Sunday Night

Maiya ~ Kiana and Maiya were enjoying some freshly made chocolate chip cookies at the kitchen counter with ice cold milk in their cups; a picture of peacefulness after an afternoon playing Polly Pockets together. Out of the blue Maiya leans over and says, "That kinda sucks that Mom likes BYU." Kiana and I chuckled making Maiya look up with a face of confusion, "Well she does! We all like Utah, huh?" This Utah/BYU thing has been a big deal to her lately.

Kiana ~ Kiana was a great sport. I was happily surprised to watch her and Maiya play Polly Pockets for hours this afternoon, both with higher pitched voices talking through those little dolls and Kiana ask, "Mom? When can we get more Polly Pockets these are just boring." I thought a tote was enough but note taken! While they were cleaning up I made mention of her being a great sister and she replied,"Well cuz if I didn't Maiya would be all crying. And it was fun."

A Robitussin commercial came on the tv and she didn't miss her chance,"Hey look, it's Ethan!" It was a monkey. Ethan, on a quick return, "Hey look, it's your brother!" Maybe not the wittiest comeback but E for Effort dude! She's a hoot.

After church I distracted an otherwise whiny Maiya saying I had a surprise for both her and Kiana. That always gets her attention. They followed me into my room where I picked up two small notepads and held them, backs to her, and let her pick first - moving them up and down and all around so she'd laugh - picking first ALWAYS makes her feel important. She picked one. Smiled. "That means you get this one Kiana." She smiled and looked at Maiya's. They were both the same. I'd gotten them from a work conference; free happiness! What was most touching is that, putting the kids for bed I was laying on the couch with a mini-headache and she walked up to me with a folded note, placed it in my hand, smiled without saying a word and left to return upstairs. I opened the note...a darling Thank You. That girl loves to write. It's amazing what a handwritten note can do.

Ethan ~ I overheard Ethan asking Stuart about Mercedes Benz cars (see yesterday). Later, he asked me to explain Life Insurance and layaway, agreeing,"So, like, debit cards are when they take it out of the bank. Credit cards are when you get it first and pay for it later. Layaway is when they hold it for you, you pay for it, then you get to go get it." Good job kid. Randomly, during a car commercial,"Isn't it weird to think that someday when there's no gas stations and we run out of coal, that all of our cars will run off of electricity?" I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say in instances like this but I'm sure glad the world will have someone super smart.

I'm also glad, moreso grateful, that Ethan is the kid who asks me each Sunday at noon, pointing to the clock, "Mom. Chairs." He gets up each Sunday and goes down to the primary rooms to set up chairs. Every Sunday. By himself. And I'm all out of treats there so he doesn't even do it for that anymore.