Evi is 5!!!

Evi is 5!!!! My sweet baby girl is 5! She once again, gets to have several birthday celebrations. We went to Tampa for a week and she celebrated one night with her cousins Grace & Mya. After opening 2 presents from them, she asked why she only got 2. (just wait, there's a theme here) She celebrated again on the actual night of her birthday with just us, and after opening 4 gifts, she asked why she didn't get more!!!! From there we had a little talk about being greatful for what we have and what a lucky little girl she is to have all the toys she has. I told her that we needed to pick 5 things in her playroom to give to other kids who don't have as much and she tried to talk me down to 3! And then said she knew what 3 things she wanted to donate, but she couldn't find them! Turkey!
When we celebrated for the third time with Scott's family, she asked how many presents she was going to get. I said "it doesn't matter how many gifts you get, remember, so if you only get one present..." "I'll be happy" she said. So at least my talk got through a little! She still has her friend party and a party in Houston with my family to go.
Halloween this year fell on a Sunday, so living in the bible belt, they of course, moved Halloween to a Saturday. Evi ended up having 4 days of costumes: school Fall Festival, Pirate Princess; StoryBook Forest Trick-or-Treat, Cinderella; neighborhood Trick-or-Treat, Mulan (which everyone just thought she was a geisha, yes, I dress my 5 year old up as a Japanese prostitute, come on people!!); and finally a costume birthday party as Sleeping Beauty.
Eli was a dinosaur, and got the hang of trick-or-treating pretty quickly. He would walk up to the door and knock harder than Evi, and really wanted to go in when they opened the door. He wouldn't carry his bucket, but knew how to pick candy out the bowls when they let him choose.
His communication skills are getting better. When he's hungry, he beats on his chair, when the tv is off, he will bring you the remote. (much like his father, the tv always has to be on). He says "hot" and tries to sing with the ABC's song that's on the fridge. He was starting to say "daddy" pretty well. But while in Tampa starting referring to everyone as "nya-nya." No matter who he's talking to or looking for, he says the same thing. He says "meow" for the kitty, and pants like a dog for puppies. He came up with that on his own. And says "WOW" a lot. His great sleeping habits are starting to crumble a little. If he cries out in the night and I respond, he will not let me sit in his room, only stops crying if I lay him in my bed. Damn kids! Always little control freaks!

The week in Tampa was great, as always! The girls got along better than ever. Eli loved the beach. We spent 2 days at Sea World and a day at Busch Gardens thanks to a pass I have from work.
As you can see from the picture up top, Evi is finally not deathly afraid of large characters. After tears every time we've been Disney, she actually ASKED to take a picture with Shamu. When she asked, I moved quickly so she couldn't change her mind. Eli on the other hand was very excited to see the Count walk by. When he tried to tickle him, you could tell Eli wasn't sure of the situation, but at least he still laughed!
The roller coasters were AWESOME!! One of my favorites was the Manta, where you basically ride face down. It was a pretty cool sensation. We even convinced Evi to ride a coaster that did a loop. I had to turn to my top mothering skills of bribery to get her to do it. She kept saying no, so I asked, "what can I promise you to get you to ride this?" She said, "a toy...no a penny" (a flattened penny that we had been collecting every time we saw a machine anyway, and it only costs 50 cents) So I said, "OK! A penny it is" (sucker!) She rode with me, with Scott & Grace behind us. After you do the loop you go into a spiral and she shouts "I WENT UPSIDE DOWN, AND I LOVED IT!!!!"
Needless to say, they loved it and immediately wanted to do it again.