Dear Joseph,

Happy 11th birthday! Once again you remind me of the breakneck speed of the time passing. I still remember holding you at our old duplex listening to Clair de Lune and savoring every little part of my newborn. Now that newborn baby is finishing elementary school.  Let's get into your life at eleven years old.

Looking back at your last letter I see not a whole lot has changed. You've gone up a size in shoes and pants, but other than that you haven't passed me in height or shoe size. I have a feeling that will change come next birthday. You also haven't gotten braces like I predicted. The new dentist said we could wait so we'll see when it actually happens. You still like some of the same foods, like sushi, watermelon, dragon fruit, and other tropical fruits, but your biggest obsession is Orange Fanta. Your uncle Matt gave you one when we went to Mexico and you ask for it almost every chance you get. In fact, that's what you spend most of your earnings on. Hopefully, we don't have to make extra trips to the dentist for that too.

As this is your last year in elementary school, we were looking at our options for middle school. I was first leaning toward the middle school you are assigned to, but your dad wanted to look into the magnet schools funded by the school district. We then learned about Jones STEM middle school and you eagerly wanted to go to this one. You are going to have a focus on science which you enjoy the most out of all the subjects. You want to be a herpetologist one day (study of reptiles and amphibians) so I think it will be a good fit for you. Your absolute favorite animal is a hognose snake, so much so that you got one last Christmas. You also like axolotls and geckos. You also asked for a passion fruit vine and a Venus fly trap for your birthday. I just love these things about you.

Concerning fifth grade, I've seen growth. You have done well with testing, so I see a jump in concentration and understanding. Your writing has improved and you are pretty proficient in math. All good things. The biggest things you struggle with are all social in nature. You prefer to be alone most of the time and get mad at other students if they talk to you for any reason outside of school work. You are still in speech learning about back-and-forth conversations. You have gotten super sensitive and don't react well to teasing or scolding. Lately, you have been biting your hand as a coping mechanism. I just hope you can cope with middle school and all the things that go on there.

 

We've recently given you chores that need to be completed to gain screen time. You are so good at completing these chores without prompting, like dishes, homework, and lately taking care of your plants and animals. Thank you for being so responsible.  This helps me feel better about middle school since it requires more responsibility to get to class and remember all the work that needs to be done. By completing additional chores you earned an allowance. Most of it goes to Fanta as I mentioned above, but when we went to the Reptile Show here in San Antonio you wanted to get a new pet so bad. Eli spent his whole savings on a gecko while you bought a mobile fake tarantula. You are hoping to earn money for next year's show. We'll see what happens then!

You've gotten less patient with siblings and there has been a lot of contention, but there are sweet moments too. Right now I can hear you play with Eden (who is at a difficult stage), and you will help watch the kids when I need you to. I'm sorry you have to be the bigger person a lot and also have to help your siblings with things. I appreciate the things you do and the big brother that you are.

I'm sure there's plenty I've forgotten, but no letter can truly capture the person you are, Joseph. I haven't met a person like you, and I just love how unique you are. I can appreciate how passionate you are about the things you are interested in. I find I enjoy learning about these things along with you. It has been so fun being your mom and I hope that I can practice more patience and empathy with you, especially in these coming years. I love you so very much!

Love,

Mom

Dear Noah,

My baby is three. It feels like we had you forever and no time at all. You have made yourself a part of our family through and through and we love you for all your spunk and imagination. Let's capture our little Noah man at three years old.

 

Looking back you haven't changed much in your eating habits. You still love chocolate milk, fruit snacks, and Go-Gurts. But occasionally you will ask for fruit and veggies, like carrots, salad, and even broccoli. You are a tall little guy, being the tallest of all the cousins born around the same time. You are pretty solid as well compared to them. I love my big boy! 

  

Speaking of being a big boy, you are potty-trained! You have been a dream compared to your brothers and even potty-trained earlier than your sister. I finally had a weekend where I couldn't make any excuses not to start and although it took a few days, by Sunday you were requesting to go poop at church and have been doing well since then. Of course, you started regressing with poop, but it hasn't been too bad. Needless to say, I am so proud of you and grateful I had at least one easy child to train!

We stopped therapy since moving to Texas but you have been doing well communicating and with your motor skills. I haven't felt the need to put you back in. You can communicate for the most part, although there are some words I still can't decipher. Some things you have learned include building with tiles, legos, marble run pieces, building forts, and coloring. I think you will be just fine when you get to school age! You even prefer to do things for yourself and always say it's Noah's turn. Noah's turn to brush his teeth, mix his food, get his shoes on, buckle his car seat, bow Mom's cello, say the prayer, etc. You get mad if I do things for you even though you ask me to do it for you ten seconds later when you can't figure it out. It's good to learn to be independent.

 

You have gotten into a lot of things. For a long time, it was Super Mario. You even wanted to wear your Luigi costume a second time for Halloween. Then you got into Spidey and His Amazing Friends. You asked to watch it all the time. Then for a brief time, it was dinosaurs and you wanted to watch Dino Ranch. Now you love Paw Patrol. Thank goodness I didn't get rid of all our Paw Patrol toys. I feel your favorite character changes a bit. It was Chase, then Marshall. Then for a couple of days, you wanted to be called Zuma and corrected us if we called you Noah. Now you correct us and say you are Marshall. What a silly boy!

Since moving to Texas there have been some challenges. Now all your siblings go to school full time and you are stuck at home with me and get bored easily. You can get a bit demanding and it's hard to get a moment of peace. You also have to share a room with a sibling and it gets troublesome at some points because you try to keep them up. We wanted you to share a room with Eli, but Eden freaked out about being alone, so we put you in her room. But you two keep each other up! Currently, you switch between the two rooms and I joke about how you are homeless. Eventually, you will find your permanent room and get more routine. 

I have a feeling you will be pushing buttons this year, but as much as having a three-year-old is challenging, I will miss you being this little and how sweet and innocent you are. I love to see how much you love Nursery and playing with your siblings. I love hearing you talk and laugh and seeing you do silly dances. I hope you have a wonderful year and continue to make your mark in this world. We love you so so much.

Love,

Mama

Dear Elijah,

Happy belated 8th birthday, dude! It didn't seem like a year had passed, but things certainly happened for the family and you. I'm ready to jump in and talk about the amazing boy you are.

 

This year we made the move back to Texas and you started second grade. You have been slower in making friends, but you seem happy enough. You excel in areas like reading and math. In reading you have finished the Chronicles of Narnia and are flying through the Percy Jackson books. Your only homework in second grade is reading and you gladly finish your homework with no complaints. Your favorite subject is math. This summer your dad bought you a pre-algebra book and you have completed some pages there. You can calculate square roots and just have the brain for memorizing math facts. For Show and Tell you brought the math book, but I think it was to show off to the class. You are very proud of the fact that you are smart! You will be tested for the gifted program in February and I will be surprised if you don't qualify.

 

As far as extracurriculars, you finished Cub Scouts in California and took a break with kung fu when we moved to Texas. We found a new dojo and although the teaching styles are very different between the two sifus, you still really enjoy kung fu. We put you in a Junior Engineering class with Joseph, and not too long ago we started piano lessons. You have such discipline and I hardly ever have to fight you to do anything. You practice on your own, do your chores and homework, and overall like to do new and hard things. Sometimes you get frustrated when you are not good at something from the start but who isn't really?

 

You have always been tall for your age and this year hasn't that. Some people guess you to be older than you are, and sometimes face kids older than you in kung fu because you are their height and build. You finally lost some teeth! You lost three so far with a fourth loose one. Coincidently all of these teeth are on the bottom and you don't have any loose top teeth. Not the typical order, but you are not the typical boy I guess! As for eating, you like cereal, ramen, Hawaiian pizza, burgers, and crackers. You are disciplined with dessert stating that it is unhealthy a lot of the time. You have more self-control than your parents. You are still on the pickier side but are willing to at least try new things.

  

Besides school and activities, you love to read books, play video games, and build Legos. So not much has changed since last year in that regard, but your collection of all three has grown. You were originally going to share a room with Noah in Texas, but Noah ended up bunking with Eden so you have your own room. We put a long table in there for you to do Legos and there's already so many Legos that you started building them on the ground again. I'm not sure what your favorite game is, but you do play Super Smash Bros and love to watch Dad play Tears of the Kingdom. Seeing as you learned to read by playing video games, I don't mind you playing so much. As long as you do your chores and whatnot beforehand and you almost always do.

We started reading the Book of Mormon at the beginning of 2023 and finished before your eighth birthday. I loved hearing you read and gaining quite the vocabulary. You chose to be baptized in Albuquerque over New Year's weekend. It was a beautiful baptism and made me so happy to be called your mom. A lot of family showed up for the occasion and it was a really fun time to be with family. Now to keep your covenant by being nicer to your siblings! (You are actually a really good brother, just a big tease).

I've enjoyed being your mother so much and seeing you learn and grow so much. There are times I wish I could be more like you Elijah, you teach me so much as well. I'm so proud of you and the person you are becoming. You are so smart, funny, energetic, disciplined, and thoughtful. I hope you have the best year and I can't wait to see what you do next. 

Love,

Mama

Dear Eden,

Okay, this is two months late (so sorry!), but happy fifth birthday! You are my sweet little mini-me. A girl full of imagination and personality. A letter cannot truly portray everything you are, but I’m going to try!  

We’ve had a busy birthday month with family vacations and moving, but we managed to celebrate it quite a few times with family, trips, and lots of presents. I think I did a lot of presents this year due to guilt of how crazy the time around your birthday was! Almost all of your presents were stuffed animals and we got to go to Build-a-Bear on your actual birthday. You love your stuffed animals!

 

You are an average-sized little girl, but it surprises me with how picky you are! Your favorite foods this past year were mac and cheese, corn dogs, chicken nuggets, strawberries, protein shakes, and watermelon. You hate everything else. It is so hard to feed you! And some of these things you don’t really like anymore. Hopefully, you get past your food aversions later like your older brothers! Another area you might need to get past is pronouncing your f’s and v’s as th’s (like “I want thood!” or “three, thour, thithe…”) It is pretty cute, though!

 

You are a very talented and imaginative little girl! Your drawings are some of the cutest I’ve ever seen! You draw a lot of your made-up creatures and even act them out in pretend play sometimes. I can’t keep up with your imagination it runs so free. You still absolutely love dragons and draw those the most. I love how creative you are. Other than drawing, you enjoy playing Pokemon on Nintendo Switch or watching the show Spidey and His Amazing Friends. Although you don’t watch movies, you really love Stitch from Lilo and Stitch and Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.

 

 

Last year you started preschool and really seemed to enjoy it. Your best friends were Olivia and Ritwika (or RiRi). It was sad to leave your friends behind and you still ask about playing with Olivia. Interestingly after starting preschool, you became super lovey-dovey to me. Constantly saying “I love you mommy!” or singing songs about me or being attached to me all the time. You became a total mama’s girl. Now you are in Kindergarten and really seem to be keeping up with the class work despite being one of the youngest in your grade. I’m really proud of you!

 

 

Something that has been either fun or interesting is how particular you are. With food, yes, but also with a lot of other things. You love the colors pink and purple, along with light blue and “green dragon” green. You hate being alone and have to have someone with you all the time. Whether being upstairs, downstairs, outside, or even in your room you can’t be alone. We ended up boarding Noah with you in the meantime. You hate having dirty hands and face and you still love your little bear blanket and use it as a comfort item. I used to be able to dress you and pick your clothes but in the past few months you have been calling all the shots and I just have to sit back and let you wear a tutu and five hair bows to school. You are expressing your individuality and that’s a good thing!

 

I need to wrap up this letter but I want to let you know how much I love you, Eden! There are so many things you do and say that reminds me of myself when I was young. Like I said, you are a little mini-me! Continue expressing yourself and being the sweet little girl, you are. I hope you have a great year being five! 

 

Love,

 

Mama

Sea World San Diego

And we're back! We had quite the summer so I'll just breeze through this post. We visited Sea World San Diego in May and I admit it had some bumps. But all's well that ends well.

We started off at the touch pool where we got to meet our fishy friends that eat dead skin. It's kinda fun. A band was playing as it was Memorial Day Weekend. It got everyone in a good mood before Sea World officially opened.

Eli being brave and letting the fish nibble on him.

Looking for sharks.

'Merica.

These two were really feeling it!

Even Joseph sorta danced...

And here's this sweetie.

Let's roll in!

Sam was super nice to take everyone who didn't want to do rides while Eli and I rode Atlantis. Then we went to the dolphin show. They didn't get to see it last time.

I'm SO happy to have one child who loves rides.

 

Waiting for the dolphins! Sam got the kids cotton candy...

 

...And totally regretted it!

Enjoy the photos!

It was Sam's turn to take some kids for a ride, so I took Joseph and Noah around. We saw the sea turtles!

This guy was hanging out on the bottom.

 

This is what Noah does when I try to take a picture of someone that's not him.

A cute camera hog.

Then we saw the flamingos!

Eli ended up going alone on this ride.

Eden really wanted to ride but she started to feel sick, poor thing.

This is where our day became a little hectic. Sam had a hard time finding where we were sitting in the orca stadium, Joseph refused to come in so he sat with the stroller, and Eden started throwing up. Good times.

Honoring military members and veterans. Made Sam stand up.

We did get some photos though!

After taking Eden out and letting her get better we hung out in the play area and all strong feelings dissipated. 

Joseph showing Sam he's not so little anymore.

Eden finally feeling better!

We then went to see the sharks. Photos by Sam.

The kids weren't really into Sea World. They just wanted souvenirs and to go home almost the entire time. Before we did that I really wanted to see my favorite exhibit, the arctic. 

 

The pictures really do not show how HUGE walruses are.

 

Here's our pretty girl!

And here are my absolute favorite animals!

 

Only they can pass off as being so majestic looking like a giant marshmallow.

EEEEEEEEE!

Posing with me.

How we all felt in the end.

We ended the day with Red Robin. Yummmm.

Aaand, that's it. Thanks for being here.