Sunday, July 19, 2015

June (and Ever is Funny)

Some of our June occurrences:

Ever played with play dough:


I got probably the last snuggles I'll ever get from Wren the Baby. She's pretty much out of the snuggle phase now.


One day I went into the garage to do something, and as I was heading back to the door to reenter the house, I saw a long skinny thing partway on the mat by our door. It was brown with a yellow stripe on the back/top, and it was rather skinny. I could only see one end of it; the other end was behind and/or under some items on the ground and the shelving unit. I was sure it hadn't been there when I stepped from the house into the garage. I deduced that it must have moved there on its own while I was in the garage. I looked at it only long enough to realize it had to be a snake. Then I ran out of the garage and closed the door to try to trap it in. (Apparently a dumb idea.) I knocked and knocked at the front door, which was locked. Jim was feeding Wrenzo and did not let me in. So I had to go around the house and get his attention through the french doors by the family room. By the time he went to look for it, the snake was nowhere to be found. I was very unhappy about that, especially because I had closed the garage door and was therefore sure it was still somewhere in the garage. I had to do laundry the next day and was so scared about going out there. I never did see it again. Eventually the garage became less frightening, as I decided the snake must have gotten out. I recently realized that because our garage door is bent out of shape, there's a section under which a skinny snake could slither even when the door is down. Maybe he got out right away through that opening after I closed the garage door. Or maybe someday we'll find a snake carcass somewhere in the garage. Eek.

On the afternoon of June 11, there was gunfire at our local Target - the store, not the thing at which you're supposed to shoot. It's the store that's basically across the street on El Camino Real. The one I frequent at least twice a week. A couple was confronted by store security when the guy tried to shoplift a stylus pen worth $53 to go with the cell phone he had just purchased there. (Yes, he paid for the phone.) There was a scuffle, and the shoplifting dude pulled out a gun and shot it twice at the ground. Everybody ran for cover, and the couple escaped in a black BMW (apparently a $75,000 car). It was all caught on video by surveillance cameras. Turns out the couple was wanted in connection with some armed robberies. They were arrested the following day in Orange County after they were pursued by police, crashed their BMW, ran off, and held a man at gunpoint and stole his truck. I'm so glad this riffraff comprises my neighborhood. Fab. If there are any more shootings, we may need to move.

Jim's sister, Dawn, came for a brief visit Father's Day weekend. She arrived Saturday evening and stayed until Sunday evening. She had just gone on a mission trip to Mexico, where they helped at an orphanage and taught about Christ. She had a great experience and met some wonderful people. She flew in and out of the San Diego airport and took a bus across the border. She arranged to visit us for a day before catching her flight back home. It was great to see her, introduce her to Wren, and reintroduce her to Ever. 

On Sunday night (Father's Day), we went to the Karners' to have dinner with Derrick (Mel and kids were in France) and the Oddous (Paul and Susan and kids). That pretty much made it Mother's Day because I didn't have to cook. 

All Jim got for Father's Day was this tie Ever made for him at the YMCA. The kids apparently all thought they were fish:


I LOVE the child care at the Y, and I'm so happy to be exercising regularly again. It really helps that Ever wants to go to the gym and do crafts.

Ever loves baking with me. She scrapes every last little bit out of the bowl. No drop left behind by this treat fiend. She'll lick for five minutes after I'm sure there's not enough left to taste:



We went to the San Diego County Fair. We spent too much on ride tickets, and Ever was in heaven. She rode by herself whenever she could, including on a good little roller coaster. One of us accompanied her when she wasn't tall enough to ride alone.





In an uncharacteristic move, we skipped all the fair food. The only edible we got was lemonade, and that only because of the heat.

We saw the animals, and Ever was brave and fed some this time:


We watched the pig races. Cute little guys. We also discovered a weird new rodeo-type sport where the people race around cones on horseback (one competitor at a time) while shooting at balloons. They get penalized, through the addition of seconds to their time, if they don't pop every balloon. In the beginning I became verklempt during "The Star-Spangled Banner," as always:


Then we watched the action for a little bit. The first girl looked really cool. She leaned really far forward as she rode, with her gun-wielding hand stretched out in front of her and her super-long hair flying straight out behind her. She looked fierce (to use a word I generally despite) and old-timey, like a female John Wayne or something. The other competitors weren't quite as fun to watch, but here's one:


Wrenzo had been passed out in the Moby wrap, like this, since the fair parking lot:


But the noise from the guns woke her up. She ate the wrap for a while:


It was such a different fair experience than we've ever had. For most of my life, I was ALL about the rides. Then in recent years it became about the food, and a little about the shows, and still some about the rides. This year it was all about Ever. I enjoy seeing the animals and catching some shows/events, and it was fun to see Ever so happy on the rides. I'm pretty into the fair. Just wish it didn't cost an arm and a leg.

Wren just gets cuter and cuter. She's such a sweet, happy baby:


I've been wearing her a lot more than I wore Ever. I could never make the Moby work with Ever, but I've gotten some use out of it this time. I've also used the Baby Bjorn. Whatever baby-wearing contraption Wren is in, she freaks me out because she likes to face-plant on me and sleep like that. I worry she's going to suffocate.


We went for an evening walk and enjoyed a lovely sunset. I took this photo:


I wanted to take another to make sure I got a good one, but Ever wouldn't stop dancing:



She sings "Let It Go" and dances around. She's already asking for ballet lessons. Ah, little girls!

I was trying to get the guest room ready for Mamo and Pod's arrival (see next post after it is posted), and I put Wrenzo down in the hall. Next thing I knew, Ever had brought out a pillow and a blanket to get cozy with her sister. She's a silly one.




Some Everisms I wrote down in June:

Ever and I were singing "This Old Man." She kept singing, "With a knick, knack, paddy whack, give a dog a phone!"

Ever says the word "usual" a lot. She says the first syllable correctly, but then instead of the "ual" part she says "uh-ble" I don't know how to write it phonetically, but it's really cute. She also pronounces "supposed" without the "s," so it's, "You're not opposed to do that?" 

I was trying to squeeze and snuggle with Ever because a) I love her and b) I can't control myself around soft, squeezy things. She said, "I just want you to stop loving me this much and just love me when I'm available."

That same day, I was trying to instruct her about something. I said, "If I were you, I would ..." After that she started suggesting to me how to do things by saying, "If I was your age, I would ..." Not sure how "If I were you" turned into a statement about our relative ages. Once she voiced approval of my outfit by saying, "If I were your age, I would wear that." 

I was getting ready to prepare some oatmeal for Ever, and I asked her how hungry she was. This, verbatim, is the conversation that ensued:

Ever: "I'm like 10 hungry. I can eat a 5."
Me: "I thought you were 10 hungry."
Ever: "I can eat a 10. I can eat a third."
Me: "A third of a cup?"
Ever: "Yeah, I can eat a third of a cup. Is that a lot? I can eat 10 inches."

Her understanding of units, measurements, and the like still has a ways to go.

She loves hearing stories about when I was little. She asks for them all the time. I wish I remembered more, but I tell her what I can (with some embellishments, I'm sure). 

Almost every night when Jim and I go up to bed, we find Ever sleeping on the floor in her room or in the hallway. She'll sleep between her bed and the chairs in her room. She'll sleep between her bed and the closet doors. She'll sleep shoved up against the door jam and baseboards. She says sleeping on the carpet is comfortable. This is one of her more comfortable-looking positions:


Out of the blue, Ever told me, "For Christmas I want a skateboard with a violin." I tried to clarify, "A skateboard and a violin?" "Yeah, a skateboard with a violin." She said it over and over, and it was always "with," although once she switched the order so it was "a violin with a skateboard."

She said, "I want to be baptized." We had a conversation about baptism, why we are baptized, why we wear white, cleanliness, etc. Then I asked her why she was thinking about baptism; did she learn about it in Primary that day? She said no. I asked, "You were thinking about it just because?" She answered, "Because I want to make sure you know that Jesus loves everyone."

Jim always asks Ever, when they're snuggling and loving, "Why do we love each other so much?" They go back and forth - "I don't know! Why do we love each other so much? It's crazy!" So one day Ever and I were asking why we love each other so much, and it turned into why Ever loves me. She said, "Maybe because you let me eat treats a lot when I want them." I asked, "You just love me for the treats?" "No," she answered, "because you give me treats and because I just love you." I try not to give her treats too often, but if that's the way to her heart ...

3 comments:

Courtney said...

Can't handle all the loving! I want to snuggle baby Wrenzo. She's getting so big and cute! The snake thing freaks me out. Glad it's apparently gone. The shooting also freaks me out. If you're moving, you should come to Virginia. Love Ever's clean-up/scraping abilities - I feel like it's the treat equivalent of your apple core thing. The fair looks SO FUN. Love that she's brave and goes on rides by herself. Super confused that you did not participate in the fried food, however. Can't wait for Ever to start ballet. Big sisters are the best. Love all of her isms.

Bill Hastings said...

Fun post!

Anna said...

Glad I checked in. I've missed a lot. Love the Ever "isms".