Letters to Lexi: 12/28/16

Lexi Rosemay,

I can't even tell you how amazing you are to me.  You are strong, and beautiful, and smart.  You are reading at least 2 grade levels above 2nd grade.  You have found a love for math this school year.
You have a beautiful singing voice and I hope you continue to love to sing.  Music has always been my love, and I would love for you to enjoy it the same way I do.  You love all kinds of music, including Dolly Parton, Reba, and all kinds of new country.  But you also can rock out to Daddy's Christian or 80's music.

You love your brother, but there are times when you just want to be by yourself...and he just won't let you.  He loves you so much, and he just wants to be wherever you are.  I hope you can always understand that and know how lucky you are to have each other.  Last night you read bible stories to him until he fell asleep.  It was the sweetest thing.

I hope you always know how much I love you and how special you are to me.  I hope our relationship continues to grow.  And I hope one day we can be best friends like me and Nanny.

I love you so much sweet girl!

Love,

Mommy

Letters to Rex: 12/28/16

Rex Allen,

You are the most amazing little boy I have ever met.  You say or do something every day that just amazes me.  Your attitude is fierce, but your love is even more fierce. You know exactly when to lay the sweetness on me...usually when you know you've done something wrong and you're about to be in trouble.  I keep telling you that your little smile will not get you out of trouble forever.

You are so smart, but you just don't want anyone to know it.  When you're counting or singing ABCs you don't want anyone to be listening to you. I'm constantly trying to catch you on video. Last week daddy was spelling your name because he didn't want you to know that we were talking about you.  As soon as he spelled your name you said, "that's Rex."  We were so shocked that you knew how to spell your name!  You did let me take a short video of you saying it.  You also read "Taxi" on the back of a car on tv.  Who knew you could do that?!

You love your sister so much.  You want to do everything she does, and you want to be a part of anything she's doing.  Even when she doesn't want you to.

Your best friend at daycare is Matthew.  Everyday when I ask you who you played with, you say "Maffoo."  I love the way you say it, and I wish you would say it like that forever.

You did get in trouble for saying "what the hell?!"  I couldn't even believe you said it.  But then you said "what the heck hell?!" so now I say that all the time.  Everyone at work asks me everyday what you said the night before.  They have never met you, but they think you are so funny.

You love spending time with your family.  You and Mattie are so close and I just love it.  But you have also become really close with Blake.  I can see the 3 of you getting in lots of trouble as you grow up.

I hope you continue to be an amazing little man.  Don't grow up to quickly, and always want to sit on my lap.  I love you so much, my baby.

Love,

Mommy

Reasons why my kids trunk or treat

In the past week or so I have seen several posts about how trunk or treat is stupid and why we should just do the old school trick or treating like we did as kids. It got me thinking and asking myself why I choose that option. Here are some reasons why trunk or treat works for us. 

1.  Time Let's face it. We are all running ourselves ragged. We feel like we need to do more and let our kids do more. When Halloween falls on a weeknight it makes it twice as difficult. Also in the time category is taking kids in and out of the car. It takes Rex approximately 7 years to get in the car. I can not imagine doing that repeatedly in the same night. 

2.  Safety I know this has been brought up as being ridiculous, but hang with me for a second. I don't think there is anyone putting pills or razor blades in the candy they hand out. For me, safety on Halloween is more about knowing that my kids can't dart into traffic or get separated from me. 

3.  Convenience Where we live trunk or treat is really the best option. We drive 2 minutes from our house, park, and walk through a line of cars getting candy. It's a small town. There aren't always sidewalks to walk on. It's almost impossible to do trick or treating just by walking around. Everyone doesn't hand out candy. So you may have to walk blocks between stops. 

Yes, I want my kids to have all the great experiences I had. But it's a different world than it was then. You can't just throw your kids in the back of a pickup and cruise around town. We still make a few other stops to see grandparents, aunts and uncles. 

As is the case with so many topics today, you don't have to choose one by bashing the other. Maybe when my kids are older, or if our town no longer does a big trunk or treat, then we will do traditional trick or treating. But for right now, trunk or treat is the better option for us.