My sweet 6 year old, Andie!

Our sweet Andie... you are SIX!

I am not sure how that is even possible. You have 12 days left of Kindergarten and just like a lot of your milestones, I am equally proud and sad at the same time. There is just something about you, your spirit, that makes me beam with pride. You are truly a happy little girl - always smiling, tough, strong, brave, sweet, kind, and just an amazing little human.

These yearly letters are hard because so much happens every single day of your life. You amaze me with all that you are and to fit it all into a page of writing is impossible. But I try, so that someday you can look back and read just a little glimpse into the world of this year of your childhood.

Here are some things that you love:

+Your family. You are so expressive about how much you love us and you hear it right back about 100 times a day. You and Nolan do fight sometimes, but the majority of the time, you two are so great at using your imaginations and playing together. You will disappear for long stretches of time into your bedrooms and I will hear you two playing school, family, and tearing apart your rooms to get all of the toys. You really have a deep love for both of your brothers and already are talking about Spencer, who is in my belly. You call them "your babies" and I know you will always cherish these 3 little guys. You also really love your extended family and seeing you and Stella as best friends is just adorable. I find notes and drawings all over the house that say "I love my family". You do such a great job at drawing pictures of all of us and I can't find it in me to throw any of them away. They make me so happy!

+Arts & Crafts/creating. You are always asking if we can do art, and usually, most days of the week, you will have out all of the crayons, markers, paints, etc. I almost always say yes to sitting down to do art with you because I love watching you create and put your heart on paper. You also love school and learning and it's truly unbelievable how much you have learned in Kindergarten. You are a wonderful reader (it's amazing!) and you've gotten great at spelling. I love seeing how you sound out words and put them on paper to make things for other people. 

+Dancing and singing... oh, sweet girl... you love to dance and entertain. We signed you up for Jazz and Hip Hop and you have been loving learning a new dance routine. You are really excited for your performance coming up next month. At school, you did your Dance Dynamix performance, and you absolutely loved every minute of being on stage singing and dancing. You were so animated and when the performance ended and you were walking off stage, we watched as you turned toward the crowd and took it all in with a huge smile on your face. You were so happy and it made my heart burst just watching you! At home, you are always asking Alexa to play certain songs and you love to dance on the tables (your stages) for your brothers and anyone else who will watch. 

+Swimsuits & dresses. You are as girlie as girlie can be and you absolutely love all things glitter, make up, pink, and especially dresses and skirts. You wore a dress or skirt to every single day of school this year, except the jog-a-thon (& that was a struggle). You even wear a skirt layered over your pajamas if it's not a nightgown.  If you are not in a dress or skirt, you are undoubtedly in a swim suit - which you wear all times of the year, rain or shine. You are so funny about your clothes and you do a great job waking up every morning and picking out your clothes for school. I let you use your own creativity to get dressed and you always look great. We love how independent you are about getting ready for the day!

+Something I have really noticed in the last year... You love all people... everyone is your friend. You talk so nicely about all of the kids in your class. You don't care about differences in culture or appearance, you just love them for who they are. I love getting to see you interact with others while I am volunteering in your class. You absolutely adore your teacher and really thrived this year in Kindergarten! Your teacher tells us that you are a good student, very friendly, and you haven't had any issues. You are doing just what you should be and we are very proud of  you!

The last year we have taken several very fun trips and it was so much fun to see you experience it all. Last summer, we went on a Disney Cruise to Alaska with Nana, Gramz & Pops, Matt & Juju & the girls, and Uncle Dave and Sam. You had so much fun and it was a beautiful trip! You and Stella got to do the Bippity Boppity Boutique (4 times), you got to go dog sledding and hold tiny puppy Huskies, we saw a ton of whales on a sightseeing tour around Juneau, and we did a little hike to the Mendenhall Glacier & waterfall. It was a magical trip and you may not remember every detail, but I will never forget you getting to see it all. We also did a big family trip to Sunriver, OR with all of your cousins and had a wonderful time! We did bike rides, hikes, spent lots of time out on the grass of the house playing, swimming, etc. It was action packed and you loved just spending the time with all of your cousins. We took several trips to Disneyland this year (4 of them) and as usual, you loved it all! We also went to Northstar for Christmas with Nana and your uncles, and then to South Lake Tahoe to celebrate Gramz & Pop's 40th Anniversary in April. You loved every bit of getting to spend time with your family and we made lots of wonderful memories. 

Your determination and courage is so amazing to me. When we were in Sunriver, you hadn't spent a lot of time riding a two wheel bike prior to going and you didn't hesitate jumping right in to keep up with your cousins. You fell off that bike time and time again and you'd get right back on and keep going with out a fuss. Your legs were covered in grease and scratches, but it didn't slow you down. I hope this trait never leaves you, Andie. It was amazing to watch you take it all in stride and just keep fighting for it. You were a pro by the end of the week! For your 6th Birthday, you asked if you could get your ears pierced and I had no doubt you'd do it with out issue. Sure enough, you wanted to go get it done and you climbed right up in the chair with a straight face and didn't cry. I could tell it hurt a little bit, but you didn't budge. It was so cute seeing how excited you were when he finished - you had the biggest smile on your face when he showed you how they looked in the mirror. It was really special because Nana went with us and she got her ears pieced, too!

You are a wonderful combination of courage, strength, feisty, sweet, and sensitive. You don't like seeing other people sad. You are fearless. I hope you know how much we love and adore you, Andie. I am SO proud of you and the little girl you are. You are truly a special person and when I see your kindness, softness, and love for people and the world around you I am just blown away. I am not sure how daddy and I got so lucky to have you as our little girl.

Time is going so fast, I know it will keep passing by at an impossible rate. But I stare at you sometimes and just try to take you in because I am certain that I am going to miss this stage so much. I am also so proud to see how you grow up and the woman you become. When I asked you the other day what you want to be when you grow up, you told me that you want to be a mama, like me. And I hope you know that made me so proud. All I want for you, sweet girl, is to grow up doing the things that make you feel happy and fulfilled, being kind to others, and spending time with our family. We are just in awe of you. Stay grounded, but always know we believe in you and everything you stand for. You are truly a gift, Andie. No words will ever be able to express how much we love you and I hope you always feel it! Six is going to be another fun and fabulous age for you, I just know it.

Keep shining and loving life, just like you do so naturally. 

We LOVE you so so so much. Forever and ever.

Mama

Dear Cody... You're 18 Months

Our little love bug, Cody-bear...

You are giving so many kisses now, and that is my most favorite recent thing. You pucker up your lips and make the cutest little "mmmm" sounds. You can have as many kisses as you want, you are the sweetest and cutest little guy! You also love to blow kisses and the sound you make is so cute.

We can't believe you are already 18 months old. You are so compact and darling, people just want to squeeze you when they see you out and about running around. You love to interact and wave and the way you say "hi" and "bye" is so cute, with a little accent. You are saying quite a few more words now - mama, dada, baba, Pop, "sishy", car, alexa "ah-ah". You love to point, too, and you are pretty good at communicating your needs to us.

On the top of the list of things you absolutely love is your Pops. You are quite Pops obsessed and the feeling is mutual. You go nuts when you see him and won't let anyone else hold you for long when he is around. You love to snuggle and lay on his chest and you throw a big tantrum every time he has to say bye-bye to you. You two already have a very special bond and it makes me so happy to see how your relationship has bloomed.

You also really love being outside. Anytime a door opens, you're attempting to make an escape. It doesn't matter what we are doing, you want to be out and you love playing with all of Nolan's toys out there. Water is also your favorite thing. You love baths and cry every time we have to take you out. You are the only baby I have ever seen who will purposely stick his face in the water to blow bubbles and lay on your back in the bath. You also like to dive around and splash. It is a little scary with you by the pool because you have no fear or care in the world around water. You will go right in! We are going to work with you on learning to swim this summer.

We took another trip to Disneyland in the last 3 months and you loved it. You really enjoyed the characters and taking everything in while we were on the rides. You do so well just hanging out in the stroller and going along for the ride. We also went to Tahoe to celebrate Gramz & Pop's 40th Anniversary. We lucked out with the weather and had a nice little dusting of snow, so you got to sled and enjoy the cold snow. The weather was also sunny and beautiful, so we spent time outside, which you loved. You also got to spend lots of quality time with Pops, so of course you were happy!

You are so great with your brother and sister and you love them dearly. You 3 have been playing more often together and you will use your little voice if they are messing with you when they shouldn't be. You will give them hugs and kisses and always are excited to see them. We have quite a few ride on toys in the house and you love to push them around or have them push you.

You are a great eater and will try almost everything, so we have been taking advantage of that! You really love all fruit, broccoli, potatoes, peanut butter and jelly, chicken, yogurt, waffles, smoothies and fresh squeezed juices. You also love to throw it all on the floor when you are done and you do it often, especially when daddy is home because you know it drives him crazy! You love to eat with a fork and you are a little bit messy, but you are getting better with more and more practice.

Something that got a little challenging for us recently is that you are now opening doors and you love to play in the toilets! Sometimes you will disappear for a minute and we know to run immediately to all of the toilets, because that's where we will find you. We are hoping that love of toilets fades quickly :)

You are wearing size 18 month clothes and size 4 diapers. You aren't a huge kid, but you're growing and thriving, so I never worry about that. You have tiny little feet (size 5 still). You've been a great napper and routinely go down at about 2 and sleep until about 3:30-4, however, it does seem like you might be starting to outgrow them soon. Sometimes it will take you a long time to fall asleep and other times you don't go down at all.

You are still a very chill baby. You are so easily content, very sweet, and you love just taking in the world around you. When I was pregnant with you, for fun we saw a psychic and she told us this baby was going to be a comedian... and you are very funny. You love to laugh and make other people laugh. You are affectionate, cuddly, and have such a happy little spirit. I say all the time that I don't know how I got so lucky to have your sweet little nature in my life, you are a good baby.

Lately, when we go in to check on you before we go to sleep, you are always sleeping in the cutest positions. You use stuffed animals as a pillow and you will snuggle them up under your arms. You are just such an amazing kid, we can't get enough of you, Cody.

18 months is a big deal. We are so proud of the little guy you're growing into. We love you so much and talk about how amazing you are all the time. I hope you never have any doubt about how much you are loved and cherished.

Love you forever and ever my sweet Cody-bear!
Mama