Happy 10th Birthday, Matilda!

Dear Matilda,

Today you are 10 years old! Happy Birthday sweet girl!! Here are some things I would like to remember about you when you turned 10 years old and something you might like to know about yourself…….

1. You are very crafty and creative. You love to sew, make gifts for people and do anything creative!
2. Your favorite food is STILL chicken tenders, french fries and ketchup.
3. You love playing piano and have been playing for about four years.
4. You sing in a local choir and love it!
5. You play percussion in the school band.
6. For the last two years you have sung a solo in the school talent show. You are incredibly shy around adults, but somehow you have no problem getting on stage and performing all by yourself.
7. You love the water. You love to go swimming and take super long showers.
8. You are our child that LOVES physical touch. You like hugs, snuggling and just being close.
9. You still sleep with a lot of stuffed animals and still love to have your huge stuffed giraffe, Gerald, on top of you at night.
10. You are planning to get your ears pierced for your birthday. We still aren’t sure if you’ll go through with it (you are NOT a fan of needles), but we’ll see!
11. You love your friends. You have a great group of girls that you are friends with at school and everyone seems to really like you. Lots of parents comment about how sweet and polite you are when you are at their homes.
12. You are so funny. You like to get into different characters and walk around the house saying funny things. My current favorite is when you pretend you are a ‘mature’ lady…….which means you talk like you are fancy and a total adult.
13. You are not having a birthday party this year. You want to go mini-golfing with your family, then out to lunch and shopping at the mall with Mama.
14. You are a Girl Scout. Your troop is very active and you love doing all the fun activities such as camping and earning badges.
15. You enjoy reading and really love the Stick Dog books.
16. When you grow up you want to be an astronaut. You want to major in science or engineering and you say you want to go to Stanford. Your goal is to be the first woman on Mars. These are big dreams, but if anyone can make it happen……..you can do it!
17. You love to cook and bake. You just finished a baking camp at the local community college and you did a great job baking all kinds of yummy treats!
18. You love our dog, Scarlett. You call her your baby and always make sure to give her a snuggle before you go to bed.
19. You have your own pet……Sam (the Beta fish). You take very good care of him.
20. You really enjoy horseback riding. We have gone a few times now and you always have the best time! On our most recent ride in Colorado, your horse’s name was Lt. Dan.

Matilda Jane, we love you so much! You are one of the sweetest, caring, most compassionate kids that I know. You always make us laugh with your funny ‘one-liners’ and are always the first to want to give Mama a hug. Thank you for always telling me how much you love me and making me feel like the best Mama in the world. I hope you have the best birthday EVER and we can’t wait to celebrate you all day long!

I love you from here to the moon and back again!

Love,

Mama