Jack Skellington is too Scared to go on Haunted Mansion

This year we tried something new. We went to Disneyland in November hoping to catch the Christmas decorations. We went at just the perfect time. Every day we would go in to find more of the park had made a magical Christmassy transformation overnight. It was fun to watch the magic at work. 

Evelyn was just at the perfect age to go to Disneyland. Everything was magical for her. She was a surprisingly good sport and went on all the rides despite being a little nervous. Every night at about 5 pm (because of the time zone change plus daylight savings) Evelyn would get tired and go back with Grandpa and Grandma. One night she exclaimed that Jack (her imaginary friend) wanted to go on the Haunted Mansion, so would I please take him? The next day she asked how he liked it and I said he was so scared he cried the whole time. (That was a little  revenge from her reaction to space mountain.) I will have Evelyn tell you about our trip.

Evelyn: 

We went to Disneyland by driving a long, long time. I got presents from Grandma Mary, of course, so that I wouldn't get bored. Mommy got me Littlest Pet Shop animals too. And I got a book from Grandma. Grandpa and Grandma came with us in our car. We had another car and the Hardmans were in that one; Sarah, and Abby and those guys. They're very fun to play with.

  We stayed in a hotel overnight and I let Sarah come in our hotel room and play with us. Then we drove to Disneyland.

  First we went on Star Tours, and it was super scary for me. I just couldn't believe it! There was a giant fish and it almost ate our ship. That was the scariest part for me. Every part was. I felt like we were in the real REAL Star Tours. And I thought we were in the real outer space too!

  And then we went on lots more rides: Small world (except that one was closed, but we got to go on it one day. ) We got to go on Haunted Mansion and I liked it except the part where the ghosts popped in with you--when the Oogie Boogie gave you yucky presents. I liked how I saw Jack and Sally. I love those guys so much! I play Halloween games sometimes, and they play with me. I know the song "This is Halloween," as well. We went one hundred and twenty nine times on that ride. In real life it was true.  Mwa hahahahaha!

  We went on mostly every ride. I just mostly liked Haunted Mansion. But I got three necklaces. I got a golden one and a green one I got them from the guys who played the banjo. They threw them to me. I broke my first golden necklace and it was a sad, sad day. Then Mommy gave me her green one, and I got another gold one.

   Pirates was a great game! It was adorable. I  loved Prates a long time ago, but I couldn't remember it very well. Just that they sang "Yo ho, yo ho a pirates life for me." It was very fun and cuddly. 

 

Small world was different. I liked it because it was all Christmassy. They sang "it's a smallworld" and "Jingle bells."

Pretending to be scared on Small World. Evelyn was nervous the first time going on almost every ride, I think that was my fault for taking her on Star Tours first. I had no idea it would be that scary!

 Grandma Mary got me a fishing game and I got a fun ducky. I names her Golden, and I sleep with her.

   Sarah was my favorite person to be with because I LOVE her! We got to go with Sarah and Grandma to Ariel's ride, and then Mommy took us to Bugsland and Haunted Mansion and Thunder Mountain, and we were so COURAGEOUS on that one.

   We traded pins for a long time; like a day or two. I liked mostly every one. Daddy got Alice in Wonderland pins. My favorite pin that I got was a halloween Minnie pin. Her hand moves and it GLOWS IN THE DARK!!!

  I even went on Splash Mountain and I was scared, because I went down down that BIIIG slide and all the little slides too. All the singing animals were pretty good singers. And "Will you please not eat me, alligator?" said the fox at the very end. It was very funny. I told Mommy I don't want to go on it again until I am a mommy like Mommy. But I got a sucker because I went on Splash Mountain and I kind of loved it, but I didn't really love it; it was kind of scary, so mommy got me my sucker because I was brave.

   Grandpa Dail took naps a long, long, VERY long time. And when he did that he would go out of Disneyland to the hotel. It was fun because me and grandpa played a game when we were first going into Disneyland and we talked about all the names on the ground.

  I saw Goofy and Mickey and Santa Claus. Goofy had a Santa hat on. I asked Santa for a white kitty that is a toy.

    I saw Marry Poppins, and Cruella and I saw someone else too, but I can't remember who it was. Ariel kissed me on the cheek! I got to talk to Crush, too. I asked him what favorite food he likes to eat. He said that green grass. I said my favorite food was sandwiches.

Finished!

I finally finished our Christmas stockings! It took a couple years, because I took a break last year to make my in-laws some stockings. But here they are!

And here are the ones I did for Michael's family:

Autumnumnumnum

I have to admit it, (now brace yourselves!) I hate Halloween. I am not a fan of the spooky or the all around selfish things children do on that day. Now having said that, I adore fall! All the vibrant colors, the harvest, the nip in the air, the out-of-season snow that makes you sing Christmas songs...I love it! I even like some of the traditions that have been paired up with Halloween, like dressing up in costumes or carving pumpkins.

Evelyn is old enough now to realize what Halloween is all about, and she is fascinated with all the spooky, gory, disturbing things that are everywhere. She wakes up occasionally by nightmares, but of course, when she is around scary things, she fills her mind to the brim with horrible images. So to refocus her, we've been filling our days with happy fall memories.

We started out by carving pumpkins. I know, it was way too early in the month for the pumpkins to actually last to Halloween, but who cares? Then you just get your jack-o-lanterns smashed on the street as gratitude for giving out treats.

Evelyn was so excited, but she was also extremely disgusted by the guts. We finally convinced her it was okay to get dirty, because sometimes that can be fun too. Prissy little girl....:D I certainly don't see much of the tomboy that we used to see in her all the time.

Watching Daddy adoringly!

Here's what her pumpkin looked like when we were done. We also got to bake up some pumpkin seeds. Mmmm!

Here is Evelyn with the fun fall leaves. She loves making fall bouquets with sunflowers and leaves, red berries from trees, and of course: dandelions.

What is fall without some good football?

Here is Evelyn getting ready for a costume birthday party: her first! She was Cat Woman.



And here she is for another birthday party: Grandpa Ray's!

We've also gone to a few non-haunted corn mazes. The best was McCoard's Mystery Maze in Provo. It was so fun because they had a farm animal mystery that you solve while you're in the maze.



The Funnies

Here are more things Evelyn has said lately that I will want to remember:

   After sneezing, Evelyn smacked her lips together and then remarked, "....Tasty!"  --We laughed so hard, now she says this after her yawns too. Fortunately, she still just says, "Excuse me" after her burps.

   We were staying at a hotel last week where we were all in the same room. Evelyn was getting ready for bed while we were playing card games. She started to say her prayer and in it we heard her say, "Please bless Mommy to be patient with Daddy when he is evil in their game."  I guess I need to be a better sport. :D

   Also while we were staying in the hotel, Evelyn walked in on me while I was dressing and exclaimed, "Wow, Mommy! You almost look amazing!"  I love how sweet she is.

Here are some pictures of one of our trips up to Ogden.

I have no idea what this face is for...

Little Queen Ragamuffin!

These are when we went to the Treehouse Children's Museum.

In the hotel room, and EXCITED!!!

Michael might be posing, but Evelyn really was terrified to sit under this dinosaur.



These were from the Dinosaur Museum in Ogden. Michael and I have walked around the outside of this park countless times since we were newlyweds, but we finally went inside!


Ma's Fixin's!

   For Summer School, we decided to do a restaurant! Little Fanna laid out the rules, and all week Evelyn earned fake money for her good behavior to spend at the restaurant. I made a special menu. By Monday, Evelyn had earned enough money that I felt she could buy whatever she wanted at the restaurant. ($95. I am pricey!) I was the waitress ("Ma") and "Pa" was a cook. We greeted Evelyn cordially at the entrance and gave her the menu. She ordered a Crepe-Cravin' Crepe, served with mixed berries, sweet vanilla yogurt and maple syrup. It came with a side of bacon and eggs. She also ordered hot chocolate. Then she did the activities on her menu while we baked up a storm. When her order was almost up, she came into the kitchen.

   "Excuse me, ma'am," she tugged on my apron. I turned to her expecting her to ask how long til her food was ready. "Where do you keep your bathrooms?"

   Evelyn loved her food (even though she couldn't finish half of it) and loved the whole experience so much, she didn't want the game to end. She even tipped great and gave me the full $95!

   

    We will probably play this game again, but let her be the waitress and Daddy will be the customer. I will be very interested to see her play the waitress.

   Here is Evelyn's newly painted room:  She wanted the whole thing a dark teal blue, but I couldn't handle that, so I just made half of one wall that color.



And here Evelyn is sleeping in her brand new BIG girl bed! It has drawers underneath it where we put all her toys, thus clearing out my living room. I LOVE this bed!!