My Boat

Evy loved driving "her boat" this weekend. The water was freezing cold--we were shocked that she didn't mind and made her get out every 30 minutes to make sure her legs hadn't turned blue. Notice how we just have her tethered on a rope. No way were we getting in with her!

Scam Artist

Evy was being pretty lazy this morning and said to me, "Mama, I not feel really good." I said, "I'm sorry, honey, what hurts?" "My juice is hurting me."

Sounds serious, better see if I can get her into the Doctor.

Scenes from our Storm Shelter

[eating snacks in my storm shelter]

[Self-portrait. Yikes, mom you look rough!]

[Making a tower out of our couch cushions. Glad we didn't need them for anything else.]

[Pulling socks on and off is so funny! Big belly also caught in the picture]

When the first round of sirens went off around 2:30 Scott was at the golf course and Evy was napping in her room on our 2nd story. A quick check in with the local news channel showed I had a while until the storm reached us so I grabbed some books, snacks, radio and my phone and set up camp in the basement. I woke Evy up and we hung out watching the storm coverage for about 20 minutes. Then things started getting close so we went into our "storm shelter" also known as the 4 foot square shower in our basement. We stayed there for 45 minutes as we waited for the all clear. Unofficial reports say that a tornado touched down 4 miles south of our house. We pretended like we were hiding, we ate some snacks, snapped some silly pictures with my phone and read some books. I haven't seen a news update, but we are all clear at our house. Scott is all clear and moved inside to a local bar (!) for safety. Spring in the Midwest...

Brainwashed

When I woke Evy up this morning she tiredly rolled over, wearily opened her eyes and said, "Hawkeyes." The subliminal messaging loop we play in her room each night must be working!

Ghost Town

I work for a Big Ten University and my favorite times of the year are in August when the students return to campus, the town buzzing with activity and football just around the corner and May when they all leave for summer break, parking spots empty and downtown peaceful. Graduation was last Saturday which means it's time for the locals to come out of hiding for the summer. Yesterday, Evy and I took a stroll along the river, up through campus, and stopped at the library downtown. The weather was beautiful, there was no foot traffic, and Evy pranced along the sidewalks watching her shadow dance along with her. I think this will be part of our regular routine for the next 3 months.

Big Girl!

Evy has spent three nights in her new big girl room and bed. We owned a queen bed so we decided to just take the plunge and put her in the queen from the beginning. Doesn't she look so tiny?! For moving directly out of the crib into the queen Evy is doing a great job. However, it's taking us about 3 times longer to get her down at night and she wakes up between 5 and 5:45. Yikes! Once she is awake she will not go back to sleep. Scott and I are not the only ones who are tired, Evy's daycare sheet had her mood listed as "tired" and she slept the entire 2 hours at nap time today. Normally her mood is happy and her nap is a maximum of 90 minutes. Since I'm on a caffeine limit I'm really hoping we can extend that wake time until at least 6:30 very soon!

What a Circus!

There were a bunch of money sucking hooligans in town yesterday. Oh wait, I guess it's called a circus. Yes, we took Evy to her first circus! She loved the pony ride and pink cotton candy and said, "The funny clown was my best!" I think she meant her favorite. She begged us to ride the elephant but at $10 per rider we opted to find a different (aka free) distraction.

Cringing a little

Finding a summer shoe for Evy has proved to be a little challenging this year. She refuses to wear anything that has to go between her toes (like a flip-flop) and the Crocs I bought her this year hurt her feet--they do leave visable owies so it's a legitimate complaint. So, off we went to hunt for a pair of comfortable summer shoes. I didn't want to spend a fortune and I didn't want to go to 25 stores in search of shoes. I found these at Shoe Carnival and against my better fashion judgement I let her try them on. She liked them and even said, "They are comfortable!" So, I bought them. I do cringe a little when looking at them as I am not a huge fan of this type of shoe. But they will get the job done and I will get over it.

At the Car Wash

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Our neighbor Tom is constantly washing his cars. I prefer to just let rain "wash" my car. Today Evy told me she wanted to wash her car, like Tom.

Potty Party

Grandma Joan started the potty-training process on April 15 and since then Evy has only had a handful of accidents. We started out with sticker bribes after every potty but she only needed that incentive for about 5 days. She has mastered number 1 and number 2 (did I just write "number 2"?!?!?!) and is waking up with dry pull-ups after naps and in the morning. She was ready to be potty trained and is doing awesome! She is so free with her ability to "go" that we had a little incident in front of some friends this week. If we're outside I will let her go potty in the grass to avoid any accidents on the way back inside. So, she went potty in the grass and ten minutes later she told me she had to go potty again. While I was helping her she said, "Don't look at my poopy!" and proceeded to number 2 in the yard. I got a good scolding from Scott about letting our daughter go in the yard and we'll now be going inside for all potty breaks to avoid any further surprises!

First Ride of the Season

The marina called to let us know that they put our boat in today so we decided to zip out to the lake after work and take a little spin. We didn't need sunscreen or swimsuits. In fact, Evy had her coat and winter hat on by the end of the ride, but we still had fun. This is our first summer with a slip at the marina and we are very excited to have easier access to the lake. I took some really cute pictures with my camera but when I got home and put the disk in the computer they were gone. So weird. Scott snapped this photo with his phone just as Evy was taking a bite of her dinner. Happy trails!

Happy May Day!

Evy's buddies across the street delivered a May basket at 11:30 this morning. We could see them running away and later Evy said, "Thanks guys! That's a nummy treat!" So we decided to repay the favor and Evy tiptoed up to their front door and then ran back to our house. "Let's do it again" she said once we were hiding safely in our garage.