Brooklyn turned six (In August!)

Oh my dear daughter, happy birthday! So sad that it is January and I'm finally writing this for you. I do believe this year's birthday letters on the blog will likely be my last. I am terrible about keeping up with it. So here are the memories of your sixth year...

Always a good time at the beach house with cousins. Your childhood will be saturated with those memories. You girls love to imagine, pretend and create together at the beach house and at home.

I must say it makes me a little sad that you do not like your curls AT ALL. You want a bun or a pony most days to keep those curls controlled. We have straightened your hair a handful of times but its a lot of work and doesn't last too long! I (and everyone else) think your curls are absolutely beautiful and one of the best parts of you!

You and Audrey have the best time together!

You and Annika were on the same soccer team this year. It was so fun that you got to play together. We loved being able to cheer you both on. You did great and scored a few goals. This year defense was your favorite!

You decided to get your ears pierced for your sixth birthday. Lots of tears with the anticipation of it all, but when they actually pierced them you said it wasn't too bad!

You and some fun first grade friends! We celebrated with a boy/girl pool party for both you and Hudson. You all had such a blast!

You are my emotional, dramatic, entertaining one my dear. you love to make others smile and you enjoy life to the fullest. You make everyone smile when  you enter the room!

You have come a long ways with your relationship to the ocean! You used to run in fear at any wave and this summer you let Ethan teach you how to boogie board! We decided to try out wetsuits which has helped a lot with the enjoyment of the ocean!

You are a very good helper Brooklyn. You are usually up for helping me with anything in the kitchen or around the house. 

You love babies and were so excited to meet Sierra De Jong this summer and get to cuddle and hold her. 

I love to watch you and your big sister Morgan. I am so glad you have eachother, a sister relationship is the best! You two really get along quite well...of course there are lots of moments of fighting but mostly you work together to play a game, create a game, imagine and play American Girl dolls.

In Kindergarten you each have a fifth grade buddy. Your buddy goes to chapel with you and does special projects with you throughout the year. Yours was a student that mommy actually tutors a couple times a week and you two got along perfectly. Your personalities just totally clicked.

Buds!!! You and Hudson have such a fun relationship. You get along great. You two fight the least in the family. Often you divide and play with Morgan while Hudson plays with Ethan, but the moments are super sweet when you play together and get your own thing going. You more or less ignore each other at school and stick to your own friends though.

You love spending time with me and I am so thankful! You have great questions and observations about life, relationships and spirituality. I love our discussions and time together. I hope we always have this easy relationship. You are however quite strong willed when you want to be, so mommy prays that I can help shape and mold that will to do great things for God.

Twins! 

I love the girl time the three of us have together. This past year we watched a lot of Fixer Upper together and I loved being able to do that with you girls.

You had the BEST kindergarten teacher and such a good year at school. You learned so much, mostly how to love others and love school! I was very sad when Kindergarten was over!

I love this pic because its one of the few high ponies you let me put in your hair. Those curls are just so cute!!

Independent spirit....This particular evening you grabbed the blanket at Spanish Bay and walked all by yourself around all the fire pits and down by the bag piper. You are so confident in who you are and I pray God continues to grow that in you, while keeping you humble to what he wants to do in your life.

You love life....especially at the beach!!

We had a blast in Canada for Christmas. You had fun sledding until you took a few face plants in that freezing snow!

You have a lot of fun with your daddy. You two love to have dance parties in the kitchen and color together too. This picture was taken at the hotel we stayed in before we flew out to Canada. You four loved exploring the hotel and experiencing something new.

Merry Christmas! You 4 are the best of friends and the biggest enemies all in the same hour sometimes. Mom and Dad are doing our best to help you navigate this world and praying we will all be more like Christ each day.

You had your first cavities filled this year and you literally giggled the whole time...for some reason you thought the drill was tickly...crazy girl!

Family fun-We do our best to make time to have fun together, explore and just enjoy each other. Some days are more enjoyable than others, but that is life. Dad and Mom pray that you will have memories of lots of fun and meaningful times together. 

Girls night out!!

This year you got to participate in a Jr Cheer camp. You loved every minute of it, especially the dance and watching the big cheerleaders do their thing. Your natural sense of rhythm and love of music has me wondering if you will be a cheerleader in high school!

Brooklyn Helena, you bring humor, dance, joy and wisdom into our family and we can't imagine life without you sweet girl!

Hudson is six!

So hard to believe it has been two months since your birthday dude! I still want to get a year 6 recap up before you turn 7, so here we go! You had an amazing year in kindergarten. You learned so much, grew up so much, and made lots of new friends. Mommy really loves kindergarten, so it was so sad that this was the last time I will get to do kindergarten.

This past year, the droughts finally started to end. We got lots of rain, and you and your siblings love to play in the rain! I can certainly tell I am raising California drought kids! You love to play outside rain or shine. Shortly before you turned 5 you finally figured out how to ride without training wheels so this past year has found us on lots of bike rides! You love being outside and have especially started loving basketball this past year.

Your Thanksgiving feast... The cutest pilgrim around. Such a fun night of celebrating you and all God has given us.

On the plane to Canada... What a fun Christmas celebrating with our Canadian family and playing in the snow! You are still a mama's boy and can get me to do most things for you....it's that cute smile of yours. However....

You recently told me that the people you love go in this order... God, daddy, mommy.... Not sure how daddy passed me up, but he is a pretty good guy! Maybe it's because he throws a better spiral than me! You are enjoying your time with dad more and more and I know that's a natural shift, but I'm also glad to know you still love my snuggles the best!

You want to be just like Ethan. Right now that drives Ethan crazy.... That may be the case for a while, but I always tell Ethan what a privilege it is to have a little brother want to be just like him. Most of the time you guys play really well together and it's fun to watch. You really like to play catch on the trampoline!

We got to go up to the mountains for a fun snow weekend. Lots of great sledding! You are brave and will try something over and over until you master it. Your RipStik was the thing to master this year. You got it for Christmas and finally got the hang of it at the end of the summer. You don't give up very easily!

You had such a fun year with Mrs. Huisken this past year. You learned a lot and were a sweet, hard working student. Infact the only smiley you lost was when mommy was subbing!

You got to try your hand at fishing over spring break. Boy were you persistent! But no fish...

I love this picture of you two. Brooklyn being silly and you rolling your eyes. I love that you still have a special friendship. You guys like to work together on homework sometimes or playing a game. There is the least amount of fighting in the house between you two. I don't think you pay much attention to each other at school, but you definitely have each other's back. I love to watch your relationship.

Boat trip at the beach house. What a fun time!

Your fifth grade buddy was our good friend Cade. So fun that he was your special helper for projects and walking to chapel. We always tried to spike your hair like his on chapel days... But it wasn't quite the same.

You got to play baseball this year. You loved it! You got three pitches and then had to use the tee. You didn't need the tee all season... You have amazing hand eye coordination!

The coast is still our happy place. We sure love to spend time there and climbing rocks never gets old!

You and Ethan have been playing a lot of golf. This summer was fun because I could just drop you off at the course and let you go at it. You have improved a lot and it's fun to watch you hit that ball. I think your short game is pretty amazing!

We rented wet suits at the end of the summer.... I don't think you will ever play in the water without one. You loved playing in the ocean all warm and toasty!

Another example of your persistence. We spent a day at the lake with friends and you played for hours on this paddle board. You liked that way more than tubing behind the boat. It's fun to eat he you work so hard to accomplish something you want to do. 

First grade! How can it be. You are having a great year so far and have already learned so much. You are a reading machine... I love it.

Happy sixth birthday buddy.... Love you more than you'll ever know. How 'bout that Warriors cake?

Happy 10th Birthday Ethan!

Ethan, your birthday is a few weeks past. But I still wanted to get a little post in recapping your 10th year of life. I can't believe I have been a mom for 10 years. But I think I say that each year when I write your birthday post! You have the blessing and curse of being the oldest child, so we get to experience everything with you for the first time. That can be good, and it can be hard! You have grown a lot this year academically, socially, spiritually, and emotionally. Here are a few highlights from your year.

All fourth-graders in California study California history. Part of that is doing a mission project. You studied of the Carmel Mission. You went on a trip with dad to see it and then you guys built a model together. You enjoyed the trip but I think the project frustrated you. You aren't much of a project guy!

Ethan you have become a big time Warriors fan the past couple years. You have completely jumped on that bandwagon. You love watching all the games, following all the stats and wearing all the gear.

Christmas this year found us in Edmonton. You really enjoyed playing in the snow and riding on the quad. You learned pretty quick that you couldn't go in and out of the house like we do at home, because you had to get yourself all geared up for the cold, cold weather.

Your little brother looks up to you more than you will ever understand. He is in copying mode, and wants to be like you most of the time. You get really annoyed when his answers are just like yours. But I hope you understand someday that it's just because he loves you so much. Overall you to really play well together and it is fun to watch.

The fad when you were in fourth grade was kendama's . You had a classroom city and so you chose for your business to be a kendama rental business. You kids played with those so much and had a lot of fun.

One highlight of this year was going to a cabin on a lake where you guys were able to fish whenever you wanted. You also took your BB gun out there and shot at everything that you could. I love watching your adventurous spirit outside, I wish we could do things like that more often!

You had the privilege of participating in the math Olympiad this year. You and six other classmates competed against fourth through sixth graders in the area. You guys had to try to solve super hard math problems. You didn't get a medal but you guys all did great. You scored the best out of your class!

This year you have really been into Harry Potter books. You have made it through all six. In this picture you and Morgan had to dress up like book characters for school. You and Morgan still get along when you want to, and it is fun to watch you work together for a common goal.

You had an awesome fourth grade year. Your teacher was perfect for you and you had lots of interactive learning opportunities. You grew a lot and it was fun to watch!

A hi light of the summer was visiting John and Brenda in Washington. You loved riding James' dirt bike!

You my firstborn, I can't believe you are a tween already! Mommy is doing her best to be the best mom to you that I can. I know that we have our arguments at times but I hope you know that I want you to grow up to be a young man who loves God and loves those around him. My prayer is that we can both show each other a lot of grace as we enter the teenage years! I love you more than you'll ever know buddy!

you had a sleepover for your 10th birthday. You guys did an outdoor laser tag afternoon. You had way too much fun! The sleepover was fun for you, and thankfully you were outside in a tent so we didn't have to hear you! Bedtime didn't happen until 4:30 AM😳

You look up to your dad so much. Your 10th birthday present has been promised for a few years. You finally got to play Poppy Hills! You played all 18 holes and shot 114. You had a lot of fun and daddy said that was one of the funnest outings he's ever had with you.

You and Hudson do a lot of golfing. You two are finally old enough that I can drop you off at Spring Creek and you can play for a couple hours. I love watching you be able to do this activity together and I love watching your skills develop.

We rented wetsuits one visit to the beach house this summer. You loved boogie boarding and not being freezing cold! You were such a big helper to your siblings as they learned how to boogie board as well. It was a fun day!

Our last big outing of the summer was a lake day with friends. You learned how to knee board and wakeboard! You are a natural! Tubing was also super fun that day.

I say it every year buddy but I can't believe you are another year older. 10 years and you've learned so much. My prayer this year is that you continue to grow and develop. That you continue to learn self-control, love for others and a hard-working attitude. Love you!