Dear Caspian,

Today you turn 15 years old. Happy Birthday, Buddy! You are growing up so fast and there are some things that I’d like to remember about you when you turned 15 and some things you might like to know about your 15 year old self.

1. You are a Freshman in high school this year. You are are on the older end of your grade. I’m so glad that we decided to hold off sending you to school when Kindergarten rolled around. I think you are more ready for high school and I one more extra year with you living at home!
2. You made the JV1 soccer team. You were one of 3 Freshman selected for this team. You are excited to start playing games with your high school teammates. You are making some great new friends.
3. You started taking drivers ed a few weeks ago which means you’ll have your permit soon and will be able to start learning to drive. You can’t wait to be able to drive yourself all over the place.
4. You are really smart. You are two grade levels above in math and are taking the highest level possible for a freshman in your other classes. At your 8th grade graduation this past May, you were one of three 8th graders that were awarded the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence and were the only boy from your grade to receive this award. We are SO proud of you!
5. You have chosen to have Raising Cane’s for your birthday dinner. You have school and soccer, so there isn’t a lot of time for celebrating, but you LOVE their chicken and especially the bread.
6. For your birthday celebration this year, you chose to take a couple buddies and go go-kart racing and out to lunch. Daddy took you and you guys had a great time!
7. You love playing games with your friends on the computer. You are getting a new desk, chair, headset, keyboard and mouse for your birthday! By the time you read this, you’ll already have opened your gifts.
8. You are still our most social child. You know lots of people and you are very well liked by everyone.
9. You’ve started caring a bit more about your appearance. It used to be athletic-wear everyday for school, but now you seem to be making more of an effort with fashion. It’s fun to see.
10. You grew A LOT this last year. You are now taller than all of your sisters and are well on your way to catching Daddy! And, of course, you are taller than me!
11. You don’t love to put away your laundry or clean your room. You do know how to do laundry yourself, but it rarely ends up in your drawers. It’s usually all over the floor.
12. You practice soccer a lot. Most days you go outside and work on ball skills and shooting. It’s nice seeing you motivated to work on your own.
13. Your favorite food is still meat. You love steak, ribs, chicken, bacon etc. You, of course, love sweet treats too but for dinner sometimes all you eat is meat. You still like black olives and pepperoni on your pizza.
14. You are still very sweet to me and give me hugs and an occasional snuggle. Please say that you will be like that always. I love that you are always willing to help me bring in heavy groceries from the car.
15. You have a great personality. I genuinely love chatting with you. You are funny, witty and very charismatic.
16. You still don’t know what you want to do when you ‘grow up’. You are taking an engineering class and intro to business so maybe those two classes will start to lead you in the direction of your future career.
17. We had a lot of fun watching the World Cup soccer with you this year. You know all the rules, the teams, etc. We ended up rooting for Argentina in the end, but unfortunately, they didn’t end up taking home the win.
18. You don’t mind finishing other people’s food. You are always hungry. The rest of the family are germaphobes when it comes to that sort of thing…….but not you. You’ll take any food that’s up for grabs!
19. You couldn’t run Cross Country this year in high school because it’s at the same time as soccer. You still participated in the summer running club training with them to keep up your stamina for soccer. You went to State for Cross Country again last year in 8th grade, but you had to make a choice between sports for high school.
20. You think high school is way better than junior high. Your sister, Matilda, is a senior this year so, lucky for you, she drives you to school every morning!

Caspian Finn, you are my most favorite son in the whole wide world! I love the young man you are becoming. You are truly a joy and bring a special energy to every room that you enter. I love being your mom. I hope you have the best birthday EVER!

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

Love,

Mama

Dear Matilda,

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! Today you turn 17 years old! You’ve had a really amazing last year. Here are some things I would like to remember about you when you turned 17 and some things you might like to remember about your 17 year old self. [Read more…]

Dear Savannah,

Eighteen years ago it was hard to imagine the day where I have an adult child, but here we are and the day has arrived. Happy 18th Birthday, Savannah! This will be my final letter to you here on the blog since you are an adult now. I’m sure you’ve had enough of your childhood shared online and you’d probably like to move into adulthood with a little more privacy. So here are some things that I’d like to remember about your on your 18th birthday and some things that you might like to remember about your 18 year old self.

1. You are living in NYC all on your own. You graduated high school a year early and moved there at just 17 years old to study dance at the Steps on Broadway Conservatory.
2. You have really improved your cooking skills this year since you have to prepare all your own meals. You barely knew how to boil water before you left, so I’m impressed with how much you’ve learned in such a short amount of time.
3. You’ve started singing in NYC. You always refused to sing growing up since you identified more as a dancer, but since your school requires singing, you’ve really taken to it and, dare I say….maybe enjoy it? It’s fun helping you select songs for different genres. And I’m glad you come to me for advice.
4. You are still super organized and on top of things. You plan ahead and don’t save things for the last minute. Since you’ve moved to NYC, you definitely keep your room more neat and tidy. Probably because it’s such a small space, but it’s nice to see you make a change from the way you used to leave your room at home.
5. I miss you so much and you miss me. You say I’m your favorite person and that really warms my heart. You still love to call me and tell me all the details of your day. We text many times a day and I don’t think I’ll ever stop missing you when we aren’t together.
6. You are turning 18 on the same day as Grandma Jane (my mom) is turning 70! How cool is that? Two milestone birthdays. You are coming home a day or two after your actual birthday, Grandma Jane and Pepo are flying in from Texas and Uncle Ben, Aunt Brooke and Luca are flying in from Colorado and we are celebrating BOTH of your birthdays.
7. For the last several years, you have said that you wanted to end up dancing in a professional contemporary dance company. I think you have now opened your mind up to other potential opportunities and are definitely more open minded about your dance career. You just want to be able to make a living doing what you love…..dancing and performing!
8. You have made a lot of friends at the Conservatory. People definitely appreciate your work ethic, funny personality and kindness. You are a REALLY nice person. For some reason a lot of them call you Papa Wilkes. I’m not sure why exactly, but it’s cute. Some people you’ve mentioned a lot are Kenzie, Sierra, Mia, Gabrielle, Reid, Scott, Aleah, Arden, Shelby, Gabriela, Gabi, Selah and that’s all I can remember off the top of my head.
9. You are already panicking about finding a job after you finish your dance program. I like that you are aware that you need to support yourself at some point, but I’d love if you would take a little more time enjoying being in NYC on your parents dime and a little less stressing about the future. Enjoy the journey and don’t stress over the destination.
10. Speaking of stressing out. You taught me a really good lesson recently when you were home for Christmas. I was VERY nervous about your youngest sisters Level 6 gymnastics meet since her first one didn’t go as well as planned. You told me that I need to stop worrying about things out of my control. You said that God has a plan for everything and what will be, will be…it’s already been determined Him. And you asked if I though that God made mistakes. It really helped bring a sense of calm to me. Because even if JoJo fell off the beam, it was in God’s plan and that would have happened for a reason. We don’t always know the reason in the moments, but usually God reveals His plan to us over time. I really appreciated your wisdom…..now follow your own advice and stop stressing about AFTER graduation. God has a plan.
11. You dyed your hair red before you left for NYC to hopefully make your look stand out a little more. I was quite shocked that you wanted to do something that drastic since you’ve never even had highlights, but it looks really fantastic on you!
12. Sometimes I think you miss your dogs more than you miss your family. Well I know I am your favorite, so you definitely miss me, but I think the dogs might come next. You wish you could have them in NYC with you. You especially miss Scotty because he is attached at the hip to you when you are home.
13. Some of your favorite foods are cheeseburgers, Navel oranges, my tortellini alfredo, Panera broccoli cheese soup, Grandma Jane’s blueberry muffins, southwest salad and avocado toast.
14. You love being alone. You can act like an extrovert when you need to in social settings, but you are an introvert at heart and truly love your alone time.
15. You really enjoy making things and having some type of craft project. You love making these miniature book nooks out of wood. We have them in our hutch in the great room and I love looking at your creations. You also got a diamond art kit from Gigi and Grumpy for Christmas and are currently working on that in NYC. I think you would really love crocheting or even hand embroidery but I’ve offered to teach you and so far you’re not interested.
16. You love having a calming, tranquil living environment. Your apartment is decorated with white, cream, beige, sage green and light blue.
17. You’ve gotten really good at taking the subway. The first time I visited you, you seemed to really have it down and can get pretty much anyway by subway or walking.
18. You’ve been enjoying streaming some different shows this year. You were really into Young Sheldon and The Middle and like having those episodes playing when you are in your apartment.
19. You love Christmas. Like looooooooooove Christmas. You decorated your apartment after Halloween and for all I know, you still have your Christmas decor up! That’s your favorite holiday of the year!
20. You’ve been the only person in your dance program under the age of 18 so you love to remind people that you are still a minor child. But that’s a thing of the past because you are an official adult now!

Savannah Rose, I am SO proud of you! You have already done such amazing things with your life. It’s so fun watching it all unfold. I can’t wait to see where life takes you into adulthood. I know you are destined for greatness. You are the most deserving person. I love being your mom and I am so grateful you are mine.

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

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

Love,

Mama

Dear Caspian,

Happy 14th birthday to my very favorite son! Here are some things I’d like to remember about you when you turned 14 years old and some things that you might like to know about your 14 year old self…….

[Read more…]

Dear Matilda,

Today you are 16 years old! Happy Birthday sweet girl. I hope you have the most amazing day today! Here are some things I would like to remember about you when you turned 16 years old and here are some things you might like to know about your 16 year old self…..

[Read more…]

Dear Savannah,

Today you turn 17 years old! Happy Birthday sweet girl. I cannot believe this is your last birthday that I will have with you living at home. These years have just flown by and I could not be more proud of you. Here are some things I’d like to remember about you when you turned 17 years old and some things you might like to know about your 17 year old self.

[Read more…]