This past Saturday (the 20th) was Kaiya's eighth birthday. This is a very special birthday for members of our faith, because at 8 years old we can be baptized. Kaiya has been excited for months!

We had a great day, thanks to all of the friends and family that came to support her. My parents were instrumental in getting all of the particulars taken care of, and Dennis' mom, aunt, and sister (along with our cute little niece) all flew from out-of-state just to be here for her special day. I just told Dennis that having his mom here was like having a magical fairy that went behind me everywhere I went washing all the dishes I'd just dirtied. Now I know how the rest of my family must feel! :)

On Saturday morning, her baptism and confirmation as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took place, and that night we went to a friends house to enjoy dinner, cake and ice cream.

As a side note, on the way to the baptism the new Taylor Swift song called "Never Grow Up" came on, and I started crying uncontrollably. I am embarrassing and ridiculous and Dennis tried very hard to hide the fact that he was laughing at me.

Baptism morning...

Our family...



Aunt Paulette and Grandma Susan with Kaiya...



Granda Susan with all my girls...aren't they cute? :)



Both the grandma's with Kaiya...



Kaiya and Daddy...





Kaiya with Mommy and Daddy...



Ready to go...



Kaiya with Grandma and Grandpa Hirschi...



Kaiya and Mommy...



Opening presents...





Aunt Mary Susan and Baby Ali...



Enjoying her birthday cake...





I feel so blessed to have Kaiya as my oldest daughter. She is such a condsderate, kind, mature little girl. She loves her sisters, is always helping me, and has a wonderful desire to do what is right. I am so proud of her. I love you millions and millions, Kaiya!!! Happy Birthday!

Kaiya and Emmie both have birthday's this week, so Emmie got to have a little family party last night, and will be having her friends party next week. She can't wait. :)

Emmie has gone from my most rambunctious, naughty, crazy baby to a sweet, loving, helpful little girl. I can't believe the changes she has made in the last year. She is so eager to help and so good to her sisters.

She got in trouble at school last week for talking (oops, she got that from me), and when she came home she said, "Mom, I tried and tried and tried and my mouth just won't stop moving!" If that's the worst we have to deal with, we can manage.

She is making strides with her reading and simple math, and she is constantly drawing beautiful pictures for me and her friends. She is such a wonderful little girl!

We love you SO MUCH, Emmie Sue! Happy 6th birthday, Beautiful!

Waiting for cake...



Presents!...









Cousin Katelyn doing her best pose...



Hayden couldn't wait to get her hands on all those presents...



New boots...



Grandma gave her a dog that rolls around and laughs all by itsself. The kids love it, and our dog is terrified of it...

Halloween this year was a cold and rainy one, so we sure lucked out that Daddy's work had trick-or-treating inside on Friday! The girls had a blast there, and then we went and trick-or-treated a few houses the next day in the chilly weather.

Kaiya was an alien, Emmie was a princess, Claire was Tinkerbell, and Hayden was Dorothy. I love that Hayden has no idea who Dorothy is, but just kept telling everyone she was "Dora".

Also, amazingly enough, three of those four costumes were sewn for me by my mom when I was a little girl. If only that crafty gene were hereditary.



Kaiya...









Emmie...







Claire...







Hayden...









Dorothy got a little frustrated, because she kept losing her tights...



We hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! On to November and the holiday's I actually like. :)

Today was "Crazy Hair Day" at Kaiya and Emmie's school.

That meant having Kaiya ask me 200 times if I was SURE it was really crazy hair day. Just ONE YEAR you get the day wrong and send a kid to school with crazy hair the day before they're supposed to, and I guess they never get over the trauma. I finally had to show her the note from school and let her double check on the calendar to see what day it was before she'd let me touch her.

I miss Emmie being my little tom-boy. This morning when she looked in the mirror and saw what I'd done to her hair, she started crying and said, "I don't WANT to look ugly for school!" Then she went and hid in the closet until Kaiya talked her out. Sad - but kinda funny.

Here is a conversation I had with Kaiya while doing her hair a few mornings ago:

Kaiya: Mom, how do you know if a word is a swear?

Me: Well, I guess as you get older you just learn there are words you shouldn't say. If you think it's a bad word, you should probably just be safe and not say it.

She nodded her head as if this was all the explination she needed, and then a full minute later replied,

"I think I know seven."


I lost Hayden at Walmart today. I know, I know, hand over my mother-of-the-year award. Anyway, when I went to the front to get her, the nice Walmart lady was blowing up a balloon for her. When we got home and Emmie saw Hayden's balloon, she started whining.

Emmie: "Aww, why didn't you get me a balloon?"

Me: "I didn't buy that for Hayden. They gave it to her because she got lost."

Emmie: "She got lost? Where? What happened?"

After I told Emmie of our harrowing Walmart experience, she replied,

"Well, next time we're there, I'm going to try to get lost so I can get a free balloon too."

Great.

Kaiya, Emmie and Claire all got their ears pierced just before turning two years old. I figure in a family full of girls, it's just one more thing I get to have fun with. Every morning we do their hair, and then they get to pick earrings to match their outfit of the day.

Lately, Hayden has been getting what little hair she has done, and then walking over to the earrings and trying to jam them in her own little ear lobes. Every day she tells me she wants "mirrings" too. I've been wanting to go get them done for a while, and just haven't found the time.

Last night Daddy took us all out of pizza, and I said we should just hit up the mall on the way home, buy Hayden one sucker and mommy ten, and get it done.

She was AWESOME. No tears at all. And she woke up this morning saying, "I so pitty! I gots mirrings! Pitty pitty." She's adorable.

So now everyone has "pitty mirrings". Just one more thing for daddy to buy all his beautiful girls. :)

I'm going to get my ears pierced!...



Excited and nervous...



This is the worst it got...



Checking herself out...



More posing in the mirror...



My beautiful girl with her new "mirrings"!...



Enjoying her prize on the way out...



And as if all of that wasn't enough fun, the "Hot and Ready" light was on at Krispy Kreme on the way home. Who can resist that?

I can't, obviously...



The girls loved watching how the donuts are made...



The fam with our cute friend, Eva. And Hayden was just mad she had to quit watching the donuts be dunked under the icing waterfall in order to pose for this stupid picture...