Evie's Big Road Trip

Well after a  couple weeks of trying to write this post, here it is people.

On October 7th Evie and I hit the road and made some great memories. First stop was Warrensburg, Mo. This was my home for 3 years while I went to UCM. I am still very fond of the town even through I never finished a degree there. Evie was very good and held my hand on campus. We visited my old chemistry lab boss first, this was her first time meeting Evie. Then we went to the bookstore and found Evie a Hello Kitty with a UCM shirt. It was so cute I had to buy it. At Union and I got a doughnut and feed Evie her snack. She was such a cute little college student. Our last visit on campus was Yeater Hall, my 1st dorm.And I must say my year there was very interesting, I believe it to be haunted.

After loading up, our next stop was Olathe, Kansas to see my aunt. My aunt is the owner of a quint bed and breakfast called Serendipity (5 Stars). Evie much enjoyed playing out in the yard. She really liked helping rearrange things on the patio, showing me the rocks by the air condition and smelling the flowers. While indoors Evie would seek out Sam, the kitty cat. After my mom and brother arrived we had yummy cheesy chicken casserole for dinner. For desert there was ice cream and chocolate cake, which Evie just thought was awesome.

The following morning we went to Dianna Rose Children's Farm. Evie quickly befriended the goats. They did not mind her whacking them on the head too much (Evie pets nice, just gets a little too excited at times). I think all the goats cared about was food. My Aunt paid for me, my brother and Evie to go on the hay ride, which included a pumpkin patch. Evie loved the slide that was in the pumpkin patch. We had to do that over and over again. Evie did half the corn maze and then simply turned around and walked out, back towards the slide. While other parents were taking cute baby pictures in the pumpkin patch, Evie was being a fuzzy mess, trying to walk on the pumpkins and run towards her beloved slide. We picked out 3 pumpkins and took the wagon back. After that we had some chocolate ice cream. Then Evie helped Grandma push the red wagon around while we checked out the rest of the animals. After making a quick stop at Good Will , which Evie got 3 new shirts, we packed up and heading to Drexel, Mo.

I was making a quick stop in Drexel to get pictures of my old 4-H horse and Evie together. Evie also got to see where I grew up,finally. Plus terrorize my moms barn cats. After taking several pictures I decided to put Evie on Mo's back and have my mom lead him. He was very proud to have a little rider. Evie really loved her pony ride, she giggled so much up on top that big horse. Grandma cooked us a nice chicken dinner. Before I knew it we had to set off on the road again. I got back in Columbia at 12:30 qm. What a trip! But we had a lot of fun and made great memories.

Evie's 1st MU Football Game

Welcome to the jungle! If you know nothing about Columbia, Mo you should know that they love their Tigers. It is complete madness here on game days. Do not even think about going anywhere near the stadium or college and do your grocery shopping before hand.

On Friday night I was offered MU tickets because the guy's friends had canceled. I am not a football or sports fan but I thought it was a great chance to take Evie to something special. So I said yeah why not, I'll go.

All Saturday morning it rained, at noon there was a break and it got pretty hot. Saturdays are also when I hit up estate sales for free stuff at 2:30 and 3:30. So after running to 2 sales I came back to Tarzan's new apartment. My friend and her son, which I invited, had got done early with things and were waiting in the parking lot for me. So we all loaded up in her car. Now I brought my hoodie to Tarzan's and had intended to pack that and Evie's warm things. But it was just so hot. So I left them (face palm!). On our way to the game we knew parking was not going to be good. We went in the parking garage that I used to use when I worked at the Rec on campus.

It was pouring when we parked, but hey at least we found a spot to park! I did have Tarzan's umbrella and my friend had some blankets and her umbrella. Now here came the fun part, we had to meet my friend, with the tickets, at this special tail gating tent that was serving  mountains of burgers. All I knew was that it was off Stadium road. So we headed towards the stadium, in the rain, lugging a 30 lb toddler.(Google mapping our walk later I found out it was .7 miles one way). We did find the tent though, hooray. Victory was short lived, however. Under the tent, people were all packed under  and mud was everywhere. So Evie could not be put down to run around. Hamburgers were there not, instead there were BLT's, just awesome. So we all ate it down since we had nothing else. Lucky Evie wasn't hungry but she ate some chips. I then found out umbrellas are not allowed in the stadium. At this point I about pulled my hair out and had a melt down. Mainly because what if someone stole this new umbrella. (They didn't and everything is fine) At least the rain had stopped.

We found seats with ease. We had south end zone seats and they were awesome. We met up with my friend and he had butt cushions for us, yet another thing I didn't think of. I just don't go to these things enough. But after all the stress, everything turned out just fine. Evie only wanted to be held and snuggled. She was so excited to see what was going on and looked on wide eyed as the band came out. When people clapped and cheered she clapped too and giggled because everyone was clapping. She almost made it to half time. But then go very sleepy.

It started to drizzle and she needed to go to bed. So off we went, Evie giggling at my friend's son all the way back. She was in such a good mood that night.. She slept very good and woke promptly at 7 am ready to play again. Evie says Go Tigers!

Life with Evie

I can't believe Evie has been back for a month now. It's been pretty busy around here, every day is a new adventure. Just yesterday she was shoveling cat food into her month, the same food I had just put out for our new stray. The cat is super friendly and just loves Evie. It doesn't much care for my cats though, so it has to stay outside.

Babies are super cute when they copy you. Evie doesn't know what she is doing but as long as mommy does it she does it too. We have a little black bunny and every morning we pick his grass. Evie loves picking grass and throwing it up in the air. Meanwhile I am trying to put grass in the bag and get chores done.

We have also been decorating for Halloween. So far I have the spiders out and their egg sacks, a few bats and other decor. But we still have ghosts and a grave yard to put out too. I can't wait to take her to the pumpkin patch for pumpkins. This year Evie is going to be a little princess since we found the perfect pink dress at the thrift store last week.

With the weather getting cooler we can finally go to the park without drowning in sweat. Today after her nap we went on our little outing. On the playground she made a few new baby friends. After swinging, we tried out the slide. I just stand at the side of the slide and let her slide then catch her. When I put her on my lap and slide, that just isn't as much fun anymore. But since she is still young I fiqure it's not too safe for her to go all by herself.

Evie is very fearless though. She likes to run up little slopes and then try to jump off of them. And she loves climbing the playground stairs and tries to go down the slide by herself.. We went home with some scrapes but Evie had a blast and so did I.

Driving Miss Evie

It has almost been 3 weeks of having Evie and we are having a blast. It can be challenging at times but I do believe that is what every parent says. Evie is a great helper. She helps by being good and playing while I do dishes, clean and do laundry.

I have learned a great deal about Miss Evie over this time and would like to share.

Evie's Top Likes:

1. Being chased
2. Nicki Minaj (mostly Starships)
3. Books
4. Beef
5. Biscuits and gravy
6. Juice
7. Grass
8. Anything water (baths, the hose, pet dishes, ect)
9. Cats
10. Car rides

Evie's Top Hates:

1. Being told "no" (who doesn't)
2. Fish
3. Any and all green veggies
4. Waking up
5. Going to bed
6. Water in her sippy ( it was supposed to be juice, so sad)
7. Waiting in check out lines

It is weird to watch her grow up so fast. She already has developed a personality and is her own little person. Tuesdays are the best days of the week because we get to spend all day together and play.

When she thinks you aren't paying enough attention to her she grunts really loud until you see what she wants. She pulls your hair to no end and smiles when you scream. I'll say "I'm gonna get an Evie" and she runs as fast as she can, looking behind to see if you are chasing. I tried giving her some  green beans and she spat them out. She also spat out her fish, I put the fish on her tray and she poked at it with disgust. She loves petting my cat, Ella. She makes baby sounds whenever she sees the cats and pets them very nicely. You haven't lived, in Evie's opinion, until you have read your favorite books over, and over and over again. Such a silly girl.

At the mall

Eating some cherry cheese cake

So tired

Joint Custody Begins

Last Tuesday, my car seat from Walmart arrived. Normally I try to avoid Wally World at all cost but I got a nice 80 buck car seat on sale for $60 so I figured why not. The previous week I had promised a co-worker I would take his shift, unknowing at the time that I was going to be allowed to have Evie Tuesday, I agreed. So after helping with Evie on Tuesday morning I had to rush to my 2-7 pm shift at work, trying to allow myself enough time to pick up the car seat. Then after work I would get Evie and keep her till Wednesday afternoon.

I get at Wally World at 1:15. Super excited about having plenty of time, I hopped out of the car. After zooming by all the wally zombies, I dinged the little bell at the site to store spot. It appeared a family was in front of me and their fringe they had ordered had been lost. A sweaty, pimple faced kid was running back and forth from the stock room to the computer trying to find it. So I waited, and waited and waited. Ug this is why I hate Walmart, people. Finally the manger came out with the fridge.It was my turn and was handed the car seat within a few minutes. Not once while I was waited before did anyone asked "can we help you?". They just all walk around, well like zombies. Don't worry I had just enough time to make it to work.

Tuesday night Evie stayed up till midnight, all hyper. She was so excited to be with me. The only way of getting her to sleep was turning off all the lights and laying in bed with her. In the morning, 9am, I was awoken by loud giggles and my hair being pulled. Opening my eyes I saw a bright eyed, grinning baby girl. Aww so cute, aside from the hair pulling. Now we had planned on making biscuits and gravy but when we got home that night the milk was bad. So I gave her a small bottle and a quick change and we were off to the store to get milk. At Moser's we saw a firetruck. What fun! The guys even turned on the lights for Evie and a couple other little kids.She just loves biscuits and gravy. Om nom noms. She chowed them all down. After helping with chores and we went to the park. Then the rest of the week Tarzan and me kept to the old visiting plan, since I have no daycare set up. We then agreed to start the joint custody on Sunday.

This Sunday, at 7pm, I went over and picked her up. We ran to store really fast to get some items and went home. I fixed a nice dinner of fish and green beans. Well she is unsure about fish and hates green beans. So she had some strawberry yogurt, leftover hamburger and her bottle instead. All has be going fine, we have been having a blast. Tarzan has to pay for the child care until child support has been stopped. But everything is basically wrapped up. I am proud to say this has come to an end.

Saturday an high school friend came to see the Evie!