My daughter

Eva will be 8 years old in about two and a half months. EIGHT YEARS OLD!! I can hardly believe it! I very clearly remember the day she was born and the very difficult transition time that I had for a couple of months after that (wow, now I am sounding REALLY old...'I remember the day she was born'.... I guess that when everyone says that the time flies by, they are right. Because she is in 2nd grade and going to be baptized soon, and she doesn't really want me to kiss her anymore, but she does (thank goodness!) still like hugs and cuddling and "Eva and Momma time", and she is just a sweet, sensitive girl who is turning out so lovely! And, apparently, who likes to participate in the same kinds of teasing that all boys and girls do to each other at this age. She showed me what she had written down this evening (in cursive, because it's so COOL!)"Girls go to college to get more knowledge; boys go to Jupiter to get stupider!" She did, however, preface it with, "It's not really a kind thing to say, though". But, she does love her family, and especially her brother (well, most of the time) and little sister. Tonight, since Jared is not home, I am letting the kids rotate who sleeps in my bed with me for the night. Tonight is Oliver's turn, and so she offered to sleep with Lucy in her bed. I could hear her reading books to Lucy and then telling her stories (Little red riding hood AND the 3 Little Pigs!), and then, of course, giggles. She is a very nurturing girl, and is very supportive of her brother and sister as they are learning new things. She helps Oliver sound out words as he is learning to read, and she helps Lucy will all things doll-related. And the three of them play SO WELL together! I love this age and time now where they all make little houses out of Legos and play restaurant, and Star Wars (of course, Eva is the one who makes most of the decisions, just in case you were wondering...). She seems to have a love-hate relationship with taking violin lessons. She absolutely loves to learn new songs and to practice them over and over, but dislikes doing scales and note-reading exercises. I love to see her face light up when she learns something that she didn't think she could. I hope she never loses that joy. And I hope I can always help her to find it.



Here is Eva at a recent violin recital playing "Go tell Aunt Rhody"




And here are the kids spending quality time for a family movie night. Love it.