The 5-foot tall, thin-as-a-rail Pixie has decided she needs to gain strength.
I have no idea how this thought entered her head but she has proceeded to go about obtaining her goal. I have always admired this quality in her. She has demonstrated decision-making and determination from a young age. I remember offering a choice of vitamin to her siblings (because that is what good parents are supposed to do- ha!) and they would have an awful time making up their minds. They’d take one and then throw a fit because now they decided they should have taken the other one. But not Pixie. She’d look at the choices, grab one and be off. Happy. She knows what she wants and she’s shown strong ideas about what to wear. There have been times when something has been hard for her but she has stuck with it. There are other times things have become hard and she has walked away from it seemingly because she has the attention span of a gnat.
So when she mentioned she wanted to gain strength I figured it would be a passing thing. We searched through what was here at home and most of the exercise things were on video tape and our tape player is not working. The next time we were at the library we checked out the exercise DVD section. We looked through the meager selection and picked an “African Beat- Latin Heat” video. It’s mainly aerobic and has a pretty quick pace. Since we brought it home, she has done it at least once every day but one. Jaw dropping. Okay. so it was only five days, but still….
Today she decided she wanted to try something else. I was able to find our DVD of a resistance band workout which is more strength training and probably more of what she wants anyway. She worked her way through it like a champ. I had to do it after her (we only have one set of resistance bands) because I was feeling sloth-like just watching her.
Then she decided to make a lasagna-type thing for lunch with noodles, pasta sauce, cheese and ham. She did it all with minimal supervision and no recipe.
I am amazed.
The eggs were cleaned, blow dried (What? Doesn’t everyone blow dry their eggs?) and being placed in the carton as we hurried to finish up before leaving for church. One pretty blue egg was left over so I delicately placed it into a carton for us to keep. I somehow managed to fumble the poor, pretty egg and it broke on the floor.
“Oh! It broke!” Said Miss Sunshine.
Pixie runs into the kitchen to see what happened. “Did you break it? Why did you do that?”
“Yea, why did you do that?” Her ever helpful Father teased. He had seen the whole thing.
“You did it on purpose?” asked Miss Sunshine.
“Why did you break it on purpose?” asked Pixie
Yes, I threw it on the floor in order to see our last, only remaining egg smashed. (The Hens really need to be getting busy out there! They been slacking.) My heart’s desire was that The Dog get it so I devised this deviant scheme and carried it out.
In the process of explaining that no, I had not broken it on purpose; The Boy enters the scene and proclaims, “You broke it on purpose?!”
Yes, there it is folks, the process of how rumors get started. I am now a purposeful Blue Egg Smasher. Beware.
“Mom, where is the ag basket?” Pixie asked as she came into my bedroom.
Umm, “ag” basket? Agricultural basket? Is that like the Bread Basket of the United States? No! Couldn’t be.
“What “ag” basket? What do you mean?”
“You know, the ag basket we put the eggs in.”
The Children helped me decorate the tree. We have a system down now where I unwrap the ornaments and they hang them on the tree. Then, in an exercise of fortitude, I leave them where they were placed by little, loving hands.
Here is the area where the silver balls ended up.
Over here, not too far to the right, is where the silver bells pile onto one branch. Don’t want them to be alone. (The second bell is hard to see.)
Then all the gold ornaments apparently needed to be grouped together, away from the silver items (you know how they are.)
Last, but not least, the red balls had there own place of honor on the tree.
Overall, the tree looks lovely. It was decorated with love and excitement- so fun to see.
Merry Christmas!
Sunshine was playing in her room and found a coin purse full of coins. She came to me and handed me a dime and a nickel. They were a gift for me.
“How sweet! But are you sure you want to give it away?”
“Yes, it’s for you.” she nodded seriously “I checked, it’s not the special coin Papa brought from his trip.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to keep it and spend it?”
“No.” she shook her head. “I want you to have it.”
I’ve been hearing the coins clink in my pocket all day and it makes me smile.
We were in a store yesterday, and one of the children begged to get a shovel.
It was not The Boy.
She has a little plastic one that she was so excited to get but it was very cheap and I knew it wouldn’t last long. She seemed disapointed that she wasn’t able to dig in the hard earth with it. Then the handle broke a little.
This is not the one that wants everything she sees. That one walks through the store saying “Oh! I want that!” “I want that.” “I like that, can I have it?” This, of course, is when the Mother looses patience and says “Don’t you DARE ask for one more thing!” I mean, really, how many different ways can a person say “no”. It apprently doesn’t sink in- there is always the hope that I mean “no” for that ONE item, not the one next to it.
So here was the child that doesn’t ask for much, looking all sweet, begging “Please?!” For a shovel. We bought it for her. She has been happily digging in the hard earth with it.
Then we approached the sporting goods area and she thought she’d also like a fishing pole. She didn’t get that.
Now, I bet you know which girl – can you guess?
(Note: I know I’ve been sadly neglecting my blog. I promised more beach photos- I’ll see about getting them up. There are other stories that need to be told too. )
Going down the trail.
Peeking to see if we’re coming.
Having a good time.
Miss Sunshine has been quite frightened of thunderstorms.
Granted there have been a few unsettling things happen during last years thunderstorms- branches breaking off, eletricitiy going out, trees breaking in half. Stuff like that. But she does go a bit overboard in the frightened department and, in typical for her fashion, will not listen to any reason becuase she is too busy making noise herself.
A few weeks ago we had a thunderstorm roll through the hills around us. We had a meeting in town so the kids and I headed out to the park where the meeting was being held. We looked at the gray skyes and hurried through our meeting as the kids played. There were a few flashes of light in the distance that Sunshine commented on as we drove in.
“What was that?”
What?
“That flashing?” sounding nervous.
Oh, probably nothing much.
We went to see some friends afterwards and a few flashes were seen and a few low rumbles were heard.
On the way home Sunshine’s high voice proclaimed from the back:
“There was a thunderstorm, and I wasn’t afraid!”
Oh that’s good news honey!
“…because I’m five now!”
Makes all the difference in the world.
You have to see this one to believe it.
Yes, Miss Pixie is wearing sandals (jellies) with socks, her nightgown, heavy jacket and mittens.
It’s June.
I will say that our mornings can be rather chilly sometimes but I do think this is a little extreme.
Then she gives me that Otter smile….
(Click to enlarge and see her shoes.)
She has her googles on to be safe!
But maybe these two were better helpers.
What do you think?
