Girls

Liz:  Last weekend, Liz spent three days with Nana, Papa, and her cousin Charlotte.  They went to Disneyland and California Adventure.  They stayed in the Grand California Hotel.  They had non-stop fun.  She went on all the big rides: California Scream, Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain and loved them all.  She wore a new Snow White princess dress, she had room service one morning, she saw the World of Color show, she swam in the awesome pool and went down the water slide.  It was an amazing three days.  She came home and suddenly seemed to be this big kid!!  It was a great experience for her and I'm so glad she had fun.

This week, Liz got to have a playdate with a friend from school.  Brooklynne was in her class last year and came to her birthday party this summer.  This year, they are in the same class again and were sitting right next to each other on the first day.  Brooklynne was very sweet and polite and played nicely with all the girls.  She really loved the piano and wanted to learn, so Liz helped her learn a few songs from her old books.  It was a good one-on-one experience for Liz to have a guest.

Miriam:  Mimi is becoming a big girl too.  Last Sunday, she gave a talk in primary.  We wrote it together Sunday morning and I told her she needed to practice reading through it a few more times before church.  She was able to read the entire talk all by herself before we left!  She asked if I would come up and help her in primary.  I reminded her that she is in the oldest class in junior primary; the big kid class.  I told her that she needed to show the little kids in there how to give a talk.  That big girl got right up there and read her whole talk without a single hiccup!  She even managed to look up a time or two.

Miriam has also decided that she is ready for chapter books.  Reading is not a skill that comes easily to Miriam like dancing, singing, or making friends.  We work on it all the time, but there is much frustration.  However, she was (and is) determined to read a chapter book.  I helped her find a chapter book that was mostly within her range.  It's about fairies.  It has been hard.  I have wanted to give up more than once.  But Miriam is determined to read this book and works on it all the time.  She still gets frustrated and she still has difficulties, but she is persevering!!!  I think it's been at least a week, but we are still going strong.  And tonight during scripture reading, she did a great job with her not-so-short verse.

Rachel:  This little girl is amazing to me.  She is having so much fun at preschool.  Two days a week is plenty for her and wears her out!  And I'm happy to have her all to myself the other days.  She is still my little buddy.  This week, I took her to see Winnie the Pooh at the cheapie theater.  Just me and her.  We picked out candy at the dollar store beforehand and I bought us each a dollar hot dog too.  We both enjoyed the movie and I loved Zooey Deschanel's adaptation of the theme song and her new song at the end!

Rachel is the glue that holds us together sometimes.  After prayer at our house, the girls each give Mom and Dad a hug and kiss.  Sometimes it gets awkward for Ryan.  But Rachel is so sweet that she crosses all barriers...even tired or cranky teenage barriers.  The other night, after prayer and a long hard day for Ryan, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and then said, "Wyan, you family."  It totally melted his heart and I was able to add my love to her's as I seconded her declaration.  It taught me a great lesson as well.

I'm pretty grateful to have these beautiful, sweet girls to call mine.