Christmas Week

I have a good excuse for not updating although we've been out of school for two weeks. My computer hard drive crashed two days before my final papers were due and I was scrambling like a mad woman to get them finished in two days. With that out of the way I took some well deserved R and R time.

We made a trip to St. Louis for some last minute shopping and we got to see our friends the McCommis family. Evangeline loves eating fired rice at PF Chang's and exchanging gifts with her best friend James. Greg and I then did some last minute shopping for each other and grabbed a piece of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory to take home.

James and Evangeline.

Hanging out with my girl, with a new hair do. I think she has a cookie in her mouth.

I got a chance to get my hair done and I love it. I have auburn low lights in it now. We also got to make cookies with our neighbors. Evangeline had a blast hanging out with Arlen and eating the icing off of cookies while decorating them. That's not the first gross thing she has done this holiday.

Evangeline and Arlen having snack.

For Christmas Greg's dad and his wife, Rachel (Grandpa and G'ma) visited us.  We had more time making and decorating cookies and attempting to make a gingerbread house.

Gingerbread house and cookie dough.

Evangeline and her G'ma.

The Rentchler Twins and Evangeline.

On Christmas Eve we were all feeling a little under the weather because of the sudden temperature change. It went from 50 degrees to 4 degrees overnight. We got to see some of our friends on Christmas Eve at the Children's Service. Evangeline loved the music and getting to see baby Jesus and the  in the Nativity play. We even took some photos with our twin friends who are sadly moving to St. Louis in January.

Evangeline had a great Christmas and loved opening presents from all of her grandparents and her aunts and uncle. Below are some of my favorites from Christmas Morning.

Opening a gift from G'ma and Grandpa.

Her train table from Nana and a book from our Pen Pals Melissa and Madelyn.

Opening her cutting fruit from Grandma Carri and Grandpa Will.

Greg opening gifts with Wylie cuddled close by.

Evangeline and I in our matching aprons from our Pen pals.

Evangeline in her Supergirl costume, and opening a gift from Nana.

She had a great time with her grandparents and Greg and I even got to continue our Christmas Day tradition of seeing a Hobbit movie on Christmas. They were great with her and gave her so many great gifts. I'll have to post some more photos of her playing with them later. They were here for five days and left Friday morning to head back to Mississippi and then Florida. We really enjoyed having them around.

Saying goodbye to Grandpa and G'ma

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.

Guest post on Thankfulness

Today I have a guest post on OUR CHATEAU a blog by Kathryn Fishman-Weaver. Kathryn and I met at church through our toddler girls, and I think we have a lot in common.  Kathryn has a thankfulness series on her blog every November. I don't have a lot of time for creatively writing, but I was inspired to contribute to this series. I wrote about the moments where we meet the people who become our "friends" and what those have meant to me throughout the past 10 years. 

Evangeline is 2!

Here's some photos from our celebration of Evangeline's Birthday. She's growing so fast, using the potty pretty consistently and so busy we can not keep up with her most of the time. Here's some photos form her Disney themed party with some great decorations. I bought many of them used, but the yellow puffs and 3D streamers were from the Party Store. It was a great celebration with Aunts Sarah and Edge and Grandma Carri and Papa Will in town for the festivities. Here's a selection of photos from our Birthday Adventures!

Birthday Breakfast!

Birthday dinner at Kobe Steakhouse for Fried Rice.

Opening birthday gifts with Aunt Sarah.

I was able to get a lot of work done ahead and spend some time with family. Greg defended his comprehensive exams the Monday before and passed. Hooray! We had a great time preparing for the party and doing fun things around town in conjunction with Homecoming. Edge drove up from Birmingham on Wednesday and Sarah and Grandma arrived on Wednesday at around 1. Evangeline got to have a birthday celebration at the French School and with her family. She got some great gifts but most of all she enjoyed spending time with her family. 

Opening more birthday gifts from friends.

I even got some quality time with my sister, sister in law and mom (not pictured). We went to happy hour and got pedicures. I never do that stuff anymore.

At Mizzou Homecoming House Decks with Aunt Sarah.

Walking to the parade with Papa Will.

All bundled up for the Mizzou Homecoming Parade.

Sister, husband and I. Thanks Sarah and Edge for the coffee!

Dressed like Disney Pixar Characters, Greg was Wreck-it-Ralph, Edge was Remy from Ratatouille.

Evangeline and her friend Inara at the birthday party.

She wanted to be Minnie Mouse and Princess Sofia!

Grandpa Will, Minnie (the party guest) and Evangeline.

Our little family. At this point Evangeline was really sleepy.

Racetrack hat with her car track from Nana Candy.

Riding the Carousel with Grandma and Aunt Sarah.

And again with Papa and Grandma.

Playing follow the leader in the park on Sunday afternoon.

Hanging out with Grandparents at the Airport before they leave.

We were sad to see our aunts and grandparents. Evangeline kept asking me in the car on the way home from the airport if she could go to Texas too. I love her, and I'm glad she misses them as much as I do.

Fall = Pumpkins, Pictures and Cool Air

Evangeline and Mommy

 Fall is here. There a few things I love more than a beautiful fall day. Friday Evangeline and I went to pick pumpkins from a pumpkins from a pumpkin patch with her school. It was a blast. We really enjoyed picking "citrouille," playing in the tepee, the hay-bale maze and feeding all of the animals with her school friends. I loved the corn-husk horses the most. We were so excited to spend time with other families from the school and get to know her teachers better.

Riding a corn-husk horse.

Evangeline loved all the activities at Peach Tree Farms so much that I think we should return before the Fall is over.

She's getting so tall

Hay-bale maze with friends.

 Friday we returned home for lunch, a nap and then family photos in the afternoon. +Lollipop Photography did our photos again this year. I can't wait to see how they turned out and get some printed for Evangeline's birthday and our holiday cards. We also went to dinner Friday with our friends Joy and Hank. We had Japanese Habachi, which Evangeline loved. She's only been twice and last time the fire scared her. This time she watched the whole "show" and ate a large portion or fried rice.

Friday night Greg and I also went to see Maiden Trip at the Citizen Jane Film Festival. It is a great movie about a daring teenage girl who becomes the youngest to sail around the world alone.

Saturday we attempted our regular trip to the market and grocery, but it was raining and not much fun. We went to the mall briefly, but spent the majority of the day at home. We also went to her school's Fall Potluck and spent time with other families and kids from the school. Evangeline decorated he pumpkin from the pumpkin patch and ate a lot of Doritos and clementines.

Evangeline playing guitar in the church nursery.

Today we went to Church for Lutheran World Relief Sunday. There were hundreds of hand-made quilts on display. The quilts were dedicated during the service. We also had some good play-time at home with each other and daddy.

After lunch we all took naps. After nap, Evangeline and I went to Wilson's Nursery for their annual Fall Festival. The theme was Monsters' University. Evangeline played in a bounce house, got a balloon, more pumpkins, and got her face painted for the first time. We even met Sully from Monster's Inc. 

This evening we went to the church again for Mission Meal. The meal was to support Lutheran World Relief and a woman who will be teaching English in Malasysia for the next year. The food was all locally grown and excellent. There was homemade applesauce, pickled veggies, squash casserole, potatoes, meatloaf, muffins, and peach cobbler. Evangeline loved the music as well. She really enjoyed listening to the youth play on the drums and piano and dancing to the music. 

This weekend was a great weekend and was a much needed relief from the stresses of PhD school life.

Evangeline listens to music at the Mission Meal.