Fitzgerald's 2007 Thanksgiving

Sunday was a day full of Fun, Food & Family at the Fitzgerald's 2007 Thanksgiving. I had such a great time hanging out with all of my family.

Everyone made it to the party including a couple of extras. Thanks Uncle Danny & Aunt Lynn for joining us this year. My Grandma cooked a fantastic meal for everyone and others pitched in and made some great food too (including Lindsey's green bean casserole) YUM!

Evelyn made a new friend. My Grandma has had this doll for as long as I can remember (maybe even my entire life). Andy thinks he's scary but I love him.

The kids played in Grandma Nonnie's backyard. The cute little kid on the right is my cousin's son, Brody.

Joshua, Eliza, Brody & Evelyn

We tried to get the kids to hold hands but Evelyn wouldn't have it.

Evelyn & Joshua helping themselves to the leftovers.

We spent a good amount of time playing card games.

Evelyn and Eliza did a little card playing too.

Joshua was the first to fall asleep which to Evelyn meant he was fair game.

Preston & Grandma

Brother and Sister

You can't tell in the picture but they're both laughing at their daddy who's making funny faces at them.

This has become our morning routine & sadly probably Evelyn's favorite part of the day. We get up, eat breakfast & watch ONE episode of "street" (Sesame Street) before starting the day.

I've just started giving them baths together which they both actually get a kick out of. This is the two of them wrapped up in towels right after their bath.

A weeks worth of blogs in one

This past week I kept quite busy. Here are just a few of the highlights:

1. First of all I was privileged to attend the Officers Installation of the Order of the Eastern Star. Just FYI in cast you don't already know: the Order of the Eastern Star is a branch of the Freemasons. In some ways it's like the Relief Society of the LDS Church. In the Order there are 5 character building lessons that are taught through biblical inspired stories. The stories are of Adah, Ruth, Esther, Martha & Electa. At the Installation my Grandma was installed as Martha, Tiffany, my SIL, was appointed as Adah and my Grandpa was appointed as the Speaking Organist.

My mom and sister both came too so I got a good picture of all 5 of us.
From left to right it's Nichole, Grandma, Tiffany, Mom & Me

My Grandpa holding Preston

My Grandparents

My Little Brother Scott & his wife Tiffany

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2. For the first time in quite a while Andy and I went on a double date. We went to Uricho's with Nathalie and Richard. It was the first time EVER leaving Evelyn with a real babysitter (not counting close friends and family). We had a great time hanging out and even enjoyed a little peppermint icemilk from Dewar's to top it off.

3. After 2 weeks of wearing broken glasses and looking like a total nerd I FINALLY got my spiffy new glasses.

4. Nathalie, one of my best friends, is moving to Kentucky so we (Me, Jocelyn, Jane, Amber & Stephanie) had a Girls Night Out for her as our last little outing before she leaves next week. We went to BJ's and ate some very delicious food. The wait time was pretty long which normally is a bad thing but in this case it was great because it gave us plenty of time to talk about.... well... all the things girls talk about. Let's just say I learned a lot of interesting things at dinner. It was so much fun hanging out with everyone. I love girls night out! It's a ritual that should be done way more often. Nathalie is such a great friend and I'm sure going to miss her. On the plus side though Andy and I have always talked about traveling to the east coast so we're already planning our first trip out there to visit them.

5. Preston rolled over from front to back for the first time the other day and last night he actually slept through the night (well until 7 a.m.). I can't believe how fast he's growing up.


6. After several attempts and too many hours in the bathroom Evelyn has yet to go in the potty. I haven't given up though. I just know it's going to happen any day now.

Happy Birthday, Eliza!

I got to see my niece blow out the candles on her homemade birthday cake made by my very lovely and talented sister. My niece, Eliza, turned 2 on November 15th. Happy Birthday Sweetheart! Your Aunt Amber, Uncle Andy, Evelyn & Preston love you very much. We can't wait for your birthday party in a few weeks.

Eliza is such a cutie! She looks just like her momma did at her age. She is quite a character. As you can tell by the big cut under her eye she is a bit of a tomboy. With Joshua as a big brother though I'm sure that was unavoidable. She's also a little smarty pants. She's learning sign language and seems to know more and more words every time I see her. The way she says "Preston" is so sweet because she says it so clear. She is such a great cousin and friend to Evelyn and Preston and we all love her very much.

Potty Time!

I wasn't planning on potty training Evelyn for at least another six months but as with all kids she seems to have a mind of her own and she's decided she's ready to take the plunge. Of course I blame my sisters kids. It all started the other day when I watched my nieces and nephew for the day. My nephew is potty trained already and my niece who is only a few months older is already almost trained. Evelyn kept following her into the bathroom and somehow now thinks she's got it. I can't get her to keep her diaper on no matter how many layers of clothing I put on her and somehow she's already picked up the words pee pee, poo poo, potty, and my favorite, eew. Let's just say it's been fun. I've spent more time in the bathroom these last few days then I have probably in the last month. She keeps wanting to sit on the potty but then she just sits there. I figure if I can get her to go in the potty once then I can reward her and cheer her on but she still hasn't managed to go yet. I am totally not prepared for this but ready or not here it is. I've always heard that you will just know when your child is ready. I thought that was a joke but instead that YOU decide when they are ready but I guess I was wrong. Anyway, I went to wal-mart and bought her a potty chair. I'm crossing my fingers that she will like it and that it will work. I know a lot of the people reading my blog have already gone through this experience before so if anyone has any tips or suggestions please send them my way. I would love to hear what's worked for everyone and feel free to share any funny stories. It might make things a little more pleasant for me.

Movie cover lookalikes...OR not?

Apparently Andy and I have lookalikes. The other day Evelyn and I were hanging out in our movie room. I think I was playing a game or surfing the Internet or something and Evelyn was looking through our collection of movies. She happened to run across our wedding/engagement video and automatically picked us out as mommy and daddy. I was pretty impressed that she could recognize us from a photo that was taken almost 5 years ago. I clapped for her and told her she had done a good job finding mommy and daddy and she went right back to looking through the movies. At that point I was pretty confident that she knew what each of us looked like and could find us in other photos as well. A few minutes went by and she brought over the movie "Adventures in Babysitting" and identified me as the main character (I think her name is Elisabeth Shue). I laughed but didn't think too much about it until a few minutes went by and she brought over the movie "Billy Madison" and she kept saying daddy over and over pointing at Adam Sandler. So according to Evelyn these are our lookalikes. What do you think, is there ANY resemblance? Anyway, I got a kick out of it so I thought I'd share.