Toddler Fears

          Evangeline has been a super social baby since birth.  She would always go to anyone and everyone at New Henleyfield.  Sometimes when we're out in public she'll reach out for a complete stranger, especially if the stranger has something to eat or drink.  This kind of worries me, and I know I'll have to keep a close eye on her. 

          The first time Evangeline ever showed any real fear of anything was last spring when she met the Easter bunny.  Drew just plopped her down on the bunny's lap and Evangeline went totally and completely ballistic.  I had never seen her scream that much.  Eventually we managed to get a picture of her sitting on my lap and me sitting on the Easter Bunny, and we have the horrendous picture to prove it (which cost $6.00 by the way).  

          Around that time, we made a trip to my parent's house and we wanted her to play with this cute little rocking horse my dad had gotten her.  She took one look at that horse and went into hysterics.  We assumed she was thinking of her experience with the Easter bunny.  We didn't want to hurt my dad's feelings, so we quickly hid the horse away into Katie's room so she wouldn't have to see it.

          Evangeline had a wonderful time at two different petting zoos recently.  At the Queen City Fair (which had an AWESOME petting zoo), Evangeline wandered all around petting and blowing kisses to various goats, donkeys, cows, and sheep.  She fed a camel at the Jackson Zoo.  We felt like she was ready to try out the rocking horse again.

          So, the other night my mom says, "Evangeline do you want to ride on the horse?"  Before I could even get it out of my sister's room Evangeline was screaming.  She said "Go go go go!" and ran to the door.  My dad witnessed the meltdown this time, and we could tell he was disappointed that she was so scared of something he had gotten her.  We let Trey "ride" the horse and he seemed to enjoy himself.  Evangeline watched him ride from the other room but still had no desire to get on that thing.  

          She LOVES animals, at least real ones, but did also get scared when we tried to set her on a pony at the pumpkin patch.  Today when we put on her boots, she said, "cow?"  She remembered wearing those boots to the Jackson Fair and seeing cows.  Smart girl. 

          One day I'm sure she'll be over these fears.  I was apparently scared to death of the Bumble Bee at Show Biz Pizza and have since gotten over it.  I wonder what other fears she will develop?  I hope she's not scared of Santa!

More Stuff

             Tonight I ventured up in my parent's attic in search for more garage sale items.  We have a date set for October 22nd, so we are trying to stock up on anything we think will sell.  
             My search did not uncover anything that I felt like hauling down the ladder stairs for the sale.  In the first layer, I found Katie's leg cast from 1994!  Now, I understand and even appreciate the sentimentality behind keeping the cast.  It was a traumatic time in our family's life and Katie wore that cast for a good two months.  Lots of people signed it.  But, do we really, really still need it? 

             I figured that if the first layer began at 1994, I was in real trouble.  I told my mom that what she needs to do is just bring everything down from the attic someday and go through it all.  She agreed, that yes, someday she needs to do that. 

             I did discover a tub filled with all of my old barbies.  It was the only thing I brought down.  I immediately remembered when I use to play with my mom's old barbies and all the dreams I had once had of my little girl playing with my barbies!  Evangeline really had a good time going through the whole tub.  She especially liked playing with the baby that came with a stroller and swing. 

            Funny though that the barbies did not look the way I had remembered them.  For starters, most were topless and had funky hairstyles.  Also, several were missing limbs.  I had forgotten that one time I had left my barbies at a friend's house and her poodle had chewed several up, including my absolute favorite barbie, Maria.  I was obsessed with The Sound of Music when I was seven and named several of my dolls Maria.  Not sure where Maria the doll (aka "Kid Sister") is.  Probably in level 3 or 4. 

            Strange how I have blocked out the memory of Maria being chewed to bits.  I remember that it was a Sunday afternoon when I went back over to get them and that I cried and cried and then hid Maria under the bathroom sink.  The next day I came down with a bad case of the flu and my dad showed up with a replacement doll, whom I named Michelle.  I named all of my barbies "M" names- I could've been a Duggar.  I rarely got barbies "just because" so this one was really special.

             We took the baby, stroller, and swing home but left the rest of the barbies at my parent's house so that Evangeline can play with them when she goes over there to visit.  One day I'll venture back into the attic and pull out my mom's old barbies, which I'm pretty sure I spotted off in the distance in the attic tonight.  Hers are in much better condition than mine, from what I can remember. 

           

            

Jackson Fair

             After we left the dermatologist office, we set off for the fair.  The most exciting part of the day happened in the parking lot as I was pulling out and we discovered that Evangeline was not strapped in at all and had climbed all the way to the back of the van, pulled out the pillow pet that was back there, and was lying down.  Poor baby was already tired.
             We missed our free admission and parking, but that was okay.  After we were there about two minutes both mom and I commented that we would never waste our time with the Queen City Fair (Meridian's fair) again.  This one is just so much bigger and nicer.  And, actually cheaper, too.  We had a nice lunch at the Cock of the Walk booth and then headed to the Midway where Evangeline rode a car ride and together we rode a flying elephant.  I laughed when the man working the cars unhooked Evangeline and left like she would just hop right out.  By the time I had gotten to her she'd already strapped herself back in, ready for another ride!
              The best part was the petting zoo.  Evangeline loved the one in Meridian, and I have to say that it was by far the best thing at that fair.  Even though she is scared to death to sit on a pony, Evangeline is fearless when wondering around a cage full of goats!  I watched today as my precious little girl walked up to the llama, goat, cow, and turtle and blew them each kisses. She went around to each of the food dispensers and got little pellets from the ground and fed all of the animals.  She is so loving.  Her favorite animal at this petting zoo was the camels.  They were a little too friendly and had the food dispenser figured out too easily.  And one bit my mom.  But, Evangeline loved them.  I think she was thinking of Wonder Pets and the poor baby camel that was trying to find the oasis ("The most pleasant of places.... there's water, plants, and a twee there. The camel wants to be there").  She also saw a zebra, but he was in a cage where you couldn't pet him.  She kept yelling, "Hey Zeza" at it, but that zebra just wouldn't turn around!     
               After a tour of the trade room we headed back home, exhausted after a really fun day.  Evangeline only slept a little while in the van on the way back so she went to bed early.  Now, I'm ready for bed myself!

Stuff

           Today I decided to "clean out" my parent's shed in search for good garage sale items.  My mom basically told me that I could sell almost anything in there as long as they weren't currently using it.  

          I opened up the shed and began the task of sorting.  In one word: overwhelming.  My parents are border-line hoarders.  I can say that b/c I'm pretty sure that they will never read this blog even though I've emailed them the link.  Another reason I can say that is because a good majority of the stuff they've "hoarded" once belonged to me or my sister.  I have seen my mother take things to the Little Theater rummage sale every year since I can remember, so I really have no clue how they accumulated so much stuff.  The thing about their "stuff" is that for the most part I can remember it all once being inside the house.   And, at some point when the room in which it was located was cleaned out, someone deemed the "stuff" too precious to get rid of or determined that "we might need that someday."  Well, someday has come and we still don't need it.  

         I did find some really cool things like:  the mirror off my Nissan Altima I totaled my junior year of college, a square of the wallpaper that used to hang in my room, a shirt that I wore all the time in 7th grade, a brand new box fan that I quickly claimed for our bedroom, one of Jeanna's rubberband balls, some singing and dancing Christmas penguins, a plastic tub that I had obviously packed as I moved out of William Carey- dumped in my parent's shed and never touched again, and 4 different rodent cages.  

         My most exciting find was a Bible story book that I read every single night when I was a kid.  I have wondered where that book went for years and had searched for it in my bedroom at my parent's house with no luck.  I was just thinking about that Bible story book the other day as I was reading through the Bible.  So many of those stories I remembered from reading that book as a kid.  I am thrilled to have found it again!  It was in a box of stuff from Katie's room so she had obviously thugged it at one point after I moved out.  Since it's the Bible I'll forgive her.  :)

         In addition to searching through the shed, I also spent some time going through mine and my sisters' old bedrooms.  I found a letter that I had written to myself my sophomore year of high school to be read my senior year of high school, something our teacher Ms. Edwards had made us do.  I was disappointed to discover that most of the letter contained a detailed explanation of what was happening on The Bold and the Beautiful at the time.  I laughed when I read things like "the trial's still going on" (on B&B) like I would still know what the heck that was or even care.  I also spent a paragraph wondering if Ross would pick Rachel or Bonnie (the cliffhanger of Season 3 of Friends).  Man, I was so shallow back then.

         Katie's room contained mostly craft supplies, Phi Mu t-shirts, and Beanie Babies so I pretty much left it alone.  I DID go on ebay and price the Beanie Babies and discovered that some are being sold for quite a high price.  The problem is that no one is bidding on any of them.  We'll just let Evangeline play with them for now.  

         As I dug and dug through all this STUFF I kept thinking about Matthew 6:19, "Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal."  While few people would call my camp craft projects or fifteen dance programs, "treasures," I have definitely been storing up for years.  At some point (most of) this stuff was really important to me.  My priorities have definitely changed.  I don't even want these things anymore and they are MY things.  It's only been a few years compared to eternity.  How much sillier will all of these things appear from heaven?  What is important are intangible treasures that I am storing up for heaven- teaching my children about Christ, sharing Christ with others.  

           Then I began to wonder what will happen to all of this stuff in 100 years?  Where will it be?  In a dump somewhere?  Who will have put it there?  Who will come in and care so little about the box full of arts and crafts I made in preschool that they just throw them away?  Honestly, I'm okay with getting rid of that box right now, but still I'm "saving it."  For when?  For what?  For who?  I have no clue.  

           I really don't know if we will make any money at the garage sale.  I can't imagine who would want any of our junk.  Like I said before, it's my junk and I don't even want it! But, we'll give it a shot and hopefully at least cover the cost of renting the space ($15).  I did find two irons (one of which I assume belonged to me in college, the other to Katie), two baby gates, some doggy stairs that Cookie was too dumb to figure out how to climb, quite a few picture frames, and a couple of tables.  Keeping my fingers crossed. 

           As I've been typing Evangeline has been cleaning out the pantry, her favorite thing to do these days other than take baths or watch Wonder Pets.  Got another mess to clean up!

Post #1

              What a creative title for my first post, huh?  Almost as creative as the title of my blog.  I asked my husband, Drew, for a few suggestions but quickly turned down everything he came up with (which included "The Hot Preacher's Wife" among others).  

               I have never written a blog, nor have I really had too much of a desire to write one.  However, I keep having these moments of "Hey!  That'd make a really good blog entry" lately.  I am starting a new adventure in life with this whole staying-at-home thing.  Gotta be honest, I'm a lot more tired than I ever thought I would be for waking up at 8:00 most mornings.  I could care less right now about web design or the actual appearance of my blog.  If I ever get my uber-creative sister Katie over here then maybe I'll come up with something a big cooler than "Sample 3" as my layout.  

              The reason I'm worrying with this blog to begin with?  Exactly what the title says- "Things I don't want to forget."  Time flies by so quickly.  Five years ago yesterday Drew and I were engaged.  It seems like it was only yesterday.  Yet, it seems like we've been together forever.  That's how time is.  And, with so much going on, I don't want to forget any of the special moments we've shared as a family.  So, here's to hoping that this blog will help us to always remember what it was like.