Evelyn Moments Part II

This morning Evelyn peed in her potty again!  YAY!  I also have to share one more story about Evelyn and her potty.  I was cleaning Evelyn's room the other day and while I was doing that she was trying to take off her pajamas.  She did so and naturally the next step was to remove the diaper.  She then brought her potty chair into her room and played with it while I finished putting her clothes away.  Later I went into the dinning room.  Her potty chair came with her.  While I cleaned in the living room and dinning room her chair went all over the place.  My favorite spot though was when she took it in her play tent.  She brought it in there and just sat for a little while on her potty.  If you aren't laughing, I'm sorry you missed it...but it was HILARIOUS!

Evelyn Moments

I decided to try and post more and Evelyn always provides tons of good entertainment, I thought I'd share. (This was started by Sandra and finished by Will)

Potty Training.   Those two words always bring about tons of great stories from every parent. I'm proud to say we have our own stories to share now.  Even before we got a potty, Evelyn was very interested in the potty.  She said pee and poo a lot and it seemed as if she would tell us when she was going too.  So, we thought she was ready. :)  Additionally, we'd heard somewhere that a child might be ready to start potty training when they seem to be in control of their bowels.  Well, this seems to have been the case for awhile.  For example, last fall, one day we were cleaning, and had Evelyn in only a diaper.  She managed to get her diaper off.  Sandra looked at her, and told her that she better not pee on the floor.  So what did she do?  You guessed it...Well, we learned our lesson for awhile, but recently we've let her run around occasionally in only a diaper, with similar consequences.  So, we decided to look for a potty.  Our good friends were getting rid of a potty seat, so we took it off their hands.

Evelyn loved it from the start.  She sat on it with her clothes on and would pick it up and carry it around the house.  When we let her sit on it w/o a diaper on she sat and sat and sat and sat and sat.  Unfortunately, her love for the potty was so much that she didn't want to get it dirty (at least we'll assume that's the reason why she chose to pee on the floor near the potty, rather peeing in the potty).  So, after cleaning up pee off of the floor multiple times, we decided to give the whole potty training thing a rest for few weeks.
Fast forward to a few days ago.  When Evelyn woke up, she kept saying "poopie".  This is somewhat of a regular occurrence.  Nevertheless, we humored her and put her on her potty.  Lo and behold, after a couple minutes, the glorious sound of a stream of water hitting plastic could be heard.  Evelyn was rewarded with a peanut butter cup (well, technically one of those chocolate peanut butter eggs from Easter).  We had been promising her candy if she used the potty, and that's what she got.  Well, the next day we were confident we were making progress.  So, after she got up, we put her right on her potty.  She sat there for a few seconds, and then we reminded her of the candy reward that would be forthcoming, and she proceeded to get up off the potty, walk to the closet where the candy is kept, and peed on the floor.  Perhaps there was a bit of a miscommunication.

Fast forward to last night.  There was an intense thunderstorm (I really hate weather radios.  I suppose they can save lives, but they really are annoying when they scare you half to death in the middle of the night to tell you that there is a thunderstorm nearby).  Anyway, at one point, Sandra and I were jolted awake by what sounded like a bomb being dropped on our house.  I have never heard thunder that loud.  It even made one of Evelyn's toy's start making noise (I'm not sure how it did that.  Perhaps it shook everything too much that it made it bump into something else).  Well, we checked on Evelyn, to make sure it didn't upset her.  She was fast asleep.  However, apparently before she had fallen asleep, she had managed to unzip her sleeper.  She had also taken off her diaper, although we didn't realize this at the time.  Well, that morning, after we got her up, she kept saying "pocket."  (She loves pockets).  However, she doesn't actually have any pockets in her sleeper.  But she kept saying it, and touching her  leg.  Well, finally we realized that what she was touching on her leg was her diaper--it was all bunched up on one side.  Apparently she understands that a pocket is where something is kept inside of clothes, and so a diaper in her sleeper met this definition.  Well, the amazing thing was that her sleeper was dry.  So, we jumped on the opportunity and stripped off her clothes and went to sit her on the potty.  Well, the potty was in the kitchen.  As mentioned earlier, Evelyn loves her potty, and carries it around the house.  Well, it ended up in the kitchen.  We carried it into the bathroom, and in walked Evelyn.  She took one look at it, and peed on the floor.  That was understandable.  So, we sat her down on the potty and cleaned it up (sitting her down on the potty was mainly just to have someplace to stick her while the clean-up happened).  After cleaning up her little accident, upon looking at her again, we realized that there was a puddle around the potty.  She had used the potty again! (she just wasn't quite sitting all the way on it--she had gotten a little bit of pee in it).  This time, her reward was some M&M's.  However, she didn't eat them right away.  She just held them in her hand until  they melted (she always insists on just holding things).  She still enjoyed them though...hopefully enough to motivate her to use the potty tomorrow.  We'll keep you posted (since I'm sure stories of poop and pee will keep readers coming back...)

Where I've Been

So I probably don't have any faithful fans as I don't blog enough to get anyone interested and excited about my blog. I apologize about not being consistent, but I guess I prefer to spend my time in other ways and when I think about blogging I always get befuddled and never think my life is that exciting to write about for others.  With that being said, I do often think of blogging and what I should blog about, but I always have more interest in blogging about social issues (I can't help it...I guess that's why I studied Social Studies), and then when I start to write about big social issues I want to fix or change or understand, I don't know how to express myself clearly.  So, that's why you don't hear from me frequently.

But, since I've started a post today, I might as well tell you what is happening in my little world.  Evelyn is my spunky girl.  I took her to the zoo on Wednesday with a friend and she and I had a great time.  We're still watching two other girls two days a week.  They recently got an out door play set and so we are outside lots.  Ev and I both are getting some decent tan lines.  Evelyn loves to be pulled in the red wagon they have.  She sits in it and says ride until I give her one.  She has started to do that with some other toys too.  We have a little tikes car and the other day she was sitting in it, and while she knows how to make her self go by walking her feet, she started asking for a ride.  Lazy bum!

Her new thing is saying Please!  IT'S ADORABLE!  She says it like Pease....but oh my gosh...if she asks for anything and says please, it's hers.   Hmm...maybe others will be as easily swayed...I should get her to ask someone for a million dollars.

Will and I want to make a video of her asking for cheese and send it to a dairy company because it's adorable too.  I'm sure they'd totally love to have her as their spokesman.

Here are some pictures we had done at a new studio in town.  We got a letter in the mail saying they were giving free pictures to the first 125 or so people and giving free prints as well...so we got to choose 6 poses and got 6 8X10s and some other sizes and yeah.  I love FREE!  I'm practically turning into a free snob and if I can't get it for a really good deal, I don't buy it.  Although when I went to the zoo, I did buy Evelyn a little stuffed elephant as she loved the elephants and loves reading Dr. Seuss Horton Hatches an Egg.  I was quite proud of myself for being willing to purchase a toy as that is something I haven't had to do much of. :)

Political Activism

So many of you know, that I'm pretty politically minded.  I often write Congressman and other people when I feel really strongly about something and desire change.  I felt like sharing my latest email to the Norman School District.  I sent it to both High School principals and all their assistant principals, and I sent it to the District Supervisor and his secretary.  Enjoy!  (Oh and Will helped me write it.  He usually makes me sound much better...so most of the good stuff is from him.)

Principal...

As I was watching the trailers before the news, one in particular that piqued my interest was a story of a student reading a book on his school book list what the reporter deemed to be pornographic.  I am an avid reader and I believe reading is essential for a good education, and as a certified teacher, I was curious to see how silly this parent/student was being; surely Norman Public Schools would not let children read books with blatant pornographic material.  When the reporter shared just one line from the book, which described the erection a man was having, I was appalled.  What disgusted me even more was the response of the schools—that  "the student can just pick another book."  First of all, there are scores of AMAZING books that can be on the reading list for this English Literature class.  While I have not seen the list myself, I am sure that the list does not include all those that really are considered to be classics. Now, I understand that a sixteen year old would much rather read about sex than about less exciting topics, but if the focus is to cater to the student’s desires, why not get rid of homework all together?  I’m sure they’d be amenable to that.  Now, to be fair, I gathered from the news story that this book has won awards, and I hate the idea of "banning books".  However, let’s be clear: if this book were a movie it would be rated R.  For a 17 year old child to watch a rated R movie they have to have parental permission.  It seems that there is somewhat of a disconnect if a 16 year old is not allowed to see certain things at the theatre down the street without his or her parents’ permission, yet is handed the same material in literary format without even the mention of it to the parents.  Perhaps the story misinterpreted the situation, but I gathered that the parent had no knowledge of the material of the book until it was pointed out by the student.

Secondly, one of the things that I love about America is the fact that I can walk down the street with my family and rest assured that I will not have to shield their eyes from obscene images.  In other countries it’s not like that.  Whether you like it or not, whether you’re 12 or 82, you’re going to be exposed to erotic images (and we’re not just talking the swim suit addition of Sports Illustrated).  Luckily, here we have common decency laws that, among other things, ensure that minors (whose brains are still developing, mind you) are not exposed to them unless their parents give consent.  Thus, for a public institution to present what I deem to be obscene material before a minor is comparable to giving students the option to view erotic images in a photography class.  Yes, these youth live in a different world where I grew up.  However, let us not forget the lessons that civilization has taught us. According to Pulitzer Prize winning authors Will and Ariel Durant in their History of Civilization, “A youth boiling with hormones will wonder why he should not give full freedom to his sexual desires; and if he is unchecked by custom, morals, or laws, he may ruin his life [or hers] before he matures sufficiently to understand that sex is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restraints if it is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group.”  Thus, one of the reasons why parental permission is so necessary is that adolescents just are not prepared to deal with the “river of fire” that comes with sex (and this includes pornography). 

Now, the next argument that is sure to arise in favor of this book is that not everyone is governed by Christian morals.  Well, if we’re not guided by morals, then what guides us?  John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."  The youth of today are not being taught morals and our society as a whole is declining in virtue.  I truly believe that if we do not take a stand for decency and for morals then we will begin a course down a slippery slope, which once entered into will be difficult to leave.  I urge you to reconsider allowing books like this to be on our children's reading list.

Sincerely,

Sandra Taylor

Life

Quick update.  Life is crazy. I started watching 2 girls along with Evelyn two days a week and I get paid.  It's very helpful and nice for Evelyn to associate with some other girls her age (one is 4 and the other is one month younger than E).  We go to their house and they have some cool toys too. So, it's really a great opportunity. Sometimes I feel guilty getting paid to do what I normally would have to do, but then I have to change one of the other girls dirty diapers and yeah...lets just say I prefer Evelyn's solid messes.  TMI?  Gotta love how open the internet is. :)  I have a new church responsibility that has been keeping me very busy as well. I'm the visiting teaching coordinator and well, yeah, it's a lot of responsibility.  It's a great experience though. (The organization for women in our church partners up sisters in pairs and asks them to visit monthly with 3 or 4 others sisters in the church to serve, teach, love, etc.) I have a strong testimony of visiting teaching and am so excited to learn and help others learn how to care for each other instead of just check off a monthly visit.  (Read this months ENSIGN!  Seriously! DO IT!)  Will's been super busy with school, but we have been able to go out on dates thanks to some awesome friends in the ward who we swap with.  Last week we went to a gymnastics meet and it was AWESOME!  OU has one of the best Gymnastic programs in the country.  Then on Monday we went to a FREE GOURMET 3 course meal and got to hear one of my favorite authors David McCullough speak.  It was so inspiring.  I was reminded again of why I love history and teaching so much.  Anyway, here's some videos of Evelyn being funny.

This one is Evelyn riding a car at the house of the girls that I watch.  It looks like the other little one E's age is pushing Evelyn, but she isn't.  Evelyn is pushing a button that makes her move.  Both these two little girl love this toy.  It's awesome!

This one is of E bouncing on a rubber horse.  She likes this one too.  It looks like I'm neglecting the other two girls, but I assure you, I don't.  I was just trying to get a video of how silly Evelyn was being.  The older girl and I were having a tea party.  Fun times!

What is Important

I am grateful for trials because they remind you to take a step back and think about what's important.  I'm especially grateful that this latest trial we are having has happened at this time.  You've probably heard that Evelyn broke her collar bone today.  It's heartbreaking to hear her cry because of the pain she has.

She is usually a great sleeper, but right now it's 11:00pm and Will and I have been taking turns trying to get her to sleep for the last hour.  (We got her to sleep at 7pm by driving around in the car looking at Christmas lights.  We left her in her car seat to help hold her body still but put her in her room for bed. However she moves around a lot in her sleep, and most likely woke up because she couldn't move as she was in her car seat.)

Anyway, why am I grateful that I am going through such a hard time?  I have realized that this is a hard thing to go through, but I still have the opportunity to raise Evelyn.  She was injured, but it is only temporary.  In a few weeks, this will all be a dream.  Aside from the broken bone, she is still healthy.  I still get to hold her in my arms and give her kisses.  While many people are dreaming of presents this time of year and getting sidetracked by the real meaning of Christmas, I am grateful for this trial as all day today I have been thinking of my Heavenly Father and what He must have gone through as His Only Begotten Son atoned for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane and as He later had to watch His perfect Son die on the cross.  This trial has helped remind me of my Savior and how grateful I am for His atonement.  I know he understands the things we are going through.  He atoned for us to satisfy the demands of justice, and to provide a way for us to be forgiven of our sins.  But, it was much more than that.  He also felt our pains and sorrows.  I have found strength as I have looked to him for comfort during this trial and all the other trials I have faced in my life. 
So, this Christmas, I'll probably end up getting Evelyn way more presents than we had even actually planned on to try and make up for her misery, but I will also try to forget about my vain desires and wants and remember how to be more like my Savior.
Here's a good video to help you remember. :)
http://lds.org/bible-videos/videos/shepherds-learn-of-the-birth-of-christ?lang=eng

Evelyn Moments

Evelyn makes me smile....a lot.  She is SO goofy.  I wish I could remember all the silly things she does or at least get pictures and videos of them all, but then I would probably be constantly filming. :)  Here is a recent moment that made me smile.

Evelyn learned to give kisses awhile ago.  She was very generous at first.  I'd ask for a kiss and she'd open her mouth and lean in towards mine.  It was well...wet...but adorable.  We must have over asked for them, because after awhile she started to turn away when we asked for them.  Then she started to only give them to me for awhile and always turn away from Will.  Then she switched on us and started to give Will the kisses.  Well, she still has her "moments" but overall she is willing to share her adorable kisses. 

Evelyn also loves to play with the book shelf.  We have a few books on a shelf that she can reach and she seems to always be taking them down.  One of these books happens to be by Dave Ramsey.  It looks like this:

She pulled this one down the other day and gave Dave Ramsey a nice big kiss.  Will was watching her as she did it and grabbed the book and sure enough, there was a nice wet mark right over his lips.  :) 

I won't complain

So, it turns out, it does get cold in Oklahoma. I won't complain though, because my ID friends had some negative weather already.  But, brrr...I'm cold.  I need to put more plastic up around our windows because we're still getting a lot of cold air coming in.  IT'S just TOO WINDY!  Any other tips?
Well, we are alive and well.  My computer has been down, so I haven't had much computer time, but Will went to bed early tonight as he is hoping to fight off a cold.  So, I decided to give my fans a modest update.  Let's see.  I'll just talk about Thanksgiving.  Will and I split a groupon deal with some of our friends here.  They found a resort in Branson that had a pretty good deal, especially when you split it between 3 families.  So we all shared a 3 bedroom condo type apartment on the lake in Branson.  It was a very relaxing getaway  Well except for the first couple hours.  We stopped in Joplin on our way to Branson, as it was en-route and drove through the town to see what an F5 tornado could do.  DEPRESSING!  It had been 6 months from the day that the tornado hit, and wow, the destruction that was still left to behold even after all the cleanup that has already been done was immense.   We stopped and tried to have lunch across from the hospital that was destroyed.  They built a new park in honor of that day.  It was nice, but we didn't stay long, one it was too cold to enjoy our lunch, and two they were setting up for a anniversary event that was to be held later.  So off we went to Branson.  Joplin was a good way to start off my Thanksgiving Holiday.  It made me realize how blessed I am.  It also showed me what was truly important.  If I were to loose everything, would I still be happy? 

Well we were in Branson for two days and then We continued our journey an hour and a half south to my home town to have Thanksgiving Dinner with my Grandparents.  We spent the night with them and returned home on Friday.  I'll have pictures to show next time.  Meanwhile here is a list of things I'm grateful for:

1. My Eternal Family
2. My Sweet Husband that does so much for me
3. My beautiful baby girl who makes me so happy
4. My sister who is so patient with me
5. All of my wonderful friends who always have something to teach me or help me
6. The time in which we live.  I love being able to be so connected with so many people.  I used to think that I was born in the wrong era, but I've realized that I love how information is so accessible and how we can go to so many places so quickly.  Two of my favorite things are traveling and learning!
7. I love the scriptures.  They fill me with peace.
8. I love my warm bed and my comfy pillow. :)
9. I love this time of year and all the thinking of others that goes on
10. I am grateful that I can stay at home with Evelyn.  Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it, as you can find some great day cares out there, but then when she does something that makes me die of laughter or smiles at me with her toothy grin I remember how lucky I am.
11. I'm grateful for my Savior.  Which is why Christmas is one of my favorite holidays!  
12. I'm grateful for diversity. It reminds me to think of others.  I was at Walmart the other day and saw a Muslim women shopping.  It hit me, she isn't celebrating Christmas.  It was such a foreign thought.  The town I grew up in was 100% Christian.  I knew one JW and even they were Christian, they just didn't celebrate Christmas.  That has changed by now, but yeah...It was a good reminder that there are a lot of people who think and feel differently than me.  We can learn a lot from each other and in deed I have learned a lot from people who think differently.  
13. I'm grateful that you read all the way through.  I'm grateful for so many things, but I'll call it a night for now. :)

Survey Savvy

So, I might be a stay at home mom full time, but I have found some side jobs.  My new thing is giving my mind over to science.  I love living in a BIG college town.  I also loved living in a SMALL college town.  Rexburg had its perks, but Norman has some too!  In a BIG college town, the school focuses on research and that means sometimes they need research participants.  In comes me.  A few weeks ago, my awesome friend told me about a memory study that she did that only took an hour and she got $20! UM..AWESOME!  So, I set up an appointment and swapped babysitting with another friend so she could do the study after me.  I stared at a computer and clicked the right mouse button every time I saw one picture and the left mouse button when I saw another.  It got boring after awhile.  (They did throw things in to change it up and make it more difficult, but yeah it was the easiest $20 I ever got.)  Then Will got an email from a psychology teacher in his building looking for students to participate in another memory study.  This one is INTENSE!  I don't get paid as much.  I get $8 an hour and I'm supposed to do 4 hours.  I'm usually only in there for 45 minutes for each session though, and they round up the time, so that is nice. The intense thing about this study is I wear a brain imaging net!  It looks similar to this. 

This study is collecting data and audio and visual response in the brain.  All I have to do is look at the computer and every time I see one image or hear one particular sound, I'm supposed to click the left button.  They can be together or by themselves.  The visual image is hard to see and they will have it displayed for only a second and the brightness changes too.  The volume for the sound also changes.  There is a separate but similar picture and sound that whenever I see or hear I'm supposed to click the other button. It's actually quite hard because the images are so similar and I only see them for a second.  Anyway, I have been doing this study in the morning before Will goes to school, so he stays home with Evelyn.  I have two more days left of this study.
Another awesome SURVEY I did was at the grocery store!  I just had to answer a few questions about a new meat product, and I got a $20 gift card to the store!
Next, a few months ago the State Fair was going on.  I went with my dear friend Amanda.  While we were walking around, we entered the Car Show area and found a Ford dealer telling us about a way to get $50 for just test driving a car.  So, naturally we signed up.  Later, Will and I went on  a date to test drive a car a few weeks ago. :)  We're so romantic.  Anyway, we get to the Ford dealership and we feel like dorks, because we're really not interested in buying a car right now.  We told the guy that we'd probably be looking for a bigger car in a couple years, but not anytime soon.  So, he's like, well let me just sign the paper for the $ then.  If you test drive a car now and get all excited about one, then when you want to buy it, it will be completely outdated, so basically it will be a waste of our time.  (It was also a waste of his time...but he didn't say that.) :)  So, we were only there for a couple of awkward minutes.  But instead of spending any money on our "date" we got paid!  We're awesome.  (Don't worry that wasn't all we did on our date.)

 At the fair.  They had a bubble mania thing.  It was FUN!

 There was also a petting zoo!  It was pretty cool.  They had a zebra and a kangaroo and a few other random animals I would have never expected too see.

Finally, last week was OU's Homecoming.  We decided to take Evelyn to the parade.  We started to walk around afterwards and ended up at the family fun zone they do for free every game.  We got some little free things, but nothing that exciting.  As we left the "fun zone" we walked by the fitness training center and saw a bunch of people walking in and out.  We thought we'd check it out, but noticed they all had wristbands on.  So we commented about it to each other and someone overheard us and gave us their extra wristbands.  Turns out there was about 20 different food vendors giving away food to Season Ticket Holders or donators or something.  (We're still not sure on who got the wristbands...)  But, we got LOTS of Yummy food!  It was amazing.  I was pretty happy about that. So, there you have our money making ways.  I love life.  It's grand. Enjoy some pictures of our crazy life.  

Evelyn meeting Boomer & Sooner, the OU Mascot!

Evelyn hanging out on the Sooner Schooner.  (Schooner is the name for a covered wagon.)

After the parade, we saw the band relaxing.  We thought she'd love the sousaphone.  She seriously did!  She was just hamming it up for the camera.  The Band members loved her.  Seriously she knows how to smile for the camera.  It's amazing!

The crazy crowd.  People are everywhere.  This picture doesn't do it justice.

P.S. This happened to be the game that OU lost.  SADDEST DAY EVER!  Yes, I'm a football fan now.  But, I still love my Sooners and they will still do some great things this year!  They may not be the greatest team in the nation, but they are pretty good.  Also, don't you think it's AWESOME that Oklahoma has 2 Teams in the top 10!  What other state can say that.  More Proof that  OKLAHOMA IS GRAND!

Our blog is growing

Will decided to create a new blog for our rants and for our thoughts on life and such.  Here's the link.

http://lifeaswillandsandraseeit.blogspot.com/