Battle of the Books

This was Sophie's first year competing in Battle of the Books. Schools throughout the district form teams that all read and study the same 10 books over several months. Then, near the end of the year, there is a showdown to declare an ultimate champion. Teams go head to head over three rounds to score points by answering questions and the highest score at the end of the night wins. Sophie's team ended up taking 9th out of over sixty 3rd/4th grade teams!

While she was successful, however, the event has some challenges. There was a soccer game the same night, that Dave had to coach, which meant I had all the kids with me. Sophie + 3 little brothers. And it was long, and boring (to them), so even though I was prepared with snacks and tablets, we were just a zoo. We couldn't even be in the room because the boys were so loud so I had to get updates by text from my friend. Then, at the end while they were tallying points, it was going especially long. Griffin was buckled into the stroller and starting to lose it. I was talking with my friend when suddenly I hear across the room "Whose baby is this?" and see a man holding Griffin aloft over the crowd 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ That was our cue to leave. So I packed up with the boys and left, while Sophie stayed for the awards with her friend Halle. It was quite the night!

How I watched the majority of the competition - outside, through a window, as the brothers were being too rowdy

Sophie's team, coached by Mrs. Cash, who she adored. Her friend Halle from church was on the team (girl in back), as was Will Worsham (far right) who has been in her class since preschool. 

With their ribbons and afterward enjoying a DQ blizzard to celebrate

Sophie is NINE!

Sophie is NINE!! She still enjoys playing with toys, which we hope will continue for a few more years, but she also received some crafts and a blanket for her birthday this year - signs our girl is growing up. And while the tween years coming on feels sad in way, we love who she is becoming!! Sophie excels at sports, school, and socializing. She continues to be BFFs with Emery, but has also found a good group of girls to hang out with in her class, which helps mitigate that she has no sisters at home. We love you Sophie!

Birthday donuts for breakfast

Sophie's 9 Year Stats:

Height: 55 in (83%)

Weight: 70 lbs (63%)

How much tolerance she has for little brothers: 50%

Our girl loves Lego Friends and was thrilled to get this movie theater set from Uncle Greg

She was a good sport and let us use the other half of Davey's ice cream cake for her birthday

Video Clips of Sophie's 9th Birthday

Fall Soccer - U10 Thunder and U6 Blue Dinosaurs

Fall soccer season brought Davey's first time playing and Sophie leveling up to the U10 division. 

Dave decided to take a break from coaching Sophie after 3 seasons to help Davey's team instead. This was his first experience coaching U6 and the boys seemed so young compared to Sophie's age group. It was a bit like herding cats most of the time (which made it really helpful that Dave could actually be on the field with them during the game) but over the season they all gained skills and ended better than they began. Go Blue Dinosaurs!

Miles (a Charlie look alike!), Christian, Noah, Davey, Ian and Coach Dave

Grandparents were able to come out to see one of his games

His main motivator was the snacks

Sophie moving up to U10 meant a lot of changes - larger field, twice as many players, goalies, offsides and co-ed! She also played her first season apart from Emery. Since Dave was no longer coaching he couldn't draft her and they ended up separated. It was hard for Sophie, but she settled into her team well enough and had a great season despite being on the younger end and a girl. In fact, the Thunder ended up taking 1st place in the division!!

Back Row: Girl, Sophie, Chisum, Girl, Colton, Nolan

Front Row: Lorelai, Bowen, Ava, Mason, Jude

On separate teams, but they still found each other whenever their games overlapped

Another 1st place trophy for her collection - up to three now!

Props to the little brothers who have to find a way to entertain themselves during all the evenings spent at the fields for practices and games

Video: Fall 2021 Sports Clips

Emery's Baptism Photoshoot, featuring a guest appearance by Sophie

Sophie's best friend Emery turned 8 in September and chose to be baptized in October. I offered to take her photos, with the full disclosure that they may not turn out because I'm not a professional, but luckily they did and we didn't need a redo. And since the girls are BFFs and had matching dresses, Sophie came along too and joined some of the shots. We took them on WT campus and you can tell that they just love each other!

Sophie's Starts 3rd and Davey Starts Kindergarten!

We made it back in town just a couple days before school started. Since we missed the official Meet the Teacher, I took the kids in the day before to see their classrooms and drop off supplies. It was kind of nice to make introductions 1 on 1 instead of with hundreds of other families. 

Then on August 17th they were off to school for real! Sophie was excited to jump into a new year as a 3rd grader, and kindergarten isn't going to know what hit 'em when Davey arrives. They are both gret kids and I know the are going to learn and grow a lot this year!

Davey has Mrs. Von Netzer for Kindergarten

Sophie has Mrs. Zachettin for 3rd Grade

Adding a few welcome back messages to the the front walk for the first day

Ready for a new year!

I brought popsicles to school pickup as fun treat. Davey told me every horrible part of his day (he sat by a sandwich eater at lunch 😱), but then said he still liked it, so I guess it went okay

All Signed Up for Summer Camp!

Last year we did not participate in any summer camps, but this year we signed up for four! The original plan was just one or two, but then different (free) opportunities came our way and all on weeks that were available so we took full advantage. They happened over four consecutive weeks, but most only went until noon, so we still had plenty of time for other summer activities, like swimming at Town Club and playing with friends. 

Week One: Camp Discovery: This was a free camp available to all Amarillo District elementary students (except not kindergarten, grrr). It actually went through all of June, but we only registered for the Ocean Explorer theme week. Her friend Emery went with her. At first Sophie thought she might be able to rescue turtles or swim with dolphins, but then I reminded her we live thousands of miles away from the actual ocean so she probably wouldn't have any encounters that exciting. There were still crafts and ocean activities, and on the last day she went for a hike at Wildcat Bluff. It was in the 90s, but I loaded up a camel back with lots of ice and snacks and she had a great time. 

Week Two: Vacation Bible Camp, Destination Dig: VBS is also free and Sophie and Davey were both able to go, hooray! Sophie did bible camp a few years ago and loved all the activities and songs. Davey was less enthusiastic, but did like it better as the week went on. It was an archeology theme and they spent the week uncovering the story of Christ's life. Halfway through the week there was a big family party, complete with dinner, tons of bounce houses, and snow cones. First Baptist Church sure knows how to be welcoming! I'm sure the kids would love to be Baptist if we let them.

This was Davey after I picked him on on the first day. When I asked him how things went he told me, "The said I was going to love it. Well, I didn't."

Happy kids at the VBS party

Charlie was so sweet with his friend Rossi. She didn't like the loud music, so Charlie fed her snow cone with a straw while she covered her ears :)

Week Three: GT Camp - I took no photos of this week, but it was a camp for Gifted & Talented students through the school district and Sophie was invited to attend. She wasn't sold on the idea of going to "school" camp, but her friend Halle was also there, which made her more willing to go. They spent the week doing different puzzles and challenges, and even if she didn't love it, I'm glad she went. 

Week Four: AC Kids Camps - Our final week of camp was one the kids had really been looking forward to. Amarillo College hosts kids camps every summer and sent home a big catalog of all sorts of fun sounding things to sign up for. I told the big kids they could go for one week and they had a fun time pouring over all the options. Sophie chose Cookies, Candies and Cupcakes and loved every minute. Each day she would make several different fun desserts and then eat them! Davey chose Dragon Scales & Ninja Tales, which turned out to be a flop. They did nothing awesome and mostly read stories and made lame crafts. It was especially hard to make his camp sound exciting compared to Sophie's. Next year I think we will try Lego camp instead. 

Sophie with a "beach party" cupcake and Davey with his Yeti craft, which I actually thought was pretty adorable

Narwhals U8 Soccer Season

The was Dave's third season coaching and Sophie's last time playing in the U8 division before she ages up in the fall. After back to back championships, Sophie had her heart set on winning another trophy, but it was not in the cards this time. The Narwhals were young and inexperienced, but had great hearts and never gave up. Four of the girls had never even played soccer before, but all learned and improved so much over the season. They won some, lost some, and ended up taking 3rd place in the tournament, which was awesome!

Left to Right: Braelynn, Sophie, Sidney, Emery, Hannah, and Hadlee

We had lots of cold games this year and at the first one the girls were not prepared so I gathered up what I could from the car to share. Braelynn has Sophie's gloves and Davey's hat, Emery has Davey's coat and Sophie's ear warmer, and Hadlee has Charlie's hat!

Trying to stay warm at half time

Sophie took full advantage of her last season with no goalie and scored a few times every game

Outrunning everyone on the field to get to the ball

Sophie always does a great job keeping the ball inbounds and getting it back up to her team instead of letting it just roll out

Sophie's defense improved a lot this season, and she learned to appreciate that stopping an opponent's goal is just as good as scoring one of your own

This cute little bear did not love soccer. He was too old to want to just sit on my lap or a blanket and watch, but not able to walk around and wander. Instead he would just squirm and whine, wanting constant food or entertainment to stay happy.

All bundled up for a chilly morning game

Last season that Davey will just be a spectator. Next year he gets to join a U6 team!

The Narwhals with their 3rd place medals - great job girls!

 Video clips from Sophie's season as a U8 Narwhal

Sophie's Baptism Day

Sophie was baptized on March 27th, the week after she turned 8. We are proud of the choices she has made and the strong, smart, beautiful girl she has become. Her baby days feel like they just happened, and yet here she is looking all grown up. She is an amazing helper and example to her younger brothers, has a generous heart, is a great friend to those around her, and always tries to choose the right. We are excited to see the great things she will do with her life

Our beautiful girl

Sophie has been reading the Book of Mormon with Dave every night for the last couple years

Both of her grandma's gave a short talk and her grandpa Howe and Liz gave the prayers. The bishop did not show up, so Dave (as the EQ president) conducted in his place. I played the piano, and we let Emery conduct the music.

Dave and Sophie also sang "A Child's Prayer" together for the special musical number. Sophie usually gets a little stage fright so I was proud of her for being brave enough to perform.

A covid baptism, complete with extra masks just in case anyone forgot theirs

Our whole family is so proud of Sophie!

Liz was on Griffin duty and did an excellent job keeping this little guy happy during what should have been his morning nap. 

We were so blessed to have both the Howes, Liz, and Grandmari able to travel to Amarillo for the event. We do not live in the most accessible part of the country so we are always grateful for the time and effort people make to come see us!

In addition to family, Sophie had her primary teacher, the primary president, our neighbor, her friend Ethan and his mom, my friend Erika, and Emery and Tayson there to support her

These two are the very best of friends and never get tired of being silly together

I did my best to make the refreshments covid friendly. Everything was in it's own container so there was no cross-contamination. We had a few no shows, so there was extra food, but the kids did not complain one bit about having to eat some additional brownies at home that night!

Grandmari spoke about the "Three Bears of Baptism" so for our favor we had little bags of gummy bears with a card attached to remind everyone about the covenants we make at baptism

Sophie with flowers Grandmari got for the entry table