Our church hosted a Father-Daughter dance tonight. Dan has been looking forward to this night since they announced it two months ago. We made a big deal about it - I picked out a dress for Evelyn and we hid it from Daddy until the big night.
Evelyn even let me paint her fingernails and toenails for the first time!
I made a corsage for her to wear (Daddy had a matching boutineer to match!).
Here she is right before Daddy got to see her!
Getting ready to head out!
Some pictures before the dance!
This was her face when she saw the tiara and jewelry that Dan bought for her!
Daddy and his princess!
Telling Mommy bye-bye!
I may or may not have taken about 100 pictures...yikes.
They had a date for dinner first - mac & cheese at McAllister's!
Dan said it was cute - it was like she knew she had a pretty dress on because she was extra careful eating, taking care not to spill anything (which is NOT normal for her!)
At the ball...
It was so great seeing all of the parents posting pictures of what the Dad's were doing for their little girls. I loved seeing this next generation of girls be shown what a real date looks like and how special they are in the eyes of their fathers. My prayer is that each of them will know very early how precious they are to their heavenly Father whose desire is for them. Thank you to everyone who helped to put this event together - it was amazing!
Evelyn usually joins me in the bathroom as I get ready in the mornings. This particular morning, I put her fake pearl necklace on her. She usually loves playing with it.
Not so much this morning...
It got better after she yanked it off...
She also likes to crawl in the shower after I get out while I'm getting out and play in the water puddles.
Amber took this video one day when Evelyn was eating her afternoon snack. This is the best way to eat pudding...stripped down to your diaper.
My favorite is the look she gives Amber in the second one when she starts lapping it up with her tongue.
Sometimes you just want to turn your bib around and be a superhero.
Evelyn's favorite spot to sit and eat her snacks is the small space in between our couches. When we are watching Broncos games, she will sit in here for 5-10 minutes, just eating her snack and watching the game.
She has worn this Broncos shirt during the 3 games we have won this year. She may or may not only wear this shirt from here on out. :-)
She sat up on her 4-wheeler watching for part of the game too.
Unfortunately for her, she missed the best part of this Monday night game - the second half against the Chargers. Perhaps my favorite 2 quarters of football ever. I love seeing Phillip Rivers cry. And I love the Broncos.
Another morning with Mommy getting ready. Most mornings she isn't up until after I'm ready, but this week she's been an earlier riser.
We pulled out "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" this week. Her favorite scenes were Linus playing the piano. We may have a musician on our hands!
This was the first 3-4 minutes of the show, the rest of it she pretty much played through or danced to.
I had a Board of Directors meeting for a professional society that I belong to in Dallas one day. Fortunately I can take the first flight out of Corpus to make it in plenty of time for the meeting, and catch the early evening flight back to make it home before bedtime. I didn't get to see my little girl much that day, but at least I got to see her.
Knowing I was having a hard time because Fridays are usually my day home with Evelyn, Amber sent me this picture...
She loves playing with her barnyard fridge toy...especially now that she's learning animals and animal sounds!
Dan was getting some work done, and Evelyn wanted to help.
This morning we had a birthday party for one of the girls from our church. The party was held at the park we usually take Evelyn to that is about a mile from our house. In a desperate attempt to feel like it is actually fall, we rode our bikes there. We sweated the whole way - it's still not fall.
Evelyn loved playing with the bubbles
Chasing bubbles
Daddy trying to keep a steady stream coming out...
After the party, we came home for a nap, then headed out to Kingsville with Daddy (he had to work the home football game). Both times we have gone out to the tailgate festivities, Evelyn has loved it. She runs around (as much as we'll let her), gets dirty (what kid doesn't like that?), and loves to dance to the music.
Here she is busting out some moves...
And a video of the move busting...
Dan had to work through halftime, so Evelyn and I decided to stay for the game. Her favorite part was, by far, the marching band. She liked the game as well, but when the band was on the field - she was clapping and dancing. 'Twas a good time...but nothing like the college football we are used to. Sigh. I miss Purdue.
Family self-portrait (Dan and I were trying to get Evelyn to smile)
And the more "normal" shot
Dan had to go down to work with about 5 minutes left in the half. I knew she would want to see the marching band, so I stayed with her in the stands. During the last minutes of the half, she managed to get herself stuck in the chair back. Naturally, I took pictures before I helped. :-)
We had a good time being able to still be together on a home football Saturday - usually we lose Dan for the better part of the afternoon and evening. It's always so much fun watching Evelyn experience new things, too!
Grandma and Grandpa Gaines sent Evelyn a new Purdue Princess outfit that she loves. The first time I put it on her, she walked around saying, "pretty" and checking out her reflection in the glass door of our china hutch.
Over the last few weeks, Evelyn has started catching onto animal sounds. She's had "moo" and "ruff ruff" for a while - but the others are making their appearance now. She's pretty good at getting dog, cow, cat, lion (my personal favorite), duck, monkey, horse, and sheep. She was getting them all on her own tonight, so I started videoing it...of course, then she didn't want to play as much, but here it is for your enjoyment.
I also love the "no no no" with the finger wagging that she's started doing. And no, she didn't get that from me (ahem, Dan...).
I've tried to keep a list of the words she is saying now, and we're around 25 now...including Broncos. I'm so proud!
Evelyn and I had such a fun Friday! We started off the morning with our "Friday French Toast" ritual. My Mom's french toast was is one of my favorite meals in the entire world. I don't have any special recipe to share - when people have sent me their favorite french toast recipes, they never stack up - because they aren't my Mom's. I've always wanted to share something like that with my kids, so I instituted Friday French Toast.
After breakfast, we packed up and headed to the Texas State Aquarium. Our membership has officially paid for itself now!
This guy was one of Evelyn's favorites today...she followed him around for about 10 minutes!
We pretty much had the dolphin observation deck to ourselves this morning. We ran around down there for about 30 minutes - and had it to ourselves for about half of that time. She loved running back and forth, the automatic doors, and climbing the benches and stairs. I loved that she could run around and be fairly contained!
Watching Shadow and Kai swim around!
Here we are getting ready for the dolphin show. This is my attempt at being more present in pictures - even though I still hate what I look like in pictures. Thank you, Allison Tate, for helping me to realize my little girl doesn't care that I still haven't lost my baby weight.
After the dolphin show, we headed to the Splash Park at the aquarium. She loved it - and has really started to become more independent in public. I was running all over to keep up with her. She liked getting stuck in fountains and needing some help getting out, so I think I'll need to wear more water friendly clothes next time we go!
Playing with the fountains
This was another favorite - the little spinny things that spray water everywhere!
Splashing in the water puddles
Just got sprayed in the face
Video of playing in the fountain
Let me show you guys some moves!
In the changing room...look at those tired eyes!
Thank you, Evelyn, for being such a sweet, fun date! Looking forward to many more fun Fridays!
