This morning as I was trying to wrack my brain of what to blog about today, something magical was happening right behind me.

Harlo had gotten out Stella’s “homework” (worksheets sent home just for Stella by Harlo’s preschool teacher) and started teaching her how to write a new letter.  I was overhearing things like

“Okay, make a circle… good, and a line down… good!”

“Okay, a few more… make sure to keep it on the dotted line.. good!  Good job, Stel!”

“Mom!  Look at Stella writing her P’s!  I just did ONE and she is doing all of these others!”

“Like this, Harlo?” “Yes! Great job.  You’re doing really good, Stel.”

“Am I all done?”  “Nope, let’s finish this row and then you are all done.”

And Stella just kept doing exactly as she was told (so much better than she does with me when we do worksheets).

 These pictures just absolutely kill me.  This one with Harlo’s supportive hand placed on Stella?  Oh my word.

 This is so my girls.  Best little friends, always helping each other out.  Harlo being the best little mama and Stella happily going along with it.

I keep thinking these girls are going to grow out of loving each other for some reason.  They are just SO good to each other and I hear so many horror stories about kids not liking each other and constantly fighting and competing.  I worried when Stella was born that Harlo would feel threatened.  I had completely underestimated how much Harlo would love Stella from the minute she laid eyes on her.  Harlo and I actually bonded more over our mutual love for Stella and we continue to do so today.

As they grew I worried they would start fighting more than loving, I worried about them sharing a room and feeling like they had nothing of their own, I worried about them not getting enough one on one time with each parent.  But they have shown me the opposite.  Of course they fight and argue and don’t see eye to eye on everything and I love that they have their differences and strong opinions and are able to work through them and celebrate them.  Sometimes my heart feels so full and somehow I know that it was no mistake they came to the same family.  I know they knew each other before this life.  I can feel it in the depth of my being.

I’m sure we’ll have stages as they grow that their relationship might shift and have growing pains, but I just feel a peace in my heart that these sisters will overcome all of it.  Having a great relationship doesn’t mean you just get along and play all the time, anyone in a marriage knows this.  So I will stop worrying about the days they might fight more than play, because that’s just part of building a great relationship.

:: HARLO ::

Harlo gets more sweet and more responsible by the day.
I am starting to see her personality unfold in a way I haven’t before.
She is just turning into a little lady, understanding more, developing her own opinions, her likes and dislikes.
Her sense of humor is becoming more apparent.
She is now aware of funny things Stella does that a grown-up would pick up on.  Like if she mixes up words in her sentence or pronounces a word wrong, Harlo will give me a knowing glance without making Stella feel silly.
She has started noticing boys this year at preschool.  For a long while she told me Miles was her boyfriend, but the other day Stella said “Miles is still your boyfriend, right?” and Harlo broke the news that she and Miles broke-up. Ha.  She said “Miles told me he doesn’t want to marry girls, so I decided I’ll marry Connor instead.”  I told her that seemed like the right choice to me, too.
She’ll tell me and Stella about her love life, but if anyone else asks if she has a boyfriend yet, she’ll say “daddy.” and melt the hearts of everyone around.  And of course she keeps her love life private form her dad.  Brady was trying to ask her about the boyfriend situation the other day and she just got an embarrassed giggle and said “dad! No…” Haha.  It’s funny how early they start learning the relationship dynamics like being embarrassed to talk to dad about boys.
Harlo is a little busy bee.  She always loves to have a project she’s working on.  A simple notebook and pen will keep her busy for hours.
The other day we were riding in Grandma’s car and she found a binder full of paper and a pen.  Stella bumped into her and she snapped at her saying “Stel! I’m working on this.” then, irritated, she looked back at her notebook and said “ugh!  Where was I?” under her breath. Ha!
She has been busy making Valentine cards for everyone she knows.  When we get home in the afternoons she’ll say “Okay, I can’t play right now.  I have work to do!” as she grabs the stack of hand made cards and scissors and crayons.
She has started the beginning stages of reading.  She is learning the concept of sounding out words and can do really well with just a little help.  We got the BOB books for Christmas (from Costco) and she can get through them with almost no help.  It’s been so fun to watch this milestone unfold.
Her preschool has been focusing on sight words and she has been practicing them like it’s her religion.
Every paper I’ll find “the I and of see me” written on it.  Along with “harlo stella mom dad”.  I love finding like treasures like this on bills or the edge of a check book or any scrap paper we have lying around.  🙂
She is always asking me how to spell something or telling me she knows how to spell something.  The other day as I pulled away from a stop sign she said “mom, I know how to spell stop. S-T-O-P.”
I love watching her face light up when she learns a new word or successfully sounds one out.  These are the parts of motherhood I never knew how much I would enjoy.
She spends her free time in the new baby nursery re-organizing things or “decorating” by putting blankets in the crib and cradle or pulling a rug in from somewhere else in the house.

:: STELLA ::

Stella is just as magical as ever.
She has such a fun and funny personality and serves solely as the entertainment of our lives.
The way she talks, you guys.  It is just too good to be true.
She definitely can’t say her R’s, which I’ve mentioned before, but as her vocabulary builds, the more you notice the lack of R’s.
The other day in the car her window was cracked and the sun was shining brightly right on her head.  She said “Can you woll my window up?  It’s Bwuning my Haya!” (burning my hair)
She just started “pwimawy” at church and tells everyone about it.
side note: My girls in primary!  They sit a class apart, so Stella sits just right in front of Harlo.  Throughout sharing time, she’ll go sit next to Harlo and Harlo will put her arm around Stella or tickle her back while Stella snuggles in with her boo.  It is too much for me to handle.  Then when their classes separate, they give each other a kiss goodbye. (SWOON!)
Last week Stella said the opening prayer and Harlo sat right up next to her for moral support, dropped her off at the podium with a big smooch and greeted her with a congratulatory hug as soon as she was done.  You guys.  They’re just too much.
She loves grapefruits but can’t for the life of her remember the name and calls them “fruit-grapes”.  She’ll ask all day “Can we have those things?  Kinda like those fruit-grapes?”
She loves them, but asks me to reapply the sugar on top with every bite. Ha!
After dinner at larsens the other night she said “can we get one of those things – kinda like, what are they called? Kinda like a… Swoosh?” (A slush)
After dinner we went to the temple visitors center (for the first time ever, it was actually super cute and cool) but as we were waiting for a little movie room, we sat looking at the Jesus statue. We were all serious and talking about the marks in Jesus’ hands and Stella comes over to me and casually says, “I just lub Jesus! He always takes him’s shoes off!” (Statue was bare foot) “He takes him’s shoes off every time! He’s so silly!” She was just getting a kick out of it.
Everything statement she makes starts or ends with “nemba?” (Remember?)
Or it starts with “when I was a tinsy baby” and ends with “nemba?”
“When I was a tinsy baby, I looooved cafe rio! Nemba?” She says this about everything.
Also, every time she says he word “tinsy” she pinches her finger and thumb together and places it right in front of her eyeball to emphasize how “tiny” it actually is.
She is back in a phase where she is climbing into my bed sometime through the night. I love waking up to her snuggled up to me but wonder if it’s going to be an issue once I have a newborn to get up with. Hopefully the issue just works itself out. I can’t kick her out.

These girls are such a light in this life and not just to me and B. Everyone who meets them loves them. They’re little town celebrities around here. I’m so lucky they call me mama.