Schmidt clan: March 2011

28 Feb

We had a wonderful day together on the 28th. Michael took the day off and we postponed our plans to go to Tokyo DisneyLand due to bad weather. Instead we went to Sea Paradise which had most things indoors.
Here are stacks of photos - the ones I love most - of the day. Unfortunately, again, they're in reverse so starting with the evening of the 28th and ending with her in bed for breakfast and presents. Sorry!

Skyping with Gwan and Gwamps

Evie Babe

Evie darling is now talking - lots! And boy, she feels part of the gang! She is learning stacks of words each day now. Today she learnt: starfish, jellyfish, seahorse. She also loves to blame poor Josephine for many of her ills saying "Jozie pushed Evie!" or "Jozie hurt Evie!!" (while Josephine is innocently in another room or even in KG).
Besides that, she loves dressing herself now and can entertain herself with a pair of socks, pull on nappy, Josephine's underwear ...for quite a bit! Today she pulled on 4 pairs of pull up Pampers nappies! Somewhere in between were some Charlie and Lola pants...and dare you take 'em off!!
Anyway, she's very girl. She loves playing with dolls (getting them dressed, putting them to sleep, etc, etc). She loves dancing. She waves at every tom, dick and harry on the street rounding her performance off with a dramatic kiss being blown to them.
She also loves dogs, playing with other children. She's a tease and purposefully snatches things away from Josephine ...just to get a reaction. Othertimes she does things - naughty things - and watches me out of the corner of her eye. I can see her cheeks bunching up as she smiles (side profile) and when I playfully say "Eeeeevie...!!!" she bursts out laughing.
She's terribly ticklish on her feet.
She loves massages.
She doesn't mind her hair being washed too much - wow!! But she hates it being brushed/styled.
She loves being sung to and danced with.
She loves walking up my legs and then doing a backward turn at the top.
Generally, she's very patient and a very happy child.
I love her personality, her red hair and brown eyes to bits!!! She's totally edible!
She says to me: "Evie, Mamma's baby."

Birthday week continued

What a lovely surprise from our UK friends, Emma and Aaron with their 2 daughters Isabella and Katie. So nice to be remembered. Josephine and Isabella shared baby and toddler days together (0-3) and met at a mere 3 weeks old. Good friends....

Princess Josephine's birthday party

The pictures are all a bit back to front - so they arrived full of energy and after much running around and sprinting, they did kind of cool down at the end (the first photos here).
A big thank you to Amy for getting me up and running again with my photo upload! Thanks a million! Here are some for good measure and memories! :-)

Timo

Our Japanese boys: Perry, Ion and Kenji

Ion - he has a gentle heart and spirit. Still full of energy and fun though!!!

Isn't he just so cute!?!? Kenji was one of the older boys (nearly 6)

Lina - cute dimples!

Buddies: Ion and Kenji

Victoria, Nina and Nikola playing "Doctor doctor" in Evie's bedroom.

Princess: sliced 'n diced. The kids just gawked at the massacre. No one ate a bite! They just wanted to see it cut! At first Josephine wouldn't allow it, but after about an hour curiosity also killed her cat and she had to see how that doll had gotten in there.

I loved the way the children GAVE Josephine her gifts. They quite literally gathered around and adorned her with jewels, hairclips, you name it. It was so sweet. Even the boys did it!! Wow!!