Summer Kick-Off

Memorial Day weekend is a great way to kick off summer vacation.  It was nice to have Kyle home for 3 days to hang out with us.  We've been busy playing outside.  Kyle found this snake in our driveway.  It was a big one.  He was fun to watch.   



 

Lately it's been Evangeline's dream to have some kind of stand in her front yard.  A few weekends ago it was a library.  She put a bunch of her books in a suitcase and made bookmarks and cards to stamp for each book.  Then she just hung out in the yard next to her little suitcase full of books thinking someone was just going to come by and check one out.  Seeing as there would be no neighbors waltzing by anytime soon, we called the grandmas.  They both came and made her little library dreams come true.    

 

Here's a picture of the book marks and cards she made for each book.  The card on the left says, "When you are ready to bring it, you can bring it."  The one on the right says, "If your child wants to keep it, say no."

 

This past weekend it was a lemonade stand.  She went ahead and made signs and set everything up on Saturday afternoon.  Once again we called Ammie to come over to patron her stand.  We whipped up some delicious lemonade and were thrilled to see that Granny was accompanying Ammie when she rolled up the drive.  Even more sensational....Ammie told her friend about it and she came with another friend!  That's a total of 4 customers!!  It was very exciting.  Evangeline decided not to charge for her lemonade and as an added treat to her supporters she put out what is left of her Halloween candy for her guests.  

 

I think I forgot to mention that on the night of her big library open house she had her first experience with a wasp sting.  She leaned back on one of the nasty little critters on the front porch.  Kyle saw it all happen.  He tried to calmly tell her not to lean back thinking it wouldn't scare her, but it was too late.  She ran into the house screaming like a banshee, eyes as big as silver dollars.  There was just no comforting the poor creature.  She screamed and cried for a good 10 minutes.  We tried everything I could think of...ice packs, lavender oil, popsicles.  She keeps screaming random things like, "I can't help it! I can't stand it!  I've never been stung before, I never thought I would!".  When she finally was able to cope again I reminded her that she could tell her friends that she got stung by a wasp at school the next day.  This idea brought her a little flicker of happiness. 

 

Evangeline's first day of summer break was on Friday.  I had to work that day so she stayed with Ammie.  When I picked her up from Ammie's she immediately came home and asked for a dress that was hanging in her closet, which she wanted to change in to.  She was going to have to wait a few minutes because I had to carry a few things in from the car.  She met me at the door saying, "Mom, I am totally a 1st grader.  I got the dress down all by myself"!  Pleased as punch. 

 

She said another funny thing the other day as she burst into the house in total disgust..."O.M.G. someone littered!!!".  She came in carrying a nasty Styrofoam cup she found in the yard and promptly threw it in the trash can. 

 

Kyle and I celebrated 8 years of marriage last Tuesday.  It's hard to believe, and at the same time it isn't.  We've crammed a lot of events into the last 8 years.  It's been a wonderful 8 years and I'm so happy I get to share my life with him.   I'm looking forward to many many more wonderful years together. 



Cale's Baptism

Cale's baptism was this morning at the beautiful St. Stephen's Episcopal Church.  It was a lovely service and Cale was so sweet and bewildered through the whole thing.  Our family and Candice's family went to Sunday brunch at St. Mary's afterwards.  Such a special day.   

 

 

Evangeline wanted to show her grandpa the Shell Chapel so they walked over together to check it out.  She was wearing her new shoes and got a blister on her toe.  It was straight up drama.  

 

 

 

Cheer, Cheer, Sniffle, Sniffle

We really know how to make the last week at South School the most stressful, jam-packed week of the year.  Tuesday was Activity Day which means LOTS of fun for the kids, and also means no breaks, no lunch and exhausted teachers!  The theme was "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".  The kids wore their athletic gear.  There were 4 bounce houses, Zumba, and tons of games.  I watched Evangeline when I got the chance.  She was a Zumba queen.  It was hysterical to watch her and her classmates breaking it down from across the way.  Reagan's mom took some pictures for me of their soccer dribbling contest. 

 

Today was the last day of school for the little kiddos....that's where the cheers come in.  This also means it was Evangeline's very last day of kindergarten (insert sniffles).  I can't believe how fast the school year went.  She had an amazing year with an amazing teacher.  She has a nice foundation in reading and I can't wait to see it really take off next year in first grade....um, wait....yes I can wait actually.  Let's slow down the clock a little.  

I have been going through one of my super sentimental phases lately and yesterday I heard a Taylor Swift song (of all things) that nearly brought me to my knees:

 

"To you, everything's funny
You got nothing to regret
I'd give all I have honey
If you could stay like that
I won't let nobody hurt you
Won't let no one break your heart
No one will desert you
Just try to never grow up"

 

There.  I did it.  I can't believe I just quoted a Taylor Swift song, but geez, this one just sums it all up.  I want to keep her as she is, under my mommy wing forever.  Even in the first grade I'm flabbergasted at what they hear and learn from other kids.  I'm not ready for it.  Anyway, this whole done-with-kindergarten business hasn't been easy for me.  I'm ready to enjoy my sweet, innocent, precious, adorable, fantastic, amazing little girl all summer long.  



 

 

Lots of Life

As I looked back through the pictures I've taken in the past few weeks I realize I have some catching up to do.  I also realized just how fast the green foliage has taken over the landscape.  You can hardly see that wooden fence today with all the nasty, invasive honeysuckle that's taken over.  Evangeline loves to work in the yard.  She has her own ideas of what needs to be cleaned. 

 

Evangeline and I went with mom a few weekends ago to see the Fab Four at ISU.  They sounded so authentic.  It was incredible.   Evangeline loved it.  She even told me that she was in love with "Paul McCartney"....oh, brother.  We did lots of clapping, dancing and singing a long.  

 

Here's Evangeline in her typical bedtime attire...channeling Laura Ingles Wilder, of course.  We had a sleepover at Mom's after the concert.  The next morning we went out for breakfast and did some shopping downtown.  It was a fun girly weekend for us.  

 

My sweet loves took me to brunch at St. Mary's for my birthday.  Here it looks like Evangeline is directing Kyle through the labyrinth.  

 

Oh....and then there was Mother's Day.  That Saturday we went to the Mother/Daughter banquet at church with my Mom, Peggy, Granny and the Hwang girls which was lovely.  Get a good look at the next two pictures...these were the last moments of hearing in my left ear for over a week.

 

In the wee hours of Mother's Day morning I woke up to the worst pain I've experience next to labor pains.  I felt that my eardrum was going to irrupt.  I tried every natural remedy in the book...my next stop was the on-call doctor who turned out to be a horrible, horrible creature.  I will not even elaborate on that because I would rather it be wiped from my memory.  Lets just say it was a day I was glad to put to rest.  I managed to drag myself to church to watch Evangeline sing with the choir, and then to lunch at our annual picnic at the lake. 

 

Kyle took me to Ambicare and I started my antibiotics.  All there was for me to do was lay on the couch with a heating pad on my ear describing my symptoms over and over to anyone within earshot.  Aside from all of that, my goodness, I must be the luckiest mommy in the whole world.   

 

Evangeline participated in a cheer clinic which is put on each year by the high school cheer team.  She asked me that morning if she was going to get a bow.  I told her I didn't think so, but by golly, she walked out with a huge bow in her hair and a smile spread from ear to ear.  It was so cute to watch her do her little cheers at the 10 minute performance they did for the parents at the end of the clinic.  Afterward we went to eat at Subway.  She was doing a tuck jump in line and told me that she noticed someone saw her do her jump and smiled at her.  She said, "I bet he knew I was a real cheerleader because I bet he has seen cheerleaders at games before".  She's big stuff.  A real cheerleader now.   

 

Scanning the crowd for Mom and Dad....

 

Found 'em.....

 

And then there was her first softball game.  She rocked it.  She only needed the tee once.  All the other times she hit from a pitch.  She was the first one up to bat for the team.  She told me she was nervous.  We were so proud of her.  The game was quite entertaining.  The girls did a great job, but still didn't have too much of an idea of what was going on. 

 

Her little Hutson jersey is just too much.  Mama can't take the cuteness.  She was excited about the socks because she thinks they make her look like a mermaid. 

 

Her coach gave her the nick name "slugger".  The night he first started calling her that Kyle asked her on the way home if she knew what that meant.  She said, "a slow moving slug".  He made sure she knew what it meant and that it was a complement.    

 

Running for home....

 

The last of the kindergarten papers have been trickling home.  This is just a typical paper, but I just couldn't get over Walter.  He just looks so happy walking to school with his little backpack.  I had to snap a picture of him.  

 

Baby news...in addition to gaining too much weight I now have anemia.  So I'm off the antibiotic and on to the iron supplement.  I can't believe I'm already to the point in my pregnancy where I see the doctor 2 times a month.  How is this going so fast!  This little guy has been kicking up a storm.  Some of the kicks can be down right startling.  I love it.  It's a miracle....thank you, God.  I feel so blessed to be able to experience all of this again. 

Evangeline has a little list of baby names going that she thinks we should consider:

Barnacles

Junior

Prancer

Vixen

Sparrow

Captain

 

Barnacles has my vote.