Dear Joseph

     Seven... Seven years old you are. I'm sure I will say this over and over, but it seems as though it were just yesterday you were born and placed into my arms where your daddy and I gazed upon you for hours. I know every parent has asked "Where has the time gone?" but I just can't help it!

     You weigh 51.2 lbs. (I know! But he wouldn't let me continue writing without adding the .2 lol. He kept saying "51.2 MOM! Not just 51!") and are 49" (4ft. 1 1/2") tall. You wear a size 1 1/2 shoe and a 6/7 pants and shirt. Although the pants must be worn with a belt and still adjusted as much as possible on the inside. Skinny as all get out! I swear you eat more than I do!

     You've lost some of your "neediness" and uncertainty about things and are more enthusiastic and curious about the things you do and the things around you. You ask A LOT of questions, and that's really great, but why didn't anyone warn me about this stage?! It's a never-ending trivia nightmare around here. You're still cursed with my OCD, but are getting better at adjusting to change and basically rolling with the punches.

     Your behavior at school has improved drastically this month! In the 11 days of school this month you pulled a total of only four keys! That's fantastic! That's usually your daily quota. It makes me that much happier knowing how excited you get from such an accomplishment! You've gotten home with a smile on your face every day... Well... except for that one day, and exclaimed how many, if any keys you pulled that day.

     You accomplished many things the last year. You read your first Harry Potter book, you were on the A honor roll the first quarter and have been on the A/B honor roll the remainder of the year, you're getting better with counting money, you didn't break any bones :-P. I asked you what your favorite accomplishments were this year and you told me you learned how to ride a bike, you got better at math, and you read a lot of books. Things you say you want to accomplish this year: Learn to drive a car (good luck with that one!), Learn to play a new game, and read a really long book because you want to try and read faster. I love your goals. I love that you have goals.

     I love it when you tell me I'm the best mommy ever or when you wake me in the morning just to give me a hug before you watch cartoons or when you tell your sisters how much you love them. You're an amazing little boy and I am so proud of the man you will surely become. Mommy and daddy are so in love with you! You make our days worth all the while.

Love,

    Mommy & Daddy

Happy Birthday Joseph!

6a.m.... "Mom! Mom!" Joseph yells, while he shakes me as roughly as he can. "Can I watch cartoons?" "Yeeeeessssss!", I mumble. "Don't forget to tell me happy birthday!", he practically yells. I mouth "happy birthday"... I couldn't possibly forget today is his birthday!

My Joseph is SEVEN today! Seven whole years old! I'm perplexed at how fast time goes.

Every year we have a questionnaire for them just to see if and how their answers change. It's a lot of fun really. Some of the questions are nonsense but it allows me the opportunity to see even more how they think by how they respond to the question. Like, "What is your favorite scent?" It's just interesting to see their responses.

Last years questionnaire.

1. Favorite Food?     "Burritos and corn dogs."
2. Favorite Drink?     "Orange and cranberry juice."
3. Favorite Cartoon?     "Spongebob and Umi Zoomi."
4. Favorite Cartoon Character?     "Patrick Star."
5. Favorite Movie?     "A Bug's Life."
6. Favorite Animal?     "Gorilla."
7. Favorite Toy?     "Lego's and my castle Auntie Becca got me."
8. Favorite Color?     "Blue, pink, and green."
9. Favorite Letter?     "J."   
10. Favorite Number?     "1000 and 100."
11. Favorite Story/Book?     "The Happy Snowman."
12. Favorite Song?     "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
13. Favorite Game?     "Blue's Clues."
14. Favorite Holiday?     "Halloween and Christmas."
15. Favorite Day?     "Sunday."
16. Favorite Season?     "Winter, I like the snow."
17. Favorite Smell?     "Candy."
18. When I Grow Up?     "I'm going to be an astronaut!"
19. Kids When You Grow Up?     "I want four mommy!"
20. Do You Have A Girlfriend?     "Laughs hysterically and answers, "No!"
21. Favorite Thing In School?     "Recess."
22. Least Favorite?     "The end when we have to clean up and get on the bus."    
23. Best Friend?     "Hunter."     

This years questionnaire.

     1.  Favorite Food?     "Cereal."
     2.  Favorite Drink?     "Milk. I like white, chocolate, and strawberry together."
     3.  Favorite Cartoon?     "Spongebob Squarepants."
     4.  Favorite Cartoon Character?     "Patrick Star."
     5.  Favorite Movie?     "Ponyo."
     6.  Favorite Animal?     "Snakes."
     7.  Favorite Toy?     "T-rex!"
     8.  Favorite Color?     "Brown."
     9.  Favorite Letter?     "C."
   10.  Favorite Number?     "7, like how many I'm going to be on Saturday!"
   11.  Favorite Story/Book?     "Toy Story."
   12.  Favorite Song?     "Airplanes- BoB."
   13.  Favorite Game?     "Black Ops." (x-box)
   14.  Favorite Holiday?     "Easter. I saw the Easter Bunny one time!"
   15.  Favorite Day?     "Thursday because people come to the classroom and read to us then we make something like my hermit crab that broke."
   16.  Favorite Season?     "Winter."
   17.  Favorite Smell?     "Clean stuff." He must get that from me. Lol
   18.  When I grow up?     "I want to be 21! *Laughs* Oh! And a teacher too."
   19.  Kids When I grow up?     "Like 8 or something." Good luck buddy!
   20.  Do You Have A Girlfriend?     "Serenity. But not all the time, only sometimes."
   21.  Favorite Thing In School?     "Books."
   22.  Least Favorite?     "The library." "*laughing* But you just said your favorite thing was books, Joseph." "I only like the books in my classroom." Lol
   23.  Best Friend?     "Juan Rivera."


It still amazes me how much they change in as little as a years time... *Sigh*

Off to celebrate!

          -Jaclyn-

Here... Have A Blue Ribbon!

Joseph is going to be 7 in just three days! He's so excited! Every morning he runs to the calendar to count and see how many days are remaining. It's so cute!

For the lasts two years Jonathan and I had told him that he could invite friends and have this big party. One, because it was to be his fifth birthday, so we wanted it to be extra special. That year, things didn't go as planned financially and we told him that we would make it fun and special without having over a bunch of friends or having a huge professionally baked and decorated cake, and without all the balloons and pinata's. He was very understanding. It made my heart break.

The next year we got our apartment. We had to go to Missouri and get our things from storage and move it all in. So things yet again, didn't go like we had promised him. Again, he was very understanding and I cried... a lot.

This year I was determined to give him what he had been "taken away" the previous two. He decided on having a pirate party. He picked out the invitations and goody treasure chests, and he's so excited to have his friends join in and have a sleep over. We had 12 invitations. He made a list of who he wanted to invited and we made them up and loaded them into his backpack.

The next day after school he walked in the door and declared with tears and sobs,

"My teachers are MEAN MOMMY!"

"Why Joseph? Did you pull a lot of keys today?"

"NO! They wouldn't let me hand out my invitations!"

"How come?"

"Because they are MEAN!"

The next day I sent a note with him to school telling asking his teacher to allow him to hand out his birthday invitations. Today I get a phone call from her. She tells me that she cannot allow him to hand out his invitations unless he had enough for the entire class because it wouldn't be FAIR and would hurt the other kids' feelings! "It isn't my rule it's the district's rule. I even brought him into the office with me to talk to the principal and let her tell him the rule because he was quite upset with me.", she tells me. "I can give invitations to all the boys if you want." Lady! You just told me you couldn't give them out unless there was enough for everyone and now you're telling me you can give them to all of the boys?! How is that deemed "fair or not hurting the girls' feelings?" Ugh!

To shorten my story I'm pissed off because of the whole "fairness" ordeal here. Life isn't fucking fair! Yes, they're kids, I get it. But why allow them to earn a participation ribbon because they didn't actually win anything on field day? That's like expecting a raise for not giving a damn at work among many other things! Ugh! This just burns my ass!!!

Life isn't fucking fair! Teach them now...

Bleh! Enough of that... I didn't even plan on writing this, but I just couldn't quit thinking about it so it probably seems more rambly than anything... Thanks for "listening" to me bitch. :-)

Ready to celebrate and have a great party

          -Jaclyn-