Birthday Letter from Daddy

Dear Nora,

Happy 5th birthday! It's so hard to believe you're already five years old. I'm so proud of you. 

We woke up early on your birthday, listened to some Star Wars music, and watched a couple of Star Wars video clips. You especially like the throne room scene where Leia gives a medal to Luke Skywalker and Han Solo (You like to reenact that scene on our staircase with me being Han and Luke being...well, Luke of course!). You also love watching the clip where Luke and Leia swing across the chasm in the Death Star to escape the Storm Troopers. You call it the 'swing the rope' video. You also hum the throne room scene incessantly as you walk, skip, scoot, and scamper around the house.

A little later in the morning we had donuts as a family and you opened your gifts. Your favorite was definitely the Princess Leia action figure from Mommy and Me. You play with it all the time, and make sure to stow her two blasters safely in your dollhouse. Luke was very excited to celebrate your birthday and see you open your presents. 

Later in the day, you had a birthday parade in front of our house (because of the pandemic). That was a lot of fun - you had so many visitors come to celebrate you. You were beaming as each car would pull up in the driveway. In the evening we had dinner and celebrated again with Nana and Papa. We were in Keller and Fort Worth the previous weekend, so you got a couple birthday celebrations there too: one at Aunt Holly and Uncle Tim's House, and one at Uncle Sean and Aunt Elise's place. 

When I think of you at five, I think of how imaginative you are.  I love listening to you play with your toys. You immerse yourself in your own little world of make believe, creating characters, dialogues, and stories. Sometimes you invite me into that world and I get to play a character, which is so special. You also have a very subtle (and hilarious) sense of humor. You love music, laugh easily, and have an incredible memory. You're tough and sweet at the same time. I love reading to you and talking before bed. You like to 'give me the hugs' (which means giving me a tiny hug, medium hug, and then big hug), and then I give you 'all the kisses' right before I turn out the light. That means I kiss you a bunch of times and you crack up. 

You're a ray of sunshine in our lives, Nora. We love you more than you can imagine, and we're so thankful for you!

Love,

Daddy

A Unique Season

Dear Luke and Nora,

These last few months have been unique to say the least. While we were in Keller over Spring Break, we learned that school would be cancelled for the following week, Spring Break part 2. We came back home and everything started to shut down because of "the coronavirus". Although the revelation happened in stages, you ended up not returning to school for the remaining of the academic year. We couldn't go to church, playgrounds, restaurants, shopping malls, and couldn't see friends or family... A strange season indeed!

Even though it has been a hard season for many reasons, it has been very memorable and full of quality time as well. You were disappointed to not return to school, but you adapted so well. Luke, you had zoom calls with your class and engaged in lots of learning activities online. Nora, your teachers sent YouTube videos covering your material, alongside lots of worksheets. Luke, you spent hours and hours playing with legos and we played lots and lots of Scrabble. Nora, you painted and colored and enjoyed lots of imaginative play. We rode bikes all over the neighborhood, in the Bentley parking lot, and went for jogs (with you on your bike, Luke, and Nora, you in the stroller) at Spring Lake. We took your training wheels off at the beginning of our quarantine and you learned quickly to ride without them, Luke. We enjoyed many, many picnics in the front yard while listening to the Boxcar Children. We watched a movie most weekends and had special pancake breakfasts on Saturday or Sunday mornings. We ventured to the beach a couple times and Nora, you got comfortable with the waves and ended up loving them! We took walks to the mailbox and made an outing of handling the trash and recycling. We played with chalk and bubbles and had Easter egg hunts around the backyard. You dusted the baseboards and mopped the floors, and unloaded the dishwasher almost daily.

I am sad about what we missed these last few months, but I am so thankful for all the togetherness and growth we've had. It's been a joy to listen to you two laugh and play when you're getting along well together. I know you will eventually return to school and a busier way of life, which has already started in some ways. I am really going to miss aspects of these days, because I am really going to miss YOU!

Love,
Mommy

5 Years Old!

Dear Nora,

You are a whole hand now! We celebrated big for your 5th birthday, with a couple family celebrations in Keller and Fort Worth over the weekend, a car parade back home with your friends and preschool teachers, and a birthday dinner at home. You were on cloud 9 for all of it! We weren't able to have a traditional party because of social distancing right now, but you didn't seem to notice at all. We more than made up for it with so many celebrations. On your birthday you enjoyed donuts for breakfast, a picnic in the living room while watching Frozen, and a 2 hour nap in addition to your party time.

At 5 years old, you love Princess Leia from Star Wars and Elsa from Frozen. You often walk around humming the Star Wars theme song, and I sometimes ask you to go in your room if you want to sing! When you want to do something, you run quickly on your tip toes to make it happen, prancing along. However, when asked to do something you are not excited about, you really know how to drag your feet. You love to carry around little toys and often leave a trail of "Nora's been here" reminders. You learned all your sight words for the end of the year and our family celebrated with pizza and ice cream. Luke likes to read to you and says he's teaching you how to read. You love to sit in bed and talk with Daddy and me at night before going to sleep. Topics range from unicorns to disobedience and everything in between. You love to have your back tickled. You are an early riser and often are awake when I get up, just waiting for someone (me or Luke) to get up and turn on the light downstairs. You love to play family and your imagination comes alive with any toys that can be made into a family unit. It's so interesting to hear the scenarios that come up in your play, paralleling our day to day experiences. You can really show some sass and have a great sense of humor. You tell jokes that are genuinely funny and really make us laugh!

We love you so much and are so thankful for your life!

Love,
Mommy

Generous

Dear Nora,

I have found myself telling people lately about what a gift-giver you are. You really do encapsulate for me the verse, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35) It started as you giving me things of yours when you could tell I wasn't feeling well. But now you will just come up to me and whisper, out of the blue, "I'm going to give you a surprise," with sheer delight in your eyes.

Over Thanksgiving you picked out little toys from your room to give away to Aunt Holly, Caroline, and Wesley. Last week you came home from school with your sticker chart full and gave away your prized stickers to Daddy, Luke, and me. We were reading a Pinkalicious book a few nights ago where she gives her Mommy a gift she finds at a garage sale. You looked at me and said, "Did she buy that for herself or for her Mommy?" I could see the wheels in your head turning, then you bounced down off your bed, and told me to close my eyes and open up my hands. You grabbed your Cinderella Barbie and proudly placed it in my hands saying, "You can keep it forever."

Recently we went out to lunch and I told you that we could share your cookie after you ate your turkey and cheese. You kept asking for it, but kept not eating the rest of your lunch. Once you finally finished it all at dinner, we got out your cookie. I asked you if you wanted to share any with Luke and you immediately agreed without hesitation, so we split the long awaited cookie into thirds. This week you received special stickers at the grocery store and the doctors office. Before the days were over, you had given both to me.

Generosity really does ooze from your heart and it sure touches mine.

I love you and am so proud of you, Nora!

Love,
Mommy

New Years Eve Letter from Daddy

Sweet Nora,

I typically write you a letter on your birthday, but I somehow neglected to write you one on your 4th. I'll spare you the excuses. Now you're closer to your 5th birthday, but I suppose New Years' Eve is as good an occasion as any to write you a letter. Happy 4 and 7/12 th's birthday!

In some ways, I'm glad I'm writing this now instead of in May or June, because you've grown and changed so much since then. You finally learned to use the potty, which may sound funny or trivial when you read this later in life, but let me assure you that this was a profound accomplishment for yourself and our family! I was with you when you finally went ‘stinky’ on the potty for the first time. There was great rejoicing, and you requested a pink starburst as a reward.

You're much more confident than you used to be at school and your various activities (like swimming lessons and gymnastics). You make friends easily and enjoy playing with your brother…most of the time. Even though you fight sometimes, it is very clear that you and Luke love and care for each other. 

You smile and laugh a lot, and you have a wonderfully vibrant imagination. I love overhearing you playing with your dolls and other toys, doing different voices and having adventures. You even talk to the washcloth when I give you a shower. Your favorite one has a picture of Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and you excitedly say 'Hi!' whenever I show it to you. Once you're talking to Belle, it's like I'm not even there. You tell Belle about your day, compliment her dress, and ask her questions. You love princesses, but Cinderella and Elsa (from Frozen) are your favorite. 

I give you a shower most nights, and then get you dressed in your PJ's. After dinner, I brush your teeth, we read a book, and then we sit on your bed where you say, 'Let's talk.' We talk about your day, and you ask me questions about things. Sometimes they're simple questions, but sometimes you ask me something deeper like, 'Where is heaven?'  (I hope we can talk like this for many years to come as you get older!). Then we pray together, and I tickle your back while singing you a couple songs. (Usually skinnamarinky-dinky-dink, and 'I love you Nora', which is an original family composition set to the tune of 'We love you Conrad' from Bye Bye Birdie. I think Mommy first came up with that one). After I close your door and tuck Luke in next door, you will often come out of your room and ask, 'Daddy, will you hold me for a few minutes?' I can't say no.

You like to play 'baby', which means I snuggle with you and you point at things, pretending that you can't talk. You rarely just walk from one place to another; you run, skip, prance, dance, bound, twirl, or crawl. You are very strong and athletic, and creative too. You still have your baby cheeks, and I'm trying to enjoy them while they last. 

You’re emotionally intelligent, too. You are sensitive to peoples’ feelings, and seem to pick up on the subtleties of the way people interact. You always take very good care of your dolls and ‘babies’. You seem to be naturally compassionate and nurturing. Mommy and I are so thankful for that.

There’s so much more I could say. You're a delight, Nora, and I love you so much!

Love,

Daddy