Getting Sporty

Last Sunday was the VBS registration party at the Marshall bowling alley.  Evangeline was pretty thrilled to go and bowl with her church friends.

The only bowling experience she's had is with her monster bowling set.  The bowling shoes and bowling ball finger holes were especially exciting!  

It was so funny to watch her because she would toss the ball....

and very excitedly wait...

and wait..... 

and finally her ball would hit the pins.

Later in the week we went kayaking with mom.  It was such a beautiful evening.  We paddled all over a lake outside of Terre Haute.

Evangeline had fun being the navigator and dangling her hands in the water.  All was going well until Evangeline got a frantic urge to go to the bathroom mid-lake.  We had to very quickly make waves back to shore only for her to tell us the she didn't have to go anymore.  That's my little stinker....

Speaking of sporty.... Kyle has been gone all week on a white water rafting trip in West Virginia with his friends.  He will be back today.  We've missed him.

6 years later...

6 years, 6 job changes, 3 moves, and 1 child later...here we are....

and here are just a few of the reasons why I love you so:

1.  When I hear a noise a night you always go check it out for me.
2.  You are an amazing hands-on father.
3.  You go to church with us every week.
4.  You eat all of the dinners I fix, even if they aren't very good.
5.  You love music as much as I do, and even share the same good taste in it!
6.  You are an amazing musician and I love how dedicated you are to your instrument.
7.  You are so smart and very good at arguing (I never thought I would admit that).
8.  You are always there for me when I am at my lowest.
9.  You take good care of all the financial stuff.
10.  You put up with all my crafty messes and hair-brained schemes.
11.  You are quick witted and always crack me up.
12.  You are nice to everyone and  believe in fairness.

You make me proud to be your wife.
Happy Anniversary.

Happy

Oh my goodness, I'm officially on summer vacation!  I am experiencing a flurry of emotions at present.  Relief being right at the top of the list.  Of course, it hasn't sunk in yet that it's not just a weekend and that the relief won't run out after two days off from school.  Does that make sense?  I have learned several things from my first year of teaching.  First of all, teaching certainly isn't what I thought it was going to be.  Not necessarily bad (of course, I was disappointed a few times), just lots different.  If it were all about the kids and the teaching it would be an ideal job, but unfortunately there is a lot of other stuff that factors in (political stuff, government stuff....yuck).  Anyway, I'm very pleased to have a long break.

One perk to teaching 1st grade is that I have been refreshing a lot of spelling and grammar rules this year.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am a horrible speller.  I have had several "oh, so that's how you know to do that" moments this year.  I have been learning right along with my 6-year-olds!

Another perk are letters like the one below.  Is there any other job where you would get a letter like this?  Also, to be called Mommy and even Grandma sometimes several times a day keeps a smile on my face, even on my hardest days.  I truly love my school babies.

I have learned that teaching is definitely a calling.  To say it's a hard job would be a major understatement.   Teachers are expected to perform miracles in many cases, deal with very unpleasant administrators, government officials and parents, get paid peanuts, put that hard earned money right back in their classroom, receive weekly calls to take action because pensions are constantly under attack, worry about the children in their charge (where in most cases are helpless to do anything for them), stay up at night thinking about school, work day in and day out in a damned if you do, damned if you don't atmosphere, and always wonder if you will be on the chopping block next year......but still love it and can think of nothing else they would rather be doing.  That's a calling.

So, enough about that!  Evangeline had her preschool program at Ms. Linda's last Tuesday.  She did a magnificent job!  They opened with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance and they they sang close to 15 little songs and poems.  Papa, Karen and Grandma were there as well as me and Kyle.  We were all beaming with pride.  Afterward there was a little cake reception where she got a special surprise from Ms. Linda in her cubby.  Evangeline had been talking about this all week how there would be "a special surprise in each of our cubbies".  She always referred to it exactly like that.  Ms. Linda always goes all out.  It was a sweet night.  We couldn't be more please about the care Evangeline receives there.





Here's our little girl receiving her "completion of 1st year of preschool" certificate.
 



Wednesday was my last day of school.  The kids were only there for a half hour, just long enough to pick up their report cards.  Evangeline came with me to school.  She fit right in with my big kids.  She sat at a table and worked on the same thing they were doing.  When I read a book to the kids she sat down on the rug with them and listened.  I kept looking at her little face mixed in with all my 1st graders and it made me kind of sad to think that this will be her in just a few years!  What happened to my baby!?  She is growing so fast.  Grandma Esta used to ask me "how did you get so big?"  Then she would answer herself, "one day at a time".  The days go by so fast now that I'm working full time. I try to be present each day with my little bug and enjoy every moment I get with her.  She is getting so big, one day at a time.

I had been wanting to get Evangeline's hair trimmed for months now, but she had been nervous about it.  She is really in to Rapunzel and insists that she is growing her hair down to the floor.  I remembered that Ms. Anita from daycare was a hair dresser and I asked her if she would consider doing Evangeline's hair.  She gladly agreed and Evangeline got to get her first hair cut at Ms. Linda's.  It went very smoothly and she really enjoyed having Ms. Anita be the one to cut it.

She was a little unsure at first.  She spent her whole hair cut with her little hands folded up like this.

Her hair is adorable.  It makes her curls so springy.

After the hair cut I did something I told myself I would never do.....I took her to get a Happy Meal (because we were so happy).

We had the first of many summer vacation picnics in the back yard.

My Cup Runneth Over

I love, love, love being a mother.  My girl is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  It's like the day Evangeline entered my world a light bulb came on and I said "oh, so this is why I'm here".  Mother's Day, I have found, is more of a day for me to sit back and say to myself, oh my goodness, I'm really a mom.  Sometimes it still doesn't seem possible...and it doesn't seem at all possible that I've been a mother for over 3 and a half years (over 4 if you want to count being pregnant, which I say definitely counts).

Mother's Day kicked off with yet another beautiful bouquet from Wayne and Karen.  I really like the vase.  It reads, "Enjoy the simple treasures of nature's beauty".

I had a perfectly lovely Mother's Day weekend.  On Saturday morning Evangeline and I went to Miss Linda's for a Mother's Day Tea.  It was so sweet.  Miss Linda always out does herself.  It was a Hawaiian theme. When we got there we were greeted with all kinds of Hawaiian accessories.

There were four different craft stations for us to rotate around to.

My favorite was potting a plant in a pot that Evangeline had finger painted for me.

There were also yummy snacks.  We had our snacks with Evangeline's little pal, Chloe and her mommy.

We had a great time at our special Hawaiian get-away. 

Later that evening was the annual Mother/Daughter Banquet at our church.  We have attended for years.  This year was by far the best.  The decorations were great.  It was a circus theme as you can see from our picture in the photo booth...

It was geared for young kids right down to the food we ate.

The entertainment was a 13 year old juggler from Effingham.  She was quite good.  The kids really enjoyed it.  She was dressed like a clown.  Evangeline has really been in to juggling lately too, so this was perfect for her.  At one point she scooted down the pew and asked me "Mommy, how did that girl learn to do all those things?".  She was so interested. Who knows, we might have a future circus clown on our hands.

 

Some of the sixth grade girls at our church sang a few songs before the clown started her act.  We happened to look over to see this sweet sight.  I'm so glad that Evangeline is so close with her cousins.



Grandma also attended the Mother/Daughter Banquet with us.  She also spent the night afterward.  It was nice to have her company.  Kyle and Evangeline surprised me with a gift for Mother's Day.  I got some Cubbie jammies!  It was kind of funny because Evangeline spilled the beans about these last week, but I thought it was just something she made up.  She just kind of out of the blue last week told me, "Daddy got you Cubbie jammies".  I had no idea what she was talking about, so I thought it was just so funny when they pulled them out.  Kyle said that she picked them out.  How special.

Grandma brought her new camera...we had a lot of fun playing with it! 

Mother's Day was pretty perfect.  I got to wake up with my daughter and my mommy here together.  We all went to church and watched Evangeline sing "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" with the adult choir.  She did a terrific job.  I love watching her sing at church.  Precious.

Later that day we went to Lincoln Trail for a picnic with Grandma, Ammie, the Hwangs and Grandpa Roy.  It was a chilly, sunny day.  The girls had a great time playing at the playground.

It really is so much fun to watch these three play together.  They are such sweet little people.

Grandpa Roy can't resist their sweetness either.  

Wow, what a mother I have.  When Evangeline is grown, I hope she wants to spend as much time with me as I want to spend with my mommy.  I can always go to her for advice, a pick-me-up, or just a good old fashion pity party.  She always has just the right words to say.  I wish I always treated her like she deserves.  I love you Mommy!

I have a pretty fabulous mother-in-law too.  I have to say, I really lucked out in the mom department.

I planted all of my plants that afternoon only to learn that we were having record setting lows that night and that there was a chance for frost.  So my pretty little plants spent their first night in their new homes snuggled under a sheet.

Bring on the May Flowers

It rained and rained and rained last week.  Oh my goodness, rainy days are not good for a primary grade school teacher.  It means NO time away from the darlings, not one.  Indoor recess = wanting to pull my hair out, God love 'em.  We made the best of it here at the homestead though.  Lots and lots of weeding took place in the past week.  Evangeline helped me weed the city garden with the garden club and then helped some more at home.  She's gotten pretty good at it.  Playing in the mud is a lot of fun, of course.  She also very much enjoyed walking in the drizzle with her umbrella.  Daddy even joined us for an umbrella walk after she begged him and said "I won't have any fun unless you go." Hmmm, that line never worked for me...

When I picked up Evangeline from Ammie's house last week she was all excited because she had a new pet!  They found a turtle in Peggy's yard and brought it in to keep until we could release it into our woods after school. Evangeline named the turtle Rudy. We tried to take a picture of her and her pet to show Daddy before we let him go.  It was a pretty funny because the turtle was off to the races the second we set him down.  (I thought turtles were supposed to be slow.)  As we released him back into the wild Evangeline stood watching him calling out "bye pet!".  I'm sure he will be much happier in his new home rather than taking his chances in the yard with Lucca and Zoe.

So long, little buddy.

The rain let up long enough for me, Peggy and Evangeline to go to Barkley's Greenhouse on Friday right after school.  I love this place.  It's so pretty and it's so much fun to wander around in their green houses and beautiful gardens.

We picked out lots of beautiful things for our yard. 

One of my very favorite pictures of Evangeline was taken in this exact place about this time last year.  I wanted to take another picture of her in the same place so I could compare how much she has changed in the course of a year....she, however, was not on board with my plan.

Can You Hear Me Now?

My little bug got tubes in her ears yesterday morning.  We had to be at the hospital at 6:15.  In my attempt to ease her fears I told her that she would be getting a mask on her face just like they did when she had Croup and that would be it.  Well, to say she freaked out would an understatement.  I think I may have just added to her anxiety over the whole ordeal.  She cried and cried through the whole informational intake portion of the trip.  She was not the least bit happy about the hospital gown and only perked up a little when that silly doctor came in to she her and the nurse gave her stickers and put Sponge Bob on the TV.  The staff was just wonderful with her when it was time to take her from us for surgery.  They brought in a princess crown with pink feathers all over the base of it and asked if she would like to wear it (that got her attention).  Then they asked her if she would like to ride on the bed and pretend it was her carriage.  She excitedly agreed.  The anesthesiologist entered the room and bowed while saying "my liege".  As they wheeled her down the hall and away from us all of the staff they passed either bowed at her or did the princess wave.  She left us with an excited smile on her face....I, however, did not have a smile on my face.  I was very relieved that the procedure did not take very long.  We were called in to see her as soon as she woke up.  The nurse said that she did a great job.  When we came in she opened her little eye's and said "I didn't know I was still at the doctor".  She immediately asked for a Popsicle and a movie.  We were released right away.  Evangeline and I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon relaxing, napping and watching TV.  She asked for pancakes at lunch time and I happily made them.  She was back to her old self after her nap.  Ammie surprised her with some flowers, which she really enjoyed.  Ammie and I found her later curled up in her window seat with her flowers sitting in her window.

Evangeline had a May Basket for me when I picked her up from school on May 1st.  It was such a pretty day and they had spent a good deal of it playing outside.  She was filthy.  We played some more outside when we got home.  She loves digging in the rocks in our yard.  We planted the flower from her May Basket.  We had fun.

We also colored with chalk.  She told me that she practiced all day learning how to draw chickens.  She thinks anything to do with a chicken is just hysterical.  Particularly chicken fingers and chicken pocks.  When she is being silly she will just yell out the words "chicken pock" and then just crack up.  (I never want to forget the time last fall when we went with Ammie to the Mexican restaurant in town and I read the menu to her.  As I was listing off the kids choices I read the words "chicken fingers" and she just burst out in laughter.  It took Kyle, Peggy and me a minute to figure out what was so funny.  Oh my goodness, it was priceless.  She just thought that was the most absurd thing.)....Anyway, the other day I was explaining to Evangeline what Chicken Pocks were and that Mommy and Daddy had them when we were little, but she probably would never have them because she got a shot to protect her from Chicken Pocks.  I could see her little wheels turning and she asked, looking very confused, "they shot the chicken?"

Kyle and I have been going nuts around here lately with all of Evangeline's hair accessories!  She has so many bows and hair ties in addition to her jewelry that I haven't quite figured out how to organize.  She loves to get them out and play with them.  We find them all over the house and car.  Just when I think I have them all corralled, I find another pile.  I keep telling myself that I'm going to put them up somewhere, but then again, I hate to stifle her creativity.