The Kelly Family

My girls love to check out books from their school library. The last few weeks Madalyn has picked out books that are beyond her interest and level of reading. I talked to her about it, and told her that she should pick out a book that she will actually read. Last week when she came home from school on the day she had library, she tells me all excited, "Mom, I got a book this time that I think I will read." I said I was happy for her and asked to see what she selected. She showed me her book, National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Fossils. I just had to laugh. It is a very interesting book, and I could see why she was interested in it, because it had a lot of really neat pictures, but the reading isn't the most exciting for a 2nd grader. If you want to know about Schuchertella, Mesolobus, or Didymograptus fossils, it would be a great book though.

My girls had a play date with some of their favorite friends last week. I let Madalyn and her friend paint nails together and Savanna and her friends played in our playroom. I went to check on Savanna and her friends and to tell them that there wasn't much time left before parents were coming to pick up their kids. I went in the playroom and found all the girls teary eyed. You never know what that means, probably fighting about something, but one of the friends says to me,"If you are wondering why there are tears in our eyes, it is because we are telling stories about special things of ours that were either lost, ruined or taken away." They started telling me some of the stories about their favorite toys, and they were so emotional about it! I left the room after talking with them for a minute and thought, "They are such girls!" They are already connecting emotionally on their own level. When I told Nick about the encounter, he just said, "Oh boy....

Nick and I were reading scriptures to our kids last night. We were reading the Book of Mormon, at the end of the story of King Noah. The Lamanites are coming into the land and King Noah tells everyone to flee. The Lamanites are faster than the fleeing Nephites, and so King Noah tells the men to leave their wives and children behind and save themselves. Some of the men do this, but those who choose to stay with their families have their daughters plead before the Lamanites, asking them to spare their lives. The Lamanites agree to spare their lives because of the beauty of the daughters. (When we read scriptures we read a part and then explain what is going on to the kids.) After Nick finished explaining that the Nephites were spared because of the daughters' beauty, Madalyn excitedly raises both hands in the air and says, "That's the power of girls!!!" We had a pretty good laugh!