Miss L's Special Day

An 8th birthday is a pretty important one if you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. At age 8 is when you are able to be baptized. Miss L chose to be baptized 2 days after her 8th birthday. Since we were home visiting family for the holidays, we had the baptism in Visalia instead of Phoenix. It worked out nicely to have it with so many family members.

Liberty had the program planned for months. She knew exactly which family member she wanted to play each part. And she was sure to ask each person specifically if they would be willing to participate. She was so cute about the whole thing.

When the day arrived, she was excited and nervous. The building was FREEZING because the heat wasn't turned on. We also started a little late, giving just enough time for the warm water to turn cold. Poor Miss L! Even though she was freezing (I tried to blow-dry her warm after she got dressed), she still had an amazing experience. When I asked her about it she said, "I had to try really hard not to cry two times because I felt so good inside." When I told her it was okay to cry she said, "I know mom---but it's embarrassing." :D

After the baptism and confirmation, we had cupcakes for all of the guests. They were a huge hit with the kids.

I am so proud of Miss L's choice to be baptized. I can see such a difference in her already. She received new scriptures and has been reading them every day. And last Sunday she chose to fast (it was her idea and she even had a specific purpose in mind). She is such a good example to her younger sisters and to me!!!! I love her so much!!!!

Catch up

I have gotten so behind on blogging---that I purposely avoid it now. It's so overwhelming to think of all the posts I need to make--Cambria's Birthday, Halloween, Dance class, Lost teeth, Thanksgiving, Disneyland, and everything else in between. But I am going to try....

Here is everything---in reverse order. :/

Thanksgiving/Disneyland

This year we hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. G's parents and youngest sister drove out to AZ. It was so much fun to have them here. We baked, played at the park, went to the train museum, read lots of books, saw the Mesa Temple lights, visited Great Grandma Roper, and just had fun being together!!! Unfortunately we only took three---YES, THREE--pictures and they all turned out terrible. :(

After Thanksgiving, G's parents took us to Disneyland. We met up with G's sister and her 2 kids. It was my girls' first time and we had a blast. Miss L and Miss A rode EVERY ride they could, and Miss R was pretty much scared of EVERY ride she went on. Miss C did a great job, even with missed naps.

By far my favorite thing was seeing Disneyland decorated for Christmas. They changed It's a Small World to Christmas music. The parade was awesome. And the fireworks were amazingly choreographed to the music. We also visited California Adventure Park for the first time. It was so fun to spend time together and see the excitement on the girls' faces. It was totally worth all of the sleepless nights and the miles of walking.

(These two cousins were adorable together). :D

THANK YOU G&G Roper!!!

All I Want for Christmas is my Front Tooth

Miss A lost her first tooth!!!!!

Dance

Can you believe we have 4 girls and we've never put them in dance class??? It has always been too expensive. But Arizona dance is much more affordable than CA, and my girls BEGGED to join. So Miss L, Miss A, and Miss R have been going to dance for the last 3 months. Here are some pictures I took during "Parent Observation Day." Some of these make me laugh. I HATED dance class, and I can see some similar feelings taking root.

P.S. Can you guess who is BEGGING to quit now?

Happy Halloween

This year we found an awesome pumpkin patch. It had everything--train ride, bounce house, corn box, petting zoo, slides, a place to feed animals, and of course...pumpkins.

Miss L wanted to have a "grown-up" costume---she was a witch. Miss A chose to be a bee because her teacher is Miss B (and the kids are called her busy-bees). Miss R was a cat. And Miss C was going to be a bunny---but the girls lost part of her costume while playing with it. :/ She ended up going as Fancy Nancy---and she was adorable.

We took all four girls out for a little while, and then G took the younger ones home while I took the older girls out for some more candy. When they got home, they made their piles of loot, traded for their favorites, and then gave over 200 pieces to the Great Pumpkin (The Great Pumpkin really likes candy. My kids leave him some and he leaves them a present).

In the morning the girls were excited to find that the Great Pumpkin left them a very generous gift---a trampoline. I think it's safe to say this is the most extravagant gift the Great Pumpkin will ever bring. :D

Miss C's Birthday

Yes--I am 2 months behind! Miss C turned 2 quite a while ago. She had a great birthday weekend. It started out with a carnival put on by our HOA. They had all sorts of games and bounce houses. Here is Miss C enjoying her very own snow cone (it was 100 degrees outside in mid-October).

The next day we had some special visitors (purely coincidental that they were in town on her birthday) and it made it extra fun. G's brother and his family came from Denver and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins.

We opened presents and ate cupcakes.

Miss C is a classic 2 year old---everything is "MINE," she tantrums often, she screams "NO!" and your heart melts when she says, "I wuv oo." I absolutely LOVE this picture below. She is actually pretending to pout--but she does plenty of the real pouting as well. :D

Happy belated birthday Miss C! You are truly a sweetheart and we love you so much!