A Fine Summer Week We Had...

Another blissful week has come and gone.  We didn't do a whole lot this week which was kind of nice.  Highlights of the week included: three trips to the library,  lunch at Clabber Girl and browsing the downtown shops of Terre Haute with mom and Evangeline, spinning with my fiber friends on the porch while listening to a thunderstorm roll in, baking cookies with my favorite little girl, swimming in the kiddy pool with my favorite little girl, more jam making, and the Marshall band concert.  

The low-lights were the 10 chigger bites I had on my stomach and back.  Evangeline had a few too.  I told her I could put some cream on her bites to stop them from itching, but she told me that "the itches got scared of the cream and ran away."

I can just never have enough pictures of her sleeping, especially when she is wearing one of her random get-ups.  She always insists on taking her naps on the couch.  I can't even remember the last time she has napped in her bed.  She likes to do what we call "bumpy" against the couch.  This is essentially her bouncing herself off the back of the couch until she goes to sleep.  Bizarre, yes, but she has done this ever since she could sit up on her own....so here she is sleeping peacefully after successfully bumpy-ing herself to sleep.

When Evangeline wakes up she's almost instantly ready for some action.  She absolutely can't stand it when someone is laying around, she has to pounce them.  Speaking of pouncing...she is constantly pretending that she is a cat lately.  I can even get her to eat bacon and green onion quiche if I tell her that it's minced mouse and bacon pie with catnip.  She gobbles down the green onions without batting an eye.

We got a lot of rain this past week.  One afternoon I watched Evangeline have fun running around in the rain on the driveway.  She kept giggling and telling me that she was running around in her "piggy bares", she meant to say bare piggies, but it was so cute I couldn't bring myself to correct her.

One of our favorite activities is taking "jammie walks".  Some evenings after Evangeline is all ready for bed we walk down the driveway and out to the road.  Sometimes we walk down to the Stone Arch Bridge.

We live just down the road from the historical Stone Arch bridge.  According to the plaque it was constructed in 1831 using no mortar.  It is still used today as Archer Street runs right over it.  We like to take walks down to check it out every so often.  This past Wednesday we had huge storms with massive amounts of rain.  In between rain showers we walked down to the bridge.  The two streams that meet and pass under the bridge were rushing.  It was pretty and serene.

We got the pool out on a warm afternoon.  Even though it's small, Evangeline has a grand old time splashing around in it.

She is my little chestnut.

I even ended up in my swimsuit in the pool with her.  I'm sure that was a sight.

This is a picture Evangeline drew of Mommy under a rainbow.

Band concerts on the court house lawn are just one of the reasons I love this town so much.  We usually never  miss them.  We have been meeting Peggy and Roy at Peggy's house and walking down together with our lawn chairs.  We always get a treat at the ice cream socials held there each week which are sponsored by local community service organizations.  We love watching Evangeline run wild with her little friends.

Unfortunately it started to rain just as the band was playing one of the last songs so we headed home early.  Evangeline started in with her questions...
Evangeline:  Why do we have to leave the band concert?
Mommy:  Because it's raining.
Evangeline: Why is it raining?
Mommy:  Because God wanted to give the flowers a drink.
Evangeline:  Did God want the band concert to be over?
Sometimes there just aren't enough answers...

Here is Evangeline with Cooper Crumrin along with another little guy that thought their game of tackle looked like fun.

One afternoon we made cookies.  I saw a picture of these cute little owl cookies and thought they would be fun to make.  

I didn't use my usual shortbread recipe and I regretted it.  They looked better than they tasted......

but we ate them anyway.....a cookie's a cookie, right?

Just Stuff...

Here is Evangeline in a dress I finally got around to finishing for her.  The sewing was finished a few weeks ago, but I had to make myself complete the hem and sew on some snaps (those are among some of my least favorite parts of sewing projects).  She wore it to church on Sunday and was very happy with it.  It always makes me smile when I hear her say, "my mommy made it."  I know the window of proudly sporting a "mommy made" item is probably small.

I really liked this pattern.  It was really the first dress I've made where I didn't have to have mom help me translate the instructions or help me with perception.  Maybe I'm learning a thing or two.  

During the school year I noticed that I felt my most creative and inspired to make something when I had chaos ensuing all around me: stacks of papers to grade, a laundry explosion all over the house, places to be, obligations to fill.  Maybe it was a way for me to feel a little sense of control over things.  Summer has been wonderful in so many ways, but it's been especially nice to get around to all the unfinished projects I've started over the year and never had the time to complete, and to even start a few more.

We like to walk around in the yard together first thing each morning and check on our plants.

 Here are a few pretty begonias that I received at the end of the year from two of my little students.  I often think of their sweet faces when I am admiring the flowers.

We are enjoying watching our tomatoes and other vegetables grow.

These may be weeds, but I haven't the heart to pull them. (I can see Peggy laughing here saying to herself, "she hasn't the heart to pull any weeds.  I think an intervention may be on the horizon.)

I am reminded of one of my favorite little quotes by A.A. Milne- "Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them."  Such a sweet thing to tell yourself, not just when looking around your garden, but in all of life as well.

Another sweet little thing growing around here...

Now Dad, I know that you aren't supposed to let your dill flower.  I took this picture right before I pruned it back.

My lantanas are finally growing back after Mrs. Deer made a meal out of them.

I have always wanted to make a layer cake.  Zachary and Candice came over for dinner last Sunday and I saw this as the perfect opportunity to do it.

It was good if I do say so myself.  As you can see it was a chocolate cake.  There was hot coffee in the batter which was said to bring out the flavor of the chocolate.  I put some strawberry jam on the first layer before I covered it with icing.  Next time I will put some jam on the top layer too.  It really made the cake moist and flavorful.

The frosting I made was a traditional red velvet frosting.  It had flour in it which I thought was interesting....

Zach and Candice brought their other niece, Brooklyn over to play.  Evangeline had a melt down when it was time for her to go home.

Baby's 1st Camping Trip

Evangeline has been so excited about going camping for months now.  We finally made her dream come true last Friday.  This girl loved every minute of it!  She was bouncing off the walls from the moment we got there.    

She was sooooo elated over her new Hello Kitty sleeping bag.  As soon as we put the tent up and spread out the blankets, sleeping bags, and pillows she was in there just rolling and jumping around like a crazy girl.

She loved going in and out of the tent.  We had to keep reminding her to zip it up to keep the bugs out.  I was also constantly telling her to take her shoes off before entering the tent and to make sure she wipes her feet off outside the tent before getting in.  (I am a tad anal about not getting grass and dirt in the tent.)

Ammie stopped by to check out our digs and to wish us well with the impending thunderstorm looming in the distance.

It was so hot and buggy when we arrived, but then the sky turned a wee bit threatening and really cooled things down. Fortunately we only got a little sprinkle.  It was worth it to be rid of the gnats.

Evangeline learned how to navigate the door of the tent very quickly.  She was great with the zipper and loved to come in and go back out, and open and shut the window.  (I tried to narrow this down to just a few pictures, but it was just so cute to watch her investigate the tent and watch the wonder and excitement in her eyes, I just couldn't pick my favorites.)

She spent a lot of time playing with, and in the tent.  Having a soon to be 4 year old is always a constant reminder about the simple joys that come from the little things in life.  When I instructed Evangeline on how to relieve herself on the ground you would have thought I took her to an amusement park.  She came running over to Kyle exclaiming, "Daddy, I peed on the ground like a dog!".  She tried numerous times to go potty that night, just for the fun of it.

We roasted hot-dogs and made baked beans and s'mores on the campfire.  Evangeline also rekindled a love of grapes...she practically ate a whole bag that night.  We enjoyed walking over and playing on a nearby playground.  It was a lovely night.

We call this a cotton candy sky....

Now onto the sleeping portion of the experience....I finally got Evangeline to calm down enough to fall asleep, but she would not let me leave her side.  So poor Kyle was left to clean up our supplies on his own.  Late in the night I heard Kyle repeatedly unzipping the tent.  When I finally came to I found him stressing out about a huge raccoon that was trying to get into our things.  We hissed at him and threw a few shoes in his direction.  That raccoon wasn't the least bit phased.  Finally Evangeline woke up and just thought the whole thing was hilarious because she had overheard us mention how we hoped it didn't get to the diaper we had in a bag and shred it all over the campsite.  Well, all of the sudden the raccoon heard something that startled it off.  Kyle seized the opportunity to secure our things, but again I was unable to go back to sleep.

I loved laying there and listening all of the coyotes howl.  It took me back to the days of being at the farm and hearing them in the nights when I would stay with Grandma and Grandpa.  I hadn't heard the howls of coyotes in years.  It was special.

Here's my little Morning Glory in her "camping jammies".  

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.....

We scrambled eggs and fried bacon on the fire on my new cast iron skillet.  Kyle perked some wonderful coffee.

It was a tasty way to start the day.

 

When asked what Evangeline's favorite part of the camping trip was she replied, "when the raccoon came and tried to get my diaper" and "peeing on the ground".  I would say it was a successful trip.

Hills O'Brown County and Father's Day

Over the weekend Kyle and I went to the Bean Blossom Festival, the oldest running bluegrass festival in the world.  This was the second year we've gone.  Such fun.  It's a low key scene.  People seem to be there purely for the love of the music.  Not a lot of youngsters like us in the crowd, which is just fine.

We decided to do the primitive camping on the grounds this year.  We used to love to camp pre-child, but we haven't camped at all since becoming parents.  

Looking great, K.P.....just like riding a bike.

Our tickets to the festival includes admission to the Bluegrass Hall of Fame Museum.  It's always a treat (it's especially nice to take a trip to a real bathroom and stand in the air conditioning for a few minutes.  

I might also add that the Bean Blossom Fest is also adorable.  These old timers are running a show just like they did in the 50's and 60's.  They still wear their sequin covered hats, banter back and forth to each other back on the stage, sneak in some preaching here and there and sign autographs after their set.

Here's one of our favorites, Bobby Osborn.  We got to see him last year too.  The Carolina Chocolate Drops (another band we love) does an amazing version of "Ruby", which is a Bobby Osborn original.  It was neat to get to hear him sing it too.

This guy is one of my all time favorite musicians, Ralph Stanley.  He won a Grammy several years back for some of the tracks he recorded on the Oh, Brother Were Art Thou soundtrack.  Unfortunately at 86 it's not as easy to play the ol' claw hammer banjo that he's famous for.  His voice is still astonishing though.  Last year he did a fantastic show.  He was still playing the banjo, but I'm not complaining.  It's pretty incredible that he's still traveling around doing concerts at 86.  

Oh, death, won't you spear him over for another year....

The weather was so much better this year.  Last year it was an inferno, but this year it was very nice.  Perfect conditions for camping.  I think I slept pretty good considering we had some very colorful characters for neighbors that night.  I woke up at the crack of dawn to the sound of sticks breaking and someone saying "yep".  This kept going on for quiet a while.  I began to get irritated wondering who in the world would be breaking sticks and repeating "yep" over and over....were they playing a game?  I started getting so annoyed I decided to use the bathroom while it was still dark enough to escape using a port-a-potty and check things out while I was up.  This is when I discovered that there wasn't anyone awake and that the sounds were coming from a bullfrog.  Then I started feeling guilty that I was getting annoyed with a frog just doing what they do.  I mean, I was the one choosing to sleep in the woods.  I got back in the tent and decided to listen to the sounds of the woods and appreciate them.  Kyle was waking up with every sound he heard to the point that nearly drove him to sleeping in the car.   Yes, we need to do more camping.  We are out of practice.  When it was finally a reasonable hour of the morning I was awoken again by Kyle who had already walked back to the festival sight and bought me some coffee.  What a great guy, that Kyle.

Sunday was Father's Day.  On the way home we stopped in Nashville and had breakfast at the Artist Colony.  We had a little time before picking up Evangeline in Terre Haute (she was at church with Grandma), so we stopped over to see Dad.  We also went to see Wayne later that evening.  Evangeline and I got Kyle some Cub's pajama pants for Father's Day (now we match) and Evangeline got her Daddy a bag of Cheetos and a bag of M&M's.  Hmmmm, I think she picked out these gifts with the intentions that Daddy was going to be sharing with her.  

Kyle, Evangeline and I are all blessed with amazing fathers.  

I don't know what I would ever do without my daddy.  He is my go to whenever I have a question about anything.  He knows everything about everything.  He is so non-materialistic which is something I really admire about him.  I wish I could be more like him in that regard.  He is an excellent cook and an amazing potter.  He is fun and caring.  Most of all he has a huge heart and isn't afraid to show it. 

My father in law is also a very special person.  I love all my in-laws and feel very blessed that I gained such an outstanding family. 

I couldn't ask for a better father to my little Evangeline then Kyle.  He is a terrific daddy and is adored by his daughter. 

Here are a few questions I asked Evangeline to answer about her Daddy: 

1.  How old is your daddy? 33

2.  Where does your daddy work?  The Court House

3.  What is Daddy's favorite food?  Chips

4.  What is something your daddy loves to do?  Work

5.  What's your favorite thing to do with Daddy?  Play Games

6.  Why is your dad the best dad in the whole world?  Because he's my dad.

7.  What does dad like to do around the house?  Sing Songs