birthday survey... favorite:
toy: my new Lego Friends!
fruit: pineapple
vegetable: cucumbers
movie: Encanto
outfit: pajamas
game: Hoot Owl Hoot
food: cheeseburger w/ pickles, lettuce, tomato
animal: cat
song: "What else can I do" from Encanto
season: summer
subject in school: writing
book: Mary and the Trail of Tears (girls survive series)
best friend: Ruby (friend) & Elliette
thing to do outside: swing
drink: water
holiday: my birthday- today!
thing: my blanket
what do you want to be when you grow up: a mommy
how did we celebrate: We had a little Encanto themed birthday dinner! Just with the Gonzalez side. You got a bike from Ita and Abuelo! You got roller blades from mom and dad! And Lego Friends kits from Aunts and Uncles! (you're also borrowing all of Alberta's legos for 6 months so holy legos!) And we went to the bowling alley and did the climbing structure with Alberta- you all weren't into the bowling but played for hours in the play structure! You had a 2 night sleepover at Grandma Sandee's a little while after your bday.
Johanna Maria, my sweet girl. You have grown up so much this past year. You are so tall, your beautiful freckles cover your little nose, you have your own strong opinions, and you are always up for a party. There is so much going on in your beautiful little life and I hope to capture the essence of who you are right now as an 8 year old. So fun. So silly. So creative. So capable. You are lovely and precious and we are just so thankful for you. I am so thankful to be your mama <3
I am so sorry it took me so long to write this (mid May now). I should have done it on your actual birthday, but I got busy with your party and life and then your Abuelo passed away just 2 weeks after your birthday and life has been a bit of a whirlwind since. But I want to write this because it is so important to me that you have little letters from me throughout the years. I want you to have these in case I die- I want you to really know me and my heart for you. Even if you are still young when I go, I want you to have something tangible from me! Hopefully, though, I will live until I am really old and you will have to take care of me as an old lady ;) and in that case, I will give these to you.... hmm maybe on your 18th birthday. or maybe your 21st. or maybe your wedding day. or college graduation. i don't know yet... I will give them to you at some big milestone in your life and I hope they are SO meaningful to you!
You have had a hard time dealing with your grief. The first few weeks were so busy with tons of family in town and your cousins were over pretty much every day so you were busy playing. You just kept saying that you weren't sad- only happy to play with your cousins. But, you would just shut down whenever anything didn't go your way. Like at a playdate, you just sat by my side and wouldn't talk or play the whole time because you were upset about having to give up your room and sleep downstairs for a few weeks while we had family in town for the funeral...understandably. Or at mom's group, you just go sit by yourself and won't talk to anyone. But a few weeks ago, Sammy moved to Florida and we had a goodbye dinner (that your Ita couldn't attend because she was in the hospital dealing with super low white blood cells from her hyperthyroid meds... oof the timing on that couldn't have been worse!). After saying goodbye to Sammy, you lost it...just cried and cried and cried. You said, "Everything was perfect and now it won't ever be that way again!" And you have been crying pretty much every night since. About all sorts of things- not wanting a pee mat because it makes you feel like a baby- not wanting to switch to the bottom bunk (you and June agreed to take 6 months on the top bunk and then switch)- not wanting Alberta to start kindergarten next year because you'll miss her too much... etc. It has been hard to walk with you through it all. I know you are really sad about your Abuelo, but you won't admit it. It is almost always something else that tips you over the edge. You like to be strong.. I think you are also feeling guilt which is a totally normal grief reaction- you would go stand in the corner for any little thing you did even if I didn't say anything- like you took a mushroom off Ez's plate and put yourself in time-out. and you will break down crying any time we get upset with you. You said, "Mom, you say that you don't deserve me. but i feel like i don't deserve to be a part of this family. I'm not good enough to be a part of it". It has absolutely broken my heart to watch you wrestle through your feelings.
You have lost SO many teeth this year! you just yank them out before they're ready because you don't like having a loose tooth. Right now, you have your front top 4 missing! your 2 front teeth are barely starting to grow back in haha. AND your 2 next to the middle on the bottom row. You can't eat apples or pears or anything not cut up pretty much hahaha. You know the tooth fairy isn't real, but still have fun pretending. And of course, the Ita Tooth Fairy visits every time too and that fairy is much more generous ;)
I still wouldn't say that you love school, but you are doing so good this year! You have worked hard on having a good attitude about it all and understand that you have to get the work done. You have recently mastered writing paragraphs and short stories and are finally saying that you enjoy the writing. You tend to be really hard on yourself and get super upset with your work if i correct even one misspelled word or missed punctuation mark. We have had to talk extensively about how you are a student and we expect you to make mistakes and you learn from my corrections! You are rocking right through your math and seem to enjoy it enough. You did struggle a bit with carrying and borrowing in your addition and subtraction, but I think you've just about mastered it. I am so proud of you! We are doing very beginner multiplication right now- i can't believe how fast it goes and am scared I won't be equipped to teach you math much longer haha ;) You loved our Social Studies series on the American Girl book series of Kaya. I did too- so much fun! We studied The Oregon Trail the first part of our homeschool year and that was so fun too. You got in the top 10 on the Oregon Trail game, we made homemade whipped cream and butter, learned how to filter water, used buckets to carry water back and forth, taped out how big an actual covered wagon was and talked about must-have vs. nice to have. And then you and your sister played covered-wagon for weeks and even put on your own play. You have loved participating in reader's theater with Fossil live classes this year...when I could remember to get you logged in. I am hoping we can do our own reader's theaters with homeschool friends this summer! Last summer, you did a "Glitter Girls" club with the Lemay girls over zoom every Saturday morning and you guys did so many creative projects- sewing, cooking, etc. It was kind of hard for mom keeping the babies out of the way though! Anyway, I want to encourage that again this summer- so good for you! You have enjoyed Kiwi Co. boxes for science. Plus we are doing two co-ops that both have art and science, so you are really enjoying those for the social aspects mostly ;) At the Lemay co-op you have made your own bird's nests, wind-powered cars, studied the moon cycles and then you have studied art throughout history extensively and done lots of clay projects! At the co-op that we host, we studied color theory and then did hands-on crafts for art and have studied all about the weather! They have both been big blessings, but they are both on Thursdays so it makes for one very long day!
You watched Elena of Avalor and Sofia the First all the way through a few times each and were finally so sick of them so we have struggled a little bit trying to find something wholesome for you to enjoy during screen time each day. You have recently discovered Pokemon Go and are so happy to be playing that and even are able to trade Pokemon with Gummie! I tried hard to get you into Little House on the Prairie, but you got scared a lot at the intense parts of each episode haha. We also just used the last of our Fossil $ to get ABC Mouse so I think you will enjoy the education screen time during the summer hehe.
You aren't super into reading anymore which is the worst... I want you to devour books, but it is a real struggle to get you invested. Sometimes you just get lost in a certain book, but not often. I need to do better about enforcing reading time each day! You do a lot of reading at night time, but you much prefer to listen to an audio book while falling asleep.
What else? oh, we are working on a lot of life skills and personal responsibility. in the mornings, you are expected to get ready and have a checklist to help you remember what to do. You have started washing the dishes for me (& that is a lot of work with no dishwasher) and you aren't great at it haha but i think mostly you are just rushing through it so it doesn't do a good job, but you get super upset when I make you re-do over half the dishes eeek. You learned how to make oatmeal and we are working on you cooking more and more! You also started using deoderant this year! In this busy season with 2 toddlers, I am just not the best at keeping a consistent schedule and so you often go a few days between baths.. You did do showers for a while, but you really enjoy a nice hot long alone bath so we let you do that whenever possible which is why you skip so many days because there isn't time for a nice alone bath haha i need to just force you to shower sometimes. anyway, you have started to smell like b.o. so it was time! you actually love it and feel so big and responsible and you love the scent- you chose a peppermint one this time! After your sister got some cavities because I did a bad job brushing the summer before when I was trying to do bedtime with all 4 kids alone 4 nights a week, I got scared about cavities and so mom and dad brush and floss your teeth for you most nights, but you are pretty good at it and we hope to fully transfer that job over to you soon!
This summer, I really want you to learn to ride a bike without training wheels, learn to roller blade well, and learn to tie your shoes! Maybe learn how to blow a bubble with gum... I think you will be working a lot with your Ita at the farm and hopefully earning lots of money! You have over $400 saved right now and you love to earn money and feel so proud of yourself. We are going to set you up with some envelopes and sort your $ into them- 40% into spending, 50% into saving, and 10% into giving. I hope you really learn how to manage money and it sets you up for success as an adult. We are also doing lots of talking about how we don't just buy things on impulse. If we want something, we think about it for a few weeks and if we still want it, then we do some research on good brands and shop around for the best price. We also talk a lot about how expensive it is to buy things brand new and how we can find such great things at the thrift stores or at local garage sales or craigslist if we take the time to look. You are very responsible with your money, so I am excited to watch you grow in this area!
We got our annual Spring time haircuts and you decided you wanted bangs again.. I am always so hesitant about bangs, but you are rocking them. they look so cute on you! and a friend of mine tied tinsel into your hair and it is the most fun and cute! it glimmers in the sunshine and everyone comments on how awesome it is! You still desperately want a cat! we *almost* got you one on our Mexico vacation when they were giving them away all spayed and neutered completely for free..but just couldn't justify how hard it would make the flight home. We were going to wait until we had moved to our new property, but a lot has changed recently and we don't think we will be moving away from your Ita any time soon so we will probably get one soon- maybe after our CA trip in a few weeks! We are heading to CA for my cousin's wedding and you and June get to be the flower girls! You are so excited for the trip- you'll do Knott's with grandma and grandpa and you just adore Oma Cory (who wouldn't?). and you are excited to swim in Oma's pool! Oh yeah- you mastered swimming on our Mexico trip! Like just decided to do it and did it. You would run and jump into the deep end and swim all the way to the shallow. We obviously have to teach you actual swimming styles like front and back stroke etc. but you are just doing it- face underwater and all. We are so so so proud of you!
there are probably 100 more things I could write about- you are just such a fun and interesting girl! but I think this is long enough and your baby sister woke up, so I gotta run. I hope that you just love learning about who you were at 8 years old- full of determination, love, and a strong desire for justice! so much love for your cousins and your grandparents and a few good friends. early to rise and late to bed. quick to catch on to games (tho you can hardly play because...two toddlers ugh). still love to snuggle, but starting to separate more from us. you have such a deep understanding of love and life and it is such a blessing to watch you blossom! You have really grown in your relationship with Jesus this year (& are serving in the baby nursery every week at church) and have been asking about baptism lately and I am SO excited to watch you grow with Jesus and come in to your very own faith in Jesus and your relationship with Him! I pray that you will deeply understand our need for a Savior and the goodness of the Lord to lay down His own life in our place- the free gift of salvation so that we can spend forever with Him! I pray that your relationship with the Lord is a bright spot in your life and that you are bold in speaking the truth <3 I often pray over you for good health- that you would live a long life with good health- that you would get to be a great grandma someday. and that you would have a long happy marriage and a beautiful relationship with your children. I pray over our relationship often too! Your personality and intensity is so very like me and we butt heads sometimes. But I really believe that you are going to be the one I am closest to when you're all grown up- I see you living right down the road from me (or maybe with me?) and us getting lunch together and me watching your kiddos for you and just doing life together. I pray that we will be the best of friends as you grow into a young lady. You are such a joy and such a gift to our family and to this world. God has made you uniquely you and you have so much to offer that no one else can. You are precious and so worthy of love. I pray that I will lead you with wisdom into a strong relationship with our Lord and into adulthood as a capable, generous, and gracious lady. I love you so much, Josie. My baby forever! Stay little, sweet thing.
Love, Mama
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