Lately

Honey:  "Did you take a nap today, Evelyn?"

Evelyn:  "Yeah."

Honey:  "How long did you snooze?"

Evelyn:  "Two or three minutes."

***

Evelyn (in the midst of playing):  "Water, please.  I need a break."

***

Em:  "Doodle, let's put on this pretty pink head-wrap to keep your ears warm on our hike."

Ev, after said head-wrap is secured around her head:  "I am a queen."

(Note that she didn't say princess, folks.  We went straight to queen.  We are in big trouble:)

Hotty Toddy!

Ever since the youngest Cummings sister decided to spend four years studying (or tailgating?) at Ole Miss, the entire Cummings family has embraced the way that those folks do football games down in Oxford.  Accordingly, as many of us as possible load up and head to Mississippi every time Vanderbilt is scheduled to play football there.  We had another trip last weekend, and man, was it fun!  We spent Friday kicking around the Square in downtown Oxford with a little shopping, a little strolling, and a little munching:

Evelyn needed to make some calls from a vintage British red telephone booth on the Square.  She had conversations with G.G. and Grammie before deciding to hang up and move on.

On Saturday, it was on to the Grove!  The football game was scheduled to have a 6 PM kickoff, so we gathered our tailgating supplies and headed on down to the Grove in the middle of the Ole Miss campus in the early afternoon.  Honey arranged a beautiful table under our tent, and we all had fun visiting, listening to the band play, and people-watching:

Once it started getting dark, Little Miss and her daddy watched the Ole Miss dance team perform and then tried out the stage themselves:

Then it was back to our spot for a brief conversation with Uncle Eddie before we all packed up and headed to the game:

Evelyn stayed for the entire first half of the game, and seemed to mostly enjoy herself:

 There were some tense moments...

...but Vandy eventually prevailed (yay!).  More importantly, the marching band and the baton twirlers showed up at half-time.

The rest of our long weekend was spent lounging, wandering around the Square, eating delicious meals, and stalking sidewalk musicians:

One of the best parts of the weekend?  Hearing Ev's sweet little voice say, "Hotty toddy!" to every Ole Miss fan she met:)  Happy weekend, friends!

"I Two!"

Or so says our little lady, who celebrated two wonderful years last Friday, November 2.  Can you believe it?  I sure can't.  I'm pretty sure that it wasn't that long ago when we first met this sweet tiny girl:

And not much longer after that when she was smearing cake all over her face for the first time:

Anyways.  We kicked off this particular day, the day of TWO, with pancakes and balloons and a couple presents before Da-da-dee had to head off to school:

Note Ev marveling at her new pink Library Pete t-shirt in this one:)

Then it was time to load up the car and head to the zoo for a morning of animal-watching, snacking, bridge-bouncing, carousel-riding, playground-playing, and cupcake-devouring with a couple sweet friends, cousin Joseph and his parents, godmother Anna (and her precious 2-week-old baby Ellen), and Honey:

 Can you spy Anna and baby Ellen?  Ellen snoozed almost the whole time and let her mama have a nice stroll outside:)

All of that celebrating wore the birthday girl (and her mama) out, so it was back home for a short rest before four grandparents, one godfather, and a daddy invaded for supper:

 

Grammie and Grandaddy gave Ev a wonderful bag full of fun new art supplies, which we have already loved trying out!

 See all the reading going on in these pictures?  Little Miss was at the end of her birthday rope, so after opening a couple gifts and reading some books, she headed off to bed, leaving her candles unlit, her (second of the day) cupcake uneaten, and a pile of presents unopened.

I have to say, I am kind of with Ev on that one; her unopened presents and uneaten cupcake meant that we got to extend the birthday celebration all weekend, and open and enjoy a couple presents each day! Such a gift to have a little one who wants to take her time and savor the moments.  And speaking of gifts, our little bit was showered not only with all sorts of wonderful books and puzzles and art supplies and clothes, but more importantly with an abundance of love from family and friends near and far.  What a blessing!