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.