HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Daddy,

It is hard to believe that you are 35 years old today. Especially when I always tell Mommy that she is going to be 10 on her next birthday! (Totally true...Evelyn always says she will be 4 on her next b-day and that Mommy will be 10...gotta love her!)

Mommy and I hope you like your new b-day shirts. Have a great day! You are the best Daddy ever!

Love always, Evelyn

Evelyn-isms

Everyone has heard the phrase, or most likely has said it themselves, but "Kids say the darnedest things!". I feel Evelyn is no different and so I want to share some quotes from Evelyn that have made me laugh out loud, or made me marvel at her developing knowledge and her innocence. Keep in mind she is 3 years of age!


"Not a festival, a fair actually." Evelyn's correction to me after I called the event by the wrong name.

"Daddy farted on us!" or "Daddy, did you fart on us?" - No explanation necessary!

"Shall we dance?" Evelyn said to me after seeing me all dress-up to go out. We danced!

"You're driving me crazy!" - Unfortunately she got this from me!

"You think you're funny?" - stated while sitting on my lap, squeezing my cheeks together!

"Boo-Boobs"

"Butt-ocks"

"I've got a booger for you."

"Candyball" - Evelyn thinks this is what you say when you jump into a pool of water!

"Chickmunk" - Evelyn's version of the word Chipmunk

"Backset" - Evelyn's version of the word Basket

"Pock-sicle" - Evelyn's version of the word Popsicle

"Frogs don't drink juice, they drink water and eat bugs!" - Evelyn's response to our friend Jeanna who used the phrase "froggy juice" while washing off Evelyn's hands after touching baby frogs.


Well that's probably enough Evelyn-isms for now. I hope you enjoyed them! I am sure more Evelyn-isms will be posted as time passes!

Grandpa's Girls

Evelyn's Grandpa Horne is blessed with four grand-daughters and one grandson. Back in July, when Evelyn's Uncle Billy was in town, Grandpa Horne took his 4 grand-daughters down to the pond/swamp in their side yard to catch frogs. Isn't that what every good Grandpa does?

Enjoy the pictures of Grandpa's Girls.

This picture of Katie is not actually the same day as the others! Not sure how it happened, but it looks like I never captured a photograph of Katie with some of the baby frogs. This picture proves Katie would not be afraid of baby frogs, since she held the two monster sized frogs!

Labor Day Weekend with Evelyn and Owen

Well, time to tell everyone about our best vacation of the summer. Labor Day Weekend in Manistee! We went camping to our favorite spot in the woods, yet this time we went away with Andy's brother Dan and his wife Cat and their son Owen. It was such a wonderul time and we couldn't have asked for a better time or better company.

The weather was beautifully sunny and warm each day with pleasantly warm/cool nights. Perfect for playing during the day and sleeping at night. The water temperature was the best that Lake Michigan can offer. The water was actually what you would consider warm. Although the first touch was a little nippy, within seconds you were accustomed to the temperature and could actually swim!

Evelyn and Owen were as cute as can be. I think our vacation fun and the cute smiles of our kids is best achieved in picture layout, so here goes. We wouldn't trade our Labor Day Weekend with Evelyn and Owen for anything.

Evelyn on the beach

Evelyn enjoying the crystal clear warm waters of Lake Michigan!

Evelyn and Mommy enjoying the water, while Aunt Cat enters timidly behind us!

Mommy swinging Evelyn through the water. This is actually a bunch of still frames from a video that Andy took of us. The thing is...I don't know how to load videos yet, and am not sure I have the time right now to work on that. Maybe one winter day when I am bored I will try to figure it out!

Andy and Evelyn, Lake Michigan buddies!

Owen and Dan (Uncle Dan to Evelyn). Dan is Andy's twin brother.

Owen and Evelyn sharing a water bucket. Aren't they cute?

Evelyn!

While we were there, we visited Evelyn and Owen's Great Grandmother Josephine and took a few snaphots.

Evelyn and a light stick. The light sticks were so much fun and I love the way my camera caught the light stick movement while in the "night snapshot" setting.

Owen creating his magic spell with the light stick!

Look closely at Evelyn and Owen for the next two pictures. Although the light stick fun was the focus, while viewing the photos on the computer, I noticed something else just as cool. Evelyn and Owen's facial expressions, overall looks, profiles, etc...are very similar. Afterall their fathers are identical twins. Cutie Pie Wrights!

Evelyn's First Haircut!

Well, it seems as though lately my posts have been about "Firsts" in Evelyn's life!

Here is another first. Believe it or not, Evelyn did not receive her first haircut until a few weeks ago. Essentially, we felt that Evelyn's hair grew in over the years at a nice rate with a nice style and relatively even. Often we were asked, "When are you going to cut her hair?" or "How long are you going to let her hair get?" Our answer and thoughts were always...we would know when it was time to cut it and we would do it then. Evelyn's hair started to feel a little straw-like at the very ends and was becoming a little harder to comb out. That was our indication it was time to do something.

Knowing that many kids do not handle haircuts well, we decided to prepare Evelyn for the experience. We talked about it for a few days before, even having our nieces talk with Evelyn about how they like getting their haircut...what happens at a haircut...that it doesn't hurt...and that possibly she would get a piece of candy! There appeared to be one BIG thing all of us forgot to tell her about. The CAPE...they place around your neck to cover your clothes! When my hairdresser pulled the cape around Evelyn's neck, she totally lost it and cried very very hard! Luckily we pulled out the candy basket and Evelyn picked a lollipop to eat after the haircut, so she ended up calming down fairly quickly.

Enjoy the pictures of Evelyn's First Haircut!

Evelyn's First Day of Pre-school in Picture Format!

Evelyn and Mommy

Evelyn and Daddy

Evelyn cute on her very first day of pre-school

Look at me, I am going to school!

Here I am...at school! Yeah!

Uncle Ed and Evelyn pictures

Uncle Ed and Evelyn (Mowgli)

Evelyn's first day of pre-school

Today marked Evelyn's first day of pre-school! Exciting, amazing, and sad. Exciting for her, amazing that I have a child old enough to attend school and sad because I have a child old enough to attend school! Ha ha!

Andy and I drove Evelyn to pre-school, arriving around 8:10am. Since Evelyn had been to visit the school in the recent weeks, she was a bit familiar with the place and knew right where to place her Tinker Bell backpack or as Evelyn calls it, her back-back. Evelyn joined the teacher and a few other students over in the play area, so Andy and I took this to mean she was comfortable and we were okay to leave. As we were leaving, we did hear one girl start crying, but it wasn't Evelyn! Thank gosh! Evelyn will attend pre-school two days a week for only 3 hours at a time. Andy and I will be the ones who drop her off. Between her two grandmothers, they will have the pick up time covered! Thanks Grandmas!

Evelyn told us about her first day and showed us papers she completed at school. It appears they have already started working on the first letter of the alphabet (A...in case anyone has forgotten) and the number 1. Evelyn also showed us a paper with her name on it. They have already started to teach her to copy her name from an example of her name. Evelyn is well on her way to being a highly educated 3 1/2 year old!

I am sure there will be more posts to come as Evelyn progresses in pre-school!