Well, she turned eight! And I officially feel OLD!
We celebrated and enjoyed our little girl all throughout the week. I think she knows she is tops in our book! Happy Eighth Birthday to our dearest Evelyn Mae!
An excerpt from her journal follows:
Favorite Things: You LOVE music! You love to listen to new songs, download
them onto your playlist, sing them, dance to them… you are currently in a hip hop dance class and that
is a favorite for sure! You play
the piano and adore learning new pieces and playing for people.
You also love soccer and played on the
4S league this past fall. I was
proud of you for volunteering to be goalie… you did a fantastic job in this position and made your team
proud. You love trying new things
and take pride in your adventurous nature. You are always eager to try a new sport, or class and you
constantly watch youtube videos to figure out everything from drawing Disney
princesses, to folding an origami bird!
And speaking of drawing, art is definitely a great love of yours. You spend hours coloring and drawing
and attended an art class last fall that was the highlight of your week.
You love to perform round offs, cartwheels, back
bends… gymnastics is very important to
you. At the beginning of the
school year you begged to take a gymnastics class and we made a deal that if
you practiced your piano consistently, I’d enroll you in gymnastics
lessons. You’ve officially held up
your end of the bargain and soon will be enrolled at our local gym.
Your favorite song is Taylor Swift “we are never
getting back together.” Favorite color is green. Your teacher is Mrs. Clark whom you adore. Your favorite subject in school is
reading… you love LOVE to read. Favorite food is baked ziti, and
spaghetti. Favorite treat is a Hershey bar. Favorite movie is Brave. You want to be a gymnist, an
artist, or a writer when you grow up.
Ways you’ve Grown: Evelyn, you grow more beautiful each day. You continue to have such a darling
peaches and cream complexion to compliment your light red hair color. Though you are a bit on the small side
for your age, your personality more than makes up for it! In fact, I don’t
think anyone could describe your feisty personality as anything other than
big! You have always given Dad and
I a run for our money…and that hasn’t changed
this year. You challenge us and
help us grow as parents…heaven help us
when you are a teen!! That being said, we are so proud of your leadership
skills, and your helpful nature when it comes to your siblings. You are a second mother to Anna and
Grant and you love them to pieces! You and Dane have your moments of
contention, but have a dear relationship and are good friends most of the
time. This year we’ve witnessed
you become much more responsible when it comes to school work and piano practice. You started off
needing a lot of help, but now have it down and can wrap it all up in a hurry
if need be. You mature more and
more each day! Your testimony is strong, even at such a young age. You are grateful for church and the
gospel. You are eager to get
baptized and are diligent in your study of the articles of faith. You love to sing primary songs. We are so grateful for your strong
desire to choose the right!
Memories/Stories: One of my favorite stories of you this year has to be
this: I was upset because I had
asked you and Dane to help clean up the house with me, to no avail. I went upstairs and then returned to
find you outside cleaning up the backyard and hosing down the patio. You said
very matter of factly… “mom, I was
going to wait until I turned eight to start helping out, but I guess I can
start now!” It was so funny. You are constantly making us laugh with
your quirky and darling sense of humor.
You love to laugh and you love to tell jokes (and tease, just like your
mother!) It was cute, just today
we were talking about a friend of yours whose Dad can sing really well. You said, “it’s no fair that ___’s Dad
is such a good singer. I wish our
Dad knew how to sing. But…. our Dad is in magazines… so that’s something!” You were referring to a few ads that Dad has for his orthodontic
practice in our local 92128 magazine!
Evelyn..
you are such a social child and you always have been! But just this year, you have become aware of what others
think about what it is you are saying or doing. For instance, you had decided at the beginning of October to
be Merida from Brave….and you were dead
set on this. But then came home
one night proclaiming that to dress as a princess would be too babyish. You begged and pleaded for a new
costume… and after saving up for a few
weeks, went out and bought a new costume in an entirely different direction. It surprised me! Also, you told me the other day that I
shouldn’t “sing” as we were entering the school yard. I asked why and you said because it was embarrassing! You really are growing up fast! It’s sad for me, but at the same time,
I’m excited to see the awesome young lady you are becoming. I can only imagine what your life has
in store for you. One thing’s for
certain… it will be anything but
dull!!!
