Gingerbread Houses 2009

The Saturday before Thanksgiving continues to be Gingerbread House day at Grandma & Grandpa's. We invited friends to join us again this year and many were able to join us which made the morning a lot of fun. As I've mentioned before we try and include new families each year and we had lots of new additions, young and old, to our long standing family tradition.

The weather this week didn't help my gingerbread much. It's been unseasonably warm - fantastic for kids playing outside, not fantastic for gingerbread that needs to be brick hard. With Emily's help, we made 5 batches on Monday, and by Friday, after sitting out on the counter all week long, they were still VERY soft. Typically a week on the counter and those puppies are dry and ready to get loaded up with all the candy a kid can cram on the roof. An additional 15 minutes in the oven Friday night and the gingerbread, albeit slightly smoked, was ready.

I still make my gingerbread using Sharon's recipe from 30 some years ago. At some point I might go to the kits, but when you need 5 houses, even buying them on sale ... well I'd just rather put that money toward something else. I got three of them done before the kids got home from school and then Emily made the remaining two before dinner. Now that there are multiple bakers in the house, I can foresee years when the kids each make their own house - the whole blessed concoction.

Thank you to all who were able to join us!! In all we had 14 kids decorating houses and two babies sneaking candy. I think that's a record for this branch of the tradition. We had tables set up everywhere. Rebecca is already planning out next years house, and Sam has requested an additional batch of gingerbread be made so he can build a garage. Yeah, it's a good thing they are getting old enough to bake their own.

Before I share pictures, I will mention, that this year I decorated a house. The kids didn't quite know what to think of that, Mom decorating a house. It raised lots of questions. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I promise to share pictures, but not right now - I need a reason to get you back here.

I need to speak with our photographer ... we don't have a single picture of the kids looking at the camera with their houses. I have pictures of other peoples kids and their houses, but not ours. There's something slightly wrong about that isn't there?




The candy ... this picture doesn't include the candy canes, pretzel sticks, marshmallows, sanding sugars, chocolate Santa's, or ice cream cones ... that all has to go on a separate table.


The assembly ... we had mostly homemade gingerbread this year ... just a handful of kits. The gal assembling houses in this picture works with GR. Her husband had never done a gingerbread house before - today at 30 something, he helped make three.


Emily:


Sam:

PRE Thanksgiving Festivities

Today became a bit crazy busy with kid festivities... I as in charge of playgroup this month and scheduled a little Thanksgiving activity this morning, quickly followed by the school kids Thanksgiving feasts at school. Add to that the special snack Rebecca requested to take to school today for her party today, and it was a late Wednesday night.

In preparing for playgroup I found some really fun activities that I thought I'd share. Only two made it to our playgroup agenda, but the others might be good activities for your kids in the hours leading up to the feast.

Oreo Cookie Turkeys
Pilgrim Hat for Boys ... Pilgrim Hat for Girls
Thanks and Giving Tree family activity - a good FHE activity
Thanksgiving songs for preschoolers

Gobbling Turkey Apples (snack) was a huge hit with the playgroup kids and something small fingers could do pretty easily.


Paper Cup Turkey - I'm thinking these will make great place cards for our Thanksgiving table!


Alex, Anna and I finished up early at playgroup and headed to the elementary school to eat the annual Thanksgiving Feast served at lunch. We had a good time sitting with each child and enjoying lunch together, and I'm really glad we were able to continue this little tradition with them.


Late yesterday afternoon Rebecca explained that her class had earned a movie party and they could bring snacks to class if they brought enough for everyone. She had some elaborate plan to make sugar cookies in the shape of hands to look like turkeys and asked to make the sugar cookie dough. I handed her the recipe and she made it, stuck it in the fridge, and ran off to Activity Day girls. There wasn't time to make hand-print turkeys using sugar cookie dough, even if I do have a hand cookie cutter. But I was able to pull this off (pretty stinkin cute if you ask me) and thankfully it was an acceptable substitute:


We're changing things up for Thanksgiving this year and I'm hosting. Everyone's bringing a little bit of the meal and we're doing a bit of furniture rearranging to fit all 14 of us, but I'm excited to celebrate one Thanksgiving in this house before we move on to larger spaces next year.

Hoping to take my own advice ...

At the end of September, I was approached by the editors of Modern Handmade Child to write an article on Simplifying the Holidays for their November/December issue. Modern Handmade Child is an online magazine written by the EtsyKids Street Team. Weeks before the editors asked for article ideas and I "opened my big mouth" and made this suggestion ...

Ways to simplify the holidays and still make them meaningful and memorable. Budgets are tight, and so are schedules. We all want to have a intently meaningful holiday but what do we need to do to obtain it? Surprisingly, it doesn't mean we have to buy our child the latest and greatest toys, blowing our budget with just one purchase, nor does it mean we have to go to every party, bake 1000 cookies plus 10 gingerbread houses to deliver to the neighbors, and buy gifts for every Tom, Dick, Harry, Mary, Sally, and Jane we come in contact with during the year. Share 5 ways to simply the holidays, strategies for cutting back in areas that are only adding to your stress level, not adding to your enjoyment of the season - namely spending quality time with your friends and family.

Either they liked the pitch, or they were desperate for articles. I have yet to hear from the editors if the article was what they expected or not. But it's out there. You'll find the article on page 87-91.

Side note: GR laughed hysterically when he heard what the article was about. Apparently, he doesn't think I'm very qualified ... the holidays are anything but stress free for me. Maybe this year I'll be able to practice what I preach.

Happy Halloween!

Tiger Buddies

Sam and his buddy George are doing cub scouts together, and tonight they had pack meeting and then a lock in with games and projects, etc. They were both really excited about it and Sam came home talking 90mphs about all the cool things he did ... and he came home with a cookie!

Sam and George have been good friends since they were toddlers, they are in the same church class and finally, the same school class. Since we opted to let Sam do cub scouts through the school troop, instead of waiting two more years to do it through church, I'm glad he's got a church buddy there too. I have no idea how this is all going to play out as he get's older, but he's enjoying it now, he's got a really good group of boys and parents, plus it's something he does with his dad, and we need all of those we can get.

This girl of mine ... oh my!

Anna ... my dear sweet baby girl. At her 15 month appointment Tuesday, it was once again confirmed that she is totally built like the boys. Long and skinny. She seems to be wired much like them too. Remember Sam's two week stunt at this age where he managed to get more than a dozen different products on the carpeting throughout the house? $500 later Stanley Steamer got all but the nail polish out. It appears Anna is following in his footsteps, only her obsession is with food containers on flat surfaces just out of reach.

Countless cups of water on the counter seemingly pushed far enough back that she can't reach them, have flooded the kitchen floor and dinning room table.

Freshly smoked and sauced BBQ chicken on the dinning room table - took only 2 minutes from the time it was delivered to our doorstep by our chicken smoking queen of a friend, I set it on the table, walked outside to say good-bye, and splat. The foil covered aluminum pan was upside down on the carpet.

Bag of goldfish from our preschool snack. She climbed up on the dinning room table, sat down and ate her fill of fish, then dumped the remaining fish on the table, and proceeded to walk around the table, making a lovely gold table covering.

7 October:


An after school snack of popcorn on the dinning room table. Mountain climber Anna reaches her destination in record time, enjoying piece after piece of popcorn until she discovered that dumping it out onto the carpeting would be a much more enjoyable accomplishment.

15 October:


Pudding cups set on the counter for the kids to have as a mid afternoon snack. GR and I working and talking at the same island counter where the pudding cups wait for a Wii game to finish. Anna and her stealth like maneuvers, sees chocolate, finds a step stool and moves it into position, climbs and reaches. Many hand dips later, GR and I who are RIGHT NEXT TO HER chopping apples for applesauce, look over and see ...




In the words of Sam's current teacher at school; Sam has been having some Friday afternoon memory and hearing issues that have resulted in a couple of yellow cards and even one orange card (you want to always be green) getting pulled. ...

"He's just so darn cute, you just can't get mad at him when he does something wrong."

Yep, she's definitely following in brothers footsteps.

Today's adventure

We had little friends at our house today and despite chilly temperatures and the threat of afternoon rain we headed to the library for a special story hour with miniature ponies. The two big kids got to feed and brush the ponies, made a stick horse using a paper horse head and yard stick, and each had a big bag of popcorn and apple juice. Alex and Maeve had a great time, each totally content to do things at their own pace and given the weather, the lack of a crowd allowed them to do just that. I even got to pick up some books I had waiting for me on hold and dash into the children's section to pick up some American Girl mystery books for the girls. I also put the rest of the Rebecca AG books on hold so the girls can finish reading the series.





I have decided I am glad the Lord did not see fit to send me two sets of twins, three and one. While doable for a 90 minute visit to the library, when it was all over, we were all very ready to go home and chill out.

Play date

While a friend went to the dentist, her kids came for a play date. Alex really likes playing with Maeve! They were playing quietly upstairs and when I checked in on them, I found ...



Alex was "reading" her a princess story!

Season 5

We're down one player this season, and everyone is practicing on the same night of the week which is a huge blessing. It really is amazing how much stress that knocks out of your life ... Emily catches a ride to practice with a neighbor who's on her team, GR takes Sam ... no complaints from the Mama who holds down the homework and bath fort.

Both kids are on teams they haven't played with before ... a mistake I hope we can reverse, for Sam at least, for the Spring season.

I personally, am still looking for a good team for Emily to play with where she isn't a foot taller than everyone else, and where the girls are more matched with her skill level. Don't get me wrong, I fully understand she is not going pro anytime soon. But most - if not all - of the kids on her current team are 2nd graders who haven't played much soccer and that's a bit frustrating for my girl. She has potential, but I really wish we could help her skill level progress, and I feel it's stagnated a bit. She's still struggling with the same technique challenges she had at this time last year, and I'd love to help her move past them. That being said she had two goals in today's game and a fantastic assist. It's looking good for another hat trick this season!

Their latests craft obsession

In the last week or so these perler craft beads have been the kids craft of choice after school. We've had quite the neighborhood craft circle as kids crowd the dining room table making shape, after shape, after shape. Above is just a small sample of what they made - 7 kids can really crank out a lot of designs! It's a super cheap craft they can do (other than the melting with the iron) by themselves and doesn't take any prep work on your end.

The multicolored circle was made by Alex. I was shocked he finished it when I put the group of green ones in the center for him. Don't you love the end result?! The two squares are Sam's; the dolphin Emily's and the bottom heart, Rebecca's. Some of these are getting shipped to Sister Aunt Barb who's birthday was earlier in the week and her box is still sitting waiting for a few more treasures before it get's shipped off to sunny California.

If you're considering these activity beads for you kids, might I provide a few tips ... since over the last year and half that these beads have been apart of my kids craft cupboard, my approach has evolved.

• First, melt the daylights out of those beads - you want them completely fused together, otherwise they break very easily.
  
• Second, in comparison to some of their other crafts of choice (paint, glue, clay/playdough, etc.), the mess here is minimal ... I should explain that those beads end up everywhere ... but I no longer get down on my hands and knees and search for every bead, sorting them back into their little compartments. Whatever the kids don't get picked up gets sucked up by the vacuum, thank goodness for vacuum hose attachments
• Third, all projects must be finished, no unfinished projects sitting on the buffet for weeks and weeks getting knocked about. They are now, either finished right then and there, or they are dumped back into the bucket.
• Fourth, encourage your children to give their creations as gifts ... that way someone else has to figure out what to do with all these masterpieces. They make fun "sun catchers" for your windows, key chains, and coasters.
  

Good-bye Summer

Summer may not officially end until late on the 22nd of September, but for us, Labor Day means the close of the pool. And in the eyes of our kids, the closing of the pool means the close of summer. This summer didn't prove a fantastic summer for lounging in the pool. Lots of rain and cooler than usual temperatures meant less frequent splashes. Even today, with temps in the mid 80s, it was a bit cold in the water. If you look closely you can see Sam's lips are blue.

Highlights from our time at the pool this summer ...

• Samuel passing his arm floaties on to Alex, no longer needing them to navigate through the differing depths of the water.
  
• Alex going from being a bit fearful of the water last summer, to fearless - dare-devilish - this summer.
  
• Rebecca, Emily and Sam, each tried diligently to learn to dive from the side of the pool rather than plop.
  
• Learning that Anna is part fish, particularly enjoying putting her face in the water and drinking.
  
• Alex mastering arm floaties.
• Discovering that Anna is not rattled in the slightest by falling out of her duck floaty and being suspended below the surface of the water by a foot or so, for a matter of seconds. [Scared her mother to no end. But she never so much as gasped or whimpered - scary!]
• Rebecca and Emily learned to dive down under the water to retrieve things from the bottom of the pool in the deep end. Very helpful in picking up walnuts from the floor of the pool.
  
• Emily learned how to do a handstand underwater, and walk on her hands, while Rebecca perfected both.
• Alex becoming a 3 year old water acrobat. Jump in from the side and going down the slide, in every conceivable way.

Emily's Baptism

Oh this little girl of mine has been so patient! Waiting an entire month to be baptized was oh so hard for her. She really, really wanted to be baptized on her birthday, but our stake has asked that all the little kids who turn eight in one month, all get baptized on the first Saturday of the following month. So this morning Emily was baptized. There was one other little boy who turned eight over the summer who was also baptized. It was a really sweet and beautiful occasion to watch these two children make such a significant covenant with their Father in Heaven. They were beaming, glowing even, all morning long.



Sharing the program with another family was a wonderful experience, but presented some challenges - so many people to coordinate with! - but it all worked out. Emily asked Grandma Mum to play the piano. She did a wonderful job of playing Baptism, by far one of the more difficult pieces in the Children's Songbook, and When I am Baptized. Grandpa Art led the music and Grandma Mutti gave the talk on Baptism. Emily's primary teacher was able to come and give the closing prayer. Micael's bishop gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.

We filled the Relief Society Room with family and friends from both families. I continue to be so grateful to those who are able to come and support our children. It was a very busy holiday weekend and many had commitments, making those who came all the more appreciated!

We ate chocolate cupcakes with white frosting afterward in the Primary room. Since GR had to be up at the church a few hours early to fill the font, I gave him very specific instructions as to how to set up all the rooms. My mother offered to make the cupcakes for me, and I accepted - aren't you proud of me! My sister brought all 72 of them with her Friday night.

Emily with a cake her Primary Teacher made for her:


Then later that afternoon we all gathered at Grandma's house for swimming, a special dinner - GR's famous smoked ribs - and to spend time with family. We found out that some good friends grandchildren were in town for the weekend - they are Emily and Sam's age - and we asked them to join us in celebrating. Their grandchildren spent a week with them earlier in the summer and our kids had a couple of opportunities to spend time together. They became instant friends! Since the cousins weren't able to come and Aunt Mary Ann was the aunt/uncle representative, having this little extension join us for the evening festivities was so very nice. It was a perfect day for a perfect little girl who was tickled pink with every part of her day.

Alex in a Nutshell

Thursday night is soccer night here in these parts. We're down to two soccer players this season (Emily and Sam) and I can't tell you how nice it is to have the kids practices on the same night!! GR took Alex along to Sam's practice so he could play at the park. The following conversation happened while GR was pushing Alex on the swings and it perfectly captures Alex right now.

Alex to couple passing by the swings: HI!
Couple: Hi.
Alex: My name is Alex.
Lady: Hi Alex, I like your t-shirt.
Alex: I made it.
Lady: Oh really, that's cool ... Good-bye

GR: Alex, your silly.
Alex: I not silly, I funny.
GR: You're silly.
Alex: No. I funny.


GR had no idea that Alex really had made his t-shirt at a playgroup activity two months ago. We did freezer paper stenciling and Alex painted a blue whale on his t-shirt.

Eric Carle Inspired Craft

Hi, my name is Kathleen, and my three year old is not potty trained.

Alex and four little friends and the mama's are doing a little co-op preschool once a week. We each take a turn teaching and hosting our little 1.5 hour class, and Tuesday was my first time teaching. We choose our own topics and I went with Eric Carle (author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar).

My lesson consisted of some pretty basic stuff ... reading lots and lots of Eric Carle books and acting them out. a simple craft, a matching game using characters from Eric Carle stories (if you want a copy of the cards, let me know and I can email you the PDF) and lots of free play outside.

Cindy was the first to teach and her main piece of feedback was, the kids aren't into crafts. With this in mind, I went with a coffee filter butterfly to go along with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I did a trial run Monday morning, and Monday night when the kids got wind of what I was doing, this little craft turned into an impromptu FHE activity. They had such fun! We have butterflies all over the house! They have a life span of about 14 days right?







As part of my prep for teaching, I went to the library and picked up a big stack of Eric Carle books - holy cow that man has written a TON of books! - to go along with some of the ones we own. It was nice to have a book for each of the preschoolers to hold and look at, but more than that, my own kids have loved having all of them around the house to look through. It's been such a positive experience, that I'm now in search of other authors to "feature" in our reading basket here at home, rotating them every week or two.

One of the things I love about Eric Carle book's is that Sam can read them. They aren't too long, and the vocabulary is on his first grade reader level. I'm thinking we'll try some Fun with Spot books by Eric Hill next, and we'll see what the librarians suggest, but I'd love to hear your favorite authors for preschoolers - both for independent reading and for reading aloud. A definitely bonus for beautiful, interesting, and creative illustrations.

And He's Off!

I was finishing up in the kitchen when Alex came in and said. "Get your camera mom! Come look at Sam."



Thanks to some much needed one-on-one time with his Dad tonight, Sam finally got the hang of his two wheeler! Something he's wanted to master all summer. It took all of 10 minutes, tops, and he is so thrilled. I love the look of intense concentration on his little face, and that tongue!

Kids Cooking School - Banana Bread

Near the end of last school year the girls came home with a recipe box from grandma's house. The box had kid friendly recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, etc. This summer they have perfected one of the recipes from the box and it has become their go-to recipe when they are looking for something constructive to do and all the ingredients are on hand.



It's been a great learning experience for them, and teaching opportunity for me.

In the first week they made over 10 loaves of banana bread. The girls are learning as they go ...

• it is possible to make this recipe without using 7 bowls.
  
• a wire whisk works just as well and is faster than a sifter
  
• scrap all the ingredients into the main mixing bowl - don't leave anything behind
  
• when using all natural peanut butter, don't pour off the oil at the top of a new jar.
  
• cleaning up the kitchen is part of the cooking/baking process, you don't get to leave that part to someone else.
  
• it's best to clean up the kitchen while the bread is baking, so you can enjoy eating it when it comes out of the oven.

Yesterday after school, the girls made a batch for their teachers. The whole process is so much easier to sit through now than when they first started! It's quite exciting to watch the girls learn and get better and better at making this recipe. And their work has received rave reviews from everyone they've given loaves to!



Monkey's Favorite Banana Bread
2/3 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 small egg, well beaten
1 mashed up banana
2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

Remove butter and egg from refrigerator, 1 hour before using. Grease 4x2x1-1/2" loaf pan. Preheat oven to 325. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt onto a square of waxed paper. Set aside. With wooden spoon, cream butter, gradually adding sugar. Add beaten egg and mix well. Mash banana with fork or potato masher. Blend well with peanut butter. Add dry ingredients alternately with mashed banana mixture to the creamed butter mixture. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake 35 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a fork in the center - if the fork comes out clean, it's done. Let cool in pan on cooling rack 10 minutes before turning out. Refrigerate batter for up to 4 days. Makes 3 - 4x2x1-1/2" loaves. Makes 2 - 5-3/4x3x2-1/8" loaves.

Double recipe to make a full size loaf.

This recipe creates a very nice, moist yet light bread. Very different than the dense banana breads I'm use too.

I want to try using Soybutter or Sunflower butter in place of the peanut butter so we can use it school and give loaves of it to our peanut allergy friends. Anyone experimented with it?

Family Nightcap

Two exciting rounds of Rumis before sending the kids off to bed.

Gotta love a game, everyone can play and enjoy!

Back to School

The three big kids started school today ... we now have a fourth grader, a third grader, and a first grader. Monday afternoon we went to the school to see everyone's class lists. For the most part everyone is pleased ...

Sam has lots of kids he knows from lots of different places in his class. His teacher started at our school last year, but this is by no means new to teaching, but I'm excited to get to know her.

Emily, was disappointed her best friends aren't in her class, but I did point out that she knows lots of the kids in her class and in third grade, she'll rotate among the three classes for things like math, science, & social studies, so she'll still see them lots. I'm hopeful her teacher will recognize her need to be challenged. She is so incredibly bright, but isn't showy or flashy about it and her need to be stimulated and stretched can easily get over looked because she is quiet and goes with the flow so easily.

Rebecca, is finally, after four years, not in the same class as D*. They were well matched academically, but not so much personality wise. He recognized early on she was an easy, fun target for teasing - and she is. Her teacher is one who she knows well, they met when Becca was in 1st grade. I'm hopeful this familiarity with her personality will also work to her benefit. Like Emily, she is very bright. Rebecca likes things that are familiar, easy, comfortable. She needs outside help and encouragement to reach outside her academic comfort zone and stretch her mind. The incentive for the teacher is if she's challenged regularly she isn't as easily bored, so her mouth doesn't move as much.

As for Alex ... we were going to put him in preschool, but it looks like we'll need to push that off for a semester or more. To be in preschool he must be potty trained and he has simply decided he does not need or want to potty train. I have introduced, prodded, forced, made numerous incentive plans, bribed, and gone cold turkey. We have not had a single success all summer long, not one. I'm sad for him, but we'll find other things to do. I am really getting the vibe from him that once it all clicks for him, this kid will be totally potty trained in a snap. He's just gotta decide he's ready to do it.

50/50 odds ... not bad!

I entered a couple of drawings over the weekend with odds more like 1/1400 ... Ha! I like these odds much better.

Sam drew names for me, and the winners are:

* Heather G. * Lori * Deb * Kristy *

So I'll get them all mailed out in the next day or so. I've cleaned up my Publisher file so I can turn it into a PDF to email out and post it on Mormonchic. Camie, Heather H., Liz, and Jennifer, watch for an email from me with the file and cutting/assembly instructions.

We have two days left of summer vacation and we're planning on spending the day running threw sprinklers and playing in the pool. Here's to hoping water destrctions will keep children from screaming and crying and fighting.

Emily's Great to be EIGHT Birthday

Our sweet Emily celebrated her eighth birthday today! Eight years old! We packed lots and lots of celebrating into our one little day. When I asked her how she wanted to celebrate she said she wanted to go to either Dave and Busters (restaurant & arcade) or Famous Dave's (BBQ). It took a while, but she finally settled on Dave and Busters.



The kids started the morning off by going to our farmers market - a Saturday morning favorite! - with Grandma and Grandpa. While the four big kids, enjoyed the market, GR went and performed a wedding, while Anna and I made a huge birthday brunch for everyone to enjoy when everyone got home. Per Emily's request, the menu consisted of scrambled eggs (side note, to my sibblings - finally after years of failing, one of my two pans of scrambled eggs turned out like Mom's! yippee!), bacon, sausage, biscuits, cantaloupe, grapes, lemon poppy seed cake, the works, all served on my mismatched collection of china plates, that we only use for very special parties. It was scrumptious, oh so filling and served on time - 10:30am on the dot.

We hoped to miss a busy dinner crowd at Dave and Busters by going for a late lunch/early dinner. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who had the same thought. But we got seated quickly, had a good meal and headed back to the game area. We played for a good 2 hours and the kids racked up some serious tickets - each hitting their own little jackpots here and there - reaching a grand total of 6398 tickets. They each got to pick a big stuffed animal (two poodles, a dragon and a tree frog) and a couple of little trinkets that will hopefully last longer than the weekend before the fall apart or break.



Then it was back to Grandma and Grandpa's for swimming, cake & ice cream and of course presents.



Emily is growing into such a mature little lady. She is an excellent student. She has beautiful penmanship. I love reading her classroom journals. Emily is happy to help classmates who need extra help understanding something, and does it in a kind and compassionate way. Never making the other person feel dumb or less than adequate for needing help. She is also a strong reader. She and Rebecca love reading the same books and often share books with each other, talking about the characters and story lines.

She is a super helper with Anna and Alex. She is very loving and nurturing with them. I ask a lot of her and Rebecca and she is typically very willing to help ... diaper changing, feeding, playing, etc.

Emily is very thoughtful, always wanting to make something to share with someone else ... a friend, neighbor, teacher or family member.

We are so lucky to have this sweet girl in our family! Her beautiful spirit and bright, happy personality add so much to our family! We are so proud of her and the young woman she is growing up to be. She is very excited to be baptized and we are thrilled she has made this choice.