A ballerina and a boxer

Well, I've decided to rejoin the blogging world just so no one thinks we've dropped off the face of the earth. A quick recap of the past few months: we enjoyed Thanksgiving and Christmas here with Hinckley family members (all of David's siblings and families were here for Christmas), and about a month ago we moved out of our apartment and back in with David's parents. We're saving to buy our own house, which is exciting and scary at the same time. But that's a different story.

Last week Evelyn started a much-anticipated ballet class for 3- and 4-year-olds. As you may imagine from Evelyn, there were many "happy dances" in the weeks leading up to her first class last Friday. She looked so cute in her ballet clothes, and I'm really glad that her teacher let the parents stay in the room for this first class (we'll be in the hall for the rest of them). Evelyn did a great job following instructions from the teacher, and she had a lot of fun doing "penguin feet" (aka-1st position) and "ballet arms," among other things. I'm excited for her to do the other 5 classes in the coming weeks.

As for our little "boxer," while Edison hasn't picked up a new sport, he's had some injuries that look like he's taken up boxing. Last week he gave me quite a scare when he fell off of a chair at the kitchen table, hit his mouth (possibly on both the table and the chair as he came down--I'm not quite sure), chipped a tooth, pushed another one back and got a big fat lip. But, being our tough little guy, once the shock and initial pain wore off (and the blood was cleaned up), he didn't think another thing about it. He went down for a nap shortly after the incident, and when he woke up the first thing he said was, "Eat!" He never complained when we pulled his lip back to check on the extent of the damage, which was a blessing. Thankfully, the chip wasn't bad enough to affect a nerve, and it was a clean enough break that we don't need to get it shaved or anything. I just wish we had taken our family pictures before this happened....

Also last week, I buzzed Edison's way-too-long hair for the first time. I think he looks so cute! I'll have to post pictures another time, though, because I've been having issues with our camera and haven't taken any pictures since the haircut.

And in other news, I have a new church calling! After 2 1/2 years in a couple of Primary presidencies, I am now the Young Women ward camp director. Let's just say I was in shock at first, but I'm excited to delve into the calling and try to help make girls' camp a fun experience for those involved. It will be quite a learning experience for me, that's for sure.

the kids (Edison, Evelyn and Tyler--my nephew) having fun in the backyard

Halloween

Evelyn was really excited about Halloween this year (what kid isn't excited to have their parents take them around to fill a bucket with candy?). She told me many times yesterday, "You HAVE to take me trick or treating tonight." :) I made a cat tail and cat ears for her, but this past week she kept changing her mind, and I finally gave in and made some wings last minute so she could be a fairy. (We'll use the cat ears and tail at her cat-themed birthday party this weekend.) So, I took our fairy Evelyn and our little missionary Edison to the ward trunk or treat. Edison wasn't too sure about all of it, but Evelyn had a blast and got pretty comfortable going up to people to say "Trick or Treat" after a few minutes. I forgot my camera at the actual event, but luckily we got a few pictures before leaving home. After we got home, Evelyn quickly organized her candy according to color, shape, etc., and Edison just enjoyed dumping out Evelyn's candy and putting it back in the bucket.

Breeba, Moosa and Little Lamb, oh my!

hooray for choosing my own clothes!

Hmm. Where to start? Here's an update on Evelyn and what she's up to. She's about to turn 4, but she reminds us that she loves being 3 and "I'm good at being 3!" Some things that she enjoys are cats, dancing, learning how to read and playing with her "guys" (aka-stuffed animals). Her favorite "guys" these days are Breeba (a large, purple My Little Pony), Moosa (a white kitty) and Little Lamb (a stuffed sheep, as you may have guessed). She's also a good helper--when she wants to be--and likes doing things for Edison, like finding and giving him his blankie when he's sad.

watching the rain

These days she keeps asking for a pet cat. I keep hoping that the requests will die down, but there aren't any signs yet that she'll change her mind. Maybe I shouldn't be so anti-pet, but I just have no desire to have and take care of a cat. Perhaps Evelyn will wear me down at some point, but not right now. She's being pacified a little bit by having a cat-themed birthday party in a couple of weeks, so I'm trying to come up with some good cat related games, making cat shaped brownies and cat ears for all of the party crowd to wear during the party. Oh, and perhaps you can guess what Evelyn's going to be for Halloween....

copying Edison's peek-a-boo; the big bandage on her head is from when she ran into the wall and split her head open (which healed on its own w/o stitches)

Evelyn is doing well learning how to read. She's venturing out on her own a bit more and trying to read words here and there, like at the grocery store or looking at food labels during lunch. And speaking of venturing out, she's starting to "come out of her shell." She has always been pretty shy around new people, but in the past few weeks she's played with new kids at the park, talked to someone at the post office ("Can I tell him the name of my sheep?"), and told a librarian about the new movie she was checking out, while dancing around with excitement.

finger painting, but not too sure about it

The other day she said something that just made me laugh. A few weeks ago we talked about acorns in preschool, and while we were out getting the mail the ground under a tree was covered with acorns. Here was our conversation:

Marie: What do acorns grow up to be?

Evelyn: Trees. I wish I was a tree.

Marie: Why do you wish you were a tree?

Evelyn: 'Cause then I wouldn't have to eat the dinners you make.

Gee, thanks. At least I know she was listening in preschool. :P

Personality

Here's an update on what Edison is like these days. Edison will be 14 months next week, and it is so fun to watch his personality come out more every day. While he mostly crawls to get around, he ventures out with walking a little more each day. He gets so proud of himself when he does something new, like taking more steps or the other day when he got some of his sandwich on a fork and to his mouth.
Some of his favorite things are doors, light switches, trying to grab the window blinds before Mom raises them out of reach, his blankie (he looks so cute when he snuggles with it), throwing things (usually food and cups, but sometimes balls) and climbing. I can only imagine what he'll be climbing on in the upcoming weeks and months, but so far he loves climbing on Evelyn's small table and chairs in their room, the couch and chairs in the living room and stairs. Since we live in an apartment, there aren't any stairs inside, but any time he sees the front door open he races as fast as he can to try to get out the door and up the stairs outside. The other day he practically jumped off the couch to get outside. He also tries to walk up the stairs sometimes, which is a little interesting with his short little legs and so-so balance. :)

In the past month or two his language has really taken off. He probably has between 15 and 20 words, such as door, ball, bath, uh-oh, bye-bye, stuck and help. Of course the words come out at varying degrees of clarity, but it sure helps that he's learning how to communicate with more than just yelling/screaming.

One of the things I love best about this little boy is his smile. I think it will save him in the future when he gets into things and then flashes his dimpled grin, but it sure melts my heart when he gives me that big toothy smile.

Updates

I don't know how a month can pass by so quickly. It usually feels like I've recently posted, but when I turn around, it's been about a month. Oh, well. Here is a quick update of the happenings in the Hinckley household:

The new preschool year has been going on for about 1 1/2 months, and I'm enjoying it. The curriculum I use is great, and the kids seem to be enjoying it. I still need to work on how to keep Edison engaged and not into their stuff, but that's a different story.

David started his job at match.com a few weeks ago, and he's really enjoying it. He is on their email team, so he gets to answer a lot of questions, help fix problems, and help keep customers happy. He enjoys the challenge of needing to say (write) the right thing to help the customer feel better about their problem/situation. He also likes the people that he works with, and the atmosphere at match is pretty laid back (or so it seems to me). It's kind of weird to have him go to work in jeans....

As for the kids, I'll do individual posts on them, with pictures. But suffice it to say that they keep me busy, and I am so glad I'm able to be at home with them.

In other news, it's birthday season in our home: Edison turned 1 at the end of August, my birthday was last month, Evelyn turns 4 (!) in a few weeks, and then David's birthday is 2 weeks after that. And then we jump right into the holiday season, so I'm trying to be on top of things this year so that I'm not scrambling (like last year). Hopefully all of my projects and homemade gifts will work out alright....

Fun (and free!) date night

David and I had an in-home date night last night (like most of our date nights), that we both really enjoyed. [Warning! It's kind of cheesy, so stop now if you're not alright with cheesy stuff.] Before our date night we put together a list of "favorites" for each of us to fill out beforehand. Some of the things we used were: favorite physical feature (of the other person), favorite movie we've watched together, favorite date we've done, favorite character trait (of the other) and the biggest way the other has changed since we've been married. It was fun thinking of answers (some of which were easier to answer than others) and being reminded of things that we love about each other and fun memories we have together. Then, after the kids were in bed, we got out our lists and took turns sharing our answers. I could have predicted some of David's answers, but others were a surprise to me.
We had talked about also checking a movie out from the library (like one of the first movies we watched together), but we didn't end up having time. Oh, and since dessert is almost always part of our dates, we also had some ice cream. :)
So, while it wasn't the most glamorous evening, it was a lot of fun and just a good reminder of why we love being married to each other. (Yes, you may groan now if you want to.)

Duh!

Edison has recently had an explosion (for a 12-month-old) of new words. He's now up to about 10. One of the words he uses most often is "duh," meaning "yuck." He loves putting things in his mouth (mostly for the reaction these days), and his favorite thing is shoes. He loves chewing on shoes, so I'm always telling him "yuck, yuck!" and then taking them away. Well, the other night at dinner we had some roasted vegetables, so I put a piece of red bell pepper on his tray. He picked it up, put it in his mouth, and then immediately took it out, threw it back on his tray and said "Duh!!" I thought it was pretty funny, even though he was telling me that dinner was yucky. But it is fun to see his language develop and watch him become more of a little person and less of a baby.