Tales of a Shoebox Princess

In honor of the holiday and of the many veterans who have served our country, we spent the morning in traditional Memorial Day mode: searching for our kid in a sea of marching dark blue uniforms. And the angels smiled down upon us, for... (long dramatic pause to give me time to wipe away a fake tear of emotion) ...today marked the very first time I was able to spot one of my children in the marching band while they were actually marching down the street. (I'm not counting the year Katie was drum major because she was wearing a different uniform than the rest of the band) Yes, I saw Hayley! And I got decent pictures of her. She was in the very middle so it didn't matter which side of the street I was on--usually I end up on the opposite side of whoever I want to see marching. Like other marching Evanses, she woudn't react when I shouted out her name several times. Actually, niether did the kid in the 8th grade marching band when I shouted his name (the kid is on...

I have started baking for the party. What party you say? This party: I'm starting out easy. I'm doing cupcakes today. I would have jumped right into the cake, but I don't have the giant pan on hand. I have to borrow it from mother. Since I'm not sure what else to blog about, I'll have to resort to the Ten Things. 1. Did you know Hayley has taken up the cymbals? She was bored in band class because they are doing marching, and bassoonists don't march. So she picked up a pair of cymbals and starting banging them together. She'll march in the Memorial Day parade... 2. which Jim and I were looking forward to skipping. Paul's not marching in it and we were thinking we could have a year off for once. We've been going since Katie was in 8th grade. But Hayley and her cymbals have wrecked that plan. 3. Of course I will take pictures. 4. I've been rereading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books since our trip to Plum Creek and Walnut Grove last week. Th...

After the convention mixer on Friday night, Jim and I stayed overnight in Sioux Falls. Our kids are growing up and Paul was more than capable of being the man of the house for one night while we were away.  We didn't have to hurry home anymore than we had to hurry there. We met Jen and Mike for breakfast at the hotel in the morning. They were able to stay overnight because they have a compound apprentice (niece Morgan) on site for a bit and were able to utilize her as a babysitter. We drove up to see the Compound and have lunch with the Hawleys and Ms Smith. Since I was there last, Mike has added a calf, two pigs, several dozen pheasants, some guinea hens and a couple of barn cats. I had to see the new additions. I can't get enough of Mike's birds, and these pheasant babies are no exception. I had to dip my hand in the vat of peeping chicks and grab a couple. They are so cute. This is a post Morgan helped install. She dug the hole and helped insert the pole i...

A long time ago, there was a mom and two little girls. One night the mother called her girls into her bed and said she was going to read a book to them. The little girls thought this sounded like a nice way to end the day, especially because they both liked stories. The mother picked out the book "Little House in the Big Woods" and began to read. Every night, she would read one chapter, although sometimes, if the little girls begged enough, the mother would read a second chapter. The oldest girl sometimes tried to read ahead, but her mother wouldn't let her. Reading the Little House series of books became a nighttime ritual and no reading ahead was allowed.  The mother and the two daughters together read all the books in the Little House series, which fast became the girls' favorite books. After they finished all the books, the oldest girl read them again on her own, time and time again. She loved the pioneer setting, and liked to imagine herself as a fiesty tomboy ...

This probably should go on EJ's mission blog, but since it's going to be told through my interpretation, I guess I'll put it here. Maybe I'll post it there too.  We'll see what the wind says I should do. 1. He sounded alive 2. He baptized two members of a family this past week. 3. He hates the small businesses that operate like an ice cream truck, only they sell gas tanks (propane?) and the music is much much much louder because they have speakers mounted on the top of their vehicles. The jingles are much more annoying too, partly because he doesn't know what they are saying. 4. He likes tortas, which are akin to eating tacos using special sliced bread. 5. He thinks he's much closer to the sun. The tops of his ears are brown, he says. 6. He thinks he'll be in Los Pinos for at least 4 1/2 months--three with his trainer and another transfer as the area expert but junior companion. 7. He doesn't know what his address is, but he was able to descr...

That would be Hayley and Paul, having concerts on the same night in the same place. Hayley can't remember which song this was. Horn quartet prepares to play. Paul is staring off into space. This was Paul's last band concert. Notice the love going on in the background. super tall Paul Paul and his French Horn compatriots (or comrades, if you're a communist) played their Best-in-Site award winning piece. I knew Paul was going to play this in the concert, but I didn't know about when he played it for the judges. I had to find out about that on facebook after the fact. I also could have posted another picture I took of Paul during the concert featuring a kid behind him who was really digging into his nose, but I thought perhaps you would all get queasy if I did.

I just got back from a refreshing walk. The sun was shining, a brisk breeze kept me from getting too hot, and butterflies and baby geese provided little moments of "Squeeee!"  And no icky insects flew down my throat--always a plus on any walk.  And I stayed on the cement at all times so hopefully no ticks were able to hitch a ride on any part of my clothing or body. Paul's running updates: Latest meet, he ran personal bests in both the 3200m and the 1600m, 10:14 and 4:34 respectively. He has 10 days off until his next meet. He doesn't have many more after that. He also is done working in 2 weeks. He graduates in less than a month. He leaves in a month and two days. It is too weird a concept to comprehend.  Must take more sunshiney walks to compensate for mind-blowiness of Paul growing up.

Since when has it become acceptable for a teacher to outsource teaching to Hollywood? Hayley comes home from school quite often saying "We're watching a movie in (some class of hers)."  This past week it was the movie "Volcano" for science. I also seem to remember her watching "Dante's Peak" in science too. I asked her what she was supposed to be learning by watching "Volcano" and her response was "how the movie is wrong about volcanoes." Forehead smack. On the teacher's forehead. Now don't get me wrong, I know teachers have a difficult time teaching these days, especially given that many kids come to school with a chips solidly planted on their shoulders, and with attitudes of "you'd better entertain me or I'm not going to listen." But surely there is a way to teach what a volcano is or isn't that doesn't involve three or four class periods of students staring at a movie screen. I also qu...