With Sophie’s birthday weekend filled with her baptism and Grandparents visiting, we decided to skip the birthday party this year and keep things low key.

On the day of her birthday she didn’t get to enjoy her balloon and streamer filled room for long before she had to get ready for her baptism.

After her baptism we enjoyed a special white cake in honor of her 8th birthday and she opened many presents.

The following weekend, I decided to take Sophie on a special lunch date to the American Girl Doll Cafe. She loved every minute of it! Well, except when they sang Happy Birthday to her in front of everyone.  That was a tad embarrassing, but it was a small part of the entire experience.

It was nice to enjoy the rare moment where Sophie and I could sit quietly together, undisturbed.  At the Cafe they also have conversation starter questions that provided lots for us to talk about. One of the questions asked to describe yourself with one word adjectives. Sophie chose the words: strong, healthy, helpful, happy, flexible, friendly, stage-fright, and caring.  I couldn’t agree more! She’s certainly a sweet girl and I feel lucky that she is part of our family.

Happy Birthday to my (not-so-little) girl!

Sophie turned 8 this year, which means she was able to be baptized.  It was a special occasion and we were happy that Grandma Sue, Grandpa Bob, Grandma Cindy, and Grandpa Jeff could come share the experience with us.

Traditionally, Sophie has had bad luck with weather on her birthday.  In Michigan that was to be expected for a January birthday, but in Virginia we didn’t think it would be an issue. But low and behold, the night before Sophie’s baptism a light dusting of snow came down.  In Virginia, even a light dusting can be a big deal. Luckily the only problem the snow caused was that the member of the Bishopric scheduled to conduct was stuck in his driveway and couldn’t make it.  That was an easy fix, we chose someone else to conduct the meeting.

It was a beautiful and simple program.  Sophie chose her piano teacher to help with music, her primary teacher from last year to talk about baptism, her friend’s mom (and my friend) to talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and she asked a young woman that babysits for us to play a special musical number.  She also chose “I’m Trying to be like Jesus” as the opening song and “I am a Child of God” for the closing song.

We are very proud of Sophie’s decision to be baptized and look forward to watching her continued growth in the gospel.

Highlights from 2011:

January – Sophie turns 7 yrs. old and continues to lose teeth by the minute.

February – We kept ourselves busy indoors with baking and building things.  Justin turned a year older. Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bob came for a visit too.

 

March – Archie begins developing his talents as a troublemaker.

April – We have a final memorial service for my mom and spread her ashes at my brother’s house.  All the grandchildren let go of balloons in honor of grandma.

May – Truman proudly participates in the May Day Festivities at his preschool as the flag holder. Deanne enters her first 5K and is happy to have the family cheer her on from the sidelines.

June – We take a family vacation to Vermont, making a few fun stops along the way. The drive home was not as expected – no stops, just a straight shot because of a certain screaming baby in the car.  Stopping in Hershey, PA will just have to wait until August…

July – Archer turns one and Justin gets LASIKS surgery.  Hooray!

August – Truman turns 6 yrs. old and learns how to ride his bike, with Grandma Sue’s help.  We also make a weekend trip to Hershey Park, since our last vacation was cut short (see June).

September – School starts!  Truman is excited (and a little nervous) to be in Kindergarten at the same school as Sophie. An added bonus, Uncle Dave came to visit later in the month and Dee gets LASIKS surgery!

October – Justin has a conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan so we all head back to Michigan/Ohio for a visit with family. Dee turns one year older.

November – Leaves everywhere!  The kids can’t get enough of raking and playing in the leaves.

December – Grandma Kathy came for a visit and an early Christmas. Dee took a trip back to Michigan for a “girls’ weekend” and decided it should be a annual event.
We celebrated the holidays at home with NO TRAVEL for the first time ever.  It was marvelous.

Happy New Year!