Those were the days!

As our girls were growing up, we were constantly reading to them and encouraging them to read books on their own. This love of books developed their own writing skills. I still have some of the things they've written and get lots of warm fuzzies when I go through the files and read again what they wrote when they were 9 or 10 years old.

Here's a poem Christy wrote when she was 10:
Monopoly, monopoly, monopoly; oh, how I love you so.
You are so plain and simple, as everybody knows.
Oh, I love to play you a lot because you are so fun;
I like to play you with people like Sis, Dad and Mum.
I like to get Boardwalk and Park Place because I get a lot of money,
but when other people get them, it is not quite so funny, funny, funny.
I do not like to land on "income tax" or "luxury tax," too.
And when I do land on them, I start crying, "boo, hoo, hoo."
Jail, does anybody like to go to jail, jail, jail?
No, I do not think so, because when you go in, you start looking frail.
This is all I can write now of Monopoly,
I will have to leave you now to go play Monopoly!

I sent a copy of the poem to Parker Brothers and actually got a letter back from them thanking Christy for the very complimentary letter. The person who wrote said she enjoyed the poem, and they passed it around the office for everyone to read.

I found a diary that Amy wrote in. Here is one day's entry:

Dear Diary. Today is Thursday, the day I play with Kristen and Mom is babysitting. And of course, I'm doing my school work. Help. I wish that when I was born, I would know how to do school work, then I wouldn't have to go to school. That would be great. Love, Amy.

Dawn was the prolific writer. I have a stack of her "books." She was very imaginative, putting a price on the cover of her book, a picture on the front. On the back page, she did a summary of the story with a hook to pull you into reading. For The Missing Mouse story, she wrote: "Missing mouse is about a mouse that has suddenly disappeared. This is a case for Big Cheeze. This story is very funny and surprising at times. This book has a surprise ending. I liked this book so I think you will too." Read this book and find out for yourself how funny it is." She also included on the inside back page a bio of the author. [Dawn Wallin was born in 1979 on February 3 in Voorhees, NJ and is now 10 years old. This is her third book. She likes to read and write a lot, and we hope that she will continue to do this.] Here are some of the titles for her stories: Soccer Threat, Missing Mouse, The Climbing Tree, The Bully, The Missing Mouse Caper, etc.Sometimes the girls worked together at concocting a story or developing a play. And they also liked to involve neighbor kids and friends invited over from church on a Sunday afternoon. They also liked to use a typewriter I had at the time (in the days before computers). And how many plays did Andy and I get to watch through the years?! It warms a parent's heart to see her daughters working and playing together harmoniously and enjoying sisterly camaraderie.

I'm very thankful for each of our girls and that they love each other and love being together. What a blessing.