Standing Girl

Evie is standing on her own regularly now. She doesn't really go from sitting to standing on her own, although I believe she could if she put her mind to it. Doesn't she look like she's playing air guitar and singing a tune here?!

The Pumkin Patch

Evie loved the goats and sheep both at the pumpkin patch and at the fair. Here are shots of her with animals at the pumpkin patch:




Evie in the real patch of pumpkins:



Picking out a winner:


Taking soil samples to be sure the pumpkins are really organic:


...and hay samples on the hayride:


Our beautiful, happy girl:




Family portrait at the patch (with the tripod):

Quick Blips

Oh, things have been so busy lately! We just got back from a wonderful visit with family in North Carolina--Richard's sister, Ruthie, and her hubby and 4 kiddos live in Durham. I have so much to blog about. We have been battling colds for about 2 months now! One of us will get over it and pass it on to another member of the family, back and forth, back and forth. I am sick and tired of us being sick and tired! Now we are pretty much well cold-wise, but Richard seems to have a case of sciatica (pinched sciatic nerve). His pain is excruciating and he can't walk without help. Poor guy! So, my point is, I haven't been on the computer near as much lately so I'm way behind as usual on the blog. Oh, well.

Here's something that I found via my friend, Rachel's, blog. I've only read the first two, but they are very good (and convicting)...It's about how you can do sweet things for your hubby and it's written by various women who've been married 20+ years. Hubbies (including mine!), no fair looking at this...you might ruin some surprises we have in store for you!

http://girltalk.blogs.com/girltalk/2008/10/doing-your-hu-1.html


Here's a sneak preview of Evie in her Halloween costume at the pumpkin patch. I imagined she would be a princess or something this year, but we cruised through Wal-Mart one day and when I showed her this Elmo costume she kept saying, "Mo Mo! Mo Mo!" so I figured she preferred to be Elmo. I think I'm gonna stick a big bow on the Elmo head so people won't keep saying "He" to her. They probably still will, but at least I'll try to make the costume more girly. I polled a couple of friends and they didn't think Elmo was a boys-only costume. My friend Christy thought he was "without gender." We'll go with that. :o)

Evie and the Boys

Laura brought Graham and Ethan over for a while on Saturday morning so she and Paul could go see their brand-new niece, Kendall. The boys had fun playing in a fort that Richard fixed up for them and parading around the house with some of Evie's instruments. Ethan's favorite toy, however, was....THE TRACTOR!! It's a tractor that my granddaddy got for me when I was a little girl because whenever he worked on the farm he would let me ride around with him on the tractor and I LOVED it! Evie tagged along, playing cars and generally following the boys as fast as she could. :o) It was a lot of fun to see Richard playing with the boys too. I have to admit, I don't quite know what to do with boys now that I have a girl. Pretty funny!

Oh, you may notice Evie is wearing a patch in these pictures...Her ophthalmologist has us patching her for an hour and a half a day because one of her eyes still tends to turn in a little at close range. When she looks at a distance, her eyes are almost perfectly straight. This isn't too alarming; he seemed to expect it and it's just part of the little corrections we'll need to continue doing in the coming months. We seem him again in December. Overall we are extremely pleased with the surgery!

Fun Girl

Our smiley girl (who is very snotty and drooly of late). As you can see from these pictures we sometimes lose the battle of keeping your glasses on you. But you are very possessive of your glasses. In general you like them, but they also become your tool for expressing when you want things. If you want (or don't want) something and don't get your way, you will whip off your glasses as if to say, "Well I'll show you!" We have had to discipline you for that quite a bit.


Singing (and in the process, showing where you recently bit your tongue--Ouch!!!)


More singing and talking...I think even your tongue is cute--all curled up!


Evie, you are such a fun girl! You LOVE music and are becoming a very good communicator even without words. Last night, as we drove home from Daddy's C.A. Reunion, you kept saying, "Mama, Mama!" until I looked back at you. You then signed, "Please" (often your way of saying "help" or expressing a desire for something). I said, "What do you want, Evie?" You pointed toward the radio, signed "music," and then waved "Bye bye!" You wanted us to change the song. You are very vocal about music you do and don't like. It cracks me up. I didn't expect this until Junior High.

You are now standing up on a regular basis. You don't go from sitting to standing on your own yet, but I can hold your hand and say, "Let go when you're ready" and you will let go and then clap at your success. It is very cute and Daddy and I are thrilled at your progress and growing confidence. We love you, sweet girl!