It's great to be 8!

Eris’ Baptism Day
Sep 3, 2011

I remember that the water was warm. Especially I had a nice feeling in my heart. My pants were really baggy so it felt kind of strange in the water. The towel that the primary gave me was really warm when I got out. “It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!” (from the movie Despicable Me). I liked having my dad by my side. It was nice having my family there to support me. Most of the kids sitting in the front were from my family and it was awesome! It was cool that my hair dried pretty fast. Some of my family asked me how it dried so fast. Good thing we brought a hairdryer! It was fun having the party at my house. I got a lot of cute stuff that I love. It was a yummy dinner that night. My favorite part of dinner was having my family with me making me feel like I already ate (“full” of love).

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING ME, FAMILY!

From,
Eris

P.S: Everybody, you are looking good!
P.P.S: It’s great to be 8 peoples!

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Suessical the Musical

We were so lucky to have so many family members come to Eris' play. She did a fantastic job and is discovering that she really has a knack for theater. We loved for her to participate and look forward to other productions in the future!

Fun with Reading Week

Shayla had a special reading week at her preschool where she got to spend time reading in different places; on a blanket outside, in the bathtub, upside down... Us girls had a great time doing it and Shayla even earned a little surprise at the end of the week for her hard work.

Eris, Future Photographer

Eris got a camera for her birthday last year and has recently been playing around with it. It's pretty amazing some of the shots she has been able to get. She loves to take landscape shots and even poses the kids for pics. I can see a talent and passion in her for photography already!

Eris in Uniform

Eris is just like her dad lately in that she gets to wear her own special uniforms to school. She looks so cute and also quite professional. She is learning so much in her new school and really enjoying it. She just got 100% on her test on the War of 1812 and the Constitution. She memorized the entire preamble and is learning many interesting facts in her science and history class. We are so proud of her!

Gymnastics Show

The girls participated in a gymnastics program during the holidays and both did a fantastic job and looked beautiful! They are both improving so much and seem to love every minute of their classes. Eris is doing well in her intermediate class and learning how to perfect her cartwheels, bar, beam work & trampoline and is extremely close on her splits and roundoffs. She is learning the beginning steps of a front tuck. She can also reach the top of the 30 ft rope and touch the ceiling. Shayla is exceeding her coach's expecations in her preschool class. She too can climb to the top of the rope which has been unheard of in her coaches 8 years experience and can also flip herself onto the bar without any help. She does fantastic somersaults, great straight, pike, tuck jumps and balances very well on the beam. Great job girls!

Piles of Leaves

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree."

-Emily Bronte

"I still get wildly enthusiastic about things... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind."

-Leo F. Buscaglia

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

-Robert Brault

Eris & Gavin enjoyed building a huge pile of leaves together with the help of daddy and a friend at the park. Of course after the pile reached above their heads, they buried themselves in it, jumping and playing in the mess. Oh the simple pleasures of life!

Spa Day with Auntie Whi!

Auntie Whitney came over to give the girls a spa day. Not only did she paint their fingernails and toenails in beautiful shades of pink, red and blue but also designed them with fun decals of stripes, presents, ladybug spots and sparkles.

Fun with Dress-up

Grandma Sharon set up a dress-up room for the girls to play in; complete with dresses, jewelry, shoes, wigs, and the mirrored dresser from her childhood. The kids loved to adorn themselves in all of the pretty outfits, smile in front of the 3-way mirror and strike a pose for pictures!

Eris, the Gymnast

Recently Eris has advanced to the intermediate class in gymnastics and although she is nervous with the bars, she is improving in leaps and bounds. She has amazing jumps across the trampoline, great balance work on the beam, perfect jump tuck somersaults across the floor and can climb to the very top of the rope and even touch the ceiling! She is working hard on the bars and improving her cartwheels. She hopes to be part of the gymnastics team within the next couple of years. Way to go Eris!

Drama Queens

Shayla loves to play mom! When she plays pretend, she is usually the mom and gives the rest of us a part to play. In this picture Eris was the baby and mama Shayla was taking care of her. It's so fun to see their little imaginations come to life as they immerse themselves in different roles. Both of the girls are quite the little drama queens. Afterwards, Eris played dance teacher to Shayla. Shayla has recently postponed dance lessons to focus on gymnastics but she still loves to learn new moves and especially loves to rock out and make up her own.

Happy Halloween!

We were able to decorate the pumpkins from grandma Sharon and grandpa Neily a few days before Halloween. Spencer used his skills to complete a Sleeping Beauty princess for Shayla and a skull for Eris. For Halloween Eve I took the kids to the city Trunk or Treat. It was a crazy line this year that wound all the way around the city buildings. It was probably a 45 minute wait for a dozen or so cars but it was still fun. Then we went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood and the kids were more than thrilled with their buckets half-full of candy! Halloween is exhausting but as long as the kids are happy, I am thrilled!

Pumpkin Run

Eris participated in the VVES yearly tradition "Pumpkin Run." The first kids to cross the finish line in each grade get to choose a pumpkin to take home. She has been more pumped this year but although she ran her little heart out, she didn't win a pumpkin. She was still beaming with joy though when she saw that we were all there chearing her on and that she did such a great job! She is in the center of the photo wearing a black sweater and gray pants.

1 Down, 1 to Go

Eris has been wiggling her two front teeth for the past couple of months and finally yanked one out herself last night. The other one is getting very loose so its possible she might relate this year when she sings "All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth".

Nevada Welcome Center

I got to go on a field trip with Eris and her class to the Nevada Welcome Center here in Mesquite. We walked over there and learned all about our state in preparation for Nevada Day coming up this Friday. It was the first time I was able to go on a field trip with her and it was lots of fun walking hand in hand, spending time with her in a school setting. Thanks for letting me tag along ErBear!

Eris in "Treasure Island"

Eris did a fantastic job as a seagull in the Missoula Children's Theatre production of "Treasure Island". It was amazing that the entire show was put together in 5 days. She sang and flapped around the stage in her cute little seagull outfit. Unfortunately my camera battery died just before I was allowed to take pictures so I am in wait of some taken by friends. But for now, here she is in her cute make-up from the show. For more information on the traveling theatre visit www.mctinc.org or www.facebook.com/missoulachildrenstheatre.

Straight "A" Students!

I recently received Eris' progress report and was pleased to see that she has straight A's in all subjects. Her favorite subjects right now are art, math and reading but she all around LOVES school! Spencer just finished his first block of fall semester at UVU and also got A's in both of his classes. Great job!

Eris Snatched a Part

Eris tried out for the Missoula Traveling Theater production of "Treasure Island" today and she got a part as a seagull. There were almost 80 kids who tried out and they only gave out around 60 parts so we were all very proud of her! She did such a great job during the audition; speaking loud and clear, being animated and remembering all of the lines and steps they requested. The performances are this coming Saturday at 3:00 and 7:00 pm which means they are putting the entire show together this week. We are all really excited to see how it turns out!

Those Sneaky Little Suckers

One of Eris' favorite games is to be extra sneaky; she finds a great hiding spot and once I round a corner... "BOO!" she jumps out and scares the living daylights out of me. It has practically given me a heart attack a few times now and of course she thinks it's hilarious. The younger kids have now joined in on the fun and so they all try to jump out at each other while making scary faces. I have to admit it is quite funny to see when one of them jumps and then they all laugh afterwards. Fun times!

Laughing Fit

The kids got in a laughing fit last night. It took several minutes to calm everyone down but although it was bedtime, it was so fun for me to sit and laugh with them. One of my favorite sounds in the whole world is the laughter of children, especially when they are mine.