A long overdue birthday post....(that I forgot to publish)

Tessa informed me in December that she wanted a "snow" birthday party. Sounded doable at the time. Surely there will be snow around January 4, right? Well, as the days got closer to her birthday, January 4 came and went and her party was scheduled for January 7. The ground was a dry mass of grass and sidewalk. Not a spec of precipitation in sight. I geared myself up with snow games for inside including making snowballs out of yarn for a snowball fight and making snowmen out of marshmallows.

Malia (who possesses huge amounts of faith) suggested we pray for snow. I explained that we could pray, but that it would in the end be up to Heavenly Father if snow was sent down to Syracuse, UT on this particular day. Well, going right along with the title of this blog, Tender Mercy...we woke up to snow Saturday morning. My neighbor, Emily, yelled across the street at how lucky we were. Lucky indeed.

Snowman cake...CHECK.

This was the site of a future snowman that I forgot to document. It was stellar.

Snow and a giant, colorful lollipop. These are all this 5-year-old really wished for.

And now, a letter to my Tess.

Dear 5-year-old Tessa,

Wow, oh wow. How can you be 5 already? If I could describe you in one word (and I do often) it would be random. We never know what funny, random thing is going to come out of your mouth. Like, for instance, we'll be sitting down to a nice big plate of spaghetti and you'll randomly, out of no conversation leading up to it, say something like "When I'm 24 I'm going to have a baby and I'm going to name her Lucy."

And speaking of random, here are some random Tessa facts:

--You love broccoli. (yay!)

--You also love treats (boo!), but I guess it goes along with being sweet. ;)

--You love preschool. You love Miss Leah and often reflect on how much you miss Miss Parke (whom you had last year). And you're so excited to go to Syracuse Arts Academy with Malia next year.

--You could Play pet shop toys with Malia for days at a time.

--You ask to go"fun" places like the Treehouse museum or Lagoon or Disneyland just about everyday, as unlikely as it is that we will just randomly get up and go there!

--You love little kids and love playing with them.

--You like to do your chore chart and getting to move the clothespins from "to do" to "done".

--You love to learn things and tell me about it.

--You love to ask meaningful questions like "who is Heavenly Father's father?"

--You love to play with your friends and especially love to go over to Corbin's house. He's also who you say you are planning to marry (before you turn 24, because, you know...at 24 you'll have a baby named Lucy).

--Just as your brother and sister are, you are a snuggler. You'd love nothing more than for me or your dad to just hold you and kiss you all over your face...which I indulge in quite often.

--You can be so SILLY!!

--You love to dance. And do so quite beautifully. We love to watch you in your dance class every Friday.

-- You're so beautifully unique in this big world. I love you to the moon and back 5 million times (which if I told you that right now you would respond that you love me to the moon and back 6 million times).

Love,

Your Mommy (Alicen), which you like to call me just to be funny sometimes.