Evie Update

Kids are creepy part 2: the Shadow Man returns

/ Shane / Leave a comment

Remember that completely creepy story Ollie told about The Shadow Man who lives behind his bookcase and creeps into his room at night to throw him onto the floor? That’s pretty creepy, right? Probably the only thing creepier than hearing that story would be if Oliver were to receive a letter in the mail from The Shadow Man.

I don’t know, maybe the letter could say something like:

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Now, lucky for me I happen to know someone who likes to plan little sneaky surprises for people, and also happens to be studying the post office at school (and also, that someone forgot and accidentally wrote her name in the return address). So I didn’t exactly need to assemble the Scoobies to solve this mystery. Oliver, on the other hand, turned white as a sheet when the letter was read to him.

“I am coming to get you at night time, so watch out”? Who writes that?? WHO WRITES A LETTER TO SOMEONE FROM THEIR NIGHTMARE MONSTER???

Kids, man. Kids.

(P.S. It’s nice that Shadow Man is so formal in his salutations. If I must be dumped out of bed by a creepy shadow monster, I prefer he be a gentleman.)

Evie’s getting better at catching things; this time she almost caught rabies

/ Shane / 1 Comment

We were planting at the garden over the weekend, and I ran home to get something.

::Phone ringing::
Me: “Hey.”
Sara, carelessly: “Hey. While you’re over there, could you look up the number to animal control?”
Me: “…”
Sara: “…like…if someone caught a squirrel in her butterfly box…”
Me, stupidly: “A squirrel?”
Sara: “A mostly dead squirrel.”

Evie had been across the street at the park “catching butterflies” when she came running back shouting, “Mama! I got a squirrel!”

Sure enough, there in her butterfly box was a live squirrel. I think it’s safe to classify our reaction as “surprised”. Perhaps “puzzled”? “Freaked out”? “Horrified”? I don’t know. But definitely a strong reaction, I can tell you that much. Apparently Evie had caught it in her net and somehow gotten it through the tiny little hole into the bug box.

Despite Sara’s description of a “mostly dead squirrel” this thing had plenty of spunk. When Sara managed to get it out of the box into the alley, it ran in circles, rolled around on the ground, and generally acted like insanity personified. I don’t know for sure that it had rabies, but I do know for sure that something was wrong with that thing. In fact, later I watched a feral cat take it for wounded and try to make a quick meal, but it acted so crazy that even the cat was like, “No way, I’m not eating that, I’m out of here.”

Evie was pretty sad about the whole thing. She had been so proud about catching a squirrel (AS SHE SHOULD BE), and was so disappointed we were letting it go. “Evelyn, never, never, ever catch a squirrel again!” we told her. “I never get to do anything heroic!” she sobbed. “In books they always rescue hurt animals!”

She’s got a point there, and her heart is certainly in the right place. I just wonder what she’s going to bring home next…

Good Fairies

/ Shane / Leave a comment

You may remember that I blogged about the “mischievous fairies” game a few years ago (wow, has it really been 3 years?). More recently, Ollie and Evie have been keeping the game alive and well, attempting to sneak out at night and smother us whilst we slept perpetrate low-grade mischief.

The mischief has been increasingly mischievous, bordering on downright naughtiness. I think Evelyn, at least, has picked up on the fact that we have not been very pleased to wake up to a huge mess, even if it is accompanied by cute little notes.

Lately, however, there has been a new twist on the old game. Saturday and Sunday morning we were visited by GOOD fairies:

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Rather than causing trouble, the good fairies are helpful. They clean up their rooms. They put away all the laundry. They even did the dishes.

It is very sweet, and MUCH nicer than the mischievous fairies. However, Sara and I mostly just quake in our beds wondering what in the world all the racket is, and how long it will take us to recover from all the “help”.

The good fairies are *very* well intentioned. See? They even put away dishes:

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Encore Performance

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After our first smash hit, Evelyn and I perform an encore performance: piano and accordion duet #2:

(Once again directed by Oliver, the finest 5 year old director money can buy.)

You literally can’t start practicing early enough

/ Shane / Leave a comment

So, Evie got an interesting piece of mail the other day:

SAT

 

I guess it’s time to start taking practice SAT tests. I mean, seriously, now that she can read, it’s time to get to work. I heard the kid down the street started practicing when she was 6.

Never can be TOO prepared, right folks?