Playing with Rachel and Michael

Hello! This is Cindy. :) Nellie is still waiting for her operation, but I think she's sure to be okay! Don't you think so? Today I got to look after Catherine's little sister Rachel, and Carrie's brother Michael. They're four and five year old, and they're really cute! I love playing with them. :)

Anna let Rachel play with her doll Inga for the day, and she just loves her!
We started off playing Snakes and Ladders for a while, and Michael won most of the games. Finally, he and Rachel got a bit tired of it, so we decided to find something else to do instead.
"What shall we do, Cindy?" Michael asked me while I packed the game away.
Rachel got up and ran to the window.

She could only just see over the windowsill if she stood on tiptoe, and she looked sadly out at the grey clouds.
"We can't go outside..." she told me, with a sigh. "It's all rainy."
I thought for a few seconds, and then I had an idea. "Do you want to play with a ball?" I asked.
"Yes!" Michael and Rachel cheered together.
"Alright," I said, and I went to fetch a ball. I sat down on the floor with it and explained what we were going to do. "Rachel, you sit over there, and Michael, you sit down there, and we'll roll the ball between us, and catch it. We have to say who we're rolling it to before we push it."
"Okay," said Rachel, as she and Michael sat down.
"Can I roll the ball first?" asked Michael.

Rachel didn't seem to mind if he went first, so I said he could, and rolled it to him.
"Can I start?" he asked.
"Yes."
"I'm going to roll it to you, Cindy!" he said, and cheerfully rolled it over.

"Are you ready Rachel? I'm rolling it to you."

 Rachel caught it, looking very happy, and then a bit confused. "Who do I give it to?" she asked.
"Anyone you like," I told her.
"I'm giving it to you, Michael!"

We played 'rolling the ball' for quite a while, but eventually Rachel and Michael asked if we could play something else.
"Alright. What do you want to play?"
While they thought, I got up and put the ball away.

"I think we should play dolls!" Rachel said when I got back, hugging Inga.
"Nooo," Michael groaned. "I don't wanna play dolls."
"What do you want to play?" I asked.

 "I'll show you." Michael got up and ran out of the room.
 He came back in a moment and sat down again.

"I want to play with the parachute-man!" he said happily. "It's got a tiger!" He was holding a little parachute toy that Carrie gave him yesterday - the parachutist was a cute little tiger instead of a soldier, like they normally are.
"I don't wanna play parachute. I want to play dolls..." Rachel said, frowning sadly.
I wasn't sure what to do, but then I thought of something they would both like.
"I have an idea," I said smiling.

"What?" asked Rachel.
"I'll show you in a moment."
Rachel watched me with great curiosity as I went over to my bed and pulled a book out from under the pillow. It was a book of little prayers for children, that I was given when I was little, and I knew it had lots of beautiful pictures inside that Rachel and Michael would love.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It's a book of prayers. And it's full of pretty pictures. I'll read some of it to you, and you can both look at the pictures too."
Rachel smiled. "Yay!"
"You sit on the edge of the bed, and move up a bit, and I'll come and sit next to you so you can see the pictures."

 

"Come on Michael," I said, patting the bed on the other side of me. You come and sit here and we can look at the book together."

Michael got up and came to sit next to me.

I opened the book, and they both leaned in to see the pictures.

They liked the little prayers, too, and we spent ages sitting there and reading, until the early afternoon, when they went back with their sisters. :)
I had a lovely Saturday with Michael and Rachel. I hope you had a great Saturday too! :)

It's Easter!

Hello everybody! It's Cindy!:) I'm so excited! It's Easter!!

This morning, I work up early, and I was about to go back to sleep, when I realized it was Easter!:) I jumped out of bed and ran to the window to see if the weather was good for an Easter egg hunt.

But it had rained, and everything was wet, and there were huge, gray clouds over the sky. Oh, no! I thought. Now we're not going to be able to have an egg hunt! I couldn't think of anything I could do to that, so I ran to wake Kirsten up and tell her.

"Kirsten! Kirsten!" I whispered, shaking her. "Wake up!"

"Hmm?" she said. "Oh... Cindy. What is it?"
"It's Easter!... But It's all wet outside, and we won't be able to have an Easter egg hunt."
"Oh, no. Let me see."

Kirsten got up and I took her to the window.
"Wow!" she said. "It really is wet!"

"I know," I sighed, sitting on the bed. "I was really looking forward to that egg hunt."

Kirsten came and sat down next to me.
"Don't worry," she said. "I have an idea!"
"What is it?" "Well, why don't we have an egg hunt inside? I did that once before."
"That's a good idea! I want to go wake up Molly and Kit!"
But just as I jumped off the, bed, Kirsten grabbed my arm.
"Not yet," she laughed. "It is too early... And besides, we're only having the egg hunt after church."
"But that's ages!"
"Well, you are the one who got us so early!" Kirsten smiled. "Come on; let's choose our dresses!"

I'm really glad we're going to have an egg hunt anyway, and it sounds really cool to have it inside! I've never done it before, but Nikki has. I hope you have a really good day, and Happy Easter from all of us!:)

Some Cute Pictures:)

Hi, it's Nikki here.:) I'm really sorry I haven't posted in so long, and I feel like I'm always saying this, but this time I'm much busier than I have been before. I have a show with my drama group on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and I have a lead role on at least one of those nights, and I've been very busy practicing for everything, and there's also a bunch of other problems to do with the show that I've been thinking about a lot. I'm really sorry.
Yesterday I tried to do a photostory, but I couldn't think of anything interesting, and it's really dark and rainy here, so the lighting's bad and I can't do anything outside.:P I would try again, but I'm really preoccupied with the show and stuff right now, and I don't think I'd be able to write anything good at all. I have got a bunch of cute pictures I've taken that haven't been on here, though, and I thought I could post them.:)

 Here's Cindy playing solitaire last week.:) She looks so cute in blue!:)

I took this angle for the cards, not Cindy, but I think she looks cute here anyway, for some reason.

And Elyssa doing a puzzle!:)

This one's from a month or two ago, but I think it's pretty.:) I like Julie's toes, and I think I didn't mean them to turn like that.

The lighting is really nice here, and I just like it for the pose, too, but I don't know what's unusual about it. Maybe it's just the lighting.:P

I put Julie up on the bed, and turned her head to Nicki, and then I realized it looked like she was visiting her 'cause she was sick, and it looked so cute!:)

I know the angle's a little funny, but this is the best picture I ever took of Nellie, and I think the blue looks really nice on her!:)

This is a picture of Kirsten from the day I did the hairstyle pictures. She's never really worn this dress before, and it looks so pretty on her!

 I decided to stand her in the middle of the little ornaments on my window, and it looked a little like a fairy world.:)

I'd just found out that my bed made a pretty background for her (at least I think it does, somehow:P). This picture has a sort of pink glow from the walls.:)

I also found out that day that Lindsay looks adorable in pigtails!:)

 This and the next two were going to be part of a photostory but poor Nellie got a slug in her hair (she's okay though;)) and I couldn't get some of the pictures right.:P

 I really like pictures with bright and happy sunlight. It makes them look really cheerful!:)

Here's another one.:) I think this was just before the slug.:P I sat Nellie against the tree while I posed Nicki, and then I posed her and they both fell, and when I picked Nellie up there was a disgusting little slug in her hair!:( But Nellie wasn't the only one to get a horrible creature on her that day: I got bitten by a nasty little tick.:P (It didn't get any blood though.;))

This is a pretty picture that I took at the end of the photostory where Kirsten found a rabbit warren.:) Because the photostory was set back in time, I was trying not to show the tar road, but I really wanted to take this picture so I got it as a sort of spare.:)

That's all the good pictures, I think.:) I hope you liked them, and I'm sorry again for not posting.:)