Middle School

Arianna Joi! You my little lady are starting middle school tomorrow. TOMORROW! Middle school.

You have your outfit picked out. Your backpack is ready to go and you were in bed by 9:20pm. I think I'm more nervous than you....not bad nervous, just nervous. It's a big deal. You are riding the bus, changing classes, changing clothes for PE and going to be a lot further away from home. You will  meet so many new people and teachers and you are going to have some major sweaty pits in your grey dress that I'm really worried about.
These next 3 years lots of things will change. Friends will change, you will change. You will probably start talking to boys and hopefully not kissing them...
Ari, I love you. I know I drive you nuts and I freak out over stupid stuff, but just so you know, I will continue freaking out over stupid stuff for.ev.er.  Because I love you. You will always be my little girl. I will be protective and ask lots of annoying questions and why so and so isn't talking to you or you aren't talking to them. Just so we are clear, I will ask a lot of questions.
Remember to be kind. Be honest. Be strong. Be confident. Be a great friend, a good listener, and most importantly be yourself.  Don't forget deodorant after PE and don't shave the bottom of your head like I did in junior high.
I can't wait to hear Briggs ask "where did sissy goooo?" 500 times tomorrow.
Love you Lulu,
Meme

4th Grade

Cha and Ari (been friends since 3 years old!!) back in the same class again. YAYYY!

My Little Lulu Bear,

Today we dropped you off for the start of your 4th grade year! I cried on my way to work looking through all these pics. You feel older to me. I asked if you felt older this morning and you said no. But you are. Holy moly 4th grade seems so much older than 3rd. Maybe it's the binder with the dividers? Or perhaps the fact that you are wearing size 9.5 in women's shoes and are 5'2. WHAT WHAT.

I read you the letter last night about compassion and we both cried. I proceeded to go grocery shopping for school lunches and cried throughout safeway, talking to auntie while people looked at me with heavy hearts and concern. All is good people, I'm just an emo mommy...who cries way to much these days.

Lu, you are such a sweet girl. I love that you are so in love with school and reading. I love how organized you like your pencil box and binder. How you lay your outfit out at night and want a mirror in your room.

We are so proud of you Ar. Like overflowing, pouring out, gushing madly, hearts pounding proud of you.

Remember Lu, don’t try to be the best this. Just be grateful and kind and brave. That’s all you ever need to be.

I LOVE YOU MORE.

Here's to 4th grade  my little baby girl.

The Talk

Holy Ja-Molly! 4th Grade is officially in 10 days.

Doesn't she look like a teenager? Ugh.

So Mommastery has the coolest idea. And we can all do it. I think we should. Because if we all do it...it's gotta have an impact. At least a little one. And this my friends is whats its all about. My biggest goal as a parent, to have compassionate kiddos.

From here and here
Or just copy and paste the letter below my friends.

Dear Ari,


Hey, Lulu.

Tomorrow is a big day. 4th Grade – wow.

Lu – When I was in 4th grade, there was a little boy in my class named Adam.

Adam looked a little different and he wore funny clothes and sometimes he even smelled a little bit. Adam didn’t smile. He hung his head low and he never looked at anyone at all. Adam never did his homework. I don’t think his parents reminded him like yours do. The other kids teased Adam a lot. Whenever they did, his head hung lower and lower and lower. I never teased him, but I never told the other kids to stop, either.

And I never talked to Adam, not once. I never invited him to sit next to me at lunch, or to play with me at recess. Instead, he sat and played by himself. He must have been very lonely.

I still think about Adam every day. I wonder if Adam remembers me? Probably not. I bet if I’d asked him to play, just once, he’d still remember me.

I think that God puts people in our lives as gifts to us. The children in your class this year, they are some of God’s gifts to you.

So please treat each one like a gift from God. Every single one.

Lu, if you see a child being left out, or hurt, or teased, a part of your heart will hurt a little. Zeb and I want you to trust that heart- ache. Your whole life, we want you to notice and trust your heart-ache. That heart ache is called compassion, and it is God’s signal to you to do something. It is God saying, Ari! Wake up! One of my babies is hurting! Do something to help! Whenever you feel compassion – be thrilled! It means God is speaking to you, and that is magic. It means He trusts you and needs you.

Sometimes the magic of compassion will make you step into the middle of a bad situation right away.

Compassion might lead you to tell a teaser to stop it and then ask the teased kid to play. You might invite a left-out kid to sit next to you at lunch. You might choose a kid for your team first who usually gets chosen last. These things will be hard to do, but you can do hard things.

Sometimes you will feel compassion but you won’t step in right away. That’s okay, too. You might choose instead to tell your teacher and then tell us. We are on your team – we are on your whole class’s team. Asking for help for someone who is hurting is not tattling, it is doing the right thing. If someone in your class needs help, please tell me, Lulu. We will make a plan to help together.

When God speaks to you by making your heart hurt for another, by giving you compassion, just do something. Please do not ignore God whispering to you. I so wish I had not ignored God when He spoke to me about Adam. I remember Him trying, I remember feeling compassion, but I chose fear over compassion. I wish I hadn’t. Adam could have used a friend and I could have, too. Ar – We do not care if you are the smartest or fastest or coolest or funniest. There will be lots of contests at school, and we don’t care if you win a single one of them. We don’t care if you get straight As. We don’t care if the boys think you’re cute or whether you’re picked first or last for kickball at recess. We don’t care if you are your teacher’s favorite or not. We don’t care if you have the best clothes or coolest gadgets. We just don’t care.

We don’t send you to school to become the best at anything at all. We already love you as much as we possibly could. You do not have to earn our love or pride and you can’t lose it. That’s done.

We send you to school to practice being brave and kind.

Kind people are brave people. Brave is not a feeling that you should wait for. It is a decision. It is a decision that compassion is more important than fear, than fitting in, than following the crowd.

Trust me, Lu, it is. It is more important.

Don’t try to be the best this year, honey.

Just be grateful and kind and brave. That’s all you ever need to be.

Take care of those classmates of yours, and your teacher, too. You Belong to Each Other. You are one lucky girl . . . with all of these new gifts to unwrap this year.

I love you so much that my heart might explode.

Enjoy and cherish your gifts.

And thank you for being my favorite gift of all time.
Love,
Meme/Mom

Dear Lulu

It's been a minute since I've written you a little love letter and as I was cleaning the house I stumbled across 2 things. A book you made me for mother's day in kindergarten and a book I received from my besties full of all my best gals memories they've had with me...and it had me thinkin and teary up.

You are in 3rd grade. The same year I met (and became friends with) people I still know to this day (Rae to name one) and had so many fun memories with. She was part of this memory book I was reading and it made me realize you will probably know some of your friends you know today in high school and when you're in your 30's like Meme. And I just have to say a couple things to you.

Friendships will change. But you should never let a friendship end. No matter what, you might not be as close, and may have differences but don't let those things ruin your friendship.

Be kind. I know this is hard, when girls brag about their big houses and boats and 5 lululemon zip ups...those things don't matter. Remember Lu, when we die we don't take ANYTHING with us. So all these "things" really aren't needed and honestly don't make you cool. Your personality does that. I know this is so hard to understand now...someday when you are older it will be easier.

Be adventurous. I know I don't instill this in you very much when I say you don't have to jump off the dock if you don't want too...but I guarantee if you do, you will love it. Some of my favorite memories involve adventure (riding my bike to Zips, sneaking a rated R movie, staying in AZ when my mom flew home).

Be spontaneous. Again, some of my favorite memories are when I just do something that isn't planned. Again, hard for you little rule followers but I encourage you to sometimes just do something that isn't routine and this doesn't include not brushing your teeth in the morning.

Love. Hard. Love. Big. Love. Fierce.

Be honest. The biggest lie I told to my friends...surfaced years later when my best friend started dating her hubby.  Honestly is so important and always ends up biting you in your firm booty later.

Hug your friends. I am getting better at this. I wasn't a big hugger, but now...I think it's so important to hug those you care about. Hug your hubby. Hug your momma. Hug everyone. No one gets annoyed of a hugger.

Be confident. So important. You are an amazing little person. Your heart is so big, you follow the rules, you love animals. You LOVE facts. Be proud of who you are. I am.

Forgive. Forgive. Forgive.

Dance. Probably one of my favorite things to do. Even at home, alone. Just dance. Especially with your girls. Best type of dancing is with your girls.

I love you little Lu. My little pumpkin patch. My little girl who keeps saying: I'm almost as tall as you.

xoxo,

Meme

PS. I love my coupon book. I'm almost positive it will as an entire year.

My favorite one is: Picking out meme's outfit.

xoxo

Lulu

I'm taking in every last minute I can get with this girl.

Pretty soon, she's gonna be a big sister.

Her world will change.

Our world will change.

So until it does.

I'm just taking it all in.

Every. Single. Little. Quiet. Moment.

But Lu, be prepared.

Your momma will probably get a little more crazy. You'll probably see her cry over nothing. You'll most likely be able to watch TV during the week. The back seat won't belong to only YOU anymore.

 You will be a big sister.

Which means amazing things.

Nothing is better than having a sibling, and a brother at that. You guys will be able to (one day) talk crap about how annoying your dad is and up tight your mom is. You will be able to show Briggs how to play b-ball, baseball, soccer, volleyball and ride his bike...he's gonna watch your every move.

He will copy what you say.

And even though you guys will have 9 years to seperate you two, there will be mad love between you guys. 

I pray that this will never change. 

You will have to babysit him.

And sorry, you will have to drive him places.

And he will drive you and your friends crazy in junior high/high school. But so will I. He'll probably put your bra in the freezer.

And wipe his boogers on you.

He'll fart more than you (maybe?!?).

See, all these fun things Lu...they are only going to make your life that much more better.

I promise.

I love you! You are my sunshine.

You are going to be a great big sister.

The best yet.

Love and more love,

Meme

Remember Lulu

pic

9ner

Lulu,
Today, little lady of mine, you turned 9. And it totally feels like you are nine. You really do seem older to me. Maybe it was me yelling at you and your friends at 1am to get the heck to bed, or your new phone, or the earings in your ears...whatever it is, you seem older. You my little nugget are a pure joy. To all.
Your smile is bananas and it just keeps on getting better. You still play pretend animals with your friends and even though I do like this...I hate it at 1am in the morning. You LOVE Taylor Swift and your little stuffed animals. You got spoiled rotten this birthday/Christmas. Your biggest wish is still for a dog {someday Lulu, someday}.

I love you mucho. Like mucho, mucho. I can't wait for you to be a big sister!

Thank you for making the last 9 years so fulfilling and for allowing me see a whole other side of this world... I LOVE you more than you'll ever know my little lu.

Snuggles.
Meme

oh boy

Pretty soon, Lu won't be are only.

And, even though I'm thrilled to have a boy...this little girl changed my world.

And this little girl is not so little anymore. In fact, she's almost as tall as I am. I say this all the time, but I just want everything to slow down a bit (except for my lower back pain, that can hurry on up and be done with).

This little lady holds a crazy little place in my heart. The kind that every mother knows about...and has a really hard time explaining. But it's massive, and I just want to protect her in every way, to stop growing up so fast and I hope she always knows that when her little brother arrives, that crazy little place in my heart will still absolutely be there, forever.

1 day old

8 is Great!

Dearest Lulu,
Today you turned 8. 8! I can hardly believe it
You are funny! You have us all laughing. You are so very sweet and thoughtful. You don't have my crazy freaker outer personality. You snore super loud. Like louder than Zebby or Uncle. You still love, love, love animals and really wanted a bunny for Christmas. You have the best laugh ever. Sometimes (mostly with Zeb) you laugh so hard no sound comes out. You LOVE jeggings and hate jeans. We think you might be a little horder. You have a fish named Basil. He's a boy. You ask a ton a great questions that I often tell you to ask Zeb for the answer. Your one big request for this birthday (other than your slumber party) is to make your very own blog. So watch out blog world!

I wish for you my little lulu bear, that you continue to grow up strong. That you respect your teachers and friends and know how important it is to give. I love you with my whole big heart.

It's been awhile...

Since I last wrote my little Lu a letter...

So here goes my little LuLu Bear,
You my dear have an imagination beyond this world. If you are riding your bike...you are really riding a black stallion. If you are swimming, you are really a dolphin in the great big ocean. If you are running around the playground you are a cheetah. I would say at times, it makes me wonder....but I love how you think and how you imagine things out of this world.
We had the birds and the bees talk...which went over pretty well. You didn't want to know anymore than I wanted to tell you....which was nice. Babies do come out of your va-gigi not your butt hole. Thank the Lord.!
You have started to put on perfume in the morning, thanks to your Auntie Heather who gave you 10 bottles to much of bath and body works spray.
You are sooo sooo soooo smart. You know the fastest fish in the sea AND can read better than I can. (well almost)
I hate days that I can't spend more than three hours with you before you go to bed.
You love your Kid's Bop CD and really want a "diary" with a key.

I think you just might be the most amazing little 7 year old around.

You wear the same size shoe as Suzy!!

Thank you for telling me when I'm in a bad mood and for laughing at all my crazy opera singing. I love you more than life my little Lulu bear.