Current Evans Event—January 2015

We love to do puzzles over Christmas break.  I was so excited to get a new one this year.  It was a beautiful nativity puzzle, but it was HARD.  It took much longer to put together than we thought and most of the family gave up on it.  I was determined to finish it though and worked on it every chance I could.  Lee and Emma finally got involved right as I was finishing it up, but I insisted on putting in the last piece.  We finished it right before school started again.  Phew.

We got to watch our favorite twin babies again at the beginning of January.  Playing with them must of worn Emma out.  Lee too!

I really prefer 9:00 church, but I must admit that going a little later makes for a nice, lazy Sunday morning.  It was rather nice to be able to watch Music and the Spoken Word in our PJ’s again on the first Sunday in January!

Isaac gave the best FHE lesson based on Elder Bednar’s talk from October conference, Come and See.  He dressed as Lehi and ate some of the fruit of the tree all by himself. 

He liked it so much that he wanted to share it with us.  We discussed the importance of sharing the joy and happiness of the gospel and not just keeping it for ourselves.  We were happy to eat of the fruit also.  It was a great lesson!

Grace and Seoul were so excited that they wore their Elsa and Anna hats to school on the same day right after winter break ended.  I was glad that I was helping that day so I could take a picture.  So cute!

We got a kick out of this baby banana.  It was pretty weird on the inside.

But we were pretty sad about our dinner that ended up on the floor.  We ate it anyway.

I loved this picture that Grace drew of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. 

We had our goal setting FHE in the middle of January.  We set our own individual goals and we also set some specific family goals.  Lee talked about how we can work together and help each other to achieve our goals.  Isaac and Grace tried really hard to break the sticks that represented our whole family, they couldn’t do it!

It is never more obvious to me how different boys and girls are then when Isaac and Grace each have friends over.  This time the boys played Legos the whole time, while the girls crafted and created.

I love it when Emma sends me sunrise pictures from seminary.  One of the perks that we both appreciate of being awake in the early morning hours.

Isaac and Grace came up with this great movie watching arrangement.  They look comfy.

Isaac and I were alone for an afternoon while Grace was at a play date and he totally sweet talked me into going to the Lego store.  He took his own money and was thrilled to build a mini-fig.  I love how excited he is to go there, I just don’t like how long it takes for him to sift through the Legos and decide what he wants!

He wasn’t so excited when a little visitor to our house was trying to take over his Lego playing the next day!

Grace got to go to a Frozen birthday party for her friends.  Elsa and Anna were actually there!  I love this picture with all the little girls so intent on the princesses.

I showed Grace a tutorial for making some clay Frozen themed necklaces and she just knew they would be the perfect gift for her friend.  We had so much fun making them!  We made a few extra to give to other friends.  I love crafting with Grace.

Speaking of Grace’s crafting, I had to take a picture of one of the pretend walkie talkies she made.  They were retired when Isaac got real ones for Christmas.

She has been really into designing dresses lately.  I’m not sure if the money means that the dress costs a lot or she needs a lot of money to go shopping with when she wears the dress.  Hmmmmm….

We had some beautiful weather at the end of January.  We took advantage of it as much as we could.  We went on a bike ride with friends on the logging trail this day.  I was trying to get a picture of how beautiful Mt. Hood looked, but instead I got these beautiful little girls. 

Isaac was thrilled to end the month with a Lego derby.  He couldn’t wait to build cars and race them, and his cars did pretty good!  Grace got in on the action too but I don’t have any pictures of her.  What a fun activity!

Phew, January is done!

Swimming in January

Emma continued to stay very busy with swimming in January.  She had lots of meets, including Saturday meets for both the high school team and Gators.  She had a great time at the Rumbaugh Invitational.  She didn’t swim as well as she would have liked, but she had a good time with her swim team friends.  They went out for dinner after the meet which didn’t get her home until really late. 

January was also about the time that Isaac and Grace started to really get tired of swim meets.  Too bad there was still a lot more season to go!

 

My favorite meet to go to was at Tigard High School, my alma mater.  It was a little surreal to have my own daughter old enough to be participating in a sporting event at my old high school.  I’m getting old. 

I love watching Emma swim!

Mother-Daughter Book Date 2015

It was of course no surprise that Emma won our yearly book reading contest.  The score: 79 books and 30,329 pages for Emma, 68 books 20,462 pages for me.  She definitely won, but you can tell that she was busier this year and I’m getting closer to catching up with her.  She got a new book and a blizzard out of me, and I was happy to give it to her.  Even happier to spend time with her.  Choosing a book is a long and difficult process, but I enjoyed every minute of it. 

She found some Dr. Who objects that made her happy.  My little Whovian. 

We enjoyed our Blizzards and even ordered fries to go with them.

This girl makes me laugh.

Even when she takes all sorts of selfies with my phone.

We talked about how I would probably have a chance to beat her when she was in college.  But as I’ve thought about that I’ve realized that college for Emma is only a few short years away.  That makes me sad, so I will be sure to enjoy these few years with my Emma Mae!

Good job Emma!

January 31, 2015