Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone who reads this blog had a happy Thanksgiving.  We certainly did.  Evie hung out with Daddy while I went to church with my Dad on Thanksgiving Day morning.  This year we had lunch potluck style at our church with my Dad's side of the family there too, and then we went back to my aunt Kathy's house where Evie got to eat cheese and watch a movie - her favorite things to do when she goes to visit other people's houses.  That evening we went to my uncle Tim's house where Evie got to play with her cousins.  The five girls there were so adorable and enjoyed chasing each other; Evie particularly enjoyed shrieking at the top of her lungs.

Thanksgiving dinner with my mom's side of the family finally has a "little girls' table".  After a mix of boy and girl grandchildren, we then had a clump of 5 boys who are now ages 8-19.  The girls have finally made a comeback, with the last of the grandchildren (my cousin Lydia) and these 4 great-granddaughters.  (Of course, when my brother's kids are here, there's yet another girl and poor William is stuck in the middle of those 6 girls.)

She enjoyed dancing to the music during our luncheon at church.

It was quite an enjoyable Thanksgiving.

This past weekend we went to the mall with my friend Cristal and her son who we call Baby Nathan.  Evie and Nathan had a good time, I think.  We enjoyed shopping around, going to the Disney store, riding the carousel, and getting dinner at the food court.

Evie and Baby Nathan waiting on their food

Excited to ride an ostrich

The second time around, she was very taken by the cat with the fish in its mouth for some reason

Saturday morning after ballet, Evie and I were headed to a donut shop and we happened to see Granna driving down the road so I called and invited her to join us.  The three of us had a nice chat over breakfast, and Evie had quite the time eating the sweetest, most iced donut in the whole place.

I have a confession to make: I told my first bold-faced lie to Evie this past week.  Not that I haven't fudged the truth here and there when needed, but I've never outright lied to her before.  We were eating at a restaurant and she had taken in a card from this set of Disney princess addition cards (it was a gift, I promise) and we accidentally left it in the restaurant.  It was past her bedtime so she was pretty cranky and on edge already, so when we got to the car and she realized she'd left it she was completely distraught.  It was wet and cold that day and I did not want to go back inside for a card and neither did Seth, especially when we had 50 others sitting in the back seat of the car, so I just handed her another card and told her that was the card she was thinking of and that we hadn't left it in the restaurant.  Now, she's a pretty smart cookie and she remembered that the one she had taken in had a picture of Belle and said 3 + 3 on it, so she said that the one I handed her wasn't her card.  I kept insisting that it was.  She would say, "Oh," and pause for a while and then say, "But my other card is in the restaurant," and I would say, "No, baby, that's the card you took in."  I eventually felt so terrible about it that I stopped telling her that.  I just didn't want to have her screaming the whole way home when there were a million other serviceable cards at our disposal.  So, Evie, yes, I have lied to you.  But I honestly feel so guilty about it, I may never lie to you again.

Evie has developed quite an affinity to a couple of books this week.  She's very taken with a new book we received through the Imagination Library - where you get a free book in the mail every month until age 5 - titled Peanut Butter and Cupcake (though Evie calls it Cupcake and Peanut Butter).  It's a story about a piece of bread with peanut butter on it who has moved to a new neighborhood and is trying to find friends.  He meets an egg, soup, cupcake, meatball, and several others before he meets jelly.  And when he introduces himself to these foods, he has a rhyme that he says that always ends with, "And we'll go together like peanut butter and ----" insert the food item that he is talking to.  So Evie very quickly picked up on the rhyme and enjoyed being able to "read" part of the book along with me.  The last page has all the foods playing together, and the text says "and they all go together like peanut butter and egg, and soup, and cupcake, and meatball, and ......"  When we came to that part of the book, Evie finished the sentence as "like peanut butter and... everybody!"

Another book that's made a big impression on her is The Story of Ferdinand.  It's about a bull who prefers to "sit just quietly and smell the flowers" rather than snort and butt his head with the other bulls.  Evie loves the repetition in that book too and can "read" along with it to some extent.  I'm thrilled that she loves books so much.  In fact, the other night after I put her to bed, she said she wanted a book in her bed and then proceeded to try to read her book by the light of the glowworm toys in her bed.  She's quite like her Daddy in that regard - he's always reading in bed too.

Speaking of her Daddy, they had a really funny exchange the other day.  Evie has been very focused lately on turning three-and-a-half.  So here's what I heard as Daddy was getting her ready for bed:
Evie: I'm three-and-a-half.
Seth: Yep.
Evie: I'm three-and-a-half.
Seth: Uh huh....
Evie: I'm three-and-a-half.
Seth: You are.  And I'm 36 and a half.
Evie: Ooooooooo....  I don't like 36.
Seth: Yeah, I don't either.

On Sundays, Evie sits with my mom during the first part of the service, though before the service starts I try to make an effort to get into the sanctuary early enough to come sit with them for a minute.  I sing in the choir, so when the bell rings, I have to go to the rear of the sanctuary to line up for our processional.  This past Sunday, Evie kept looking back at me while I was in line and I would blow her kisses.  She would blow some back, and then she held up her hand showing "I love you" in sign language.  It stole my heart.

Speaking of my heart being stolen.... I've been pretty averse to the idea of being called "Mom" since I've had Evie.  I just really like the sound of "Mama" - it seems sweeter to me.  I call my own mom Mom, but I blame my brother for that since he already had that well established before I came along.  But I just like the southernness of Mama.  However, several times over the last year, Evie has gone through stages of calling me Mom.  Despite my attempts to ignore it or address it, she still shortens Mama to Mom.  I finally got tired of saying things like, "I don't know who Mom is" and asked her, "Evie, why do you call me Mom?"  She said, "I don't know.  I just like to call you Mom."  So after that I've given up trying to correct her.  If she likes to call me Mom, then Mom I'll be.