Adventures of Evie

    We continued with school today and did some math and writing practice. Evie also read me a ton of sight words. I was impressed with how well she did and how many she managed to sound out without any help at all. After school we headed down to the pool for the first time this summer. It’s SUPER hot this week so it was a perfect time to do it. We stayed for a few hours and then met Nana and her cousins at LaRosa’s for some pizza to celebrate everyone’s last day of school. It was a fun but tiring day!

It seems like as soon as school let out the weather realized it was summer and it heated up FAST.  Today we set up the pool and while we were waiting for it to fill up we had a water balloon fight. It definitely helped with the temperature but it was still super hot outside so eventually we decided to come in and play instead. Evie has been begging me to start her homeschooling material which we got for next year and even though I really wanted to take a few weeks off I decided to let her start. So far she seems to love it which is really great. We did some math, language, and writing. Then we headed up to Nana’s for dinner and family time!  

  Well today ended up being a crazy day. We had planned to take it easy and get back into the groove after our trip but that didn’t happen at all! Recently Evie got a new fish which she named Ariel. It turned out that Ariel was a boy fish though and as a result he has been trying to get Dorothy to breed which has stressed her out and made her sick. So we got a tank separator but we really needed to put them in their own tanks. Today we ordered one online. The store gave us the wrong size and st first they said oh well just keep it and we decided to try to make it work. But then as the day unfolded we realized that there was just no way we could fit this rank into our house. So we took it back to get a smaller one. But then we ended up getting the wrong tank. So another trip to the pet store and we finally got the tank up and running. Luckily we had cycled water all ready to go in so we were able to get Ariel in pretty quickly. Everyone seems happy but man are we tired!

  With school over for the year we decided to kick of summer with a little trip! So today we hit the road for St Louis. One of Evie's big asks for this year was more adventures so this is our May adventure. While I've been to St Louis before, this will be a new state and a new city for Evie! She is filling up her map nicely this year. We have already checked off something like 12 states this year and this will put her around 29 states total.  We are almost out of drivable states to visit at this point so it will be a lot slower from here but it's been so fun seeing the US with her. I'm so happy that we've been able to do so much together in just five years. I can't wait to see how she feels about St Lous. <3

  It's finally here! The very last day of kindergarten. We had a lot of ups and downs this year and no one was happier to see the year come to an end today than Evie. She insisted on not taking her backpack today even though I was sure she'd need it to bring home all of her school supplies so she ended up with a Target bag filled with things at pickup. She also came home with a yearbook full of the names of her friends and teachers and a lot of excitement for summer! We are celebrating the end of the year with a weekend trip to St Louis so we spent the evening packing up for tomorrow. I can't believe the year is already over. Here we come summer break!

  We are almost to the last day of school and today Evie told me it was her LAST day on the bus.  So I agreed to drive her on the last day even though I did let her know that means she won't see her bus friends for awhile. Mr Dwayne and Miss Sandy are going to be sad tomorrow when there is no one at the bus stop! Ox rode here for the last time a few days ago. I'm sure we'll see him and Ozzy and Krissie around over the summer though. It's a big neighborhood but they live close! It's funny to think this time last year how excited Evie was to ride this bus and now how much she hates it. She looked so big getting on today vs the beginning of the year when she seemed like such a baby still. One more day and we're officially on summer time! :)

Today was Evie's kindergarten graduation. It was SO cute. We got to go see her sing some songs and do the panthers chant and then we got cookies and lemonade. She got to leave early too which she was VERY happy about. She got her little kindergarten completion sheet and her teacher, who has been out since February due to an accident even came to hug them and see them off to first grade.   I love that she started the year wanting to be an astronaut ballerina and ended it wanting to be a teacher (although if you ask her she will always tell you she wants to be a celebrity makeup artist so I suspect that her classmates influenced her on this particular day)! It will be so much fun to see how this changes in the next year too. <3

Well today I gave Evie an early birthday present. She has been asking me to get her ears pierced for about six months now and I told her we'd do it on her birthday BUT she really wanted to be able to show all her school friends before the end of the school year. So today I took her to have it done. The original plan was to take her to a tattoo parlor and have it done with a needle but after consulting family and friends and checking into prices and times we ended up just going to Claire's to get it done. She did an amazing job too! I held her hand when they did the piercing and even though her eyes went wide as saucers when that post went in, she didn't cry or make a sound. She walked out with five suckers, newly pierced ears, and a set of earrings to wear when hers are ready to be changed out.   We grabbed some lemonade and macarons afterward and then it was time to head home and board the bus. Only a few more days left til this kid is a big first grader!

 We are down to almost our last week of school! We've spent most of our days outside this week since she is wrapping up school and then we will probably take a few weeks off and jump back into some work again. Today we noticed most of our peonies were in bloom so Evie helped me cut them and then she spent awhile arranging them into boquets for every room in the house. She had a lot of fun picking vases for them and putting them all in just so. The house looks and smells so pretty now!

 This morning was so pretty that we spent most of it outside in the pool and swinging. After school I picked Evie up and we headed to Kings Island for some free dinner, ice cream and rollercoasters. Today the little booth where you can get a colored band matching your height was down but since she gets the same band everytime we just went about our day without it. This plan went fine for the first half of the evening but then Evie decided she was FINALLY ready to tackle a new coaster. So we waited in line excitedly for FORTY minutes only to get to the front, have her measured, and be told she was too short. I am all about safety and totally understand that they have to follow rules BUT her head was definitely where it needed to be, she has been already five times this year and everytime been tall enough AND her last doctors paperwork also shows she is tall enough. The operator told us her head has to be well above the line not just at or slightly above it but...well anyway needless...

  Everyone was finally feeling themselves today but it was raining outside...of course. So we used our morning to make a stomp rocket in the garage. Luckily by the time we finished up lunch and had it completed the rain had let up just enough that we could test it out. We had a few competitions to see who could get their rocket to go the highest and at some point Evie sent one off that we couldn't find. Anywhere. We looked and looked and looked. School time came and we gave up but when I got back home I finally spotted it. From our second story window you could JUST see it peeking out of the top of this tree. So I grabbed my ladder, a broom, and some tennis balls and eventually I got it out!  She definitely won that round!

  This past weekend was a rough one. We visited Kings Island one night and on the way home Evie started throwing up all over the place. The car. The stairs. Her bed. EVERYWHERE. Including unfortunately on several of her favorite comfort stuffies. The problem being when I stripped her bed and threw it all in the wash I completely forgot that her Warmies giraffe, Iris, can NOT be washed. Her insides heat up and are filled with some type of grain that swells up when it gets wet. So when I pulled her out she was heavy, mushy, and...ruined. Evie was devastated but I told her Iris had a swelly belly and we'd just take her to the Stuffed Animal Hospital on Monday. So we did.  While Evie was at school I picked up "Iris" and her paperwork and she was ready to go when Evie got home. She promised to take good care of Iris and give her lots of extra love and snuggles. I'm just glad they're BOTH feeling better! ;)

 It's PROM NIGHT! Evie has been talking about this ALL week and telling everyone she is going to prom tonight. At pickup the aid who walked her out said "Have fun at prom Evie" She came home and got super dressed up...complete with makeup, hair and a corsage that we made for her with flowers from the garden. Then we were off to prom! At prom she got her photo taken (though she wasn't very happy about it), her face painted, and a balloon wand. We got to dance, play, and eat some snacks too. It was a really fun night and she enjoyed every minute of it! :)

 Well today for the first time in a LONG time Evie decided she might actually like shopping. She generally hates it and will fight about going to almost ANY store I need to even though we don't often shop. Tomorrow is Prom day at a local play place and we signed her up for it since she was so disappointed watching her cousin go to prom that she wasn't able to do it too. So after school today we ran out to get her some new shoes for prom. But we ended up with a new dress for prom, three new summer dresses, a headband, a little purse, AND the new shoes. While we were running around we also grabbed some coffees and as we were walking back to the car, hands full of coffee and shopping bags (and a little Evie hand too <3) she said to me "Mama, I actually DO like shopping!" So there ya go. When all the stuff is for her she actually enjoys it. 😂

 Today at school the theme is Outside. Since it's day "O" they get to spend extra time outside which Evie is VERY excited about. Since there was nothing we really needed to do to prepare for today's theme we took a walk to the park before school and had fun swinging and climbing and playing. I can't believe she is only 11 days from finishing kindergarten. It feels like it's flown right by! After school today we played in the pool and despite work and school schedules we managed to log close to 7 hours outside today! We're both really enjoying the sunshine and warmer weather. I can't wait for lazy summer days by the pool. :)

  Today I wanted to try out a project I've been thinking about for all of our beach trips this summer. Evie loves to paint and I thought it would be fun to take some water colors to the beach so she could use the ocean (or river or lake) water to paint shells she finds. It seemed like an easy project that requires minimal supplies and money so we broke out some large shells from our NH adventure today and I gave her paint and let her use her pool water to make them pretty.  It was a huge win and she also loved that she could rinse them off and start again as many times as she wanted to. Definitely adding this to our summer bag! :)

 We are in the home stretch for school this year and it's SO sunny outside that we're starting to take it easy at home. Today we did another nature walk and then on the way to the bus stop Evie found this little piece of a bee hive or wasps nest. I checked it out to make sure it was safe to touch and then she had fun turning it over to see all the holes and breaking pieces off to see what it was made out of. She had field day at school and got to play lots of fun games! It was a really great start to the week. 

  Today we both were feeling much better and it was so pretty outside that we spent a lot of the day just enjoying the weather and playing. On our nature walks we find lots of interesting things; flowers, eggs, leaves, and more! So while we walked to the bus stop today we picked out a nice looking twig and I let Evie choose things to add to it as we walked to make a pretty wand.  She really enjoyed making this and it came out so pretty! She had me save it for her until she got home from school and we played with it until the flowers wilted and the leaves curled up. This was so easy to do and she enjoyed it so much that it will definitely be a repeat next Spring! :)

  Today Evie was feeling a little better but I was feeling a TON worse. It was a rainy day but when the rain broke we took a walk to the park and then another walk around the pond. Evie found a new book in the little libray, we checked out the pool which they are preparing for summer, and we just enjoyed spending some time outside together while it lasted. Evie had homework to catch up on so we worked on that before school and then I spent the rest of the afternoon resting and trying to get better. Fingers crossed by the end of the week we'll BOTH be back to 100%. 

  When Evie FINALLY woke up today I knew it wasn't going to be a good one. She usually gets up between 8 and 9 but today it was well after 10 before she climbed out of bed. She was hot, coughing, and just didn't feel good at all. Since she had a fever I decided to keep her home from school. We did a COVID test and it was negative and then she took some medicine and got some rest. Later in the day she took a warm bath and I set up a little activity for her in there with her VIP pet dolls. We got a hair dye brush and some colored soap and she got to dye, curl, and style their hair. It was a good distraction from feeling yucky and kept her busy for a bit so I could get a few things done. Hopefully tomorrow she'll be feeling lots better!

Today Evie wasn't feeling the best and it was chilly outside so we decided to make the other half of our puzzle project. Evie built a mirror box to wear on her face. After we got it built she got to wear it and try to put her puzzle together. This turned out to be trickier than she thought it would be and it was hard even for me to get my puzzle matched up!  After we finished making our puzzles we tried writing our names with the box. This was even HARDER. I told her it was easy and wrote mine in a flash and then later when she tried it and couldn't get it at all I told her how I really did it -- by closing my eyes!! We had a lot of fun trying to write backward though! This was a fun project. :)

Today we made some puzzles for a project we are going to be doing later this week. Evie loves to paint so this was right up her alley. She chose to do a little cloud and I did a fish.   We fit the puzzles together, added the sticker so our designs would stay blank, and then used brushes and daubers to paint the wood. After we finished we set them outside to dry! She had fun fitting the dry puzzles back together when they were all done. :)