The Best $3 I've ever spent

Ken and I spent the morning with Evie -playing tea party, lunch at Burger King (her favorite) and running errands.

In the grocery store, she found a princess card that sings "I Know You, I Walked with You Once Upon a Dream" from Sleeping Beauty. That just happens to be the song she has requested before bed for the last 6 months. It inspired a round of dancing in the refrigerator section. Neither Ken nor I wanted to be the one to take it from her, so it came home with her. She is currently napping with it.

Hours of entertainment.

Recap: State Fair

Or, basically, it's all about the food.

Whenever we go, it always seems to be a really packed, HOT summery day. But there's great sign watching (fried twinkies? fried pickles? fried pork chops on a stick? fried everything?), even better people watching, the kids have a blast and everyone comes home hot and sticky and stuffed.



Luke and his buddy Calvin posing in front of one of the bajillion food stands.

I got some cheese on a stick (kind of like a corn dog but with cheese instead of the dog). Yum.
Luke and Calvin loved the corn dogs.

Ken and Evie preferred the bucket o' cookies, chased down with chocolate milk from the all you can drink milk stand.
We actually did do some of the attractions - the kids' favorite is the little farmers exhibit. Here's Calvin planting some seeds.

Our 3 stooges in their aprons.Evie getting decked out.
We also got to see some of the animals which the kids loved. And they slept really, really well that night.

The REAL First Day of School

He was so excited, he got up early. Then spent 5 minutes watching to see when the other kids were leaving for the bus stop.

Evie was excited, too - and wore her backpack down to the bus stop with him.
He was annoyed because I made him keep posing for pictures.


He basically ran to the school bus. No waving or tears. And off he went.



Caroline came down for the day with her kids and we got a ton of stuff done for the baby's room (thanks!). Evelyn was excited to have her cousins to play with. She was most excited when the school bus pulled up with Luke inside - she just jumped up and down and up and down.

First Day of School

It was a big day for a little boy.

Luke started Kindergarten today. He is so, so excited. It was orientation, so I went with him. We met his class and got to ride a school bus (that was the icing on the cake). His first "real" day is tomorrow - he is ecstatic.

Evie was really, really mad she couldn't go. She was running around this morning crying "I not wittle! I weally big! I weally big!" She put on her princess backpack and insisted in participating in the photo shoot. She'll miss having him to tag along after.

There were no tears today (I think I got mine all out on Sunday). I didn't really expect Luke to be sad. He was too excited.





After school, we got a new haircut, then went to the beach for the afternoon.


The kids enjoyed the sun and got really, really dirty. There is something I love about dirty, sandy feet.

The boys dug a "river"
And got even dirtier.

Evie insisted on wearing her pink floaties, even though she barely got in the water.
It was a big day.

Me? I'm mostly feeling big. At least I can still find my toes. If I try really, really hard.

My Girls

A conversation with Evie today:

Me: How was your nap?
E: Good. I slept with my princess. And my girls. (Except she can't say L's, so it comes out as "I swept wif my pwincess. And my goo-wews." Her "girls" are her 2 baby dolls, currently named Caroline and Chocolate).
Me:Did they sleep too?
E: Yes. My girls were hungry. So we had a snack.
Me: What did you make?
E: Pancakes. And drinks ("twinks.")
Me: Good.
E. But they were really hot. So I threw them out.

Another good suggestion from Evie this week: I asked her what we should name baby sister. Her idea? "Chocolate Milk." Perfect.

Projects

Ken was busy while we were gone. Can I just say, I love having a husband who is a handyman?

He put in new light fixtures.

Set up our new bedroom set (and painted the master bathroom a lighter shade of green - it looks great). We are pretty darn excited about this -- we've never had a dresser in our bedroom, let alone a whole set.

He painted our main floor bath and put in new light fixtures and a faucet.

I finally finished my project - a quilt for the baby. I'm really happy with the way it turned out (especially because I don't sew).

Now I just have to work on getting the nursery set up!

A First Time for Everything

We had our first time with stitches on Sunday. I knew it had to happen sooner or later. I was just surprised it was Evie who broke us in instead of Luke (the boy for whom the world is a trampoline). To be fair, Luke has gotten skin glue and once, when he was about 15 months old, he cut his hand pretty badly and probably should have gotten stitches -- but I just went over to a friends house and we taped it up really well). But these were the first actual stitches.

Of course, it happened in Utah in the primary room and there was a ton of blood. But after 30 minutes in the local urgent care we were on our way home with 2 stickers, a fruit roll up and a Dora band-aid. Evie did pretty well, despite the tears and repeated "I all done now! I all done now!" Now she just proudly shows off her owie.
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