Fall Fun!

October has brought a lot of excitement to our lives. Here are some highlights of the fall season: A visit to Vesperman Farms with Grandma and Grandpa H. Riding a hay wagon and picking out our pumpkins made this trip worth it.

We've spent lots of time with Uncle Ryan. He and Eva enjoy some time together in the masses of leaves in our front yard.

Tonight we hosted a "Pumpkin Carving Party" at our house. Grandpa Ron works carefully on his masterpiece of the year. Eva has her own fun with the seeds and gushy parts.
A sneak peek: here is our little chick!
The Hollingsworth pumpkins of 2007...a spider, a pirate, a happy baby, and Scooby-Doo.

Beth's Wedding!

Time for some back-blogging. We spent the weekend of October 19-21 in the Quad Cities for Beth's wedding. Everything was beautiful...the bride, the ceremony, the reception, the weather. It was a perfect weekend. Mr. and Mrs. Tony Runkle!!
Dad, Mom and Eva pose for a shot.

"Where's your belly button?"

Eva is learning so many new words in the past few weeks. Talking to her has taken on a whole new excitement. We're still waiting on her to talk, but she understands so much.

A few of her new words are belly button, hair, hand, shoe, shirt, duck, dog, cat. She can also sign dog, hot, more, and food. We are eating this up! Responding to "where's your bellybutton?"

All smiles in her tunnel...many thanks to Randy, Sue, and Steve.

The refrigerator is an exciting place for Eva. Here she is, biting into Dad's pepper from the Farmer's Market.

Transformation

Okay, I'll admit it. I have way too much fun with Eva's hairstyles.

Here is Eva, squeaky clean from her bath, getting ready for bed. (And, playing with yet another household item that she has decided is way more fun than any of her many toys...the laundry basket.)
And here she is the next morning upon waking up-

Mom says, "Eva, I love the toupee!"

Dad says, "It's a Donald Trump look-alike!"

Just Like Dad...

In case you can't tell...Eva is a major source of entertainment at our house. It seems she is always coming up with something new and goofy to do. She has discovered a new toy...Dad's neckties. He loaned her an older model. She enjoys wearing it around the house - "just like Dad." "I'm ready for the meeting."

Up close and personal.

Look Who's Standing!!

Mom's cousin Karen got married on Saturday. The wedding took place at the groom's farm. It was a beautiful setting and an equally beautiful day. I forgot to bring my camera, but I pilfered this shot from Sue. Here is Eva, standing and looking at some kittens. Her cousin Steve was giving us the tour. He named the three kitties after us: Steve, Eva, and Lindsay. Eva has discovered that she enjoys standing and "walking." We did lots of walking this weekend. Mom's back is a little sore today from being bent over, helping Eva. Eva has been a little tired from all this new muscle work.

For the love of Honeycrisps!

Grandpa Ron LOVES Honeycrisp apples. He recently bought a half bushel of them while he was up in Gays Mills...true apple country. Eva was very curious when she saw me eating one. She age it a try and found she likes to bite into it just like corn on the cob. In fact, when I later offered her apple slices, she refused them, wanting the whole thing instead.

On a side note, I try to keep this blog full of fun things going on in our life. But, life has its challenges too. We have noticed slight delays in Eva's large muscle development for some time. This morning we had her formal evaluation. As a 14 month old (today!) she has the balance and muscle control of a 10-month-old. This means that she has a 28% delay, qualifying her for physical therapy. Already today, the PT gave us lots of great suggestions. We're looking forward to working with her to help Eva continue to progress in her development.

Shenanigans!

We have a little jokester in our house. Eva loves to do "silly" things and laugh and laugh at herself. She has quite a sense of humor. She loves to play "mother cat," transporting her toys around the house by carrying them in her mouth.

And now, peek-a-boo with a twist...she likes to crawl around with the dish towel over her head. It took a couple of head firsts into the walls or cabinets before she realized she needs to pay some attention to where she is going.

Lovely

Eva poses in front of some beautiful flowers at Park Farms Winery.

Platteville Dairy Days

Our old town of Platteville is swinging in full force this weekend for Dairy Days! We took in the morning parade and spent the afternoon at the fairgrounds. Our fun included seeing livestock and new puppies, eating fried cheesecurds, playing at the park, and going on 2 rides! Eva could've swang for hours...

Dad and Eva brave the slide

A baby puppy!

Hey guys, check out our hot car

And last, but not least, a spin on the carousel

Good Morning!

Eva...fresh out of bed on a sticky summer morning.

Another Adventure of Eva and Mom

Les and I have recently been pretty preoccupied with moving, building a house, and work commitments. So yesterday, I planned a day all about Eva. We played all morning and went for a long walk. Then, in the afternoon, we planned to load up and head to Verona to visit Liz and all of her "friends" from daycare.

Things didn't go as expected. We had just gotten on the highway when the car failed. It was pretty scary...at 65 mph I suddenly had limited steering ability and brakes. Thankfully, we were on an uphill incline so I coasted up the hill and pulled onto the shoulder before throwing the car into park to come to a full stop.

Luckily Dad came to the rescue about 10 minutes later and we had the car towed. No word yet on the fate of our little Daewoo... While it was definately an "adventure" we really had the best case scenario: close to home, in the middle of the day, and help was easily available.

Labor Day at the Park

We met Grandma and Grandpa at the park for a Labor Day picnic today. The bees were terrible! They kepts swarming our table. Eva enjoyed playing at the park. Afterwards, we stopped out to see our new house. It's coming along...the shingles and electricity are going in right now.

Storybook Children's Zoo!

Today our family ran to Dubuque to take care of a couple errands. Eva was a great sport about moving boxes into Mom's work and shopping for cabinets, lighting, and flooring for our new house. After we finished our "to do" list, we stopped by at a little zoon in Dubuque. It was a big hit with her! This friendly pig made lots of noise. Eva loved it!
This goat wasn't quite as friendly. He kept headbutting the gate as Les tried to pet him.

Eva will have lots of horses nearby when we move to our new home.

We played at the park afterwards. The swings and sandbox are still favorites, but today she found a new activity that she loved - sliding! "WEEEEE!"

Pigtails!

Here'e a recent shot of Eva sporting a new do!

On the Move

I have two thoughts about "moving"

First of all, I was in such a hurry for Eva to start "moving." Now that she is, I wonder why I was in such a hurry for this next stage. It is adorable to watch her crawl around everywhere...but she definately keeps me on my toes.

In another sense, we recently "moved" from our house into an apartment while we are awaiting the completion of our new home. Unfortunately, we were not able to get another short term lease here so we will again be moving in a couple of weeks....this time into a rental that belongs to a friend of mine. (We're very much obliged.) Meanwhile, my parents are also in the middle of moving. I wonder what goes through Eva's mind about all of these changes. Maybe she just thinks that this is what people do every couple of months. In any event, we will be very happy to finally be settled in November (with luck).

On a sad personal note, I am temporarily at a loss for my camera battery charger. Until it is recovered, I'm afraid I can't post any new pictures.

Weekend of 7 Grandma and Grandpa's!

Eva got to see 7 grandparents in 2 days!! During the first part of our weekend, we headed to Iowa to visit Dad's family. Grandma and Grandpa H had a fish fry on Saturday night. Great-Grandma Sheckler, Joyce, and Laura joined in for the fun.

Then, on Sunday we hopped over to Great-Grandma and Grandpa Marshall's. They hadn't seen Eva since Christmas and enjoyed watching her in motion!

Finally, we ended the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Weier. Not everybody is lucky enough to have 7 grandparents...and to see them all in one weekend.

Eva gets a kiss from Grandma H

Great Grandpa Marshall got lots of smiles from Eva!

Eva liked Great Grandma Marshall's beeper

Eva and Mom's (Mini) Adventure

Eva and I set out yesterday on our first road trip together. First stop: the doctor in Madison for her one-year well check-up. The visit went well and she even took her three shots like a tough girl. From there, we headed up North toward Fon du Lac to join Aunt Sue and Stevie at a cabin. We stopped at McDonald's on the way up and Eva had her first Happy Meal - chicken nuggets and apple slices!

We enjoyed the cabin and quiet Forest Lake. We spent time on the beach, playing in the water, and even taking a little cruise in a paddle boat. Unfortunately, our trip was cut a little short. Eva wasn't feeling her best today so we headed back rather than staying one more day.

Overall...a fun little outing for us!

Mom and Eva drying off on the dock after a swim.

Eva was entertained by cousin Stevie.

One-Year Pictures

Eva spent her birthday afternoon getting her pictures taken. She was a lot more wiggly than she was at past photo sessions. The photographer earned her wages today. But, we did get some cute ones!

You can almost see her 6 teeth!
This Amish made rocking chair was Eva's birthday gift from the Weier's. It's a great match to her toybox from the Hollingsworths!
Mom's dream...a baby who loves to read!

Happy Birthday Eva!!

Today is Eva's first birthday. This morning her dad said, "I can't believe it's finally here. It feels like we've been celebrating for a week." He's not that far off! We've had a run of parties in the past few days.

We started the festivities with a birthday picnic at a park in Iowa with both sets of Grandparents and dad's family. Some of the partygoer's: Aunt Lynn, Aunt Laura, Emma, Abby, Great Aunt Joyce, Great Grandma Sheckler. Both Grandma's are on the other side.
Dad helps Eva open her gifts. She was a big fan of this part of the event.
A family picture with our one-year-old and the substitute cake (the original one didn't arrive at the bakery in time for us to pick it up.)

After Eva's party, we set off down the road for Natalie's 4th birthday party. Meg included Eva in the fun. Here both girls are sporting their birthday crowns.