NINE! Is it really halftime?

To my Dearest Darling Madeline,

Wow, this past year went fast.  I can’t believe all the ways that you have grown.  Second grade was a great year in school.  You worked so hard and learned so much.  You really seemed to enjoy school and your friends even more than before. You are still my sensitive one, with a need to understand all that is going on around you.  And you just want things to be simple and fair. You are also quite the thrill seeker and I am blown away by your love for roller coasters and fast rides.  Watching you at Disneyland was simply amazing.  You were so happy with everything that we did and all that was happening.  Riding in the front row of California Screamin’ was a memory I will never forget.  I can’t wait to take you on many more roller coasters as you get older.  I am so proud of the big girl that you are turning into.  I had so much fun watching you play sports this year.  Soccer, basketball and softball were so fun with wonderful team mates and friends.  Swim team has been such a great, fun thing for you.  I love watching you swim and overcome the nervousness that you feel before each meet.  You are beautiful gliding through the water and your smile at the end of practice and races says it all.  I think you found your thing; in the water where you are so comfortable and confident.  I am also so proud of the way your sister and you handled everything with swim team.  You both are very mature and kind and able to work things out.  You are so lucky to have each other.  

I can’t believe you are NINE!  I can’t believe you are going into third grade (my favorite grade).  With each year, I cherish and love you more and more.  I wish I could freeze time and keep you young, but then am so amazed and proud of you each day you get older. 

I love you with all my heart!

Mommy

To My Dearest Darling Emma,

NINE! You are NINE!  And you are witty and sassy and silly as can be.  Watching your silly little personality develop is amazing.  I don’t know if you learn it from your friends or if your friends are learning it from you.  It is quite funny to witness.  You continue to do well in everything you try; school, friends, sports, you do it all with an ease that is hard to describe.  You still blow me away with your skateboarding and your determination to learn new tricks and do them well.  I loved watching you play soccer, basketball and softball this year.  You weren’t afraid to try and always did your best.  You are quite the miss social, you are always surrounded by friends and seem to get along with everyone.  You are making friends that will last you your lifetime.  I love how you get along with your sister and brother even when they don’t always get along with each other.  You always watch out for them and make sure they are happy or have what they need.  I am so proud of the big girl you are turning into.  I love watching you grow in all ways and know that you will continue to grow into an amazing person.  Some days I wish I could turn you back into a two year old, but i know I can’t.  Watching you get older breaks my heart and makes me so proud all at the same time.  

I just know that this next year will be amazing for you.  Third grade was my favorite to teach and I would have loved to have a girl just like you in my class.  

I love you with all my heart!

Mommy

Eight is going to be great!

To My Dearest Darling Madeline,

Today you turn 8!  I am trying really hard to figure out how the last 8 years have gone by so fast.  You have grown up so much in the last year.  First grade started off a little tough being in a different class than Emma.  Once you found your stride, you took off in all areas.  You learned so much in school and built great friendships.  You enjoyed soccer and to my surprise loved softball.  You still don’t like to be center of attention so I was nervous you wouldn’t like being up to bat, but you can rip the ball and did so well.  You even asked if you could play all summer.  You found a new level of confidence this year and it shows.  I am very proud of the girl you are becoming.  You are silly and sweet.  You love music and sports.  You still think more than any child I have ever met, and your little mind is always at work.  You have a great relationship with your brother.  He gravitates towards you and loves to be with you, even if you two are fighting.  He just loves to be near you.  You and Emma still have a magical sister relationship.  I love that you two get along so well.  She will always be your best friend.  Sometimes I wish I could just spy on you, listen to your conversations and watch you two interact.  Sisters are the best! 

Eight just seems so old, you are going to grow so much again this year and I can’t wait to see it happen before my eyes.  I know eight will be great for you.  

I love you with all my heart,

Mommy

To My Dearest Darling Emma,

How is it possible you are already 8!?!?!?!?  What a year you have had!  This last year, you have amazed me more than I thought was possible.  When you were in the hospital daddy said you were going to do extreme sports, but I never really thought it would actually happen.  I knew you would enjoy skiing, soccer, softball, tennis, and anything you did but never imagined that you would be a rockin’ skateboarder at this age.  The confidence it has given you is so amazing to watch.  You have taken that confidence with you in everything you do from school to sports to building friendships.  Watching you skateboard is absolutely amazing to me, you do it with such ease, determination and confidence.  I am so proud of you and love watching you get better and better.  You are still such a kind, sweet girl.  You get along with everyone and I love watching you help your brother and play with your sister.  You and Madi have a great relationship and I love watching you two when you are together making up games, listening to music or making art.  You are her biggest cheerleader and she is yours.  

You are just going to do great being eight.  You will continue to amaze me everyday and I am so excited to watch it all happen.

I love you with all my heart,

Mommy

Mr. Awesome is Three!

To My Dearest Darling Son,

Today you turn three and I can believe how fast the last three years have gone! You are are AWESOME, you are sweet and silly and crazy and awesome every minute of every day. I love watching you grow and learn every second of everyday. You love your sisters! You love everything about spending time with them, the good and the bad that they teach you. You love to love Madi and Emma and you love to challenge Madi and Emma. You have brought so much joy to this family, I can't begin to put it into words.

You have a sweetness and confidence about you that no one can match,  You are great company and can talk about everything and anything for hours non stop.  I can't believe how fast you have grown, yet still cherish every second you snuggle with me.  You are a mama's boy and I wouldn't  change a thing.  You like to be strong and independent, yet still love to snuggle and stay close.

I love you my sweet boy, I look forward to everyday I get to spend with you. I look forward to listening to everything you have to say or laugh at or do.  Everyday you are full of life and bring crazy, happy smiles to everyone you meet.

I absolutely love you to the moon and back.  I can't wait to see how much you grow this year, but please don't outgrow me.  You are my boy!

I love you beyond words and beyond hugs,

Mommy

How is it possible these two are SEVEN!

To My Dearest Darling Madeline,

You are SEVEN!  You have grown up so much in the past year.  You have lost a ton of teeth, you get taller by the day.  Every time I look at you, you seem to grow in front of my eyes.  You really are no longer my tiny, little peanut.  The other night, I picked you up off the couch and carried you to bed.  I looked at your sweet little face, stole 10 kisses from you and then almost cried when I realized how long your legs were.

This year you went to Kindergarten, you started at a new school and met a bunch of new kids.  I couldn't be more proud of how you handled this milestone.  You pushed yourself to do the best you could every day.  You became more and more comfortable and let your silly side show.  You made friends and learned so much.  You are a thinker, you always have been.  Now that you are beginning to learn more at school and home, I can see your little mind working even harder to understand the world around you.  You seem to really enjoy math, which makes me happy because I always loved math too.  I love sitting with you and helping you do your math homework and watching you figure out all the problems with ease.  I am so proud of you and know that you will do great in first grade even if you aren't with your sister again.  I know that you will quickly find your confidence and do amazing things.

One thing I completely love about you, is that you like to talk about things.  You like to sit with me and talk about the things that are bothering you, or the things that happened at school.  Sometimes I have a hard time explaining things to you when you have questions, but I love that you want to understand so much.  I really hope that you will always come to me and talk to me like that.

I also love that you are completely aware when you have had enough.  You love your quiet time and seem to know just when you need it.  Life can be overwhelming at times and you are able to take a break from things and come back when you are ready.

You and Emma still have a magical relationship.  I love watching you two play and laugh.  Making up new games or playing old games, you two can have fun together anywhere.  You have also been able to include Ben in your games now that he is a bit older.  I love the way you treat him, teach him and love him.  He has a special bond with you and I hope that never changes.  Thank you for loving him and taking care of him.  You are a great sister to both Ben and Emma.  

No matter how much you grow this year, I hope you will still crawl on my lap when you are tired or need a moment.

I love you with all my heart.

Mommy

To My Dearest Darling Emma, 

STOP Growing!!! I can't believe how much you have grown this year physically, emotionally, socially, and academically. What a year you have had.  You are such a fun spunky little girl.  Some days I look at you and think you could be ten. You handle yourself so well in all situations.  You are confident and comfortable with every choice you make.  You know what you like and how you like it.  Even if it means the same clothes everyday or your hair in a pony tale.  

This year you went to kindergarten.  You were at a new school with a lot of new kids.  You walked in there and immediately made friends and began talking to everyone.  You are very easy going, talkative and confident.  You go with the flow and follow directions when needed.  You really seemed to enjoy kindergarten both the for learning and for socializing. You learned so much this year.  Watching you learn to read and understand the math was exciting for me.  I can't wait to see how much you learn in first grade.  

You have also become quite the budding artist this year.  I love watching you sit for hours creating pictures and drawing things.  You pay such great attention to detail. And really seem to enjoy it.  It is your own little way of taking a break from other things and having some quiet time.  

You also have a great imagination.  You are able to make up a game or pretend play with Madi anytime, anywhere,. You two play so well together when you make up your little games, and you do a great job teaching your brother how to play along as well.  All of the pretend play you and Madi do is really helping Ben develop a great imagination.  You have also developed a great relationship with him.  He loves it when you help him, and you do a great job helping me with him. Thank you, I appreciate how helpful you are.  

I love your sporty little attitude and look. I love that you are willing and excited to try any sport or play any game.  I can't wait to see what you try this year and how much you enjoy it. 

I love you with all my heart!

Mommy

Can't believe our little guy is TWO!!!

Seriously, how did this happen?

To my Dearest Darling Son,

What an amazing year!  You have grown so much in the last year in ways I didn’t think possible for such a little guy. You continue to make everyone you come across smile.  Your smile is the biggest most contagious smile I have ever seen on any child.  No one is capable of feeling sad or upset when you are around, it just isn’t possible.  

A year ago you were still unable to walk but now you are running and running fast.  And if you aren’t running, you are jumping.  In fact you talk about running and jumping all day long. “Ready, set, go” often comes out of your mouth as you take off as does “good jump” after a leap off furniture or a stair.  You want to keep up with your sisters so much, you just don’t stop.  You try and often succeed at climbing what they climb even if it is to get to the top of a very high, steep slide. And if your sisters go down head first, so do you with no fear of what is at the bottom.  I have even caught you going head first lying on your back without any possible way to stop yourself at the bottom.  But you always pop up and go again.  If you fall you pop up, say “I’m okay” and off you go. I am pretty sure you got the “I’m okay” from Emma as that is what she says anytime she trips, falls, or bumps into a wall.  

In fact most of your words and phrases you have picked up from your sisters.  You constantly repeat what they say and it is so funny and cute even when it doesn’t make any sense.  Yelling “smart car” in the car still gets a giggle out of everyone.  Although now one of your favorite conversations in the car is about trucks. You see a truck, shout “Whoa” then ask “momma, you see it?”.  “See it?” gets used anytime you see and point out airplanes, helicopters, boats, balls, anything that sparks your interest.  Your language development has been so fun to witness the last couple months.  Everyday you put together new sentences and share your thoughts and feelings in a new way. My favorite is the “I wuv vue” I get every night when putting you to bed.  

Along with your language development has come your ability to sing and memorize songs.  We have never been good teaching you or singing children’s songs with you.  Instead you listen to mainstream radio in the car and around the house.  Daddy likes to show you music videos on You Tube and a video for the song Daylight by Maroon 5 caught your attention immediately and quickly became one of your favorites.  I often have to play the song or video to calm you when you are upset or to distract you from something.  You often demand to hear it in the car and have also started listening to it at bed time.  And every time you hear it, you sing along.  Even if it isn’t playing, you often sing it.  Another new favorite and often requested song is Thrift Shop by Macklemore but you like to call it “what what”. And of course you sing along and dance too.  I find you singing along to almost every song played on the radio, Macklemore, Maroon 5, Lumineers, if it gets played regularly, you probably know the words.

You are still my little snuggler and mama’s boy.  I love that you still want to snuggle after you wake up from your naps.  When you rest your head on my shoulder or chest my heart just melts.  I could sit like that forever and breathe you in. 

Happy second birthday to the craziest, happiest, sweetest, most lovable little blonde guy I know.  I can’t wait to see all you learn in the next year.  

I love you with all my heart.

Mommy

SIX, SIX how can they be SIX?!?!

I can not believe that it has been six years since Madi and Emma were born into this world. It all seems to be going too fast for me and I want to keep them young and small forever.  

Such great little helpers in the yard.  

To My Dearest Darling Madeline,

When you were born 6 years ago one of the nurses called you my feisty one.  As you have become more confident and wise your feistiness has grown too.  I usually refer to it as spirited.  Although at times it isn’t what I want to see or hear, it many times is mixed with humor and wit.  You are as smart as a whip and it is so fun to see you playfully tease your sister, brother, dad and me.  Nothing gets by you, and you remember everything!

Your confidence has lead you to be quite the little thrill seeker too.  It always takes you a minute to “trust yourself” and “find your brave” but once you do, you don’t stop.  You did it when we were skiing, you did it when you learned to ride your bike without training wheels, and you did it with the water slides at Suncadia and Great Wolf Lodge.  I will never forget getting you to trust yourself on two wheels.  But as soon as you did, you were grinning ear to ear and I was crying.  Crying because I was so proud of you and crying because it made me realize just how much my sweet little Goo was growing up.  

I love watching you with your little brother.  You are so sweet to him and the love you have for him just shines.  And boy does he adore you!  I know at times he can ruin your fun or break your toys but it doesn’t effect the way you love him.  

And you and Emma are still best friends.  I think you may fight a little more now, but you usually get along and have a lot of fun together.  The imaginary play is incredible to watch and listen to.  I love the way you play together.  Although you many times make the rules, you have learned to follow your sister’s lead too.  And you get excited when she has a good idea.  With Kindergarten about to start I have asked if you would like to be in class together or separate.  You two chose together but when you fight I threaten to split you up.  One morning when I said I was going to split you up, you looked at Emma then looked at me and said “but I need my sister”.  The look of concern in your eyes was real.  You two need each other, not always but you two are sisters and will forever need each other.  

This last year you were in the Five’s Program at Seattle Preschool.  That meant that you were at school everyday from 9:30-2:30.  I very much enjoyed the peace and quiet it gave me every day but I missed you.  I knew you were in a great place, learning and having fun.  I never imagined how much you would grow this year though.  The first year you went to Seattle Preschool you didn’t talk for nearly half the year.  This year you didn’t stop talking and got voted funniest kid in class by the twin boys.  Although I am not sure I like that title because it means you are goofing off instead of learning. At the same time it makes me feel proud that you have developed such a sense of self that you feel comfortable being silly and talking in class.  

I am so proud of you!  I absolutely adore you and love you.  Thank you for still wanting to crawl on my lap and snuggle even if your brother tries to push you off.  I will always snuggle you.

I Love You,

Mommy

To My Dearest Darling Emma,

Wow, you have grown up.  You love to wear your hair in a pony tail and it makes you look so grown up.  It shows off your beautiful face and it makes you look like a big kid.  And a kid you are.  You exude everything that is kid.  You are easy going, yet play hard.  You really just like to have fun and are so sweet and happy about it.  When I think of you I see a vision of you smiling, skipping, just at peace with being a kid.  You like to try new things and are usually the first one to succeed.  Things come naturally easy to you and you just run with it.  I love watching you when you are engaged in physical activity, it is such a natural state for you.  

Although sometimes your mind seems to be wondering and you seem to lose focus, you really do pick up on things fast.  The things you learn and share are amazing.  You have an amazing memory and love to learn.  You also love to share.  You enjoy telling everyone just about anything.  Your coaches, your teachers, your friends, you tell them the greatest stuff about yourself and what you know.  You are genuinely excited to share  with them.  

You do an amazing job sharing and teaching your little brother too.  He adores you and I know just how much you adore him.  When you aren’t with him, you like to talk about him and all the cute things he does.  

You are still best friends with your sister.  I truly believe that you two will always be best friends.  You are still her biggest cheer leader and light up when she succeeds.  You have also become more competitive with her but it is usually in good fun and neither of you stay mad for long.  Madi likes to be the leader and lately you have begun to share your voice and share your ideas more too.  It is fun to watch you two take turns.  Usually in public or around a big group you are the one to step forward and Madi follows your lead. I am proud of the leader you are becoming and very proud that you are able to sit back and easily let others lead too.  

This year in Seattle Preschool, you were in the Five’s Program.  There were only 9 kids in the class and you were friends with all of them.  But especially with the boys.  Somehow you showed the boys in your class how cool girls can be.  You are just a cool girl and a lot of that comes from your daddy and being daddy’s little girl. Because you are still and will forever be daddy’s little girl.  

I am so very proud of the kid you are and the big kid you are becoming.  It breaks my heart that you are growing up so fast, but I know you will forever be a great kid.  

I Love You,

LOVE that they still snuggle and fall asleep on each other.  

Mommy 

Suncadia

Tuesday afternoon we took off to Suncadia for a couple days.  It is sort of a smaller version of Sun River, OR only about an hour away instead of 6.  The weather was fabulous and hot.  When we got there our room wasn't ready so we headed over to the pool.  The pool set up was perfect and way less crowded than the SHARC in Sun River.  There was a great kiddie pool for Ben to splash around in, a great large pool for everyone to swim and even a couple water slides inside that the girls loved!  Madi would disappear and ride the slides for what seemed like hours.  Ben got so comfortable with the water that he attempted jumping in the big pool all by himself.  Thankfully, I was right there and was able to grab his arm.  Tuesday night Chad took the girls over to the kids' camp and we sat out on the patio of the lodge and enjoyed the view with Ben.  Wednesday we took a little bike ride along the miles and miles of bike trails.  We didn't go miles and miles because it was hot, but we could have.  We had so much fun that on Thursday when it was time to go, we ended up staying a little longer.  At first it was leave at noon, then at 2, then in and hour, and we ended up leaving at 5.  By the time we got home, ordered and ate pizza, it was time for bed and there was no sign of it being the Fourth of July for us.

Such an amazing view of the Cascades.

These two passed out after swimming while we were getting ready for dinner!

Once he figured out the life jacket, this kid turned into a fish.

Chilin' with Dada

Chad took the girls on a morning bike ride.

And they got ice cream before 10:00.