Evelyn's Soccer

Evelyn has been practicing soccer for the past four weeks, and I'm finally getting around to writing about it. She's part of a program/clinic called Pre-Kicks, which is held at the indoor soccer-plex not ten minutes from our house.

One of Evelyn's nicknames is the Running Girl, so it comes as no surprise that Evelyn loves soccer. In her Pre-Kicks class, Evelyn does funn soccer-related things like dribbling the ball from one hoop to another, playing Sharks and Minnows (tag someone else by getting them with the ball), kicking the ball from one goal to the other and knocking over cones with the ball.

She really enjoys herself at soccer on Tuesday mornings, so we're considering putting Evelyn in the next level for the spring/summer session. That would mean learning more game-specific skills, culminating in a mock soccer game. We'll see!

Cinnamon Rolls

Yesterday, Evelyn and I made cinnamon rolls as "breakfast for supper." The bread machine made the dough. Then we rolled out the dough, added the butter, sugar and cinnamon. Finally, we rolled the dough and used dental floss to cut the individual rolls. After letting the rolls rise for an hour, we baked them for 25 minutes, and presto! They came out perfectly.

It has taken me 13 months to figure out how to bake bread products in our gas oven without ruining them. Raise the oven rack to the highest spot, and there you have it. No more burned baked goods.

Chicken Pox

One of Evelyn's favorite picture books is Arthur's Chicken Pox. She regularly checks this book out of the library, and I think she has most of the story memorized. One of Evelyn's favorite parts of the story is when Arthur's little sister pretends to have chicken pox to get special attention.

Fast-forward to this evening. Evelyn was in the kitchen coloring (with crayons from Uncle Eric, she frequently reminds us), and Troy and I headed upstairs to fold laundry with Julia in tow. Five minutes later, we three trooped back downstairs. As we walked into the kitchen, Evelyn looked at us with a guilty face. Troy instinctively asked, "What did you do?" Evelyn gave the standard answer: "Nothing."

Evelyn then walked over to the big mirror in the living room and looked at her face. Troy continued his investigation of the kitchen and noticed the Arthur book was open to the page where the little sister draws dots on her face. Troy asked, "Were you drawing chicken pox on your face?" Evelyn replied, "No. Crayons don't work. See?"

Sidewalk Chalk and Grilling

It's starting to feel like Spring around here. We headed over to the park after lunch to play, only this time, we didn't need to wear coats. It was sunny and 64 degrees. Perfect outdoor play weather. After her rest time, Evelyn drew with sidewalk chalk. This is something she's been itching to do for quite some time, but the weather hasn't cooperated. Supper was simply divine: grilled sirloin (Omaha steaks), baked potatoes, and deluxe garden side salads (you name a vegetable, it was probably on the salad). Even if this warm weather doesn't last, it was nice to get a sneak peek of Spring.

Outside Play . . . Finally!

This winter has been much colder than last year. We've only been able to play at the park once since Christmas . . . until today. Okay, so the high was only 48, and everyone still needed coats, but still. At least it was sunny and the windchill was warmer than 5 above.

I had planned to take the girls down to the park after their nap/rest time. About five minutes before I was going to get them up, two neighbor friends stopped by and asked if Evelyn could join them at the park. Apparently I wasn't the only one with cabin fever.

Evelyn had a blast for the whole 40 minutes we were outside. She ran and ran and ran. Then she ran some more. Julia, meanwhile, hung out on one of the equipment platforms and played with her small toys.

It looks like it's going to be warm all weekend, so hopefully we'll be able to head over to the park again soon.

Biter Biscuit

As we commonly do on Julia's bath nights, we offered the little Sunshine a biter biscuit to gnaw on while we ate supper. Actually, she seemed to ask for it by fussing quite a bit after she had already eaten her cereal-and-peas supper.

Out of habit, I ran my finger over her lower gums before giving Julia her snack. And guess what I felt? One nub and something sharp! Yes, Julia is cutting her first tooth! Considering how quickly things progress in babies, I'm sure we'll be able to clearly see her new pearly white over the next couple of days. Congratulations Julia!

Trainspotting

Thanks to her Uncle Eric, Evelyn has developed an interest in trainspotting. For those of you out of the loop on this one, trainspotting means hanging out by railroad tracks (preferrably at a station), waiting for trains to pass by. Evelyn has wanted to go trainspotting in Maryland for a couple of weeks, but the weather has been either too cold or too wet.

Yesterday, the weather was beautiful: sunny and warm. Evelyn and I headed to a place Eric recommended - Point of Rocks, Maryland. I checked the Amtrak schedule to see when it would go through Point of Rocks to ensure we would see at least one train.

About ten minutes after we got to the station, we were pleasantly surprised to see a CSX freight train coming down the tracks. She goes bonkers over CSX trains, and we haven't seen one since November, so Evelyn was very excited. Then, about fifteen minutes later, the Amtrak rolled through. Using our camera, I took videos of both trains so Evelyn could post them on her You Tube account. Evelyn (also known as Train Girl 2004) currently has three videos posted on You Tube. Be sure to check them out!