Well, it looks like this is the year you plan to ditch all the kid stuff. You tried to get out of the picture with Santa this year (you told me you think the cutoff is 11 - ha!). We might be done with the whole Santa thing because Mason will do whatever you do (he was fine skipping it this year if you did) and next year you guys will be 13 and 10 (what the heck?!) so I get it. I guess.
This is the year you gave soccer another try and loved it. It was due to your coach and awesome team (you knew almost all of them from past teams and you guys were amazing together!). You still love baseball more, but at least you'll grow up with some awesome soccer memories instead of a hatred for it!
You love fortnite - the video game that has seemingly taken over the world. : ) You would play for hours if we'd let you. Although when we tell you to do something else you usually thank us because you don't want to be that kid that doesn't do anything other than video games but it's still a battle.
Overall, you're still the same awesome kid (kind, rule following, smart, up for talking about almost anything). We're noticing some changes in your friends, so we will be helping you to be sure you keep yourself out of trouble. You also had your first serious thing happen to a friend when his mom attempted suicide. She's back home now and when I asked if you'd like to have him over you said you though he'd want to spend time with his mom. It's a tough situation for sure, I don't think any of us quite know what to do next with that one. A lot of things change during middle school, we'll just keep doing our best to roll with the punches. I'm not overly worried about you though - you've always had a pull for doing the right thing and a casual way of saying no if you don't want to do something. You also work hard to get good grades and to be a good teammate. That doesn't leave a lot of room for hanging out with kids that make bad choices.
I hope you never get too cool to be goofy and have fun with your family. But if you do, I'll be there the day you realize that was ridiculous and come back around. You never have to worry about that!
And just for the record, I still love you more.
