Summer Break

We had such a nice summer break this year. In the weeks leading up to the end of school, the girls had a hard time with fighting/arguing a lot. So when school let out, I sat them both down and we made a plan for the summer. We talked about what was going to be expected from them each day. At the top of that list was that fighting was not going to be allowed this summer. At the time, I was just hoping that maybe we would get a day or two of peace from this rule, but to my amazement it has stuck throughout the whole summer. Not that there has never been arguing, but I just call out to them, "Remember girls, we are not fighting this summer." And we have gotten pretty good results from this.

It also helps that I laid out exactly what we were going to do school work wise and chore wise everyday. It really does help everyone be happier when they have some structure to their day. Although, I am sure they would insist that they would be happier if they could do whatever they wanted 100% of the time. In reality though, that leads to arguments and grumpy kids/mommy.

We still had lots of time for play though. There was lots of arts and crafts time. One day the girls were painting (paint blots were a big hit this summer) and the paper towel Eliza was using to clean her paint brush became a work of art to her. She left this note for me. "I'll blot out the bad things for you!" What a sweetie!

Of course we also had swimming lessons. This was actually a huge blessing in my life. Right at the end of the school year, Eliza connected with another little first grader at school. The little girl told her that we were neighbors and that she had watched her learn how to ride her bike. This is surprising because Eliza doesn't attend the school that we are zoned for. Coincidentally neither does this little girl. So pretty soon they were arranging play dates for themselves, and we had little girls showing up at our door to play. No big deal, until Eliza and Miriam wanted to go to her house. I knew that I should let them go play, but I didn't know anything about the family other than a extremely brief conversation with the mom. And since she was so laid back about the whole thing, I felt awkward trying to invite myself over to get to know them better. So I let them go play at her house one day for just a few minutes and nearly had a panic attack. 

So how this relates to swimming lessons is that we went to the first day of swimming lessons and miraculously this little girl is in Eliza's class. This meant that her mom and I were free to chat and get to know each other for an hour every day for two weeks. Exactly what I needed! What makes this more miraculous is that these swimming lessons aren't at our neighborhood pool or even the closest city pool. They are across the freeway in a different city. Not to mention there are several different time slots for classes. So this mom happens to sign her daughter up at this really random location, in my daughters exact level, and at this exact time. If it weren't such a tender mercy in my life, I would call it almost creepy. As it was though, we were able to get to know each other, exchange phone numbers, and even make friends. What a blessing!

The swimming lessons themselves were really successful. We also took the children swimming a lot this summer, and between the two activities swimming really clicked for both of the girls. I am sure it helped that Miriam got so much one on one time with her instructor. I love those small classes (the reason we signed up for swimming lessons at this random location!).

One day Miriam told me "I just want to learn to swim really good so I can teach my children." She is so funny.

Eliza had a night and day difference compared to last year when we had so many swimming lessons, and she was just terrified of the deep water the whole time.

One of the photos shows her doing an obstacle course in the diving pool. Her instructor was amazing. Miriam took the level Duck for the fourth and fifth time this summer and finally passed by the skin of her teeth. She can swim freestyle, but has a hard time swimming on her back. Holland was my little buddy at the swimming lessons--spilling cheerios, trying to eat stray feathers (gag!), and whatever else she could do to stay busy. We brought our spray bottle again and had a good time sweltering in the sun.

Our summer also included lots of magformers and legos. Of course we have girl legos at our house. 

There were also many, many performances. Lots of dancing and tricks. That aspect of Yosemite really stuck with our girls. It was a wonderful summer!

Miriam is FIVE!

My little Miriam is five years old. This was a hard one for me. In my mind Eliza is still five years old or at least was five for a very long time. Maybe it is because some of Eliza's clothes are still size 5T? Well, whether it seems possible or not, my little Miriam is now 5 years old!

What a darling, vivacious girl she is! We all love her so much. And she loves us too. I remember when she was a baby, I would joke with John that no one has ever felt so passionately about me as my baby Miriam did. She would cry a broken-hearted wail whenever I left a room. She would only want me to hold her. Well, that has tempered over the years, but I think she is still a momma's girl.

One of my favorite things right now is that she wants me to tuck her in every night. I often am nursing Holland and putting her to bed while John helps the girls get ready for bed, reads scriptures with them, and actually gets them in bed (isn't he the greatest?). Well, after I get Holly in bed I will go in each of the girls rooms and say good night to them. Miriam wants lots of hugs and kisses, lots of "I love you's." It is so sweet, except for the nights John can't get her to go to bed because I am at a Young Women's activity, and Miriam is distraught because I am not there to say good night to her. I actually promise her that I will come in and say good night when I get home. But she is normally asleep and can't remember me coming in. (This tucking in ritual is really cute with Ellie too. She gets really chatty about what is on her mind. I love it.)

She is such an affectionate little girl. One of the first things Miriam memorized how to write is "I love you." I have received hundreds (really!) of cards from her. She wants to hug me before I nurse Holland every time. She loves to cuddle even when it is really hot. She adores her baby sister and wants to hug and wrestle her. Unfortunately she doesn't have a lot of self-control about how hard to hug the baby so as to be sweet and not too rough.

I tell Miriam that if she wants to wrestle to come wrestle with me. And she does and she LOVES it. She loves being tossed in the air or spun around. She loves being 'flown' on my feet.

The other day on the drive to the first day of school (more about that on another post) Miriam told me, "Mommy if you die, I want to you to give me poison too, so I can die with you." Oh, sweet Miriam.

She still does talk about death a lot. Maybe it is normal for a kid to often think about death, but this has definitely been an enduring theme of Miriam's. "Mommy, you know why I like scorpions? It is because I want them to kill me so I can go to Heavenly Father." Another day, "Mommy, even if someone eats you, you will still get to go to heaven, okay?" Another day when she was concerned she got poked in the eye, "Why this is such a big deal is because everyone in the world has a glass layer in their eyes and if it breaks they will die. I know it is true because Ellie told me." Thanks Ellie...

Miriam definitely has some spunk in her. On our trip to Yosemite, she kept commanding Ellie, "Don't touch bears! Don't laugh when I am talking!" The other day when we were making dinner Miriam threatened Daddy, "We better have hot dogs or chicken nuggets, or I am going to call the police!"

Miriam was complaining one day that we never go to McDonald's, and I told her that it is bad for our bodies and expensive, and we would just be going there for fun. There are other things we could do that are fun that are better for our bodies and don't cost as much. She replies with, "What, buy a wheelchair?"

Oh the drama...one day I was trying to convince her to wear capris instead of shorts. Eliza needed the shorts, but Miriam replied with "They are so hot, I won't be able to survive!!!" Oh, if I could have gotten that on film. It was just her wail of despair. This was another good one--"I hate Saturdays because we have to do our cleaning. That's the worst thing of all. And all of us dying, that's the other worst thing. Those are the two worst things."

Oh I love her! She is so loving, funny, and adorable! She still loves it when I play with her. She is my helper. Sometimes she gets in her helping 'zone.' She wants to sweep and clean up everything, help put food away after dinner, just do anything she can think of to help. It is so sweet.

At her 5 year check up she weighed 35 lbs 2 oz (18%). She was 42 inches tall (41%). It was funny because I took her to the dentist just a week or so before this check up. At the dentist she heard that she shouldn't drink sugary drinks (juice, soda, chocolate milk). She definitely took this to heart and mentioned it several times after. Then at the pediatrician she heard the same thing, and boy it is law at our house now! Yesterday (a couple of weeks after her check up) I bought some orange juice concentrate that was on sale. Miriam got so upset because she "can't drink juice!!" I reassured her that we would be most often putting it in things instead of drinking it normally. This made her feel better.

The other things the pediatrician said stuck too. It helped that there was a bold printed handout that Miriam read herself. "Daddy, how long do I sleep? Do I get at least 9 hours?" "Mommy, do you think I have been exercising for an hour yet? I am supposed to be exercising for an hour every day." (It had been maybe...three minutes. :) )

This girl was thrilled to have her birthday finally come. She was so thrilled with the idea of presents but didn't really having anything too concrete in mind for what she wanted.

We let Eliza pick out a present for her. (A notebook I think?) We also gave her some more Magformers and a scooter. The scooter has yet to be taken outside because of the heat. So they ride it around the carpet at home.

We also gave her some Barbies and accessories that we got hand-me-down. Pretty cheap birthday really. It was a big hit though.

I am glad it didn't disappoint. Although we probably could have gotten away with less, because she didn't have any clear expectations. Darn it, now we have set the bar. :)

This little one wanted a variation of Eliza's newest recipe for her birthday treat. Instead of cherry dumplings, they are chocolate dumplings. A chocolate variation is always a good idea.

Oh we love her. How is she already five?!

Earlier in the day with the streamers and birthday sign (in lieu of the balloon car wash we tried streamers this time. It was well-received.).

Anticipating those presents....

The thing she really wanted though was a birthday party with her friends. Since she has never been to preschool she only had friends from church to invite. To make it easier we decided to do a tea party. I saw an idea online to make these fascinators, reminiscent of the fancy English hats. I loved them. We also pressed cookies, read stories, and played Uno.

All the girls with their fascinators on!

Holland was at Miriam's party too, but she mainly wanted to play with toys.

As did some of the guests.

We pressed cookies. The wedding gift that keeps on giving...

We used the fancy linens and dishes. I love having little girls.

We read stories and played Uno (Miriam's favorite game).

And of course we had fancy food. Sometimes I am reminded about how not picky my children are when it comes to food. It makes me love them even more.

The sweet birthday girl!

We did streamers in the front room this time. It was a huge hit with our little girls.

Yay for finally doing a birthday party! Every three years is okay, right? We love you Miriam! Happy birthday!