Oh, Evangeline

At church one of the KFC volunteers, Mr. Ross (our former school superintendent), told me that he had a story for me...he told me that last Wednesday the kids were doing a craft that involved glue.  When he saw Evangeline she had a big bloop of goo on her leg.  Thinking it was glue he took his finger and swiped it off.  She giggled and told him that she had sneezed.  His face as he told me this story was priceless.  I thought that was so classic Evangeline considering she is infamous for sneezing gigantic sneezes all over the place and then just freezing up and letting the goo fall until someone either cleans it up for her, or she is made to do it herself.  She's such a little lady...

This is how my little lady spend her days after school.  She's such a trooper.  She's pretty good at entertaining herself with her little teacher's kid friends, and all the stuff she can get into in my classroom.

Kyle came to read to Evangeline's class again for Rotary Readers.  She loves it when Daddy comes!

 

Last week Evangeline's teacher got seriously ill and had to have emergency bowl surgery.  She will be out for at least a month of school (maybe even the rest of the school year).  I was so sad for Mrs. Reynolds.  She will be seriously missed for the time she's gone.  We've been praying each night for her recovery.  Evangeline said that she wished she could send her a Ranch salad to cheer her up, since that's what she always eats for lunch.  Thankfully Kelly Lindly is filling in for her in her absence.  I was worried about who they would get for a sub since our district is in such demand.  Kelly is a retired 2nd grade teacher and also happens to be Evangeline's Sunday School teacher and we both know her very well.  She's fantastic and has a heart of gold.

I can't remember if I've mentioned this yet or not, but Louie, Evangeline's music teacher, gave Evangeline a keyboard to use in addition to her fiddle.  She got supper obsessed with it and has kind of put the fiddle on the back burner for the keyboard.  Now when she goes to her music lesson every other week they concentrate on the keyboard.  She's really getting good.  We usually set the kitchen timer for her each day and she practices for 10 minutes.  She's got at least 4 songs under her belt and can play all of them on both hands.  Her new assignment is to learn to play Mary Had a Little Lamb with both hands at the same time, one hand with the melody and one hand with cords accompanying the melody. 

 

We bought some foam curlers last week and the results are just too adorable.  She's great about letting me put them in.  She even slept in them one night last week.  It's so funny when we take them out because her hair is coiled up in the tightest little ringlets.  She looks like a little old lady.  After we spritz them with water and touch them up with the curling iron the look is darling.  She even told me she had received 159 comments on her hair when she wore her curls to school last week.  These pictures were taken before church this morning.  One of these days I'll get a picture of the results.  

 

I have a bag of old costume jewelry broaches that belonged to my great aunt Dorothy.  Evangeline absolutely loves to spread them all out and look through them.  She always likes to pick one out to wear on the days she wears a cardigan to school.  She is definitely my child...cardigans and old broaches.  I've trained her well.
 

Evangeline enjoys telling me to "watch and learn".  She comes up with the most random little sayings.  The other day she said, "my mother always said, 'whenever there's some good music, bumpy to it'".  I can assure you I never said that. 

I always go in and give Evangeline a kiss when she has indoor recess before I leave for lunch.  It never fails, she's at her seat drawing, making a book or doing some kind of art/craft activity.  Sometimes there are other children around doing the same thing, but other times it's just her.  I asked her if she plays with her friends at indoor recess and she says "no, they always want to play zoo and I want to make books." 
As I stalk...I mean watch Evangeline from my window at outdoor recess I notice that she's becoming a tad more social on the playground, which is great.  Usually she is on the same swing just a'swingin' away until the bell rings, when she practically throws herself to the ground in a panic and races for the line.
She still likes to play with a few of her little friends from preschool even though she hasn't seen them much in the past couple months.  They are in different classes and we've had months of indoor recess.  Now that the weather is turning a little warmer we've been back to outdoor recess.  I've lately noticed her playing a lot with a certain little girl in her class that sits at the same table as Evangeline.  For the first half of the year Evangeline would always come home with stories about how Mrs. Reynolds always had to take this girl's apple (their reward/discipline system).  The other day I asked Evangeline if this little girl is making good choices now and Evangeline said, "she's trying really hard to be good.  She's practicing." 

We had our annual church Easter egg hunt over the weekend.  Last year we were wearing short sleeves, this year we were wearing winter coats!!