Evelyn, AKA Appetite for Destruction 2.0

Monday morning we terrorized the hospital lobby for an hour. Those kids jumping on the couches and rolling footstools were NOT my kids. Never. My kids sat quietly for an hour and played nicely. Hah. I wish. Everett insisted on wearing his Power Ranger PJs all day, so he ran around showing off his ninja skills. Phillip snuck in several hot wheel cars and spent his time racing them all over the carpet and tables. Evelyn whined, cried, and acted like an animal. I hid in the corner yelling random commands that no one listened to. Amelia is quite excited to be down to one crutch used on her right side for support. She hobbles around quite adeptly now. We enjoyed FHE at the pool. Amelia was bored because none of her friends were around. She was quite delighted when I gave her rides around the lazy river. Soon I was swarmed by kids begging for rides. 

I am slowly chipping away at my massive house project. I took a few loads of stuff to Salvation Army throughout the week. The hard part is that even with all my hard work my progress is disguised. I worked on Josie's room rearranging the furniture. Once I was done Justin pointed out that she was waking up at night because the air conditioning vent was right under her crib making her cold. Indeed, I checked out his theory and found a cold draft wafting across her little nose. I moved the furniture back. I ordered two bookshelves last week. I assembled the shelves on Tuesday with Phillip's help. He enjoyed screwing the screws in. A couple days later I had the books sorted through and the shelves in place. Guess that was my contribution for the week. Amelia and Everett's room needs lots of work. I will try to get to that next week. I cleaned some of the basement only to decide I needed more storage to organize the dress up stuff. 

Amelia designed over 10 outfits using the designer books we got last year. She tried to FaceTime with Stella several times. I got quite a laugh when I found her listening to music, designing an outfit, with Stella on FT in Utah coloring as well. So many cute giggles and silly stories. I love when her nice, happy side comes out. The kids also played a new game: ancient writing, which means taking sticks and drawing on the tree in the side yard. Two or three times a day we all go outside while I nurse Josie and the kids play. Evelyn discovered some ripe tomatoes, and picked those plus half the green ones on my bushes. Grrrrrr. 

Evelyn is wearing me out. She is full of life, spunk, curiosity, and shenanigans. This week she got a hold of white nail polish Amelia left out. Imagine me yelling at Amelia, trust me I yelled. She painted her ear, hair, big toe, nose, arm, and binky. She was so tired afterwards she fell asleep. She dumped salt on the coffee table while I chatted with my mom. I found her creating patterns in the salt with her finger. She dumped a full container of Goldfish on the floor, and filled a shopping basket with the crackers. The coup de gras happened while I was out doing VT on Sunday. She happened upon a neglected bottle of blue food coloring. Justin was interacting with the older kids talking about genealogy stories and watching church videos. He found her covered in blue food coloring. She smeared the volatile stuff on the floor, walls, and carpet. I walked in soon after he discovered her art project. He cleaned up the mess and I cleaned up Evelyn. Justin looked close to exploding. Yesterday at the DR office a nice receptionist let the kids color while we waited for Amelia. Evelyn hid several crayons around the lobby. I caught her coloring the walls near the conference rooms with a blue crayon. I confiscated the crayon only to turn around and find her with a new color and fresh wall to decorate. I got most of the crayon cleaned off the walls except where she colored on the exposed cement. Right after FHE yesterday she snuck off with a green marker and drew exceptionally drawn circles on the hallway walls. I am instituting and embargo on all writing utensils. She thinks cleaning up is quite fun, time out just makes her scream, and only drawing on paper is too confining. I thought Phillip was supposed to be my only busy child. Good gracious, she and Phillip are competing for first place status. Sunday during church I turned around to find Evelyn with her dress almost divested. I re-clothed her and then turned to say something to Phillip. Next thing I know the stinker was buck naked in church, well, not buck naked since she still had her binky. 

For wander Wednesday, we drove to Sterling Pool for the afternoon. Once again Evelyn was so tired she half-heartedly splashed around. We are all tired! I lost track of Everett, he turned on his ninja skills and went swimming inside without permission. We got back in time for Amelia to attend Activity Days. The girls learned how to babysit with real toddlers. While she was there I went to help a Sister in the ward pack up her belongings. While there the tornado sirens went off! A tornado touched down near Gurley, 10 miles away. Packing made me grateful for my own house, her home made mine seem clean. A change of perspective for the better is nice. Another large storm set off the tornado sirens twice in 30 minutes on Friday or Sunday. I can't keep track!   

Our neighbors are welcoming a new baby in December. They threw a "gender reveal" party on Friday for all their friends. They found a smoke flare to set off and "reveal" they are having a baby girl. Every party needs food and beverages. This party was no exception. The exception came when I poured myself a large drink in a Solo cup from a large water thermos dispenser. I had gum in my mouth so the orange punch tasted a bit sour. I disposed of my gum and drank another large swallow. I asked Justin if the punch tasted strange, he sampled a bit and gave me a strange look. Dude, only the Mormon girl is naive enough to drink the mixed alcoholic beverage Adan (a bartender) prepared. After inspection I noticed the not so noticeable sign labeled XXX. So there you go, I had my first sample of alcohol at the ripe old age of 39, next week. A few moments later Phillip walked by with a full cup of the same punch. I quickly, divested him of his drink and found a more suitable one. 

Josie started sticking out her tongue just a wee bit. It is adorable. If you see her make sure to capture her smile and kiss those cute cheeks.