Dear Elli, Sometimes I forget how awesome the simple things in life can be.  I really need to start remembering more often. We went to a...

Dear Elli, You totally freak me out sometimes. As I was starting the water for your shower tonight, you went on quite a tirade.  You...

Dear Elli, The world is not a fair place.  There are millions of injustices that occur every minute of every day.  I understand that, and...

Dear Elli, As I begin this letter, I am at the airport in San Francisco with Michelle.  On our way home from the most epic adventure of...

Dear Elli, You embarrass the hell out of me on a regular basis.  I'm nearly immune to its effects at this point.  Most of your...

Dear Elli, I just arrived home from my very first experience chaperoning a field trip for your first grade class.  We went to the...

Dear Elli, I'm having an irritating week.  One of those weeks that just irritates the living shit out of me.  It's not the end of the...

Dear Elli, I have to confess that I was a total litter bug today.  Let me tell you the story. After I picked you up tonight, we had to...

Dear Elli, I had so much freaking fun today I can't even stand it! Today was your first soccer game of the season and guess what?  You...

Dear Elli, I'm completely bewildered by the heroin epidemic we have in our country right now.  I seriously cannot wrap my mind around...

Dear Elli, I try to be a nice mom.  Really, I do.  I try to be patient and understanding and nurturing and wonderful.  But your homework...

Dear Elli, You cannot ride a bicycle.  You will be seven years old this year, and you cannot ride a freaking bicycle.  I'm not sure how...

Dear Elli, You embarrassed the hell out of me today at the grocery store.  I wanted to crawl into a hole and die as an epic failure of...

Dear Elli, I just finished our income taxes for 2015.  This is always an occasion that I would prefer to reserve for day drinking. ...

Dear Elli, In a few hours, it will be 2016.  In 2016, you will turn seven years old.  Holy shit.  Time flies. I started writing these...

Dear Elli, Today we took Roscoe to the vet.  We took him because he needed his nails trimmed, and we don't like to do it at home. Roscoe...

Dear Elli, Today you and I had a conversation about mean kids.  And I remembered something that I haven't thought about for many years....

Dear Elli, I'm gonna pull a Kanye West and make a really belligerent statement. America hates Muslim people right now. That sounds really...

Dear Elli, I'm so proud of you today. Today was a sign-up day for Christmas assistance for the Salvation Army in Akron, and I brought you...

Dear Elli, Yesterday, you received your very first report card of your first grade career.  This is the first year you get actual letter...