Violet at Age 8

Violet continues to be an absolute joy in our lives. Is there anything sweeter than an 8 year old girl? She is kind, thoughtful, smart, creative, joyful, silly, sweet and a million other wonderful things too. I always tell her she's my favorite girl. We have a very close bond. Some things to remember about her: 

• She's got a full schedule! Piano: she's still taking from Dr. Williams and really enjoys it. She and Max just made it to the ensemble festival honors recital (even though it about destroyed their relationship). Dance: she's at Hilight twice a week and is on a crew team. She likes jazz more than ballet by a long shot. She tells me she likes "sassy dancing," haha. She's had a hard time that Quinn and Gigi are on company dance and she isn't, and we've talked about not comparing ourselves. We didn't even try out because it's so time consuming and she's so young. I'm not even sure if she likes dance that much or if she just wants to be with them? Not sure what we'll decide to do for next year. Tumbling: she moved up to Gold a couple of months ago! Singers Company: I think it's her third year? fourth year? She still really likes it! This year Penny and Blair are doing it too, which is fun. 
• The poor thing has had a rough year with bowel issues. She's suffered from chronic constipation since she was a toddler. We finally started seeing a great specialist this year. She had to do a bowel  cleanout in July (actually her second cleanout: her first 18 months ago didn't work). It was so, so hard and broke my heart. She was a real trooper. Now she has to remember to have push time multiple times a day, miralax in the morning, and exlax at night. It's tough. But we're hoping she can have a fully recovered colon sometime in 2025!
• She's in second grade at Ridgeline and has Mrs. Kelly. She's had a hard time loving Mrs. Kelly as much as Mrs. Swalberg. But she's loved having Gigi and Londyn in her class! 
• Her best friends are Monroe and Gigi. But she has lots of friends! She also loves playing with Londyn and Phoebe at school. There's definitely more drama with little girls and there are already things I have to talk through with her. 
• Violet says her favorite move is the Parent Trap. We also went through a real Descendents Red phase earlier this summer. (The music is actually really great.)
• Violet loves her music! Most of the year she was a big Swifty, listening to Taylor Swift nonstop. Then she was introduced to Benson Boone and she's obsessed. I love hearing her sing. She loves to make up dances too. 
• She's our kid who suffers from night terrors, which is weird? She won't have them for several months and then all of a sudden will have them most nights and wakes up at 11:00 confused and upset. 
• She's become extremely chatty lately and wants to talk to me a lot in the car and everywhere. She always wants to talk about things coming up that she's excited about, like Thanksgiving and Christmas. 
• She and I have a "kiss shake" she made up that she wants us to do every night before bed. 
• She's become very particular about her hair this year and only likes certain hairstyles. She likes having her her down. Her favorite lately is a slicked back high pony with a bow (I have to use gel and she insists I get her hair wet so it's not staticy). There have been tears on days that I don't get it quite right. 

Violet's room! Lots of girly things everywhere. :)

I feel like Violet's developed a strong opinion about her clothes this last year! She cares a lot about her clothes and sometimes tells me things I want her to wear are "not her style." (And she's informed me she won't be wearing skinny jeans anymore.) She has really cute style and loves clothes from Zara. 

Gigi and Violet have continued to be very good friends this year.

Violet is one of my greatest blessings.

She got an American Girl doll for Christmas (Brooklyn) and that's turned into this year's obsession. She wants lots of new clothes and accessories.

Fun playdate at Kate Kenny's! I'm glad she has fun girls all over the neighborhood to play with.

She likes creating things with legos and is extremely creative and detail oriented. 

U of U gymnastics meet with Christine and Grace. She and Grace continue to be very good friends.

Violet loves her dad. They try to sneak tickle each other at bedtime. Cameron calls her his little "squirrel." And he insists her doll's real name is Cameron Junior. Violet thinks he's hilarious. :)

Kathy surprised Violet with these beautiful doll clothes she made for Brooklyn. She's continued to make more this year and I think it's the most special thing.

She begged me all winter to take her skiing, so I finally did. She loves it! No one else wanted to go.

She continues to be a tumbling girl! This is from her spring showcase in the silver level. She finally got her front walkover in September and moved up to gold. She worked so hard! She's always cartwheeling all over the house.

Her cute friend Evelyn was in her tumbling class. I put them in different classes in the fall because I'm pretty sure they just played during class haha.

I've been Violet's activity days leader the last year. It's been so fun! She's definitely more disruptive when I'm the one in charge though. :)

Picture from a fieldtrip.

Last year was her first year on a Crew Team at Hilight. She loved it! Their dance "Blackbird" was darling.

She's a great artist and everything she draws is basically the cutest thing ever.

From her first grade program. She absolutely adored Mrs. Swalberg. I'm pretty sure she'll be Violet's favorite teacher for life.

Gigi and Quinn.

Finally missing teeth!

She has a very silly, fun side.

Violet and I went to see Annie with Christine and Grace. She loves plays and musicals. She loves all the music from Annie.

Another new dress for Brooklyn!

She's been doing Singer's Company again! 

Fun doing it with so many friends! Avery, Gigi, Venna, and Evelyn.

She loves Mrs. Christie.

Dance tryouts with Quinn and Gigi! She made it onto another Crew team.

These three continue to be wonderful friends. So special to be there for Avery's baptism!

Violet is the sweetest big sister to Davis. They're really cute buddies. Even though he's pretty abusive at times, she's quick to forgive and is so nurturing to him.

Singer's Company camp with Avery and Venna!

She's a pro swimmer and took lessons this summer! She's doing so well on all her strokes.

Seven peaks with Avery and Venna.

She did a cheer camp with the neighborhood girls and had a blast. 

Cheer camp with Kinlee and Kyra (some of our favorite babysitters!).

She's a pro reader. She loves going to the library. She's really into graphic novels right now and has me go into Max's room to steal dogman books. She also loves Ivy and Bean books.

Violet continues to adore baby Anna.

Violet has loved having Penny and Blair live closer! She loves playing with them so much.

Monroe and Violet continue to be the dearest friends. They spend a whole lot of time together, especially in the summer. They love to be together and are so kind to each other. (If they're one on one...adding in a third is always trickier.)

Kathy made these darling matching dresses for Violet and Brooklyn! Violet wanted to wear it every Sunday several weeks in a row.

Hiking cousins!

More activity days!

Loves her daddy.

Violet continues to be a fantastic pianist. Her super power is her attitude--she's always willing to try and doesn't shut down when things are hard. It's incredible to watch. Because of this, she's able to make a lot of progress. We practice 30 minutes every morning together, though that should probably start inching up. She won first place in the Keyboard Competition this year! She played Tarantella by Prokofiev and Winter Scene.

Cutest cousins had a sleepover at our house.

Lots of baptisms this year! Here she is at Alivia's baptism last week.