smirks and smiles

Not much to report from the home front this week: life goes on. We had a fair amount of snow on earlier this week (now I can't remember if it was Tuesday or Wednesday)--enough that I bundled up the kids and took them outside while I (with some help from Andrew) shoveled off the sidewalks. Evelyn wasn't quite sure that she liked all the white stuff--she kept falling down in it and losing her mittens. Andrew, of course, had a wonderful time, flinging snowballs, making snow angels, shoveling snow, and generally being a typical almost four-year-old boy.

Jodi (Dan's cousin) brought her kids over later that morning while she attended a meeting on campus, and Andrew and Zach had a good time playing together, although I think Andrew was a little high energy for Zach on occasion (though his mom tells me he's used to it, since his big brother Kade is the same way). Evelyn and Sam had a good time playing near each other, but not quite with each other.

Yesterday, we went to the temple and took turns watching the kids. We finished off our expedition with a trip to Costco, whereupon I decided that we need to avoid the store until after Christmas. Normally, I enjoy our trips--even when they fall on Saturdays (which they inevitably do, since we don't have the time to make the drive to SG during the week). But there were just too many people, and I think it will just get worse between now and Christmas.

For the rest, I'd rather substitute pictures for words. Having given a talk today in church and co-taught a lesson (Dan did the same), I'm feeling that I've achieved my quota of words for the day.

My darling daughter and her shoe fetish. Now that she's officially hit 18 months (she was in nursery for the first time today--but only lasted a few minutes after she realized that I'd disappeared), she's starting to show increasing signs of independence. One of these, is manifesting a distinct opinion about what pair of shoes she wants to wear at any given time. A pair of shoes that had won favor with her for days previously may be capriciously discarded for another without warning. She may even disdain a pair that she'd worn happily earlier in the day (note: because Evelyn only keeps socks on if she has shoes over them, we've rescinded [for her] our general policy of no shoes in the house). Luckily, thanks to her mom's overzealous bargain shopping, she has plenty of pairs to choose from.

If you listen carefully to the video, you'll hear her oft-repeated favorite word.

Various iterations of Evelyn's smile. She's recently discovered hamming it up for an appreciative audience, and I think her squinty face is adorable.

(And no, the flower in her hair did not last long after this photo shoot. But at least she now has enough hair--barely--for barrettes!)


And, so he won't feel to neglected, a picture of Andrew. Dan and I were talking tonight about how much calmer Andrew has been in recent weeks. His new discovery of the pleasure of art (mostly scribbling quick drawings and then cutting them out--his paper shavings can be found in almost every room in the house) has done a lot to alleviate his boredom, I think.