Gabi is 7!!!!!!!!

Okay, Okay... so she was seven weeks ago... I'm soooooo behind..... but I couldn't just leave out this special little note about her.

Gabi is still bright and energetic. She continues to love to learn... especially when it's science. Exploring, discovering, experimenting, reading... whatever helps her understand the world, she loves. She certainly prefers the hands on in this side of things.

She continues to enjoy writing and drawing... and of course, reading and reading and reading and reading and reading and did I mention reading.... yes, she's almost always found with at least one book in her hand. That may change soon as baseball season is fast approaching and the wintry muddy mess is nearly gone which means she'll revert to sports fanatic again! :)

Gabi has grown so much... maybe not so much in height (though a little there too).... but in understanding. This year, with everything going on and stuff just piling up, she was so good about us having to put off and put off and put off her birthday party. But, in true Gabi fashion, we had tons of kids here for a nice, loud, Land Before Time pizza party adventure! (We were kind and let her open family gifts on her birthday). And since Gabi doesn't like frosting (unless it's Hershey's perfectly chocolate frosting... everything else is too sweet), we printed off a picture and just stuck it to the cake.... Oh my... I almost can't believe I suggested it to her ('cause I like stressing over making cakes my kids will love).

Ever more and more helpful, Gabi learned how to do the laundry by herself! Yes... BY HERSELF! And more importantly, she loves it! Now, when she finds out I've been doing laundry, she always accuses me have taking over "her job". She also has been a great help with Baby C. - feeding him and singing to him (of course, so have the other kids... everyone seems to think they need to fight over who gets to help him... he is, after all, only awake so much of the time he's here).

She loves to challenge herself... and since she's planning to be baptized when she turns 8 (and we've talked a lot about how it's her choice to make and that she needs to learn for herself if the gospel is true) she's decided to try to read the entire Book of Mormon before she turns 8. That's pretty amazing... and she loves to read the Book of Mormon, so I'm sure she'll meet her goal!

She still says she's going to China on her mission... now she's determined to somehow learn Chinese so she can be prepared!

I'm still amazed at how fast the time has flown... but very excited to see our little girl growing so well - developing her talents, finding her interests, and sharing her enthusiasm for life with the rest of us!