Abby is 5!

 Oh my word. Five just seems like such a big number. My baby is growing up! 

Abby is such an amazing kid. She is decisive, has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and a vivid imagination. She's got a memory like her daddy (that is to say, very good.) She is always asking how to spell things, or math questions. She started preschool at Indian Pines Country Day School in January, and her social skills have blossomed. She's got friends coming out her ears and has picked a couple boys she is going to marry (currently she's set on Asher, the new kid.) She doesn't tell me a lot about what she does at school, but she does tell me things like who used the bathroom that day, and who was missing from class. She really wants to be an astronaut when she grows up and knows all the planets and several dwarf planets., and she loves going to the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, even though it's like 4 hours away from Auburn.

 She is starting to read! She can read several words, and loves to be read to as well. She loves cutting with scissors, but isn't a huge fan of coloring. Sometimes she likes to help me cook supper. She lives for show time. She likes wearing long sleeves and pants (no matter the weather), cuddling, soft blankets, and movie night. She is obsessed with cheetahs, and loves cats, but is not crazy about dogs. She requested a braid in her hair every day for like 8 months in a row this past year. She loves music and is very good at identifying which movie soundtrack we are listening to. I don't even know half the time! The girl has got a great ear.

She sleeps like a rock pretty much every night, which is astounding when you consider how she used to sleep 4 1/2 years ago. She falls asleep so quickly and wakes up a little before 7am usually, but she stays in her bed until her light turns on at 7. She likes sharing a room with Calliope. Their beds are pushed together right next to each other. Over this last year those two have come a long way and now they play together frequently. I love to see their love and connection grow. 

She really enjoyed her tumbling class she just finished, and is already asking to be signed up for soccer again. She likes playing with Calliope and coming up with games that have lots of complicated rules that are hard for her mom to understand. She likes enforcing house rules and helping Calliope to understand them. She is curious about her family tree, and frequently refers to Mason as "your son" when she talks to Mimi. She loves her family with a devotion that I hope she keeps her whole life. 

I could go on and on. I think she's so interesting and creative and ambitious. I love being her mother. But we must get to the point of this post: her birthday!

Abby was really looking forward to her birthday for the 364 days preceding it. She talked about it all the time and asked over and over again how long it would be until she turned five. She got a crazy viral rash called erythema multiform about two days before her big day, and it was painful and itchy and made her feet and hands painfully swollen. But she didn't let that dull her party spirit!

She woke up at 7 on the dot and decided she wanted to start the day by opening all of her presents! It was very fun to see her so excited.  

One of her presents was a Kiwi crate that had supplies to build a rocket launcher, a planet mobile, and a couple other crafts. She got right to work and had this launcher built in the blink of an eye. It was really fun to work on it with her. She loves building things!

One of my favorite things about Abby's birthday is that she likes to help me decorate her cakes. She constructed this graham cracker shelter for her little cheetah toys. And she picked chocolate cake, which was very exciting for yours truly.

Probably her favorite part of the day was that Mimi came! It was a treat to have her here celebrating with us. 

Braiding Mimi's hair at bedtime

Painting planets

Showing off her Neptune knowledge (see the moons?)

On a walk

Birthday interview!

It's so much fun watching her grow. We love our Abby!

Recovered journal entry after Grandma Mingledorff's passing

 I just pulled out my old journal, and found this entry I wrote after I found out Grandma had passed away. I want to remember all the things in it so I'm putting it here. I still remember that Sunday morning and the shock that flooded my system when I read Dad's text. I still miss her and think of her often.

3/17/19- Sunday, 3:36 pm

This morning I woke up and the first thing I saw was a text Dad sent the family, saying that Grandma Mingledorff had passed away. Amber called me later today and said that I should write down my memories of her. So here are a few I can think of.

-I used to call her every Sunday and talk to her for a REALLY long time. (More on this in Around the Kitchen Table, Vol. III). I started doing that when I was still unmarried, but I can't remember if Mason and I had started dating yet. I do remember telling her about him though, and she gave me lots of advice. She was always cheerful and hilarious. [Edited to add: I called her every Sunday for months, until it was Christmas break one year and then I never started it up again in the new year. I thought about doing it and felt guilty for not calling her. Now I regret that I stopped calling.]

-I remember we went to visit her a lot on Sundays growing up. I always loved going. When I was little it was mostly her and Dad that would talk while the rest of us sat around on the couches and chairs and the piano bench. It was fun. When I got a little older I liked to participate more in the conversations that went on. 

-I remember her teaching me piano. I don't think she taught me for very long before she retired, but i think i remember her putting pennies on the backs of my hands and telling me to just let my fingers do the work. I had to try to keep the pennies on my hands while I player her my songs.

-She let me put a sticker on a song when I passed it off, and sometimes she had the scratch and sniff ones, and I always thought those were cool.

-One time I got to go to her house for the day! I can't remember if Megan and Jenna were there or not. I had wanted to spend a day at her house with her for a LONG time, ever since Megan had done it a while earlier. I don't really remember a ton of what we did, but I think we did something with coins (maybe rolling them?) and she let me have a glass vase with blue smooth rock things all over it. I thought it was SO beautiful.

-I always loved Nanny's paintings that hang in her house. One of my favorites is the one with the giant vase with flowers in it and a tiny woman in a big dress next to it. Grandma told me that she used to have a little ceramic figurine just like the one in the picture. Nanny had given it to her. But then I think she let someone borrow it or something, and they had given it to someone else, and she had tried to track it down but neither of them had it, so it was just lost. Grandma looked kind of sad when she told me that story.

-She told me that the only people who get bored are boring people. 

-I asked her once if Grandpa would ever get mad when their kids were growing up. She said he was kind of funny, because one time someone (I think it was Aunt Jenny) was learning to drive and scraped like the entire side of the car off. Grandpa didn't get mad at that. But she said, if he asked you to get a can of pineapple out of the pantry and you said you couldn't find it, then he would get kind of mad.

-Of course, the classic story of how she ran over the hog in Clyo. I have a video of that somewhere

-She used to say, "Gee whiz," "golly gee," and other stuff like that. Also "Pittsburgh's below Wheeling" (which means your slip is hanging out.)

-She always referred to her mom as Mother. I thought that was sweet. I guess I never heard her talk that much about her dad.

-She told me she met Grandpa because they had both signed up to go to a dance at her college (when Grandpa was in the army) and they had to put their heights on the list. Since they were both the tallest of the boys/girls (Grandma was an even 6 feet with her 1" heels on), they got assigned to be dates. When Grandma got home that night, she told her roommates, "I think I just met the man I'm going to marry" and they all freaked out.

-I used to be nervous to play songs for her on the piano, but when I finished playing she made me feel proud.

-At one of the fancy recitals when she was still my teacher, I was supposed to play Rondino and Pizza Man. We had to memorize the music. I messed up on Rondino, and I froze. I looked from where I was on stage out to the millions of people (or so it seemed) who were looking at me mess up. I can't remember if I kept playing it, all I remember is eventually I went back to my seat and Grandma came over hurriedly and said, "Brianna! You forgot your other song!" I had forgotten to play it! But by then, someone else had gotten up to play their stuff, so I didn't have to play it. 

-Seeing her after my mission was the BEST.

-She LOVED Conference, especially Conference music. When I got to go to the Conference Center once, I sent her a picture of the inside and told her I wished she could see it.

-She was the best storyteller I've ever met. When she was a kid, other kids from the neighborhood would sit on the steps and ask her to tell them stories, and she would. 

-We used to email back and forth my first year at BYU. It was fun.

-She was always cheerful. And always beautiful.

-We gave each other a hug and kiss every time we saw each other. 

That's the end of my journal entry. To this day, I remember how Grandma made me feel. She made me feel so important. So interesting. When I talked to her, I had her undivided attention. She made me feel cherished and special. She is such a special lady. I miss her but am so grateful for her influence on my life. For her faith and her love and passion. I look forward to the day I see her again and get to give her a hug.

Calliope is 2!

Calliope turned 2 on December 3. She is such a delight to be around. She's been telling jokes since the moment she emerged from the womb. She's the chillest kid I've ever met, and she's comfortable in pretty much any situation (though she's started to get nervous at the doctor). She rarely has stranger danger, and is fine being around other kids and grown ups alike (and she doesn't discriminate between women and men.)

She loves being outside and going on walks, wearing rain boots all the time, her stuffies, making us laugh, and finding ant piles to look at. She enjoys painting, gluing, and coloring. She likes going to the library, going to nursery, and going to the gym. She loves to learn and has picked up a lot of knowledge despite our lack of formal pre-schooling, like counting, colors, animals, and more. She often surprises me with the things she knows. 

She's very good at finding ways to keep herself entertained around the house; she frequently gets out toys and starts playing with them all on her own. She loves the cats and sets very firm boundaries about them not coming in the house. She likes to just be with me as I switch or fold the laundry, tidy up, or do dishes. She has a contagious smile and brings us so much joy.

She is a great eater and is not usually very picky. Her favorite food is probably a toss up between quesadillas and cream tuna, and she loves rice, applesauce, oranges, and candy. She doesn't usually like cake, so we had jello for her birthday treat. She was a big fan! Here's the photos from her big day.

We started the day with a present or two. This was sidewalk chalk.

Abby helping her get unbuckled.

Outside time

Learning to pray

Quesadillas for lunch

New puzzles!

New helmet! And trying out the balance bike for the first time.

These sisters love each other

Jello!

We are so lucky to have Calliope in our family.