Dear Eden,

 

Happy 8th birthday to you! I'm over a month late; sorry about that! It has been a big birthday with your baptism, and I am proud of the girl you have become.

You are growing just fine despite your limited diet. Your favorite foods include cheese pizza and chicken nuggets, strawberries, and shells and cheese. I will say you are slowly trying new things, even if most of it doesn't take. Some of your favorite things to do with food are to mix all of the sauces together (mayo, ketchup, honey mustard, Chick-fil-A sauce), as well as taste all the sodas in the same cup. You lost a few teeth since your last birthday, and although the dentist predicted your gap tooth would disappear with the adult teeth, you are still proudly sporting a gap!

Your interests are still very much the same. You have been a dragon-loving girl for over four years, and I don't see that stopping any time soon. You have all the Dragon Master books; in fact, for your 8th birthday you requested a Dragon Master theme since all Dragon Masters are 8 in the series. You like to read the Wings of Fire graphic novels. You do like to read Dog Man and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, too. You are still quite the budding artist and draw stories all the time. You are quite imaginative. I have you enrolled in an after-school art class as your extracurricular activity for the year.

This year you tested into Gifted and Talented (GT), and you are so proud of yourself. You really love the class and the teacher. I tried to prepare you just in case you didn't place, but I'm glad you get to have this experience. You like to read and do well on your spelling tests, so the biggest struggle we have is just getting you to do your homework. You are in class with your friend Dustin again, but you tell me you play with other friends at recess as well. One of the friends I hear a lot about is a girl named Mia, who also loves dragons. 

I've been blessed with such a sweet, silly girl. Some of the things that you say are absolutely hilarious. For example, you came into my room one morning to show me a star bead you had in your set that had an extra-long bead attached to it. It kind of looked like it was holding a gun, and you said it was a shooting star. Very clever. You like potty language as well much to Joseph's chagrin. To compliment your silly side, you can be super sweet. Yesterday you cleaned your room, hallway, desk, and piano area without me asking. It doesn't happen often, but boy did it make me so happy!

You have had a fun summer. You learned how to swim! Although you aren't confident in the deep end, you went from not really swimming to swimming across the pool in one summer. You also did some kung fu and earned a "pink" belt. Lastly, you got baptized! You chose to do it in Albuquerque with family. It's hard to believe that my baby girl is old enough for baptism and is in third grade. You have a strong bond with your brothers. You are interested in a lot of the things they are, like dinosaurs and lizards. However, there is still a lot of fighting that we are working on, and hopefully it will stop one day, even if it's when you guys are all grown up.

I love my daughter so much! I'm so happy you are in my life and teaching me so much. I hope you continue learning this year and being the sweet and silly girl that you are. 

Love,

Mom

Dear Joseph,

Happy Birthday! We officially have a teenager in the family now that you are 13. I asked Dad if he wanted to write the letter, but he all but said he was going to get AI to do it. I'm sure you wouldn't mind, but I'm going to stick with tradition. Onto the letter!

In addition to officially being a teenager, you are officially taller than me. Hard to tell, but if we line up, you have a smidge on me. My prediction was correct on that. I buy clothes from the men's section now and I don't think you mind as you prefer more plain, grown-up versions of things. Something new? You have glasses! And will be getting braces very shortly as well. You have a decent appetite and still love the same things (Fanta, sushi, pickles, etc) but recently I've been buying coconut greek yogurt and you love that stuff. You love anything lemon as well and recently had the idea to open up a lemonade stand. We'll have to try that soon.

 After reading your last letter, I am so happy to report that you now have friends! Your best friend is Troy, but you have also made friends with boys named Andrew and Aiden. Perhaps you will be open to even more friendships. You are kind of at the stage where you are being influenced by your friends. You went through the 6 7 craze like most middle schoolers, and you are signed up for orchestra. That is something I never thought would happen, but your friend Andrew plays the viola, and you figured orchestra is popular now and are willing to try it. I'm not going to hold my breath, but it makes me happy to see you interact more with kids your age.

School has been a roller coaster in 7th grade! You are capable, but we have to be on you like flies on honey to make sure everything is turned in. You managed to make the honor roll for the second nine weeks, but here we are at the end of the school year, just limping along to get to the finish line. You took Spanish this year, which counts as a high school credit! Hopefully, it transfers all right when we finally make it to New Mexico. You don't want to take Spanish II, hence taking orchestra instead. Overall, you seem to enjoy your school, especially now that you have friends. You take the bus most days, which extends your school day quite a bit, but you have a 3DS to occupy the time, so you wouldn't mind too much. 

Let's see, what interests do you have? You love to learn about any type of cryptids and your favorite is el chupacabra. We visited Roswell, and you've taken a liking to aliens as well. You liked to make your own cyphers for a while and attempted to make a cypher club, but the word didn't get out much, and it fizzled before it could take start. You love Pokemon XY and ZA, so anything to do with the Kalos region. Your favorite pokemon still appears to be Sylveon, but you love Zygarde as well. Sadly, you did not stick Scouts out. You realized you didn't like tent camping that much, and I don't blame you with this hot Texas weather. But instead we invested in the Hack Packs from Crunch Labs by Mark Rober. Maybe you'll learn a lot from doing that instead.

We've been attempting to get you into after-school behavior therapy for autism for months now. I felt you needed extra support to cope with things and to know how to behave in certain situations. Maybe we should have done it a while ago, but now I know why I avoided it. If it's not the doctor's office, it's the insurance. If it's not the insurance, it's the therapy place. Hopefully, I'll be able to report all the good things by the next letter. You struggle with conversations with others. You also struggle with coping with things that annoy you. You bite your hand really hard and cannot stand when your siblings bother you, intentionally or not. You immediately resort to yelling or even getting physical. Needless to say, we need the help! 

 

I'm interested to see what this year has in store for you! I sure hope it's a good year and you continue to make friends and keep up in school. I also hope you continue to participate in Young Men's and gain a testimony of Jesus Christ. I love you and your truly unique personality. Thank you for being our little guinea pig for our parenting! Keep being the amazing boy you are.

Love,

Mom

Dear Noah,

Happy belated 5^th Birthday! I procrastinated long enough getting this letter out. The month of your birthday was a little crazy between guests, travel, and Dad being out of town for three weeks. I was reading your last letter only to find that not a lot has changed. Nevertheless, let’s move onto the letter!

 

Another year, still very tall for your age! You are also still quite the picky eater, but something added to your list of favorite foods is ranch. You eat ranch with your chicken, corndogs, and even your quesadillas. You’ve become even more independent with food items, including attempting to make your own Ramen in the microwave! You can be a little demanding when making requests, and I often have to remind you to say please and thank you. We’ll get there!

 

This past year, a new interest popped up, dinosaurs! Your older brother got into Jurassic Park at some point, and you were hooked. Your absolute favorite dinosaur is a swimming dinosaur (you’re not too picky about which ones). You used to watch Dino Ranch, but now you are hooked on Dinosaur Train. We’ve already accrued so many dino things in the past year between toys, clothes, underwear, and even Band-aids. You can probably guess what the theme of your birthday was!

Something new since the last letter is starting school! I was worried about how long the days would be, but you adjusted really well. Your teacher says you are super smart (you are even starting to read short words) just struggle paying attention! Your best friend is Analisa, and you’ve made some other friends as well. Sadly only one of your classmates was able to make it to your birthday party but you didn’t seem to mind! I can’t believe you are starting Kindergarten in a few short months!

 

As far as your personality, you are a very silly boy! It’s easy to get you to laugh, and you love to have fun. Like I said earlier, you are Mr. Independent. I often find you in the front yard and recently you took your little bike on a bike ride by yourself! I had to chase you down halfway down the street. You are the ultimate mess maker as well. If there is a mess in the house, 90% of the time it can be traced back to you. You aren’t picky about where, as long as there is space where a mess can be made. We need to work on that.

You and your siblings are frienemies. Eli and Eden are often good to you, and Eden loves playing with you, but if there is a disagreement, you are not afraid to show your dismay. You will yell and hit or kick right away, and we are learning to use our words. You and Joseph do not get along and have a hard time with each other since Joseph hates having his things touched and likes to tease. This explosive behavior bled into school, so we are working on how to solve conflicts calmly, but it has been hard on your parents. Despite all this, you fit in our family nicely. You are so darn cute!

 

I know you are going to have a good year, Noah! We love having our silly, mischievous boy around to keep us on our toes. I hope you continue to learn patience and solve your problems in a healthy, constructive way. You are one special Child of God, and I look forward to seeing you grow and learn every day. We love you!

Love,

Mama

Dear Elijah,

Happy double-digit day! What a decade it has been, and it’s crazy to think of life before you. The last ten years have been a delight, even the times you drove me crazy! You’ve been a light in our family and a breath of fresh air. Sadly, this birthday was like your last birthday in that you were pretty sick. Our plans to go to Explora and play with cousins kind of went out the window. I guess that’s the reality of a winter birthday. Hopefully the next birthday will be better!

This year you’ve seen some changes. For one, you now have glasses! When I took you to the doctor for an annual checkup you were flagged at the visual screening. You also mentioned having a hard time seeing the board. After seeing an optometrist (and deciding against glasses), your dad took you months later and ended up buying you glasses. You love them! In addition to glasses you are getting braces really soon. Hopefully by the next birthday letter they will be close to coming off.

There are some things that haven’t changed all that much. For one, I mentioned I’ve been buying shoes for you constantly, but recently I noticed I haven’t bought shoes for you since your last school year, and you still fit in them well. Checking your height, there hasn’t been a lot of change there. I’m sure you will be seeing a lot of growth soon, especially when you get to your brother’s current age (he really shot up). Your favorite foods are still very much the same (cereal, chocolate, crepes), but you’ve gotten more adventurous with food, which is really nice!

 

You are currently in 4^th grade and seem to really enjoy it! Your teacher likes to challenge you, and you have GT on top of that. You’ve been very responsible in doing your homework, which has been a blessing. I haven’t worried about you in this regard, and I appreciate how responsible you are. Outside of school, you are still taking piano and recently played in the Primary Program at church. You are currently a child brown belt in kung fu, and we still go a couple times a week to practice. 

Although you have a lot of the same interests as before (Legos, video games, reading), you’ve become even more obsessed with one thing: frilled lizards! You were a frilled lizard for Halloween (again), had another frilled lizard cake, draw them all the time, read and write books about them, and overall just obsess over them. It’s really cute, but it’s hard to find frilled lizard items so at times we have to get creative. I wonder if the obsession will be just as strong or stronger next year!

You still like to read all the time, but your choice of reading has led more to just Dog Man. You have written a few stories as well, including your Norbert Story, and continue to channel your creativity that way. You are very patient with your siblings and their interests and give them your time and attention. Sometimes they will do the same, but I know you can get frustrated with them when they don’t show the same interest in something you worked hard to create (like a game or scavenger hunt). You are a good brother (except for some teasing here and there) and I appreciate your patience and honesty. It’s been so helpful to have such a responsible and trustworthy boy.

I am going to call it good, though there is so much more to say, but I want to let you know how proud I am of you and the person you have become. I hope you continue to work hard in school, be a peacemaker, and be the wonderful boy you are. Best of luck with the coming year, between braces, the last year in primary and elementary school, and being a part of our crazy family. We love you so much!

Love,

Mom

Dear Eden,

Happy 7th Birthday! These years just keep flying by, but you are still the same Eden. Reading the past letter, I don't think you changed all that much. I'm still going to write you a letter detailing your seventh year of life. Let's get into it.

 

In terms of size, you are perfectly normal. Something I have noticed is how slow your feet grow compared to your brothers. I feel I am constantly have to buy a pair of shoes for one of them but you still fit perfectly in the shoes I got you over a year ago. Maybe you will have small feet like your mom! You finished another year of ballet and after discussing it, you decided to try something else. You were sure you would grow up to be a ballerina until I showed you what grown ballerinas do (and saw their feet). Now you decided you want to be an artist when you grow up.

 

Not just any artist, you specifically want to draw dragons. I don't think you have to wait to do that, you are doing that every day. You are still obsessed with dragons. Your birthday theme for your party was water dragon, you have so many stuffed dragons, your favorite book series is Dragon Masters, and you are reading Wings of Fire. You pretend to be a dragon and want to be a dragon for Halloween (again). This is your dragon era and I love it. If it's not dragons, it's Pokemon. You have so many favorites I can't even begin to write them all. You like dinosaurs too. We went to Build-a-Bear and picked this Raptor complete with claws and teeth. Then you picked out a sparkly outfit for it. The people at Build-a-Bear never seen that before, but I think it encapsulates you perfectly.

You are going to start second grade and I'm excited for you. Last school year you became really good friends with a girl named Dustin. In fact, her birthday party theme was also dragons and her mom said she was influenced by you. It was so cute. You are right where you need to be for school, and you are an excellent reader. I attribute that to reading the Book of Mormon almost every night as a family. I hope you will be in the same class as your friends. I will also look into putting you into after school art classes and hopefully piano!

 

When I was reading your last letter, I had to laugh because your diet didn't change at all! HEB stopped stocking your favorite mac and cheese, so I guess that's off the list, but you do enjoy eating pasta in general. I stopped trying to pack your lunch for school because there was hardly anything I could pack! I hoped you would find something you like in school lunches. That's something we've struggled with. Another struggle is getting you to express yourself through words. You are a talker, but will shut down when you are upset. Instead of using your words you make nasty faces, scream, and hiss and growl at anybody. And it happens pretty much every day. I'm hoping this phase passes by your next birthday!

Three years later you are still a hardcore mama's girl. You ask for cuddles all the time and always want to sit by me wherever we go. Dad and I teach your Primary class and you are glued to me! When you talk, you like to be uniterrupted and will talk for a while. You have big ideas and want anything to be executed exactly how you imagine it. You are upset if I change anything, too! You're just a little stubborn, I guess! You are also a very silly girl. You pick up on the silly antics of your brothers and join in. You don't have the smoothest relationship with your brothers, but you hate being alone and will sleep in the same room with one of them almost every night. I'm very glad you are a part of our family.

I hope I captured seven-year-old Eden well! I hope you continue letting your light shine. I hope you will be kind to others and choose to do the right thing. You will be 8 by your next birthday, so this is the year to prepare and understand what it means to follow Jesus. And I hope you do! We love you so very much, Eden. I'm so happy to have my daughter!

Love,

Mom