Four Years Old

 4 Years Old

Dear JoJo,

Today you turned four years old. You have been waiting for so long since you have seen all your other friends have birthdays. For your birthday, you wanted to have a party with your friends where you go hot tubbing, eat "banana splits" (though no bananas but with brownies, but you insisted it was not a brownie sundae but a banana split), and end the night with the movie Barbie a Fashion Fairytale. You have such a great group of friends. 

JoJo, you have so many traits that make you easy to love. First, you have this bright joy that shows through you. This joy makes people around you feel happier. I know when you were little, you tend to not like others, but that has changed. You will run up to other adults in church and give them big hugs. Just the other day, Brother Clark was telling me how you ran up to him, told him that he was the one that help build your shower and gave him a superman hug. It made his day that you remembered him and shared that bright joy with him. 

Another reason why it is easy to love you is that you are just plain fun. I love the funny stories that you make up, you are always up for playing a game or cuddling in my bed with a book. You love to go outside (probably the most out of all the kids) and will happily go for a bike ride walk with me, even when it is colder outside. you play well with older kids but you are so so sweet to babies. 

Lastly (though there isn't a lastly because there are endless reasons to love you, I just only have so much space), it is easy to love you because you think about others often. I love how you make all these cards for me and your friends. When it was Olivia's birthday, I was wrapping up some books for her and you thought she would like a more fun gift so you went through your toys and picked out two toys to share with her. I laugh because it was a puzzle that has already been open and a microphone. It was so sweet. 

I love having you in our family. You are the perfect forever baby. Thank you are being my buddy.

Love, 
Mom

Three.Eleven Years

 

3.11 Years

• School started this month. You were so sad that the big kids left you and especially that you couldn't get on the bus with them. Both Sam and Millie has joked with you to hop in their backpacks so they can sneak you off to school. It was also hard because you knew that you were going to preschool, but it didn't start the same week as them, so you had to wait even more. Waiting is hard.
• Grandma and Papa Price came for a few days. It was fun having them. The kids were in school for once of the days, so you got them all to yourself. Grandma painted with you, read you many stories, and we snuck off to town for a bit. They helped out with driving for soccer practice and enjoyed a hike and bike ride up at fish creek. The big thing was that we took them on a float trip with some of our friends. You and Grandma were buddies and you helped her during the scary bump bump parts. 
• The week after Labor Day came, and the waiting is over. You got to start dance, story time, and preschool. You were so excited to get dressed up for ballet class, but once we got there, you were nervous and wanted me to stay. It calmed you down a bit to see all your friends in the class: Nora, Addy, Trinley, and Macie. The set up is pretty awesome. On Wednesdays, you have dance, then we head over to the library, and since the weather has been so nice, we finish with lunch at the park. Preschool was here the first week. It was an adjustment because you were use to going to Noah's Ark with Millie on her leader day. So you kept asking when you were going to start "real" preschool. I have been loving the co-op. It is a small group, but it is turning out so well. It is Nora, Addy, and you. You all three love doing crafts and are so engaged in all the activities that it makes it easy to teach you.
• Speaking of teaching you, we officially started the reading book and it has gone fabulous. You are wanting to do each day, often asking to read to me before I read to you. You will peak ahead to see what the next new sound will be. And you really are picking it up. I love how well and smooth it is going with you. I knew once you decided that you wanted to learn, you would go for it. 
• I got to take you kids to a high school football game. You were excited to watch the cheer leaders. I gave you each a dollar for a treat and you were able to buy 5 airheads with it. And yes, you tried to eat all 5 during the game. 
• Dad went backpacking with Uncle Mark, so we made a quick trip out to Oregon and entertain us while we was gone. We helped out in the yard for a while and Grandma and Papa were nice to pay you guys in Lego coupons. It turned into a fun afternoon in Canby, with a lunch at the park, walking around the little stores, buying a lego set at the lego store, and ending with ice cream. That night, all of you guys had a sleep over at the Price's while the adults went to the temple. I guess I forgot your pjs, so you that it was silly to wear Jessie's. Saturday was filled with Ocktober fest. It was huge. All the families came. We bought some fun food, your favorite being the Mexican Street Corn. We waited forever for the trampoline ride, but you loved jumping on it.