Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week has been a good one. I took Friday off. I spent the day with Alice. We went to the swimming pool and we ran some errands. It was rather enjoyable. That night we drove down to St. Louis for our Monthly temple trip. We got a hotel for that night with Bill and Kristen. We were originally supposed to stay at the Marriott that is just a freeway stop away from the temple, but when we got there they were over booked with a world war 2 infantry reunion, so they payed for us to stay a few miles away at the Hilton. It was a nice place, but it did not seem that different from the other hotels tat we have stayed at. After going to the temple on Saturday we went to a children's museum. It was a lot of fun but it made for a very long day.

"Mom Bite"

As a kid, you never want to share food that you really like. We used to tease my mom about her "mom bites" that would always take more than we were willing to share, even when it was her hard work or generosity that made the treat possible. This selfishness doesn't go away when it's your own kid asking for a taste. Oh man. Alice isn't timid, either, about taking the largest possible bite she can wrap her jaw around. Especially when it comes to ice pops. The poor girl has given herself several brain freezes from her own ice pops AND mine. Hmmm.

*GASP!*

As if trying to sustain intimate eye contact with perfect strangers weren't awkward enough, try doing it half-naked!

English Country Dancing Pool Party!

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week has been very interesting. Thursday and Friday night we had 5 boys and a chaperone staying with us. They were attending youth conference here. They were extremely well behaved. They even cleaned out our gutters, something that I have been putting off. Friday night there was a bit of a tornado scare. The sirens went off and the radio was reporting that the national wether service said that a tornado was going to hit campus. So instead o putting Alice to bed we all sat huddled in the hallway of our house watching Sesame Street on the computer. It is one of Alice's favorite things to do in the whole world, so it made the siren not so scary. Luckily they got it wrong. The tornado did not form where they expected it to. Two tornados did show up from that storm about 20 miles away from us though. They passed about 2 miles south of a boy scout camp where the boys from our ward were at. No one was hurt at the boy scout camp but a power line fell down over the only road into or out of the camp trapping everyone inside.

This is significant because on Saturday Alice got to go to a birthday party. It was a lot of fun, but Susan was at the family history center so I got to take her, unfortunately I had to drop Alice off and spend the first half of the party picking up two of Alice's friends who were also invited, their Dad, and only car was trapped at scout camp behind a down power line. After I dropped them off I had to go switch cars with Susan because a there is no way in the world to fit 3 car seats in the back seat of a Yaris. There are some things you give up for 40 MPG. I did get back to the party in time to take a few pictures and movies

For dinner that night we had Guacamole with our burritos. For some reason Alice likes to eat it with a fork, or as can be seen below her hands

Today was father's day. Alice got me a tie, that I felt obliged to wear to church

We also made Icecream


[flv]http://evansfamily.powweb.com/movies/2009/making_icecream.flv[/flv]

[flv]http://evansfamily.powweb.com/movies/2009/unvailing_icecream.flv[/flv]

Overall it was a very good week.

Bedtime Routine

I was struck this evening with how much our lives must change as Alice grows. I thought I would record the bedtime routine these days for comparison later down the line.

7:30pm Pajamas
There is a very liberal interpretation of the term 'pajamas'. As long as she won't strangle herself in it, get her bed dirty with it, or light herself on fire with it, we call it good.

7:35pm Toothbrushing
A continually improving process. Alice rubs the brush on a couple front teeth and Bobby does the rest.

7:37pm Stories
Usually 2 books, unless we "run out of time" due to Alice's poor choices. She's into library books lately. She gets excited about them as if they were candy.

7:42pm Family prayer
Alice always says the same 4-liner: "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless the food, Jesus Christ, Amen" which is why we often let her bless the food before meals. After she prays for bedtime, Bobby or I will pray for the family and everything else besides the food in our lives :)

7:42pm Sing songs
We turn out the light. Alice lays her head on her "frog prince" stuffed toy and pulls her blanket up around her while we sing three quiet songs of her choice. She almost always chooses "I Am a Child of God", "I Love to See the Temple", and "Give Said the Little Stream" or "Love One Another". She used to sing along with us, but now she's mostly a spectator.

7:45pm Kisses and "good nights" all around
Traditionally, this is when we used to leave her. When she had the pacifier, it was no big deal. When she stopped using the pacifier, she would beg us to come back until she finally cried herself to sleep after 20 minutes or so. That was too much crying for my personal comfort. Through a bit of trial and error (and pure luck), we happened upon the following "Bonus Round" that has helped Alice return to a peaceful, self-soothing, self-initiated sleep in a matter of a few minutes. Much more comfy for all, and well worth the few extra hoops.

7:45pm "Sing one more song"
I sing one more song, but only if Alice asks for it. She usually asks for it even before Bobby and I have finished the usual three songs. Alice chooses between "Amazing Grace", "I Can Sing a Rainbow", and "You Are My Sunshine", or she requests one of her own. She caught on pretty quickly that "Grace" has several more verses than either of the other two songs. It's her choice most of the time.

7:47pm "Stay one minute"
If Alice asks, I will lie on the floor for one minute counted out in my brain. Heck, by the end of the day, that's all I want to do anyway!

7:48pm "Door open it"
Last kisses and then Alice usually requests that the door be left open. That means the light from the hall spills into her room and lights her bed for the last and final part of the routine...

7:48pm Bonus Reading
As soon as I leave the room, Alice hops out of her bed and grabs all the library books she can find. She reads them out loud with all the voices and inflections we use, then she just looks at the pictures. Eventually, her room goes quiet and you know she's sleeping...like this...