Letters from the Evans

Saturday Party & Swim

On Saturday the girls woke up ~~too~~ early, but since Bryan let me sleep in on Friday morning I let him sleep in on Saturday. I attempted to get some cleaning done while keeping emma busy with raisins and books and Clara with water colors.

She painted a "birdie" here:

We had Cora's birthday party to go to at 10am so I was rather relieved to get out of the house. After the usual clothes battle (I've GOT to come up with a solution), we were on our way, and Clara was fully accessorized.

We were one of the first ones there so the balloon man made Clara a pretty princess and Emma a green dinosaur to match her shirt/skirt.

Overtired Emma spent the entire time eating popcorn, drinking water, and turning a stronger shade of red because of the heat. Bryan ended up taking her inside to play while the party was going on outside, poor thing.

Clara had fun playing the circus games with the other party guests

And eating popcorn too

And bouncing in the big bouncy castle

Clara was mesmerized by the balloon guy

He even made her another one!! "purple draf please" :)

curls and balloons

weeeeeee

Posing with the dinosaur

AND he made her an Ariel! Clara was in Heaven.

We really needed to take Emma home so she could take a nap, but Clara asked for a cupcake, so she actually got one before we sang Happy Birthday to Cora :-/ oh well!

Once we went home, I told Clara she could paint one more picture before it was time for her to take a nap like Emma. AND if she took a nap, we would go to the pool that we tried the day before.

Bribery success! Both girls took siestas, thankfully, and we headed out the door to the Creekside Pool, one of the ones in the Township.

They were SO excited when we got there. Suits on, sunscreen applied, and we were ready!

Although we had to do some convincing to get Emma to leave her blanket on dry land.

We got about 15-20 minutes of fun in before ..... thunder. NOOOOOO. No more rain!

We were told we had to get out for a thunder break, 15 minutes. Around the 13-14min mark came another roll of thunder. This was REALLY hard on Clara :(

We told her it was time to go because it didn't seem like we were going to swim anymore, and I told her the plan was to go to Lulu & Papa's house that afternoon anyway, we were just going to go a little bit sooner than planned. Marginally consoled, off we went.

Morose Toddler

She cheered up considerably at Lulu & Papas, even though it rained on us.

Thank you so much for loving on our girls all the time!

Friday Off = SPLASHES!

This past Friday was Bryan's 9/80 Friday, so we celebrated by getting several chores done and going to lunch with Miss Emma.

It took her a while to decide to cross the threshold from shade to sun. She went back and forth several times before committing.

And then when did step forward she was NOT happy with the result. Too hot and too bright!

Then we also got Bryan's hair cut, and went to Kid2Kid, the second hand store, because they were having a sale on shoes.

Emma loved playing in the jeep and was not pleased to leave.

Then, once nap time at school was over, we picked up Clara and drove to The Woodland's Recreational Center to get our pool passes, determined to take the kids swimming. I won't bore you with the details as to why we ended up NOT swimming (it was too traumatic as a mother), but I will tell you that we FINALLY found a place the kids could play at the Timmeron Splash Pad, which, ironically, doesn't require a pool pass at all. Ah, well.

The girls were stoked to change into their "baby suits" and get wet!

Emma's in the pink suit

And Clara is in the teal and pink one here

A few videos:

The sun was getting a little lower in the sky, and it was almost time to go home:

Daddy & Emma

Clara

One more splash, girls, and then it's time to dry off!

We changed the kids and then walked right down the path to use the last bits of the day at the playground.

Clara was so proud of how high she climbed!

big girl!

We wore the kiddos out! Time for bed.

A lot of Emma + Clara at Gym

Other than Clara's last gymnastics class of the semester, this post is extremely Emma-centric. Enjoy the baby-ness! (PS. She's 14 months old as of yesterday!)

Emma is rather obsessed with shoes. Specifically Clara's shoes, although she'll settle for her own.

Impressive for a little tyke.

Shopping at Hobby Lobby for a few things for Clara's upcoming birthday party:

It's tractor themed :)

We found a pair of Size 1 (3-6mo) shoes at Hobby Lobby that fit PERFECTLY! they are maybe a teensy bit too big, but barely. The only problem is that we can't find shoes with slip resistant treads in her very tiny size, so Mom & I cooked up the plan to put hot glue on the bottom of the shoes to create our own "treads," and she's been wearing them ever since!