Dear Hayden,

Today you had your third piano recital. We are so proud of how you’ve grown musically! Today you played “O Come Little Children” which is a Christmas piece that you have been working on for months! You played if beautifully! All four of your grandparents are out of town this weekend, so Meggy and Jeffrey came to listen!

Love you,
Mom

Dear Owen,

You have been taking a Saturday morning soccer skills class. You have a great coach and you always enjoy yourself! Here are a few pictures of the fun!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Owen,

Today, you are four! You’ve had such an amazing year. You learned to swim completely independently and confidently (so Mom can sit on the side of the pool and not have to get in)! You read your first books on your own and you learned to share what you are thinking in such precise ways. We are so blessed by your sensitivity, intelligence, humor and totally contagious laugh. You are such a special little guy!

We started celebrating earlier this week with a private tour of Jason’s fire station! You got to ride in the brush truck and the engine and you had an absolute blast! Yesterday, we took you and your buddies to Peter Piper Pizza to have pizza and play games. Today, Grandma and Jiddoh came from Tucson, we had cake and went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. It was a fun week of celebrating sweet little you!

Love you,
Mama

Fire Station:

PPP:

Family birthday today:

Dear Hayden,

This fall, you became a girl scout! Your friend Emily’s mom and I decided to start a troop and you are absolutely loving it! So far, we’ve done some cool crafts, had a backyard coookout, had a guest instructor in karate and started working on some awesome service projects. It’s so fun for me to do this with you, Hayden. We are having a fabulous time!

Love you,
Mama

Dear H, O and B,

We had a lot of fun Halloween festivities this year! We went to the Rocktoberfest at Joy, a trunk-or-treat for the first grade families at school, and Owen you had a costume day in Miss Sue’s class, too. On Halloween night, we went to a potluck with the nieghbors and then trick-or-treated with Josiah, Elijah, Benjamin and Jacob. It was a fun, fun night!

Hayden, you decided to be tutu Batgirl this year. Owen, you were an astronaut, which is so fitting, given how much you love rockets and outer space. Bennett, you were Elmo — in fact, you picked your own costume at Target this year, and you were so excited as soon as you laid eyes on it!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Owen,

This week, you read your first books completely on your own! You are sounding out each word in the BOB books and they are making sense to you! This is just the beginning of what we hope will become a great passion of yours. Dad, Hayden and I all love to read, and based on how much you are enjoying even these simple stories, we know you will, too. It is very exciting to have another reader in our house! So proud of you, Buddy!

Love you,
Mom

Dear H, O and B,

Here is a little fall update for you! Hayden, at school you had both an Egyptian celebration and the Read-a-Thon. As a family, we camped and went to Tucson over fall break. While we were in Tucson, we visited JoHanna at the U of A. We’ve also been doing a lot of hiking as a family! We’ve had such a fun fall, but it has been HOT and we are ready to have the cooler weather that winter brings!

Love you,
Mama

Egyytian Celebration — Hayden, you and Mrs. DeStefano had the same costume!

Read-a-Thon — Hayden, you were Charlotte (and her web) from Charlotte’s Web!

Camping with the Wielands!

Tucson — Visiting JoHanna:

Fall Family Hiking:

Other Fall Fun:

Dear Hayden,

Today, you turned seven. I cannot believe how quickly you have grown! You are such a wise little girl and we are blessed by you every single day. This was a big year for you. You finished kindergarten, found the true joy in reading and learned to play chords on the piano. You speack articulately and have such a sweet sense of humor. WE are constantly amazed at the wonder with which you approach life. You are always excited when there is a chance to learn something, and you are facinated by every new thing you learn. We love you so much!

Yesterday we had an art party with your friends and today we had cake and went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner with Grandma and Jiddoh and Meggy, Jeffrey and Josiah. It was such a fun birthday weekend!

Love you,
Mama

Dear H, O and B,

This weekend we camped at Fool Hollow Lake with the Gutes, Keatings and Benedicts. It was such a fun weekend! There were so many great kids to play with and you all had an amazing time!

Love you,
Mama

Dear Hayden,

This morning I dropped you and Allie off for your first day of first grade! It was so different from last year. You were so confident and excited to get back to all your friends! I went with Elizabeth to pick you, Allie and ELijah up and you were all very excited, having only great things to say about the first day. The year is off to a great start. I am thrilled for you!

Love you,
Mama