Wednesday, August 11, 2010

August 11, 2010

Evalie Says...

Today was Kate's first day back to Linda's. She had to get up early to get out of the door to be at Linda's by 8. I'm a little nervous for tomorrow when she needs to be there before 7:30. She was a little crabby this morning when we tried to get her up. I think her teenage years might be a battle.

I had a nice day getting a errands and appointments completed. At one point, I realized that I just got done in one hour which takes me three with Kate. Even though it was nice to get so much done, I felt lost without my little pookie.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

August 10, 2010

Evalie Says...

Last night I made my 'flower' pens for the school year. They are just plain pens with flowers attached with floral tape. I decided that today I needed to add electrical tape to make them a little more sturdy for sixth graders. Kate decided that she wanted to take one of my pens that was already finished and add more floral tape. She kept informing me that she was helping me. I think she did a great job!



The final product : )

Monday, August 9, 2010

August 9, 2010

Evalie Says...

Kate loves to eat pencils. It is not what you are thinking, pencils is her name for pretzels. She asked me today if we could stop at the store to get some pencils and chocolate milk when we were out running errands. Since she was doing great at all the stops we had to make, I granted her wish.

This evening she asked for them again as a bedtime snack. She was carrying the bag around while she munched on them. Afraid that Shiner would get them she announced, "Shiner NO! These are my pencils!" Then she proceeded to hide in the front closet to avoid Shiner getting any.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

August 8, 2010

Evalie Says...

Josh and I have a list of home improvement projects that we are hoping to get done here within the this school year. One of them is fixing the front screen door which broke this past winter. We had been somewhat window shopping and price checking doors at all of the places around town when we were out and about here and there. The last place we had to check was having a sale on screen doors that expired today! They had a great deal and convinced Josh that he could install it himself saving us money on what we had budgeted for a new door. So after eight hours of manual labor, we had a good looking new front screen door.


My dad always watched the show The Red Green Show which I was forced to watch while he controlled the remote. I'll admit now that I'm older that the show was kinda funny, but I didn't think so as a teenager. Anyway they always say on the show, "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy." I'm lucky that Josh is both handy and handsome!!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

August 7, 2010

Evalie Says...

Today is my last weekend class in my master's program through Drake University. My new degree will be in Educational Leadership. I'm not looking for new jobs yet, but I will begin looking next year. I have already started thinking about what classes I would love to take next. Perhaps I might have a doctorate degree someday! I guess I'm just a geek and love learning...

Ready to head to class....

This is the sign that Josh and Kate made for me while I was at class. It was awesome to come home to see this hanging on the door. I have the best family in the world!


Friday, August 6, 2010

August 6, 2010

Evalie Says...

Daddy is home! One thing that I love about Josh's new position is that he gets summer hours on Friday. This means that he can leave work around 1:30. It is so nice to have our Friday afternoons together. When he got off work today, he wanted to head to the store to finally get sand for our sandbox. We bought this sandbox off of Craig's List back in May. We decided we better get it up and running before the summer is over. Kate is in seventh heaven with it.


Josh and I also went out tonight for our anniversary. We had a new babysitter that we had never had before. She is the first babysitter that was a former student of mine. When we returned Kate told Josh, "I like Annie, she is very silly."

Thursday, August 5, 2010

August 5, 2010

Evalie Says...

Tonight is Josh and my anniversary. We have been married for four glorious years, which means we have been together for eleven years. (Yes, we dated that long.) Each year gets better and better. I'm such a lucky woman to have truly met my soul mate.

This I hope is the only anniversary that we will be apart for. It seems crazy to celebrate when we are hours apart from each other. His flight gets in tonight around eleven, so at least we will see each other for about an hour on our actually anniversary.



Tonight Kate wanted to go over to visit the neighbor's house to read books with Lisa and return the teddy bear she borrowed the night before. She loves to borrow Lisa's toys and promises to return them the next day. We walked over to their house and rang the doorbell, but they were not home. Kate informed me that we could just wait on their front steps until they got home!

I finally convinced her that we could sit on our steps and play with Shiner until they got home. As we headed back to our house, she had to snag a few tomatoes from Lisa's garden. We stayed outside waiting for a bit before I convinced her that we should go inside. She decided that she needed to sleep with the teddy bear again since she didn't see her friends, Kent and Lisa.

Some days, I think she likes Kent and Lisa more than Josh and I!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

August 4, 2010

Evalie Says...

Josh is in Vegas for work, so it is just the girls at our house until late Thursday night. We are enjoying our girl time. Tonight we watched a Dora movie and had popcorn. Kate, Shiner and I LOVE popcorn. I consumed a lot of popcorn while pregnant, so I knew that Kate would be a fan. When we make the popcorn, we usually put it in three bowls. One for momma bear, one for daddy bear, and one for baby bear. She informed me tonight that we only need bowls for momma and baby bear! It was super cute.

When Kate is eating popcorn, Shiner waits patiently for her to drop a piece. Kate is not interested in sharing her popcorn with Shiner which would mean less for her. This is as close as Shiner could get without a Kate freak-out.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

August 3, 2010

Evalie Says...

Today we headed to the Uni-Dome in Cedar Falls to say 'goodbye' to Nick as he leaves for his tour of duty with the Waterloo Unit. He will first head to Mississippi and then to California before heading to Afghanistan. It was a very tough and emotional time saying goodbye to him, but we are so proud of him. We think of him as our HERO (Kate says SuperHero). Such a amazing thing to do for our country. We will miss you, Nickers, God bless you and watch over you.











Prayers are appreciated all year long for him....

Monday, August 2, 2010

August 2, 2010

Evalie Says...

Today we had Josh's family here to BBQ and go bowling for Nick's last night in Iowa before his call to service in Afghanistan. It was an evening filled with love and laughter.

Tomorrow will be a tough day...

Kate having a little swim during the BBQ

Kate in her bowling shoes

Kate and Grandma

Drew and Nick

Nick

Bowling her first ball

Grandma and Grandpa Schouten

Bowling for Grandpa

I think she loves it!!


Mommy I got a STRIKE!!

That strike in the 10th frame is Kate's!

August 1, 2010

Evalie Says...

When I began this project, I was so happy to have some 'quiet' time by myself in the evenings while Josh and Kate played. My mom wrote in her journal about how she loved listening to the quiet and her thoughts. I can't image why with five children that she loved quiet time? I love it with only one child.

Anyway, I loved shutting the door to Kate's room thinking about the things that have been consuming my brain these days as I painted circles. I thought about running on the treadmill, teaching reading next year, finishing my masters, Joshua, adoption, genetic testing, Katherine, money, changes, disciplining my child, projects, my new niece and when she will arrive, my bucket list, pillowcase dresses, my sisters, medication changes, quilting, books to read, Nick leaving for Afghanistan, the Jetta, moving, and whatever else jumped into my mind. By the last night of putting what seemed to be hours of coats on these darn little circles, I could only think about how I never wanted to paint another circle again and my 'quiet' was now filled with my Pandora station. But, I did learn lot about myself during this project. Sometimes it is interesting to just sit and listen to your heart.

The final project looks nice. Josh thinks that this will not be a selling feature when we decide to move, but I like it. Kate will always have to have bedding that matches these circles while we live in this house. I will NEVER paint over them for the hours I spent them...

July 31, 2010

Evalie Says...

Today was Shiner's fourth birthday, we got her after Josh and I were married when she was three months old.


First Night at our house....


Today....

We also spent time playing outside...

Kate wanted to play with all her puppies not just Shiner...


July 30, 2010

Evalie Says...

Okay, I give up on the video of the day. I have been trying to upload the video four days, and I just can't get it to load. So, I'm posting a picture that I took on the 30th to send to my sister to show her the progress of my projects. This is Kate and her circles about half way through the coats reading books with daddy while I take a photo of the cirlces. It isn't the best picture of Kate, but it will have to do.

While I was writing, I had a great idea to open a youtube account and post a link of the video. Here is more Dora for your listening pleasure!

Click Below to See the Video

Thursday, July 29, 2010

July 29, 2010

Evalie Says...

A little Dora the Explorer for your listening pleasure...



If you need more...


Wednesday, July 28, 2010

July 28, 2010

Evalie Says...

The new thing in our house is "tag your it"...

We play it during the day....

Josh and Kate play it at night...

We play both in the house and outside the house...

Inside is my favorite because there just isn't that much room...

So laughter fills our home and joy fills my heart...

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

July 27, 2010

Evalie Says...

Kate and I decided that today was going to be a pool day since it was pretty hot when we went out in the morning. I informed her that we would fill the pool up, but we would swim after nap time when the pool water wasn't so cold.





After we are finished filling the pool up, I took the hose over to water my flowers. I can see Kate in the corner of my eye looking to see if I am watching but slowly taking her clothes off for a quick swim. I decide to not say anything because it is just too cute. Instead I just grabbed my camera to take a shot.

I understand, I sometimes don't want to wait for things either.


Extra Tidbit that has been on my mind all day...
Today was the anniversary of Seth's death, my brother. He was 17 years old when he passed away. Today marked his 17th year of his anniversary of this death. It just doesn't seem possible.

Monday, July 26, 2010

July 26, 2010

Evalie Says...

Kate has decided that the branch we cut down in the front yard is her car! She keeps asking me if I want to go for a ride in her car. She will take me to the library!!


Sunday, July 25, 2010

July 25, 2010

Evalie Says...

We spent this afternoon doing projects outside. Josh was trimming a branch off the tree in the front yard that was hanging low, and I was re-painting some end tables for our bedroom. While Josh worked in the front yard and as I took a break, Kate kept sneaking over to Lisa's house (our neighbor) and picking tomatoes off the plants to eat. I figured it was best to head to the backyard to avoid that tomatoes and get back to my project. I was busy painting away, when Kate stands next to me with TWO tomatoes in her hand. I obviously was not watching very close and she reached through the fence to pick more tomatoes. So, the tomato thief is back in business. Just like last year!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

July 24, 2010

Evalie Says...

I love listening to my little bug read her books and this summer has been great because we read for hours in the morning. Her favorite books to read are her Clifford books. While cleaning out tubs in the basement this summer, I found a tub of books that we got from Josh's uncle that weren't age appropriate when we got them but perfect now. In that tub there were about 15 Clifford books!! She fell in love right away.

Anyway, one of these Clifford books, has a song in it. She loves to sing it while reading this book to me. I've been trying to get it on video for a few weeks, so I finally decided that I would just set the camera on the couch while she reads it to 'catch' the song. It is just too cute!!



The 'Real' Words...
"Who's the biggest dog around? Who's the reddest dog in town? Emily Elizabeth loved that pup, Loved him so that he grew up! It's Clifford, It's Clifford, loveable, laughable Clifford! It's Clifford! It's Clifford! Good old Clifford Yeah! The Big Red Dog!!"

Friday, July 23, 2010

July 23, 2010

Evalie Says...

After Bible study at church (which I love and wish I could be a stay-at-home mom to attend every Friday morning), we had a few errands to run for my class this weekend. This lead us into lunch time and still out and about. We decided that it was a perfect day for a lunch date! I love lunch dates with my little girl.