First Movie and Family Connections

On June 6, 2003, Seth and I had our first date out to a movie.  We had been dating for about 2 weeks at that point, and we went to a Thai food restaurant in Ventura and then to see "Finding Nemo".  We love kids movies, and we love Pixar - this has not changed since our date on 6/6/03, which, incidentally, is 9 years to the day before Evie was born.  So this weekend, we took Evie to her first movie in a movie theatre and I think it's neat that her first movie was "Finding Dory", the sequel to "Finding Nemo".  We made a big deal about it, talked to her about what it was going to be like to sit in the movie theatre with other people, how no one there had seen the movie yet so we wouldn't be able to explain anything to her about what might happen.  We got popcorn, Reese's pieces, and a blue raspberry slush to share, and settled in for a really great movie.  We all loved it, and as we were leaving the theatre, Evie asked to go see "Angry Birds" as we passed the movie poster, so I think she was a fan.

Checking out the display at the movie theatre

Waiting for the previews to start

Evie's imagination continues to run wild.  She had a fun little tea party with a lot of her stuffed animals and some dress up clothes she got for her birthday.

She likes to play pretend while we drive in the car.  She will pick a few characters for us to play and we'll act it out.  Seth and I, being less creative than Evie, tend to follow whatever the established storyline is for the characters she's chosen (usually Rapunzel or Sleeping Beauty), but Evie has other plans.  Yesterday on the way to church, we were playing Sleeping Beauty and I was double cast as Prince Phillip and Maleficent.  After I was done battling myself, I climbed to the top of the tower (verbally) and told Sleeping Beauty (Evie) that I had fought off a dragon to save her.  She replied, "Well, I have a better sword so let's go fight some more dragons!"  I love that her princesses are not damsels in distress.

I forgot to share a story last week.  Evie sits with Granna during the first part of the church service until the children are called down front for time with the pastor (aka Grannadaddy) and then dismissed to children's church.  During the time she is with Granna waiting for the service to start, she usually chews a piece of gum, which she then spits out after about 2 minutes.  Last Sunday, Addie and Will were sitting with Granna (and the rest of the family) and Evie asked Granna for gum, including pieces for Addie and Will.  Granna told her that she only had one stick of gum and gave it to Evie.  Without prompting, Evie split the gum into three pieces so she and both of her cousins could share it.  She's got a sweet spirit, my little girl.

It being our shared birthday month and Father's Day week, I have been doing a lot of reminiscing and thinking about the wonderfulness of family.  I was thinking the other day as Evie snuggled with me on the couch and I was kissing her cheeks how much she has grown.  Those cheeks used to be so tiny, and now they are losing their baby chubbiness and becoming more and more kid-like every day, it seems.

Evie informed me last week that she "will never go back to Tennessee", by which she meant Nashville because she then clarified she didn't want to go back to the place she was born.  She wanted to stay in Memphis so we would be close to Granna and Grannadaddy and Kathy and Grandma Jeanne.  It's funny she should say that because I was 5 when we moved from Nashville to Memphis to be closer to family and it took me about 6 months or so to not want to go back to Nashville, but growing up visiting my grandparents did me so much good as a child that I knew I wanted Evie to have the same experience.  I'm glad she sees the value at a younger age.

Evie told me last Tuesday that she was happy.  I asked her why she was so happy and she said, "I'm happy because of Granna and Grannadaddy."  I love the special relationships she has developed with each of my parents, and so I agree that we "will never go back" to anywhere where Granna and Grannadaddy aren't.