Evangeline Lilith Thomassen

Evangeline is photographed by the Amazing Dennis Guichard

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:41:00 +0000

Because I am a photographer myself I often take a lot of pictures of Evangeline, but as you can all tell by the sorry state of her blog (I'm very sorry, I'll try to do better in the future, or maybe things will imporve when she learns to type), I often don't end up with many pictures of her.
I have literally thousands of unprocessed CR2 images straight off my camera that never see the light of day.
The problem is this, while I always find time to take photos, I tend to put my personal work on the backburner when ~~paying~~ serious work comes along.
Unfortunately this means that most of the pictures of Evangeline that end up seeing the light of day and being seen by the light of LCD mobile phone screens and monitors are ones either 1) taken by her aunt when she is playing with her cousin Rachel, (nothing wrong with that though, lovely pics Vera I am most grateful) or b) taken by me with whatever mobile phone I happen to have with me at the time. Much to Henrik's dismay and frustration.
Another problem is that since I am always taking pictures and Evangeline has grown so used to me doing photo shoots in studio while she plays alongside me or on the beach while she ~~watches the gear~~ builds sandcastles in the sand, she tends to either ignore me totally turning away from the camera almost as if to say, "well you didn't want to take pictures of me before so there!" or really hams it up so that she ends up with a really funny look on her face and Henrik ends up screaming "Don't pull those faces!" and it all sort of goes wrong from there.
So, when Dennis Guichard was offering shoots for children on his facebook page I jumped at the chance to get some nice pictures of my princess taken.
She still hammed it up a little and wasn't the most co-operative, although she wasn't really the least co-operative person around that day by any stretch of the imagination, but Dennis in his soft spoken and fantastic manner was able to coax some great pictures out of his short hour and a bit he spent with her chasing her and the light around her grandparents home in New Germany.
I think I shall call him the Shnoekie Whisperer in future. She was enchanted and really enjoyed showing him her ballet moves and how she can stand on her head (well try to anyway) and how she can make circles out of the green sweetener sachets on Granny's kitchen table.
The result was four fantastic images which Dennis shared in his Facebook album and I am going to share with you here.

Cue: Angel's singing and butterflies flying around.

Evangeline turns 3

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Mon, 30 May 2011 15:55:00 +0000

Evangeline turned 3 today. She had a lovely party at the Botanic Gardens on Saturday and spent a good part of the weekend opening presents as I decided to give them to her in little installments so that she could enjoy them all without getting too overwhelmed.
This morning when she woke up we gave her the present from Aunty Susan, and the Yons. She loved the book about dinosaurs and the bling set from the Yons and wanted to wear the little shoes to school.

When I told her she had to wear her normal shoes she threw a real hissy fit but it was soon forgotten when I showed her the cake that she was going to take to school and she came downstairs to the keyboard from Granny and Grandpa that she had opened whiule chatting to them on Skype yesterday.
She was singing and playing her little heart out along to the tempo of some rock and roll beats.
It amazed me how she seems to make little tunes and somehow seems to create chords on the keyboard. Although the box says it is for 6 year olds and up I really do think that Grandpa and I made the right choice when he bought it while he was here in March.
I was talking to my mum on Skype this morning and she was saying that she has been looking through all the old pictures of Evangline's first birthday which she spent in the UK. The memories keep flooding back and it seems like just yesterday, not two years ago.

Henrik took some pictures at her Shaun the Sheep birthday party on Saturday afternoon which was well attended and a lot of "Wooly good fun".
Just goes to show, you don't need to spend a fortune and plan for months or even weeks to pull off a successful kiddies party. I literally put her party together over three hours on the Friday and a few hours at the shops with Henrik and Evangeline on Saturday morning.
In fact, at 10 to 2, with guest due to arrive at 2pm we were still up in Queensburgh having gone there to pick up Aunty Bee. We got there in time and everything worked out alright.
Aunty Bee had a lovely time talking with Granny and Grandpa Andersen and our lovely model and friend, the fabulous (soon-to-be-famous) Jana.
Since I had leared from watching other people at parties that it would be best to keep the gift opening for a later time, ande because Evangeline's birthday is only today after all, we left all the gifts under the table and the kiddies played happily.

Back at home over the weekend Evangeline had a lot of fun opening her gifts, and on Monday she took another cake to school so that her friends could all enjoy celebrating her special day with her.
When I picked her up from school she had a lovely cardboard crown which said, Happy Birthday Evangeline with pictures of three balloons and the number 3 very big on it. She enjoyed wearing it as we walked home together and I took a picture of her along the way.

MoodyEve's M&Ms: http://www.calora.co.za/competition/evangelinelili...

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 09:22:00 +0000

MoodyEve's M&Ms: http://www.calora.co.za/competition/evangelinelili...: "http://www.calora.co.za/competition/evangelineliliththomassen"

In the Swim of Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 17:35:00 +0000

Evangeline is very happy to have her very own swimming costume at long last. Mum decided that she needed a swimming costume. So Daddy was sent to Edgars to get one for her with instructions to make it "Hello Kitty" or "Tinkerbell" but NOT.... Barney or anything else like that. After feeling a little awkward going through the girls swimwear section amid a whole bunch of teenage girls all picking out their binkinis for this season he came home with this cute number which Evangeline deemed (more than) acceptable. In fact she liked it so much she threw a hissy fit because Mum wouldn't let her 1) wear it in the bath and b) wear it to bed.

Luckily she didn't have to wait too long before the weather co-operated and whe had a dip in the pool with Mum, but not before posing for some pictures taken by Daddy.

Note the leg in the air, that is because she recently attended a Rhythmic Gymnastics Demonstration where she showed how much she loved ribbons and hoops, and she tried to copy everything the girls there were doing. Unfortunately she will have to wait a bit since they do not take kids until they are at least three.

No! Birdy! Naughty Birdy! Come here Birdy!

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:47:00 +0000

Evangeline loves animals and so Henrik decided to take her to Flag Animal Farm near Balito one day on the weekend so that Mum could have some time to her self. They had a great time. I'm not sure if the animals enjoyed it that much though. Evangeline chased all the rabbits and one chicken all around the farm shouting "Come bunny! COME BUNNY! No! Naughty Bunny!" and "come BIRDY! come here birdy..... NAUGHTY BURRRDY!" When they got home they were both very tired and took a nap together. Henrik made me promise to go along next time as he said he really felt she would have enjoyed it much more with me there.

Look how tall I am now

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Wed, 26 May 2010 06:23:00 +0000

Evangeline has met a milestone which has sort of crept up on me. This weekend Henrik noticed that she was putting the little plastic chairs up next to the wall and climbing onto the chair to peer over the wall at the road.
I had no idea she was tall enough to do this yet and it makes me realise how quickly she is growing up.
I am also pleased to see in the picture that she is going up onto her toes a little which is a sign that her ankles are becoming more flexible as before she couldn't do that due to the stiffness in her ankles probably due to the time she has to spend in the boots at night.
She still wears her boots and bar every night and sometimes on weekends during her day naps if we are home. We are due to go to see her Orthopedic Surgeon, Mr Fraser, soon for her annual check up.
She has recently started wearing size 6 shoes during the day although her boots are a size 5 and still it her nicely. I have also noticed that her toes seem straighter and I am hopeful that they will continue to straighten so that no medical interventions will be necessary.

Evangeline's birthday present stash

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:43:00 +0000

I have had to be creative in finding a place to stash all Evangeline's presents for her birthday party on Sunday. Rachel helped me wrap them and hide them. I hope I don't forget where they are by the end of the week.
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Reading at the top of the stairs

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Sun, 23 May 2010 12:36:00 +0000

Evangeline decided today that she wanted to do some reading. She started off downstairs with two of her favourite texture touch books but mum said books had to stay upstairs.
So she decided to just lie down on the top of the stairs and read there.
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The teeth

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Fri, 21 May 2010 05:06:00 +0000

Evangeline is cutting her eye teeth and it is making her rather miserable.
At an age when many children already have all their milk teeth she still has 8 to cut.
Like me she started getting teeth late but I'm told this is nothing to worry about.
In the mean time I am just trying to help her cope with lots of hugs and kisses and a dose of teething granules when things get too much.

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Evangeline and her Top Tot friends have their supporter 2010 t-shirts

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Thu, 20 May 2010 10:04:00 +0000

As you may or may not know, the Foot Ball world cup begins soon in South Africa. So everything and anything that can be made to be about this silly pass time has been foisted on the whole populace of our country.

Luckily for Evangeline and I though, the worst we have had to deal with is her insistence on having a mini foot ball, and the Top Tots supporters T-shirts (Yellow of course) she recieved because her Granny and Grandpa paid her fees on time.

Henrik has been given a genuine imitation football team shirt called a supporter's shirt (also yellow) to wear to work every Friday for the duration of the craziness.

The long and the short of it: The whole country are going about looking like walking bananas in the interests of "showing support" for an event that is really more trouble than it is worth.

Don't even get me started about the VuvuZela. Suffice it to say that there is someone in our neighbourhood who is skating on really thin ice with me. He or she blows the stupid thing all day long.

Vera tells me the radio says everyone is to blow their VuvuZelas for one minute everyday at 1pm for the duration of the world cup of stupidity.

OH! Imagine how many toddlers are going to be going haywire as their nap times are disturbed by this insanity, and imagine the mothers reduced to zombies by the constant ringing of this noise in their heads.

But for now I just have a child and a partner who are walking around in yellow.

We don't have a TV so we won't have to watch the tiresome sport. I guess I can count my blessings.

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Evangeline and her fishes

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 06:17:00 +0000

Evangeline has a fish tank which we set up for her with four fishes. She loves watching them swim around in the tank.
All was well for a few months until one day I noticed a whole bunch of tiny little fishes, really just big eyes with tails attached, swimming around the tank.
Evangeline's fishes had babies. They are swordfins and give birth to live young rather than laying eggs.
Henrik assured me that they would probably get eaten by the big fish, however it seems to have not happened and they have multiplied to the point where she has more than 26 fish in her tank at the moment.
I was pointing out to her the difference between the big fish and the little ones and she heard the word "big" and decided it was a good word to use for the things swimming in the tank, so now she calls all fish "big".

Evangeline the Foodie

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:28:00 +0000

I am blessed with a child that loves her food and eats well but knows her limits so doesn't overeat.
She gobbles down veggies happily without giving a squawk. Once she has had enough she gives me her plate and spoon and says in a loud voice "DONE!"
She is very good about being in her special chair for meals and her school teachers tell me she eats very nicely at the little tables at school.
Nutrition is so important.. I felt it was essential to start her on a good footing and that is why I introduced her to so many different veggies right from the beginning of her introduction to solids. She has developed a sophisticated palate and enjoys everything from Olives to Broccoli with sweet potato and peas being some of her favourites. She even has been known to eat Brussels Sprouts and spinach.
She knows how to use a fork and loves stabbing the little peas and corn onto the fork.
If we go out for a meal she always tries some of the food on Mum or Dad's plates and so has experienced cheese cake, trifle, pate and oxtail among other delicacies. So far the only thing she has really turned her nose up at has been pineapple.

Easter Monday in the gardens

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:51:00 +0000

Easter Monday we decided we needed to get out into the fresh air and spend some time in closer to nature. I phoned my friend Sandra who is Evangeline's little friend, Tyler James', mum to ask her if she wanted to join us or do something later. She answered the phone and before I could even speak said, "Mitchell Park or Botanical Gardens?" Obviously great mummy minds think alike.

We met up at the garden and had a fun time with the little ones playing on the grass and around the bottom of a big tree. They were eating marshmallow Easter eggs and getting chocolate and dirt all over themselves. Evangeline's daddy and I were snapping photos of them.
Later on a friend from Johannesburg, Zea, happened to walk past with her mum. That was a pleasant surprise so I took a picture of Evangeline with her.

At the beach with aunty Bee

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 09:00:00 +0000

Today we took aunty Bee for a little outing. Evangeline showed her how she can drink a whole milkshake and aunty Bee showed her how to build a sand castle.

Evangeline and Dad make a train set

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 06:11:00 +0000

Evangeline and her Daddy love to play with the little train sets I bought from the Toy Factory Shop. They are cheap imitation Chinese Thomas train sets and together with the expensive real-deal Danish Duplo blocks the two of them made a fantastic train set which even had a bridge for the train to go over the tracks and double back.
The train uses AA batteries so we use it to run down the rechargables we use in the speedlights. It is very good at running down batteries.
Evangeline calls the trains "Beep Beep". I think that is because of the sound that the little purple train engine she got from Granny in England goes beep beep.

Play day at TopTots

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 08:19:00 +0000

TopTots is over for the term but today there was play group with all the top tots mums and their kiddies.

Last TopTots for the term

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:00 +0000

Evangeline the culinary artist

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:45:00 +0000

Today Evangeline went to school even though it was Friday as I had missed out on one day of working with the trip to Ushaka (I'll get around to posting those pics this weekend I hope) and so got to participate in baker baker which she normally misses since she doesn't usually attend on Friday's.
At Angels@home Baker Baker is a food based activity where the children create a work of edible art which often gets devoured before they even get it home to show mum and dad.

Evangeline's creation (see picture above) was, Henrik was informed, made by her all by herself, and it was the best one of all the ones made that day.
Looking at the ingredients used I figured the only reason it was the best was probably becasue she actually used the sweets and things to put into the face rather than just eating them, this was probably becasue she is not a big sweet eater and with the snacks and hearty meals she enjoys at school probably didn't see any need to feed on her art supplies.
I just wish she would take that same approach at home. I am forever having to take away her beloved crayons for a short time because she is trying to eat them. I think it is because she wants to taste the lovely colours.
Luckily crayons are non toxic and harmless, the worst result being possibly rainbow coloured poos, which now that she is depositing directly into the toilet most days, I don't even have to cope with in a nappy.
I should know crayons are harmless to eat. I ate my fair share of them along with glue and play-dough in my childhood.

Shoes outside granny's house

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:49:00 +0000

Today it was raining and wet and muddy outside. We all took our shoes off to stop us walking mud all over the house.

Two dummies at once

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:11:00 +0000

Evangeline goes grocery shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:44:00 +0000

Evangeline and I had to go to the Spar to get some groceries for Granny on the way to visit her. I thought giving Evangeline a little trolley was a good idea. Big Mistake! She nearly "capsized" the whole shop and bashed into a few ankels.
Not something I am going to repeat in a hurry. She did know enough to pick out some jam for Daddy though, so at least that is something. When she went for the eggs I had to stop videoing and step in as an intervention was urgently required.
We ended up with a trolley full of stuff we didn't want or need so I just grabbed the things we actually wanted at the checkout and distracted her while we paid and got ready to leave. Now I understand why there are so often abandoned trolleys near the tills full of stuff. I had always wondered about that.

Water is fun

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:31:00 +0000

Even in the tranquil surrounds of the botanical gardens Evangeline finds civilisation and its trappings irresistable.

Evangeline in the gardens

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:26:00 +0000

This afternoon it was a lovely and not too got day so we went to botanic gardens with Evangeline.

Raindrops keep falling on my head

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:19:00 +0000

The top Tots party was totally washed out but Evangeline had some fun playing in the rain.

Top Tots christmas party

noreply@blogger.com (Eve) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:16:00 +0000

Rain stopped play but Evangeline and her dad still had a good time eating lunch together.