Dear Hezekiah (2nd Birthday Letter)

Oh what do I say to my sweet baby who is now TWO years old?! 

You are one of a kind, buddy... so incredibly smart and your vocabulary is off the charts. You are a bubbly boy who loves to play games and chit chat. You also LOVE to read books. You had a Thomas birthday party and love trains (that you call choo-choo trucks and when you play trains you call them "tunnels").

There isn't a day that goes by that you don't make me laugh out loud with your funny sayings or expressions. You are slightly on the dramatic side. You will ask a question and after I tell you my answer you will always go, "Oh yeah... and then repeat my answer"

Before we moved out of the old house, your sleep patterns were terrible... but once we moved in here they were better. I honestly think that is because you wanted to be with your brothers. You are very aware of what is going on around you -- even in the next room. And you certainly graduated from your crib before your 2nd birthday since you learned to escape from it! 

Right before you turned two, you began talking about yourself as "Kiah" -- and you still do. I have still resisted that change and call you "Hezei" but you refer to yourself and Kiah and most likely always will. It's cute that you came up with it on your own. 

You love peek-a-boo and hide and seek. You can count to twenty and know many of your letters. You also love to tell jokes. Your favorite goes like this...

Knock, knock

who's there?

Nemo

Nemo who?

Octopus. 

HAHAHA.

You repeat anything anyone says... and you love to do things on your own. 

You are learning all about obeying right away and how you aren't in charge... not your favorite, but you're making progress. You are also learning how to say great prayers and sing to Jesus. 

You enjoyed a day at Holiday World- riding your first coaster ride -- but the next day you vomited a lot. Your food allergies are still really bad. We are praying they go away soon, but even still you are in the 90th percentile for weight. 

You can be snuggly when you are shy or being corrected... and you have mastered the art of sticking out your lower lip. You have picked up on things like huffing and puffing and stomping out of a room, which I don't think you know what they mean but you always do them perfectly. You still have your "lovey" which is endearing... as well as your thumb sucking. 

I asked God the other day if you were going to be our last... should I be savoring this season more. He very clearly said "I'm not going to tell you" -- and so I look at you with wonder and awe. I'm so thankful for the way God made you and I can't wait to see what He has in store for you. I love you.

Mommy

Dear Selah (5th Birthday Letter)

Dear Selah,

Ah, yes, I'm a little late in writing this! I hope you know how special you are. I often call you "sugars" because you are just so sweet, but I often tell people that you are my "Queen Esther" -- beautiful, feminine, and you love all things princesses. 

When you turned five we were in the midst of a crazy move... but you enjoyed a pool party and were flexible and positive even though we couldn't swim because of a crazy chemical mishap the pool was closed that day. You had an ariel "under the sea" theme which is funny because you have never ever seen the movie. 

You are such a smart and articulate little girl. You enjoy dressing up, playing games and princesses, and "huggles and snuggles" as you call them. For your birthday we took you to the mall and let you pick out clothes and jewelry -- and ride on one of those overpriced stuffed animals. You loved it all. 

You have a great love for pandas.

You were sad you were not able to start school this year. The night before the big kids left you cried and cried because your birthday 'wasn't early enough" -- but I've enjoyed having you home one more year. 

You often take a maternal tone with your siblings and it cracks me up. You also remind me a lot of me... which is kind of fun and scary at the same time. 

You still love to spin and dance... in fact your dance recital was in June and your group did "If You're Happy and You Know it." You did excellent. 

At Bible study this year you met a little girl named Reagan who is nine and became your best friend. You always looked forward to seeing her. 

A few months ago I took you to Sister's Tea Parlor where we had a nice little tea lunch. You enjoyed it, but didn't like any of the teas! 

At 4 y/o you had a hard time understanding how long a day lasted, so we had to measure time in "sleeps" for you - ex. "4 more sleeps until your birthday or 9 more sleeps until christmas."

When I tell you no... you often ask me if you can do that thing when you are a mommy. You even declared the other day that you will feed your children chicken nuggets every day.

The other day I got in the car and you and Asa were talking about how you will get married when you grow up (you go back and forth between him and Jonah)... and you all were talking about how you will snuggle a lot. It was cute and I liked what you thought marriage was all about saying you would have "lots of fun."

You are pretty prefect, little girl. You still struggle with eczema -- and even have some behind your ears. We call those your "crusties" and I always pick at them. Once you told me to leave them alone because Jesus gave them to you. 

My prayer is that you will always love Jesus with a sincere faith. And that he will push you out of your comfort zone. You tend to not like germs or other people (or other's people food if I ever offer you something off of someone's plate). You struggle a bit with Hezekiah in that regards. So, sweet girl, I'm praying for you to be stretched. You have such a sweet, Others-centered heart... I love watching you do and say kind things to the people around you. You really are setting an example for our whole family. 

Thanks for being my sweet princess. I love you!

Mommy

Dear Jonah (6th Birthday Letter)

Dear Jonah,

Well, there is nothing like being eight months late in writing your birthday letter! Thank you for being you! You are so sweet, kind, funny, and tender. You light up our entire family... always with your funny stories or "what if" scenarios.

You still love star wars... your 6th birthday was full of it. As of now, your love is still there but I begin to see it fading a bit. Your seasons of life will always be marked by your passions. I'm praying one day your greatest passion will be Jesus, and that it will be a passion that never ends. You love his Word and talking about God. Looking forward to the day you ask Him into your heart. You've talked before about being baptized, but only so you can take communion at church :)... We are asking you to wait a while until you have a different reason.

You finished Kindergarten like a champ. Mrs. Driggs absolutely loved having you, and always said your smile is what she will miss the most. On your 6th birthday I ate lunch with you at school and she was telling me about how your face has matured and you don't look like a baby anymore. You really are growing.

Now you are in first grade and you love it. You especially love your teacher and your friend Jacob. It is fun to see you doing your best. Your handwriting is impressive and you do such a great job on spelling tests and math. I'm so proud of you, buddy.

In school this year (first grade) you were talking about something that happened while you were saying the pledge of allegiance, and you said, "as I was was pledge-a-elating and I laughed really hard. You also still say "blanklet" for blanket.

You love legos, coloring and drawing (you are very good), and now anything with weapons (guns, swords, etc.). You love exploring the new land in our house and you adjusted to the move beautifully.

We lovingly call you our teenager because you enjoying staying up late and sleeping in. You enjoy eating all sorts of food, but love fruits most of all.

You have sung in two Christmas Cantatas... one last year (age 5) where you were in the front row either singing very loudly or not at all... and you kept touching your private parts.... haha! Then this past time (age 6), you did okay, but you stood right next to a boy who threw up everywhere. For a little while you looked sick too, but thankfully you did not get it.

Last spring we went to Holiday World one day and then the next morning you had your spring recitation at school... you looked SO SLEEPY and we resolved never to take you all on a school night again. You did enjoy riding the rides, though.

So far you've only had the stomach bug once... and that was in October of 2015. You only threw up two times and you insist that is was the pasta I made the night before. I'm pretty sure it was a virus.

As you've gotten older, you have become a bit picky on how things are supposed to be... so we are working on flexibility and reminding you that you are not in charge. We are working on your tone, obeying first time, and having grace too.

You've also been telling wild stories lately and whenever I call you on it you will change your story to "I think that's what happened..." when you said it so matter of factly first. You also told Asa if he touched a wolly worm (or as you called it a "poison ivy worm") that he would die. Asa immediately broke down and cried because he didn't want to die and he had already touched one. You tried to act like you didn't say it, but we all knew you did.

I love watching you grow and learn. I'm excited for what God is going to do in your life this year. Thank you for being you... I love everything about you.

Mommy