Happy 8th Birthday, Noah!

Dear Noah,

Another year has passed.  I feel like I just wrote your 7th birthday letter.  That might have something to do with the fact that it too me until the following March to write it.  Sorry about that.  This has been a big year for you.  You accomplished so much and experienced so many new things.

Hear are a few of the highlights:

You finished the 1st grade and met or exceeded the standard in all areas.  Math, Spelling and Reading are your strong areas in school.  You love school and we are very grateful.  Sometimes it is a struggle to get you to do your homework because you would rather play video games but we manage.

You continued to take art class throughout the year and even though you don't draw as much as you used to, still enjoy drawing.

You played soccer for AYSO in the Fall but decided you wanted to play with your classmates in the Spring so you joined a City of Peoria league and really enjoyed it.  Your soccer skills improve all the time.

You are so silly and make us all laugh.  You have figured out how to make your bedtime routine a lot longer than it needs to be.  Daddy spends time with you in your room almost every night.  Often I have to come in and put an end to the goofing off.  I'm always the bad cop.

You are absolutely obsessed with Mario and everything Mario related.  We got you a Wii U for Christmas and you have excelled at it.  You spend your time watching YouTube videos of other people playing games that you have or want.  Your memory is so good that by the time you get the game you easily master it.  Your favorite games are Mario 3D World, Super Smash Bros, and Mario Party.

Because of your love for all things Mario, Grandma Marni decided to buy you a Mario stuffed character from Walgreens.  They were having a sale and there were five different characters available.  Once you had one, you were obsessed.  You wanted them all.  You started asking for them as gifts.  Your whole Easter basket was full.  You started browsing Amazon for them.   Before we knew it you had put no fewer than 20 different Mario plush characters in our Amazon basket.  Since March when you got your first one, you have been given or spent your allowance on around 40 characters.  It's out of control, but you have such an imagination and act out scenes with them.  You quickly realized that people put their plush collections on YouTube so you wanted to make videos.  You are so cute.  You copy the intro from other videos that you have seen.  It is a little embarrassing how many  characters you have but you play with them.  I guess it is better than getting a toy that you only play with once and never touch again.  Oh and the best part about it, is that you sleep with all of them every night.  Good thing you have a full size bed.

In november you got some great news.  You were going to be a big brother.  You had been asking for a sibling for awhile.  It took you a bit to figure out what we were trying to tell you, but you finally got it.  You were soooooo excited and so were we.  You wanted to follow the development of the baby and asked weekly how big he was.

The biggest change for you was when your brother was born in April.  He ended up having to be in the hospital for almost three weeks after he was born.  This time was hard on you.  You missed having us home.  We were so grateful for the time you spent with Grandma Marni and Papa but after a week at their house you were ready for us to be home.  Even to this day don't really want to spend the night away from us.  Once your bother came home, he was pretty high maintenance and you spent a good part of your days during the summer sitting on the couch playing video games.  I felt so bad that I couldn't spend time with you.  You were so sweet and such a trooper.  You never once were jealous of the time I had to spend with Asher and since he was born you have been such a huge help to your daddy and me.

You love your brother so much.  He is the first person you want to see when you wake up and the last before you go to bed.  You love to make him laugh and often you are the only one who can calm him down when he his upset.  He love you as much as you love him.  You are the best big brother and will make farting noises (Asher's favorite) for 15 minutes straight if necessary.  I suppose it helps that you like making the farting noise as much as Asher likes hearing it.  You are patient at night when we are distracted with Asher and trying to get him to bed.  You are such a sweet boy.

You just started 2nd grade and are doing well.  We are excited to see how you excel as the year progresses.

There was one minor incident this year, when you made up a very elaborate story about being bullied at school.  It was very strange and all we could figure was that you were trying to get some attention.  We are pretty sure you won't ever make up stories again.

You lost your great-grandma this year.  It was very hard on you.  You still ask to see pictures and videos of her.  Her funeral was your first.  It was sad and confusing to you.  You didn't understand why her body was on display at the funeral.  It was hard to explain.  All in all, you did an amazing job making through.  You loved your great-grandma and miss her every day.  You even wanted to still celebrate her birthday in September, so we did.  It was very sweet.

We are so proud of you.  We are constantly told what a sweet and helpful boy you are.  This makes us so happy.  You are silly and sometimes don't listen as well as we would like, but we couldn't ask for a better son.

Happy 8th Birthday, sweet boy!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy