The Little Gymnast!

Here are some pictures from Harper's first day at Little Gym. She wanted daddy to take her, which he was very excited about, however that was before he found out he had to sing, run, march and "swim" in a circle! Harper loved her first day; coming home to tell me all about swinging on the bars and all the somersaults she did!

Doing some dancing.
Swinging on the bars.
The end of the somersault.
Balance beam, all by herself!

New Friends!

In moving to Pearland, we have been fortunate enough to meet some wonderful new friends. Luckily, most are moms of young kids, which has been great for me and for Harper and Luke! One of our new friends is Ashton, whom Harper loves! She's always asking me when we get to see our "friend Ashton?" She also like to announce that she and Ashton are married and that she loves him. It's very sweet (and a little scary!)

Harper, Luke, Ashton and I went to the Pearland Public Library for storytime. I've been to few storytimes in my day and this one was NOT the best. But after the story, there was coloring, which is always a hit!
Luke taking the caps of the markers off and then putting them back on; super entertaining, and very messy.
After nap time, Harper dressed up in her elephant costume (which is not uncommon) and forced Ashton to hug her, (which is also not uncommon!)
Little feet; so cute! (Side note: Ashton will be two in December and wears a bigger shoe than Harper, who will be three in November!)

Inspiration

Okay, those of that know my daughter, know that she is extremely opinionated and persistent. (Dear God, please prepare us for the teenage years!) Well this year she has decided that her obsession is going to be her 3rd birthday party. After much debate, and many failed attempts to change her mind, the decision has been made to have a "Butterfly Party." Now, I'll admit that her little obsession has worn off and I have been scouring the internet for ideas. I don't want to do anything to "cartoony" or overly themey (my nightmare is bright pink and purple butterflies everywhere), but thanks to modern technology and the talents of so many, I have found great inspiration to get my buns in gear and start all the preparations! And yes, her birthday is not until November, but with my two crazies, and my inability to commit to anything, I am going to need that much time to get it all set up! So, I thought I would post some pictures of real parties that I found and love! Oh, and I slightly tweaked the theme to a "Butterfly Picnic" with a little vintage twist.

LOVE this! You will see a reoccurring theme of "bunting" happening n my inspiration picks! Love the old window frame! (Go here for the rest of these photos)

So, going along with the "picnic" theme, I was thinking about covering my backyard in various blankets/sheets for everyone to sit and eat lunch. I originally thought of this because we don't have any out tables or chairs, who knew it could look this pretty? (More photos here.)

I only posted this one photo because I love this circle chandelier, but I have fallen in love with this whole party! There will definitely be some ideas borrowed. (Check it out here.)

So originally, Harper said she wanted a "Fairy Butterfly Party," but later nixed the fairy part. This is a great "Fairy Party" that you can actually buy from Tomkat on etsy.com. Even though it's a little brighter than I am thinking, I love the flower poms and the butterfly garland. (Photos here)

LOVE! Do yourself a favor and look at the rest of these photos! This Party is BEAUTIFUL!

And I have fallen in love with these invitations (once again, bunting theme) I would like Harper's invitations to have some sort of butterfly on them, but I thought these were so cute. (Maybe butterfly bunting?)

Luke. He Walks. Finally.

First off I would like to apologize. Not to you. To my second born. We have so many photos of Harper. For like the first month of Harper's life she could barely, breathe, move, poop without us taking a picture of it (yes, I did take a picture of a huge blowout poop Harp did when she like 3 weeks old... just ask my friend Kim. Di.Sgus.Ting.) Anyway, refocus. We do not have nearly as many pictures of our little Luke, and for that, my dear son...your mama is sorry.

Here's things you should know about Luke:

We almost always call him Lukey, which is a habit I am trying to break, because it's not very "manly," (and he's one now, so time to "man up") but he has just the sweetest little face you can't help but say, "Oh, Lukey, you are soooo cute!" Other nicknames are: Mister Man, Sweet boy, Sweet Pea, Peanut Butter, Little Bear, Brother.

Luke is a TOTAL flirt. If there is a girl nearby he is tilting his head, smiling, saying "hi." We can barely get him to eat when we go out to dinner, because he is hitting on the lady at the next table. Old ladies LOVE him! Seriously, it's ridiculous how many older women stop me to talk to him. Literally, calling their friends over to see him. Hilarious.
Luke himself is hilarious. He loves to dance, he roars like a tiger pretty much daily, he climbs on everything! Before he does something "naughty" he'll make sure I'm looking, smile at me, and then slowly do his "no, no" thing. It's really not about being "naughty" with Lukey, it's more about teasing his mama. Speaking of teasing, he LOVES to tease his sister, which she also loves (oh, I forgot you can't "hear" sarcasm over the internet. In that case, I WAS BEING SARCASTIC.) Luke waits until Harper has everything perfect, (like her tea party set), and he very nonchalantly crawls over... sits down next to her...and then...swipes something and takes off! Screams then follow. It's a crack up...the swiping, not the screaming; that's horrible.
And he has the cutest buns!! Pinchable. (Which apparently isn't a real word. hmm?)

Oh, and I have this video of Luke walking (which he just decided to do two days ago and he is like a professional already), but it wouldn't post so it will have to be for another time.

Beautiful Girl

Harp modeled a few of mama's headbands. They're cute, but she's gorgeous! (Go to NewMillie for the patterns.)

Just Pics

So we have a ton pics, so I thought I would start with these before I post ALL our Easter pictures...Enjoy!BLUE EYES!
Our Beautiful Harper loves the spring weather and getting to be outside.
She is a great sidewalk chalk artist.
Very particular about her pictures.

Luke is actually sick in this picture. We spent over a week cleaning up his puke and poop, but he's such a sweet boy and a good sport about being outside!

Our new favorite activity. He gives us taste of what we're in for when he starts walking on his own...he doesn't so much walk as run everywhere.

Sick Days and Sewing

Harper puked. Luke puked. Harper puked again. Luke had explosive diarrhea at 3 O' clock in the morning. More puking, more pooping more loads of laundry. This describes the last couple of days in the Van Eps house. At anytime being sick or your kids being sick totally stinks, but during the best week of weather St. Louis has had since September, it really, really, really stinks!

Big Man got it the worst. If he wasn't pooping through his clothes then he was puking on them (or me, or Jeff, or the couch, or the high chair). On top of whatever nasty virus he got, he was also fighting off an ear infection. (Oh, and by the way, side affect of his medication...diarrhea!)

Neither of our kids are super cuddlers, but all they wanted to do while they were sick was sit by one of us. While Luke was sleeping all the time, Harp was having trouble staying asleep, apparently it helped to lay next to dad and watch a little "Max and Ruby."Even though Harper was only sick for about 24 hours, Luke was (is) still puking and pooping, so Harp and I had to find some inside activities to do. We decided she needed some legwarmers, so we made some.

She's pretty cute in 'em. If you sew, go to newmillie.blogspot.com and I'll show you how to make the easiest legwarmers ever!

Update

First, lets start with the reason most people read this blog: Harper and Luke. I thought I would post some recent pics to entice everyone to keep reading!

This is Harper in morning, or rather, this is her hair in the morning. If you have seen me in the morning you know where she gets it.

So, what do you do to contain two kids? Put them in the bathtub without any water! PS- They loved it! Oh and Harper is naked because apparently regardless of water, that is bathtub attire.

Yes, I know...Holy pink bathroom.

Okay are you enticed enough to stay? Here's the actual update: We are moving to Houston! Jeff matched in General Surgery at The Methodist Hospital, so we are off to Texas . However, first we need to sell our house, so if everyone wants to lift up a little prayer that that can happen in a timely matter, that would be greatly appreciated! Jeff has a couple weeks left of school and then officially graduates on May 15th, which means he is then a Doctor! Dr. Jeffrey Luke Van Eps, crazy!

The kids are great. Luke is currently up from a nap that was way too short, probably due to the ear infection he has had for awhile, or the tooth that won't fully commit to coming through...babies!

Harper is still my crazy little lady. Everyday she cracks me up, makes me mad and impresses me with how genuinely sweet and good hearted she is.

Okay, that's it for now. I'll post more pics soon!

Oh, How they Grow

This is Why Some Mothers Eat Their Young

There is no way to prepare for motherhood. You can have all the babysitting experience, you can read all the books, but in the end no amount of babysitting or book reading can really teach how to be a mom. Nothing can ever prepare you for the absolute, intense, jump in front of a bus, hold yourself back from possibly hurting the other kid in church nursery for making your kid cry, irrational crazy love you will experience. And no one can also help you understand the all I want to do is get my kids to do normal activities like sleep through the (flippin') night, wear pants, choose a snack or let me go to the bathroom by myself with out an absolute fit (either by them or me). No one can tell you that you will uncontrolablly love your kids and then at the same time they may literally drive you nuts. And on any given day you will probably feel both emotions, most likely back to back.

In my house we have hit a great stage. Luke is crawling, he loves to sit and play with blocks and his trucks, and he jabbers all the time. He loves to dance and sing and if he is fussy while you change his diaper or you're trying to give him the last few bites of food, you simply have to sing the ABC's or Twinkle Twinkle or just belt out La La La and he is mesmerized. Harper loves to pretend, either by dressing up and having a tea party or by simply telling you a little story about her "pet" mouse or bunny or birdie. She is extremely vocal; she loves to talk and sing (she basically runs a commentary on her daily activities). She is independent; she want to dress herself and "choose" everything, from what barrette she'll wear to what snack she'll eat.

What all this means on a day to day basis: Luke is into EVERYTHING! And he is a fast little thing. He particularly likes to pull and chew on cords and remote controls. He is very loud (something he learned from his sister) and he hasn't quite learned the sitting to crawling move, so when he's tired of sitting he fusses until someone moves him to his belly, or he falls backwards hitting his head which leads to crying. Harper, although she likes to choose, can not make a decision. It takes minutes and minutes and most likely some crying to decide her outfit for the day or the video she wants to watch, really everything. She is also very loud and she talks about everything. Her favorite questions these days are "What are you doing?" or "What happened?" and she will ask you these two questions repeatedly, even if given an answer, she'll continue to ask, and ask, and ask. Oh did I mention she is really stubborn? She actually turned down M&M's the other day simply on principle because she wanted to eat them out of the bag and I wanted to put them in a snack cup.

SO like I said before; uncontrollable love and total irritation.

My two silly kids.
They are seriously funny. I laugh at both of them daily.

The Many Sides of Harper

Somewhere in the last few months of craziness my Harper has become a little girl. She is sweet and silly and crazy. She loves to play and pretend, and joke. She is the coolest 2 year old ever. Once again I totally recognize that I am completely biased.

Our little girl in her new favorite skirt from Uncle Ty and Auntie Claire.

Screaming. She is very loud.
SUPER excited about her new Dora the Explorer back pack, Dora and Boots dolls.
Dressing up in her Grammy's boots
On her birthday

My Deej!

Harper is obsessed with her uncle DJ. From the moment he walks in the door she is wrangling him into playing hide-and-seek, pushing her on the swing, coloring, reading books, watching a movie with her, etc., etc., etc. Amazingly, D.J. complies. Not only does he comply, but he buys her movies and then comes over on a Saturday morning to watch them with her. He comes by on his lunch break when he hasn't seen her in a few days, just to say "hi." They love each other. It is terribly cute and wonderful to see.

Totally biased, but...

I know that everyone believes that their kids are wonderful and adorable and blah, blah, blah, but seriously, I might have the most beautiful boy in the world.