Sweet, Silly, With Some Sisterly Rivalry Mixed In

For the past two days I've been struggling with some lower back pain. Since I don't exercise except to get off the couch to grab another cookie, I know it isn't from doing something strenuous. After saying family prayer on Saturday night Miriam turned to me and said, "Mommy, I wish it was my back that hurt so that you wouldn't be in pain."

Yesterday my mom came and took the girls to her house so they could go to Church with my family. When the girls arrived home later in the evening Miriam started crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I felt so sad being at Church and having fun without you. I didn't like that you were here all by yourself with your back hurting." In talking with my mom this morning, apparently she said the same thing to her on the walk home from Church. She was pretty upset. It must be pretty scary to see the one parent you have at home unable to function properly.

Last night Shaylynn was being very difficult so I gave her bum a little swat. She kept acting up so I asked if she wanted a really hard spanking. She nodded her head and came closer so I could reach her bum. It's hard to be mad at her when all you want to do is give her squishes. Silly girl!

Last week during Sacrament Meeting Miriam was eating Goldfish (the crackers, not actual fish) out of a little container. Miriam was trying to share the crackers with Shaylynn, but Shay wanted to hold them herself. Earlier the girls had been playing with my three tiered necklace, assigning each tier a person. It was funny listening to them trying to make all four of us fit on a three tiered object. After fighting over the Goldfish, Shay looks at Miriam with a defiant look, grabs my necklace, and very clearly says (as she's pointing to each level), "Daddy, Mommy, and Shay, NOT Miriam". Miriam and I looked at each other and tried not to laugh. Shaylynn was very serious that Miriam should not be a part of our family because she didn't let Shay have the cup of crackers. A little later Miriam handed Shay the cup and Shay fixed the necklace to be "Mommy, Miriam, and Shay". Sorry Daddy, you got left out that time. Even though it wasn't nice, I was still amazed at how Shay's mind worked to create her little necklace revenge.

I decided to post the picture of the necklace so you'd understand what I was talking about.