Birthday #4 for Evelyn

This post has been long in the making but I've been gradually adding ideas to it every day.  As you all know I like to do a little write up about each one of my kids around their birthdays so that I can preserve their little accomplishments and behaviors and keep a record of them at each stage of their lives for myself and for them.  Well, my #1 girl recently celebrated her 4th birthday and I wanted to write down a few memorable things about her.

She's a Sunbeam! and she loves it.  Her first day singing with the Primary was yesterday and it was so fun to watch her sing.  She did great!  She has two really awesome teachers, Sis. Hubble and Sis. Nowle that she really likes and I appreciate them for all they do.  She loves to sing!  Even when she doesn't know the words she'll try to sing along.  She always comes home from church singing the songs she learned that day.  Now that she's in Primary I've really been enjoying getting to watch her sitting with her class.

One of her favorite things is when her daddy comes home he picks her up and touches her feet to the ceiling.  The kids love it and it's now become part of our daily routine.

Her favorite person hands down is her cousin, Eliza.  The two are inseparable when they are together.  Evelyn thinks the world of Eliza and asks me almost on a daily basis if we can go visit her.  The other day I caught her pretending to talk to Eliza on the phone and pretending to play hide and seek with her at the same time.  She literally spent like 20 minutes with the phone pressed up against her ear.

Along with watching movies she also enjoys going outside.  She's constantly asking to ride bikes or play at the park.  We often go for walks together just to see what kind of fun stuff we can find.  In the past we've collected flowers, tasted the fruit on nearby trees, pet and watched the neighborhood sheep, cows and horses and of course rode around on the motorcycle.

She is getting to be quite smart.  She can spell her name aloud and is currently learning how to write it.  She can correctly tell you her whole (first, middle & last) name and she can recognize all her letters and colors.  She starts Preschool this year and she's really excited to go to school like her other friends.  She's always the first to remind us to say family prayers and do "thumbs" every night.  She a little copycat and I have to get on her all the time not to repeat every little thing I say.  She loves to state the obvious which drives me insane and has started asking "Why?" to every thing I tell her.

Evelyn's drawing of our family inside our house.

She loves movies!  She would watch movies all day long if I let her.  Her and Preston take turns choosing the next movie.  She has a great taste in movies, usually picking movies I wouldn't consider kids her age to like.  Some of her favorites, at the moment, are Fantasia, Pete's Dragon and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (an old 1970's cartoon about a mongoose).  She says when she grows up she wants to make movies like her daddy.

Evelyn is her little brothers best friend and confidant.  Whenever I scold Preston for something he always goes straight to Evelyn who is always there with open arms ready to make him happy again.  Evelyn is always great about including Preston in whatever it is they are doing and is a great friend to him.  Having them so close together has not been easy but watching them become so close makes it all worth it.

She has good rhythm and has a real ear for music.  She loves playing the kazoo and it's looking like she's going to be musically inclined like her dad.  She loves making indoor tents!  As I type she has two dinning room chairs tipped over covered by a blanket.  Her imagination is just starting to develop which has been fun to watch.  She is always pretending to be this or that and loves making up stories for the pictures she draws.  She loves playing with my iphone.  I'd go so far as to classify her as an addict.  She especially loves taking pictures with it.

She'd rather be barefoot than wear socks and always takes her shoes and socks off the second she can.  She, like me, loves eating leftovers for breakfast.  Our favorite of course being Grandpa's home-made mac and cheese.  And she has bumps on the back of her arms just like her dad, turns out it's hereditary!

And most of all I LOVE this girl SO much!  She is my sweet adorable Princess.  I love watching her learn and grow and I am so proud of my little girl.

I recently asked her some questions about herself:

Who's your best friend?  Eliza

Who's your boyfriend?  Brayden, silly... (that's exactly how she put it)

What's your favorite thing to do?  Play in my room and be messy

What's your favorite thing to do outside?  Ride bikes

What's your favorite food?  Chicken enchaladas

What's your favorite color?  Red

What's your favorite thing to draw?  A Bunny rabbit

What's your favorite cartoon?  Curious George

What's your favorite animal?  Elephants

What's your favorite place?  Eliza or Braydens house

What's your favorite book? Monkey with a Toolbelt

For her birthday this year we celebrated by making pancakes w/ chocolate chips AND whipped cream (her choice) for breakfast and then going to the movies with Brayden and Saydie to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  Afterwards we went to the store where she got to pick out her very own birthday cake and watch as they put her name on it.  Then we went to Chuck E. Cheese! Played some games and ate pizza.  We finished the night out with cake at Grandma and Grandpa Waite's house.  We also had a get together a few weeks earlier to celebrate both her and Joshua's birthdays at Grandma Nonnie's house.

Evelyn's birthday party

Jan. 27, 2010

Tennis Lesson

The kids had their first official tennis lesson with me.  First of many, I hope!  I tried to teach them tennis unfortunately Evelyn had almost NO interest in it at ALL... oh well, maybe next time.  Preston actually did alright for someone barely able to see over the net.  He insisted on using the adult sized racket instead of the kid one (on account of it being pink) so that threw him off just a little but even considering he did have pretty good form (for a 2 year old ;)!  I love this picture of him in mid- swing.  Not bad!

 And striking his first tennis pose!

Afterwards, for Evelyn's benefit, we spent a good amount of time at the park near the courts.  The park is always a BIG hit with them.  I LOVE their smiles!

Bridal Shows/ New Promo and Demo

Andy in his element

Work has been better than great!  Last month we participated in both of the bridal shows here in town and for the first time ever I actually got to attend and help out which was exciting to be a part of.  We've combined with some really reputable companies; Freestyle Entertainment, Flourishing Art & Artisan Photography to make up the "Premier Event Specialists ".  At the last show we all came together to make one giant booth which turned out looking really awesome!  Andy and Kim have also made a new demo and promotional video for the business.

Andy at our booth at the Weddings 2010 show at the Kern County Fair.


The NEW HDM Demo showcasing some of Andy's best work!

The new promotional video featuring Andy and Kim.

Finally a new post!

I couldn't resist taking this picture on one of our recent outings.  One of these days these things are going to be obsolete so I figure I should have a picture of it before they do.

During that same trip we ate icecream sundays and tried on baseball helmets at Walmart for no reason at all.

Nichole recently showed me the basics of putting on make-up.  I know, I know.  Don't bother reading that over.  What you read IS true.  I, Amber, 25 year old who has only worn make-up 5 times in her entire life, who in Young Women's always got picked as the Mary K model has finally decided to wear make-up.  I figure it's about time. Turns out I'm a "natural buff", I think.  Other than that I'm still a little clueless but not quite so much now thanks to big sis.  Now Andy can actually get that close-up shot of me and I won't be quite so self conscious.  I'm starting with the basics.  I've bought some cream cleanser at the store and have been washing my face everyday for about a week and I love it!

Here's me with foundation and powder.  Put it on myself!  I also couldn't resist getting a picture with my niece Lilly.  She is just the cutest little thing.  I can't believe my sister's moving and taking this adorably sweet baby away from me.  I figured I'd better get a picture while this beautiful girl is still teeny tiny.

On the way home from Nicholes's I just couldn't resist.  There was a game going on at Bakersfield Christian so out of curiosity I drove by and it was none other than Girls Soccer!  As most of you know I played soccer all growing up and then through High School and absolutely adore it.  So I dragged the kids out of the car and made them watch the last 15 minutes or so with me.  It was pretty fun.  The kids had no idea what was going on so I got to explain to them what was going on and what each player was doing.  I'm sure everyone around us was a little confused as to what team we were rooting for since Evelyn and Preston were just randomly shouting "Go Team".  The kids ended up really liking the bleachers so we did our share of seat switching and ended up on the very top bench.

On the way back to the car the kids and I had a little fun with shadows thanks to the stadium lights.  We spent a good amout of time pretending to be giants and stepping on each others shadows.  Kids have quite the imagination.  It is so great having kids and getting even a small glimpse of their creativity.

A few other things have happened.  Here's a short list of blogs to look forward to.

Christmas Around the World 

Visit from Santa

Christmas Day

New Year trip to Monterey Bay

Bridal Shows/ New Promo and Demo
Tennis Lesson 

Preston's Dr.'s Appointment/ Update

Evelyn's Birthday!

God made dirt...

Yesterday we did something a little different.  I had the daunting task of tending to some out-of-control weeds.  I ran across a few worms and it was all downhill from there.  Kids digging in dirt, naming of worms, wearing worms as bracelets, etc.  Don't worry, none of the worms were harmed in the making of this blog... Just a bit of good dirty fun is all.  Evelyn was surprisingly brave in handling the worms.  She had absolutely NO fear of them at all.  Preston was pretty great too, right up until the worm decided to move.  After that he decided he preferred just looking at them.

Fitzgerald Christmas 2009

This year the Fitzgerald side of the family had an early Christmas to accommodate for people being out of town and such (ahem... Nichole).  We gathered on December 13th at my mom and dad's home in Tehachapi and enjoyed a wonderful day together filled with enjoyable company and delicious food.  My contribution to the feasting was this pecan pie which turned out surprisingly good! 

We exchanged gifts and received some really great stuff!  Unfortunately from me my family all got cherished IOU's because I completely forgot to bring their gifts.

Over the past few years it's become a family tradition for the kids to decorate a gingerbread house at Grandma & Grandpa's house.  They had a good time and managed to eat tons of candy.  Some of the kids were actually pretty studious about the decorating while others did nothing BUT eat candy.  The final result was less than perfect but the kids very much enjoyed making it.

All in all a good time was had by all!  I can't wait for our next family get together.