Bobby's Sunday Summary

Well,  Susan already posted about most of our Christmas so there really isn't a lot to cover there.  It was fun, and actually fairly relaxing.  What wasn't all that relaxing was Saturday.  We had been planning to go to the temple Saturday for quite some time.  About two weeks ago Susan gets a call from a friend of hers saying that if Susan will help her wrangle her kids in the airport on their trip to Utah, flying standby, that she would be able to get Susan a cheap standby ticket too.  This meant that our normal trip to temple now required Susan to pack for a week+ long trip with Alice.  Add on top of that the lovely weather we had yesterday and well it was an exciting adventure.  We left at 6 a.m. so we could catch the 9:45 session.  Well about 15 min in we realized we had forgotten something important for Susan's trip.  We turned around, got it, and started off again.  The rain did not start out that bad, but after about an hour it was horrible.  The rain was not the worst part, it was the wind.  As I would go around a corner if a gust hit us for a split second it felt like we were going to slide off the road.  It never was dangerous, because we never really slid, it just felt that way.   We made it to the temple just fine, but to late to go on the 9:45 session. We decided that we would do initiatory instead.  Susan had some family names that she needed to get done, so we each went our separate way to get them done.  Susan got hers done fairly quickly.  I on the other hand had to wait and wait and wait, with getting one or two names done in between each waiting period.  They were short on staff, and there were about three sealings that day, so I had to wait for some of them to go through too.  After the first group of names I walk out and see a familiar face.  It was my brother in law.  They were in town visiting family and had a little while free so decided to go do some initiatory at the temple.  We had a nice conversation, and Susan was able to meet up with her sister too.  It ended up being very nice, and I think it must have been a little bit more then a coincidence. On the drive home I dropped Susan off at her friends house in Effingham, and drove the rest of the way home.  It was raining the whole way.  Luckily the wind had died down quite a bit and it was actually easier to drive after dark.  The reflecting strips in the road were much more visible through the rain then the road was in daylight.

Christmas with Alice (Take 2)

Alice's second Christmas *sigh*

Christmas Eve was a treat. We ate a ham dinner with Bill, Kristin, and Will at their house. Everything was delicious, and I was especially happy to share some of my own fruit and vegetable bounty from last summer: canned pears in the Jell-O, pickled beets on my salad, broccoli and corn from the freezer. After dinner, we talked about Jesus' birth and sang a few Christmas carols with the kids. Our plans for a live nativity fizzled when I realized I left all the dress up stuff at home. Oh well.

We did get to play "Black Box Audio", though, which was really fun. I just collected a bunch of free sound effects from the internet and put them on an audio CD. I played the sounds one at a time and the others had to guess what each sound was. A few things I learned from the experience: Bill has no idea what a baby sneeze REALLY sounds like, the sound of a burp is especially gross when disembodied, and the sound of an umbrella opening is the most impossible sound to decipher (even when you put the CD together yourself!).

For dessert, I had made some super nutmeggy pumpkin custard (not so delicious) and the Evanses prepared a pumpkin cheesecake (VERY tasty). The Evanses can cook for me any day.

We played more games and ended the evening with the traditional "first gift" opening. Alice was sad to leave, but giggling with joy when she finally saw her bed.

********

The next morning, Christmas Day, I ask Bobby to change Alice's diaper while I finish setting up a few things. Alice finally darts into the living room and notices all the new things lying around. She shows them to us one by one, then we hand her a stocking filled with goodies. She pulls out a banana and insists on eating it right then. Bobby and I try to explain that there are OTHER things to explore and open but she wants to eat. Now.

"Beh-fiss. Ni-nuhn. Na-nuh." (translation: I would like to eat breakfast. Please come to the kitchen and open this banana for me.) Breakfast is often the first thing on this girl's agenda.

So, off to the kitchen we go. Yum, yum. Then we head back into the living room where she pulls a couple juice boxes from her stocking. Not entirely sure what they are, she names them "yah-yah" which is Alice's version of "smurf." Digging deeper, she finds a miniature box of Trix. Bobby tells her it's cereal.

"Aa! See-yoh. Eat! Ni-nuhn!" (translation: Wow! Cereal! Let's eat it in the kitchen!) and she runs into the kitchen. She helps Bobby pour the whole box of cereal into her bowl, then she picks up each colored ball and tries to guess the color before popping it into her mouth. The only color Alice REALLY knows is blue. The rest are a little fuzzy. So, we play the colored ball game until Bobby and I can't stand it anymore. We want to open presents!

"Hey Alice, this game is fun, but Daddy and I are ready to open presents in the living room. Come join us when you're ready to open presents, too!"

We get up to leave, she shoves one more handful of Trix into her mouth and mumbles, "Ah done!"

And so the opening begins! Alice makes out with a pretty good haul:



Baby doll accessories (she put these to use right away): bottles with disappearing fluid action, utensils, lidded bowl, little blanket, stroller)

Matching dresses for Alice and her doll (sorry, Grandma Evans, we couldn't get the dress over her baby doll's huge plastic noggin. It's a perfect fit for Raggedy, though!). I love how Alice gets into a silly mood every once in a while. She knows she's being goofy and she laughs at her own silliness. It cracks me up.

Here she is with the whole haul. The wooden rocking chair was a surprise from me to Bobby and Alice (thanks to craigslist and a friend who refinished it for me at HER house so Bobby wouldn't figure it out). It assembles like a puzzle, too, which makes it fun for all ages :) Alice has a pen light in her hand (she digs flashlights), some kiddy flossers, juice (as soon as she realized what it was, she chugged both boxes in sequence with only a few breaths in between), dry cereal, fruit snacks (also gobbled up in record time), a DVD and music CD from Grandma Poulson, some Christmas books (pictured below), and a season pass to the children's museum in town. Yippee!

Alice munched on Trix all morning. We made masks and crowns out of paper plates, watched a movie, ate a snack (she asked for black beans), gave her a bath, quiet time, lunch (spaghetti, olives, green beans, orange, more banana), more baby play, hide-and-seek, reading books, dinner (tortilla, cheese, carrots, a couple tastes of beef, lots of lime Jell-O with pears), and play time with the grandparents via video chat. What a day!

I'm tired. Good night.

Our family portrait this year

Secrets

Alice and Will are sitting at the little table in the kitchen. I'm bustling around nearby doing dishes. Will turns to me and asks quietly, politely:

Will: Susan, can you go away?

Me: Uh, sure (curious, I leave the room for a second and listen)

Will: Alice, I love you very much. I want to hug you.

Alice doesn't respond. Will doesn't do anything more. Relationships can be complicated.

The Dress! The Ball! The Art of Being Girly!

I am NOT a girly girl.

And yet, when I open a special package from my mom and see the PERFECT ball gown, I can't help but squeal and dance on the spot. My poor friend who is visiting me at the time sits helplessly on the couch while I model the dress and chirp about the perfect ribbon to accessorize this charming dress.

(Who needs a Fairy Godmother when you have a REAL mother who sees your pitiful plea on your blog and calls you minutes later from the fabric store with a pattern in hand and three fabric choices? Not only does my mom create the dress within hours, but she sends it overnight so I will have time to add the finishing touches. Wow! I guess love can be pretty magical, too :))

The finishing touches consist of a hem and a ribbon, and suddenly I realize that neither of those items are on my "done this before" list. Yikes! Then I receive a sad phone call from my friend confirming that the weather and road conditions are FAR too treacherous for her to travel here.

*gasp* *sob*

I will be going to the ball alone?! In an unfinished dress?!

No way.

I call my friend Marianne and beg her to come. She says she is delighted to attend with her husband Albert and I can even use her sewing machine to hem my dress!

I pop over to Marianne's house where she teaches me how to do a hidden stitch...or a hidden hem? Something like that. Pretty cool. Then she pulls out some ribbon for my dress and voila! The dress is complete! I still feel like something is missing, though, and I'm a little embarrassed to say it out loud. It's lucky for me that Marianne could pick up on my subtle hints and offer to braid my hair.

(Y'know, I've never been attracted to the girly arts. And they ARE arts. Fashion, make-up, braiding, friendship bracelets...all those things you learn at slumber parties and Girls Camp and late nights with college roommates...they've never appealed to me. I've never even missed them until that exact moment when I wanted to be girly and didn't even know how to ask.)

When Marianne finishes braiding my hair into a neat little crown and ties it with a loopy ribbon, I squeal like a girly girl and leap about her living room. I have never been so happy to be so girly. I may have startled her a little.

Dress: gorgeous

Hair: perfectly girly

I'm ready for the ball.

A friend comes to stay with our sleeping Alice while Bobby goes to watch Marianne and Albert's two kids. We arrive at the ball just as the one-hour "warm up session" for beginners ends. Erk. I notice people dressed in all sorts of period costumes. Anything from Jane Austenesque to Shakesperean to Captain Jack Sparrow is fair game. I think the common theme was...uh...any time period when women wore corsets.

We notice there is a printed program for the evening and have a look. Each dance is listed in order with descriptions like "triple proper longways" and "duple improper longways"...Marianne, Albert, and I look at each other with wide eyes. My stomach sinks. I groan to myself, "I am in WAY over my head. What was I THINKING?! This is the 14th Annual Christmas Ball held by the Central Illinois English Country Dancers. How could I possibly delude myself into believing I would have fun as a total novice?! A partnerless beginner?!" I feel myself emotionally inching towards the door and plotting ways to hide in the bathroom until it's over. "That's absurd!" I scold myself. "Just have fun. Let go of the anxiety and decide to have fun. Forget what anyone else thinks. Make this a night that you will want to remember."

Marianne suggests we sit out the first part to try and learn by watching. Albert and I heartily agree. Then we see the first dance is called "Grand March" and decide that a march can't be THAT impossibly complicated. The musicians warm up and the couples form a line. I team up with the first woman I see for 3 reasons: 1) I'm a gutless wall flower pretending to be okay with the idea that I'm at a dance without a partner, 2) I'm too shy to ask one of the available men to dance something I've never danced before, and 3) there are a few more women than men and the woman asked me first. Whew! Just before the dance begins, however, a couple men walk in and ask us ladies to dance.

A grand March can't be that complicated, right? Right! It's wonderful! A perfect warm up! It's a big game of follow-the-leader. You glide about the room in two circles and the couples shuffle like cards in a deck. At certain points, the couples join arms so that you are 4 across, then 8 across, and then you break up into a long chain that swirls and spirals around the room in time with the music. I find myself laughing the whole time!

At the end of the march, people start lining up for the next dance and we three sit down with the intent to learn by watching. One of the regular dancers, however, tips us off that the easy dances come first and we should get into the action now if we want to learn. Up we go to find our places. I ask another partnerless woman to join our group and the dancing begins. It's easier than you think. They teach each dance before you dance it. They don't expect you to know ANYTHING beforehand. My anxiety dissolves instantly.

This form of dancing is particularly social. You are dancing with other people much more than you are dancing with your partner. It's a team effort. Each dance, I find myself bonding with the other people in my line. The pirate couple is particularly fun to dance with because they are the most chatty and lightfooted. Someone takes pictures the whole time we're dancing. Maybe they will post the pictures to their website so you can see it "in action" with so many people.

We dance and dance and dance until it's time to go home. Here we are at the end of the night:

I had a great time, though I missed Julia. There were a couple tall, dark, and handsome guys I would have loved to set her up with...one even had smoldering eyes! Now we have a whole year to work on our outfits for the next Christmas Ball. Gloves, my dear! And the gossamer shawl! And the finery! Uh-oh, I feel another girly squeal coming on.

FYI, I am NOT a girly girl. Usually.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week has been a crazy week whether wise.  We have had feezing-rain, snow, and a few false alarms, oh and an anniversary too.  The worst of the whether did not hit us directly but we have certainly been effected by it.  I took last Wednesday off to celebrate our anniversary.  We drove over to Indiana to go to the Beef House for lunch.  It was a lot of fun.  The next day I worked from home.  The radio was saying that we were going to get freezing rain in the afternoon, and Susan needed someone to watch Alice in the morning.  We both of those reasons ended up being a bust.  Susan found someone to watch Alice that wasn’t me, and the rain did not show up until much later in the evening.  The next day I thought about staying home, but Susan decided for me that I would be going to work.  Apparently I am a bit of a distraction when I am home.  The roads were not too bad, and almost no one was on them so it was not bad at all.

Friday night however ended up being very bad.  They had been predicting bad things all day Friday.  Well we got some snow and slush but nothing too bad.  Then a cold front moved in.  We have been below freezing ever since and there is about a 1/3 of an inch of ice over everything.  Unfortunately, even though the storm did not hit us very hard it prevented Julia from coming to visit us.  That meant at the last minute Susan had to find someone else to go to the ball with, and we had to come up with quite an inventive babysitting arrangement.  I will let Susan blog about the details/pictures of the evening though.

*sigh*

If it were at all possible, THIS is what I would wear to the ball on Saturday. Any Fairy Godmothers out there looking for a new maiden in need?

(dare I even blog about it?!)

(I'm writing this post in parentheses because it's kind of, well, revealing. I type it in a hushed whisper with a little smile on my face, still debating internally whether it's something I really want to share, and yet being TOO excited to keep it all to myself. Okay, I'll share.)

I'm going to a ball! A Christmas Ball thrown Pride and Prejudice style...English country dancing. Bobby has opted to stay home, dear man. He humored me many months ago when I planned a group date to an English country dance class. Dear, sweet man. He sure does love me. This time, Bobby is staying home with the babe and I am attending the ball with my Pride and Prejudice buddy, Julia, who will be in town this weekend. What fun!

This is not a side of me I indulge in often, nor is it something I make known to many people outside my old college buds, but I do love a good country dance...

"It is your turn to say something now, Mr. Darcy. I talked about the dance, and you ought to make some kind of remark on the size of the room, or the number of couples." (Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 18)

Bobby's Sunday Summary

We did quite a bit this week.  At work we have been finishing up a project.  We do that a lot, but this was a rather big one and a significant milestone.  Also in the middle of the week there were layoffs.  I don’t know if any of you were following it or not, but we are fine.  I still have a job, but a lot of people I know and have known for many years were not so lucky.  It is very difficult to remain concentrated on getting the project done when there are layoffs happening all around you, and you just don’t know what is going to happen.  I think we did a good job though and we got it done well enough by Friday to meet our goals.

Friday night the ward had their annual Christmas party.  It was a lot of fun, even though I had a headache the whole time.  Alice liked running around the gym with her friends, but she didn’t really like Santa all that much.

On Saturday we were originally planning to go to the Temple, but decided that it might be best to go later in the month instead.  After the party we were both feeling very tired and a little bit sick so we decided it was a good idea to stay home.  Saturday morning I woke up with a headache and Susan woke up with a stomachache.  It is no fun being sick.  I took some aspirin and we piled in the car and went to the Family History Library because one of the workers was also sick and it was the other workers first day.  I got to stay and train the worker while Susan went off to run some errands.  Well it turns out Alice wasn’t feeling very well either and had a huge meltdown in the car so Susan never got to run the errands.  After lunch I offered to take Alice and run the errands while Susan took a nap.  We got to the gas station, our first stop and by the time I had filled the tank Alice was out.  So I had to turn around and bring her back home.  She slept for nearly two hours.  We eventually got almost everything done that we wanted to, but it took all day long, and was nothing like the temple trip we had originally planed.

Leaf-throwing Movie

Ha, ha, ha! I just ripped this from Bill and Kristin's blog. Kristin took the movie on Thanksgiving, but here it is now because I love remembering how fun it was. If you follow Alice, you can see her take a handful of leaves over to the garden.

[flv width="400" height="300"]http://evansfamily.powweb.com/movies/2008/leaves.flv[/flv]

All things 'baby'

Okay, I'm finally willing to admit that Alice may have a thing for babies. She plays with her baby most of the day. If not actively feeding, changing, dressing, napping, walking, or dancing her dear Baby, she's got him/her clutched under her arm while she plays other things. Baby gets his/her diaper changed before she does. In her Nursery class at church, she collects baby dolls. When we pull out our flannel board story, she grabs the baby and keeps him in her sweaty palm all day, gleefully squealing "baby!" at regular intervals.

I caught her flipping through the December issue of the Ensign which is chock-full of baby pictures...baby Jesus, families in need, etc....and pointing out all the babies.

Real live babies are interesting, and she'll let us know if there's one within 100 yards, but she doesn't try to play with them. Good thing. She can be a little TOO nurturing, if you know what I mean. I'm excited for Alice to meet her upcoming cousins (due in Feb and Mar) and curious to see if regular baby interaction will change her enthusiasm for the game.

Expressions

Alice has developed a serious case of "camera face." Please don't be alarmed. I'm told it's pretty common and it's not permanent, but it may have residual effects. We'll just have to wait and see. Until then, please enjoy the same goofy grin in every Alice photo from now until junior high. Ham it up, babe.

I wonder where she gets it???

FamilySearch Success

I did it! I actually used the new familysearch program to prepare some family names for the temple! It was easy, it was unexpectedly fun, and now I have a lot of work to do. I submitted 16 names from my mother's distant relatives born 1850-1880 in North and South Carolina. With only one temple trip a month (we go to the St. Louis, MO temple which is a 3-hour drive from here), it will take me 8 months to complete the work, but what a treat!

Knee-Jerk Response

Ashley and I braved the freezing rain and ice this morning to get to aerobics at the church. Kids in tow, as usual. I stepped onto the sidewalk and promptly slipped onto the ground, wrenching and crunching my left knee. It didn't feel that bad at the time, and I was able to do aerobics like usual (though I reduced the impact when I could, just in case). Now that I'm home and sitting for a moment, it's getting less and less comfortable to move it. Eeek! It feels swollen and stiff. Let's see what a little Tylenol and a quiet time will do.

P.S. Many thanks to the Barney family for sending us a half pound of See's Truffles! Mwah-ha-ha-haaaaa!! May this be a holiday tradition that lasts into eternity :) Alice will certainly never be the same...

"What's that, Daddy?"

"Oo, mm, augggggh. The chocolate is exquisitely rich and flavorful. It melts like a dream. And the fondant flavor is so fresh! So lively! Hypnotically delicious."

"Got any more?"

Parties on the mind

Two themes for this evening's musings: Mary's birthday party and the Yahoo Christmas Party.

Mary just turned 3 years old and Alice was invited to her birthday party. This was Alice's first official invitation to a non-family birthday party, so I was wondering about protocol. Are the parents invited? Do we stay for the whole thing? Is it okay to take pictures? How long ARE these kid parties anyway? And then there's the gift...uh, what do we give a 3-year-old?

We decided that only I would go with Alice. Half the parents stayed, half the parents left. Marianne and Albert had a whole series of fun and inventive physical games for the kids to play. They played a version of musical chairs where the kid who ended up without a chair actually won a little card with an animal on it. When everyone had cards, Marianne would give clues to describe a certain animal. If that animal was yours, then it was your turn to give Mary the present you brought her. Kind of a fun way to do things, I thought. All very positive. Unfortunately, the present we brought for Mary wasn't one of those "fun-to-unwrap" sorts of gifts. It was a "free pass" to an indoor playtime put on by our local park district.

Alice didn't seem to understand the games, and she often wandered over to the toys in the corner, but she had a great time all the same. She sat patiently for cake and ice cream, then attacked her plate with her hands once it arrived. Alice recently decided she doesn't like her hands dirty, though, so it was quite a process to grab a handful of cake, eat it, wipe her hands on her pants, and then go for another bite. She decided to use a fork after the first couple bites :) Smart girl.

Bobby has already touched on the Yahoo party. A strange thing happened in the middle of the evening, however, that I'd like to ponder a bit. I was sitting there eating dinner when suddenly it struck me...Where am I? Am I in Utah? No, I'm in Illinois. This feels SO MUCH like I'm in Utah! I even had to ask Bobby which state we were in.

Now what on earth could have triggered such confusion? I thought about it a moment and then realized it was the people drinking alcohol that had reminded me of Utah. As an undergrad at the University of Utah, I worked in a neuroscience research lab. It was a pretty cohesive social environment. We spent a lot of time together as a lab working days and late nights, camping, traveling to conferences, hiking the Tetons, skiing, going out to birthday lunches, etc. At all of the after-hours functions, there was alcohol. My coworkers drank responsibly and they respected my choice not to drink, but alcohol was ALWAYS involved.

When Bobby and I moved out to Illinois, the school environment was very different. The lab was different. Alcohol consumption all but disappeared from my view. Suddenly, at this Yahoo dinner, I was once again surrounded by people casually enjoying their alcoholic beverages with friends. It was intensely familiar and freakishly foreign at the same time. No other experience throughout my 5+ years here in Illinois has stirred up that kind of memory and confusion. How can it be that alcohol reminds me of Utah?! Of all places to connect to alcohol?! I'm still boggled by the realization.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week was a very busy week.  It started out with Susan taking a trip to Effingham.  Susan already posted a bunch of pictures and movies about it, and well there really isn’t anything that interesting or exciting about me sitting at home on a Monday evening so I will leave it at that.

Yesterday Yahoo! had their annual holiday party.  It was a lot of fun, but a little awkward as all of these parties tend to be.  We are not very social people, so sitting around with a bunch of people that I know half of, and Susan only vaguely recognizes that same half is quite a bit out of our comfort zone.  Add to that some of the stress that layoffs are going to be happening in the near future, possibly even this week, made it even more awkward.  But it ended up being very fun.  The food was wonderful, and Susan and I got to spend some time together so it turned out to be very good.  They also had a bossa-nova band play towards the end of it.  I was a little disappointed that we did not stay longer, but we needed to get home so we could drop the baby sitter off.

Why Alice loves to play at the Demers' house:

1. Exploring the train station.

2. Riding on the train to get there

3. Playing new games! Kelsey spilled some water on a bucket and found a fun way to clean it up.

[flv width="400" height="300"]http://evansfamily.powweb.com/movies/2008/SippingWater.flv[/flv]

4. Family Home Evening

5. Jordan, Spencer, Kelsey, and Cody.

I really ought to tie a camera to my belt loop...

Thanks to Kristin and Bill for taking most of these pictures I'm posting. I was about to pilfer these gems from their own blog, but Kristin was kind enough to send me the originals. Yay!

What a weekend! A flurry of activity, but not too busy. Heaps of delicious food, but not too rich. Lots of time with friends and family, but not too much. Bobby got Thursday morning to himself while Alice and I had fun at the Family History Center doing some administrative stuff...and a little of my own research, too...this kid has the patience of a saint sometimes. Then we ran laps in the church gym and I actually enjoyed it. With the cold, wet weather I haven't been very active lately. It felt good to get my heart going again and play with Alice at the same time. We played dominoes with the Hatch family as they prepared for the Thanksgiving party at the church, then went home again to start cooking the turkey.

Alice had a long and pleasant quiet time. We've started giving her books and her "baby" to take to her crib with her. She plays for half an hour, sleeps for an hour, then plays for another half hour. It gave Bobby and me plenty of time to work on our own projects. He was writing a software program to get the scriptures on the new Google smart phone and I was going through the "Last Will and Testament" records of some of my 1850's family from the Carolinas. Fascinating read! And to think they were just sitting around in the UIUC library this whole time!

Thursday afternoon, Bill and Kristin and Will came over for Thanksgiving dinner. Alice adores that sweet, bouncy, enthusiastic kid. They giggled and made faces at each other all throughout dinner, copying sounds and facial expressions, chomping on bites of food like dinosaurs. I had a great time just hearing them laugh. My pickled okra was WAY too spicy. My pickled beets were just right.

After dinner, I raked the backyard to make a pile of leaves. I wasn't sure if the kids would like it, but they did! Will took running leaps. Alice trailed behind, copying his every move and sound. Then we threw leaves into the air and all over the place. It was the most fun I've ever had with a pile of leaves. You can't see it in the video, but Will and Alice were all smiles when the leaves and dead grass would rain down on them. They dumped it on their own heads and threw it at other people.

Alice collected handfuls at a time and ran it over to a secret place by the garden. She made a little mound of leaves right where she used to pick tomatoes. I smiled a sad little smile remembering that spot just a couple months ago...wondering what Alice was remembering about it.

We came back inside for dessert and then the kids watched a movie while the adults played Phase 10. Bobby called his parents but they weren't home. We hypothesized regarding their whereabouts...snowmobiling, visiting the sick and afflicted, screening their phone calls and hiding from their kids. I suggested they ran off to see the guys with the white tigers. Bill thought I was referring to some new neighbor of his parents who somehow began to raise white tigers in Idaho Falls. I tried to give more details:

"What are their names?! They've got white tigers and a big show in Vegas and one of them almost died when the tiger attacked him..."

Kristin, a psychology major as an undergrad, pipes up, "Oh, is it Sigmund and Freud?"

"Yeah! That's them! Your parents went to see THEM!"

Bobby says, "You mean Sigfried and Roy?"

I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. I'm still laughing out loud just writing about it! Maybe we were drunk on turkey, but we laughed SO hard and SO loud that Alice and Will shut the door to the TV room so they could watch their movie in peace.

Friday was more quiet time for the whole family. I got to spend a couple hours at the Family History Center with those "Last Will and Testament" abstracts. We played games, napped, and generally enjoyed ourselves. Friday evening, we decided (a bit last-minute) to head down to my friend's house in Effingham for the night. She and her family were out of town, but they said we could sleep at their place so we wouldn't have to drive as far to the temple on Saturday morning. We ate dinner at Niemerg's Restaurant, which was exactly what I was in the mood for that night. Lots and lots of gray-haired folk had gathered there and Alice pointed and announced loudly at each one, "Ma-mah!" or "Bah-pa!" depending on the gender of the accused.

Saturday morning, I realize I did not pack a coat for Alice. Sheesh. I need a professional person to pack for me. We got a late start on Saturday and managed to leave my friend with a messy bed, dishes in her sink and our lunch in her fridge (that'll teach her to think twice about inviting us over again). We met Bill, Kristin, and Will there. As Bobby mentioned earlier, Kristin sacrificed her coat so Alice could go on a walk with Will.

Later, while I was watching Alice and Will, we went to the grocery store to pick up things for lunch. I like having more than one kid to wrangle for small doses of time. It's kind of like training for a larger family in the future. I get to test my parenting skills on two different ages while gaining MORE appreciation for all those parents out there who do it 24-7. We used the grocery cart with the car on front (and 2 functioning seat belts!). Except for a hunger-induced meltdown at the register, we did pretty well.

Sunday was like most Sundays except we had the first real snow of the year. Bobby invited Alice to join him outside and she agreed. We bundled her up in her snow suit, gloves, and hat and she just stood there watching. I think it's the hypnosuit affect again.

[flv width="400" height="300"]http://evansfamily.powweb.com/movies/2008/AliceSnowBobbyShovel.flv[/flv]

And so ends this epic blog entry! Thanks to those of you who saw it through to the end :)

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week was a fairly normal week, nothing too out of the ordinary happened.  Just kidding, it was actually a very busy and rather family centric week this week.  The most obvious thing that happened this week was Thanksgiving.  I got off work a little early on Wednesday and I haven’t been back since.  We spent most of the vacation at home.  It was very nice and relaxing.  We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with Bill, my brother’s family.

Yesterday we made our monthly trip to the temple.  We actually left Friday night and stayed at a friend’s house closer to the temple.  But in the spirit of our last trip we decided to go at the last minute and ended up leaving some important stuff at home.  It wasn’t too critical but Alice got the brunt of this one, whereas the last trip she was left relatively unscathed.  We left a number of Alice’s toy’s at home.  This is problematic for a very long car ride, and especially so when it is two long car rides one right after the other.  We also forgot to bring her coat.  Luckily we were meeting my brother Bill at the temple to switch off baby-sitting and Aunt Kristin was kind enough to lend Alice a coat way too big for her so she could play outside with her cousin.  Sorry there are no pictures we also left our camera at home.  When we get the pictures Bill took we will post them.

Other then that it was a fairly normal week where nothing too much out of the ordinary happened.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Hey, I don't want to steal any thunder from Bobby's AMAZING Sunday Summary this week, so I'll leave the details to him and just say it was an awesome weekend. Better in so many ways from what I had planned or predicted. I didn't get bored once, I got to try a few new things, and there was oodles of quiet time. So happy!

Mmmm, whipped cream.

Ah, the opera

As Bobby mentioned in his Sunday Summary, we were in Wisconsin last weekend visiting a friend of mine. We drove up Friday night (Alice slept most of the way and Chicago traffic was kind to us) and spent the night in her cute house. Bobby was kind in his summary, neglecting to mention that I volunteered to do ALL the packing this time and FAILED miserably. Namely:

• I packed TWO toothbrushes for Alice but absolutely no underwear for myself.

• Plenty of diapers, but no wipes.

• Travel shampoo, floss, and extra socks for everyone, but not Bobby's electric razor.

• I meticulously packed complete church outfits for all of us, including shoes (I was so proud of myself for remembering to pack the Sunday shoes!), and forgot to put THAT particular bag in the car. Julia had some clothes we could wear but Bobby had to go to church in jeans.

The food this weekend was excellent! I love food. On Saturday, we prepared fabulous meals like cinnamon vanilla pancakes for breakfast, broccoli cheese soup for lunch, and a ham feast with asparagus, herb-laced mixed salad, and potatoes for dinner.

Saturday night, Julia took me to see Madame Butterfly. There's nothing in this world like a tragic opera! I was sobbing LONG before the end and couldn't collect myself until after the whole cast had taken a few bows. The man sitting directly behind us enjoyed it thoroughly, shouting "BRAVO!! BRAVO!!" at the top of his lungs throughout the entire applause period.

As delicious as the tragedy was, I enjoyed the ride home best. An odd couple in the parking garage elevator had rubbed me the wrong way. One look from Julia told me she felt the same. It was instantly like we were in college again. All the memories came back...all those years living together...I felt like close friends again. Reconnected. It made me laugh. We laughed and talked all the way home. We stayed up late watching MORE opera (Merry Widow this time, a comedy) and finally went to bed too tired to converse any longer. That was a good day.

I've got this crazy brain, y'know, that forgets all sorts of things. This odd little brain that remembers only snippets of entire years gone by and creates teeny snapshots of entire relationships. Without constant reminding, it eventually reduces all past experiences into a dull glow of general pleasantness or unpleasantness, no peaks or valleys of emotion remain. A blessing and a curse, to be sure. It was great to remember something so fully for once.

Here are a couple more pictures from our time in Wisconsin. Hanging out in our PJs! Alice was the only one dressed because her clothes get changed with the first diaper of the day.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week Susan did a number of fun things with Alice, but I will let Susan tell you about them, because I wasn’t there. But, as a teaser here is a lovely picture she took of Alice and Baby. I am not positive of the detail surrounding this picture, but Alice has been known lately to set up meals for herself and Baby or Mommy. I hope Susan can explain the rest of it.

Sure, I'll explain. We put the kid table in the kitchen a few days ago when our friends and their kids came to dinner. The picture above was taken the next day. Alice got the brilliant idea that Baby might want some "bef-ess" after his "nigh-nigh" in her crib. She laid out his gray blanket, arranged the dishes, and served him a meal. I brought out the kiddie seat when Baby kept slipping off the bench onto the floor. Alice LOVES the kid table (thanks Rachel!) and eats all of her meals there now. Tonight for dinner, Bobby and I joined her there. Fun!

This week we also went to visit one of Susan’s Friends from College. It has been a fun trip, and Alice has been very patient with the hours and hours of driving. We did manage to snag some pictures from her that are of the last time she came to visit us.

This was taken when Alice used to smile like Popeye. Her Daddy taught her that, you know. 

Radio Silence

I've been a little quiet lately. No reason, really, but I have lots of excuses :)

Alice starts to maul me as soon as I put the computer on my lap. If I wait until her "quiet time" to write, then I'm sucked into family history "mysteries" like finding any evidence of my great, great uncle's existence beyond 1860. I found a man with his same name, age and location who enlisted in the Confederate Army and died in the war a few months later. Is THAT guy MY guy? A mystery! "Addiction" is probably a more accurate description. It's always an exciting thought in the back of my brain, but not always the most exciting thing to read about on someone's blog. Y'know?

I'm tempted to plan a research trip out to the Carolinas, but I get the feeling that no trip will be long enough to learn all I want to learn about these people. Perhaps in a few decades when I've exhausted all the OTHER resources available online and through the Family History Center and my local library's interlibrary loan program, I can justify a trip out east. Maybe.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week was not that different form last week.  The one that we did not post a blog entry for because there really wasn’t anything to say and it made some people so nervous that they called. Because there really isn’t much to talk about and I want to avoid more calls from people who think we might be dead I will update you on some of the new things that Alice can do.

She can now open and close doors all by herself.  Luckily, not the front door but some adults that visit us even have trouble with our front door.  She has just started to be able to put together some simple puzzles.  There are some cloths that she can take off without any help.  This is mostly coats with zippers in the front, but she will take off diapers, and tee shirts half way.  And probably the one that makes her the happiest is that she can jump.  It is barely a jump.  Both her feet get about a centimeter off the floor.  But, she no longer falls down when doing it, and we have had to start implementing rules about where she can and cannot jump.

Belated Halloween Picts

Hooray! I managed to beg a few pictures from Crystal of Alice in her costume at the Halloween Parade. A few members of my community mothers' group (Mothers and More) met up at a local nursing home and went trick-or-treating in a parade-like-manner. Alice was tired and didn't feel like exploring much until she learned you were supposed to put these shiny bits of candy into a bag. She likes filling bags. Ashley and Crystal came along, too, which made it WAY more fun for me. Thanks ladies! Here are the picts:

And here are a few pictures from a DIFFERENT Halloween party with the Mothers and More group. They rented out a rec center that's associated with a Head Start program. The rec center puts out all the toys and cleans up afterwards. I took Alice and Will there to play.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

I don’t really have any pictures this week.  It is kind of ironic that we forgot to take pictures on Halloween, but we have a somewhat good reason.  This year on Thursday, the day before Halloween, we went to a trick-or-treat party at work.  Alice was scared., despite her love of candy and her yelling Daddy and Candy for 10 min. straight on the ride over.  When she finally got to the party she was too scared to even grab any candy from other people.  We got her a small bag of candy but she did not really have a good time, and it was so short we did not take any pictures.

On Halloween we almost didn’t even go to the party.  Alice was having a very bad day.  I worked late because Susan was babysitting and was going to pick me up on the way to the party.  When I called to setup the time for the ride Alice was in the background screaming the entire time.  In the car on the way over she was screaming the entire time.  She did not take a nap, and was very much on edge.  When we got to the party she calmed down and had a great time, but because we did not think we were really going to stay she was not in her costume and we did not bring the camera.  She did have fun running around the gym, coloring pictures, and eating dinner.  We did not stay for the trunk-or-treat because it was past her bedtime, and we knew what happened the last time.  Perhaps we will have to put her in her costume and snap some pictures.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

Most of this week was not too out of the ordinary. Our car started making some noises this week so we took it to the repair shop and got it fixed. We needed a brake pad and part of the brake itself to be replaced. It really wasn’t that bad at all especially because a friend loaned us a car to use while it was being fixed.

We also have had a little bit of stress with work. They have announced more layoffs. They say it will happen right after Thanksgiving. I am not sure exactly when but I am not too nervous about it. I think we will make it through without too many problems.

On a happier note Saturday was a very busy day, especially for Alice. Her cousin had his birthday party and it was a wild one. They had pizza making,

toys, and friends. We brought over our bounce house, which was fun for about 10 min, and then something even more fun took over.

Running around the park area behind the apartment, picking up leaves, throwing them down a drainage pipe, at each other, and at me. As this one is coming to do. Alice had a wonderful time. On the ride home we had to talk to her the whole way to keep her from falling asleep so we could change her diaper before a 2-hour nap.

The afternoon was busy. We had a lot of grocery shopping to do and we had to get ready for another party that night. This party was a Halloween party. At this party they had a doughnut eating contest.

[flv width="400" height="300"]http://evansfamily.powweb.com/movies/2008/Doughnut_eating.flv[/flv]

They had bobbing for apples,

pumpkin bowling (the ball is a medium sized pumpkin),

party games (I was a “bag of leaves” as the sign on my back stated and some how had to guess that with yes or no questions). Alice got to play all of the games. What’s more they had two babies there for Alice to “play” with, and candy. She was happy and wired until two hours past her bedtime, with no meltdown at all. Even when the babies lost it and needed to leave the room, she was calm and collected.

Susan's Addendum

My favorite parts of the day include, but are not limited to:

• Arriving 30 minutes early for a party because I failed to look at the time on the invitation. Oops.

• Little kids dancing

• Seeing the pure delight in those kids' faces as they threw wet leaves at each other.

• Preparing and delivering dinner with three good friends to 25 people.

• Watching Alice "help" her friend Spencer B (aka "Bonker") fingerwalk. It looked a bit like a ballroom dance lesson to me and Spencer wasn't very confident in his teacher.

• Winning the Ladies' Divisions of both the doughnut eating contest (thanks to Nathan J for the winning strategy there) and the Apple Bobbing contest (yes, it was hose water in a pool outside in the middle of October...bobbing rocks!). Rachel would be proud :)

Correction to "The Opera!" Post

Dude, it's been a while since I've seen a live opera...at LEAST seven years.

In my blog entry entitled "The Opera!" I fused two very different tragic romance stories into one story. Oops. The truth is, I love the music from "La Traviata," and I love the story of "Tosca". It is the tragic ending of Tosca that depicts "the subtle intrigue, the blossoming romance, and the bitter deception that culminates in the most striking finale I’ve ever witnessed on the stage."

Sorry to confuse you opera fans out there. It's clear my passion for the art outweighs my training in it :)

Bep, Nurn, Mump Mump

I was raking the leaves in our front yard this afternoon when Alice asked to "bep" me. I handed her the rake and she moved some leaves around. Soon she discovered it was more fun to crunch and jump in the pile than it was to wrangle the rake. I kept raking, though, and she came back to me every few minutes asking for her own "nurn" with the rake.

It came time to fill the leaf bags and she wanted to "bep" there too. She was too short to reach the top of the leaf bag, so I plopped her into one of the half-filled bags and told her to smash the leaves down. She proceeded to "mump mump" as if she were in the bounce house. Then we took a few more "nurns" with the rake until she wanted to "min." I grabbed her ankles and spun her around and around and around 'till we were both dizzy.

Then she asked for a ride in the "crowlr" so we took the bike trailer out for a spin. When we got back, she asked for a "nack" and I didn't understand her right away. It's not a word she uses often and there isn't a convenient sign for it. She kept saying it louder and closer to me until I finally asked her to show me. She took me inside, got up into a chair at the table, sat down, looked me straight in the eye, and said "nack." Still not completely comprehending her, I asked, "Nack?" She sighed, put her fingers to her mouth and said "ee."

Ah! I gotcha!

When Bobby got home from work today she couldn't get enough of him. They played and played and played. She did everything he asked her to do...even a "niss" full on the lips to wake me from my pretend sleep. After all her kissing practice with a certain Nehnehr (aka Spencer), and her baby doll Nehnehr, her lips-eye coordination is just about 100% accurate. She even times her smacky noise just right so it comes just as she's pulling away.

Oh my.

Cold Frame in situ

Here it is! My delightful cold frame in its natural habitat! It looked a lot better when Denise assembled it at her house, but it wouldn't fit in my car without some disassembly. My handiwork (and confidence with power tools, and experience with larger-frame construction) is lacking, but apparently sufficient. The lids are composed of 2x2's with a layer of sheet plastic affixed on top and bottom (thus "double-paned"). They are hinged to the back with door hinges and extra hinges have been constructed into the main frame for easy storage during the regular growing season. The back is 16 inches tall and the front is 12 inches tall. Alice approves.

First Haircut...sort of

I cut Alice's hair in the back so that it was all one length. Now it accentuates her round little noggin. I like it. A lot. Now when people mistake her for a boy, they won't mistake her for a SHAGGY boy :)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The little handful of hair I cut off was so soft and fine that I actually hesitated throwing it away. That sudden attachment to something so seemingly insignificant caught me off guard. I wasn't sure what to do with it instead, but I was pretty sure NO ONE would, so I put it in the trash anyway. Now, every time I go into the bathroom I peek at the hair and remember how warm and soft it was when I first cut it off.

Sheesh. Being a mom sure makes you squishier and harder at the same time.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

Susan already posted a quite a bit for this week on the blog.  For the most part she covered just about everything, except for one event.  On Monday we did pumpkin carving with Bill and Kristin.  The batteries for our camera were dead so Susan grabbed the camcorder, which also will do pictures.  She snapped a few pictures with it, but also recorded a couple of movies.  Unfortunately, we have not been able to download the movies off of it because of some computer issues.  But we do have the pictures.

It was a lot of fun to carve it.  The pumpkin weighed more than Alice did.  We kept it inside the first night, but by Tuesday it had already started to go moldy.  We put it outside and the squirrels got it.

At least the squirrels are not eating the moldy parts I don’t really want sick squirrels around my house.

Yesterday we drove to St. Louis to go to the temple.  Alice had a good time for most of it, but was getting bored about an hour from home.  We had the camera, and let her play a bit, she got a lot of really good pictures, but I have included only one of them.

This is one of the few you can actually tell what it is (our car from the back seat if you couldn’t guess).

Negangard Pumpkin Patch