Dear Elijah,

Happy 6th birthday, dude! Goodness you are an amazing addition to our family. You are a breath of fresh air much of the time. I feel you take after your dad in your enthusiasm for life and in how dang smart you are. There's so much to say about you this past year. I hope I can remember the best parts!

For starters, you are halfway through Kindergarten. We moved to California before the beginning of the school year so we are at a different school. You absolutely love it! You have so many friends I hear about. The ones I hear most about are Sky, Christian, Oliver, and Shanalee among others. I hear great things about you and your teacher wrote such a wonderful note about you when you were Star of the Week. She mentioned you are the funny man in class, always wanting to make people laugh. She also mentioned how well you read, comprehending what you read, and your natural abilities in math. It has been so nice to see you thrive academically and socially.

Physically, you are a pretty tall kid. Not the tallest in class (that goes to your friend Christian) and not the shortest (that is definitely your best friend Sky) but a pretty healthy size. We haven't lost any teeth yet, so we'll see about that by next year. You eat a lot better than from a year ago. You are still picky, but much more willing to try new things. It gives me hope in the future for your sister, who moved to the pickiest eater spot. You are also about to start up Martial Arts. I wanted to get settled in California before we started anything and I'm excited for you. We seemed to find a great program that is very flexible and a decent price nearby. We had our free complimentary class and you seemed to enjoy it. 

I mentioned your enthusiasm for life. It shows in your smiles, your (loud) voice, your energy, and even in your pronunciation of words! You are willing to try new things, go on the biggest rides, race other kids, and even fight scary ghosts on the game Luigi's Mansion. Speaking of games, you are totally into video games. You still love Legos and puzzles, but we moved onto games like Mario games, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Minecraft, and even Just Dance. In fact, you are starting to get better than me in some of them...and you're six! I think you'll be one of those people that's just a natural at games with your coordination and great problem solving skills.

Today was such a good example of why you are a ray of sunshine in my life. You are getting more independent and not only do things for yourself, but for your siblings. You get the mustard for Eden's corndog. You get Noah's binky when he cries. You help your brother in the game he's playing. When we went shopping you helped me check out, put all the items in bags, and helped me carry them inside AND put them away...without me asking! You blow me away, Eli. I need you so much! Of course, there are days where you are less helpful, but I never worry about you. You are an amazing little guy who's going to do great things. You already are.

And thus concludes your sixth birthday letter. If you couldn't tell by reading this letter, I love you so much, Elijah Kevin. Thank you for being you. I hope this next year will bring great things for you. Maybe you'll meet your goal of becoming a Karate Master! Know that you are loved, not only by your family and friends, but especially by your Heavenly Father. 

Love,

Mama

Noah at Ten Months

 

+Has five teeth with another coming in

+Starting to cruise

+Copies raspberries, tongue clicking, clapping, and other little things

+Starting to stand from sitting

+Stands for a few seconds

+Hates diaper changes and changing clothes

+Likes to bite Mama's soldier

+Does it with a big smile on his face

++++++++++

This kid wants to grow up fast! I love seeing him interact with others, especially his siblings. They love to carry him everywhere, much to my dismay, but he's a good sport about it. We had Grandma and Grandpa Hobbs come visit over Christmas and I was worried about how he would react to them seeing as he is a complete mama's boy and is wary of others (including Sam). But he warmed up fast to them and it was so fun to see him bond! He is getting more and more personality, too. He wants me to flip him upside down while in my lap and I'm teaching him to clap when I say "yay Noah!". When Grandma and Grandpa were here he loved blowing raspberries and copying us whenever we did it to him. 

He was also sick for the first time right after Christmas. It was great timing (thanks Noah) if the kids had to get sick seeing as it was after our guests left and we still had a couple weeks until school starts back up. We suspected it was Covid but never got tested. Poor guy, we've had such a good streak with illnesses. The last three babies lived with runny noses and I assumed that was normal for a baby.  It was great not having to deal with baby snot these past months, even if he still pukes all over me daily.

For fun I looked up the other ten month posts I had of the other kids and he is so similar to Eli. I even had that Eli liked to bite my shoulder at this age, too! I want to see if he beats Eli's record of walking (a week or two after his first birthday). I have a feeling it will be a close one. It's bittersweet to see Noah growing up, but I can't see our family any other way! He's a sweet baby!

Photoshoot for "Baby's 1st Christmas"

My little Moogie Man!

Looks so similar and yet so different to the other kids!

He is still going strong with baby food. I thought he looked cute all messy...

...But this is messy! Sam feeding him Chocolate while we played card games with the kids.

Christmas morning. He was a happy little guy!