Five.Four Years

 5.4 Years

Dear JoJo,

My favorite memory of you this year is when we get to watercolor paint together. I love having all this special time with just you while the kids are at school. 

I am so proud of you for all the hard work that you have put into your reading lessons. THere were some days that it has been tiring to do, but you have pushed through it. When the lessons got hard, you never gave up. You would just repeat the lesson until you got good at it.

A favorite part of your personality is how much you love other people. You make dad and I feel so special with all your cuddles. Grandma loves how you run up to her each time with a hug. Even the older sisters at church (like Romana) appreciate it when you say hi and wave to them. 

Your greatest gift is being so positive. You are so positive when doing your chores. You are so positive when plans have to change. You are so positive when playing with your friends. You bring so much light and peace because you can stay happy and cheerful during the day.

If you could see yourself through my eyes, you would know how much you are adored. Being the youngest in the family, all your siblings love you so much and adore you. They go out of their way to share love with you. Both your grandparents just adore you. And Dad and I absolutely love and adore you.

Without you our family would be very quiet, too quiet. You are good at connecting with people. It is easy to fall into our to-do list or audio books. But you love getting people to be more involved with playing a board game or helping with their tasks. 

I like you because you are my buddy. I don’t have that much more time with you, but you have been with me on all my errands and meetings. You make doing the mommy stuff more fun because I have you with me, choosing fun and  loud music to go with it. I hope you stay my buddy always. 

I love you because you are my daughter and the sunshine in our life. I love you more than words can describe. You are the perfect finish to our family. We all needed you for a reason. 

I love you so much,

Mom

Five.Three Years

 5.3 Years

Five.Two Years

 5.2 Years

• Thanksgiving was a hit. In preschool, you had a little feast. You brought in apple sauce cups to share with your friends. During the break, we got to go to Gervais Elementary and play dodgeball with a huge group of friends. Surpise! The Strassers were there. Their cousins know Dusty and were invited. You liked seeing Vella. We ate dinner at Auntie Annie's house. When we walked into her house, she had bowls of peanut butter m&m. They did not last long. You loved this idea that you could eat candy without asking mom. The next day, we braved the cold and cut down a Christmas tree. I told you kids to get your coats on, but none of you listened. So when we arrived at the tree farm and it is 35 degrees outside, I turned around to find you and Millie in just a long sleeve shirt. Thankfully, you had leave a small jacket in the van and Millie used the gloves that I brought for myself. It worked out. We found a tree quickly and headed back to the barn to stand by the fire and watch creepy old animated Christmas movies. The Strassers were able to stop by that night to see our house and play. 
• Random-we went to take Mowgli for a walk and it was so cold that all the spider webs were frozen. It was cool to see all the designs in the bushes and on the mailboxes and fire hydrant. 
• We have been trying to get together with Grandma each week. On weeks that she goes to her doc appointment in Stayton, she stops by here for lunch. We met her at the Gilbert house the other day and played in all the rooms with her. We have stopped by her house for lunch and walked around the park. You love those days and are sad the weeks we have to miss it. 
• Christmas festivities are under way. Fun things that we did this month was visit the Keizer lights, decorated gingerbread houses, visited with Santa at the Ward Christmas brunch, and had Red Ribbon dinner where you got the reusable water balloons to play with in the bath tub.
• You were able to preform in the Nutcracker for dance. This has been something that you have wanted to do for a while. Your class was assigned a doll dancer and an angel. The costume was so beautiful. For the doll dance, they actually forgot to send your class out during the party scene so they had you come on afterwards to do the dance. The angels were so cute. You even had a halo on. Grandma and Papa along with Auntie Annie, joe and Elaine came and watched you the first night. The Leder girls came the next day to watch you.

Five.One Years

 5.1 Years

• Fall is in full swing. We have been raking leaves and jumping in them. We carved pumpkins the other night as a family. You drew a face on a piece of paper and I was impressed that I was able to carve it pretty close to what you wanted. 
• This year, you went as Herimone for Halloween. We had an indoor trunk-o-treat at the church along with a chili dinner. Maggie was such a good big sister and took you around to get all the candy while dad and I passed out our candy. Afterwards, you were running around with Lilly. The Price's came for Halloween night. We had a spaghetti dinner and then went trick-o-treating around the neighborhood. The big kids wanted to go on their own, feeling like they could get to more homes, but you and Jessie were fast, running between houses. When we got home, you kids dumped all your candy out and swapped what you wanted to. Jessie and Sonora got to sleep here that night. In the morning, there was a lot of dress up and putting on plays. You girls came up with a Cinderella play but each of you wanted to play Cinderella. So, you all put on the same play four times so each of you had a time to play Cinderella. 
• The other day, it was so sunny and warm and we were hanging out in the backyard. You noticed that there was a helicopter in the air. It was flying pretty close by our house in a circle. At one point, it really looked like it was going to lad in our back yard. I could hear the school kids and then it dawned on me that they were celebrating Veterans Day. We ran over to the school and sure enough, there was a Black Hawk Army helicopter there. You were able to go inside and we stayed to watch it fly away.
• While the boys were in CA, I took all of you girls to OSU to watch BYU Folk Dance. That was so cool. Grandma joined us. We ate Thai food on the way down. Our favorite dances were The Philippines stacking stick dance and the Ukraine dance at the end. 
• A few more adventures this month-Millie showing us the duck pond near our house and finding the kiwis on the tree there, hiking the middle falls at Silver Falls, going with me to visit our new grandmas for ministering, going to the Gilbert as a family (favorite new room was the create it room), decorating your disguise-a-turkey, spending two different days with Grandma (one for your birthday and the other with Jessie), and going to a gymnastic place with Jessie.
• Fuuny moments this month: at church, Henry wanted to give you a hug when leaving but you rejected him. He ran away crying. You are such a heart breaker. The other moment was when I was outside raking leaves. You ran out to tell me to come inside. The song "A 1000 Years" was playing. You told me, "I don't know why but sometimes this song makes me cry. I just have tears coming out". I laughed and told you that I would love you for 1000 years and more. 

Five Years Old

 5 Years Old

·       It’s your birthday!!! I feel like it has been your birthday all month long because everyday wince I had my birthday, you have been going over to the calendar and counting down the days. For your birthday, we had donuts in the morning. Jessie is staying with us for a few days while her mom is out of town so that has made today extra special. After the kids left for school, we headed out for your party. We invited Henry and Clara and Callie to join us at Get Air. You have been so excited for this. I didn’t know beforehand but it was toddler hour, meaning no big kids were allowed so you kids could jump all over the place. They also did a Halloween theme so there were balloons and glow sticks all over the place. You had picked out a cake from the store and wanted pink strawberry soda. It was a lot of fun. We came home and you girls were excited to play with the Bluey set. You choose spaghetti for dinner. Your siblings gave you presents. Maggie gave you a watercolor notebook. Sam gave you a lego set. Millie gave you a super kitty stuffed animal. Dad and I gave you a hiking backpack. It was such a good day.

·       Other highlights from this month: going to the Gilbert House with Jessie, pizza night with Elaine, dad taking you on a date to DQ, building fairy houses in the back yard, running in the jog-a-thon, camping with the Smiths, visiting the pumpkin farm with the Prices, having a girls weekend, and exploring a new park with grandma.

·       We got a visit from Grandma and Papa Matthews this month. They wanted to come out to see the new house and be here for your birthday. That first day, we painted a fall tree scene with Grandma. We then went for a walk around town, seeing the different parks and eating pizza sticks for lunch. Grandma was so good about playing games with you. On Saturday, we went to Sam’s football game out in Jefferson. That night you got to go to Lilly’s birthday party. Sunday was the primary program so Grandma could hear you say your line. We had our big family dinner for the October birthdays and then afterwards, Grandma and Papa gave you their gift which was a jewelry kit and the cutest dress that you wear for three days in a row before I finally made you wash it.

·       Favorites: food-, book-, indoor activity-, outdoor activity-, friend-, song-, color-

Four.Eleven Years

 4.11 Years

·       We finished packing up the house and are moving. There are a lot of emotions coming with this move. You have such good friends here. It hurts to see that you won’t have many memories of them, but they were such a huge part of your life. I will also miss the fact that this is the home that we brought you home to as a baby. I know there will be great things ahead of us, but it is okay to recognize the loss that we will have. We had a good goodbye party at the Dalling’s. The weather has been great all week, but that night it rained. It felt like Idaho was crying for us. You kids slept in Maggie’s room that last night. There were many tears. Church was hard. I wanted to hug a few more people but it felt weird to say goodbye. Your girls were in Dad’s car with me. The drive went well and we made it to Grandma’s house that night.

·       I had to wake up early to open the house and be ready for when the movers got here so Grandma and Papa drove you down after you girls woke up. It’s crazy that this is our house now. You kids were running all over the place deciding where should go where in your room. Auntie Annie and Auntie Janecce with her kids came over to help. It was so nice to have Jessie here to play with you. Phillip helped set up your bed. Since we don’t have a playroom, most of your toys are in your room. We did put some toys under the stairs, which you really want to be a playroom. The craziest thing about that first day was that you learned how to ride your bike with no training wheels. All summer long, you asked to try without training wheels. I kept telling you to wait until we move because we will have a driveway and sidewalks to practice on. While I was busy unpacking and cleaning, you found your bike and had Maggie and Millie teach you. Our driveway is perfect for learning on because it is a slight downhill. Well, you learned that first day. I didn’t have to hold onto the back of your seat once. You figured out how to balance while coasting down and then added the pedaling. I am truly amazed!

·       This whole first week has been filled with a lot of fun and unpacking, which is what we all need. We spent a day doing back to school shopping and getting haircuts. You really wanted your hair short again. I cut it, but you said to go even shorter. It turned out really cute. We went to the beach that week with all the Price family. The weather ended up being great. We went in the afternoon and brought wood to make a fire to roast hot dogs. You were able to collect more shells for your new shell collection. You are up to two small mason jars full. You and Millie liked exploring the caves with me. It was a great day. The day before school started, We all got on bikes and rode down to DQ for hamburgers and blizzards. I try to take the big kids on a date before school starts but with the move, we decided to do a group date. I had you ride in the bike seat but that has to be the last time. You have gotten too big for it that both you and me were uncomfortable. We got three different blizzards to try. Afterwards, we played at the park. There were blackberries by the park, which you ended up getting a huge cut from. That was an honest introduction to blackberries.

·       School started. You are going to Little Country School in Aumsville. We don’t know anyone there but the teacher seems super sweet so you are excited about going. They have the different play areas set up and she does a lot of sensory play with you kids. Your favorite thing about preschool is playing letter bingo and picking out a prize.

·       We are starting to make friends, but it is hard since most of the kids that you are meeting go to kindergarten. You have met Henry Leder and Lilly Springer.

·       We went to a pool party for day’s work and I have decided that I don’t need to bring a puddle jumper again to the pool. You were jumping off so well off the pool and was trending water like a champ. You officially learned how to swim and ride a bike this summer!

·       We have tried to play as much as we can while we are not unpacking and organizing. We went to the October Fest, visited the cake shop in Salem, went to the Oregon gardens with Grandma, watched Phillip play football, watch Sam’s play football, visited Ikea (sorry the day care was closed), hiked Silver Falls, and played pickle ball.

Four.Ten Years

 4.10 Years

• We got to go to Bear Lake for a week with the whole Price family. We rented a big house that was in this neighborhood with a pool and roads that were good for riding bikes. We first hiked into this Glacier lake. It was beautiful. The water was freezing. You went in and swam for a while, but needed to bath in the sun afterwards. Uncle Josh brought his paddle board, so they became a huge hit with you and Jessie. The next day, we went to the beach and rented a boat. We went first with all the girls. This wasn't your first time tubbing, so you were excited to try again. We had music blasting and snacks getting pasted around. We switched out with the boys. While they were on it, we played at the beach. There were these tiny snail shells all over the place. You spent most of your time collecting them. You loved them so much that I broke my rule and let you bring them home. We went to adventure the next day. You were too short to go on the rope course so Grandpa took you and Jessie to go on the big slide and play at the play structure. We walked around town later that day and got raspberry milk shakes. The evening were fun with celebrating birthdays, learning family history, eating great food, and even "Santa" came. The older boy cousins had found a Christmas tree in the garage so after we all were asleep, they set it up and placed our random these (like your bike) under it. It was funny. Dusty prepared a white elephant gift exchange for Grandpa's birthday, but everything came from a yard sale and everything the price was negotiated. You got a big floor puzzle. The funniest part of this trip was seeing your crush on your cousin Ben. You love him so much. You always wanted to sit next to him at meals, have him play games with him, and constantly was holding his hand. I had to draw the line when you asked Ben to give you a bath. Ben was a good sport about it. 
• Grandma and Papa Matthews came for a quick trip. Since this was their last time in Grangeville, you had to stop for ice cream and sweet potato fries at Jungle gyms. I haven't started packing, but Grandma wanted to be helpful, so we packed and clean out a few closets. Now I feel like I need to start. It is hard for all of us to start.
• We are trying to squeeze in as much friend time as we possible can. We went bowling, the river with all our friends, the pool, ice cream, and more play dates. You kids also have been trying to cross off your bucket list items like sleep on the trampoline and go to Gymnastic 360 one more time. The fair was at the end of the month and it was good to spend time there with Addy's family. Addy's family has pigs there so she was able to give you the inside scoop to the fair.
• Our cousins the Wares came into town. They are a really fun family. The highlights for you guys were rafting and playing night games each night. Those kids are a lot of fun.