Dear JP

 

Dear JP, 

Happy Birthday sweet boy! It's hard to believe you are NINE! This year has been such a fun year with you. There were a lot of years early on when you were just a hard kid but you have really come into your own and it's so fun to watch! 

JP, one thing your teachers tell me about you is that you are a good friend. I love hearing that. You are a really sweet kid and lots of fun and tend to get along with most people. You also keep us laughing a LOT. I never quite know what you're going to say and you are quick with the funny comments! You love nothing more than to dance behind the blocks at swim, having lightening bolts shaved into your hair, and make people laugh. A great example of your fun personality: you're going to be a banana for Halloween. The costume came the other day and you ROCKED it. I am so thankful for your funny, easy going personality. 

You are a boy through and through. You move and make noises constantly! I laugh (when it's not driving me crazy) because even when you manage to hold still for a few minutes you are still making noises. A perfect day in your book would be one where you headed outside as soon as you ate breakfast and played and ran and biked until it was time for dinner (with some breaks for lunch and a few snacks of course!). Speaking of food, you sure do love to eat! It is a struggle to keep you filled up. I always tell people if you start to look pale, get whiney, or overreact to a situation you probably just need to be fed!

This year we had some fun adventures. We went on a cruise for spring break and you had a great time. You hung out with squirrel monkeys, watched Choir of Man (twice!) where you laughed so much, swam in the pool and ocean, ate LOTS of ice cream, visited some new islands, and had a BLAST. You are so fun to travel with and I'm so glad we got to do this trip as a family. We also took our annual ski trip and this year you didn't have to take lessons and loved having a whole day to ski wherever you wanted. You even did a black diamond! I love your sense of adventure!

You love sports and are very athletic. Your favorite sports to play are probably flag football, soccer, swim and basketball. This past year you played basketball at school and were chosen to be the captain for your team. You played flag football this past year with 2 of your best buddies and had so much fun. You had another great swim season and set a pool record in butterfly. This fall you decided to give soccer another try and you have absolutely loved it! You have a fantastic coach and you like the other kids on your team. It has been such a great experience and you scored your first two goals last week. We love watching you play allll your sports!

You had a great year in second grade. You loved your teacher and had some of your best friends in your class. This year you have another fabulous teacher and those same buddies are with you again. We are so thankful for some sweet school friends! Last school year you were elected your class representative for student council and really enjoyed it. You decided to run again this year and we were so excited that you won again (even though you FORGOT to tell us you won!). Your best subject in school is definitely math and you love to show off your math skills in everyday life. (Side note: You got a watch for your birthday and asked for it to be set in military time. I wasn't sure you would know how to read the time but you quickly proved you could.) Your reading has improved so much this year and while it hasn't always been easy, you pushed through and are doing great! After years of trying to get you interested in reading we FINALLY found a book series (other than DogMan) that you are interested in reading. At the end of the school year last year you got Runaway Ralph and we started reading a chapter here and there sometime at the end of the summer. All of a sudden you got sucked into the story and you're now reading the Mouse and the Motorcycle. I love seeing you getting excited about a book. And I really love that it's by an author whose books I loved growing up!

JP I hope you always know how loved you are. Your sisters love you so much. You have friends who love you. You have family who loves you so much. You make it so easy for others to love you and we are so thankful that we have you to love!

Love, 

Mom