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