Eliza's Seventh Birthday

Eliza was so excited to turn SEVEN this year!  She's pretty much officially all grown up now.

Eliza made a few requests for her birthday, but mostly she just wanted to be surprised.  I made some attempts to drum up a surprise party but was unsuccessful, so there were just some other small surprises for her throughout the day.

Surprise!  Cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

Surprise!  Mom packed lunch.  (The kids are usually responsible for their own lunches.)

Ms. O: It's Eliza's birthday!  Shes turning 107!
Class: NO!!
Ms. O: Okay.  She's turning 7.

Surprise!  Early release Fridays mean time for a friend to come over for a play date.
Bonus Surprise!  Mom finally got E some of her own make-up and let her open it
while her friend was at the house so they could do makeovers.
(Eliza was really confused at first because she got the make-up removing wipes out
before the make-up.  "You got me wipes?" Haha.  She's not allowed to wear the
make-up out of the house, so the wipes were essential.)

Surprise!  A family fun evening at the local nickel arcade,
then burgers and shakes at Culver's.

Surprise!  Fun decorations.

Surprise!  Trolls headbands.  Notice Jack is doing his best Branch impression.
(Cat helped me make them that afternoon.  Tutorial here.)

Surprise!  Trolls cupcakes.
(Printable here.)
Luke had a serious aversion to the troll headband we made him.

Surprise!  So many fun and thoughtful family members.

One of Eliza's gifts was the DVD of the movie "Trolls," in keeping with the loose theme of the evening, but by the time we were finished with all of the other festivities it was too late to start the movie, haha.  So the fun continued the next day.

It was a good day for Eliza and all of us as we celebrated this special girl.  We sure enjoy her little-girliness.  She's so fun and spunky, individual and confident.  She's smart and creative and loves to have fun with her family and her friends.  Hooray for our 7-year-old!

More From Opa's Funeral Weekend

What a sweet picture for the cover of Opa's program.
He and Eliza did have a special bond.  I happened to snap this picture
of the two of them walking together after O&O took us out for
lunch when they were passing through town one day.  Eliza was 2.

An elderly neighbor who actually lived in the same ward as Oma and Opa
when they were all in the "young married" phase sent me this sweet card
and enclosed two copies of Opa's obituary.

This is the funniest (fittingly) obituary I've ever read.
Kudos to Jamie, Reed, and James for capturing Opa's life and personality so well.

My aunt Jen sent me a bunch of pictures from the weekend shortly

after I published my first post.  Here are just a few:

Working on the obituary and other funeral-related items.

Planning out the picture display.

The children getting ready to sing "I Am a Child of God" during the funeral,
accompanied by Cat.

Oma grabbed Eliza's hand as she was exiting the chapel
and the two stayed together as Oma walked out.

Oma then invited Eliza to ride in the fancy car with her.
Here you also see Andy giving my Great Uncle Jerry a hug.
Jerry is Opa's younger brother and they were the best of friends.

Valentine's Day 2017

Here are a few fun things we did for Valentine's Day this year.

The kids decorated their Valentine's Boxes while I was at Choir
on the Sunday morning before V-Day.  Cat's was the most involved
and she continued to work on hers to get it ready for school that Tuesday.

That Sunday afternoon, I helped the big kids make Valentines.  We didn't have
a plan or pattern or anything, just 3x5 index cards, markers, stamps, candy,
and some decorative tape.  It was fun to see what they came up with.

That evening, cousins came over for our traditional fondue dinner and dancing.
I didn't take any pictures during dinner, but got a few of the dancing.  It was so fun!

I had a rehearsal in SLC the night of V-Day so we made a big deal
out of breakfast instead of dinner.

I made pink (kind of) heart-shaped waffles and Cat decorated them
with whipped cream and strawberries.

Ben also helped out with heart-shaped bacon.

And after that very healthy breakfast, we took the kids to school to get more
sugar from all of their friends.

Eliza came home with more than just candy, though.  Two different boys had given her special gifts.  One gave her a hair bow and one gave her a plastic heart ring.  I asked if the boys had given all of the girls these items, and she said, no.  She was the only one.  (But apparently a different boy had given another girl a special present.)

And so it begins.

Cat's First Traveling Soccer Tournament

Last month Cat's soccer team traveled to Mesquite, NV for their first traveling soccer tournament.  This is a big tournament that attracts good teams from all over the Southwest, as the winners from this tournament get the opportunity to play at a National tournament.

Cat was really excited about the whole thing: traveling with the team and having extra time with her teammates, playing soccer games again after the winter break, and even missing a day of school (which she usually complains about).  The coach planned it out very well, even organizing a fun shooting excursion and setting aside time in the schedule for the girls to watch film from the first two games so they could evaluate their performance.

The games went well.  Everyone was definitely rusty, but considering the fact that they hadn't played on a field in months, and that they were playing teams who are in higher competition levels than they are, they did great.  They tied the first game, with Cat scoring one of the two goals.  And they lost both of the next games, being shut out by both teams but managing to lose by only one goal in the second game and three goals in the third game.  (Hats off to Bekah, the goalie, who did a fantastic job!)

I was impressed that I didn't hear any whining, complaining, or anything else negative from the girls on our team.  They worked hard and learned a lot.  And I think they all had some fun too.

Playing Pioneers

Last Sunday's activity...

(We don't have much of a yard, but thank goodness for that tree and those hammocks!)

Eliza's Show What You Know Songs

I was looking through the school's Facebook feed yesterday and found some great pictures AND videos to share.  This is where I got the video for Cat's song that I posted yesterday, and I also saw some videos of Eliza and her fellow first graders singing for Show What You Know during a Friday Morning Meeting.  And, bonus for me, this was one that I didn't attend because I was in Washington, D.C., so it was cool that I got to see them, and that Eliza is clearly visible most of the time.  Also, it happened to be Disney Character Day...

Dance! Dance! Dance!

Every year the 6th graders at our school perform a dance for National School Choice Week.  Below is the performance from last month.  Cat can be seen on the top row, toward the left of the screen, in a pinkish top.

Cat practiced her dance at home as well as at school, so that the other kids were almost as psyched about the performance as she was.  And when her performance was over, Jack and Eliza decided to put on a performance of their own.