To Hallie on Your 11th Birthday

My Dearest Hallie,

Part of me can't believe that you are already 11 and part of me can't believe you are only 11. You are so mature and so smart and such a wonderful young lady. I could NOT be more proud of you. You make such good choices and are such a fantastic example to your brother and sisters.

Fifth grade had been a good year for you. You really like your teacher Ms. Feikert. I so appreciate how you are so responsible with your schoolwork. It is so important to you to do your best. You have such tenacity pushing through tough subjects and projects.

I am amazed by you. Your confidence amazes me. You not only take on tough challenges, but you are so brave in standing up for what is right and protecting others. You are so good to your brother and sisters and do willing to pitch in and help.

You continue to work hard at playing the piano. You also participated in the track team. Unfortunately, I knew nothing about track and so when I registered you for the meet, I registered you for the hardest event, the one mile. You had to run it right after running two other hard events. You were so tired and by the end you were running all by yourself. But you kept running. I was so proud of you. You took on the challenge of trying out for the basketball team, and though you knew nothing about basketball, you got out there and tried your best.

You are always so willing to try new things and put yourself out there, something I admire so much about you.

You took a nearly five month break from dessert this year. In August, you said you wanted to try going without sugar for the rest of the year. I thought there was no way you would be able to do it, but you did! You would come home from birthday parties with the cake wrapped in Saran Wrap to share with someone at home. You did not cheat even once! What an accomplishment for such a young girl.

You are such a beautiful girl on the inside and the outside. I love you so much! You are truly a joy to me. Keep being the beautiful, wonderful person that you are. I look forward to seeing the wonderful young lady you are going to be.

I love you,

Mom

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For Kristine

A Letter to Hallie on Your 10th Birthday

My dear Hallie,

It is easy to miss how quickly your children are growing up. It happens day by day and you don't notice it. As I was looking at the picture from last year's letter, it is amazing to see what a young lady you are turning into! You are at least a couple of inches taller and your hair is longer, and your face looks so much older. How did all of this happen in just one year?

I say it all the time, but it is just so true, you are such a grown-up, mature girl. I am constantly having to shoo you away from the adult conversations, because you would much rather be there than playing with the "children." This year you have continued to be such a great help to me. You are so good about pitching in and doing more than your fair share.

You are such a cool kid. You have such a knack for knowing how to act in every situation.

You have been really developing your own sense of fashion this year and it is really fun to see. For most of your life you have not cared too much about what you wear, but this year that is changing. I am seeing you define yourself in your own way, and outside of my shadow. You have a drawer full of clothes, but you pretty much wear the same few shirts, the ones that you picked out yourself.

I hope you know what an amazing, special girl you are. I hope you never lose sight of the things that make you special. You have some wonderful, natural talents that you have been given by your Father in Heaven.

I love you,

Mom

A Letter to Hayden on Your 5th Birthday

My fabulous Hayden,

Five going on twenty-five. You love all things "grown up." You constantly talk about the future and when I am a grandma and you are a mom. Your visions all include a sports car and lots of money to buy whatever you want. Lots of shoes and jewels I imagine.

The other day when you were dreaming of the glorious day when you are older, I explained that there are hard things that come along with growing up as well, like paying bills and responsibilities. I didn't think much of it, but a few days later you said, "mom, I have been thinking about what you said about growing up, and I am a little nervous about it." I was glad to hear that, I am not ready for you to be all grown up yet.

You are my glamour queen. The more flash and glitz, the better. A few weeks ago you asked your teacher at church if she was wearing a Bump-It (a thing you put in your hair to get that big sassy hair). I was not surprised because you have been talking about Bump-Its forever now. You keep asking if I will buy one for you.

You are so good with people. You have a way of sucking them in and wrapping them around your little finger and getting them to do whatever you want. You are a such a little flirt and you already know how to bat your eyelashes.

You have matured so much this year. You are listening and doing what you are asked more than ever, and sometimes you are even downright helpful. You are doing so well at school. I was so surprised when I volunteered in your classroom a fee weeks ago. You are attentive and on task and you do everything you are told.

You are so sweet with Jaxton. You mother him and talk so sweetly to him. You are always saying "come on bub, let's go play." You love playing store, or school, or house. You are the store keeper/teacher/mom, and Jaxton is Jeremy. I don't know why or where you came up with this name for him, but he brought me a name tag the other day and asked me to write my name on it. I said "J-A-X-T-O-N spells Jaxton" and he said "no, my name is Jeremy."

My silly, crazy, imaginative girl, some days it is exhausting being your mom, but I wouldn't have it any other way. You keep me on my toes and you are such a fun addition to our family. I love you so much!

Mom

A Letter to Jaxton on Your 3rd Birthday

My favorite boy in the world (Jaxton, Jaxty, Boy),

Happy Birthday! I can not believe that you are three! You are the best, sweetest, fun boy a mom could ever want. There were no terrible twos with you. In fact two was a breeze. You are such a well behaved little boy, you are sweet and loving and the little prince of our house.

You love music and singing. Often when one of your favorite songs comes on the radio, you tell the girls to be quiet because "this is my part!" Many nights you sweetly sing to yourself in your bed. Your favorite song is The Itsy Bitsy Spider, with Twinkle, Twinkle in a close second. And you love Justin Bieber and know nearly as many words to his songs as the girls.

You are quite the little conversationalist as well. You speak very well and very clearly. Having three older sisters has given you quite the vocabulary. You have the funniest little gruff voice that sometimes is hard to understand because it is so froggy. Except when you are whining, then it jumps about 3 octaves!

Life is interesting being the only boy with three older sisters. You are such a paradox. You are carrying a purse and a baby in one minute and karate chopping everything the next. We were watching a movie last week and you were snuggled super tightly into my chest, but whenever there was a fight scene you punched your arms wildly in the air along with the actors on the screen, it was too funny.

You and Hayden play house for hours and hours and you love being her little son and calling me grandma. And she teaches you all of the naughty things that she knows. You two are frequently cohorts together in mischief, but you are not as good at being sneaky as she is and you usually get caught. Fortunately for you, it is impossible to be angry with you because you are so repentant and you have your lip trained to stick out and look so, so sad when you are in trouble.

You have been quite the little copy cat, but I am seeing more and more boy in you as you are establishing yourself as your own person and not just mimicking everything your sisters do.

You still are the sweetest most affectionate little thing. You are like a little baby monkey, wrapping your whole body onto whoever is holding onto you. You love to give hugs and kisses and laugh every time you kiss someone on the lips.

I love you so much and couldn't imagine our lives without you!

Love,

Mom

A Letter to Avery on Your 7th Birthday

My Sweetest Avery,

Happy Birthday my sweet, beautiful, girl.

You are my, girly-girl. You are always so feminine and proper. You love to have your hair done and will seriously sit for hours to get it done. Your only requests for today were that we have coconut cake and I do something fancy to your hair.

Mom and dad had so much fun shopping with you last night. It was so fun to see you trying on all of the dresses and watching you twirl in front of the mirror. You are getting so big! And yet you are so much the girl you have always been.

Even when I was pregnant with you, you didn't cause much trouble. You kicked just enough to let me know you were still alive in there. And then when you were born, you weren't even crying. I was afraid that maybe there was something wrong with you, but there you were just peacefully staring up at me.

And that is very much how you are today. You don't like to be in trouble, and you do your best to steer clear of it. You often look at Hayden with a shake of your head wondering why on earth she would try and cause so much trouble, because you would never dream of it.

You are truly just GOOD.

You have learned to read this year, and you love your teacher Mrs. Sugnet. It has been fun to see you become your own little person at school outside of your sister's shadow. You are not so shy this year and you are even getting quite brave and a bit pushy ;)

It is such a blessing to be your mom and to watch you learn and grow.

I love you,

Mom

A Letter to Hallie on Your 9th Birthday

(One of my New Year's resolutions was to start a new tradition of writing each of my children a letter on their birthdays)

My dearest Hallie,

Happy Birthday! It is hard to believe that another year is passed so soon, but it is not hard to believe that you are nine years old because really, you are nine going on at least twelve. You are such a beautiful, mature, sweet girl and I am so grateful for you.

You are such a good help to not only your dad and I but also to each of your siblings. Just yesterday, Avery was doing her homework and getting a little frustrated. Without being asked you sat down next to her and walked her through it. Last week when I was on the phone for a while after a really hard day, I came out of my room to find that you had washed all of the dishes and started to fold the laundry. These are just two of the thousands of acts of service you have performed over the last year.

You are so thoughtful. You are always thinking of others. You like to write little notes and cards for us. You also have done your best to steer clear of all of the drama at school with other little girls. You would never want to hurt others as you have seen others do.

You have really picked up a love of soccer and running around this year. You come home from school every day with sweaty hair. I flat iron your hair every day and then when I pick you up from school your hair is a curly mess!

You are very creative and have such a great imagination. You have become quite a good little artist and you make really beautiful drawings.

I love you so much and I am so glad that you are a part of our family. You are such a good example to not only your younger siblings but also to me.

Love,

Mom