February

I loved getting pictures of Eve in preschool during February: 

She also loved when they blew bubbles at library story time one day:

We got to go to ISU to watch Lizzie's state honor choir performance and it was so amazing! They did some really fun songs:

She also went to the Valentine's dance with Chase:

I loved these cute pictures of Eve and Natalie:

Eve's school had an exhibition where we got to go see what she is learning:

We did a bubble bath one night and she loved it:

We made some sugar cookies for Valentine's day:

I loved this picture Eve took during a Catan game:

Eve started to have a hard time when I'd drop her off at preschool which was sad. One day, I got a picture soon after from her teachers saying that she was already feeling better and picked up the happy face to describe how she was feeling:

That was a tender mercy for me since I had cried the whole way home after dropping her off.

I got to go with Eli to a free Magic Valley orchestra performance for all the 4th graders:

It was really cool and we especially loved In the Hall of the Mountain King at the end. I think it motivated him to keep playing the cello.

Eve mixing costumes one day:

JHS choir did a concert of Elvis songs and it was so much fun:

What a fun month!

Lizzie is 18!

 Lizzie became an adult. It was bittersweet for me. I can't believe she is that old! She needed baby pictures for various school/seminary events and I couldn't believe how fast the time went since she was that little baby:

Becca also sent me this picture from her wedding:

Now she's this beautiful girl:

She requested a raspberry cheesecake this year and I did my best:

We celebrated Lizzie's birthday a day early since Joe had to go to Boise for asylum interviews. She wanted buttermilk pancakes for breakfast. After church we watched Encanto, played in the snow for a bit, then we had her favorite bread bowl soup for dinner and opened her few presents. She lucked out and got a snow day on her birthday. although she didn't necessarily want one since she was missing so much school later in the week for state honor choir and she was feeling behind. It was still nice, though. 

This has been a really big year for Lizzie. She has grown so much. She got her first big role as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella. She worked her first real job babysitting for the English learning class at the refugee center. She got her first boyfriend around New Years. She performed in drama competitions and made it to state. She continued to do well in school and finished the annoying online classes she needed to do to have enough credits, in addition to her full schedule of dual credit classes. She did super well on the ACT. She was much more social and had good times with friends, including becoming closer to Kassi who is her good friend. 

Lizzie is still such a good big sister and example to her siblings. There are fights, of course, but overall she loves them and looks out for them. She takes good care of Eve when we need her to and Eve loves when she sings her to sleep. She takes time to play Tetris and other video games with Nate and Eli. She loves singing with Natalie and talking all the things music and drama. Of course she still loves to read, although she doesn't get as much time as she'd like to read when she is so busy. She still loves to crochet and watch her favorite TV shows (including K-dramas :). She loves sitting on the bench under our big tree and reading. She also started to love hiking down the canyon path and did that more often. 

We're so proud of Lizzie and the person she is. We can't imagine our family without her. We love you!