Priceless

On the eve of 1^st grade, Eva lost her first top tooth! She was a wiggling fool all day and finally after she twisted it sideways, I knew it was coming out any time. She finally asked me to give it a yank; I did, and she’s been grinning like crazy ever since.

Musical Debut

Last Sunday, Eva made her musical debut -- in our church's children's
production of "The Rockslinger and his Greatest Hit." This was the
first year that Eva was old enough to participate in Music Camp, and she
had a ball. It turns out Eva had one line to speak, and she didn't tell
me, so what a fabulous surprise on Sunday morning to see Eva saunter
over to the microphone and pronounce her line. It was during a song
where everyone is giving their excuses (such as "homework," "bedtime,"
etc.) for why they cannot fight Goliath, and she was the last one to
speak. Her line was "my Mommy's calling." It was perfectly delivered.
She also, not surprisingly, sang and danced with great gusto.

Many friends have reminded me about the night that we came home from
Guatemala when I put Eva down on the ground at the airport and she
immediately crawled over to the stage (used for songwriters and the like
to perform while passengers wait in a security line) and turned to make
sure her "audience" was watching. So, I really think she was born for
the stage.

After Sunday's enthusiastic performance, I signed her up for classes at the Nashville Children's Theatre.

Whalen Family Week 2009

Back row: Kathi, Trevor, Sean, Trina, Steve, Stacey

Front row: Sarah (15), Logan (10), Colin (12), Ryan (8), Abby (12), Sydney (9), Denny, Eva (6), Linda, Samuel (4 ), Susannah (13)

Eva and her Uncle Bubba

Eva enjoyed seeing fireworks for the first time; last year they were essentially rained out (we watched from a window at our cabin) and in earlier years, I just didn't think she'd enjoy the noise. She wasn't thrilled with the noise this year, but she dealt with it fine.

Eva and cousin Samuel enjoying a prime climbing-tree. They had a ball. Now if they would just smile a little bit.

I am way behind on posting. We've been busy with all sorts of fun summer activities, and by the end of each day I am not too excited to get on the computer at home. So, finally, here are a few pictures from our Whalen Family Week in Wheeling, WV. We had a super time with our family. Eva and her cousins had a big time as always, and we adults enjoyed ourselves, too. We’ve hit the stage where a number of the “children” stay up later than the adults. They were apparently quite loud a couple of nights, but we avoided that by turning on the air conditioning unit, even though we definitely didn’t need A/C. The weather was pleasantly cool, although we could have done without some of the rain that brought the cooler weather in.