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Archive for Evanisms

A Surprising Thanksgiving Twist

Posted on November 29, 2014 by Renee Spindle

There’s a certain grandson who just turned nine years old in September. This certain someone is completely immersed in the electronics age. I am sure he has taught me a few tricks about my iPhone apps. When this certain someone came over to his Grandma’s house for dinner on Thanksgiving Day, an idea came along with him. Right before dinner we were setting the table, and certain someone (my grandson, Evan) was helping me get everything ready on the table with all of the silverware, napkins, special glasses, etc.

While Evan was getting the table ready (this year he had graduated to my professional table setter) he told his Auntie Hilary he needed to find a basket to put on the table. Hilary asks him, “What do you need a basket for?”, and Evan replied, “I want everyone to put their cell phones in it.” He did not want any cells phones at the dinner table. And then he added on, “The first person that picks up their cell phone while we are eating dinner has to do the dishes!”

I was completely stunned, wow. Pay attention grown-ups, I think Evan was sending a strong message to all of us that would be seated around the dinner table. Hilary told me yesterday this was all Evan’s idea, no one had suggested this to him at my house. Even Uncle Jim who arrived just as we were sitting down to eat conformed to Evan’s plan. So, no one got their phone back until they were excused from the dinner table. This part of the dinner was a little more formal for us than usual, just so we could make the point with Evan that his planned had worked. I had to excuse the “Big Boys” so my brother could show off his new phone.

As a side note my normal house rule when all of the kids are over for a family dinner is no cell phones at the table. Evan just gave us a friendly reminder not to forget “Grandma’s Rule”. I think an even stronger message here is that the kids do pay attention to what we adults are up to, even if appears they are off in their own la-la land. Just some food for thought while finishing up those Thanksgiving leftovers.

2 comments Posted in Evanisms

Fun Times here at Camp Grandma

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Two weeks of Camp Grandma have passed now. Evan has had some busy days here, and gotten lots of little projects done. I am fortunate to be able to have Evan here two days a week over his summer vacation. He comes to “Camp Grandma” on Thursday’s and Friday’s.

Each week I have something fun planned for us to do. Funny thing is when we have an extra person joining us for the day, Evan and I say we have a “special guest” with us for the day.

Our first week of Camp Grandma, we had special guest, Uncle Bryan with us for the day. On Thursday it was a gorgeous Southern California day, and we went to the beach. My favorite beach to take Evan to is Corona del Mar. Actually, I always took the kids to this beach when they were younger, because it’s a little inlet kind of beach, and the waves don’t get too outrageous. We packed a nice picnic lunch, threw the boogie boards in the car and off we went. Evan has so much fun in the sand and surf. He’s quite brave in the water, and made this Grandma just a bit nervous a few times.

Evan loves to be covered in sand and rolls around in it, especially when he is wet.

He spent tons of time in the water, and when we got into the car to drive home he was asleep in just a few minutes.

He got some boogie boarding lessons from his Uncle Bryan, and we decided he needs a little bit smaller boogie board to get his arms around. I wasn’t able to get any good pictures of the boogie boarding. I was too excited for Evan to be skimming across the water. He was a trooper and kept going back out into the water and eventually “caught a few waves” (translation – swam in on the whitewash of the waves!). Thanks to Uncle Bryan for being our first “special guest”, on our first day of Camp Grandma.

On Friday, of week one it was definitely a day of rest. We were so pooped out from beach the day before, that the only thing we did that day was read a book, went for a swim, and played some Go Fish (Evan’s favorite card game). Evan read “Go Dog Go” to me and our dog, Clyde. Clyde really liked the story, he went to sleep.

As a side note, the “Camp Grandma” phrase was coined by Travel Man. He’s excited for Evan and I to get to spend some time together again this summer. I think we’ll make some special t-shirts or hats that say “Camp Grandma”. I’m looking forward to lots of fun craft and science projects, and some reading mixed in there too. Plus we’ll mix in a few road trips to the beach, or the museum, or the aquarium. Stay tuned for more adventures with Evan and I in the weeks to come. Hope everyone’s summer is off to a great start.

No comments Posted in Around the House, Crafts, Evanisms, Family, Travel Man

Baseball through Evan’s Eyes

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Kids, and especially my grandson, have an entirely different perspective on things than we adults do. At our recent family outing to the Angels game, Evan got permission to use my camera, with the wrist strap on of course. He took some really interesting pictures, and I wanted to share the ballpark experience with everyone through Evan’s eyes.

The Ball Field:

The Fans:

The sky was an amazing blue on game day:

The Fam:

There is always time for the self portraits:

If you know anything about Evan’s picture-taking adventures you know he loves to take pictures of these:

The six-year-old perspective is so amazing, and I absolutely love how he always takes pictures of his feet!!

Evan loves to take pictures. Maybe he needs his own digital camera (not!). There’s probably an e-book somewhere in Evans future, where we’ll collect all of the pictures he’s taken over the years. I’m sure we’ll see lots of pictures of those feet.

No comments Posted in Evanisms, Family, Sports

Guess who got a hold of my camera?

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Renee Spindle

One day before school last week Evan was bopping around the house taking pictures. I did not really pay close attention to what he was doing, as I just like to let him go and be creative. The pictures below are his own doing, and I am amazed at the range of expressions with his self portraits. His mother has not seen these yet, and I know it will give her a good laugh.

The pictures with the little smiley pictures are sitting on my desk. The family pictures you are seeing are the pictures that Evan took of my digital picture frame. I really think he’s a budding photographer. I may be biased on this point because I’m his Grandma. But I love his little pictorials.

What a different world Evan is growing up in. The digital age of pictures is just “normal” for him. Taking self portraits is “normal” for him. Being able to view the pictures you have just taken on your computer is “normal” for him. Oh what a different world Evan is growing up in. I love letting him be creative, and just doing his own thing.

These pictures just make you smile. Happy weekend everyone, enjoy the weekend!

No comments Posted in Around the House, Evanisms, Family

My April Fool’s on Evan

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Renee Spindle

If you are a reader of my Evanisms page you will have seen what a little jokester Evan was on this past Sunday, which was April Fool’s Day. Being the diligent Grandma that I am I decided to have a little April Fool’s fun of my own.

I found a post on one of the Mom blog’s that I follow- Money Saving Mom for a little April Fool’s present. The print out was to make a package of “donut seeds”. There was a pdf link to print out the package and then glue it together, and in the package you place your favorite Cheerios, these are the donut seeds!! I knew this would be a great little April fool’s for Evan once I saw it.

Here’s a picture of the package I gave to Evan. I waited until we were done eating breakfast to give it to him. I said, “Evan, I got you something to plant outside.” Evans says, “Really Grandma what is it?” I hand him the little “seed” package, and tell him its “seeds” to grow his own donuts. Everyone else at the breakfast table is talking this up, and excited for Evan. Evan takes the packet, and reads a little bit of it and then opens it to look at the “seeds”. Evan says, “Grandma, this is just Cheerios.” And I smile and pause, and tell Evan, “April Fool’s, I got you!!”

It was a fun way to start the day, especially when Evan got in the spirit of the little jokes all on his own. Happy April everyone. Wishing you all a wonderful Spring!