Rosie Kate - Age 2

Wow, child, you are WILD! You are fierce and firey. You are sugar and spicy sugar! You are a thinker and a thinker-for-yourselfer! You often take suggestions, solely to do the opposite. You are smart, and listen when you know you need to. This has saved you a many-a-times.

My current favorite Rosie antic is whenever you are found out and know for certain you are in deep trouble, you lean in close to me and whisper sweet things, with smiles and occasional butt-slaps... gurl, please!

When asked how old she was, her clear response was 10...

You are the girlie we all can't wait to see in the morning and can't wait to put to bed at night. You are fun, and funny, and exhausting, and exhilarating all wrapped up in the most cutest, most petite little frame.

Your eyes breathe mischief and magics. Your smile is sweet and sly. You. Are. Beautiful!

You love/tolerate us all, but your big brother, Silas, is clearly your favorite. Rosie's Roll Call appears to mostly be about control, and Silas' whereabouts. You beam when he comes home, or into a room, and giddily wait for him to perform something wild and crazy, anxiously awaiting the moment he invites you into the shenanigans. You two give me gray hair and a constant supply of laughs.

We love you, sweet honey Rose. We look forward to understanding all these words you say at us, but you have to admit, we are getting pretty conversational in your nonverbal-ish ways of communication. Though the few words you do choose to use are pretty awesome. (Such as: "water" = cup of any kind, "Oma" = phone, "sit-dow" = chair/bench/couch, "cookie" = any sweet treat, "sock" = sock or pillow case, and our personal favorite is "cheekies" = butt)

Also, your current life's mission is to convince the world that ducks are cows! We don't know why, and this is not a battle any of us are choosing. Moooo.

Thank you for allowing us to share this beautiful, wide world with you, Rosalie. We are looking forward to 2 years-old, for previous run throughs have been a good time... also age 1 is kinda the worst, so thank you for being done with that!

PS: No need to rush to age 3, either... it tends to be pretty dookie-boop-boo...

Sully B. Age 1

Sweetie Sugar Saul, you are the absolute definition of sweetness. You have a smile on your face that you share with the world whenever opportunities present themselves.

Sully, you are doing it wrong... You're not supposed to eat the candle...

You are a go-with-flow, easy-peasy, aim-to-please little fella and we all think you are swell!

You are the only one of my children that lights up when I walk into a room. You shower me with your smiles and giggles weather it has been five hours or five minutes or five seconds since you saw me last. You are gifted at making people feel special.

You not only love to smile, but you love to snuggle and give hugs and kisses away.

Your wild translucent hair is often the topic of family comments along with your nonchalant baritone voice. Both of these traits are fun and funny and we love 'em!

Saul Ben, you are everything and more than we 'asked for' and 'prayed for.' We knew our family needed you and you are shaping up to be the bestest Grande Finale of our crew. We love you times infinity Sully B.

Mary Alice - Age 11

Oh Mimi-girl, I'm sitting in the living room in the quiet of the morning, seeking the silent refuge this house brings in the hours before 7:00 and down the stairs you creep. My first words were, "Nope, turn around. Go back upstairs. No one leaves their bed before 8:00!" You say nothing, just keep walking towards me and hand me a tooth from your face... Alright, body parts falling off counts as an acceptable reason to get out of bed... for a minute... off you go!

So here we were a few weeks ago discussing how great it was going to be to actually spend a birthday in school with your friends. Usually your birthday is either over spring break, or Easter break, or both and therefore you don't bring in treats to school or any such things. This year you had already planned what you wanted to make and bring in for this birthday-at-school birthday... Then CORONA... then quarantine... then no school... then birthday at home with "just us."

It is kind of you to pretend like this is no biggie. We are trying to make it seem extra special even though everyday seems to feel the exact same at this point. Wake-up, eat, figure out how to spend the next 12 hours with the same exact people from the day before, go to bed and repeat!

You are a great sport about it though. We have been having a good time playing and walking outside together, cooking together, arting together, watching baking shows together, playing games together, 90's moving watching together... I'm sensing a theme... a theme of togetherness... oh wait, that is your favorite theme!

Perhaps this is why you have been such a good sport, you love all things being together. This is one of your magics, your great love of togetherness with whoever will together with you!

These have been some of the best 11 years of my life and you are at fault for that sweet-honey-girl! We love you times infinity!