Kindergarten graduation

Jace!!! My amazing son.  I am soo proud of you!  You rose to the challenge of Kindergarten and rocked our socks off!!  You worked so hard completing so much work, and you would tell me when something was challenging and how you overcame that challenge head on.

You learned amazing growth mindset techiques that will only enhance your life as you get older.  You were particularly fond of the phrase, "You make a mistake, and then you make it great," and took it to heart!

I remember in one activity I gave you permission to quit, and you almost did...but then you drew from an internal resolve and strength and persisted.  You told me YOU don't give up and I smiled and knew you were something special.

Beyond the academics, you have an engineer and inventor mind.  I am constantly blown away by your talents.  We went to the museum of nature and science in your last month of Kindie, and instead of being struck by the dinosaurs, mummies, gems, or planets....you buzzed around the museum being amazed and wonder struck by all the buttons, levers, and handles.  The highlight was seeing the see through escalator in motion.  You watched in awe and fascination through the glass as it glided passengers up the incline onto the next level.  I sat back and laughed.  Jace the inquisitor will become Jace the conqueror. 

Despite your gifts with mechanics, your dad and I encouraged you to do well in academics.  I wasn't sure I was getting through to you until I told you one small phrase that seemed to make a big impact. 
"Jace, readers are leaders."

You have an obsession with leaders.  Early on in Kindergarten you came home and asked me if I knew that Mr. May was the boss of the entire school!  I laughed and said yes.  You had a sparkle in your eye as you went on to explain that meant he was in charge of the entire school.   I knew then you were meant to be a leader.  That year a song by Imagine Dragons came on entitled "Thunder."  You LOVED this song.  One line in particular always struck me and reminded me of you,

"Not a yes sir, not a follower, fit the box, fit the mold, have a seat in the foyer, I was lightening, before the thunder."

Yes, this is you my son.  That not a "yes sir" personality is hard to parent, but man do I know it's going to pay off when you're older as long as you keep learning, keep reading, never settle for what you know.  Always know there is something more to learn, to achieve, to work toward.  Never be afraid of failing.  Embrace failure and know that you either succeed or you fail, and each failure only brings you one learning experience closer to succeeding.

Your report card was glowing.  All 3's, which mean A's across the board.  The comment from your teacher telling,

"It has been a pleasure to be Jace's Kindergarten teacher.  He is outgoing, inquisitive, and comes to school excited to see his friends. He is a hard worker and determined to do his best. He takes great pride in his work."

I couldn't be prouder of you little dude.  Love you to infinity and beyond. 

Love,
Mommy

Jet skiing early season 2018, 5 years old.

Meet Stickers!

You got a Gecko and named his Stickers this past weekend!

You were so proud of it and the best part is your engineered a shelter made out of legos and Stickers LOVES it!  

You are such a creative, smart, and inventive boy.  

Learning to whistle

Today daddy asked you to show me your new skill.  That's when you started whistling.  I was blown away! You're only 5 years old!  You're always impressing me with your ability to pick up new skills so easily.  

I love your curiosity.  I love how you are learning to read.  I love that you are rocking at soccer on  your new team with daddy as your coach.  

I'm just proud of you Jace.  I'm so glad you're my son. 

Love,
Mommy

Rocking Kindie: Spring parent teacher

So proud of you little man! You are rocking Kindie!  Reading, writing, math...you are learning it all!  I knew you would rise to the challenge!  Love your big vocabulary and ability to express yourself!

There is on area of reading to work on, but mostly you are kicking ass and taking names.

Daddy took you and Ashlynn to Great Wolf Lodge this weekend to celebrate. Truth be told, we never even looked at Ashlynn's report card. Despite working harder than any other person, she is the lowest and at the bottom of the class.

I know it's hard for you to understand now, but we are so proud of both of you.  You put in less effort and get more results...she put in more effort and gets less.

At any rate, I want you to know how proud I am, and I know in this life, if you just believe in yourself and are willing to challenge yourself, you will be anything you want to be!

I don't want to go to jail!

I talked to your Kindie teacher today, and she told me you had taken a robot letter from class and put it in your backpack.  One of your friend's told on you.  She said when she confronted you, you fessed up to it right away and went to get it from your backpack.  You had major consequences at school that followed over into the next day. 

You usually tell me this stuff too, but today, you didn't.

I had a talk with you after school.   Tonight getting ready for bed, you were crying big tears.  You said it was because you didn't want to go to bed, but usually you don't cry that hard and long over having to go to bed.

That's when I heard this tiny voice.

"I'm scared."

What I asked?

"I'm scared," and you started crying harder.

I scooped you up and hugged and kissed you and asked you why.  You said you were scared because you didn't want to go to jail.  My mind raced back to our conversation and I told you that people who steal go to jail.

I kissed you again and assured you that you were not going to jail.  I told you that you are just a kid, and you are still learning; however, if you steal and you're a grown up, you will go to jail.  I said I was proud of you for being honest even though it was hard and you knew you had done wrong.  My heart was actually filled with so much joy, not that you had made a mistake, but that you were honest, showed remorse, and seemed to have learned a life lesson. THAT made me proud. 

Love you little dude,
You're going to move mountains and change the world for the better,

Love,
Mommy

You know one thing I absolutely love about you Jace?  It's that when you do anything you will put your arms out as though you are flying!  You went skiing last week and even in that video you had your arms out wide embracing the moment.

There are times when you are running downhill after school and you will to it too!  You try and pick up as much speed as possible, spread out your arms and pretend you are flying.  I can see the exhileration in your face.

This past weekend, you learned how to ride a bike with no training wheels.  To be honest, you probably could have learned sooner (you are five), but we never taught you because Ashlynn still can't ride a bike yet without training wheels and we didn't want to crush her.  You were still young though.  Had you asked, we would have let you try.  Today you just took off on Ashlynn's bike.  Daddy had decided to try and teach her without the training wheels.  You wanted to try and it took a few times and then you were off.

Every day now you like pedaling as fast as your legs can take you, even though it's the middle of winter.  I imagine you feel like you are flying, but you can't put your arms out like you usually do.  I watch you whiz around on your bike.  I'm in awe of you.  You have such a natural ability.  I had that too, which is why it's so hard to watch your sister struggle to do anything.  I'm sorry we didn't push you to ride a bike without training wheels sooner.  There is no manual in this parenting thing.

I do love you though so much, and I'm so incredibly proud of you.  You remind me so much of myself, and I don't want you to have the hangups I had from being too sensitive.  I watched a coaching session today by a person named Jay Shetty, and he said that we must change our perspective in order to grow.  Nothing is good or bad, it is the perspective of the experience that makes something good or bad and you can always choose to change your perspective.

When your friends hurt your feelings, or you feel like you are being made fun of, you can always choose to change your perspective.  If you can change the way you look at things, your life will become better. 

I love you little dude.  Always in my heart,

Mom

Natural athleticism

Jace.  My son.  I see so much of myself in you.  Your perfectionism.  Fear of failure.  Natural athleticism.  School is easy.  Love of learning.

There is a saying that when raising a child, you need to raise yourself first.  I think of that a lot.  I think of myself when I see me in you.  I see you believe  you should get things perfect on the first try.  I see you overly critical of yourself.  I see you get your feelings hurt when someone has something negative to say about you.

I promise you I am doing my best to practice what I preach, but Jace I want you to embrace failure!  I want you not to see it as a measure of your ability, but rather a lesson that helped you learn!

I want you to understand you are naturally smart and athletic, but to also know that it doesn't mean you should never make mistakes or fail.  The converse is true! If you are able to learn early that failure is only a lesson in making you better, you will rule this world.  You can be anything you want to be.  That is true of everyone, but for you, you have natural ability and if it is combined with the belief that failure makes you better and if you can learn from mistakes you will be unstoppable....then Jace the sky truly is the limit for you.

Please always consider others in whatever endeavor you choose.  We were born to be of service to others and in service to others so we find our true identity, happiness, and purpose.

Today you learned to ride a bike without training wheels.  You are 5.  Daddy took them off Ashlynn's bike.  She is 8. She can't do it yet, but you asked to try and it took you a couple of turns and you did it.  You fell a few times first.  You were scared you told me, especially when you turned, but you still did it.  You did, and  you took off and flew.

That is a metaphor for life Jace.  Remember that moment of being 5.  You were scared, you were unsure, but the thought of succeeding and riding that bike was exciting and so you tried anyway.  You fell.  You fell a couple times, but you never gave up.....and when you learned to ride without training wheels, the smile on your face spelled a freedom you had never known.  Don't lose that Jace.  That is the power of our natural ability paired with you willingness to try and fail that will NEVER let you down.  Believe in yourself.  I'm so proud of you.  I love you.

Love Mom.

New Star Wars Bike we got you after you learned how to ride Ashlynn's bike