Mayne, Party of 3: Pumpkin Pie

Let me start with something I forgot to mention last week. My brother lives in a gated community where you have to pull up to a guard station, tell the guard the address you're going to, and show your ID. As I was handing the guard my ID last week, Evie asked from the backseat, "Mama, did you bring your coupon? Do you have enough money?" I guess she thought I was having to pay an admission fee to get into Ryan's neighborhood.

Let me also say, yet again, how incredible this kid's memory is. She mentioned wanting to go back to the pirate village in Oregon (I mean, we figured out that was what she was talking about when she said she wanted to go back to where you jump on the big bouncy slides and play in the pirate ship). This happened in August of 2015. That was 14 months ago! We have not discussed that event since. She also said she wanted to ride a pony again this year at Christmas, specifically Blueberry Pie. She remembered riding Strawberry Pie (a name she gave to the pony she rode) last year. And yesterday, the Children's Time sermon/conversation, which was on taste re: sour grapes and setting your teeth, went something like this:

Pastor Mike (aka Grannadaddy): Some things taste sweet. Some things taste salty. Can you think of something that tastes salty.

Evie: Water! (Everyone laughed, but I knew she was thinking of the ocean)

Pastor: Okay, and some things taste bitter and some things taste sour. What tastes sour?

Evie: Bugs!

(I was reminded that one time when Evie was riding home with my Dad back when she was 3, she told him, "I don't like butterflies." He asked, "Why not?" She said, "They're sour to me!" I'm not sure if that's what she was thinking of with her answer or not).

The conversation went on:

Pastor: What would you do if you ate something sour?

Evie: You might need a walking stick!

Pastor: I'm going to stop asking questions I don't already know the answer to.

Tuesday of this week we had Fall Break so we went with some friends to a farm to explore the pumpkin patch, corn maze, and feed the animals. Evie had a great time on their playground too. She picked out a pie pumpkin and Seth helped her break it off of the vine. We determined we'd turn it into the pumpkin pie later in the week.

She liked climbing this big bale of hay

And the hay ride

She was very equitable with her feed, making sure each animal got some

Consulting with Daddy on the right pumpkin to pick

She's also been into taking pictures of her own lately and I have to say, I think these ones turned out very well:

Evie's soccer game was canceled this past Friday due to rain, so we went to Granna and Grannadaddy's house for dinner and watched the Tigers game. Evie was invited to spend the night, which she knew about, so she kept asking me to leave so that she could "have time", by which she meant, time alone with Granna and Grannadaddy. I am so very glad she has this special bond with them and wants them to herself. I stayed, to her dismay, until about 10:00, but I pointed out that she might enjoy playing "Guess Who" with Granna, and did she ever! She easily picked up answering questions about the person on her card, and I helped her figure out how to ask and track answers to questions about the person on Granna's card. They played for 45 minutes straight that night and they were playing again when I got there the next morning. It's similar enough to the game she likes to play where you guess what animal the other person is thinking of that I figured she'd enjoy it. And my prediction was correct.

Saturday we met Cristal and Nathaniel for shopping at Target and lunch, and then met up with my friend Megan who was in town for the weekend and with Cristal, Matthew, and Nathaniel for dinner and shopping at the mall. Evie was going through some kind of uncooperative moments in the evening and wasn't on her best behavior, which I guess was either a product of too little sleep or being four. Or both.

Sunday we had a lunch at the church after worship and Evie was such a good helper. She came into the kitchen where the Presbyterian Women's group was unwrapping and cutting desserts and she wanted to help. She carried the servers and helped get napkins and forks set up. And then oggled the dessert table for a bit.

Last night, we turned her pie pumpkin into a pumpkin pie and toasted the seeds. She did a great job helping to scrape the seeds out of the pumpkin once I cut it open, and she added all the ingredients. I gotta say, it was delicious!