Zoe is 10!

 Zoe Kayte turned 10 in August! So this blog post is terribly belated. But I will go for it anyway! 

New Birthday plant from Daddy 

Crossing into CO on 8/3 

Lots of fun drinks on our trip! 

Hiking around Rifle Falls State Park 

A beautiful morning to explore outside! 

The hot springs were really neat!! 

A little visit with your CO cousins! 

At the top of Sugar Loaf mountain on family vacation in AR! 

Special time with Momma 

Book Club fun at Line Creek 

Girls' Club at Spin Pizza!! 

Snowy fun! 

BIRTHDAY INTERVIEW! 11/24/25

What is your favorite color? Blue 

... food? Stuffed Peppers or Hawaiian Pizza 

... movie? "Lilo & Stitch" or "That Christmas" 

... TV show? "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" 

... book? "Paws" 

... fruit? "Blueberries and strawberries, I can't pick one, they're both equal." 

... animal? "Axolotl and cat and a turtle." 

... instrument? "Flute" 

... band or singer or favorite thing to listen to on Spotify? "K-Pop Demon Hunters" 

... thing to do every day? "Read a book." 

... thing to learn? "History" 

... about Naomi? "That she listens to me when she wants to play Barbies. Like, when I say 'I don't really want to play anymore' she says, 'Ok'... she's fine with it." 

... about Levi? "That he plays board games with me." 

... about Zeke? "That he helps me with math." 

... about Mommy? "That I bake with her and she reads me books at night." 

... about Daddy? "That we listen to LOUD music; just like it says in my baby book!" 

What do you want to be when you grow up? "A vet is what pops into mind. But also a singer, I think." 

What do you like most about homeschooling? "That I get to sleep in and that Dad cooks breakfast." 

What are you looking forward to about being 10? "That I'm in 5th grade and almost in middle school! And all the new clothes!" 

What was the best part of your 10 year old trip to Glenwood Springs? "Misty's Coffee Shop -- the s'mores steamer! And the Hot Springs! And the pizza place." 

Zoe Kayte, you are full of justice, fairness, intensity, and expressing yourself. You speak up for yourself and others, defending those you feel are being picked on or singled out. It was very interesting to go on your 10 year old trip with you and realize how different you are when you're on your own, not around your siblings. You weren't sure what decisions to make when no one else was forcing you into a decision. You were quiet and wanted to keep things pretty low key and chill. Which made both Dad and I realize you are more like him than we realized! You are really starting to express yourself more and become outspoken. You walk around at church and the kids in your class often call out to you "Hi Zoe!" Even at Kick in September, a girl walked up to me and asked if I was "Zoe's mom" :) You do a great job helping me in the kitchen and I look forward to many days in the future cooking and baking together. When you did the baking competition with Levi, you were often more cool-headed and kept telling him that everything was going to turn out just fine. You continue to wear the "Zoe-look": wide headband with ponytail, every single day. I'm not sure when this will ever change. But I continue to encourage you to try other things. And we have made some progress; during school time, you'll often have your hair down for a couple of hours which is a relief to me because I know your hair needs a break from that same position! When we were planning your 10 year old trip, I asked you what was the most important thing to you, and you told me "swimming". I was partly surprised because we don't swim a whole lot throughout the year, but then it made sense because you really do love it, I just forget about it. So we made sure to swim every day of your trip! And that seemed to make it a great trip for you! And now I'm going to look into swim lessons for over the winter so you can have time to do exercise that you love. You are starting to read chapter books on your own, but still love to snuggle with Naomi and I at night while I read to you both. Some of our favorites together have been the first two Anne of Green Gables books and the first two Harry Potter books. You love Girls' Club which we have on the first Wednesday of every month! We alternate between going out to eat + shopping and eating in + watching a show. I recently purchased "Full House" on Amazon prime so we have been watching that together for Girls' Club time and it has been a lot of fun. You really like Stephanie's character. You began playing flute for band this Fall and at first it was very challenging and I thought you might quit, but you have persevered and are doing SO WELL! You practice diligently and so, you have made excellent progress! Your tone has improved, your note reading has improved, and you look forward to going to band every Wednesday. I'm excited for your concert in a couple weeks! Zoe, I look forward to the year ahead with you and all you will say and do. You make me laugh often and I'm very thankful for that. I pray you will grow in your knowledge and understanding of God in the year to come, that you will love others well, and that you will find joy in the simple things in your life. Love, Mom