Thanksgiving

We had a lovely, low-key Thanksgiving this year at my Uncle Bob and Aunt Lisa's house here in Tucson. My brother and Claudia drove down from Tempe and my Uncle Jim and Aunt Sharon drove over from Las Cruces... so for a Rimsza gathering it was pretty slight. I actually got up the nerve to try to cook something real this year (I usually buy a pie or steam some vegetables...there was one year I actually cooked a turkey but that was quite a while ago now) and made roasted sweet potatoes and acorn squash slices. The sweet potatoes turned out pretty well but I wasn't such a fan of the squash... but who am I kidding, it takes a pretty mean squash to impress me.

Thanksgiving morning, while taking a bath, I asked Evie if she was going to try some turkey. Her exact response (I wrote it down because it was so funny) was: "Well, I don't think I am going to eat turkey because I am a vegetarian." Awesome.



Evie was offered a pony ride on cousin Melissa's new pony but she got a little spooked (Evie, not the pony) and opted just to hang out with the goats instead. Before dinner we all filled out hands and put something we were thankful for on each finger. We then hid the hand under a plate and after dinner each person had to try to guess whose hand they had. Evie filled out a hand too. Her 5 things were: Mommy, Daddy,cake, Mommy (I guess she ran out of ideas) and Mimi, who gave her the necklace she is wearing in these pictures over a year ago, but Evie got to wear it for the first time on Thanksgiving. She was very excited and thankful for it and the grandma who sent it her way :)

School Photos

At about this time last year my sister in law and I tried to take Evie and my nephew Dylan out to get professional pictures taken... it ended miserably. Well things sure have changed in one year. Evie got her first set of school photos taken this past month and man are they (in my totally biased opinion) cute! Only problem I have with them is when the heck did she get so old? (sniff, sniff)

Indoctrination

No matter how much we (or at least some, like myself) would like to pretend that we are above intentional indoctrination of our brood, I am here to admit that any feelings of spiritual impartiality went out the window two weeks ago when I found the most awesome children’s book ever. A week ago now I had a Wednesday all to myself (Veteran’s Day). It was a positively marvelous day filled with taking care of all the nagging errands and a nice massage thrown in for good measure. Well, one of my favorite pastimes that I don’t get to do very often anymore is just to leisurely browse through my local used bookstore. Without Evie in tow, I was able to spend a whole ½ hour there just browsing. Of course, even then she wasn’t far from my mind because the area I browsed was the kids section, but a leisurely browse is a leisurely browse. As I grazed I came upon a wonderful book tucked between two precious moment’s bibles in the “children’s religion” section… Moody Cow Meditates. The very thought of it made me giggle, so I (figuring worst case Evie hates the books and I spend 5 dollars on a giggle) snagged it from the shelf and brought it home.

Well Evie anything but hates Moody Cow. It has become near nightly reading and, in fact, one day last week I was required to read it no less than 5 times… in two hours. The book is about a cow who has a terrible day and who is helped down off his angry ledge by a wise grandfather who teaches him to meditate… awesome. Evie has gotten so into this book that we now “meditate” together, al la two-year. In other words, she sits on my meditation cushion and asks me questions like, “can I ring the bells again?” And “is the time up?” and “why does meditating take so long?” She is doing quite well now and will actually sit still with me for about two minutes, which for a two year old is pretty darn good. Who knows, by the time she is 16 maybe she’ll be ready for a week long silent retreat….(hahahahaha)

Dancin'...

Make no mistake... Evie is a dancing queen (In case you think this is my good taste, the outfit was totally her doing)

Fairytale

A new plague has taken root in the Lacroix household, and although I am told it is quite the common affliction amongst the under 10 female set, I am concerned about all of our welfare nonetheless. Ahh yes I remember now how I laughed heartily when told that it was only a matter of time until the dreaded princess pox reached my home, spreading pink pestilence in its wake. I waved them off with a chuckle, oh no not my daughter, she would never succumb to such an illness. But, my friends, I am here to say that I, once again, have been naïve. There is just no escaping this plague, and given that Evie has already fallen ill there is nothing for Patrick and I to do but to capitulate and become fairytaled as well.

The first symptoms emerged months ago, a request for pretty skirt here and there, the desire for me to build a castle for her out of a cardboard box, but the peak (or so we imagine…hope?) came to pass this past Monday when Evie began to insist that I call her Sleeping Beauty and that my name was no longer Mommy but Cinderella. While cooking dinner on Monday night Sleeping Beauty frequently beckoned Cinderella to her room to give her a kiss and wake her up so that we could go live in Cinderella’s castle “happily ever after” (I tried to explain to Evie that based on current injustices in our country Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty would only be able to live together and not get married like she wanted us to, but she just brushed this snag aside with a “Come on Mommy-Cinderella, its getting late and I don’t want you to loose a shoe.”) Then, once Patrick came home, the real fun started as we had our Prince Charming. Prince Charming was then required to help Sleeping Beauty jump on the bed (I’m not sure what fairytale that is from… but a little creativity here and there is nice)

All week long now Patrick has been replaced by Prince Charming (so to speak) who has had not one but two princesses. Reality set in this morning however when Sleeping Beauty (which, come to think of it, is pretty ironic given that she really hasn’t slept very well this week) told me that it was time for Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty to wake up and make coffee and pancakes for Prince Charming. So much for happily ever after.

Halloween!

Evie had a great Halloween this year! Her Mina made her a fabulous fairy costume and man did she get excited to wear it. The costume was topped off by a wand that a good witch at Valley of the Moon gave her. The wand says kindness on one side and happiness on the other, so of course Evie had to go around casting kind and happy spells on everyone.... including Kita. On Friday we went to my Uncle's annual Halloween party, which is always a great display of Halloween-ness... complete with haunted tents and "dead" things floating in the pool.


On Saturday we had a little gathering at our house of a few of Evie's friends (well really our friends who just happen to bring along Evie's friends). There was great food brought by all and even better trick or treating. While part of the crew (mostly male) hung out and passed out candy the rest of us went around the block, but at the speed of toddlers (and a few older kids who patiently waited) it took over an hour.


Then after trick or treating the whole crew gathered on the front porch to continue to pass out candy and to watch usually un-sugared kids have waaay to much fun with suckers and other such delights.