Dear Gracie

Dear Gracie, 

Right now you are 7 years old and it is hard to believe. you are excited to be baptized but even more excited to be a mom! In the past couple weeks you have said a few times, "I just can't wait to be a mom!". You actually made up a whole song about it while you were cooking dinner with me once. You make up a lot of songs and sometimes they never end, you just seem to pause them for awhile. You love singing into the ipad and making videos of it. 

You are such a big helper. You always buckle and unbuckle Joe in the car seat. And you also love to unbuckle Louise and carry her inside for me. 

You do have a gift for making a mess. You just have some many ideas of things you would like to do but rarely stop to think about the mess it will make. It usually isn't that big of a deal except right now we are trying to sell our house and keep it show ready. Making messes isn't really good for that. So I find myself frustrated with you a lot lately but I am trying to remember that you are just a child and I need to be patient. 

This is a picture I took one night when you were the last to finish dinner. You are usually the last. You are a very slow eater. I think that is because you can't eat and talk at the same time.

We were doing math one day and counting by 10's starting with 2. When we got to 102 you said "tenty-two". It was pretty funny and we both laughed quite a bit.

This is you and Joe playing Peter Pan and Wendy with a thimble for a kiss. You and Joe play so much together. That is something I have loved about home school is how much time you get to play with Joseph. you guys can play and play and play. I love how dirty your feet are in this picture. 

You are also so sweet with your baby sister. You and Louise really love each other and you love to take care of her, teach her, and help her. Here you are sharing your twinkie with her that she wanted so bad. 

One night as I was going to bed I saw this note written to me and dad with lipstick. You love to write sweet noted to people and you love to ask me questions using notes. Like yesterday in church you gave me a note that asked if we could please watch a movie when we got home. 

You have been asking for a while to learn how to sew and I finally started teaching you. You have done really well with learning to control the speed of the machine. It will be awhile before you are doing the cutting, pinning, and ironing. But one step at a time. I know you will be a great sewer because you love to create.

Here you are very proud of your knew skirt. 

You still bring so much happiness and joy to our family. 

I love you,

Mom

Dear William

It has been awhile since I have written one of these, our lives have been pretty busy lately. You are a fun kid, full of life and energy. You don't like waking up and having to do jobs first thing. You would much rather hang out in your pajamas and play with legos. Man you love legos and you are really good with them. You have a very creative mind and build a lot of cool things all on your own.

You are growing up so fast. You love to talk to dad and I (mostly your dad) about anything. Especially at night when you are supposed to be going to sleep. You have been reading some more chapter books and are doing well in school. You are doing math online and seem to enjoy that and you are cruising right a long with it. You have also started writing in cursive again and you are doing really well. 

You have gotten better at playing with Joe. It is part of your school to do list. Sometimes playing with a determined three year old can be challenging and has been for you but when you play with his and read with him he loves it so much and I can see the love between you two growing. Once while you were playing outside I heard Joe say, "I will follow him wherever he goes." I know it was part of the game you were playing but it struck me as truth. He will follow you and I am glad you are such a good person. 

You have a very extensive knowledge of the Gospel. You were asked to write your own part for the primary program and did a very good job with that. I love hearing the things that are in your mind and heart. 

Now for some pictures of some happenings over the last couple of months:

Grandma C came over to help you bake cookies for one of you scout requirements. She was kind to do that since I don't really bake. You had a lot of fun doing that with her and the cookies were delicious.

The first day at EVMCO choir this semester I volunteered to help so I got to watch you. I stood in this spot watching you for quite awhile but you never saw me because you never took your eyes off your director. You are very dedicated to choir and such a good singer. I love hearing you sing.

You are growing like I weed and I had to take you shopping because we realized all your pants were too short. You were making me laugh so hard when I convinced you to try on some skinny jeans. You did these poses all on your own.

One night at dinner you asked for more salad. After you ate that you wanted more but it was all gone so you cute up a whole head of romaine and ate by yourself. You love salad. 

You are learning how to mow the lawn and have mowed Grandpa's lawn with assistance but I know it won't be long before you can do it completely on your own. You are very good at accomplishing big jobs and are excited to be earning some money.

While you are such a good helper most of the time there are times where you struggle to obey when first asked and without complaint. Because we are selling the house there have been days where we have to clean everything and I ask for your help and you are not every excited about it. But we are working on it. You also love playing with your friends and get pretty disappointed if playing with them doesn't work out. You do not like to be told, "no".

You love to make people laugh and you are truly a joy. 

I love you, 

Mom