My Lulu is 10!

Lulu,

You are 10!! This year your birthday fell on Superbowl Sunday! You knew just wanted you wanted to eat on the special day: artichoke pizza and pretzel bites. You also knew what family activity you wanted to do the next day: swimming and then eating at Taco Bell!
The Friday before your birthday I came to your class to show pictures of you and I had you pull things out of a bag to tell your friends what things you love. You pulled out a globe because you love to travel, a painting you made, little dance shoes, a cookbook, a piano book, Harry Potter, and swim goggles. We also handed out fruit snacks!:

Here are some of my favorite pictures of you growing up that I gathered to show your class:

The cute pictures of you when you were a baby seem so far away and yet close at the same time. I have forgotten a lot of the details of that life but there are very clear memories too! It is sentimental to know that I will never get little Lulu back and I hope that I did my best to make her happy and to feel loved. It's always good for me to look back at pictures because it reminds me all over again that I want to really enjoy this time with you right now as it is so fleeting!
Sunday Birthday morning came and you chose waffles with sprinkles for breakfast:

Then we had Gramma and Grandpa over after church.

We opened presents and ate dinner and watched the game before Holli came over for cake. We made cupcakes and you frosted and decorated them yourself!

It was a fun day. You loved every single thing that you opened and played or wore them all right away.
Monday we did homework after school and then at 6:00 we went swimming at the rec center.

We all had a really fun time, especially going down the big slide and in the lazy river. Dinner at Taco Bell was quick and tasty too! You were excited about the Dorito tacos;

Your date with Gramma and Grandpa was the next Saturday! You chose Costa Vida:

Here are some pictures from our little impromptu photo shoot the day after your birthday. You were super excited to wear your dress and new boots to school, and to take your very own umbrella.

You are such a cutie. I have a hard time getting your real smile for pictures these days though. You are worried that your front teeth look silly. I hardly even notice. And guess what? Almost everyone your age has the same toothy smile! I sure did at your age, plus I had a big overbite! So I think you should still smile with your teeth showing because that is when your real smile comes through and it's beautiful! You are a happy girl, laughing and smiling a lot, and so I like to see that in the pictures!
I love your blonde hair, it hasn't darkened yet. I missed the long hair when you cut it, but it is such thick wavy hair that it looks good at any length.
You are growing up so quickly! A few weeks ago you even babysat your brothers for the first time while Dad and I went out to lunch. You were happy to earn a little money while being the boss and watching tv. You love to text on my phone and send emails on the computer from your own log in.
At 10 your favorite things to do are read, play with friends, watch tv, and go shopping with me. You love crab and caramel apples and candy. You eat almost everything we make without a fuss and I appreciate that. Sometimes though you decide that you want one thing and then when we offer something else you say that you don't like it, even though I know that you usually do.
You love to cook. You check out cook books from the library all the time and get excited whenever I let you make something.
You love art still and your cursive is looking really nice! You like to play the piano, but we haven't been very good about practicing and progressing. Your favorites are the solo or duet pieces of course. Not many people really enjoy technic, but that's how you learn!
You also have a sweet singing voice. I can't wait to watch you learn to use this gift as you get older.
Lulu, you are a sweetheart, always looking out for people. Your teacher told me that you are a very kind friend to everyone in your class. That makes me happy. Being kind and considerate is one of the most important qualities that a person can acquire!
You also have a testimony and great faith. You tell me that church is boring sometimes but that's because you are still learning how to stay focused and pay attention! We need to work on that this year. It will help with your feeling bored at church and with math at school!
I'm so glad you're in our family. I love having girls outings with you! Plus you are still my best helper at home and I always appreciate that.
I love you!
Mom

January Phone Favs

This is our life lately, according to my phone:

First day of sun beams! What a cute big boy:

 So much snow!:

Using our slurpee coupons one day after Kindergarten!:

Baby,  you really love to shovel the snow. You thought you were really helping a lot here, in the part of the driveway that we never use. I love it when you are a helper though!:

TJ's date with Mom!:

Game night with the ladies:

I finally finished the mural on Uncle Kent's wall:

All of you snuggled in my bed one night before bed. You are cutie pies:

Play date with our friends! The girls made homemade cookies and we all enjoyed them:

Hammer earned his bobcat and got his face painted, then he painted our noses too!:

Hammer's first Cub Scout Den meeting. We had fun building these bird houses:

Another girls' outing for me to celebrate my friend's upcoming new baby!:

Hammer's birthday lunch with Gramma and Grandpa:

TJ pretending to be Donkey Kong:

2 cute superhero friends:

Family Night at our friends' house:

Painting night with my friend!:

And lastly Hammer had an EKG to make sure the murmur the doctor heard in his heart was normal, and it was!;

What a great month! We did lots of fun stuff to make the cold gray January days enjoyable and we were all healthy!

Love you all,

Mom