Halle's Baptism

We were so proud that Halle carefully thought about it and decided that she did want to be baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and make covenants to follow Jesus and keep His commandments. 

My friend Candace took pictures of Halle in her baptism dress during one of her visits and helped us design this beautiful baptism announcement that Halle could share with her friends, family, and teachers.  

We had a big, fun breakfast with donuts, as Halle requested, the morning of her baptism (Saturday, November 7th). Lots of family had come into town to support her! Both sets of grandparents, Uncle Evan, and Aunt Kelly with Daryn and baby Dixie. Aunt Lisa was going to come too, but ended up closing on her new house that same day and couldn't make it. 

Photo blast from before her baptism:

(Only after we took the picture above did we realize Seth was missing and found him roaming the halls, so retook the picture with the for reals whole group.)

And one with masks to remember her covid baptism! 

After her baptism, the girls (with cousin Daryn!) sang Search, Ponder, and Pray. Halle asked both her grandpas to speak and her grandmas to say the prayers. Aunt Kelly led the music and Eve and I were the witnesses. Aunt Lisa was going to play the piano, but I subbed in :). It was a special program with so much family there and many from the ward to support her as well. 

Seth was a real pill. He was running around basically the whole time until someone (maybe me, I can't remember?) gave him a lollipop to distract him. It didn't last long. 

So happy both her Smith and Larsen grandparents could attend, despite distance and covid. 

And then somehow I bumped my camera to a funny picture setting and ended up with the rest of my pictures all neon-ish. So any that look normal are ones I stole from someone else's phone. Oops. 

Halle was so happy Daryn was able to come with Aunt Kelly! I promise they're only a few months apart in age - they both tend towards the extreme in height, just opposite extremes.

We saved the more spiritual presents for her baptism day so she had another round of gifts to open!

Then it was time for yummy lunch! Daryn and Abigail insisted on eating outside, despite the wind. I can't remember how long they lasted. 

This was such a special day for all of us to celebrate with Halle!

Halle's 8!

Ok, I might be almost a year late in publishing this post.....it's been a busy....year....? No good excuse, but time to get back to updating this blog!

Halle chose monkey bread for her birthday breakfast before heading off to school! 

This girl is fierce! And amazing! 

We only made it through about half of her birthday questions before she became overwhelmed and we stopped...and apparently never finished. Here's what I did manage to capture:

1. Who is your favorite person in the whole world? Mommy

2. What is your favorite color? Blue

3. What’s your favorite television show? I like a lot (Mario Bros, Rescue Riders, and Fireman Sam)

4. What’s your favorite outfit? I don’t have a favorite.  

5. What sport do you like best? Softball

6. What song do you love? I like a lot.(This will all make sense when I am older, Hilary Weeks)

7. What’s your favorite cereal? Reese’s Puffs

8. Who is your best friend? I don’t have a best friend.

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? A police officer.

10. What is your favorite book? Wings of Fire.

11. What are you really good at? Shrugs...

She's good at everything! 

Birthdays are exhausting for little baby boys....

Halle wanted a mermaid/ocean cake and helped me decorate it herself! (For dinner, she chose white shells and cooked carrots.) The cake was chocolate on bottom and vanilla on top at Halle's request. 

She had to follow clues to find where her presents were hidden! 

Grandpa and Grandma Smith arrived in time for her birthday, so they got to join in the fun/chaos!

A couple of days before her birthday, after I'd already got all her presents, Halle said how she REALLY wanted a robot dragon. So the day of, Grandma and I went looking to see what we could find and Target actually had a moving, roaring dragon toy! I was so excited! It even looks like an ice wing from Wings of Fire! However, when Halle opened it, she was super disappointed. She told me she meant a life-size robot dragon that breathed fire and that she could teach tricks to and fly to school on. Yeah. 

She accepted this one as a fun toy and played with it a bit. Maybe next year???

Happy birthday, Halle! You are sweeter than anything and beautiful inside and out! 

Helloween 2020

Like most things in 2020, Halloween was a bit unconventional. Or, as Abigail wrote in her writing notebook for virtual 1st grade, "Helloween". I think that's pretty accurate!

 

Brenda, the oncology nurse, did an awesome job of putting together bags for each of the oncology kids since they couldn't do an in-person party this year. They got together over zoom instead and played games. And because Brenda is so awesome, she included enough of everything in Abigail's bag for her to share with her siblings!

Abigail thought it would help us get in the mood if she put up some decorations so this was on her door:

We decided to skip the trick or treating this year, just to be safe. So instead, I came up with a bunch of fun activities to do at home. I cut them in strips and the girls took turns picking them out of a bowl to see what we'd do next! And since Halloween was on a Saturday, we had the whole day to party! 

My plan slightly backfired, in that the girls liked it SO MUCH that I'm worried they'll want to do this every year. Trick or treating is much easier....

Bring on Helloween!

The first activity picked was the candy hunt! (I bought WAY to much candy - each kid ended up with way more than they would have from trick or treating in our neighborhood.)

She can see it, but can she get it???

Like all two year olds, Seth just wanted to sit and eat each piece as he found it rather than keep looking for more. 

Not Cora! She was fast!

Seth finally got the hang of it...

Next up, pumpkin bean bag toss!

Then it was time to make sugar cookies. At some point, I should invest in another rolling pin. Although making sugar cookies with the kids is really the only time more than one would come in handy. 

Some more group shots while the cookies bake! 

Time to decorate! 

Pumpkin bowling was a bit hit! Literally....

After bowling, we decorated some ghosts - spooky!

They all turned out so good - and unique!

It was just before 4pm when we drew the costume dress-up slip! I was quite pleased to not have to come up with new costumes this year and the kids made some spectacular outfit combos with our old costumes.  

The goal for ghost toss was to not let them touch the ground! The white balloons had ghost faces drawn on, you just can't see any of them in this picture. 

For a craft, we made paper strip pumpkins! You can guess that Andrew and I were running out of steam by this point. The kids, however, were still going strong!

Dinner was pretty scary! Mummy hot dogs were creepy to eat!

After dinner we did a Halloween scavenger hunt that ended with each kid finding a treat in their closet! Cora found the clue that was hidden out on the tree in the front yard. 

Silly Halloween headbands and masks for the boys were part of the treats they found in their closets!

For dessert, we made witches' brew (I forgot to make it with dinner) and had ghosts in a graveyard. The witches' brew was a big hit and actually tasted pretty good too! Even though it had worms in it....

Cheers! 

Overall, it was an awesome - and exhausting - day! We set the Halloween bar pretty high for this little dude!