Thanksgiving and Beyond

It has been a while since I posted because we in the last month I have not had a lot of free time. (I can honestly say there is not a place in the house that is not a mess right now).

But to catch up, we had a lovely Thanksgiving with my sister in law Edgerly who came up from Alabama for a few days. We just saw her at Evangeline's birthday so it was a real treat to see her again so soon after. She misses Aunt Edge a lot and whenever Greg leaves the house she asks if Aunt Edge is coming back.

At the Turkey Trot with Daddy and Aunt Edge

She had a blast playing with Evangeline and helped us out. We also supported Greg as he ran the Turkey Trot, enjoyed the Macy's parade, made a full Thanksgiving dinner,  did some black Friday shopping and took Evangeline to see Disney's Frozen. She loved the movie (in 3D) and the glasses she got to take home. Her favorite character was Olaf the Snowman.

We had one week between finals and Thanksgiving break so we have been pretty busy getting school work done. Greg and I are in finals week. I've got two papers due this week and a lot of grading as does he. We are also trying to use the extra time we have to finally clean house and catch up on some research projects we have not had time for the entire semester.

Traditional Thanksgiving Pancake Breakfast.

She loved this part of the Macy's Parade.

Wearing her Turkey Shirt and clip.

Wearing one of my old dresses to Church the first Sunday in Advent.

Our trip to see the Nutcracker

Evangeline and I went to see the Nutcracker Ballet on Tuesday night. She loved it and sat still for almost a hour and a half. At about 9 p.m. she was really tired so we decided to go home. She loved the dancers and the stuff they were selling outside of the theater, including a large teddy bear.

We are in Advent season here at the Perreault home. Evangeline is enjoying her advent calendar made of little boxes from my Facebook Mom's Group exchange and all the little craft projects at school, church and all the other places we have gone recently. We gave her a little Nativity Scene to play with and she's loving putting the different animals on top of the manger scene and kissing the baby Jesus figure. She is really into baby dolls right now and anything that is a baby is super cool, and needs to be kissed.   

Playing with her Nativity Scene.

Our Family at Living Windows.

Friday Evangeline's school sang at Living Windows, where the downtown shops decorate their front windows with actors dressed up in a particular theme. We walked around in the cold after Evangeline sang with Joy. We also got to see Joy's husband's youth group do a Living Nativity at the Missouri United Methodist Church. Evangeline was obsessed with the baby Jesus and asked if she could kiss him. She kind of chickened out though. Perhaps because it was really cold outside. Later when we got home she insisted on kissing the baby Jesus in he Little People Nativity Scene.

On Saturday I took Evangeline to Rock Bridge High School of Breakfast with Santa. She was not really excited about Santa at all but loved Mrs. Claus who was reading Christmas books to kids in a corner as they waited for Santa. She loved hanging out with her friend Ben and his Mom Anja and she also made friends with another bear.

As close as she would get to Santa Claus.

Sunday we got our first snow as well as got our living room rearranged for a Christmas tree, and purchased a tree. Evangeline also got her own little tree to decorate. I can't wait to see what she puts on it. Temperatures have been in the teens and 20s most of the week.

All bundled up for the snow.

We are all looking forward to a little more time off.

One more thing, I love that Evangeline now tells people she loves them. She's started telling me she loves me, misses me and asks me to wait for her. This makes me happy although she is a little more clingy than normal. It's nice since she really doesn't even look like a baby anymore to know she still needs me.

Apple Season

I sit here as a great Apple pie is baking in the oven. All the windows are open and the smell of Fall fills the air. We got about 25 pounds of apples yesterday on our trip to the Apple and Alpaca Farm in Mexico. Here's a few photos from our adventure. After the trip we had dinner at a place called Porky's in Mexico. It was home cooked BBQ and pies. Absolutely delicious and all homemade. Great food and all the taxidermy you could wish for (lol). Then we came home for some back yard time. Greg made a fire and Evangeline chased Wylie around the yard. It was a great day.

Grandma Carri's Visit

Here's a book of photos from Grandma Carri's Labor Day weekend visit. We had a great time at the St. Louis Zoo, at the Splash park and St. Louis arch park during her visit. We also got to watch Greg complete his second Heart of America Marathon. Go Greg! Anyhow enjoy the photo book below.

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Starting school and growing up

Evangeline, Greg and I are all in school now. Evangeline is going to Daycare three days a week, she is in a class with two other kids and gets a lot of personal attention. She's also taking French classes twice a week at a local French immersion Preschool. She knows a few words already.
She's really growing into quite the toddler and we've started potty training. I boxed up the cloth diapers last week. She's in 18-24 month and some 2T clothes and size 6.5 toddler shoes.

First day at French school

Weekend trip to Cosmo Park in CoMo

Skyping with Grandma Carri

Packing up diapers and 12-18 month clothes.

Greg is teaching a large lecture and preparing for his comps the first week of October. These are five 4-hour-long exams with completely memorized content. We also celebrate Greg's 30th birthday on Tuesday.
Sorry this update is not longer, but I thought I would at least post some recent photos.

Spring Time- March, April, early May

Spring has been very busy at Chateau Perreault. We had a visit from the Varner family and a lot of adventures around Columbia and St. Louis. It was also a landmark season for birthdays, I turned 30 in April, my dad turned 60 in April (in Texas), and Evangeline turned 18 months bringing more parenting challenges. Several of our family friends are moving this summer, which makes us sad. But we've been spending a lot of quality time with them. It was really cold this spring. Most days were 50 degrees or colder. That meant that our outside time was limited to the warmer days.

Getting quality time in with Claire at the playground in our neighborhood.

Evan and Claire playing at Claire's house.

James and Evangeline take a trip to Shelter Gardens.

My birthday outfit from Mom and Dad.

Evangeline and the shirt she won from Lately Lily.

Evangeline recently learned how to blow bubbles.

And met some fire fighters.

And went to the University of Missouri Vet School Open House.

Here she is playing with James again at Barnes and Noble.

And Wishing Grandpa Will a happy birthday.

And cuddling with her super hero daddy.

She has really gotten into stickers.

Meeting baby Gabe Varner.

Another thing she loves is the swing.

Evangeline has grown so much. She is saying a number of words and really interested in Potty Training. We hope to start that sometime this summer. She loves being outside. Especially playing on the playground slide and swings. She is learning to love drinking things other than milk and water. She tries to taste almost anything with a straw.

She loves cookies and asks for one when she sees anything that looks like a cookie. She asks to "swing" "slide" "walking." She lets you know when she needs "help," gets "stuck," or wants "more." She also says "please" and "thank you" which makes me so happy.  I love having a polite little girl, even if she is a toddler and uses the word "mine" a lot too. She's also started to say the names of her friends "James," "Claire," "Anne," "Gabe," and her teachers and friends at school.

Heading home from Florida

One more post from our trip to Florida. Here are photos from our trip home. We stopped in Live Oak for dinner with Greg's dad and his wife Rachel and then drove a few more hours. We stayed the night and then drove 12 hours back to Columbia. It was a long trip with a toddler and dog in the car, but we were grateful to be home.

On the swing.

"whoa!"

Hanging with her grandparents. Ready to sleep in the car.

My new favorite photo.

Another stop at Cracker Barrel.

St. Louis Arch. Only two hours left until home.