Evie Turns 3

Our darling Evie doll is officially three-years-old.  Wow!  Where does the time go?  She is seriously a ball of fun and a ray of light in our family.  She says the cutest things and wants to play all day long!  She is busy, inquisitive, athletic, kind, and full of life.

We celebrated her birthday with a quiet, little family birthday party this year.  I took her to pick out her birthday cake in the morning, which she was ecstatic to do.  She chose the one with carrots on it.  I tried to persuade her to pick something else that I thought she might like to eat better, but she was insistent on getting the cake with carrots on it.  (And, for the record, she loved eating this cake.  She's a girl after my own heart.)  I then took her to get a picnic lunch that we could eat at the park since the park is one of her most favorite places to play.

We had all sorts of fun playing at the park.  We climbed, went down the slides, and did plenty of rolling down the hill.

Here she is rolling down the hill.  She LOVES it!

Later that night we took her to dinner at one of her most favorite places.  She chose the place and her grandmas and grandpas joined us.  Evie was thrilled.

Have you ever met a three-year-old who had a
Thai restaurant as her favorite restaurant?

We then hurried home to open all of her gifts.  She was completely spoiled.  So many people love this girl!

She got a big barn, animals to go in the barn, a new umbrella, a fishing pole,  clothes, a doctor kit, money for her education fund, a new pair of cowgirl boots, a Squirrel game, puzzles, play dough, markers, and kinetic sand.

She loved it when we sang, "Happy Birthday" to her.  And, she loved blowing out her candles.

We love having this beautiful girl in our family.

We spent the rest of the evening playing with all her new toys.  She was in heaven.

She loved playing with her new fishing pole with her dad.

We let her stay up way too late, but isn't that okay when it's her birthday?

Her new barn and animals.  She is loving this new toy!

I must share what Evie is up to now.  It is totally impossible to share EVERYTHING that a busy, busy three-year-old girl does and likes, but these are the things that come quickest to my mind.

• She loves shave ice.  If she could, she would get one EVERY day.  Her favorite flavor is "Blue Hawaii" and she calls it her "blue ice cream."  
• Among shave ice, her current favorite foods include rice with Masaman Curry (found at the Thai place), hot dogs and corn dogs, corn chips and salsa/dip,  popsicles, applesauce, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, and cucumbers.
• She knows all her shapes and recognizes them wherever we go . . . especially in road signs.  She'll constantly point out the red octagons (stop signs) and yellow triangles.
• She is extremely curious and inquisitive.  She wants to know why things are the way they are and what things and people are doing.  She is so bright and soaks it all in.
• She recently potty trained and did a great job learning.  She caught on very quickly.  
• She constantly gives us hugs and while hugging us she'll say, "I love you, mom/dad."  Yes, it's a heart melter every time!
• She is very flexible, active, and athletic.  She is a great climber, she loves to jump on trampolines, and she can run forever!  She loves to "exercise" with me.  If I am running on the treadmill, she'll want to take "her turn" as soon as I'm done.  She loves to play with basketballs and footballs.  She also loves to watch basketball and football with her dad.  She constantly asks her daddy if he'll take her to a basketball game.  Now that the basketball season is over, Beau is telling her that he'll take her to a soccer game.  Fun!
• She continues to love animals, but right now kitty cats are her most favorite!  She LOVES our barn cats (Thelma and Louise).  She also loves to pretend to be a cat, and she constantly takes her stuffed animal cat with her places.

• She loves to take Codee for walks.  She will do just about anything to earn the chance to walk Codee around the block.  She loves that dog!
• She prefers her daddy to put her to bed.  After we say prayers and read scriptures, he'll stay and cuddle with her and sing songs with her.  It's so tender and cute.
• She constantly wants to go up to the mountain . . . she'll want to go to the mountain to climb, look for big bucks, build fires, sleep in tents, look for Christmas trees, and whatever else comes to her bright mind.
• She loves to dance and loves music.
• She is way into imaginative play.  We "play" every day doing something.  She directs the play (telling me what to do or who I am) and it's so fun to watch her mind work.
• She absolutely LOVES her little sister, Adeline.  She loves to hold her.  She "baby talks" to her, rubs her head, gives her kisses, helps to get her pacifiers, is always concerned if she's crying, and always wants her to come with us wherever we go.

• Her favorite movies right now include, "Rio" which she calls, "Blue Birds," "Curious George," "Annie" which she calls, "Sandy" for the dog, "Madegascar" which she calls, "Alex the Lion," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Lady and the Tramp" which she calls, "Mister and the Lady."
• She is kind.  She is always concerned for the sad or the hurt.  She also loves the "underdogs."
• She can count to 20 (sometimes missing a couple of the teen numbers).  She can also count backwards from 10.
• She still knows her alphabet.  She knows the letters, the songs, the sounds of each letter, etc.  One of her favorite apps she loves to play on the iPad is "Hooked On Phonics."  We are lucky that she is so interested in this aspect of learning.  

• She loves anything that allows her to be creative/artsy.  She loves play dough, painting, drawing, coloring, using markers, etc.
• She still loves to read books.  
• She is fascinated with bugs.  She loves to look for ants and ladybugs, but most other bugs "scare" her . . . although she wants to see them and is completely fascinated by them . . . so long as they don't move or fly.  If they do, she can lose it a little.
• She would probably love to play at the park above just about anything else. Although, she does love to go swimming and she loves to ride the train.
• The first 2 1/2 years of Evie's life we hardly ever took to her the doctor, except for wellness visits.  I think we took her to the doctor twice for minor ear infections.  However, the last half year has been a COMPLETELY other story.  She has been to the doctor for stitches under her eye (which we ended up gluing instead of stitching), for a sprained wrist, and for a kidney infection.  She also had the flu and RSV of which we didn't officially take her to the doctor because there was nothing they could do for her for either virus (but we did call the doctor/nurse to talk to them about her symptoms and how to treat them).  
• Because of her various doctor visits, she actually has grown quite fond of the doctor (I'm sure the fancy bandaids, suckers, and stickers helped).  She loves to play doctor too.
• She is so independent and wants to do anything and everything on her own. 
• She has really captured the spirit of holidays.  She gets sooo excited for a holiday, birthday, or other celebration.  It's so much fun!
• She loves the weather.  Every day we determine if it's a snowy, rainy, windy, or sunny day.  Along with that, she LOVES umbrellas.  

• She has fantastic speech.  She talks so well and has such a broad vocabulary for a three-year-old. She talks as well as most four-year-olds.  And trust me . . . she talks a lot and I LOVE it!
• Her hair!  It took a while to grow in, but now that it's really coming in, it is soooo beautiful.  We can't go anywhere and not have people comment on her darling curls.  
• She makes friends easily.  She is always sad if we go to the park and there aren't other kids.  When there are other kids, she loves to make friends with them and wants to play with them.

This girl seriously makes my heart swell with love.  She is my Evie Doll who will forever be my Evie Doll.  It's such a delight to watch her grow.  I am completely honored and blessed to be her mommy.