Another year gone by--Too quickly. Most definitely.

Sarah: Just turned 15 months, she is a stubborn one, sweet but stubborn. What we love most about her:

• sometimes when you pick her up to hold her, and she lays her head on your shoulder, and pats your back, like a "thank you for holding me" without saying anything. Adorable.
• other times, if she's feeling in a giving mood, you can ask for a hug and she will lay her head down on your shoulder and wrap her arms around you. So Adorable.
• when she waves both hands at cars passing by on the street while you are out on a walk
• when she bounces up and down in your arms upon seeing her big sisters coming home from school and smiles really big to say hi to them.
• when we sing our night-time song as a family before bed, she laughs and sings along with us, obviously not the words, but her type of humming. I remember at Christmas time she was so sweet when she would get so excited every time "Angels we have heard on high" was sung-I think she is going to love music more than the other girls even.
•  She stubbornly won't walk. She's been able to stand on her own now for about a month, but only in short bursts, then sits down. If she's feeling so inclined, she will walk with you when you hold her hands but I think she just can't stand the thought of moving slowly that walking would necessitate. Consequently, she sticks with the crawling everywhere. That said, just today at church, she did take her first official steps--three!--without holding hands or any support.

Camilla: Just turned 5, we celebrated with an M&M Birthday party on the 16th for her first real party with friends. Other birthdays were spent with just family. It was a grand affair and she loved every minute of it. We had an M&M piñata, M&M packet toss, M&M search, and cupcake walk with lunch. With a theme that doesn't have much that can be purchased for décor, it took lots of prep making the piñata, decorations, and game/activities. It was worth it to celebrate for her though. To get to know her at 5:

• she is petite. I can still wear 3T clothes on her, though I've slowly been able to put away items this summer with some recent growth, but she has never been a great eater, so that makes growing pretty difficult.
• she hates potatoes. Really? Who doesn't like potatoes? Doesn't like them mashed, baked, or roasted, but will tolerate them as tator tots or French fries. Salt and Oil can improve lots of things, of course.
• She manipulates situations to get what she wants because she knows she's cute. No joke. Last week, she gave Todd her Fathers day card on Friday. She said very sweetly, "Here's your fathers day card, Daddy. [Pause, wait for positive reinforcement] Now can I have a treat?" Or, she'll ask for something she wants, and then she does a deliberate eye-bat, and face tilt, or "let me be as cute as possible to charm you to say yes". In other situations, she's been given things because she's so cute even though she wasn't actually expecting anything. A few months back the worker at my friends house gave her his canned juice "because she was just so cute and reminded me of my niece." Or the manager at the McDonalds that came over to the table where Todd and Camilla were eating and gave her a free Lego movie cup just because she was cute. (We didn't get a kids meal so it wasn't related to that.)
• That girl LOVES to dance, twirl, sashay, sway, bop, jam, every word you can think of. It's even better in a "cupcake dress"--the kind that billows out beautifully when you twirl. I have got to get her in a dance class.
• She is obsessed with boys--worse than Kayla was at this age! She's always asking about marriage, when she's going to be married, etc. She almost had an emotional breakdown a few months ago because she was crying about how long it would be before she could get married. It's disturbing. I'm not sure how we are going to survive this girl as an adolescent.
• She's funny, really funny. She makes jokes about things that take me by surprise. I wish I could remember one for an example, but I've drawn a blank. But, she's got a pretty robust sense of humor for a five year old.
• She loves the color purple, her stuffed monkey, and oh yes, she is going to make gummy bears when she grows up.

Kayla--about to turn 7 in August

• Kayla is all about correctness. If you say the wrong thing, i.e. wrong phrase or word or name for the girl, trust Kayla to correct you.
• She"believes in fairies; they are real." Her favorite series is a the Rainbow Place Fairies books, filled with stylist fairies, fashion beauty fairies, music fairies, party fairies, and at least 5 more I've forgotten. She well exceeded the 1st grade reading level for end of the year.
• She loves pizza and loves to help me cook in the kitchen. Her dream is to have a pizza parlor one day. The fact that we found out she had either lactose intolerance or milk allergy (not sure which) doesn't faze her. She also dreams of being a fashion model and she has quite the poses for it. It's funny watching her do a pretend catwalk. And we have lots of fashion shows in our house.
• She loves shoes. It made her year when I bought her a pair of Sunday shoes with a 1/2 inch heel. I've never know anyone to fawn over a pair of shoes like that.

Abrianna--about to turn 9 in July

• She loves Art--Painting, weaving, pottery, you name it. Her Art teacher showed them how to weave in May, and that week she came home, made her own loom from cardboard, begged yarn out of my craft pile, improvised a needle using a bobby pin, and has now completed at least 9 blankets from the loom. Her self-portrait was included in the District Art show by her Justin Elementary teacher. She always wants to do crafts.
• She loves cupcakes and watching a show on the Food Network called Cupcake wars. She's determined to go on that show when she's older and win $10,000. Her favorite T-shirt is one that says "More Cupcakes, Less Homework." My friend is having a cake camp in July so she's excited to learn techniques like they do on the show.
• She LOVES to read. She is reading middle school books even though she is going into 4th grade in the fall. (This is particularly embarrassing to Emma because Emma hates that she is reading the same books as her little sister. It makes her feel stupid. My reassurances don't help the matter--but I hardly think stunting Abri's interest in books is the solution, even to avoid injuring Emma's pride.)
• She wanted a medal really bad this year (she was jealous of Emma's medal from Destination Imagination in 2012). She participated in Spelling Bee and Battle of the Books, hoping she could get a medal, to no avail. The highlight of her year was getting a surprise medal for Perfect Attendance. If I could have captured the look on her face as she stood there on the stand at the awards ceremony fingering that medal around her neck--priceless. She didn't gloat about it, she was just so happy to get one after wanting it so much. She earned that medal though--she was always up on her own every morning, independently preparing what she needed for school. It was especially earned on those crazy mornings just after we moved--I almost didn't take them to school a couple times but resisted the urge and it paid off.
• She loves her Wish bear for helping her not have bad dreams, her comfy but fashionable clothes (because you can't forsake comfort for the sake of fashion), her mp3 music player, her journals for writing, and of course, Sarah. But, "math is not her friend."

Emma--12 already??

• With 3 out of 4 core classes "Pre-AP" or Pre-Advanced placement (the precursor of college prepatory classes in high school), Emma earned A/B Honor Roll this year as she encountered her fair share of trials with difficult team assignments and unbalanced work loads, late nights studying for multiple tests, and more responsibilities than she had time to handle. She got positive feedback from her many teachers for her work ethic and attitude.
• She started playing the French Horn in Band--the first musical experience she's ever had and really excelled. She has an excellent range for a beginning player, and she made the top performing band as a new 7th grader in the fall to beat out 8th graders who also auditioned.
• Turning twelve she got her ears pierced for the first time. She was nervous when the time arrived, but firm in her resolve, she took the pain and then took accountability to clean her ears everyday.
• She had her braces removed in Aug 2013 for a new improved smile. She still doesn't think she's pretty though. She told me that adults may find her pretty but teens have a different concept of beauty. Hmmm.
• She's not the most patient with her sisters, but she is definitely responsible and works hard at home, whether weeding, cleaning, etc.

It's certain--these girls are great and we love them lots!

Getting to Know You. . .one day at a time

I had a goal I would write about the girls on this blog at each birthday as a way to document their changes. That hasn't happened in a long time what with other distractions, but here's my latest attempt at writing just some of the things that makes them their own individuals and a blessed part of our family.

Sarah as of 5/13/13:
What can you say about a sweet new baby? The sight of her warms your heart. It's an amazing thing when bodies are created, and new little spirits inhabit them. She has these dark blue eyes that I look in and just wonder about what kind of personality is in there.

• She loves the sound of running water-she immediately stops crying when I turn the tub water on.
• She is just barely starting to smile and respond to others.
• She grows fast! (which is good since she was the smallest of all our girls at 6 lbs 15 ozs at birth.) Doctors have been amazed that she gained over 2 lbs in her first month-from 6 lbs 11 ozs to 8 lbs 15 ozs.

Camilla nearing 4:

• Most likely to get into mischief--first girl of four to cut her own hair in February
• never passes on a chance to dance to good music--and doesn't forget to pose at the end
• often sings phrases from pop songs or Primary songs throughout the day
• happily plays on her own for quite a while
• very concerned that her baby monkey is "cold" each night and needs to have "her" own spot under the covers
• minimal tantrums-majority of the time when she doesn't get her own way she sulks and pouts with her eyes and lips, crosses her arms and then thinks for a minute. Then she sighs and says "FINE!" (only recently she has thrown a couple of tantrums with full out screaming and kicking)
• makes us laugh:
• the other day we went to Costco and I put Sarah's car seat in the cart. Camilla told me "We're going to buy Sarah!" with this coy smile to prove she was making a joke.
• I was cleaning a cut that one of the girl's friends got on the swing set and said to the friend, "does that hurt, honey?" Camilla says to me, "Mommy, you know she's not one of your daughters?!?" with a decided tone of disapproval and reprimanding glance for using an endearment.

Kayla at the end of Kindergarten:

• Academically: she has done well learning her sight words--she had learned all the kindergarten sight words by the end of March with 2 1/2 months to go in the year (only 4 other kids in her class beat her at that milestone). She has now memorized all but a couple sight words for 1st and 2nd grade. Writing is more of a struggle since she wants to know how to spell all the words instead of trying to sound them out so it takes her a long time.
• still having difficulty saying her "r" sounds--ex. Abri sounds like Ah-blee, though the speech therapist said she is still considered in the normal range of development
• Concerned about celebrating/remembering others' birthdays: For example, her Kindergarten teacher had her birthday on the 28th of April. Kayla told me about it when she came home that Friday. That Sunday, she spent lots of time making her a birthday card, and asked me to make cupcakes to go with the card. (All of these were done with no reminders on my part.) We had a similar situations with a few of her friends' birthdays-i.e. she was very excited to give them a card/gift to celebrate even when they weren't actually having a party that she needed to take something to.

 Abrianna

• Loves to read but math "is not her friend." (Her grades in math are high A's but it isn't interesting for her.) She particularly likes books that combine drawing with paragraphs such as Bad Kitty, Dork Diaries, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Beach Mouse. If I had to pick her profession today it would be comic book artist. She wants to write a book someday.
• She had a space party this summer for her birthday. Not your typical princess party, right? She really gets into the planets and she made awesome hand colored planets on Styrofoam balls that we hung from the ceiling. She loves art and her painting was featured in the District Art Show this past spring.
• She loves all things rainbow. She dreams of a rainbow canopy, loves not just a single color but the full spectrum of the rainbow.

Emma

What type of candy are you??

We had a funny conversation at the dinner table the other night. We were trying to decide what type of candy best described each of us. Here is the consensus in order that we decided them:

• Emma: M&Ms, easy because she has the m's in her name. She wasn't sure if she wanted to be plain or peanut though, but we settled on plain since she didn't want to be referred to as nutty. [Note: when she grows up she's going to make an M&M that has bubble gum in it. I won't tell her that then she might be said to be full of air.]
• Daddy: PayDay (his suggestion, not ours)
• Kayla: Hershey's Kisses because she loves giving and receiving kisses.
• Mommy: Smarties (I said I only wish that applied more often.)
• Abri: Mr Goodbar because she's done so well in school this year. {She didn't believe this was an actual candy until she was looking thru some candy at the store and saw one and then she actually believed us.)
• Camilla: took quite a bit of debate. Originally we said Whatchamacalit because we were so undecided. I suggested Sour Patch Kid because she's a little sour and a lot sweet, but then we decided on SweetTart. You can tell we are in the terrible two stage with her.

Girls in front of San Antonio Temple in April

Here are some highlights on Emma, Abri and Kayla since I put some things on Camilla already for her birthday.

Emma is definitely the oldest child. She helps me all the time. I love when she helps get Camilla to bed, since she is a toddler whisperer after all, and  tells me often, "Thanks for all that you do." She loves doing what is right, gets excited about doing things as  family, and loves organizing things.

Abrianna is a great reader, both out loud and silently. I hear her pronouncing all sorts of words that would seem a lot older than first grade that she doesn't hesitate to sound out and usuallys gets right. She was a diligent student this year with all As and mostly 100s, even on report cards. She loves movies/TV and dreams of being an artist one day.

Kayla is a hopeless romantic already. She talks more about love and marriage than I've ever hear Emma or Abri talk about them combined. She loves looking pretty and often makes little poses.

Mormon Message

A recent photo of Abrianna I took at the Alamo in April.

Abrianna LOVES movies or TV. If we take a vote on what our family activity for the night will be, hers is always for one of those. (By contrast, Emma will choose a game, and Kayla will choose to play the Wii. Makes voting interesting.) Last Sunday, Todd was watching some Mormon Messages on his laptop when we got home from church. Abri heard the sounds so she went in to see what he was watching. She immediatley sat down and attentively watched several with him, then remarked--"I like Mormon Messages. They're like conference, only shorter." I love Mormon Messages too--such touching and poignant videos to remind us of the simple things. I put a link below of just one example of a Mormon message that touched me tonight.

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages?lang=eng&id=2012-01-008-rescued-by-christ#2012-01-008-rescued-by-christ 

Bless You Daddy

In January, we hit a milestone in our family. We had our first trip to the emergency room, thanks to our dear fourth child. It turns out that if your 2 year old runs in the tiled entry way of the church and loses her footing, she can hit the corner of the tiled floor runner and split her forehead open. Six stitches, three hours from arrival to departure, and one episode of Dora on the Child Entertainer's Iphone, left us with an appreciation that we haven't had to do it before now, but grateful that we went to a Children's hospital for treatment.

The sweetest part of it all, though, was our little girl, sitting weakly but surprisingly alert in her car seat as we made the frantic 20 minute drive to the hospital. Sometime during that anxious ride, Todd sneezed and she looked at him, her bandage seeped with blood across her forehead, not even crying with pain, to reply, "Bless You Daddy." It brought tears to my eyes.

Happy Birthday Camilla! 3 years old

It's been a busy year for this little girl. On the list:
Talking lots and lots
Driving her mom a little crazy
Running her grandmother ragged
Seeing just how many ways she can look cute to get what she wants, ha ha.
We sure do love having her in our family, though.
Here are some things about her that always make me laugh, in random order:

• She loves blackberries--can't get enough of them.
• She hates naps.
• She can get up before any of the other girls and go to bed later than them--showing no signs of stopping.
• She won't eat donuts or cake--only lick every bit of frosting off that she can and leave the rest.
• She loves books. She will just sit and look at them on her own and doesn't have to have them read to her, though she will often ask.
• She loves Phantom of the Opera music.
• When she loves a song, she just can't sit still. She gets up and starts moving her arms in the air and striking semi-ballet poses and positioning her head "just so" as she "feels" the music. This includes, but is not limited to, during sacrament meeting at church--in the aisle no less, local musical theater presentations, or the movie theater aisle. Below: Cami dancing to the music at Sea World.

• She always has to say good-bye to me in the mornings now before I go to work. If I leave and she wakes up when the door closes (it rarely doesn't wake her up) she gets up and runs out the front door literally crying, WAIT!! WAIT!! I want to say goodbye!
• She loves the "Rock Song" for her choice of bedtime song. The words of the lyrics: "The wise man built his house upon the rock, [repeat], and the rains came tumbling down, [repeat], and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up, [repeat] and the house on the rock stood still."
• She loves to say/do things to make you laugh. It's not unusual for her to say, "Hi Grandma Mommy" and wait for me to say I'm not. . . and then laugh and laugh.
• She remembers where she puts things hours and hours later. I've asked her where things are, and she'll go directly to it without searching. It's not 100% but at least 90% of the time, and it surprises me.
• She really loves baths, not washing her hair so much, but she loves the play time.

Lessons from a Road Trip

• Audio books are amazing. Who needs a TV/DVD player in the car after all? Four Junie B Jones Books, and Mr. Popper's Penguins [the classic story] made 8 hours go by pretty fast.
• Emma learned that she loves drawing comic strips. She wrote "The Fly," "Tree," and "Lunch Ladie." [though she admits that it doesn't actually have to do with a lunch lady after all, just lunch].

• We left for the mall but arrived at the zoo. [Avoid Memorial City Mall on Memorial Day. BAD IDEA. As if you can actually say that you are celebrating the holiday better by hanging out there.] You can barely make out Camilla as she heads into the castle. . .and this still doesn't do justice to the number of kids there.

• My girls LOVE Phantom of the Opera, or as Camilla says, An-toe Oh-pa, that made for another time killer of 2 hours.  Camilla was the most frequent requestor of the soundtrack-especially once I realized what she was asking for.

Dreading the Teenage Years

So, my 4 year old is boy crazy. There, I've said it. I'm no longer in denial. And to my friend Melissa whose son Logan is the object of her adoration, well, lets just hope she never becomes a stalker. The girl talks of Logan so frequently. I heard thru the grapevine that they held hands sometimes at preschool. Hmm. Last I heard the preschool didn't have a rule about hand holding. Note to self: consult with the other moms. Sample conversations of the past 6 months:

Kayla: I'm going to marry Logan.
Todd: Why is that?
Kayla: My heart tells me.
Me: What if it doesn't happen?
Kayla: It won't.

***
Emma: Kayla, you get to go to kindergarten in a few months.
Kayla: Me?
Me: some of your other preschool friends will too, but Logan won't be there.
Kayla [with an exasperated tone]: Yes he will, but not Ally [his little sister in preschool too].
Me: Well, he will be in kindergarten but he won't be at your school. He'll be in another school.
Kayla [looking troubled now]: He will? But he goes to our church!
Me: I know, but it works differently with the schools.
Kayla: Oh. But can I still see him at church? [Her excitement for kindergarten visibly dimished.]
***
Upon hearing that we would not be attending our church that Sunday:
Kayla: I want to to go to our church.

Me: Why is that?
Kayla: Because
Me: Really?
Kayla: And it's not because of Logan [I hardly believe that one.]
***
Twirling in her dress while getting ready for church:
Kayla: I look pretty. Logan will think I look pretty too.
Me: Honey, boys don't notice that sort of thing right now.
Kayla: They don't???

***
Random Comments:
- Whenever I hear a pretty song I think about Logan.
- When asked if she had kissed Logan at preschool [after finding out about the hand holding]: No, there are other people there. [Not reassuring-she loves trying to sneak a kiss on my lips instead of cheek when I go to kiss her goodnight. She loves kisses, so you can understand better why we would even ask the question.]

Dreading. Seriously dreading. Really, I'm dreading the tween years.

Daddy Daughter Nerd Night

Todd and Emma love dressing up, whatever the reason. Emma's Activity Days group at church for girls ages 8-11 had a Daddy/Daughter Nerd Party with a prize for best costume. Todd came in 2nd place for his rendition. They had lots of fun on their night out together, with a three legged race, musical chairs,   word bubble designing to express their nerd spirit, and ice cream sundaes for dessert.

Emma: Perfection Personified

We had parent teacher conferences with Emma and Abri's teachers three weeks ago with the end of the first six weeks. Emma has two teachers, one for Math and Science, and one for Language Arts and Social Studies. We met with each of them, and each started with the same thing, "Well, let me tell you all the things Emma has done wrong" but obviously in jest. Both had only compliments to give of her, but her Language Arts teacher's comments particularly touched me. She said something along these lines: "Emma is the most perfect, moral student. She is the best example for all the other kids and she works so hard. I'm so glad to have her." It wasn't just the words, but the tone and deep level of sincerity. It brought tears to my eyes, I've never almost cried at a teacher conference.

Then, this past Sunday, one of my friends at church who is neighbors with Emma's third grade teacher shared part of a conversation she had had with Emma's past teacher about Emma. Kelly, the teacher, said that she's had two perfect students in her teaching experience, two girls who never behaved badly and always did amazingly.

Such high praise, and I certainly think it's deserved. She's amazing. I don't even feel I can take credit for her, she is just that level of pure goodness. Love that girl.

Answered Prayers

I love when my kids have their own experiences with prayer. Here are a few that have happened lately.

Abrianna:
We had a big storm that came in pretty suddenly a few weeks ago, right around bedtime. It really scared the kids with winds around 45 miles an hr and heavy rains. I tried to reassure them that it'd be okay but they weren't reassured. Then I realized: I had a story they could relate to. I said, "You know, God has power over the weather. In the story of Jonah, God brought the storm to the ship that made them send Jonah into the sea. He can control it, it's ok."
Abri "So, we can pray to ask him to make the storm go away?"
Me: "Yep"
Abri "I'm going to say a prayer that he'll make the storm go away."

Not more than two minutes later the storm calmed.

A couple of weeks ago, Abri and I were talking about her experiences at school. She said she had no friends to play with at recess. I asked her about a few of the kids that she had mentioned before and asked what they were doing at recess. She said they were playing with other kids. I suggested maybe she should ask Heavenly Father to help her have friends at recess the next day. She nodded. The next day at dinner I asked her how recess was. She said, I had a lot of friends to play with. I said, that's great, see, Heavenly Father answered your prayer. She nodded.

It's so nice to know that even when we aren't there to help our kids, Heavenly Father is.

Emma: Her Grandmother was driving her to the church building for Activity Days the other night, but she hasn't been to our building very much. Emma told me that she was worried that they wouldn't get to the church because Grandma kept making turns that weren't the normal route. She said a prayer and in a few minutes they got to the church.

Some Notes on Kayla

Quotables:
K: I like you mommy.
M: You don't love me?
K: I like you AND I love you.

"You look pretty without your glasses mommy." Thanks.

Abri--will stay home from church any chance she can. Kayla--will choose church over staying home every time.

She is very particular about word usage. The other night I found a spider and killed it as Kayla looked on.
Kayla :Why did you kill the spider Mommy?
Me: I didn't want spiders in my house.
K: say our house, not my house
Me: OK
K: Say it, mommy.
Me: I don't want spiders in our house
K: Right.

Me: Kayla--where's the cowboy hat from Uncle Chad?
K: It's not a cowboy hat.
Me: Yes it is.
K: It's a cow-GIRL hat.

Four Year Old Kayla--Happy Birthday!

Kayla received a Snow White Tiara from her grandpa for her birthday tonight. Here's a conversation that made me laugh:
Me: Kayla, go put your jammies on.
Kayla: But I'm a princess.
Me: Well, how about you be a little girl with jammies on instead?
Kayla: you mean a big girl with jammies on? with a smile and laugh in her voice.

Earlier at dinner, Abri said, "I have to go to my room and find a present for Kayla's birthday. . .I know just what to give her." That made me curious. When it was time to open presents, Abri brought one of our stacking boxes with a blanket over it and handed it to Kayla. Kayla took the blanket off and exclaimed, "Thanks Abri!" with happiness and gave her a hug.

Now I really was curious what Abri had given her, watching as the box tipped over. Out tumbled a few rocks--ROCKS! Abri had given her rocks (wow, her generosity) and Kayla was happy about it; I wouldn't have imagined that Kayla had received rocks by her reaction. She was also the best of any of my girls at any previous birthday of actually going over to Grandma and Grandpa and saying Thank you for my tiara, or thank you for my coloring book, without any prompting.

At bedtime I asked Abri to share something about Kayla that she appreciates.

Abri: "That she lets me play with her tiara." Kayla had so graciously given her tiara to Abri to wear. I told Abri she needed to ask Kayla how long she could have it because she would want it exclusively instead of giving it back. Kayla: till morning. Abri: Can you share it in the morning? Kayla: Yes. Kayla's amazing. I'm so proud of her. What a sweetheart.

I'm so proud of her.

Camilla turns 2

Our friend Lindsey took this shot of Camilla 3 months ago. Cami turned two last month. Wow time flies. She has started talking a lot more. Here's a short list of facts about her:

• she always runs to greet Mommy when she comes home from work--the only one who does right away



• she is the pickiest eater I've had to date. she'll eat something one day then adamantly refuse it the next. And yet--she LOVES dill pickles. Kayla is the only other one who likes pickles but Cami will ignore other things on her plate to eat pickles.



• she is a HAM in front of the camera.



• she loves to do EVERYTHING her big sisters do. The other night we were doing testimonies during FHE and had set up a TV tray at the fireplace with a play microphone and Emma and Kayla took turns saying something, or rather, Emma said something, Kayla just smiled. Then Camilla walked up on her own, stood at the mike, batted her eyes a couple times, said ten syllables of jibberish, and then "Amen." Since that garnered laughs from the rest of us she proceeded to do it 6 more times.



• she runs faster than me



• she knows she's cute and usess her cuteness to her advantage



• she has very decided opinions about what she will wear and what she won't wear--4 outfits on Sunday morning to find one that she won't keep pulling off!



• she's petite. I mean petite.

Abrianna turns 6-as of 7/26/11

Photo again compliments of Lindsey. Some observations about Abrianna:

• She's a great reader. She exceeded the expected reading level for the end of Kindergarten by 6 levels.



• In May, she read her primary talk on the plan of our Heavenly Father all by herself, and there were some big words there, and it brought tears to my eyes she's gotten so big.



• She loves books.



• She loves coloring, painting, and drawing more than books.



• She loves movies even more than she loves coloring.



• She has a super smeller. To illustrate--the first comment she made at the zoo: "It stinks here!" The first wish she had for a babysitter: "I hope she smells nice."



• She really appreciates good dinners. She's the first to compliment a dinner she likes. It must be because of her nose.



• 
  

Observations from the girls' babysitter

Emma is 9 and she makes me miss my little sister so much! They like a lot of the same things. She is so mature for her age and I can always count of her to help me out with her younger sisters. Abri is 5 and is so cute! The things she says just crack me up! One day in church she smelt my arm and said, “mmmm you smell so pretty”. She has such long beautiful hair! It makes me miss mine so much. I spend the most time with Kayla and Cami. Kayla is 3 and reminds me of myself so much. She has this walk that she does when she wears skirts where she shakes her bum while flipping her hair. It’s adorable! Her parents are going to have to keep a close eye on her when she’s a teenager. Cami is almost 2 and is so sweet. She doesn’t talk but she sure does know how to communicate! She loves being tickled. Her favorite thing to do is grab something she knows she’s not supposes to and she’ll wait until someone screams NO! Then she runs as fast as she can. I may not be their mother but I have learned a few things while being a nanny on what it would be like to be a mom.

Camilla at 15 months

Running. Throwing tantrums. Picking and choosing what she wants to eat. Repeating things you say, though not always. Those are some of our highlights from the last three months with Camilla.

Here are some of the things I've absolutely loved.

Sunday I was walking down the hall at church with Camilla in my arms. We passed one of the portraits on the wall and I heard "Je-a" as she was looking at the picture of Christ. I think that's the youngest any of the girls have been when they've named him from a picture without being prompted.

A few weeks ago I told Camilla "Good job" for something (I think it was putting something away) and I heard "Ga ja" right afterwards. When I told Todd I thought she said Good Job, she nodded and grinned. Coincidence?

She now loves baths. At one year, it was like she was a cat the way she acted in the bathtub. Now, she actually wants baths and will try and take off her clothes to get in the tub herself. I know the change happened while we were on vacation but I'm not sure exactly what contributed to it. My best guess was the time we spent in pools on vacation solidified her love of water and she was willing to accept it in tub form as well as pool. I'm grateful--it's nice not leaving the bathroom soaked from head to toe now.

Kayla and her Charisma

I wish I had pictures, but with the craziness of the last few months and my overall dissatisfaction with my photo skills, I've seen the past few months go by in a haze that has no remnants on my digital photo cartridge or photo file. So, I decided to at least salvage my photographic failure with an attempt to catalog some remembrances with words--you know, the old-fashioned way of keeping histories.

Kayla, now three, has made me laugh a lot lately. She's really expanded her repertoire of vocal skills. Here are some of my favorites that made me laugh at the time. They may be lost in the retelling, but I figured it was worth trying.

Very matter of factly: "I have ex-ze-ma" while talking about how the dry patches on her legs were feeling that day. (This has been a battle for us for the past yr & a 1/2 to control the patches, with bouts of redness, bleeding, but the latest flare-up is getting better so we're putting up a good fight.)

Said with a smile and shiver: "It's chil-ly this morning"

Said of her clover Care Bear with pink sunglasses: "She looks sty-lish"

Putting a bunch of cards in the card holder together instead of one at a time: "I had to put them in one at a time because a whole bunch was dif-fi-cult."

Part of her charm is the way she ennuciates everything. She's very careful about her pronunciation and so her actual sentence doesn't come out quickly, but she thinks about what is going on and observes things that surprises me.

For instance, last night I got a call on my cell phone that was a wrong no., followed by a text from the same no, saying Linh, its allyssa, call me. I related the incident to Todd, with Kayla listening. Kayla then matter of factly repeated the situation a few minutes later: "That was Linh and Alyssa calling."

She loves reading, repeating whatever Abri or Emma is learning on their homework. She loves counting and singing the ABC song. Her favorite book is probably One Fish, two fish. What a cutie.

Camilla's Habits

• cupping her right hand and waving it in the air


• being stingy with her hugs--I miss the cuddly days. She is just too busy for such things most times.


• saying ba-ha, ba-ha, over and over


• crawling excitedly to meet Daddy when he comes home from work. If she happens to be upstairs, we hear an excited squeal and slow progress to make her way downstairs.


• if she wants to talk with you and you turn your head away, she adjusts her position to put her face back in your line of vision.


• taking pacifiers away from other babies (she doesn't use one)


• likes being in swimming water, but can't stand the bathtub


• she cries when you put her to bed-night or nap, doesn't matter-but she's happy as a lark when she gets up and will stay in her crib talking for about 20 mins before she starts wondering why no one has gotten her out
• she won't sleep anywhere but in her crib. The only exception is sometimes during 3rd hour of church when Daddy is holding her, she'll collapse for 15 mins (it doesn't work when Mommy holds her 3rd hour, though--why is that?!!?)
• she goes right to the blanket in her crib when she's tired. she loves to snuggle with it at least. she has to lay down with them by her face. I've been somewhat freaked out about this but she always sleeps with her head to the side.

I'm sure I've missed some of the things I've noticed lately but at least it's a partial list