Art and Capes

Cole has been asking if I'd sew him something special (since recently I've made some stuff for Avery), so I made him a Super-Cole cape. He has worn it all over Fresno for the past few days. I also added a few pictures of Q's art. He loves to paint and draw, and held a pencil the correct way from the first time he was handed one. Bryan loves these two and wants to frame them. THe kids are doing well. Avery has made it to school and home since that awful first day, and the fall events are beginning.

First day of School

Here are the pictures from the first day of Manchester. Avery now has a bus routine down. For the last two days, her bus driver has said, "Here she is," when he stops the bus. The boys rode in the stroller yesterday and the wagon today to the bus stop. It has also been cooler, so we've been in the yard a bunch. Enjoy. One picture is Avery and her teacher, Mrs. Console and another is in the classroom called "The Swamp".

I can't quite figure out the problem with uploading pictures tonight, so I'm just writing about Avery's first day in second grade. We got up only a few minutes later than we'd planned, but still on time and got dressed quickly. Our goal is to get up and do a devotion and pray before each day, and with my selfishness, I decided we'd get ready before calming down together. I have now learned that we will spend time with Him before doing my stuff. A good friend reminded me that if we give ourselves an hour to get ready, we'll take the whole hour, but if we have less time we can usually get ready in that amount of time. So, all that to say tomorrow He will begin our morning. We got Avery to the bus (for the first time), and the boys and I drove to her school, just to make sure she got off the bus and to class okay. We finished our morning and afternoon, then left to get Avery. As I was walking the easy ten minute stroll I realized what bad shape I'm in, so hopefully this will be easier later in the year. Well, we waited and waited for her bus- over 25 min. Finally I saw another mom(and former neighbor) with her kids and informed me that the bus actually let them off on the other side of the school, however her kids hadn't seen Avery. Nice. We took off running (with me pushing the big stroller), crying on the phone to Bryan, "She never got off the bus." I got to where she should have been, and there was no Avery. I ran home as fast as I could and called her school. They said they were sure she'd hopped on "a bus", but they weren't sure where she was. I called Mom and Dad and they came over as quickly as they could. I was called a few times to tell me they were planning to send out calls to all the buses. Finally FUSD called me just to tell me they'd found her, but the VP could not tell where she was, only that she was on a bus somewhere in the district. Great! Dad was driving around the school where she was supposed to be, Bryan had just arrived at Manchester, and Avery was still somewhere we didn't know. I drove to Avery's bus stop to tell Dad they'd found her, and saw her, having just arrived, standing next to him and the bus. It turns out she had either fallen asleep or just didn't hear the bus driver say it was her stop and then had fallen asleep. She was sitting near the back. So, she went all around Fresno for almost 2 hours. The bus driver felt quite bad and his comfort to us was (in a very thick accent and while smiling), "Next time she sit in front of bus". We made it home, but even a few hours later I'm pretty jittery and have a bad head ache. I think I'll drive her tomorrow.

Hume Lake

So, I think this is my longest post of the year, so read or hit esc. Aug 6 we headed up to Hume Lake with my grandparents, grandma, parents and kids. We walked around the lake a bit and played on the swings the first day. It was the first time Q would swing without screaming or holding his breath (if you don't believe me, I've got pictures). The next day Bryan went on a hike led by Jeff Lily (the exec. director) and saw some great views and big trees, including the sixth tallest tree in the world. The kids and I watched the deer while they ate outside our window. Later that day Bryan, Grandma M., the kids and I went to the cove and swam. The kids had so much fun swimming out to the log, but the most excitement was centered around a bumble bee. Q was sitting next to the shore, and a bumble bee flew up and landed in the water right in front of his feet. As I was calmly shooing it away, I all of a sudden began to panic. Bryan's response was to calm down because it was just a bee, and it wouldn't sting him. However, he didn't see the snake that had swam up and was slithering across his lap. No lying it was on him! I not so calmly made sure it kept on moving, and Bryan followed it (thus the picture). We all calmed down and went back to the cabin shortly after that. That evening, Grandma W, Mom, Bryan and I went to a star talk on the edge of a cliff. We weren't sure how we'd all make it down or up the steep slope, but with a few pushes we all got back up. We saw many shooting stars from the meteor shower going on. It was truly amazing to be in such a beautiful place and to be listening to someone talk about Jesus and Heaven. The third morning we had a big breakfast and took the kids fishing. No body caught anything, but we've already planned a trip to Shaver to try again. Avery could have kept going for hours, but we were all tired. We went back and ate delicious ribs. After that we roasted marshmallows at devoured smores. I put the boys to bed, and Avery got to stay up. Friday was the second anniversary of when she asked Jesus into her heart, fondly known as her "heart birthday" in our house. I had found a necklace that I'd had from when I was younger and we gave it to her. She was so excited. It actually sparked a great conversation about when everyone else had accepted Christ. Too bad I missed it because I was putting Avery to bed, but Bryan got to listen. I'm hoping they'll write it down so I can have their stories. The next am we got up ate, cleaned and headed home while listening to the Chronicles of Narnia. My grandma said it was a life changing few days for her, I agree. It was absolutely perfect. If you made it through this whole thing, thanks.

The Evans Bunch

A few weeks ago my dear friend, Wendy, and her family came by to say hi. They now live in Oregon, but were in town to visit her family. We had such a good time talking with them and Bryan has now decided he wants to hike a mountain with her hubby, John. We also made plans to spend Thanksgiving up there with them. She has two adorable little guys and our kids were so good playing together. Here are a few moments.

Carmel River Beach

Friday we headed to Carmel for the day. It was breezy, cool, and relaxing. The kids had such an amazing day and were so good. We played until Grandpa headed for shade, ate dinner, and drove home (with Baskin Robbins In Los Banos). The kids built castle and dug holes for hours. I even used my newly acquired knowledge on my children and had a brilliant epiphany. Guess what! Boys and girls are different. Dr. Dobson (in Bringing Up Boys which I'm reading) states that God made boys and girls differently. Duh. I'm not meaning that girls can't play soccer or boys can't dress up and carry pink shimmery purses around (picture Q), but there is a part in them that makes them behave differently. Avery and Cole were so fascinated by the sea weed and even wanted to bring it home- yuck, but at one point I looked up and saw Cole using a huge piece of sea weed as a whip and had come up with the idea all on his own. At the same time, Avery was a few feet away and had made a delicious sea weed cake complete with sand frosting and whatever gross little things she could find. We ate at a sea food market for dinner, and I was once again so impressed at the kids and their willingness to try anything put in front of them. What great kids I have.

Art

Quentin has discovered the wonders of art this week. He got some paints from Auntie Mel and Uncle Elijah for his birthday, and to be honest, I was scared of offering them to him. He immediately held them correctly and has enjoyed making beautiful pictures. I also let him hold a pencil and the first time he picked it up, he held it the right way.