"She was insightful for her age and had a great sense of humor. She laughed a lot and always lit up a room including the people around her. She was very creative and was always drawing and designing things," her family said.

Olivia took art and dance lessons, played tennis, soccer and swam. She was involved in Girl Scouts and musical theater. She loved school and did well in math and reading.

Her family described her as a "grateful child ... never greedy." Each night, Olivia led grace at the dinner table.

Josephine Gay, 7

Josephine had just celebrated her seventh birthday Tuesday. There's a picture of her on the Web, published in various news stories, that shows her smiling with glasses on the tip of her nose.

Josephine liked to ride her bike and sell lemonade in her neighborhood in the summer, The Wall Street Journal reported. The little girl loved the color purple.

Dylan Hockley, 6

Dylan and his family had just moved from England to Connecticut two years ago.

"We specifically chose Sandy Hook for the community and the elementary school. We do not and shall never regret this choice," Dylan's family said in a statement. "Our boys have flourished here, and our family's happiness has been limitless."

Dylan's family said he loved to cuddle and play tag with neighbors at the bus stop every morning.

"He was learning to read and was so proud when he read us a new book every day," the family said. "He adored his big brother Jake, his best friend and role model."

Dylan's parents also expressed gratitude to the educators who died with their son.

"We cannot speak highly enough of Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach, exceptional women who knew both our children," the family said. "Dylan's teacher, Vicki Soto, was warm and funny and Dylan loved her dearly. We take great comfort in knowing that Dylan was not alone when he died, but was wrapped in the arms of his amazing aide, Anne Marie Murphy. Dylan loved Mrs. Murphy so much and pointed at her picture on our refrigerator every day.

"Though our hearts break for Dylan, they are also filled with love for these and the other beautiful women who all selflessly died trying to save our children."

Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47

Hochsprung, who became Sandy Hook Elementary School's principal two years ago, was "really nice and very fun, but she was also very much a tough lady in the right sort of sense," friend Tom Prunty said. And the students loved her. "Even little kids know when someone cares about them, and that was her," he said.

"I never saw her without a smile," said Aimee Seaver, the mother of a first-grader.

Hochsprung lived in Woodbury, Connecticut, with her husband, two daughters and three stepdaughters.

The longtime career educator majored in special education for her bachelor's and master's degrees in the 1990s and entered the Ph.D. program at Esteves School of Education at the Sage Colleges in New York last summer. Hochsprung led a school district's strategic planning panel and was the recipient of a national school grant.

Her accomplishments included overseeing the installation of a new security system requiring every visitor to ring the front entrance's doorbell after the school doors locked at 9:30 a.m.

"My mom, Dawn Hochsprung, was taken tragically from me. But she went down in a blaze of glory that truly represents who she was," her daughter, Cristina Hassinger, tweeted.

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Sweet. Unique. Bright. Determined. Sparking.

Those are words Madeleine's family used to describe their little girl.

"She was an avid reader who loved running and dancing," they said. "She was a born leader."