it’s come to this …

Alot has happened since my last post … school is officially out, I celebrated my one-year blogiversary, we now know the presumed democrat & republican nominees, and baby-girl is 5 weeks bigger!! 

Of course there’s a lot of things that haven’t happened yet … I haven’t posted end of school year pictures, after a full year I’m still not good at keeping up with this blog (only 80 posts in 365 days!!!), we still don’t know the name of the VP candidates, and we still don’t know the name of baby-girl (no where closer to a name)!!

So of all those topics, I’ll just pick up with the easiest one - end of school year pictures!  The last day was just a fun carnival play day.  WIth ball pits…

Moonwalks …

Lunch break w/friends …

And a little painting too …

Me:  Can Mommy have a kiss?  I don’t feel good.

Evan:  No

Me:  But why???

Evan:  Because my kisses are dangerous!

I’m not sure which one is more strange (or even disturbing) to me yet … 1) that I attended my first rodeo a few weeks ago or 2) that one actually comes to the town I live in!!!  Needless to say, it was rather “interesting” with plenty of sights.  My eyes just stayed on the cute little 2 year old cowboy!

He was in awe of what he saw …

But, to him, this was the best part & made every $ of that expensive entrance ticket worth it …

a 5 minute pony ride around a circle on a stick!

We currently have a gun, a horse, a replica Stevie Ray Vaughn hat, a pair of cowboy boots, a very loud & annoying motorcyle and a broom!!! 

Why?!?!  Because this is what happens to toys that have to be taken up after a certain little 2 year old can’t listen!! 

It’s been that kind of week!!

30 Minute Work-out … productive.

30 Minutes of Cleaning … productive.

30 Minutes of Laundry … productive.

30 Minutes of Blogging … fun & productive.

A 30 Minute Nap for a 2-year old … makes for anything BUT a productive afternoon for his mother!!

Curious George is a popular show in our household.  Actually not really popular with our entire household but definitely with one little 2-yr old.  I like George.  Evan LOVES George.  George can be educational at times, but primarily George is just curious so that means he gets in trouble alot.  Since Evan copies e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g that he sees that means he gets in a trouble alot … for copying George.   And unfortunately the ‘disclaimer’ at the end of each episode - “George is a monkey, so he can do things that you can’t do” doesn’t exactly cover it for a 2-yr old. 

For instance, George can jump on furniture - Evan cannot.  George can spill juice on the carpet - Evan cannot.  George can spill his food - Evan cannot.  Actually Evan ‘can’ do all those things (has tried them all plus more) but he just gets in trouble.  He’s quick to inform me though that he’s doing it “just like George”:).

 There is one thing though that I do let him get away with.  George can run around his house naked - Evan can too!

Yesterday we were supposed to go to an Easter Egg Hunt with my sister Staci at Nora’s parents house .  Evan had spent the night with my mom & dad (his Gami & Papa) so we went to their house to pick him up.  Unfortunately right before we got there he got sick to his stomach.  He had been sick on Wednesday but not another ‘episode’ until that Saturday AM - crazy!  So needless to say we didn’t take him to the Egg Hunt:(.

 We stayed at my parents for a while partly because we didn’t want to drive with the chance of another ‘episode’ and partly because it was my mom’s birthday & we were supposed to have a birthday dinner that evening.  Of course it’s hard to keep a two year old down - the second he thinks he’s feeling better he wants to run around again and this time was no different. 

My parents lost 6 or 7 huge pine trees in the storms early this week … it was crazy (more like a miracle) how they all fell without falling on the house!! Even my Dad’s squirrel feeder was standing up practically in the middle of all the downed trees not even touched.  So my Dad & brothers - Matt & Clint - were cutting the trees up & hauling everything off in their trucks.  Evan got to ride once or twice in the back of the trucks.

Aunt Staci came back from the Egg Hunt with a goody bag for Evan - full of stickers, coloring sheets, & eggs filled with candy!!!  He had alot of fun with that!

So after lunch we decided to ride on home & let the little guy get some sleep.  That night as I was laying Evan down, I started his prayer & he finished with this:

 Dear Jesus,

Thank you for Mommie & Daddie & Papa & Gami & Aunt Staci & Uncle Matt, Uncle Clint & Uncle Matt’s Truck & Uncle Clint’s Truck.  And thank you Jesus for the eggs.

Amen!

So earlier in the summer my friend Cindy told us about the pain & struggles of using luggage without wheels … basically all the reasons that luggage on wheels is such a beautiful thing!  But to my little guy, luggage on wheels is just the cool thing to do.  Here’s a visual for you:

 Tuesday, the first day of the little guy’s MMO/Preschool thingy (I’m not sure what to call it still), he asked where his wheels were … what kind of a question is that - I wasn’t sure & I didn’t get it.  Then today after I pick him up he’s carrying his cool lunch box & slowly walking behind me.  I turn around to tell him to speed up a little but instead I start laughing out loud … he is hunched over DRAGGING his lunch box on the ground.  He wanted wheels!!!  I told him through my laughter that he didn’t have wheels & of course he wanted to know why not!  It may not be funny to you, but it made me laugh so hard … how observant!  He saw older boys & girls wheeling their bags around so he wanted to know where his were. 

His cool lunch box probably has tears in the bottom b/c he wanted to ‘roll’ it out all the way to the car:)  I wish so bad I had my camera!!!

I know you’re probably tired of “little guy” stories by now, but what can I say - he makes up most moments of my life!! One of those moments was this week - his first day at MMO (Mother’s Morning Out, Pre-Preschool, whatever you want to call it)!

We had open house last week & he got to meet his teachers, see his classroom, play for a little while (with me still there) and just get comfortable with the place. He remembered all of that as we were driving into the parking lot & he was all smiles … he was excited to play with the train tracks & of course go outside on the playground. He was walking down the halls carrying his bag & really excited, until …

we turned the corner & I saw that his classroom door was closed (not a good sign for 2-year olds). I had a feeling this meant that at least one was crying &/or trying to escape. That one happened to be more than 1 (at least 3 or 4, but I think I lost track). That’s about the time that the “domino effect” hit the little guy & he too joined in on the crying action!! We said our short & sweet bye-byes & out I went.

When I picked him up, he didn’t see me at first but I saw him. He was happy, playing with toys & with other children … then he saw me. And then he started crying again - relief I guess, that I came back.

On the way home, he talked all about the playground & tracing his hand (you lay it flat … that’s what he kept telling me).

This is a picture of the ride home. Tomorrow is day 2 … only time will tell!

So earlier I posted that we were taking a Road Trip! We got in town after 9pm that Friday night because of the Labor Day Traffic, so our friend’s daughter was already in bed. Here’s a picture of the little guy & her the next morning after they saw each other for the first time … Evan was obviously a bit more excited than she was!!!

The drive to Charlotte was just a straight shot, nice & easy. And it would have been very uneventful had we not heard the little words “peepee mommy” as we were passing through little unfamiliar towns! Pep got the great idea to let him pee in a cup … why I listened to him I have no idea!!!! I’m usually more adament about something like that, but maybe it was because the little guy had to go so bad he started crying & we weren’t seeing any signs for the next exit, so I gave in. I was trying to keep safety in mind & didn’t want to unbuckle him, but let me just tell you, it was like filling a cup from the water fountain!!! The more peepee that went in the cup, the more that came out!!! Needless to say, we finally came to a great exit about 2 miles after the “water fountain” incident where we spent more time than we would have in the first place b/c we had peepee all over his seat!!!!

Our friends were great hosts & we had a lot of fun just hanging out. We went to a great park with water fountains & sprays for the kids, we had some great local food at Cabo Fish Taco along with some home-smoked ribs that were very yummy!!

The ride back was far less uneventful than the ride up … which was perfect!