Nelson News: To our 10 year old girl...

Sweet Presley,

You woke up this morning and immediately asked if you were officially ten years old. When I told you yes, you showed me 10 by using all of your fingers. You were so excited and you sat on my lap and I made a comment about how this is how I held you in the hospital 10 years ago. I went into the story of the day you were born, how fast you came, how I held you in the middle of the night all by myself and told you about your big brother and your family, how your face was bruised and you had little sideburns.

As I went up to bed on the 19th, I took a quick last picture of you as a 9 year old. You sleeping with your One Direction pillow, blanket, and nightgown on, next to the picture book I read to you after you asked me to snuggle with you and read to you that night, the one I've read to you hundreds of times, that your probably have memorized. I think this sums up your ninth year pretty well. Most of the time still a little girl, loving on her mommy and daddy, playing girly things and dressing girly, occasionally joining us in our room when scared at night, and still very innocent. And once in a while, showing us a more growing up side of you--rolling your eyes at me, listening to your IPod with your headphones in, picking out your own outfits, complaining about still riding in a car seat, or asking about getting a Facebook account (Logan has never even asked for one, so the answer was no).

You love when I tell you little personal stories of you as a baby or young child. You like to hear about what you called Logan when you learned to talk (Du-gan) and then you'll call him that for a while. You like to hear the stories of about how you only loved me, how when others would try to hold you, you'd cry. You like to hear the story about how when you were 3 I took you for your shots and you didn't flinch when the needles went in. You like to hear the story of when I cried when I dropped you off at kindergarten. I love sharing these stories with you. You like to tell stories too, but your stories are super wordy and long and noone can follow them quite to the end yet. Once in a while, you'll come down with some super cute outfit on with a bow in your hair and you'll light up when I say, "Oh Presley, you are still my girl".

Presley, you are so beautiful it sometimes takes my breath away. I'll catch you out of the corner of my eye and I'm caught off guard and just like to stare at you for a few seconds, in awe that I had anything to do with your beauty. But more than the beauty on the outside, is the beauty I see on the inside. We talk alot about that...how to give others grace, how to be humble, how to let other people's hurtful words and actions roll off your back, how you can only control you, how to be a friend to everyone, and our favorite recent saying "modest is hottest". I was reading a magazine with some racy ads and I asked you if you'd ever wear something like that and you quickly said, "no, that's not appropriate". So now we say, moddest is hottest. Your school has taught you the concept of "fill your bucket"--when you do or say something good/kind to someone else it fills your bucket and their bucket. Sometimes I'll ask you, "did that fill your bucket?". We like that saying.

I think you're the perfect combination of funny and intelligent and sarcastic and sensitive. Logan said something mean to you this summer and you immediately fell to tears and said, "I try not to let it get under my skin, but it shoots right to my heart and stings". He apologized to you and then you cried some more and told me "these are happy tears cause he was sorry." And recently Logan was stung by two bees and you said, "It must have been the queen bee attracted to your Axe". You four have been playing this tiger/baby game with Harper and Ry and you've named the baby tigers Jonathan and Diamond. You're really funny and you don't even realize it. You have a really great laugh that we love to hear, and we're so lucky that we do get to hear it often. You have had a happy 9th year.

The world needs more girls like you Presley, we love you to the moon and back.