Adventures of Evie

  Today was an extension of yesterday's art project. We talked about what seeds (and people) need to grow and thrive. We talked about how important plants are to the ecosystem and what their role is. While we talked we planted some seeds in our cups from yesterday. These seeds are going to grow dill for our herb garden and one of Evie's FAVORITE things to do is snatch leaves off the herbs to taste them and try to guess what they are. After we put our seeds in the sunshine and watered them Evie really wanted to play the taste game but since we were running low on time I told her we'd have to do it tomorrow. She can't wait to watch this grow and plant it outside! 

  This week is Eco Week! We are going to be learning about recycling, gardening, and how we can conserve energy at home. Today we are doing some art which is also a prep for one of our projects for later in the week.  Evie got to cut, fold, and glue some toilet paper rolls. Then we decorated them! She painted them all with pink paint and then we tried to add some glitter glue but it wasn't really working very well so we gave up on that fairly quickly.   After we set those aside to dry we played this gardening matching game. Evie has had this since she was 3 or 4 and she still loves to play it. It's also a really fun tool to talk about gardening and the different veggies you pull out as you play. After a few rounds it was time to get ready for school. Evie decided she'd ride the bus again so I'm hoping for a full week on it this week. She hasn't ridden the bus more than a day or two since December! 

  As expected the weather outside was abysmal today. Too cold to play and also kind of cloudy. I had planned to use this day for Evie to catch up on her homework for the month but she wasn't in the mood and I didn't feel like fighting about it. We played several rounds of freeze dance and The Floor Is Lava and then Evie decided she was bored. So we pulled a card from her boredom jar. Then she grabbed a book and we played some I Spy. When that got old we played the Scavenger Hunt game. I love this game for her while I'm working because it requires so little involvement from me but to her it feels like a lot of one on one time. I made a list of prompts and then she had to take her shopping cart around and get the items. We did two of these; one I asked her to get things that felt a certain way and for the second I asked her to get me things that made her feel certain feelings. It was tricky for her but it was fun to see what she grabbed. At the end I set a timer and told her ...

  It's another gorgeous day outside and probably the last one for awhile. After today the temps drop 20 degrees and it's going to be super chilly. So this morning when Evie asked if she could play outside when she got up she got an immediate yes. I popped inside for a few minutes to grab some lunch for us and when I came back she was digging up my flower beds. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was gardening. So I told her if she wants to garden she should start in the vegetable beds!  She got her shovel and some seed pots and headed over to "transfer" plants. This next week by request we are starting up theme weeks again and I think we will do an eco-week since she is super into the planet, recycling, and gardening right now. She was VERY disappointed about going to school today and leaving all her plants behind. ;)

  Today was a such a pretty day that we decided to max out our outside time before it disappears this weekend. We played in the yard all morning before school. I really need to get Evie another swing for the yard. Her swingset was too small so we got rid of it and replaced it with a free trampoline. But now she's getting itchy for swings again.  So after school I took her down to the park. We spent about an hour there before it was time to head back for dinner. On the way back she found some pine cones and some thick leaves so I showed her how you can write on the back of the thicker ones. She thought that was SO cool and she told me we need to save that leaf for her collection. 😂 She's definitely a nature lover like her mama! :)

  Today was a LONG day. This morning there was a gas leak in our city so we spent most of our time playing inside which was disappointing since the weather is starting to get really nice. Then she headed off to school. After I picked her up we went to OT. We got there a little early so I let her choose a snack to eat while we waited. We had a training therapist today and she did a lot of talking which wasn't my favorite, nor was it Evie's. Since she spent so much time talking and trying to get Evie to sit still and listen we didn't get a lot of physical time which made the rest of our night more difficult since after we left we had another long car ride ahead of us. But we made it work. Today was my mom's birthday so we spent the evening up there doing family night, eating tons of cake, and playing with fluffy dogs and cats.We got home later than normal and both went right to bed. Thankfully the rest of the week is less packed! :)

  This month has been a bit rough for Evie. Since the end of January she has seen at least three people have birthday's that were NOT her, her teacher at school abruptly disappeared (it was not her fault but to a five year old it was a lot to handle), she started occupational therapy, and we've been deep cleaning the house which has left it pretty cluttered and that has been frustrating for BOTH of us. When I was younger I always loved celebrating my own and my friends half birthdays. It just feels like one day out of the year to make someone feel special and celebrate that we are all happy they are here is not enough. I always intended to celebrate Evie's half birthday too but unfortunately it falls just before Christmas which makes it not the most ideal time. So the other day when I was cleaning a closet and found a forgotten Christmas gift I had an idea...why not celebrate an UN-birthday! There is a little $7 cake at Kroger she begs me for each time we go near the bakery...

  Today we left for our second mini adventure of the month. The first was a surprise trip to the ice rink downtown. Evie had been asking to skate since we visited Kings Islands Winterfest around last Christmas. She had fun skating but I don't think it was exactly what she expected it to be! This is our first overnight mini adventure of the year. It started off a little disappointing since once again, the pool was closed. Part of the reason Evie loves staying in hotels is using the pool and this is the third time recently we've attempted to stay overnight in a hotel so she can use the pool and sleep in the big bed only to find that the pool is closed. Luckily we've been swimming at the gym a lot recently so while she was sad it wasn't the WORST thing ever. Tomorrow we are off to CoSi for the day! Then it's back home to enjoy our long holiday weekend. :)

   We had a bit of a busy day today cleaning up the house and getting things ready for our mini trip tomorrow. This evening I recruited Evie to help me with dinner. Prior to the last year or so Evie always helped me make and clean up dinner. When school started we put our regular routine aside to try and create a new one that would fit around her school schedule and make room for homework and playtime. Recently we've been moving back toward our original routine again. Evie expressed that she is really sad we don't do theme weeks and projects anymore...largely that is because I don't want to get super messy before school. But I miss our fun projects too so in the next two weeks we're going to transition back into morning learning and as the weather gets warmer I'm excited to move our play time outside. Tonight she helped me make one of her favorite dinners--meatballs. She did a great job with them too! After dinner we got the rest of our stuff packed up for tomorrow ...

  Today was SUCH a beautiful day. We spent almost all of it outside playing. Before school we jumped on the trampoline and made some fun chalk art on the sidewalk. Over the summer I taught Evie to make rainbows using her fingers to smudge the chalk together and she's been itching to try it out again. So we made rainbows, drew our names, and then played a game where we each choose a color of chalk and the other has to draw something that color.  After school we did some experimentation with colored water and paper towels. We had this water leftover from dip dying some wooden pieces and she had a lot of fun watching the water creep up the towels and guessing which color would reach the top first. It was a really fun day and it has us wishing for more warmer weather! 

  Today is Valentines Day! Evie was so excited about her class party today. She found her prettiest pink dress (with hearts of course), let me put her hair in a heart braid, and even forced ME to get dolled up for the day.  She also got her final heart on her door today. Starting on the first I wrote down one thing I loved about her and put it up on her door for her to read in the morning. This was actually really fun and she LOVED it so I definitely think we will repeat it each year! After school today we headed up to Nana's house for treats and family night. It was a really fun day! :)

  I'm not sure if it's her grade level or the fact that her teacher is still out or just that her class is doing things differently, but Evie has not made a Valentines Day box this year for her class party and since it's only one day away we decided to make one at home! We got a kit from Michael's and then we borrowed a box from Nana to make the bottom part.  I used the glue gun to get the basic shape part to stay together (who wants to wait 24 hours to decorate?!) and then Evie got to stick on all the decorations and the name part. We had a ton of fun building it and I can't wait to fill it up with her Valentines! :)

  Today was a pretty chill day. Last night there was a big wind storm and our trampoline net took a lot of damage. It was old and not the greatest in the first place but the trampoline was free so I can't really complain about it. Evie really wanted to jump today so I went out and tried to do some cleanup and then used some zip ties to try to fix it somewhat. I think this summer we probably need to try to replace it but we'll see how things go. We spent most of the morning jumping, dancing, and singing and then headed off to school. Evie came home VERY upset today and let me know her teacher is in the hospital. She has been out for several days now but a student told Evie today that she was in a car accident and is it really upset her. Hopefully her teacher is OK and will be back soon. It definitely made for an emotional night. Luckily we had swim this evening so she was able to swim with her friends at the gym which helped!  <3

  Today Evie woke up BEGGING me to do her nails. Weeks ago I took her to her very first Claire's and she was in love to say the least. Earrings, nails, hair bows, necklaces....HEAVEN. She was living for it. I gave her a budget and she bought a ton of things including this set of nails which she was just dying to wear today. I knew they'd come off before school so I tried to get her to wait to the weekend so we could put them on more securely and she could get two days out of them but she wasn't having it so I finally gave in. After that she did up her face with some makeup and...well it was nice out so you guesse it...she spent the morning giving trampoline concerts. She took some fuzzy pipe cleaners with her this time to mimick the vines in Taylors video.  She wrapped them all up her arms and then ripped them off dramatically when Taylor breaks out of them in the song. It was pretty creative of her! But her favorite part is when Taylor jumps off the cliff into the water an...

 This week the weather has been SO nice. We couldn't help but get outside. I actually took a shorter day at work today because it was just so warm out and it feels like it's been ages since we could comfortably play outside. Evie spent her morning giving me a concert on the trampoline complete with dancing and music and then she wanted me to come be her special effects. She is particularly obsessed at the moment with the Taylor Swift video Out of the Woods so she instructed me to be everything from wolves to snow to a cliff to vines to fire. It was fun to watch her get really into the direction and performance though. Maybe someday she'll be a big star and I can whip out these photos and be that one mom on TV who's like "I've known Evie would be famous since she was 5." 😂😂 But even if not it's still really fun to watch her be creative and analytical about it. This evening I had to go get my eye exam done. I haven't been in about two years and COV...

 Today was family day! We spent our morning jumping on the trampoline until it started to rain and then Evie headed off to school. After I picked her up we headed to my moms for family dinner and imagine Evie's surprise to find that Nana made us hats! She made a Bingo one for me and... a Bluey one for Evie! Now we just need a brisk day so we can wear them out! So so cute. She had a lot of fun playing with her cousins and also testing out her Mario Kart skills while we were there. I really hope this nice weather keeps up the rest of the week so we can have some outdoor playtime! :)

 Today was Evie's second occupational therapy day. This time we had our appointment in the morning so we basically got up and headed out. On the way there Evie said to me "mama, are we going to Boston?" Confused I responded with "No. Why do you ask?" The reply to which was "I thought we were going to the airport!" After she said that it occurred to me that typically when I wake her up in the morning and it's chilly and dark still we ARE going to the airport. 😂 So needless to say she was a little disappointed to not be heading out for Spring Break.  After therapy we got some breakfast which we haven't done in a long time! Evie got bacon. Yes just bacon. She really tried to convince me to get her a coffee too but she settled for chocolate milk. This kid is 5 going on 30 I swear.  After breakfast we headed home and Evie made a play-doh hamster complete with a cage, wheel, and food. Then it was off to school! :)

  Today was a crazy day. At some point in the middle of the night last night I started to hear loud beeping. It didn't last long and since my neighbors across the street are moving and had trucks in and out all night long I didn't think much of it. Then it happened a few times in the morning, again it didn't last long and the neighbors were still moving (yes they moved things all night long and into the early morning 😑) and it was also trash pickup I kind of blew it off. But then mid-morning ALL my smoke detectors started going off. Naturally I immediately went to look for smoke, fire, heat...ANYTHING. But found nothing. I waved a towel below the one downstairs and they all stopped. But since there was no smoke, steam, fire, or anything else it did make me wonder what set it off. After I dropped Evie off at school I came home to continue working and it happened again. Again it lasted only a short time and again there was no apparent reason for them going off. But a few min...

This morning when Evie got up she let me know that she'd really like to send a letter to Blippi. I figured it wouldn't be too hard to find an address to send him mail (although I was wrong about this) so I gave her some paper and she grabbed some markers to write the letter. She really wanted to use his favorite colors! She needed some help with spelling but she's doing so much better with her writing and this seemed like a prime opportunity for her to practice them some more.  After the letter was done we put it in an envelope, added a stamp, and she got to go put it in the mailbox. We couldn't find an official fan mail address for him so we sent it to the official location on his webpage. Hopefully it reaches him and maybe she'll get a photo or sticker back in the mail. But if not it was a fun way to get in some practice writing and also learn about how the mail works! 

  Since yesterday was a snow day we got to dress up for 100 days of school today, on what is technically the 101st day of school. Evie was SO excited about dressing up. She was also VERY excited to show her friends that she lost a tooth. She is the first in her circle of school friends to lose one so hopefully we don't set a ridiculous standard for the other kids parents. 😂 She decided she'd actually ride the bus today since she was so excited to show off her outfit and missing tooth and I was hopeful this would lead to her riding again but...no dice. When I picked her up she informed me that she was NOT riding the bus again tomorrow. I don't entirely mind driving her but since drop-off is 1:10 and I have to line up for pickup at 3:00 it doesn't leave me a lot of time in my day to get things done. After school today we had her first OT appointment. It went pretty well and it was a relief to get a treatment plan in place to help her get back on track. One down...and who...