Evie's Christmas #1

Evie had a fantastic first Christmas surrounded by lots of family and friends! On Christmas Eve we traveled up to Spring Lake for a lovely couple of days. Evie was amazed by the beautiful big tree with the shiny globes that reflected the old-school colored lights that her Dad loves so much. We had the traditional McDonald spaghetti and meatballs dinner that night and started a new tradition by pulling the Christmas crackers that Casey had brought. Evie is all smiles these days!


The next morning, Santa had come! Evie participated in the great gift exchange and even helped unwrap a present or two. Everyone had a great time playing with the two babies -- Julianna and Evie -- before it was time to hit the hay. The next day Mom and Dad continued their tour of Nutcracker performances by taking in the show by the New York City Ballet. Both agreed that Boston Ballet is still the #1 Nutcracker, over Chicago, DC, New York, and Philadelphia. Mom can't wait to take Evie when she gets just a little bit older. While they were in the city, Evie had a great time strolling the Spring Lake boardwalk with Grandma and taking a nap on Popi's chest.

Adorable pictures taken by Grandma Beanie!

Lucky Evie had lots of visitors this weekend, including Grandma Beanie and Pops, and Katrina's friend from college Jen Alt. Grandma caught some great moments on film, like Evie checking out the colored lights on the tree with Daddy, taking a bath, and the post-bath picture wrapped in her towel. Evie is "talking" more and more everyday and smiling all the time! She truly is the most easy-going baby ever (in our humble opinion, but verified by others!).

Evie helps decorate the tree... well, sort of...

On Saturday we put up our Christmas tree and Evie helped by providing the entertainment. She is a big fan of the colored lights and each day we look at a new ornament, and Evie often falls asleep to the XM Holiday channel (although Marc and I are beginning to get a little tired of the Nutcracker). Only 12 days left to go!

An Old Town Tradition: The Scottish Walk

In early December the family went out to experience the annual Scottish Walk Parade down St. Asaph with Jen and Andrew. Although it was a little cold we warmed up with hot cocoa and cider and kept the babies bumbled up in their strollers. Willard Scott was Grand Marshall this year, and he was followed by many men in kilts (including the MacDonald clan - well, pretty much our relatives), Scottish terriers, and bagpipers galore! We don't know how those guys stayed warm in their short skirts.

Extra Picture of Evie's Baptism

Aunt Mellie just sent out pictures of Evie's baptism and here is a fun one to share: this is Evie in her christening gown and baptismal "bib". She looks a little bewildered about all the scented oil on her head!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

December is here and we're having so much fun introducing Evie to the holidays! Before Thanksgiving we took her to see the famous Santa Claus at Tysons Center - here is Evie chilling on Santa's lap, not knowing exactly what's going on (and is probably wondering where her shoes are). After much jumping up and down and squealing by Mom, she finally cracked a smile caught on film. Below, Evie is mesmerized by the German "Pyramiden" carousel - we can't wait for her to take part in singing "Stille Nacht" although I guess it's a few years off before she can have any Gluhwein.

We also watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (the Boris Karloff not the Jim Carrey version) together - speaking of which, doesn't Tootsie resemble the dog in the cartoon (minus the deer antler, of course).

Evie's First Turkey Day

Lucky Evie got to celebrate her first Thanksgiving around lots of family - 4 grandparents, uncle Karl and future Aunt Amy, and two little dogs - Tootsie and Strummer. Dad made the delicious turkey and we had three types of stuffing, ham, mashed potatoes, the traditional green bean casserole, creamed corn, pearl onions, sweet potatoes, and three types of pie for dessert! After dinner we all needed a nap.

Evie's Baptism

This Saturday the family traveled to New Jersey for Evie's baptism at St. Anselm Church. Godparents Melanie Izzo and Wally McDonald took part in the ceremony, which little Evie didn't make a peep throughout (and actually stayed awake)! She wore the christening gown that was originally worn by her grandfather, Patrick "Popi" McDonald, and then later passed down and worn by her uncles and dad. It was so wonderful for Evie to be surrounded by her loving family and friends, including: Grandma, Popi, Ba, Opa, Great-aunt Dellie, Uncle Wally and Aunt Karen, Uncle Dave, Aunt Casey and cousin Julianna, Melanie and Brian, Chris and adorable daughters Maddie and Annabel, and Karen's parents Bonnie and Stan.

What's a normal day for Evie?

Well, an important part of the day is "tummy time", which Evie usually does on her cowboy/girl activity mat. Although she prefers being on her back and staring at the horse and cows hanging down, she has gotten more comfortable being on her tummy (and only cries after 10 minutes or so). Then, everyday we read a couple of books - lots of board books and Dr. Seuss and Mommy and Daddy's favorites, like "Miss Twiggley's Tree," "One Morning in Maine," and "The Digging-est Dog." Here is Dad reading "Green Eggs and Ham" - he makes the characters speak in funny voices!



But, on a special day Mommy will take Evie out for an adventure - a Stroller Stride, a walk around Old Town, and even her first movie in a movie theatre (see below)! A movie theatre in Fairfax has "Baby Pictures" every Thursday and Evie was one of the best behaved in the group - she watched for about 45 minutes before drifting off to sleep. But because they watched "Role Models," Evie had to have on her earmuffs when she wasn't sleeping. Such fun!

A week for the history books (and Grandma Beanie!)

Lucky Evie had Grandma Beanie come to visit this week! The two enjoyed wonderful walks through Old Town in the great weather we had, and Evie tried to sing along to Grandma's rendition of "Baa Baa Black Sheep." Grandma Beanie also taught Mom how to make a pot roast and baked a cake - yum, yum. It was a lovely visit, despite Evie being a little crankypants sometimes.

It was also great to celebrate Obama's win in the presidential race, although both Mommy and Evie slept through the election results. Here's a picture of Evie meeting the future President at the Newseum on Sunday.



The Newseum was a lot of fun. Although Evie slept through the 4-D movie, she was well-behaved while mom and dad listened to a conversation with Nick Clooney (aka George's dad) about journalism and movies (he came over to say hi to Evie). There were great exhibits on the portrayal of FBI "G-men" in the media, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs, etc. -- enough for another visit one day. Below, Evie and Mommy pose in front of actual pieces of the Berlin Wall.

Halloween at UVA!

The family traveled down to Charlottesville this Friday for Homecoming and had a terrific time. Little Evie met Karen and Audrey (pictured here), Mommy's old friends from University Union, and then we headed to the Lawn for trick o' treating. Evie's little peapod costume received raves.



The next morning, Mom and Dad went to hear Prof. Larry Sabato give his 2008 election predictions, and then headed off to the stadium to catch the football game against Miami. We were able to get amazing tickets on the 20-yard line, three rows up from the field.

Evie slept peacefully and swayed along in her Baby Bjorn to the Good Ol' Song when the Cavaliers scored, and only protested once when dad yelled a little too enthusiastically after a good play. Unfortunately, the team lost in overtime. Nuts.

Giant squids, butterflies and fishies, oh my!

Evie and Andrew took their first field trip to the National Museum of Natural History today where they checked out the newly-renovated Ocean Hall and Hall of Butterflies. The butterfly exhibit had over 30 species of butterflies fluttering around us... but it was also too steamy and humid to take pictures in the 92-degree habitat. In the ocean exhibit, the two watched colorful fish dart around the coral reef.


Evie checks out an arctic penguin.

Andrew and Evie in front of a giant squid (this was the smaller of the squids in the exhibit). As Jen would say, that's a lot of calamari!

Evie's first Stroller Stride

Mommy and Aunty Jen went on their first "stroller stride" in an attempt to get in shape, but unfortunately Aunty Jen had forgotten Andrew's stroller. But it made for a great photo opp as the two babies shared the Cadillac of strollers (and slept through most of the class) as their mommies got some exercise. The group later took a trip to Del Ray where they enjoyed a delicious lunch at Cheesetique and oatmeal raisin cookie frozen custard at the Dairy Godmother.

Move over Tyra... Evie is America's Next Top Model!

Evie's too young to walk the catwalk, but man does the camera love her! The family had a photo shoot last Sunday morning and Evie was so well-behaved! She was awake and smiling nearly the whole time. Here are some of our favorites:





To view a slideshow of more pictures from the shoot, visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/23316488@N07/sets/72157608192009217/. And if you're interested in hiring the photographer, Allison Wist, she was absolutely wonderful to work with. More pictures in her portfolio can be found at the flickr site.

Sleeping through a chilly Oktoberfest...

Evie accompanied the family to her first Oktoberfest at Rustico, but stayed bundled up in her stroller for most of the time while everyone enjoyed beer & brats (but no polka band, to Opa's dismay). It was also an exciting day as she took her first ride in Mommy and Daddy's new car, a Volvo station wagon! Alas, we will all miss the beemer but the Volvo has a lot more room in the backseat, can fit Evie's cadillac stroller, and is a super-smooth ride. Hopefully no more tears in this ride!

A Celebration of Ba's Birthday

Friday was an exciting day for Evie! She and mommy visited daddy for lunch at Potbelly's by dad's office, traveling into the city on the Metro's yellow line. Her first trip on public transportation, Evie seemed to love every minute of the ride! Then, it was off to the Foelsche house to celebrate Ba's Birthday (also Uncle Karl's birthday), although Evie did NOT like driving in the back seat by herself and cried the whole way over. Soon enough she was in mom's arms but did have a couple of trembling sighs of indignation for being ignored for so long. The day got better as she played with Ba and napped in the crook of Opa's arm. She also tested out her new Pack n Play (below).



Evie was a very generous gift-giver: Ba received a book called "Grandma and Me" and a onesie from her favorite granddaughter. The onesie was hilarious and said: "Mommy a little cranky? Dad coming home from work late? Call 1-800-GRANDMA (satisfaction guaranteed)."



Phew! What a day! Evie's going to take a nap on top of daddy to recover.