Year Fifteen - Year End Review

 FIFTEEN. Fif-daggum-teen.

Top 10 Things You Love

1. Art (you still love paper and pencil, but you’ve been focused on digital art this past year)

2. Reading

3. Your family and friends

4. Your school and church

5. The online writing community that you’re a part of (I just ended a sentence about writing with a preposition - maybe I should join this community …)

6. Biology (who knew this would be the year you found a love of science?!)

7. Music, especially the eclectic combination of showtunes, electronica soft pop, and folk

8. Your hair

9. Being cozy/cozy things - fuzzy blankets, soft sweatshirts, leggings, squishy pillows, your bed

10. YouTube, specifically Brandon Shepherd, Studio C, Moriah Elizabeth, and Mark Rober

Top 10 Things You Don’t Love

1. Not being in drama this year (hi, my name’s Mom and I’m the reason for this specific tale of woe)

2. The mood swings that are inevitable with teenagers (you’re convinced you’re the only person in the world who has them)

3. Entertaining younger children

4. Your hair (see #8 above; it’s a love/hate relationship)

5. Tornadoes 

6. Cutting your fingernails (I’ve never met someone who hates this task as much as you do)

7. When I cook fish that’s not salmon (my track record for cooking non-salmon in a way that’s yummy is a solid 0%)

8. Feeling over-peopled and not having an opportunity for introverting

9. That you have you put your iPad away at 8pm

10. When you have to cook/bake something that’s not mac & cheese

Top 10 Things You’re Good At

1. Drawing

2. Singing

3. Landing a zinger (you get funnier each year)

4. Decluttering (you’re bordering on heartless with how quickly you are to throw things away)

5. Spanish pronunciations

6. Driving around a parking lot

7. Speaking in front of people

8. Time management

9. Washing dishes (thankfully, this is also a task that you don’t mind doing)

10. 
    

Top 10 Things You’re Not Good At

1. Completing a math lesson without squawking and carrying on about how you’ll never get any of this right … only to get it right 15 minutes later.

2. Loading the dishwasher in such a way as to maximize the number of cups that can fit in the top rack

3. Wing walking

4. Swallowing pills

5. Feeling comfortable in situations where you don’t know anyone

6. Taking things out of the oven without providing a running commentary of how you’re going to burn the house down

7. Knowing what to do when someone gets hurt

8. Accepting that throwing up can help you feel better (not like as a general rule, of course - but you will avoid throwing up at all costs, even if you’re super nauseous.)

9. Not being a control freak

10. Rewiring a house

Who knew that you’d start out the year with your hair doing one thing and end the year with your hair doing something totally different. Your hair went from thick and wavy-but-very-easy-to-straighten-if-you-wanted-it-straight to thick and WELCOME TO CURLY TOWN, BOIIIIII. WE’VE GOT A MIND OF OUR OWN AND YOU BETTER FIGURE US OUT OR ELSE YOU’RE GONNA LOOK LIKE A LABRADOODLE. 

You and I have taken quite a hair journey this year. We’ve tried a ton of stuff that hasn’t worked great, and we’ve found a few things that work pretty well. I’m realizing that curly hair is a whole thing. A whole lifestyle. A whole vibe, as the kids say. Gone are the days where you can just brush your hair and be good to go. Gone are the days where you can wash your hair in 15 minutes. Gone are the days where you owned just two hair products - shampoo and conditioner. You’re an incredibly low-maintenance teenager, but these gorgeous curls of yours require you to be a bit higher-maintenance than you’d prefer. Depending on your mood, you either love your curls or you’re ready to hack them off with a hatchet.

This is the first year since 5th grade that you haven’t taken drama at school. And it’s been a point of contention ever since the 2023-2024 schedule came out. And listen, I know. I KNOW. I’m one of the ones who made the silly schedule - and even as we were making it, I was all Oooooh Natalie’s gonna be so mad. And I was right. Because when given the chance between taking Drama and taking English, my girl will always pick Drama. But I wanted/needed you to take English. So you did. You’re only slightly salty about it, four months into the school year.

But you got to be in a local production of Newsies over the summer. And that was such a highlight for you. You played your parts to a T (you were tailor-made for the part of the dramatic stage manager) and you had an absolute blast. You’re already thinking about next summer’s show. 

Dad’s taken you driving a handful of times over the past few months. You’ve clocked a lot of laps around the parking lots of various local schools. The thought of you driving gives your ol’ Mom quite a few heart palpitations. Please know - it’s not that I don’t think you’ll be a great driver. I have zero doubt that you’ll be an excellent driver. It’s the other knuckleheads on the road who I’m worried about for you - particularly the ones who are texting their friends, eating a spaghetti dinner, and applying their mascara all while also trying to drive the streets that you’ll be on.

I know the teenage years aren’t your favorite. I remember it not being a favorite for me either. But being the mom of a teenager has been such a blast. Your mood swings are (usually) endearing and (often) humorous. Your flair for the dramatic is center stage as you wail and moan about how you’re the only teenager in the WORLD who struggles with <insert whatever struggle you’d like>. You like to insist that I was never ever a teenage girl and, therefore, can’t POSSIBLY understand your woes. Because, duh, I was born as a 43-year-old woman. And if you relent and agree that I was, at one point, a teenage girl, it doesn’t matter anyway because when I was a teenager, my biggest woe was the wrong stegosaurus picking me up for school at the local cave (I’ll refer you to #3 on the Top 10 Things You’re Good At). 

This birthday has hit me differently than others have; I wasn't really expecting that. Your big gift was your first smartphone - while I was (half-jokingly) lamenting this milestone to a friend a few weeks ago, she stopped me and said, "Nope - this is a good thing! It's just one more step on the road to being independent - which is the goal of parenting!" I love that wisdom. So I shifted my mentality and am welcoming this new season.

Dad and I are immensely proud of you. We’re proud of you for the obvious stuff, sure. Kindness and good grades and good morals are certainly all worthy of celebration. But we’re also proud of how you’re learning the hard stuff. We’re proud of how you keep us on our toes. We’re proud of how you’re learning to not be absolutely amazingly wonderfully perfect at everything you do. We’re proud of how you’re learning to let God shape your character and heart. 

You made us parents 15 years ago. You filled our hearts to overflowing the second you were born, and we find our hearts still overflowing. You’re our girl. Our peach. Our babydoll. You are a treasure, and we’re so glad you’re ours.

Hugs and smooches,

Mom & Dad

PS: Unrelated, but worthy of a mention - Charlie grew at least 1” since September. He’s dangerously close to becoming your bigger little brother. Time to hit that GROW TALL NOW switch.  

Year Fourteen - Year End Review

Oh my sweet Peach, how can you possibly be 14? It just doesn’t seem possible. I know, I know - I’m like a broken record and say that every year (How can you already be THREE? or Whoa, you’re SEVEN today!) but it’s just hard to believe that this you-existing-thing-and-us-being-parents thing has been going strong for 14 years (well, 14 years plus nine months plus six days plus fifteen hours and 42 minutes … but who’s counting).

Speaking of counting (excellent segue, self), here are your Top 10 Lists …

Top 10 Things You Love

1. YouTube, specifically Moriah Elizabeth and Studio C
2. Hanging out with your friends
3. Your youth group at church
4. Sushi
5. Singing
6. Drawing (pencils and colored pencils are your long-time jam but digital art has become your new jam) 
7. Your family (I love that you still like spending time with us)
8. Ice cream
9. Listening to music
10. Reading (specifically Keeper of the Lost Cities series)

Top 10 Things You Don’t Love

1. Emptying the dishwasher (... the dishwasher that’s full of clean dishes … but you don’t mind washing dirty dishes … I’m gonna need you to explain that one to me)
2. Being corrected
3. Taking naps
4. Seeing people get hurt
5. When you don’t completely and fully master a new topic within 23.7 seconds
6. Clothes shopping (Hey, clothing manufacturers - believe it or not but some of us really want entire shirts. And hey, Target and Old Navy - it’s super annoying that your sizing appears to be arbitrary. Fitting into a size 2 in one style, a size 8 in another one, and a kids’ 14/16 in another style is absurd. Get it together.)
7. Babysitting (you’ve never actually done it - but you’ve never done it because little kids aren’t your jam)
8. Lukewarm showers
9. Cra-Z-Art anything (*cough*art snob*cough*)
10. When people are mean to their siblings

Top 10 Things You’re Good At

1. Performing on stage
2. Trying any food at least once
3. Drawing (your talent is astounding)
4. Making macaroni and cheese
5. Writing (you have quite a knack for stringing together some real purty, good-sounding words on them thar papers you write)
6. Sarcasm and dry wit. They make your texting game s-t-r-o-n-g.
7. Speaking to adults
8. Organizing your schoolwork/homework for the week. It’s not the easiest thing to be in two different tutorials but you manage it beautifully.
9. Making cards for people
10. Ripstiking 

Top 10 Things You’re Not Good At

1. Speaking slowly
2. Not squealing when you’re around your friends
3. Creating the perfect Baked Alaska
4. Remaining calm when you hear that someone has to go to the bathroom but there’s not a bathroom within the immediate vicinity (just to give your blood pressure a workout while we’re running errands, I’ll announce that I have to go to the bathroom. Your brow gets all furrowed, you slouch your shoulders, and you mutter how mean I am. It’s adorable.)
5. Asking for help with math homework (complaining about and squawking about you needing help is apparently more fun than simply asking me to help you)
6. Bowling a perfect 300
7. Piloting a hot air balloon
8. Being tall (my guess is this’ll change in 2023)
9. Speaking fluent Italian
10. Running an IRONMAN

We’re only a year into the teenage season, but so far I give it two resounding thumbs up. It’s a blast. I love you and your falling-apart-teenage-brain so very much. You’re bold in your faith and wildly responsible with your schoolwork. You know when you’ve hit your Socialization Threshold™ and quietly remove yourself to decompress. You’re impossibly funny, incredibly artistic, and tremendously smart. Even in the throes of the Teenage Angst and Emotions and Feelings and Tears™, you’re a delight.  

You’ve had several art commissions this year. You drew a portrait of my friend and her family for her 40th birthday. She loved it and asked you to draw another picture of her and her family. She turned the second picture into both her Christmas card and her return address stickers. You were so honored. And you ended up doing several more commissions after that! 

So your braces. You still have them on (but only for a few more weeks). At your orthodontist appointment late last summer, you got rubber bands. Dr. Shawn said you had to wear them all the time - that you should only take them out when you eat. And that if you wore them like you should, you’ll get your braces off around Halloween. Well, when a doctor tells you to do something, you do it 110%. And when we went to your next appointment, Dr. Shawn was all, “Um, did you wear these 25 hours a day?!” Cuz you wore them so much that you gave yourself an overbite (THAT outcome certainly wasn’t listed in the orthodontic brochure we got two years ago). Which meant that you had to wear your braces for another three months to undo the damage you did by being a model patient. Yeahhh. THAT was a fun car ride home.

Your youth group started doing a Student-Led Wednesday, where instead of the grownups leading the games and music and giving the message, the students do it. And Levi, the youth pastor, asked you to give the message for the first SLW. You handled this assignment with such maturity (with a dash of OH MY GOSH WHAT DID I AGREE TO DO? I CAN’T DO THIS. I’M ONLY 13. I DIDN’T GO TO SEMINARY thrown in for good measure). You spoke on 1 Peter 2:9 and described what it meant to be chosen. You talked about how we can be bold in our faith because the Lord has called us. You practiced it in front of me a few times, and I cried each time. I recorded you that Wednesday and just barely kept it together. I’m floored with your composure, your boldness, the clarity and simplicity with which you can explain a deep topic. I’m in awe of how the Lord is shaping your faith and deepening your walk with Him. I’m humbled that He gave you to us. 

I can’t wait to see what this year brings. My guess is that it’ll include approximately 5,592 sketches sketched, 92,167 songs sung, 306,928 text message zingers sent, and 476 books read. And probably a few doses of OH MY GOSH I CAN’T DO THIS I CAN’T DO ANYTHING I’M GONNA FAIL SCHOOL LIFE IS SO UNFAIR AND MY LIFE IS THE HARDEST EVERRRRRRRRRRRR.

And we can’t wait for all of it cuz we’re the luckiest parents everrrrrrrrrrr.

Hugs and smooches,
Mom & Dad

Year Thirteen - Year End Review

Sweet girl,

You loved turning 10 because you were double-digits. Then at 11, you were all, “I’m a tween now!” And last year, it was “I’m officially a preteen!”. And now here we are. Great googly-moogly, you’re a teenager.  

Top 10 Things You Love

1. Reading (specifically the Keeper of the Lost Cities series)
2. Singing
3. Performing on stage
4. Drawing 
5. Moriah Elizabeth YouTube videos 
6. Your friends
7. Your family
8. Your youth group at church
9. Spaghetti, sushi, and ice cream  
10. Leanna Crawford songs

Top 10 Things You Don’t Love

1. When someone gets hurt  
2. Not being included in adult conversations (pretty sure this has made its appearance on every Top 10 Things You Do Don’t Love list)
3. Going somewhere without a book and/or notebook 
4. Sports that involve a ball (you’re happier when you do stuff like swimming or wall climbing)  
5. Watching engineering videos on YouTube with Daddy (but that would absolutely be on his list of Top 10 Things He Loves)
6. Being corrected (you’re in good company, sweet face) 
7. Math (but check out #7 of the next list)
8. How ridiculous clothes are for girls your age (the crop tops and “Follow Your Heart” messaging make us both roll our eyes)  
9. When Charlie knows something you don’t  
10. Bugs

Top 10 Things You’re Good At

1. Songwriting and storywriting (you’re in two different writing classes this year and they’ve both improved your ability to spin a yarn)
2. Singing 
3. Being responsible - you’re incredibly self-motivated for a 13-year-old
4. Trying any food at least once 
5. Being funny and/or sarcastic (this continues to be a work in progress, as it’s tricky to learn which situations call for humor and/or sarcasm and which situations most assuredly do not) 
6. Decluttering (you’re fairly heartless when it comes to throwing things away; on more than one occasion, I’ve had to rescue something from the trash that I had given you from when I was little) 
7. Math
8. Making cards for people 
9. Engaging with adults (you’ve loved adult conversation since the moment you learned to talk) 
10. Ripstik-ing  

Top 10 Things You’re Not Good At

1. Remaining calm, cool, and collected when you know adults are talking about something that you don’t know about 
2. Being OK with not mastering a subject within the first five minutes of attempting it 
3. Pitching a no-hitter in a MLB game
4. Having the strength of a four-year-old (I liked wrestling with you a lot more when you were little and four; it’s less fun now that you’re all strong and stuff) 
5. Being tall (just you wait, my love - your time’s coming …) 
6. Swallowing pills (you may be taking chewable pills until you're an adult …) 
7. Ice carving
8. Writing certain letters correctly (you don’t do the downstroke on a lowercase ‘d’ or  ‘p’ and it makes your mother cringe)    
9. Doing chores with a smile on your face and joy in your heart
10. Swordsmithing

You had two drama performances this year. In the spring, you were a toilet (yes, a toilet) in a remake of Beauty and the Beast. And a few weeks ago, you were a lizard in a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. One of my favorite things about watching you on stage is that you go all in with every role you have, regardless of how major or minor the part is. I mean, who would ever want to be a toilet? My kid, that’s who. You saw the potential in that part to make it a really funny character - and you absolutely did. And you (along with the rest of your class) were asked to create a backstory for your character in the retelling of Alice in Wonderland. And you thought the lizard should be a southern lizard (I mean, obviously, right?), complete with a southern drawl.

You got your first phone this summer (and you may or may not have had the same laughing-crying reaction as you did when we bought Frozen on DVD when you were but a wee thing). This phone lets you do exactly what you need to do - call, text, take pictures, and listen to the radio - and practically nothing else. And that’s the point. This phone is actually more of a convenience for Dad and me than it was a necessity for a 12-year-old. We like being able to get in touch with you at all times and we like you to have the same access to us. But my favorite part of you having a phone? Your sense of humor. Your texting game is s-t-r-o-n-g and your ability to showcase your humor in a text message is impeccable.

And we know you’d like a phone that took better pictures or a phone with internet access so you could listen to Spotify. And that’ll happen eventually (your first smartphone would be a great college graduation gift!) but for right now, we can’t see any reason to give you access to a device that could easily make harder an already hard season of growth and development.

You transitioned to secondary classes in our homeschool group this year. Which means way more homework and responsibility - and Dad and I are so proud of you for how you’ve handled this new responsibility. You’ve had a few bumps along the way but this has given you practice in the important art of recovering well.

The only subject I’m teaching you at home is history; everything else is being taught by other teachers. This has been a great experience for you. You’re learning to be accountable to someone other than me and you’re taking ownership of your schedule and organization.

I’ve seen your faith increase this year. I loved seeing you worship so openly and freely on Sundays, and it’s been encouraging to my own faith to see you read your Bible in the mornings. You ask thoughtful questions and I can see the Lord working in your heart in a beautiful way. I pray you’ll always know that you are His masterpiece, that He has an inexhaustible amount of love for you, that He is your Good Father.

I know it’s pretty typical to hear parents bemoan the teenage years. But I refuse to accept that this season has to be bad, has to be trying, has to be rebellious. Could it? Of course. And will there be tough parts? Of course; that’s practically a guarantee being sinners in a fallen world. But I don’t want to walk into these years expecting the worst; that’s not fair to any of us.

I have loved each age more than the previous age. That doesn’t mean that each age or season of growth has been drama-free and struggle-free, but it does mean that I’ve loved watching you turn into such an amazing 13-year-old. And I have no doubt that I’ll love this year more than the last - all the while lamenting that you don’t have the strength of a four-year-old and it’s much harder to pin you down when we wrestle … 

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy

Year Twelve - Year End Review

Happy 12th birthday, my favorite peach! 

You're officially a tweenager, but because the world is the way it is (crazy and bananas and ridiculous), you're a quarantweenager. Life certainly looks different in the midst of a global pandemic but Top 10 Lists are as certain as the sun rising.

Top 10 Things You Love

1. Singing (your arms are probably tired from carrying all those buckets full of tunes) 
2. Watching TV 
3. Curling up in your bed and reading
4. Studio C, Mark Rober, and Dude Perfect YouTube channels
5. A wide assortment of foods - your current favorites are sushi, spaghetti, soup (specifically tomato and chicken and rice), soft pretzels, and Oreo pie
6. Your friends
7. Your family (cue the angels singing!)
8. Looking at your baby pictures and/or watching videos from when you were little
9. Drawing (something on the Top 10 List of Things Mommy Loves is watching you draw)
10. Ice skating

Top 10 Things You Don’t Love

1. Chores (I mean, is there a kid who loves chores? Maybe. But you’re definitely not one of those kids)
2. Learning something new and hard
3. Having to spend more than three minutes to understand the aforementioned new and hard thing
4. Being corrected
5. Babysitting (I mean, you’ve never babysat before, but since younger kids aren’t your jam, this would most likely be a miserable job for you)
6. When I make any other fish except salmon (in your defense, I have a 0% success rate when making non-salmon fish dishes …)
7. Math (how many years has math been on this list?)
8. Accepting that Charlie is better at certain things than you
9. Decimals (oh, the angst when I explained how decimals are everywhere and you’d better figure out how to tolerate them)
10. Being around people who argue (it even upsets you when you and Charlie argue .. Daddy and I keep telling you that disagreements and arguments are normal and inevitable. People are messy, man)

Top 10 Things You're Good At

1. Performing on stage (I know I’m biased, but you’re pretty captivating to watch)
2. Drawing, especially cartoons 
3. Talking fast (all four of us talk fast - probably too fast)
4. Math (and how many years has math also been on this list?)
5. Keeping your room clean
6. Physical activities like running, rock climbing, and swimming
7. Being responsible (I often say that for an 11-year-old, you make a terrible adult … but, in many cases, you show maturity well past your 11 years)
8. Making beautiful cards for your friends and family
9. Landing a joke (the sarcastic apple didn't have very far to fall from the sarcastic tree)
10. Writing stories (all that book readin’ you insist upon doing has turned you into quite the little storyteller)

Top 10 Things You're Not Good At

1. Not being included in conversations
2. Extending yourself grace when you make mistakes
3. Finishing the Barkley Marathon
4. Answering open-ended questions in school (How am I supposed to know what this author was thinking and feeling? How am I supposed to imagine how it feels to go through a situation that I’ve never experienced?!)
5. Doing things you don’t love without an eye roll and/or a dramatic sigh
6. Performing knee replacement surgery
7. Not getting derailed by a tough day in math
8. Solving a Rubik’s cube with your feet
9. Not whining when it’s time to do chores
10. Juggling 10 flaming bowling pins

2020 was such a mess, amiright? COVID-19 arrived and the world practically turned upside down in March. Our homeschool group switched to virtual classes for the last quarter of the 2019-2020 school year. (Your verdict? Two very enthusiastic thumbs down). You didn’t see your friends face-to-face for months. (Two more thumbs down). You missed your spring drama performance (Thumbs down count is now up to six). Daddy and I got COVID in August - and we assume you and Charlie had it too - and we were isolated for 24 days. (Too many downed thumbs to count).

I’ve said this so many times over the past nine months and I’ll keep saying it (because I also need to be reminded of this myself), there is always something to be thankful for. And as dumpster fiery as 2020 was, there are so many good things that happened, too.

• We’ve had more family time - so more hikes, more bike rides, more game nights, etc
• Daddy’s commute reduced to 60 seconds (75 seconds, if there’s a pileup on the 6th stair) so we see him more each day
• We’ve experienced God’s protection firsthand (Daddy’s job stayed steady; Daddy and I only had bad COVID symptoms overlap for one day; your symptoms were extremely mild - a low-grade fever and a sore throat)
• We've talked to our neighbors more
• Online church certainly isn’t my preference but we’ve had some really great, deep conversations about Jesus because we have the luxury of pausing the sermon if you and Charlie have questions

You starred in Junie B. Jones in December. We never really read those books when you were younger - mainly because I didn’t like how sassy and bossy JBJ is. (As if the books I did suggest you read - Ramona Quimby - didn't have their own brand of sassy and bossy ...) You did an amazing job as JBJ. Your facial expressions, body language, and natural flair for the dramatic all came together on stage. I smile nonstop (or cry - whatever, shut up, nobody asked you) when you perform.

Despite Daddy’s desire to keep you from getting any older, you keep growing up and getting more and more responsible. After dinner, you often clear our plates from the table without being asked, rinse them, and put them in the dishwasher. If you pass trash on the sidewalk, you always pick it up and throw it away. You clean up after yourself. You put things where they belong. 

Daddy and I see all those things (and others). We see you working hard. We see you doing a good job. We see you serving your family. We see you treating your brother kindly. We see you loving people by sharing your talent with them. We see you.

We see our strong, brave, smart, hilarious girl. We see our cautious, adventurous, creative, clever girl. We see our thoughtful, conscientious, expressive, sensitive girl. We see you. We see an amazing girl who God created so carefully and intentionally. 

You matter, my sweet love. You matter simply because of Whose you are. So while all those adjectives I just listed are 100% true, you would matter just the same if you were none of those. Your adjectives don’t make you any more loved, worthy, or important. You’re loved, worthy, and important because you’re His.

And Daddy and I consider it the highest privilege that He gave you to us.

Hugs and smooches,

Mommy & Daddy

2019 Year End Review

E-L-E-V-E-N!

Every year seems surprising to me. Like, how are you possibly [insert age here] years old? And 11 is no different. While I process how you're now halfway to 22, please enjoy your Top 10 Lists.

Top 10 Things You Love

1. Being on stage (I still occasionally catch you singing one of your Annie songs) 
2. Sushi, spaghetti, and soup (at least one of my children appreciates my soups … you also love alliteration … ) 
3. Reading, particularly whilst lounging in your bed 
4. Drawing 
5. RipStik-ing
6. It's a Southern Thing, Mark Rober, and the Holderness Family YouTube channels 
7. Routines 
8. Making cards for people 
9. Your family 
10. Quality time 

Top 10 Things You Don't Love 

1. Emptying the dishwasher and cleaning the bathrooms (though you don't mind dusting and vacuuming) 
2. Automatic toilets (eight years strong) 
3. Math (this one keeps showing up on this particular Top 10 List … as it does on another Top 10 List … ironic, no?)
4. A change in your routine 
5. Bugs 
6. Having to spend more than 10 minutes on school (I keep telling you that the older you get the longer school takes - but you're having none of my logical offerings) 
7. Not being involved in conversations 
8. Being corrected (nobody does, but it's been tricky to convince you of this)
9. Dumb phrases on shirts that are made for tween girls (we've had lots of conversations about how things like FOLLOW YOUR HEART and 90% ANGEL are obnoxious statements) 
10. Waiting patiently 

Top 10 Things You're Good At 

1. Singing, acting, and being a general ham (as evidenced by your performance in Annie)
2. Math (well hello, math, fancy seeing you again)
3. Purging the clutter from your room (Marie Kondo might even learn a thing or two from you) 
4. Keeping your room clean (made easier, because of #3)
5. Remembering to do your school work 
6. Handwriting 
7. Making scrambled eggs 
8. Drawing cartoons
9. Sarcasm (though we're still working on how to wield that power for good and not for evil) 
10. Talking to adults (every since you were about three, you've always preferred older kids and adults to younger kids) 

Top 10 Things You're Not Good At

1. Keeping your sighs to yourself when asked to do certain chores (which makes you also good at doing extra chores .... sighs = more chores)
2. Maintaining your composure when your routine gets shifted around 
3. Extending yourself grace (you'll get there, baby girl, I promise) 
4. Riding a unicycle
5. Being an adult (I often tell you "As a 10-year-old, you make a terrible adult." I say then when you try to understand things that are way beyond your scope of knowledge or when you try to make decisions that you have no business making) 
6. Piloting a 747 
7. Being content just listening to (and not participating in) a conversation
8. Recovering well/quickly/calmly from messing up (please know this is completely normal - however, one of the benefits of homeschooling is providing you with the safest environment imaginable in which to mess up. Daddy and I don't want you to TRY to mess up, but because messing up is inevitable, it's important to learn how to recover well from it.) 
9. Performing open heart surgery 
10. Keeping cool when you know about a fun surprise and someone else doesn't 

Oh, my sweet darling. I know this year hasn't been the easiest. Pre-teen hormones can feel like a sucker punch to the head (for you, for me, for errbody). Growing up ain't for the faint of heart and you're right in the thick of it. But in the middle of this season, we've had the opportunity to have some really good conversations. I've explained how there will be times when you'll act as rational as a toddler and that it's my job and Daddy's job to speak truth over your behavior. How you can't trust every feeling you have (FACTS AREN'T FEELINGS is a common phrase around here), particularly when you're feeling pity-party-ish. How so many things are a choice (this legitimately infuriates you) and learning how to make the right choice, even when it's not the easy choice. 

One of my (many) prayers I have is for you to remember there's nothing you can do to make God (or Daddy and me) love you any more. And there's nothing you can do to make God (or Daddy and me) love you any less. Our love for you is at a rock-solid 100%. Performing well doesn't make us love you any more. Messing up doesn't make us love you any less. We will always be at an unshakeable 100%. Always, always, always. 

You are chock-full of amazing qualities, my girl. You have a very sensitive, very precious heart. Without being asked, you design elaborate cards for people. You write encouraging notes to Charlie. You like to help me in the kitchen. Most mornings, you ask me to come upstairs and snuggle with you. But before that, I often hear you reading to Charlie in your bed. You like to cuddle with Daddy while we watch movies. You're strong and athletic, clever and smart, kind and eager. You love people; you love solitude. You love salads; you love ice cream. You're daring; you're cautious. You're amazing; you're beautiful; you're ours. 

And you're also 11. Dude. 

Hugs and smooches, 

Mommy & Daddy 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Headlines for January 1, 2020

• Barbara Walters honored with 'This is 2020' tribute video featuring star cameos
• A million people gather in Times Square to celebrate the New Year 
• Cleveland kidnapping survivors on journey from captivity to helping others 
• Texas church shooting gunman grew angry in past over money requests, visited 'multiple' times, minister says 
• Army veteran recycles Christmas trees into canes

2018 Year End Review

Two whole hands, that's what you are. Two whole hands of sweetness, sarcasm, and smarts. And it's my honor and privilege to present your Two-Handed Top Ten Lists.

Top Ten Things You Love:

1. Drawing
2. Singing, especially on stage
3. Knowing the bathroom situation of any place we go to (you want to know if there will be porta-potties, regular bathrooms, single-occupancy, etc and you want to make sure everyone has gone to the bathroom before we go anywhere.)
4. Charlie
5. Cuddling with your daddy
6. Girl time with your momma (you particularly love wandering around the American Girl store at the mall - which is actually loads of fun because you never ask for anything in that store. You've never been a 'doll kid'; you like to look at them in the store, but you're happy to leave them in the store.)
7. Making cards for people
8. The Holderness Family, Art for Kids Hub, and Super Carlin Brothers YouTube channels
9. Church, specifically your Sunday School class
10. Reading
    

Top Ten Things You Don't Love:

1. When you're forced out of your routine (which, admittedly, is something that Daddy and I do on purpose to stretch your 'roll with it' muscle. It definitely needs a bit of stretching ...)
2. When Charlie knows something you don't know, or figures something out before you do. (It's particularly funny when I'm drilling you on math problems and he calls out random numbers just to mess with you - and sometimes, he happens to call out the right number. Which just tickles him to no end and infuriates you to your very core. Charlie's right; it's very funny.)
3. Cumin and beans (which is super unfortunate because your parents love tacos almost as much as we love you)
4. Humidity
5. Reading comprehension ("You mean I have to look through this book to find the answer??????????? I can't do that!!!!!!!!! It'll take too long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
6. Cleaning the bathroom (I am fully aware of this fact, but you still feel the need to remind me every single time you're asked to do it)
7. That you're not perfect (One of my many prayers is that you would loosen the grip you have on this idea of perfection that you feel you have to meet. Daddy and I know you'll never be perfect and we know that it's a useless and fruitless quest to be perfect, but you hate not being amazing at everything.)
8. Dry skin in the winter
9. Waiting in lines
10. Chaos. (Hectic/loud/chaotic environments make you feel panicky.)
    

Top Ten Things You're Good At:

1. Math (I've always known you were good at math, but this is the first year where you've realized that for yourself. Thanks, Math Mammoth!)
2. Handwriting
3. Drawing cartoon characters 
4. Singing
5. Sarcasm (It's definitely a life-long process to learn when and how to use sarcasm to its fullest potential to where it's funny but never hurtful)
6. Teasing Daddy about you being halfway to (insert twice of whatever age you currently are). (Daddy hated that you were halfway to 18. I'm assuming he'll be even less thrilled with you now being halfway to 20).
7. Trying new foods (You definitely don't like everything you try, but I love that you're always willing to try)
8. Keeping your room clean
9. Following the rules (It truly confuses you when people don't follow the rules)
10. Rollerblading, climbing rock walls, and doing handstands
    

Top Ten Things You're Not Good At:

1. Having a good poker face. (Not that we play poker ... yet. But when we play spades and you end up with a great hand, you try your hardest to look normal, but your mouth purses up and your eyes open wide.)
2. Receiving constructive criticism (It's never fun to hear that you've done something wrong or that there's a better way to do what you've done, but it's important to be humble and recognize that you don't know everything)
3. Driving a car (if any police officers are reading this, I'M JUST KIDDING .... Of course I'm kidding ... you're a great driver)
4. Doing any activity (school work, reading, drawing, sitting in the car) without singing or humming
5. Being an adult (this, of course, doesn't stop you from trying to be a momma to Charlie ... it might surprise you, but he only needs one momma, one daddy, and one sister)
6. Juggling fire batons
7. Simply listening (and not participating) when an adult conversation is happening
8. Lying (praise Jesus!)
9. A triple lutz
10. Remaining calm when you hear that someone has to go to the bathroom without there being a bathroom in the immediate vicinity. (It makes you so nervous to think that someone might have an accident. I keep trying to tell you that an accident is pretty low on the list of Worst Things in the World, but that doesn't seem to help.)
    

How is it possible that a decade has passed so quickly? Those first six months of your life and the entire year of you being two definitely seemed to have lasted a lifetime-and-a-half (Will she ever stop throwing up on me?? Will she ever stop crying?? Will she ever stop pounding on the door and kicking the walls when she's mad??), but the other eight-and-a-half years have practically flown by in a blink. Watching you grow, learn, fall, learn some more, fall some more, and then learn some more has been a joy.

You're remarkably capable, ridiculously thoughtful, and incredible talented. You love performing in musicals and you love the quiet solitude of reading in your room. You love being silly and ridiculous, but you can also carry on an intelligent conversation with an adult. You're encouraging and sympathetic, kind and eager. You're tough and hard-working, cautious and curious. You're beautiful and strong, sensitive and mischievous. You're your daddy's baby doll and your momma's peach. You are our Natty-J.

As a girl in 2018, you're bombarded with slogans like GIRLS RUN THE WORLD and SORRY BOYS, GIRLS RULE and THE FUTURE IS FEMALE. To me, these slogans scream that being a girl automatically makes you better than a boy. That boys are incapable. That you must loudly proclaim your worth to the world at all times or else your worth is zero. Being female is wonderful and unique. It should not a burden nor should it be of utmost importance. 

Being female is not better or worse than being male; it's not a competition. God made us to be different - to like different things, to have different skills, to have different ideas. And that's wonderfully A-OK. 

Boys are not incapable. Sure, there are lots of boys and men who make really terrible decisions. That's not a gender problem; that's a sin problem.

Likewise, girls are not the end-all-be-all. There are lots of girls and women who make really terrible decisions. Again, it has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with sin.

Your worth does not need to be proclaimed on a glittery shirt. Your worth is not determined by your gender, your looks, your talents, or your likes or dislikes. Your worth is defined by the Creator of the word 'worth'. Your worth is defined by the One who created you. Your worth is defined solely by what He did on the cross. If you live like your worth is based on anything else, your worth will never feel secure. Because every single one of those anything elses can and will change - your talents can change over the years, your likes and dislikes aren't written in stone, your physical appearance will morph as you get older. On a day when your hair looks amazing, you blaze through school without any trouble, and you talents seem endless, you'll probably feel something like, Man! I am amazing. Look at how great I'm doing!! I'm a force to be reckoned with! But on those days when you can't find a thing to wear, you struggle with math concepts that you understood last week, and you can't seem to get along with anybody, you'll probably feel, Man! I'm a disaster. I can't do anything right. I'll never be good enough.

But if you base your worth on Someone unchanging, Someone eternal, Someone who loves unconditionally, you can face the great days with humility and the not-so-great days with grace. You understand that while He's the giver of every talent you have, His love for you isn't based on possessing that talent. His love for you is based on your position as His child. You understand that while He's responsible for the brain in your head, He's not demanding you be perfect at anything. He knows you'll never be perfect; He just wants you to follow Him. And following Him will look like amazing days as well as not-so-amazing days. 

So keep following Him, my darling. Follow Him on the good days and follow Him on the bad days. He's faithful and steadfast and He's crazy about you. You are His masterpiece.

Your daddy and I are quite fond of you as well.

Hugs and smooches,

Mommy and Daddy

2017 - Year End Review

Oh, my sweet girl,

I'm so happy you were born. I'm so happy you're in our family. I'm so happy the world gets to experience the gift of you. So with all that happiness, I give to you your Top 10 Lists.

Top 10 Things You Love:

1. Drawing
2. Singing (the soundtrack to our lives is lovingly provided by you)
3. One-on-one time (quality time is totally your love language)
4. Being tickled
5. Charlie
6. Reading (every time we go to the library, you leave with no fewer than 20 books for yourself)
7. Being read to
8. ArtForKidsHub and SuperCarlinBrothers YouTube channels
9. Baby animals and baby humans (you're a fan of all things cute)
10. John Crist, Tim Hawkins, and Brian Regan

Top 10 Things You Don't Love:

1. A semi-short but very specific list of foods: cumin; beans; casseroles; applesauce; Saltines; anything spicy
2. Humid weather
3. Emptying the dishwasher (but you like eating on clean dishes, sooooo ...)
4. Seeing kids argue; it makes you so upset to see people not getting along and not resolving their differences
5. Struggling with a hard problem (I know there's probably not anyone who really loves struggling, but it seems to be an especially repellent notion to you - one of my many prayers for you is that you'd learn to find beauty in the struggle)
6. Realizing there's a conversation going on and you not being involved
7. When plans change without your prior approval (but you're not the parent, sooooo ...)
8. Naps, unless you have a fever (Sunday afternoon naps are the BEST! How can you not like them?!)
9. Watching sports on TV (but your daddy loves sports, sooooo ...)
10. Being told that you're wrong (but you're human, sooooo ...)

Top 10 Things You're Good At:

1. Drawing
2. Singing
3. Saving money (you're not a stuff kid, so there's very little in terms of toys that you're dying to have)
4. Math
5. Helping me in the kitchen
6. Calligraphy
7. Making toast, macaroni and cheese, and PB&J sandwiches
8. Drawing and decorating birthday cards for people (handmade cards are also your love language)
9. Doing handstands and the almost-splits
10. Wall climbing 

Top 10 Things You're Not Good At:

1. Facing challenges with a go get 'em attitude (you so want to succeed the first time you try something new and when you don't, you're very hard on yourself ... my little apple sure didn't have far to fall ...)
2. Trying to fool me (it brings such joy to my heart that you're a terrible liar and a horrible actress - I pray you'll always be unable to tell a lie without it being plainly displayed all over your face)
3. Responding and not reacting (though you have improved by leaps and bounds over this past year)
4. Doing a backbend without assistance
5. Speaking a foreign language (but that doesn't keep you from trying)
6. Letting other people talk
7. Curling your tongue (you're the only one in our family who can't ... this doesn't go over very well with you)
8. Whistling
9. Watching a movie  quietly (Who's that guy? Why is he crying? Where is that family going? What's going to happen when the friend finds out? Why is she in a cast?) A common theme in our house is, "If you'll watch the movie, I'm 99% sure your question will be answered." Because if you just want answers to these questions, we'll turn off the movie and just read the movie's Wikipedia page.
10. Raising one eyebrow (if you ever figure this out, please tell me how you did it. I want to do this too)

My peach. My doll. My precious girl who made me a momma. You, my love, are in a class by yourself. You are an extroverted introvert who knows exactly when she's hit her max capacity for people-ing and needs to hide out for a bit to recharge. You're a wickedly sharp girl who has a penchant for sass and sarcasm. You're a people-pleaser and a talented artist. You crave quality time and are equally delighted by the spotlight a quiet reading nook. You are sensitive, emotional, strong, clever, artistic, kind, and smart. Your brother idolizes you and your parents adore you. God sure gave a gift to the world when He gave it you.

You're nine. Your last single-digit age. Halfway to eighteen (don't tell this to Daddy; it makes him sad). Assuming you go off to college when you're 18, we're at the halfway point of having you at home. THAT is mind-blowing. 

My mind is filled with Bible verses that I pray over you. Verses about being honest and kind, verses about being humble and thankful, and verses about working hard. But what comes to mind most often with you, my angel girl, is this verse:

Ephesians 3:17-19

"so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses the knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

My heart practically is bursting with my desire for you to wholly rest in the perfect love that God has for you. His love is amazing, complete, and beyond what our little human brains can process. There's nothing you can do to make God love you any more; He's already your Number 1 Fan.

I pray that He would reveal His love to you in wonderfully unique ways - ways that speak directly to your heart. God is so amazing, my girl. He calls each of us to Himself individually and specifically, and I pray that He'll make you sensitive to how He shows His love for you.

There is sweet rest that comes from knowing that you're fully and completely loved by the Creator of the universe. Having this knowledge can prevent you from looking for validation and approval from the wrong things - temporary things, flawed things, . 

I love you more than I can possibly express. And even with that, God loves you infinitely more. So He wins.

But I win, too, because I get to be your mom.

Happy birthday, my sweet peach.

Hugs and smooches,

Mommy & Daddy

2016 - Year End Review

Why hello there, my mature grown-up girl (your words, not mine). You never cease to amaze me with what comes out of your mouth and I've been tickled endlessly these past eight years (well, these past six years - you hardly said a word your first two years. But I think you've more than made up for it.)

Here are your mature, grown-up Top 10 Lists!

10 Things You Love

1. Gymnastics
2. Wrestling with Charlie
3. Being tickled
4. Singing
5. Drawing/coloring/painting
6. Pink and/or purple and/or sparkly clothes
7. Swimming
8. Traveling. You love new cities.
9. Church
10. Quality time (I do believe I've found your love language)

10 Things You Don't Love

1. Emptying the dishwasher (I often have to explain to you that in life, we don't only get to do that which we like to do)
2. Naps (A DNA test may be in order)
3. Humid weather (A DNA test isn't at all necessary)
4. Only a few foods (namely beans, cooked carrots, cumin) 
5. Bees/wasps/yellow jackets
6. Learning something new (New concepts introduce the opportunity for you to get things wrong! A fate worse than death!)
7. Automatic flushing toilets
8. Not being involved in every conversation. It seems to cause you physical pain.
9. Being corrected. (Ahhh, humility. 'Tis a tough thing to teach a precocious one.)
10. Disappointing people

10 Things You're Good At

1. Math
2. Doing cartwheels and handstands
3. Making rubber band bracelets
4. Handwriting (makes my lettering-loving heart so happy)
5. Following directions
6. Being encouraging
7. Being funny. Your wit is razor-sharp.
8. Making cards for people
9. Being friendly and an include-r. Please, oh please, keep this up.
10. Singing. We need to work on your volume control, but you can definitely carry a tune in a bucket.

10 Things You're Not Good At

1. Sleeping in (you're a great sleeper but you're not a good sleeper-in-er)
2. Sitting still ... you fidget, you stir, you flip, you flop, you spend so much time trying to get comfortable that I'll be old and gray by the time you find the perfect position.
3. Focusing while I read to you during school. I'll read out of your history or science book, look over to you, and can practically see the daydreams floating above your head. Rainbow unicorns are fantastic but I'm pretty sure they weren't present while Washington crossed the Delaware or while scientists were naming the parts of the flower.
4. SPEAKING IN A NORMAL VOLUME.
5. Acting. Pretending to be asleep, trying to act natural when you're playing a joke on someone, maintaining a poker face when we play a game - none of these are things in which you excel.
6. Not interrupting. You so want to be included in every conversation - even if the conversation is adult-y and boring and doesn't involve you in the slightest - so you interject any chance you get (or any chance you take) with a question or a comment, related or unrelated. 
7. Rinsing all the conditioner out of your hair. Granted your hair is impossibly thick, but still. You often come out of the shower with your hair still feeling like a gooey slimeball.
8. Keeping the dramatic tone to an acceptable level. Lawsy mercy.
9. Doing a flip on the trampoline. And the fact that Charlie CAN do a flip on the trampoline goes over like a lead balloon. It infuriates you that he can do something that you can't.
10. Quantum physics. *sigh*

My heart skips a beat or two when I think about how you're halfway to 16. 

You've changed a lot this year. You've lost a few teeth and grew some new ones, so your smile has changed dramatically since you turned seven. Your hair has gotten a lot longer (and, therefore, a lot more tangly) and you've gotten a few inches taller.

You and Charlie have become so close this year. You two still squabble over silly things and I still have to play referee, but my time spent repairing hurt feelings has gotten less and less and you two have gotten better and better at working things out on your own. You and Charlie can spend hours lost in your imaginative world of police officers, unicorns, shipwrecks, and world travel. It's so fun listening to you guys play. It's, um, slightly less fun when both of you come to me with pouty faces because Charlie won't play exactly the way you tell him to, but c'est la vie. 

This has been a pretty emotional year. Lots of things have made you cry, lots of things have made you upset, and lots of things have made you stomp around the house and huff Big Bad Wolf-sized huffs. And on the flip side, lots of things have made you squeal, lots of things have made you jump up and down, and lots of things have made you laugh great big belly laughs.

It ain't easy being a girl, sweet love, and I can't tell you I'll always have the right answer or the wisest advice, but I will tell you this: you are not alone. I understand big feelings because I feel them, too. Big feelings are tough, baffling, and exhausting. Big feelings can also be beautiful. But above all, big feelings can remind us that the Lord is with us. Because when we feel all the things and don't know how to process them, He is there to calm our storm. He is there to carry us through the storm. Feelings aren't reliable as facts, but boy, are they good at pointing to our need to spend some time with our Father. 

I pray that you'll find comfort in praying through these feelings with God. He's the safest One to turn to; He loves you like nobody else in the world ever has or ever will. It's an honor to teach you how to process these big feelings and an even bigger honor to see you building a relationship with Him. 

You are the answer to so many of my prayers, my angel girl. Being a mom is awesome. Being your mom? Well that's a privilege that's beyond compare. I like growing up right alongside you.

Hugs and smooches,

Mommy & Daddy

2015 - Year End Review

Well lookie here, Miss You're-Now-a-Whole-Hand-Plus-a-Peace-Sign-years old. This has been a funny, silly, emotional, dramatic, and blessing-full year. As per the ushe (uzhe? you-zhe? Seriously, how do you spell this?), here are your Top 10 Lists ...

Top 10 Things You Love:

1. All things artistic (drawing, coloring, painting, etc)
2. Singing
3. Gymnastics
4. Writing stories
5. Reading
6. Playing basketball 
7. America's Funniest Home Videos, Phineas and Ferb, and Road Runner
8. Church
9. Lauren Daigle, MercyMe, Francesca Battestelli
10. Folding towels for $0.50

Top 10 Things You Don't Love:

1. Avocados, sweet potatoes, beans, nuts, Cheez-Its, Larabars 
2. Waiting your turn to talk. The moment you have a thought, it immediately comes out of your mouth.
3. Sleeping in. You're not an early riser but you're not a sleeper-inner either
4. Jeans
5. Being sweaty 
6. Being aggravated by Charlie (which is unfortunate, because aggravating you is one of his most favorite things ever)
7. Getting something wrong. You're ridiculously hard on yourself, you give yourself zero grace, and you feel like you should master all new concepts within two minutes. And if you don't? Well clearly you'll never get it and you should totally cry and pitch lots of fits. Cuz that always works. 
8. Unkindness. You have an enormously sensitive heart.
9. Automatic toilets. You love going to the bathroom in a stall by yourself but nothing makes you turn around on your heels faster than seeing a handle-less toilet. You practically hyperventilate the entire time you're on an automatic toilet, convinced the toilet paper I'm using to cover the sensor will not do its job and the toilet will spontaneously flush. 
10. Untwirly dresses

Top 10 Things You're Good At:

1. Math
2. Emptying the dishwasher
3. Ordering folks around (whether or not people listen is another thing, but you do a bang up job at the ordering around thing)
4. Singing. You can carry a tune fairly well.
5. Drawing. I know you're only seven, but you're a pretty good little ar-teest.
6. Going across the monkey bars
7. Making cards and signs for people (you love making anything from birthday cards to "I'm Sorry Your Head Hurts, Mommy" to Yay, "It's Pizza Friday!" signs to put on the front door for Daddy to see when he comes home from work)
8. Keeping secrets about gifts. You really enjoyed knowing what Charlie was getting for his birthday and for Christmas. I think it made you feel grown up. So I happily obliged and took you shopping with me for his presents. You never once spilled the beans. (Charlie, on the other hand, makes it his life's mission to spoil surprises.)
9. Doing a backwards roll. (I only include this because you tried for months to do one in gymnastics and you just couldn't get your brain and your legs to work together. Then, lo and behold, a few days ago, you did it. And now, you do a backwards roll like a boss.)
10. Talking to adults. 

Top 10 Things You're Not Good At:

1. Brushing your entire head of hair. You're a pro at about 70%. And that 70% is smoooooth. But the other 30%? A family of squirrels could happily make their home in those tangles.
2. Minding your own beeswax. If Mommy and Daddy are talking, you demand to know every detail of said conversation.
3. Speaking Spanish. It's been many years since I took Spanish in high school, but I do remember distinctly that "Fleeb flop floob" is not Spanish for 'I love you', despite your insistence.
4. Deviating from your bedtime routine. Let's just say that Charlie has the nerve to brush his teeth first (I know, right?). Instead of doing something productive and bedtime-related (like going to the bathroom or getting your jammies on), you'll sit on the edge of the tub and wait for him to finish brushing his teeth. You can't budge from your brushing-your-teeth-going-to-the-bathroom-getting-jammies-on pattern without a serious breakdown. Most of the time, it's not a big deal. Charlie the Flexible doesn't care in what order he does his stuff, but there are those times where he gets to the sink first and I walk you through the process of deviating from your routine. I have a 100% success rate and you have a 100% crying rate. 
5. Speaking in a normal volume. I worry you feel everyone has a hearing problem.
6. Reading directions on a worksheet and not immediately declaring that "I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THIS SAYS." Reading instructions two times (or three, four, or twelve) times is not something you prefer. You prefer to read them once then promptly have a meltdown. It's so cute. *eyeroll*
7. Coming up with ideas for what to draw or what to write about. This has been on your Top 10 Things You're Not Good At for several years and it continues to be hard for you. What's funny (aggravating?) is that you want to be fed ideas but you rarely like the ideas I come up with. I'm just going to start suggesting really awful things to force you to come up with something better. 
8. Differential Equations
9. Sitting still on the couch. You are the squirmiest and flippy-floppiest child I've ever seen. "Snuggling" with you isn't so much as "snuggling" as it is "the five-second respite in between position changes"
10. Sleeping gracefully. Arms spread out. Feet hanging off the bed. Mouth wide open. 

Becoming a parent is inherently humbling. The "I'll never do THAT when I'M a parent"-isms quickly turned into "Aw, snap. I'm doing THAT. Aaaaaaaand ya know what? I'm really okay with it." And the whole "My kid will NEVER act like that!" thing quickly turned into a "Wow. My kid can be a little punk." thing. God is so funny.

It's also hard to see the qualities I'm most self-conscious about be front and center in my child's personality. I guess I had these notions of grandeur that you'd somehow luck out and be everything I didn't think I was when I was younger - cool, confident, and easy-going. But God knew better than to bless me with that kind of child. He knew I needed to be changed and molded so he blessed me with a child who mirrored myself so clearly. So the only thing I could do - can do - is turn to Him and ask for heaps and loads of grace and mercy.

Please don't misunderstand that paragraph, my precious girl. You are exactly what I need and everything I want. You are made perfectly and wonderfully in His image. However, I need to be challenged so I don't get lazy. I need to be humbled so I don't get proud. I need to be weak so I won't count on my own strength.

I needed a girl who wants so desperately to understand and master new concepts the first time. Because that kind of bananas mentality is the exact same time of bananas mentality her momma possesses. So one of my many prayers is that the Lord softens my heart to your ill-fated desire towards Mastery of All The Things and simultaneously strips away my similar desire.

I needed a girl who had big, confusing emotions because it made my big, confusing emotions have a partner-in-crime.

I needed a girl who would be enormously responsible at a young age because there have been numerous days where headaches have left me all but incapacitated. I'm able to take a nap and you take on the maturity of someone twice your age by turning off the TV after watching one more show with Charlie. Then you let Charlie spend Quiet Time in your room while I sleep and you two play quietly for a few hours. When I wake up, I can count on a beautifully drawn Get Well Soon, Momma card to be the first thing I see. My headaches cause me so much frustration, but it's only a fraction of the frustration I would feel if you weren't able to be trusted to watch over Charlie while I slept. Even as I type this, the tears are falling because God is so good. He's so GOOD, baby girl.

I pray you feel His goodness and His unending love for you, because every time I look at you, I'm reminded of His unending love for me. And His epic sense of humor.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy