a day with my Evie bear

S0 this morning my little Evie bear decided to wake up at 5:45 am-although she did talk to her stuffed bear and glow-worm for about 30 minutes and then she got irritated and wanted her mama and her milk, so alas, I got up and snuggled my girl and we looked at books while she drank milk from her sippy-cup. After we got ready for the day daddy took us girls out for breakfast at IHOP-one of our favorite places. And Evie actually ate more food then what she threw/dropped on the ground-amazing! Once we were done with breakfast daddy had to leave to go help "papa" chop some trees down ('cuz that's what country folks do :-) So my little lady and I went to another favorite place-Target! We picked up a few household items along with some cute fall clothes for my girl. Next stop was the park. I packed up a picnic lunch, a blanket (actually a beach towel) some hand sanitizer (essential when playing at the park with a toddler) after loading our items and Evie into the stroller-we were off! We walked (or rather I walked) to St. Ferdinand Park and Evie fell fast asleep in the stroller-another amazing thing since I think the last time she fell asleep in the stroller was when she was like 6 months old-but I guess when you wake up at 5:45 am you are ready for a snooze by 10:30 am!

We got the park and Evie became wide awake when she saw the playground-she climbed up and down, slid down the slide, climbed up the slide and then when all that got old she played in the sand from the near by sand volleyball court.

All that playing made mommy and Evie hungry so we stopped to eat our picnic lunch of cheese, crackers, ham, turkey, grapes, blueberries, milk (her) and of course a dr. pepper (me) And a third amazing feat happened-she actually sat on the blanket and ate for a solid 5 minutes before getting up to run around! So, we took our leftover crackers and fed the ducks in the pond and Evie declared "duck duck duck" like a million times but at least they really were ducks (sometimes she calls any small animal a duck.)

After the duck pond mommy was getting worn out from trying to keep Evie from jumping into the pond with the ducks so we decided (err I decided) that it was time to head home. And let me tell you walking to the park while pushing a 23 lb toddler and 10 lbs of our crap (while wearing jeans and flip flops) sounded like a great idea at 10:30 am but by 12:30 pm my feet ached, and I had sweat pouring down my face-I was a hot mess! Upon arriving home I announced it was nap time-Evie disagreed and proceeded to babble and whine and talk to her stuffed bear and glow worm and refuse to sleep-but I was not about to give up and she finally gave in and went to sleep and so did I and let me tell you, we both felt 100 times better after our nap, when she woke up we snuggled on the couch and watched cartoons until we were both fully awake. I love those few times she actually will hold still long enough to snuggle with me. After snack, and playing with some little people for a while we went to Old Time Pottery and purchased some new fall decor-including a scarecrow for Evie. I have had 2 scarecrows-a man and a women sitting on the porch for fall for several years and last year got away from me and I never bought one to represent our little girl. So now our scarecrow family is complete.

After stopping by aunt Jessi's house for a quick visit we went home for dinner, bath, and some more snuggle time and book reading. Once Evie went to dreamland I got out my fall decor and decorated the porch and living room. Every year I say that I don't have time to decorate for fall and I am not going to do it but I always end up decorating for fall because I love this season so much and it does not feel like fall unless I have my fall colors and pumpkins out! So now I sit here taking in the scent of pumpkin spice candles and reflecting on my day with my sweet girl. I love her soo much and I love days when we get to spend time with each other-just her and I, and I hope that she enjoys them just as much as I do.

weekend in the country

This weekend we traveled to Carthage Missouri to get together with family and celebrate grandma Compton's birthday. After loading the truck with all the essentials: go-cart, potato gun and some clothes and a pack-n-play too, we were ready to head out. We left Friday evening so that Evie would sleep for the entire trip-which she did. Only problem- mommy and daddy were getting pretty close to sleeping too. That last hour I made Dennis constantly talk to me so that I would know he was awake. We got the the hotel and of course Evie woke up and was ready to play. The child did NOT want to sleep and we DID want to sleep, so I ended up laying on the floor next to the pack and play-which totally grossed me out since it is a hotel and who knows who was in the room before us. After standing in the crib and staring down at me for about 20 minutes Evie finally decided to give in and go to sleep. At some point I dozed off and had a nightmare that involved precious moments dolls chasing me like Chuckie did in those horror films. (we were staying at the precious moment's hotel because the precious moment's chapel is about the only tourist attraction in Carthage and those dolls are kinda freaky looking especially in a picture above your bed at 2 am!)

The next morning we went over to G-ma's house (that is what she is called because she is a cool grandma) Evie loved walking around their huge yard and I loved watching her play in that same yard that I spent so much time playing in with my cousins when I was a kid. We then headed to Joplin and picked up a few things (like potatoes for the potato gun of course) and the toddler crib rails from babies-r-us that I had a heck of a time tracking down. Evie napped in the car while Dennis and I took turns going into stores. We then headed to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Tabby's house and Evie had even more open fields to roam. She even got to see a horse and then proceeded to neigh like a horse for at least 15 minutes afterwards! The adults had fun riding Dennis' go-cart-which Dennis tried to kill me on by the way! We played croquet, ladder ball, and corn-hole because when you are in southern Missouri that is what you do (play yard games that is) We did not, however have washers which would have completed our redneck family reunion. We enjoyed a delicious meal, and a tasty cake to celebrate G-ma's B-day! After dinner it was time for bat ball which is played with regular bats and one of those big rubbery gym class balls. You would think playing with a large ball would help my odds at hitting it-it did not. I actually had to have G-pa (heis cool too) pinch hit for me-how sad is that-I have to have an 80 year old man hit for me! I would like to think of it more like I was his pinch runner but we all know the truth-Elisha sucks at sports! Oh well if someone would have collapsed on the field who do you think they would have ran to-that's right nurse Elisha! I am glad that no one collapsed-unless you count uncle Jerry sliding into base-it looked more like he threw himself to the ground- I think there was a small earthquake afterward because Uncle Jerry is not a small guy. After bat ball the cousins sat on the porch exchanging funny you tube videos on each others i-phones (except for me because I still have my Palm Treo until the end of this month-boo hoo) because no matter how country our family reunions are you can not take technology away from a group of 20's-30's year olds-Even though G-pa tried by threatening to turn off the wireless Internet.

The next morning started with church, which of course had to be the time Evie decided to repeat the word"duck" really loudly. Needless to say she did not last long in service so her and I explored the lobby until it was over. Next we went over to G-ma and G-pa's house for more yard games, and go cart riding. Later that day the guys (and Amy) broke out their guns. We took turns shooting at clay pigeons and targets with an assortment of shot guns and handguns. Evie had to go inside with her grandma at that point since guns do not scare her, in fact she would have ran right out into the range had we let her. After the regular guns got old we broke out the potato gun and shot at the billboard that sits on G-ma's property. Because what is a family reunion without at least one illegal activity. The cousin's also took a trip to the great Ozarkland which sounds like a really awesome place and I swear it was when we were like nine yrs old unfortunately Ozarkland has probably not been updated since I was nine years old and 20 years has definitely taken it's toll on the place! But I did however, find some adorable pink moccasins for Evie because every little girl needs a pair of pink moccasins! Monday before we left for home we stopped back in to G-ma's house and found that my great Uncle that lives next door had something waiting for Evie-a little red wagon that has been sitting Un-used at his house for many years. And let me tell you, that girl loves her wagon-although her and daddy tried to give mommy a heart attack when they would go flying across the yard-Evie bouncing all the way! The trip home was pretty uneventful other than some traffic and rude people at the DQ in Rolla. Evie did awesome-she slept the first half of the trip and played with toys and chattered away in her car seat the second half of the trip. We had a great weekend and enjoyed seeing family and I may be a little biased but I think we have the best family reunions! Can't wait to do it again next year!