911

Last night, through a series of late-night thoughts, I came to the realization that I should probably teach John about 911, specifically in case anything should ever happen to me and there are three children under the age of 5 unattended at home. So anyway, today in the car I started to tell him about it. I said, "You know, John, there's something you can do if there is a big emergency at home. Like, if I fall down and seem like I'm asleep but you can't wake me up..." (how do you explain to a 4-year-old what a real emergency is?) Eve interjected, "John could catch you with his fishing pole!" John added in, "Yeah, and I could be a superhero and pick you up and protect you with my lasers, and Eve could..." I can't remember the rest of the conversation that went on and on...and on with great superhero and fishing pole ideas. So, I just said, "Yeah, that would be cool." And here I was worried John might find me taking a nap and call 911. I guess I'll just have to give this some more thought before I present the idea again. Maybe next time I'll just remind John he's never caught anything with his fishing pole, so maybe 911 would be a good backup plan. I don't know.

One More!

Ellie's 4th tooth finally broke all the way through. Yippee! It's about time. So now she's got two up top and two on bottom. I don't know it'll change much for her because she's already been chewing everything like a champ. We're down to just a few candies we won't let her eat because they're too chewy. Ah, the perks of being the third child.

Peaches...Round 1

We love peaches, and picking them. Since we got in early this season, and my favorite (the Georgia Belles) weren't ready yet, I have a feeling there will be a round 2. We had lots of fun. The peaches all had black pits in them from hail damage, but we managed to eat around the bad parts and enjoy the yummy peaches. John loved climbing in the trees as always. Eve tried, but didn't get very far. I've got a bunch on the counter to skin and peel...just waiting to be made into cobbler.

Backyard Camping

Every year our neighborhood hosts a family campout. Every year we've had something else going on, but this year John and Eve (I think prompted by a TV show) asked recently when we could go camping. That day we got the neighborhood news letter and saw that the campound was in just a few weeks. They were so excited! Friday came, the big day, and John and Ellie woke up with a short-lived stomach bug. Bummer. To make up for it, Saturday afternoon we setup camp, and after church had our own little campout in the back yard. As far as they were concerned, it was just as good.

Playing in the tents after we put them up probably would've been good enough for John and Eve. TONS of fun!

We started with a fire, hotdogs, beans, and potato chips (made from the potatoes we harvested from our garden). Buck is quite the campfire chef! While he was cooking we gave Ellie appetizers in her high chair (to keep her out of the fire), and John, Eve, and I caught a firefly. They quickly lost interest, which is why we only caught one, but this evening when I asked John what his favorite part was, he said catching the firefly.

No campfire or campout is complete without smores. No, Ellie has not shrunk. That marshmallow is freakishly HUGE! They don't call them sMOREs for nothing.

Fortunately Eve was happy with a "raw" marshmallow (this is as close as she got)

John didn't much like getting close to the fire...

...at all...

...really.

Ahhh, but the reward is so sweet!

With John, Eve, and Ellie sharing a tent, no confinement for Ellie, random fireworks, and the fun effects of sugar, after many empty threats the kids finally fell asleep around 10:30 or so. I'm not sure Buck or I slept at all hearing all the neighbors sprinklers start up at random times, trying to get the dogs to go inside to stop barking at shadows, and thinking about what critters might be getting into our tent since the kids got the big one and our feet were hanging out the door. We managed to stay outside until 5:30 when the birds decided to give us a super loud wake-up call. By 10 all kids were down for a nap. It was a great time, but it may be a while before we give it another go.

Cute Kids

Here are some random pictures from the past few days. You may think your kids are cute and sweet, but mine are cuter and sweeter (not that I'm biased). Women be shoppin'! Ellie has figured out (either on her own or by watching Eve) to carry a purse this way, and she really enjoys it.

Saturday we were setting up camp in the back yard. Ellie slept through lunch, but always wants to be outside. Buck set her up for the best of both worlds...sort of. Looks to me like it's not quite what she wanted, still whenever someone looked at her and talked to her through the window she was immensely excited.

They sure have fun together.

Ellie's look cracked me up. She was making this face in almost all of the pictures. John, on the other hand, seems to have finally figured out how to take a great picture. How handsome is he???

John and Ellie woke up with a short stomach bug Friday morning. They were pitiful, but so sweet none-the-less.

In lieu of the family campout (our participation cancelled due to the morning's stomach bug) we had movie night. You'd think it was the camera angle or that we placed them where they are, but they just sat this way. It's a sweet bond they have. I'll have to keep this picture to remind them one day that they love each other, I'm sure.

Panty Raids

There are times I can look at my children or their behavior and know exactly where it comes from. There are other times I wonder, "Whose kid IS this???" When it comes to Eve's obsession with dresses and panties, her genes come into question. Even the word "panties" used to put a funny look on my face. I've since gotten past that. Still, Eve has a MAJOR obsession with them that certainly doesn't come from me, and I'm pretty sure doesn't come from Buck either. She's constantly pulling her dresses and panties out of clean laundry baskets and dirty laundry baskets alike, her drawers, and a myriad of hiding places. She carries them around wherever she goes, and puts them on and changes them whenever she has the fancy. No matter how hard I try, I can't keep up with whether what she's wearing is clean or dirty. I've threatened (and made good on that threat) to give her a spanking the next time she pulls them out of either the dirty or clean clothes. It doesn't seem to matter. Yesterday I removed the dirty clothes basket from hers and John's room at bed time so she couldn't dig through it. This morning when I went to see what she was up to, the pile of dresses and panties I had commondeered last night and put in the basket had been removed. When I looked in her room, they were in a basket...neatly folded and stacked. This time I couldn't bring myself to discipline her. Sometimes you just have to give credit where credit is due, and let things go.

Young Frankenstein

It's so funny to watch Young Frankenstein walk all around the house now. Walking has quickly become her preferred mode of transportation. I forgot (imagine that) that amongst all the other accomplishments of last week, Ellie's top left tooth also broke through...FINALLY! It has looked like she has 2 front teeth for a good month or so, but it's taken this long for one to actually break through. Hopefully the other one will make it's way through soon.
A household favorite for the past few months has been "Bubble Guppies". It's a cartoon about preschool mermaids and mer...boys? Anyway, the kids love it, including Ellie. When she sees it coming on, she walks dutifully over to the Spiderman chair, bounces up and down, claps, and says "buh buh". No, I'm not offended that she has a word for her favorite show and no word for "ma ma" yet. I have to admit it's super cute.
Ellie is also quite a dancer. We often catch her in her own little world in the back seat, fists or pointer fingers up, just dancing away to the music. She particularly enjoyed blues and bluegrass this past weekend.
AND, I'd like to end the post with a momentous occasion. Today I finally got fed up. I bought a tiny booster with a tray that will fit at our kitchen table so I can get rid of the blasted high chair that takes up so much space and is the dirtiest nastiest thing! This booster has no cushion for food to hide under, and hopefully not too many cracks or crevices to clean. Best of all, I can line all 3 kids on one side of the table and push the chairs under! This may very quickly become my new frustration, but hopefully the novelty of sitting so close will soon wear off. So long, high chair!

All in a Couple Days' Work

Over the past few days Ellie has become almost solely a walker. Eve has started swimming 6-8 feet under water and is close to being able to pull her head up to breathe. All without a lifejacket, but since she can't pull her head up to breathe I've got to watch and just guess when she's running out of air to pull her up. She has no fear. I, on the other hand, am terrified since she never announces she's coming. I can't turn my head for a second, but I'm so proud and can't believe how well she's doing. ALSO, we saved a turtle. I saw it crawling across the cul-de-sac during nap time. I put it in a box for the kids to see when they "woke up". They were so excited to watch it for a while, then let it go by the creek. They would've followed it all day if I let them. As for John, he went hiking with Grandma this week and had a ball.

New Tricks

Ellie has learned to give kisses on command. She thinks it's the greatest and grins after she's given one, then keeps giving them since it's the greatest. I think it's the greatest too. For the record, Daddy taught her that trick and deserves lots of credit.
Yesterday John swam all the way across the width of the pool. It's 7 or 8 lanes. He was pretty tired when he finished, but did it all without stopping. I was so proud!
I don't suppose this is a trick, but sounds like she's got one up her sleeve. I took Eve to run errands this morning and we shared a cookie at Panera. I asked her a few questions that had interesting answers. The last was my favorite...
"What makes you happy?"
"Um, frogs."
"What makes you sad?"
"Transformers"
"What are you going to be when you grow up?"
"4"
"OK, but when you get older, what are you going to do? Like John thinks he might work construction. What do you think you might do"
"Count my money."
That's my princess.

June

After realizing that there were nearly 30 blog posts in or about May, and somewhere around 1600 pictures taken in May, I decided June should be a time to lay low and relax...as best as we can with 3 kids. Since it's summer and there's no school, we don't really have a schedule. That's nice in that the kids can stay up late (like we have a choice in that matter when it's still completely daylight at 8 and well after), and wake up "late". It's not nice in that I have to try to plan ahead to make sure we aren't just sitting around watching TV all day, and somehow they've got to be entertained in this heat (it's been in the 90s for a few weeks now. Whew!)
So, we've gone hiking, signed up for the library summer reading program, and this past Sunday we went for our first family bike ride on the Swamp Rabbit Trail (a huge perk of Saturday night church). The Swamp Rabbit trail is a trail paved along an old railway path. It's at least 33.5 miles long (that's the mile marker where we started in downtown Greenville).

Eve isn't quite ready to ride solo, but John did pretty good. We made it about a half mile before turning around. Fortunately it's very flat. We started and finished near the fountain downtown so the kids could play in it after working up a sweat. By the time he cooled off John was ready to ride again, but it was time to go home for lunch.

Dedication

Sunday after Eve's birthday, we participated in a child dedication service at church. On that day, May 29, we made a public and formal commitment to raise our children in the Christian faith to be believers, followers, and children of Christ, and we asked friends and family to come alongside us to hold us accountable and uphold us in our commitment. Some may ask what the significance is, why we chose to do it. Lots of churches are different and lots of families are different. For us, this is what made sense. In the Bible there are multiple examples of parents dedicating their children to the Lord, including Mary, mother of Jesus. It is a way to acknowlege that the child is God's child, not our own, and to also realize the responsibility God has blessed us with, to guide them in the way they should go. As in marriage and baptism, I personally felt a need to make my commitment public.

I can't remember when my walk with Christ first began, when I recognized the sacrifice He made, my need for that sacrifice, and the significance in my life. I certainly have come to understand these truths at varying degrees different times in my life, and I'm sure I'm not close to a complete understanding, nor will I ever be. I also know that my life often doesn't reflect that I understand Christ's sacrifice and my need for it. If I could reflect that appropriately in my life, I'd be a lot less selfish, a lot more understanding, a lot less worrysome, and the list could go on forever. In fact, that's proof that I do need that perfect sacrifice from Christ. Without His death and resurrection, I'd be lost and without hope. What I do know is the many times God has been faithful to me. In times of "crisis" (I use that term loosely knowing what so many others endure), knowing the eternal hope of salvation and the promises of God have been the rock that has gotten me through. Knowing that God created me to be like Him. Knowing that He considers me His own, an heir of His salvation. Knowing that there is a greater plan that isn't about me, but He allows me to play a part. Knowing that He knows my name and everything about me. Knowing that He is always with me. Knowing that He humbled himself to a criminal's death, then overcame death just so we could be in a relationship of love and forgiveness. Knowing that He experienced the pain and suffering of life. Knowing that those will pass. Knowing that He is in control of the biggest and smallest things. Knowing that His love is not just for me, but for my friends and my enemies. Knowing that I did nothing, and can do nothing to deserve even an ounce of all of that. All of these things have changed my life. If I were not to share these with my precious children, His precious children, would be to rob them of life and hope. John, Eve, and Ellie, we love you so much, and our greatest desire for you, above all else, is for you to come to know Christ on a personal level, to seek His grace and mercy in your life, and to follow Him.

"I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen." -Ephesians 3:14-21

Three...Oh...It's a Magic Number!

OK, so I'm running a little behind on posting. Eve turned 3 May 26 (and we went to the beach that day...not too shabby). That was Thursday. Saturday of that week we had her party at the neighborhood playground. A princess party, of course! We had a few pirates in the mix too. It was lots and lots of fun. Great weather and great friends...little planning, and even less clean up. Everybody really had a great time. Clockwise: Lauren, Madelyn, Eve, and John

There's Ellie with Grandpa Bucky again. I actually had lots and lots and LOTS of pictures of them snacking together. One for me, one for me, one for me, one for you :)

Our neighbor Summer. I think she's exactly 6 months younger than Eve. She's quite the princess too.

The girls decorated crowns and had earrings and magic wands. The boys had pirate hats, eye patches and swords, and decorated treasure chests.

Laura and Claire

Pirate John...Arrrrrr! He didn't look so intimidating after we noticed the glitter glue he used to decorate his eye patch ended up all over his forehead and in his hair.

Ellie and Summer. Ellie is a huge fan of the slide now.

Eve couldn't decide which princess to have for her theme and cake, so we chose them all.

Make a wish!

For some reason it's not hard for me to believe Eve is 3. Maybe it's because I've been through 3 with John so it didn't come as such a shock the second time around. Maybe it's because she's so sassy and independent and smart so she's just seemed like 3 for a while. Whatever the reason, it made it a little easier for me to play "Three is a Magic Number" without tearing up. I know there's no slowing this one down. She knows what she wants and takes care of things herself (then pitches a fit when she can't quite do it herself). She watches everything the other kids do, especially her older brother, and learns it all quickly. She's so full of energy and so funny. She's a wild woman to say the least. I have no doubt in my mind she's going to be the life of the party. She loves singing, enjoys dancing (but not as much as singing). She only wears dresses and has an obsession with her panties. She carries them all around with her, clean or dirty (which drives me crazy because I can't ever keep up with which is which). She knows every princess and almost every princess's song. She says she doesn't like super heroes any more...bummer. On the other hand, she's still incredibly rough and tumble. She's a little more fearful than she used to be, but when it comes to playing and roughousing she's no girly girl. She almost never stops talking or singing. She loves making conversation, even if it's solely for the purpose of making conversation. She loves water. She gets frustrated easily and blows her top fairly easily, but she's completely in control (ok, I'll say it in her birthday post...she's manipulative...or at least she tries). She rarely ever takes a nap any more, and often parties well into the evening while John is trying to sleep. Every now and then she still wakes up and crawls into bed with me to snuggle and I cherish it every time. She's very affectionate if she slows down enough. She has a very short attention span, but I think learns things quickly even when I don't think she's paying attention. She still scribbles, but attempts to write her name. It looks like an "E" with lots and lots of horizontal lines rather than just 3. She is very matter of fact when she's explaining things, which is hilarious in and of itself. She is one of a kind, for sure, and a face and spirit that we can't help but love. My sweet and crazy Evelyn Rose. Oh, and as far as her measurements, she weighed in at 34 lb. (80th percentile), and measured 39 in (90th percentile). I suppose she isn't petite anymore. No wonder all those dresses are getting short!

Baby Steps

It's always hard to say when a baby starts walking. It really is, most of the time, a process. I suppose it's like that with most milestones. Anyway, today I'm finally willing to say Ellie is a walker. I counted 20 steps made on purpose at the pool today. Really she was cut short by the edge of the pool. If it weren't for the potential of falling in, who knows how far she would've gone. Last night she made quite a few steps to get closer and closer to her spoonfull of chocolate ice cream. It's still not her chosen mode of transportation. She'd rather crawl or cruise, but if necessary, she'll take a few baby steps to get what she wants...especially if it's yummy!

Dinner Conversations

Back to Miss Sassy, she's quite the conversationalist. It's hard to know her intent. She frequently asks me, "Does Daddy have work tomorrow? Does John have school tomorrow?" Most of the time it's a stalling technique. Sometimes I think she just wants to start a conversation and that's all she can come up with. I remember John constantly asking what we were talking about, I think just to try to be a part of the conversation. A lot of times, though, Eve really gets involved in the conversation and it's so funny to hear such a little person having such a poised conversation. Almost every evening at supper she says, "So Daddy, what did you do at work today?" I'm not so sure she listens to the answer, but I'm always intrigued that John really does listen and often asks follow-up questions.
Eve's more in-depth conversations are with John following school. "So John, what did you do at school (gsool) today? Did you color? Did you play with play-dough? Did you paint? Well then what did you do?" It's particularly humorous because usually he doesn't really want to talk about school so he's very short with his answers. All the statistics about the number of words women use in a day versus men are very clearly exhibited in the back seat of our van. John likes to talk, but he's no match for Eve.

Raspberries

I don't know what happened to Ellie yesterday, but all day she was spot on with her humor. At dinner she had us laughing the whole time just by smiling the huge, squinty-eyed smile she does. Earlier in the day she cracked me up with her mimicking. She has started to do that a bit more. Eve way laying on the floor and I was on hands and knees blowing raspberries on her belly. She was belly laughing. I really think Ellie idolizes Eve and thinks she's really funny, so she tried to make her laugh too. She crawled over to the other side of Eve and was blowing raspberries into the air sometimes very close to Eve's belly, others a good 6 inches to a foot away, but always in the direction of Eve. She didn't quite get the point, but I thought it was so cute, she got a laugh out of me anyway.
Also, last night we had movie night. We move the couch to right in front of the TV and allow popcorn on the couch...it's a big deal. We haven't done it in a while, and this is the first time Ellie has actually paid attention. We knew she'd be after the popcorn, so we gave her her own little bowl. She immediately took a huge handful and put it right to her mouth! She was also engrossed in the movie for nearly the entire first half. After that she was distracted, but she certainly enjoyed the experience. At one point we had to pause the movie because she had been leaning back on John watching, but she turned around, looked him dead in the eye and just started "talking" to him. It was so funny. We paused it so he could avert his attention for a minute and talk back. She looked like she was having such a serious conversation with him. Once again, she had us laughing. I love these sibling interactions.

Sassy Ann

Before we had a name for Eve, we lovingly called her "Spicey Ann". Believe it or not, it's a family name from long ago. Judy (Grandma Bucky) misunderstood and called her "Sassy Ann". I blame her for every ounce of sassy this child has, and believe me...there's a TON!

One thing Eve has been doing for a while is walking in a room, putting her hand on her hip, and in a very accusatory voice saying, "Hey! Who's coming on here?" She means, "What's going on here?" If I answer, she just keeps asking. It's particularly entertaining when she's wearing some mix of sunglasses or princess attire.

Eve definitely knows what she wants as far as her attire goes, head to toe including (especially) her panties...which she carries everywhere with her and drags out of both the underwear drawer and dirty clothes basket.

Eve is very clear about who is pretending to be whom, how you should pretend, and when you should NOT be singing the related princess song. "Pretend I'm Tiana, you're Sleeping Beauty (or Sweeping Booty), John's not playing, and Daddy's Snow White...NO! You stop singing!" All of this complete with hand gestures flipping at the wrist, or pointing with a flip of the wrist.

When I took Eve in for her 3-year well check she was chatting away about this and that. Dr. Belvin was going through developmental milestones and mentioned that her speech sounded good, to which I replied, "She certainly practices enough." "Sassy Ann" only hits the tip of the iceberg.

But First...BALLOONS!

On the way home we had completely forgotten about Freedom Weekend Aloft until we crested a hill on the highway and saw these in the distance!

Perfect timing, we managed to catch a field full of balloons landing and dropping their ribbons for the target challenge.

The kids (and adults) absolutely loved it. OK, NOW we can go home. Unfortunately the kids were already in bed the next night when two landed in Mom's pasture. Bummer.

The Rest of Charleston

When we weren't at the beach, we were partyin'. After all, it was Eve's 3rd birthday! It might as well have been my birthday. Thursday night we started with dinner in Shem Creek at Vickery's. We sat just inside the windows, but this was our view. The view from the deck is breathtaking, especially when the sun is on its way down.

One of my favorite sights is a shrimp boat...for lots of reasons.

John snapped this picture of me and the birthday girl.

Eve got lots of pretty clothes for her birthday...for her and for her doll. She loves clothes, so she was thrilled.

Pretty bracelets from Aunt Michelle

We went to Waterfront Park to walk off dinner and make room for special birthday dessert. Buck and the kids were running and tackling too much to catch a good picture.

And then birthday cake at Kaminsky's! They even put a candle in it for her. What a birthday!

After we left the beach Friday we headed to the battery for a picnic, and of course, some cannon climbing.

Then, exhausted, we headed home. A quick but fabulous trip!