The Amazing Abigail

Where to start with Miss Abby. She really is such an amazing girl that I don't know where to begin. Well, I guess I'll start with the most recent. Saturday was a very special day for Abby, she was baptised and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was such a sweet baptismal service - Cameron's parents came out for the event (I think they've been to all their grandkids' baptisms) and we also had a few friends from the ward attend. Abby asked Grandma Julie to give the talk on baptism and her Primary teacher to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. Both talks were excellent and I enjoyed them. I hope that Abby was listening, too - I'm sure she was. I think she was a little overwhelmed at being the center of attention, I know that I would be. Unfortunately in all the hub-bub of trying to get to the chapel on time I totally forgot to grab the camera. Luckily Grandma and Grandpa didn't. So here is a picture of us after the service.

What else to tell you about - well, she had a little birthday party, I mean after all, how many times do you turn 8? She had the choice of having a bigger party or having a smaller sleepover. She choose the sleepover. So she invited her 3 best friends and they were all able to make it. It was a fun night. The girls all played for a while and then we had make your own pizza for dinner. After jammies were put on they got a little facial and pedicure (by yours truly) and relaxed while watching a movie. Here's a picture of Abby and her girl friends.

Don't you just love that they're all in the awkward "my teeth are too big for my mouth" stage? Good thing it happens before they really start caring too much about their appearance, otherwise we'd miss out on those truly happy smiles.


Abby also had lots of things going on during the last week of school. She was Outstanding Citizen for the school year in her class (I think there was a boy selected from her class as well). She was super excited. Here's Abby and daddy at the awards ceremony:



At that same assembly Abby got another award that we didn't even know about! Luckily we stuck around, talking to some friends and waiting for the volunteer recognition thing-a-ma-gigger that was supposed to be afterwards.

So the whole school had a poster contest with the theme of "Our Laie Bay". There was an artist that was painting a couple of murals on the school and this was part of that. The murals are based on the same theme - but that's a post for another day. Back to Abby. Well, she won honorable mention in the poster contest. And, by the way, I totally love her poster. She did a fantastic job with it. It's now hanging over our table. Here she is getting her award - she was totally surprised, too. They didn't tell anyone who won, except the top 3 places, I think they contacted the parents so they were there. Anyway, picture:

And here's one last picture of Abby with her teacher from this year, Mrs. Kitagawa. I think Abby will get along great with all her teachers, she's just that kind of student (and hopefully she'll stay that way), but I really think Mrs. Kitagawa was sad to see her leave.

What else can I tell you about Abby? She truly is amazing. She is quite the helper around the house, especially when it comes to Juliana. I'm not sure how, but she can carry Juliana around - and that's seriously like half her body weight in baby! Abby brings Juliana into our room pretty much every morning and if I happen to not hear her wake up in the middle of the night she'll bring Juliana in then, too. And she doesn't ever complain about it.

She's an amazing student. Not only does she do her work, but she does it well, and I think she actually enjoys it. I know she enjoys math and she definitely enjoys reading. For most of this last school year her reading homework has been to read for 20 minutes everyday. She can read whatever she wants, and honestly, most days she reads way more than just 20 minutes. And she can be reading a bunch of books at once - definitely something she gets from her dad. I'm a one book person myself - I need to finish one before I can move on. But Abby (and Cameron) can be reading multiple books and still know what's going on in each one. I don't know how they do it.

Abby's pretty much the best 8 year-old anyone could ask for. She's generally the child that I worry the least about. She can keep herself entertained, entertain others as needed (LOVE that), and usually has a great attitude. Not only that, but she does what she knows is expected of her, and like just about everything she does, she does it well. She loves to play with her friends, she loves to play with her brother and sisters (well, most of the time), and she is constantly leaving me cards and pictures that tell me just how much she loves me. I can't wait to see just how much more amazing Abby becomes.