Things the Girls Have Said, Part 5

Tiny

December 2020

I stumbled upon an old note in my calendar of a Tiny quote. I don't remember what the subject was, but she said, "I want to give the best one to Grandpa because he's so old. He should have the best one because he's, like, so old." 

Sometime in spring 2021

While skiing at Big Bear...

Tiny: "Is this an electric tree?"
Me: "What do you think an electric tree is, Tiny?"
Tiny: "It's a tree where koalas live. It's hard to find electric trees." 

While on a walk on a trail near our cabin, she got a handful of snow in hopes of attracting a snowy owl. She held it for a long time as we walked. 

1/3/22

I read to Tiny tonight while the other two were reading (Ever) and writing a story (Wren) in bed. When I stopped because she had to go to bed, Tiny, desperate to keep reading, said, "Now I need to make the time go back!" 

I am constantly wishing I could turn back time and frequently sing the Cher song "If I Could Turn Back Time." Girl after my own heart. 

2/7/22

Me, as I was hugging and rocking and snuggling her on the kitchen floor: "I love snuggling with you."
Tiny: "I love eating muffins with you. And cakes. Because I love cakes. And all the yummy things you make."

4/8/22

While hiking with the Homers and Lucy in Virginia during our spring-break trip, Tiny had this conversation with Dustin:

Dustin: "Tiny, what's your favorite food?"
Tiny: "All the treats."
Dustin: "What's your favorite food that's not a treat?"
Tiny: "The desserts my mom makes."
Dustin: "What about a food that's not a treat or dessert?"
Tiny, after some thought: "Chocolate."

7/4/22

July 4 was on Monday this year. Jim had to work Saturday morning, and then he went to Redondo Beach for the rest of the three-day weekend to help Sam Hawkins renovate a bathroom. Monday morning, Tiny and Wrenzy were playing together, and Tiny said, "I'm so excited for tonight!" Wrenzy asked her why, and Tiny said, "Because Daddy comes home! I get to show him I lost a tooth and show him my dollar and kiss and hug him 20 hundred times." 

Sometime later in 7/22

Me: "Tiny, what do you think of that purple car?"

Tiny: "I would not like it to be my car." 

Me. "But it's purple!" 

Tiny: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's one of my favorite colors, but the car shape is horrid." 

"Horrid" is Tiny's favorite word. She uses it all the time. Anything she doesn't like is "horrid."  

8/2/22

I've been trying to read (and sometimes do phonogram flashcards) with Tiny regularly this summer so she'll be in good shape for first grade. Lately she has been reading Berenstain Bears stories, and today she read the word "advice." I asked her if she knows what "advice" is, and she said, "Kind of like recommend?" Sometimes I'm amazed at her vocabulary. 

9/20/22

Tiny is doing great at reading now. After I listened to her read a bit tonight, I said, "Tiny, congratulations on learning to read. That's really big!" Her immediate response was, "I wouldn't know how without you." She climbed onto me and gave me a hug. Then she said, "If I just read at school, I wouldn't know anything." It was the sweetest thing and so gratifying. I can't believe that after working so long on reading, her first reaction when I complimented her on her progress was to give me the credit.

Before we went upstairs to bed, I told Tiny that she wasn't going to be able to attend her Girl Scout troop meeting on Friday (it would have been her second meeting) because it conflicts with our Primary program practice/pizza party. She was sad about missing it. Then a minute later, as I was putting the girls to bed, I told them that my cousin Amy died and I might be leaving on Friday to go to her funeral. Tiny came over to hug me as I was talking about it. Then Ever came to my other side to join the hug. Tiny started crying - audibly crying. I asked if she were crying because she was sad about missing Girl Scouts because I wasn't totally sure. She finally said she was sad because my cousin died. She cried and cried. I told her it was OK - Amy isn't in pain anymore, she'll be watching over her family from the other side, they'll be together again, etc. Tiny kept crying. I felt a few of Ever's tears hit my other arm. We hugged for a while. I asked Tiny a few times what made her so sad. I wondered if she were worried about Jim's or my dying or was thinking about Amy's kids not having a mom. She would only say, "Because your cousin died!" Finally I suggested that I sing to them before bed. I sang "I Am a Child of God" as I snuggled with Tiny in her bed. She just could not stop softly sobbing. I broke down during the chorus after the third verse thinking that Amy's kids wouldn't have her there to lead them, guide them, walk beside them. I collected myself and kept trying to console Tiny. She still was not good when I left, but I finally had to say good night. She is the sweetest, sweetest thing.

9/23/02

Tiny, telling me about the movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: "This guy was cigaretting, and he wasn't supposed to cigarette. He only cigarettes when he's scared."  

10/15/22 (after Tiny's soccer game)

Me: "How many goals did you score?" 
Tiny: "Three." 
Me: "Did anyone else on your team score any goals?"
Tiny: "Nope."
Me: "It's so fun to see you play, Tiny." 
Tiny: "It's not about fun. It's about winning." 

One of the highlights of that game for me was when Tiny threw the ball in to herself. She did throw it to teammates, but then she just went in and took it herself before they got it. The week before this, I had to yell at her not to steal the ball from her teammates. Her teammate totally had control of the ball, and Tiny just swooped in and stole it. So great. 

1/9/23

During our Come, Follow Me study, Tiny commented that it was kind of weird that Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord because Jesus IS the Lord. I was surprised that she thought of that. Why did it never occur to me?

March 2023

Tiny, doing Friday homeschool, when a Pat Benatar song came on: "Please may I dance to this one? I love it!"

Ever

4/2/21 

At Big Bear for spring break week, Ever was having Ben and Jerry's The Tonight Dough on our last night. After eating what I served her, this was our exchange:

Ever: "May I have more?"
Me: "No, I don't think so."
Ever: "I didn't ever think you would say yes. I, personally, thought that was a lot and definitely enough." 

1/4/23

Ever: "Why does anyone have to go to school when you can just search everything up on Google?" 

I explained some reasons, and we discussed. Then...

Ever: "I think fifth grade should be the last grade because you get everything you need by then."

Me: "Let's talk about it after you finish college and see if you think it's a waste." 

Ever: "Well I'll do it, but I know it was a waste." 

Wren

1/1/22

While we were hitting balls down on the golf course around sunset, Wrenzy got upset, went off by herself, and pouted. I thought it may have been directed at me, but I was not aware of having done anything potentially offensive. After a while, I made contact with her. Eventually I was able to pick her up, hold her, and inquire about what had upset her. I told her I couldn't help her if I didn't know what was wrong. I asked with whom she was upset. Finally she stuck out a finger to point at me. I asked what I did. She said, "I don't know yet." I laughed. Then she said, "I used to know, but I can't remember now." And then soon after that we were better. 

3/6/22

Jim asked Wren what she wants for her birthday. She brainstormed as she listed:

- a soccer ball
- a mermaid coloring book
- her own iPad and iPhone
- her own room with a grown-up bed and desks, but she wants all the sisters to sleep in the bed together but also she still wants a bunk bed
- to go on Subways Surfers (a phone app that's like a videogame) whenever she wants
- a wand that is shaped like a unicorn horn and can kill people and make you slide down rainbows (she later clarified that she won't use the killing thing)
- an electric watch (not to be confused with a digital watch) that can turn into things, including a bike
- a robot with feathers that you can put on and they make you fly
- her own horse, cat, and bunny
- her own baby
- capture a snowy owl to keep as a pet
- a little pencil sharpener

3/20/22

Me, as I was carrying her upstairs to bed: "What am I going to do when you get so big that I can't carry you anymore?" 

Wren: "Then I'll carry you." 

5/1/22

Tiny and Wrenzy have been playing outside with Nathan and Noah a lot. They take backpacks with them containing binoculars and various other items. This day, I asked Wren where her wallet was. She said, "I took it in my spy backpack in case we needed to go on a bus ride or something." 

6/22/22

"Wednesday should be a day where there has to be a wedding, and either the boy or the girl has to be named 'Nes.'"

10/4/22

Wren: "If I could save three things in a fire, I'd save all my favorite things, which includes my shelf [each of the girls has a small, dedicated shelf in their room] and every single book in the whole house and my wallet, and..." 

Me: "So all your favorite things count as one thing?" 

Wren: "Yeah." And she went on brainstorming what to save. 

12/16/22

Me: "Yeah, what are we going to do for your birthday?"

Wren: "I don't know, but no one is invited."

I laughed, and Wren said only family is invited. Our little anti-social girl. 

4/13/23

Wren and Tiny had been playing outside with Nathan and Noah instead of getting done what they need to get done. I told Wren it was about 5:00 P.M. and neither she nor Ever had practiced piano yet. She said, "We just need to unlock one more world. It doesn't take very long." I'm trying to teach them to be responsible, pick up after themselves, help around the house, but how can I begrudge that outdoor play?

Attempted Abduction at Agua Hedionda - October 2023

On Sunday afternoon, October 1, 2023, we went on a walk in Carlsbad. We ended up on a little trail by the Agua Hedionda lagoon off the end of a cul de sac. There was an interesting man raking sand by the lagoon. He told us he had taken it upon himself to maintain the place. He was not the most interesting character we would encounter that day. 

We made some awkward attempts on the lopsided rope swing. 

Then we went back up the trail to the neighborhood. Tiny was walking with Jim and me in front, and as we started down the cul de sac, we saw a guy walking down the road toward us. I realized quickly that he was intellectually disabled in some way. He passed us as he headed toward the lagoon. After he passed, Tiny, Jim and I stopped and turned around to see where Ever and Wren were, as they were seriously lagging (as always). They had come out of the trail area and gotten to the sidewalk. The guy walked diagonally across the cul de sac, heading straight toward them. We stood and watched from a ways off. Ever and Wren started looking a little freaked out and confused about where to walk. Jim began walking back to them. Then the guy rushed the girls. He just ran at them. Jim started running, passed the guy, said "Stay away from my girls," put his arm around Ever and Wren, and ushered them back to Tiny and me. They said that as he approached them, the guy was saying, "You're so lucky, you get to hang out with me tonight. I deserve to hang out with you, and you deserve to hang out with me. You get to hang out with me tonight." He was just repeating that. They were terrified. Ever doesn't scare very easily, and she and Wren were both seriously rattled. We talked about how if he had gotten to them, they should scream and fight and hurt him, and the neighbors would have come out to help. For a while after that, Ever and Wren walked with their arms around each other, whispering about the traumatic event. As we were discussing it all, Jim referred to the would-be abductor as the "gentleman." We got a couple of blocks away, and Jim asked the girls if they would want to live in that area (because he's scoping out places to which we could move to get Ever into a Carlsbad high school). Ever said, "NO. I am not living here." I said, "Because of the gentleman or because you don't like this area?" She responded, "Mom, I think it's a stretch to call him a gentleman.'" It was really funny. But they were asking how far we were from home and if the guy could get to our house in Oceanside. Then we were walking up a main street, and a totally normal-looking guy with ear buds in his ears was walking toward us. Wrenzy hurried up close to me and took my hand (and she never takes my hand) because she was afraid of him. They were so freaked.

It was the craziest thing. I have no idea what would have happened if we hadn't been there. 

September 2023 - Just Life and the Heart Rock Trail

Our goings-on, by the photos, in September 2023:

The class Ever had the most homework in was art. It drove me crazy.

I probably took this picture because the girls were cute playing a game together, but also - the mess. Always, the mess. 

We ran into the Gustafsons and the Longs at Annie's Canyon.  

The defrost in the new Chrysler Pacifica doesn't work. Over and over again, it fogged up, and I could not get it unfogged. But the dealership couldn't find anything wrong with it (being unable to test it when it was actually foggy, of course) and seemed to think I just don't understand how defrosting works and didn't give it enough time or something. I took a picture at one point to try to prove to them that it wasn't working. 

I gave up trying to get it fixed, though. It has occasionally worked since. 

My sweet Bear, inexplicably sleeping in sunglasses. 

Lucy and Lola Bowen (friends of Ever and Wren, respectively, from school) came over for a bake-off play date. Lucy and Ever went head-to-head with Wren and Lola on cupcakes with Nutella frosting. Tiny was the judge - a job she relished. 

I found one of our Girls Who Choose God books like this on the living room floor, and I loved that someone was reading it in her spare time.  

Ever's soccer team went for burgers at In-N-Out after a game. (Blurry photo.)

 The Littles killed time being funny together.

Ever's team also had a pool party for her teammate Kaia's birthday. (Ever's on the far left.)

Tiny had a chocolate chip pancake in her lunch box for some reason and ate it after she got home from school. She picked out all the chocolate chips and placed them around the lunchbox to eat at the end. 

We took a quick Thursday/Friday trip to Big Bear and took Ella Rondo with us. We had wanted to go for general conference weekend, but Saturday soccer games required an early return. We hiked the Heart Rock Trail (just 1.8 miles) near Crestline on the way up. Fun Daddy decided to crawl through a hollow tree. It proved much more difficult and painful that one would imagine. 

Smaller people fared a lot better. 

This graffitied pipe was very fun to cross. Tiny inched her way across. 

Berry crawled. 

And then walked.

So Tiny walked. 

Then Ella and Ever wanted to recreate The Beatles' Abbey Road photo. Ever felt that the Littles underperformed. 

Jim climbed this tree, and then the girls took it over and refused to leave. 

Ella and Ever took the tree climbing to another level when they climbed this thing. 

It got a little frightening; a fall wouldn't have been pretty. 

Finally we pulled the children out of the trees and completed the hike to the heart rock. 

Jim showed some leg as he tested the waters.

There was a little more tree climbing on our way out. 

Ever and Ella were supposed to do some sort of service (a YW challenge), so the girls picked up a bunch of garbage as we hiked back. 

We ate lunch at a Mexican place in Lake Arrowhead I had heard was good. It wasn't amazing.  

At the cabin, Tiny disappeared for a while. I found her here.

I love neighborhood walks in the Bear. The children do not. But we got one in. 

Pic of Tiny's class, with Tiny looking mischievous in the back. 

Another pic of Tiny with classmates.

L to R: Kaia Johnson, Ryan D., Tiny, and Savannah

Tiny at her Girl Scout troop's bridging ceremony.

Tiny had a glorious time at a playdate at Maya's house.

Playing at the park at the end of a field trip:

L to R: Ryan D., Vanessa, Kaia Johnson, and Tiny (who is, truly, tinier than everyone)

The stake hosted a manners night for the youth. Our girls' video won a prize.