Zoe's baptism dress

I can't believe that Zoe is about to turn 8 years old this week! Her birthday is on Friday, and she could not be more excited. There are so many wonderful aspects to her birthday - she gets to bring treats to school, she gets to choose her own cake for her true birthday, and then another cake for her birthday party, because it's on the next week - actually on Matt's birthday, so they are "sharing their pool party". Matt says that his friends are going to stomp Zoe's friends in a game of water polo. She is allowed to get her ears pierced (amidst many many questions about how much it might or might not hurt). The most exciting part is that Zoe wants to be baptized, since she is turning 8 years old. Her baptism date is 2/21/15.

Zoe and I had big plans to go to the temple and take some pictures in her baptism dress. That didn't work out (because she was throwing a gigantic temper tantrum and we ran out of daylight, but never mind the little details) but we were able to take these beautiful pictures of her reading the scriptures. She was absolutely darling and beautiful.








This one is my favorite, though I love them all. She has a hard time keeping a straight face but this expression is perfect.




We all love our Zoe so much! And I'm so proud of her for choosing to be baptized next month.

Snowmen in our yard!

We don't often get enough snow here to make a real snowman. Not every year - last year we never really got any snow. But this year we actually got enough for a school delay, awesome. (Sometimes there is a school delay and we don't actually have any snow on the ground at our house, but this time it was a real honest snow delay WITH SNOW.)

Pierce and Zoe worked together on a snowman and a snow turtle.




So cute and happy.


Oh I love this guy.


Can you tell that this is a snow turtle? It's a little tricky for me but obvious to her.




Love this girl, always laughing.


And Mattie woke up at the regular time, because they posted the school delay super late, and she didn't go back to sleep because she was super excited to go out and make a snowman. How nice is this guy? She got all the snow off the car, I love it. Her snowman looks very professional.


I love this sweet girl so much!



They all got so soggy, but luckily it wasn't actually very cold out. They had to dry off some clothes but mostly it was warm enough to wear lighter weight coats anyway to school. By the time they got back home again all the snow was gone except the remnants of the snowmen, which lasted a couple of days.

Zoe's first real sewing project

This Christmas break, Zoe and I spent a lot of time together cleaning out her closet, playhouse, toy boxes, book shelves, and more. Her room needed it. A lot. But once we finished, we had such a great time playing with the things she found that she'd forgotten about! I mean, we found a ton of stuff :) - so many socks and clippies and headbands, for example. Anyway, once we had a little free time, she rediscovered this really cute little sewing kit, and she finished it up in one day!



So happy and proud of herself.


She and I had made the little bear a couple of years ago, but it was tricky for her and she pointed out that I had kind of made a lot of it for her. This larger bear is different! She did it all herself.




We loved how happy she was to finish this project herself. (I need a picture of the finished bear!) Great job, Zoe!

New Year's Tree

This year we tried something new! I read a great idea about a tradition that sounded like a lot of fun.The night before New Year's Eve, I took down the Christmas decorations and decorated a New Year's tree instead, with streamers, a little cash, and balloons with notes inside. Later on in the evening it was time to pop the balloons!



That long (sharp) stick is a balloon popper. (We switched to a safer stick pin after this.) Inside the balloons were notes that listed some accomplishments to celebrate for each of the kids.




It was fun to pop the balloons. It might have been even more fun if I'd remembered to buy larger balloons, because I wanted to put some change in each balloon too, but all I had were water balloons, and coins just wouldn't fit in there. But this was fun anyway.






She might not look too excited, but I think she did like remembering all the cool stuff that she (and the rest of us) did this year.








We may need to try this again next year!

Zoe:- passed her subtraction test, now learning multiplication

Pierce: learning algebra in 5th grade

Mattie: 2nd year of algebra in 8th grade

Mattie, Pierce, and Zoe: swimming at District meet in July

Mattie & Pierce: swimming at the City meet and improving their times so much

Pierce: two great seasons of soccer

Mattie: competing in the district spelling bee

Mattie: performing with the violin at church multiple times

Mattie: finished her violin book 2 and concert, and two other great recitals

Zoe: two great ballet recitals with Miss Nicole

Zoe: learning to play the guitar

Pierce: awesome pinewood derby car, made by himself, and race

Mattie, Pierce and Zoe: interesting and well-done inquiries

Mattie, Pierce and Zoe: parent teacher conferences that left us very proud of your work and effort

Mattie: standing up for yourself while refereeing a game with obnoxious parents

Zoe: having grit and playing soccer even when a little hurt

Pierce: performing in a puppet show and even singing a solo

Mattie: performing beautifully and confidently in a puppet show

Zoe: great performance as Utility in her class play

All of us: traveling across the world to Australia!

Mattie: being dependable and kind as Beehive Class president

Pierce: receiving all the best scout awards: webelos and arrow of light

Mattie: her first away from home summer camp

Pierce and Zoe: keeping the sabbath holy even when it was difficult