Happy Birthday! and more stuff...

Since our last post, we've had a lot of fun, which means a lot of smiling faces! First things first: Abbie turned 8 years old! (Before I forget, I need to announce that she will be getting baptized on September 8th at 9:00 a.m. We'd love to have all family and friends join us for this exciting event!) Anyway, for Abbie's birthday, she enjoyed a fun "crafty" birthday party with a few of her friends at Michael's where they made their own jewelry. She loved it! She especially liked hearing us all sing "Happy Birthday" to her over the store's intercom! Her favorite part of the day, though, was opening her present from Laren and me because she'd been asking for it FOREVER...a new iPod shuffle! Here she is (with cute brother BJ) listening to it while holding birthday flowers from her daddy. She had waken up on the morning of her birthday with her face, ear, arms, and legs swollen from mosquito bites...and I mean SWOLLEN! But nothing was going to stop her from making the most of this fun day! After her party in the morning, she spent the day riding her new bike, putting some tunes on her iPod, and listening to her iPod. We had Mimi and Papa over for dinner that night and then our friends Todd & Heather Harris came over for birthday root beer floats. What a fun day for all involved! We are so blessed to have this sweet girl in our family. She's such a wonderful person with a very tender heart. I am constantly amazed at the way she is able to stay happy through all the craziness that goes on in our house! She is definitely a great friend to me and a fantastic example and loving sister to her brothers and sister!

On the day after Abbie's birthday, we were able to go and celebrate the Grandview 6th ward's birthday at the Scera Pool. I snapped this picture of BJ wearing his floatie. I told him to show me his muscles and this is what he did. I just love the look on his cute face!

Abbie's first day of school was on the following Tuesday. It's so hard for me to believe that she's in 3rd grade! Yikes! I'm definitely getting old! I love this picture of her SO much! She's lucky to have not one but TWO great teachers this year. They team-teach (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) and Abbie says she loves both of them! I was a little concerned about this break from the traditional way to do a class, but I've heard great things about these two teachers, so I'm sure all will be well.

Christian was a little bummed that he didn't get to start kindergarten on the same day as his sister, but was happy to start the following week. Here he is standing outside of the school before school officially started. (Doesn't he look tiny?) And here he is inside the classroom showing off his first assignment, making his name in Play-Doh. He never said anything about being nervous and only showed total enthusiasm, but I could tell he was just a tiny bit unsure of what to think in that first 2 minutes of his first day. Since then, he has loved every second of school and his wonderful teacher, Miss Sechrist. He is actually sad that he won't be going to school on Labor Day! What a big boy!

I had to post this picture of our cute Amelia wearing an adorable dress given to her by her Aunt Mindy who lives in Thailand. I can't tell you how many people stopped us at church to ask about this dress! It was fun to be able to tell them that it is an authentic Thai dress! We think she's cute stuff!

I couldn't pass up posting this picture, too, because it completely shows Amelia's fun and sweet personality! She's always ready to smile and laugh!

And this last one is a video I took today of her saying her first word. I'm glad I was able to catch it on camera! Sorry it's sideways...if anybody knows how to rotate a video PLEASE let me know! Thanks! Enjoy!