friends

At home M was telling me that J has a python. She then went on about how if we had a python we could keep it until it got too big. Then we could let it go outside. I gave her an ear-full about people who are bad pet owners and release lethal animals into the wild. Then she said "J's snake felt a little bit like plastic..." I think she thought I was trash talking J

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Digital Piano Win

This morning I walked into the kitchen and heard the beautiful sound of silent keys.  M was already awake and practicing with the headphones in.  I love that girl.  I love that she can practice anytime silently. 

modest

I got a sweet dress for M at the thrift store for $2.50.  It's red, and ruffly, and made by Gap.  So I brought it home and altered it (it was meant to be a short dress on a size 12 girl) to fit a tall 6 year old.  When I put it on M, she noted that it was not modest in front.  So I added some fabric, tastefully, I think, to make it modest.  You don't ever want to lower your daughters conscience of modesty.

Also, we got her a pair of saltwaters sandals, brand new.  She hasn't had new/new shoes in 4 years.  She was delightfully grateful.  What a sweet kid.  I'll have to post a picture of how cute she is in this outfit.  The goal, for me, is to up the Sunday game a bit.  She isn't 4 anymore so it's time, and well past time, to make more effort to teach her to appreciate looking nice.

just like Christmas

On Friday night we had a little recital for M with her Grandparents and the elderly couple next door.  She was adorable and amazing.  She played "Stars were Gleaming", "Clair De Lune", "Long long ago", "London Bridge", and "Away in a Manger" on the piano.  Then she played "Hot Cross Buns", and "Mary had a little lamb" on the recorder.

Afterward we got to have her choice of refreshments, candy, and Popsicles.

Today in church she played the "Away in a Manger" arrangement for the Primary to sing.  It was so wonderful.  We haven't sung with a pianist for 2 months.  And it was my little M playing so strong and in time... I was grinning ear to ear and so proud.

6!

 M got to start piano in February.  She had been 5 for a while and was starting to read well enough that I felt we could start.  Then her reading took off, and piano is like a dream.  She practices and practices.  Then she throws a fit.  Then she buckles down and learns the songs and learns the virtuous cycle.  It's been awesome to see her learn to work, and keep trying.

 She's also stopped cutting her hair.  So now she gets to have a girly hair style once in a while.

But her hair is thin, and coarse, so the curls don't stay in long.

She's also lost her 4 bottom front teeth.  This picture is from Halloween.  She dressed up as a lion.

jobs

 For a long time; in her relatively short life, M wanted to be a dentist.  I worried that if she set her cap on this,  she might find herself 100s of thousands of dollars in debt for a career that would pay really good.  That makes it hard to stay home and raise kids.   I came up with the plan that she would get a dental hygienist certificate, so she could at least work through dental school.  Then one day M decided she would let her husband get a job and she would raise the kids.

Last night I told M a bedtime story all about how M would grow up and get a job and save money for college and a mission.  Then she would go to college and a mission.  And then she would go and do the things she had studied for.  And then one day she would get married and have children.  She asked me about that. 

 

I was glad I could tell her that mom worked as a custodian, and a librarian, and a carpet layer, and a telephone marketer, and a teacher, and a secretary for a lawyer, before I had children.  I also told her all the jobs daddy had over the years before he got to have a job that let him stay home with us.

dressing up

Look Mom!  I'm a boy going to church!

I love those brown eyes.

She also chewed holes through the yellow t-shirt she wore to church because the other children said she had spilled things on it.  It was an old navy shirt with artistic painting on it.  Then in primary there was an activity with colored fluids.  We had a talk about how we shouldn't care if other people say things about our clothes.