing  a present to her face before she opened it and cooing, "I just LOVE this," but then not really enjoying opening presents all that much.
- We made Swedish Meatballs from scratch this yr successfully, using mom's recipe, and they were fabulous!

- Playing with Bex and Lucy
- Hearing her snore while putting Josh to bed in the loft
- Eva sledding for the first time with Alicia, Dave, Josh and me
- Watching Eva ice skate with Tim, Meghan and Peter
- Decorating our new apartment for Christmas
- Building our first family snowman in the first fluffy snow of the winter, and how much she talked about it after that - even when it had melted
- Zoo Lights with Izey and Ando and the excitement of playing with their family on New Yrs Eve
- New Yrs party for the adults with the perfect mix of par-tay and chill!
- Having her look out over our dinner table when extended family were here and saying, "All my friends are here!" And how she whispered to Bo when they arrived, "I am so happy you are here!" 
- Sleepovers with Kaden and Anna on their way out and back from Seattle.
- Talking about the story of Christmas with her - I think her version is about this: "Baby Jesus used to be in Mary's tummy, and Mary rode a donkey, and wise men rode camels, but then he was born, and he didn't have any hair, but he was just a little baby, and he cried, and then he grew up to be big, and now he loves everyone."  Amen!

There is so much to be grateful for during this season, and beyond - and having a little mind and heart help us experience the joy, wonder, and story of Christmas makes it such a precious and fun time. Yeah for family and friends and holidays from work!

FYI, pictures for family in MI with VerHages and in Chicago with Mosbos are now on smugmug. And below is a little video of her preparing Christmas cards for people this year right before it all began. :)   Happy 2011!