Falling for Fall

   As most of you know, we have a kindergarten girl now! Evelyn absolutely loves school. And when I say she loves it, I'm saying you have never met a child that loves it more. The other day I asked her if she had a choice between going to school and taking another trip to Disneyland, she said, "Ooh, that's kind of tough...but I think I would rather go to school. Yep, I definitely would."  Whenever I want to bribe her into something I tell her, "Evelyn, finish your lettuce, or you can't go to school today." You wouldn't believe how fast those veggies are consumed! 

   She is learning so quickly too! She is able to sound out almost all the words in her books. I keep writing the letter combo "Ou" and wincing because every time she comes across that one, she has to pinch me, to make me holler what sound it makes. I didn't realize how much it took to teach a kid how to read, and how much the English language doesn't conform to it's own rules.

 Here is my fall project this year. I also worked on a Halloween wall hanging with owls dressed in costumes. I guess I am into owls lately. But I didn't finish that one, so I guess you'll get to see it next year.

 This is how Evelyn ran around looking all month. Seriously.

 My little puppy is getting so big! We all adore her though. And I am flattered that she has picked me as her favorite. It's not that I am anything special, but she loves me. It's nice to be adored. We all went up to Vivian Park in the canyon a few weeks ago, and we just dropped her leash and gave her freedom. Whenever Michael or Evelyn called her, she ignored them. But when I called, she came frolicking up, and she would follow me anywhere: whether it was on the child's playground or down the slide! What a cutie! She did develop a taste for going down slides. All I had to do was say, "One, two, THREE!" And she'd plunge headfirst down it. If I was still sitting at the top, She would desperately try to climb back up to me.

Here was Penny's Halloween Costume. Lol! She's the spookiest Minnie Mouse I ever saw! Michael thought I was nuts to buy a costume for a dog, but I told him she is my replacement baby, and then he quieted down. After we bought her costume, Evelyn decided she wanted to be Minnie Mouse too, so they could match.

This is Evelyn's pumpkin. Designed by Evelyn, Carved by Daddy-Boy. I thought it turned out rather nice. Though I don't know why she named it "Pene". (That's her way of spelling "Penny.") We carved it too early in the season though. About a week and a half ago Evelyn came in from taking Penny out and she was bawling! I asked her what was the matter and she exclaimed that her bat's head fell backwards into the pumpkin! If that was ten days ago, you can imagine how it looked by last night. I tried to tell her that her pumpkin was just getting spookier, but I don't think she agreed.

Here was my Halloween costume. It's the first time in years that I have actually really dressed up for Halloween. I thought it was fun to try and emulate Belle's hair. I thought it turned out pretty well despite that it's too short. The dress is so gorgeous and I was glad to find an excuse to wear it. It's a bit too flashy for church.

Here are our (OW!) twin girls. I wish we would have been able to find a matching red costume for Evelyn, but I suppose it's better this way so that you can tell them apart. ;) Evelyn is so funny with Penny. She is definitely having a harder time with this puppy training thing than Penny. She always wants to be a dog and she runs around dragon-style and gets Penny nipping at her, and we have to charge her money for the Penny-Jar. The other day I just got sick of the whole thing being so ineffective, and we grounded her from Penny that evening. A few minutes later, we heard Evelyn serenading Penny, "I love you so much, Penny, I would to anything for you! But I can't because I am grounded from you!" I thought it would make a great 50's love ballad.

   Elvis returned once again this year.  We had an extra great Halloween this year. Usually I hate Halloween: I am not impressed by the scary things, the gore, or the immodesty. When I tried to explain that to Evelyn at the beginning of the season, she exclaimed, "But why!? I LOVE Halloween!" I tried to help her see that there were good things and bad things about the season, and we tried to make it fun by focusing on the good things. Then for her scripture this month we worked on articles of faith number 13.

   Then all through the month Evelyn's enthusiasm carried the whole family, and I remembered how I felt about the season before I became aware of all the nastiness. By the time Halloween night came around all of us were just as excited as if we were the ones going trick-or-treating for the first time. (Evelyn only has done the mall, or just a couple houses in years past.) We went out for two hours and had had such a fun time! There were a few pretty scary experiences, and I was even grateful for that. When I asked Evelyn at the end of the night if she had a good time, she said, "Yes, but I understand what you meant about Halloween now." When I asked her what she meant, she said, "Most of it was fun, but I didn't like the scary parts and the selfishness. Most kids didn't even say thank you!"

    She is such an amazing little girl! I love that little one!

Penny-Penelope-Pug, Oh my!

This is our new addition! Why did we buy a pug puppy? Well in Evelyn's words: "We are adopting a baby. But I can't wait that long." Evelyn definitely needs companionship and practice being responsible. She's been doing a great job being a puppy trainer.


  We named our puppy Penelope, but we call her Penny. I think I have had the song "Pennies From Heaven stuck in my head for 3 weeks straight. It keeps me awake at night longer than Penny's protests at being put in bed.

   Really it's the perfect time to get a puppy. Evelyn is just old enough to be...well...mostly responsible and helpful. She even takes Penny out in the morning and plays with her so I can pretend to get more sleep. In the background of my snoozing I hear, "Penny! No! Don't eat my toes! No, don't eat the cords either! Oh, who's a good dog?! Who's-a-good-dog?! Yes, you are! Go get a toy! A TOY!  No, no! You stinker, Penny! Don't eat my toes!!!!" It's absolutely restful, I can assure you.

We've had so much fun with our pretty little Penny. She's a bright Penny too! We didn't think so at first because we bought her at seven weeks and she was dumb as a brick. But now we have found a little spark of intelligence and sheltered it and encouraged it. I had forgotten how tricky it is to train a puppy. Especially when the other people in your household aren't necessarily consistent with your training methods. It turns out to be a husband training session and a child training session as well. Luckily everyone around me is pretty receptive to training. (You want a treat Evelyn? You want it? Than tell the puppy to get down.) Here is some of our success:

Evelynisms

If you want to be like Evelyn you have to see the world from a different perspective.

EVERYTHING is better BLUE: from clothes to animals to your breakfast milk.

You have to be able to spell out short words in interesting ways: ie. "Joe" is spelled "G-O" And "to" is spelled "2-O".

Cheers and chants are fun. After the dinner prayer, eating is much more fun when you shout, "1, 2, 3: Good Guys FOREVER!"

You have to be able to make up 20 minute improvised songs about Jesus on the spot.

You know you are the cutest thing in the world, and put on an air of suffering during photo-shoots.

 You must think you are an adult and you fit right in, but you don't understand when adults get tired of playing your games.

Use big words like, "Particularly," "Monarch," "Scrumptulescent," "Cooperate," "Stubborn," and "Wardrobe." You get more points for using them correctly.

Everything is more enjoyable when you are a blue dragon.

Schedules are vital! --Except at bedtime, then they can be dismissed.

Songs are meant to be mixed up. For example, Frank Sinatra's "Chicago" is much better mixed with "I'll Love Ya Tomorrow" from Annie.

Shots may be a bit intimidating, but bearable. But slivers are downright EVIL! Never hold still when you have to get one removed. If you can scream higher than the piano can play, it feels better.

Be wary of strangers until you have exchanged names. Then, you're good!

 Maintain a list of Future Potential Spouses. And if the boy at the top of the list can't decide who he wants to marry most, win him over by playing nothing but Lego's with him.

When you write to a missionary, 'Dear John' him with your first letter and get it over with.

 If you are good at these few steps, you're on your way to becoming more like Evelyn!

Deep in the Heart

   This year for our family vacation we decided to do something a little different than Disneyland (mostly from Grandpa Dail's bellyaching about going back to California every year). We pondered and discussed what would be a great substitute for Disneyland. The answer seemed obvious. San Antonio, of course!

    Michael has been to San Antonio probably 3 times a year for the last couple years, and twice he was able to bring me along. But Evelyn and Grandma Mary had never been, and it had been over twenty years for Grandpa Dail, which was just barely enough time for him to be okay with visiting there again. 

   As a preface to this trip, let me just say that I ADORE San Antonio. There, now you know.

   Evelyn was adorable on the plane. She was playing with her littlest petshop toys that she got for Easter. She was having the sheep sing--opera. And she's good. Everyone around us were laughing at her, but after a while I took pity on their ears and told her to sing more quietly. Then while we were taxiing and waiting to unload, Evelyn decided to grace us with some of her original 5-year-old jokes. They consisted of "Why didn't the duck cross the road?  Because it was lazy!" And "Why didn't the squirrel climb the tree? Because it was a banana!"  Michael and I couldn't figure out why it was funny, but the people around us sure got the giggles. I still don't get it.
    When we got to San Antonio, we got right out on the Riverwalk; one of my favorite places in the whole world. The atmosphere is just wonderful. Especially when you're not distracted by oppressive heat. But the temperature was beautiful, when it wasn't raining.

   We took Evelyn and my mom to the Alamo the very first day. I really didn't think Evelyn would be very thrilled to be walking around an old building with lots of plaques she couldn't read, but I was surprised. Before we even went into the chapel, we sat her down on a bench and I told her the story. I didn't think she was listening very well, but she asked some good questions, and she was quiet and respectful when we were in the buildings. When we questioned her, she really understood the basic concepts: that a lot of men decided to die in order to give Texas time to gain it's freedom.--And that Davy Crockett was one really cool man. She's been really into cheers lately and she has decided that her favorite thing to shout out is: "1, 2, 3: Remember the ALAMO!!!" Except when she is playing the bad guys and then she chants, "1, 2, 3: Forget the Alamo!"

Dad was insistent we try lots of Tex Mex food, so mostly we ate there, but we had some Texas BBQ and Texas-sized brownies too. (If you ever go, you HAVE to order the brownie from Texas Land and Cattle.) Evelyn was anxious to go to the Rainforest Cafe. We obliged. Exorbitant prices, not great food, but fun atmosphere.  It balanced out that we were glad we went just to see Evelyn's excitement.



Great Turkey here :D



   Mostly we bashed around the riverwalk: going on a tour boat and watching the ducks. We also stopped by Market Square and we saw the IMAX movie they made about the Alamo. We were a little nervous about how Evelyn would do with the end battle, but she did fine. She was really interested in the story. She did bring up an interesting point though. "Mommy, I don't think that guy looks like a bad guy," she stated about Santa Anna. "Are you sure he's the bad guy?" I had to tell her that most bad guys don't look bad on the outside, just on the inside. Then I showed her how she could tell he was a bad guy because of the things he did.





Evelyn posing with "Cowboy Bob" whom we met in the streets of San Antonio. I love Texas!



   The last day we were able the go to Sea World. (Yes, in Texas.)  (No, I don't know how they got the whales there.) It was really fun. As my dad said, Everything is BIGGER in Texas, so if you ever go, prepare to walk a lot. We were all worn out by the end of the day, even though most of the day we were sitting in shows.



Me and my Papa-Daddy outside of Sea World. This was taken before we went in and our feet got all sore.



   First we saw the Shamu Show. I was a little hesitant about how much I would like it, because I have vague memories of when I went to Sea World as a 5-year-old--mostly of a seagull pooping on Kari's head, but also of waiting a lot to see the animals be disobedient to their trainers. So I had my reservations about this trip. The first 5 seconds of the Shamu show banished all that uncertainty. I had tears running down my cheeks when those majestic animals appeared. They were so responsive to their trainers, I couldn't help but marvel at the trust and affection they had.



Doing a flip

 

Singing



  I worried a little that Evelyn's memories would be more like my childhood ones, but they weren't. First off, none of us were pooped on. But second, she was extremely entertained. She loved watching the animals dance and squirt people. She especially loved the clown in the Beluga Whale/Dolphin Show.

 She got to see a BLUE bird. But she couldn't pet it. And then she got to learn the hand signals to train Blue the fish how to do flips, spins, and leaps into the air. She practiced them on Daddy, and it worked just fine. She hasn't gotten Blue to be very obedient yet.



Teaching Daddy how to wave his flipper.



    

Fishy Fun!

   We finally did it. --And it lasted longer than a week! It has been a whole month since we got Evelyn her new pet. A Betta fish. Of course, her fish had to be blue.
   Now, our little fishy has a bit of an identity crisis. You see, in our home it is tradition to name fish after piratey things. "You may ask where this tradition got started. Well, I'll tell you: I don't know." But we've had fish named "Galleon," and "Doubloon," and one more named "Twitch." (???!!) Anyway, Michael and I debated which name would be better: Jolly Roger or LeChuck. We finally settled on LeChuck. But you see, Evelyn would have nothing to do with it. She has a more practical turn of mind. She insists the fish is named "Blue the Fish." Not only that, but it is a girl. Because we all agree that a fish wouldn't come when we call it, we decided that we can call the fish whatever we want. Evelyn always lets us know that the real name is "Blue" and the nickname is "LeChuck." 
 Here is our Blue LeChuck Fish:

"Can I have more Fish Food please? Please-oh-please-oh-please?!?!"

  The pathetic part of this story is (no, I didn't kill it!) we are all in love with our silly little fish. We stare at it during the dinner hour and make observative comments about his health and coloring and personality traits. "Doesn't LeChuck look splendid today?"  "He is such a lively fish!"  And Evelyn has to wish it a goodnight every evening.  Really, I don't think I have ever had such an interesting fish.

Evelyn has asked me more than once, "Mommy, you aren't going to cook Blue, are you?" I can't help but tease her about fattening him up. He LOVES food. He begs for it constantly and eats until he pukes and then he eats more.

Here is Evelyn's beautiful rendition of our fish, LeChuck. ;)

When I read this to Evelyn, of course her comment was, "His name is Blue the Fish!"