Random

I can't believe our summer is almost over. Thankfully, we have a fun trip to California planned for this next week which will truly end our summer on a high note. We're planning on taking Evelyn to Disneyland for the first time and I have been thinking about it nonstop the past few days. I'm so excited to see Ev go nuts for Minnie, Sully and Mike and all the Princesses. I'm debating whether or not its kosher to ask for a wheelchair if you are almost 33 weeks pregnant at Disneyland. JK, but seriously I'm going to need a t-shirt lined with ice packs if I'm going to make it walking around all day. 

I still have so much of our summer that I haven't blogged about, which hopefully I'll get to once we get back to Eugene. Speaking of Eugene, we are really getting anxious to get back. We miss all of our friends and I just can't wait for fall to start. We found a place to live for the next nine months and I can't wait to post pictures and ironically, its not for the reason you would think. Nick and I have nicknamed our new apartment "the hole," and my own description of it just wouldn't do it justice for all my faithful blog readers (AKA Mom). I can't wait to post pictures so that the dingy lighting and nasty nast carpet are given the attention they deserve. It doesn't have a washer or dryer in the apartment, but the complex does, so that will be interesting with a newborn. Also, I think it was built in 1962, so hopefully none of my children lick the walls or we will have some lead poisoning to deal with. That said, I don't really care - its all part of the experience right? Someday (hopefully) we won't live in a hole and we'll look back with nostalgia as we think about all the places we lived when we were in school. Or maybe we are destined to be hole-livers forever. Either way, its all good.

Anyway, here are some random pictures.

Cousins!

Nick and I went to the wedding of a dear friend of mine last weekend. It was beautiful! And even though we couldn't stay very long due to our parental duties, it was still a fun night out on the town.

Ev gets super jealous when she's not included in pictures all the sudden. She just jumps in next to you and shouts, "cheese!"

Cassy was such a gorgeous bride! And her dress was to die for - you can't tell in this crappy pic from my phone.

Ev playing dress up with Ally. She hasn't really become obsessed with princesses yet, but I know that phase is just around the corner. And to be honest, it will be nice to have something besides Hello Kitty in our house. Anyway, Ally always does a great job of showing Ev the ropes of dressing up, Princess Style.

Here is our Merida:

I of course, needed no help from Ally. I know how to dress up Princess Style like a pro.

We went down to Portland on Friday and Saturday to celebrate Ally's birthday (which I'll blog about later). It was a blasty-blast as usual. My dad and I busted out our old balloon animal making skills for Ally's party and my mom took the kids to Build-A-Bear.

It was a party worthy of Ally's adorable personality.

Ev picked out this multi-colored bear that she named "Rainbow."

She refused to put any clothes on it, but she did buy her bear a cell phone and a purse.

Evie is obsessed with jewelry and "crowns," (headbands) lately. If I ever can't find her, she'll always in my bathroom or my sister's bathroom raiding the drawers and jewelry boxes for things to put on. 

In other Evie developments, she eats nothing but watermelon and cucumbers.

I'm not even exaggerating that much.

She insists on "baby watermelon," cut in half so she can eat it with a spoon. She eats watermelon 2-5 times a day and goes through 3/4 of an english cucumber each day as well. Now you all know why I haven't potty trained her. She poops way too frequently to even attempt it. Plus I'm in no rush to potty train. I was at first and I gave it a couple good tries, but I figured when she's ready, we'll get it done.

I feel like I've blogged terribly about milestones Ev has reached this summer and her basic interests. I usually just slap some pictures up and call it good. But Evie has changed so much this summer and I don't want to forget it! So here's a top ten Evster list

1. She loves to read but has become quite the control freak about it. Every night before bed she insists on reading out of our real scriptures (not the child friendly version we bought her) and she HAS to pick the page. Which means she basically flips through a bunch of pages and points to a verse and we have to read that one. She often makes us read scriptures before nap time as well. I would like to claim a superiorly spiritual child, but she's just a grade-A control freak like both of her parents. She also loves reading to us. She has memorized several board books and loves to sit in our laps and recite them to us. She typically shouts, "NO I DO IT!" when she wants to read instead of me, and she gets all puffy and proud of herself afterwards. Its adorable. I'm also amazed at her retention. She can read a book once or twice and recite several pages back to us right afterwards. Her favorite books include: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Bears in Pairs, Minnie Mouse Look-N-Find and all ten of her manners board books. 

2. She is still such a parrot, so be careful what you say in front of her. She repeats EVERYTHING I say and almost verbatim each time. Sometimes she'll say a phrase that sounds so grown up, and it makes everyone laugh hysterically. She is obsessed with getting answers to every question she asks, but she has to know that you understand the question perfectly. 

For example:

"Mommy, I want juice in the kitty cup. Kitty juice mommy in my cup? Juice please kitty cup."

She often says statements as a question so that I will respond with an appropriate answer. 

She also has to know who EVERYONE is, what they are doing, where they are going and who their mommy or daddy is. She asks me a hundred times each day where everybody in our family is. If we drive by a pasture, she will shout, "Cows!" And then promptly ask me where the cow's mommy and daddy are and where the cows are going. She is quite inquisitive, but she has to have an answer for everything. If I'm not paying attention to her and she can tell I'm just blowing steam, she will ask me until I think about it and give her a real answer.

3. She can pray by herself. We help her a lot of the time just so she can learn how to pray properly, but she has done so well coming up with things to thank Heavenly Father for on her own. Definitely a proud mom moment! Also, her prayers are hilarious. She doesn't quite understand the concept of "bless," so we have to help her ask for things in a prayer, but she definitely understands how to thank. She basically just lists things in the room or people we know. Here is her breakfast prayer from this morning:

"Heavenly Father thank for pancakes, juice in my kitty cup, syrup, fork, plate. Thank you to go bye-bye with mommy. Name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

And that is with no help from me! Pretty hilarious. At bedtime she ALWAYS names everybody in our family (its quite a long list) and I'm proud that she's grasping the concept.

4. She loves brushing my hair or doing things that I do to her on a frequent basis (brushing my teeth, offering to help me blow my nose or get dressed, etc.) When she brushes my hair (and its not always with a hairbrush, the other day she tried with a RAZOR! Oops! Luckily I have cat-like speed and reflexes) She always says, "Oh, sorry mommy! Sorry! You okay mommy?" while she brushes my hair, which makes me sad because I must say that a lot when I'm brushing out the tangles in her hair. 

5. LOVES to sing. She sings to herself all the time, which cracks me up. In the tub she constantly sings, "Motor boat! Motor boat! Go so slow..." She knows the words to quite a few songs, but its really hard to get her to sing them on command. She usually sings while she plays or makes me sing them to her while she plays. 

6. I mentioned she loves cucumbers and watermelon (her fave foods), but she has also taken a liking for orange juice. We don't normally have any other juice in the house but when I'm pregnant I drink TONS of OJ, and Ev loves it. She asks for it all the time. We have a glass each morning together at breakfast and sometimes I feel bad because its probably rotting her teeth out, but she learned from my bad example and there's no going back! She also won't drink white milk. She quite drinking white milk a little bit before we left Eugene. She will only drink chocolate milk, water or orange juice. Literally nothing else, even if she's offered it. Other favorite foods include plain noodles, grilled cheese, dry cereal, popsicles, plain pieces of wheat bread, and every fruit and vegetable she can get her hands on. I often have a hard time getting her to eat a starch at meals. She just wants fruits and veggies. Today for lunch she had cucumbers and pineapple. Occasionally she will eat deli turkey but she won't touch meat with a ten-foot pole. 

7. Her favorite treat in the world is MINTS. Yes, you heard me, mints. Ice breakers wintergreen flavor to be exact. She begs my mom for them (she keeps them in her purse) daily and she often pulls them out of my mom's purse without asking. She also loves Andes Mints and Junior Mints. Mint and chocolate is her favorite combination, which is so weird for a toddler in my opinion. I never liked mint flavoring as a kid, but Ev can't get enough of it.

8. She is so polite. I do have to prompt her to say please and thank you sometimes to me, but she always says it to other people unprompted. She thanks me EVERY TIME I change her diaper. Seriously. It's so cute. She also has moments of brilliant obedience. If I tell her to sit in time-out, 95% of the time she will walk herself to the time-out chair, sit in it and cry until I tell her she can come out. She NEVER gets out of the time out chair unless I tell her its okay. Of course our time out chair gets plenty of use and she can be a typical sassy two-year old, but she be a very good little girl. 

9. That said, she is so freaking stubborn it drives me crazy. Its hard because I'm stubborn and sometimes it flusters me and I don't know how to respond to someone who acts just like me! When she makes up her mind about something, it is basically IMPOSSIBLE to change it. She never forgets anything and if you tell her she can have or do something, you better follow through because she will remember. She has to do everything herself, which I think is typical toddler behavior, but she has taken it to a new extreme. I think this is where control freak Evie meets independent toddler Evie and let me tell you - it can be an ugly street corner. For example, if she asks for chocolate milk, it is kept in the outdoor fridge, so we have to go to the garage to get it. I have to come with her, per her request, but she HAS to open the door to the garage. I have to open the door to the fridge, but she HAS to grab the chocolate milk out. Then I have to open the door back to the house and she HAS to grab a straw. Then I have to hold open the garbage can while she HAS to take the wrapper off her straw. Then I have to hold the chocolate milk while she puts the straw in. If any of this routine is disrupted, Evelyn gets flustered and starts to cry and has a meltdown. She is very particular and stubborn about the way things are done. Things have to be done in a certain order or by a certain person because she is anal about her routine. (I wonder where she got that from?)

10. She is obsessed with babies. Nick's mom got her a Bitty Baby and she loves to sleep with it, cuddle it, and change its diaper. Anything small is "a baby," and she constantly asks me to hold her like a baby. I'm certain this has to do with all the baby talk in our house, trying to get her ready for her little sister. I hope this means they will be quick friends! 

Ev has really grown up this summer. I can't believe how all the "baby" in her seems to have disappeared. I guess its good timing since we'll have another baby in the house soon enough. We love her still the same!