Our Sweet little Evie - I mean Evil

This past Saturday was Creative Saturday in our Relief Society. I almost wasn't going to sign up, but at the last minute decided it would be fun - and it was. I made chocolate cake balls in the morning and hair bows in the afternoon. Fun conversation with the ladies and my girls were very pleased with the results. The best thing about the day of course - no Evie.

Andrew was excited to give me a day off and looking forward to a relaxing day at home with the kids. I knew he would be tired when I got home, so we made plans for me to take the girls swimming as soon as I got home.

I called before I left the church, so he would know I was coming home. I came home to three happy children outside in there coats with their swimming bag outside already. I thought," Dad's a little anxious to get them going". They came inside to sample my cake balls while I was getting my swimsuit. It became apparent to me that Andrew was not in the best mood.

We were on the road soon enough and I asked the girls how the day went. They said,"

Girls: Fine

Me: Really? Dad seems like he is in a bit of a mood.

Jackie: Oh yeah - Dad's in a bad mood. He was all like this ,

Alice hits Jackie's arm.

Jackie: What was that for?

Alice: I don't want you making fun of Dad for being in a bad mood.

Jackie: I wasn't going to make fun of Dad, I was just going to show that he was in a bad mood because of Evie.

Alice: Oh, yeah that's kinda true.

And I wasn't surprised - seeing as I must have said three different times to the ladies, "It is so nice to not have Evie". Now let me be clear - WE LOVE EVIE. She is hilarious. She is clever. She is fast. She likes to have fun, and she .......likes to have her own way. Her persistence is exhausting. I tell myself over and over that she will be delightful when she is able to run her own life, (as I myself am delightful). As I give her timeout after timeout for hitting her friends or whining relentlessly, or when I carry her screaming kicking body out of sacrament meeting because she doesn't like the snack I brought, I remind myself that in a few years I will look at pictures of her three year old self and miss her littleness. I will use blog postings like this one and pictures like the one below - to remind me..

In the meantime, I will enjoy her great qualities - how she loves to tell you that she is , " so big, so strong and so fast". I will enjoy teaching her things she feels like learning and will thoroughly enjoy when she has decided to be a puppy all day, even when she has decided that she wants to be a bad puppy. And when the whining and the tantrums come I will endeavor to be patient and remind myself that:
1. She will not always be like this
2. She is the child I deserve.
But I also will be patient with my husband - who from all accounts was a perfect child and does not deserve our little Evil, I mean Evie.