"I'm in love"

Evelyn saw a boy asking a girl out on a date on TV the other day, and asked me what a "date" is. I told her it's how a boy and a girl spend time doing something together, getting to know each other, and they might eventually fall into love. She took this in, gave me a big smile, and told me that "I'm in love with Ryan," her best friend at school.
"Oh," I said, not fully sure how to react to this news.
"I'm going to marry him," she continued.
"Ah, really!" So many thoughts and feelings rushed through my head that I was at a lost for words.
"I'm going to marry him when I grow up," she fallowed up, giving me something to heave a big sigh of relief about.
"How old is 'grown up', Evelyn?" I asked. "16," she said.
"How about 26?" I suggested.

Evelyn's Valentine

Last week, we got a notice from Evelyn's teacher about Valentine's Day. The children will be making a Valentine's Day bag to be hung outside of the classroom. Whoever wishes to hand out Valentines to their friends are free to do so, but must give every children in the class one. Of course Evelyn would love to give out Valentines. That means Valentines for all 21 of her classmates. Now, one disadvantage of not growing up in the same culture and system that I am now raising my daughters in is that I have no experience in these things. I did not know that there are punch out Valentines that you can get in batches to be separated, signed, folded, and given out. My instinct was to make them. All 21 of them. So I went online and Googled Valentine's card ideas (no one mentioned punch out cards there, either), and picked one that I think should be easy to execute. It involves using a cookie cutter to cut out potato stamps to stamp out pretty pictures. It took us two days to complete the cards. Two days of frantic but restrained "Evelyn! Don't smear it!" and "Evelyn! Don't move until I get there!" and "Evelyn! Think before you do something!" By 8:30pm on Sunday night, we had all 21 cards made, signed (all by Evelyn) and ready to go. Evelyn had a blast stamping, making pictures, and signing her name. Her sister had a blast trying to taste painted potato stamps and getting her hands on paint brushes. And I survived with still some hair on my head.

These cards are by no means perfect; there are runny inks, water stains, and innovative word placements, but I can proudly say that Evelyn did most of the work. Not only that, but she did it without screaming, fussing, or giving up. I sincerely hope that her friends know to appreciate the effort that went into these cards!