Loving this Season

Um..wrote this in March. Just now posting. :)

I'm loving this season of life. Not this season, weather-wise. But I'm loving this season of my family.  The girls are growing so fast and at 9 years old, Hannah's already on the brink of "tween". Yikes, some days I'm not sure how that happened. And some days, the "drama" and "moodiness" of pre-puberty is already there.  Storms can brew up quickly. But overall, despite sometimes missing the "little kids", I'm learning that I really enjoy this "big kid" stage.  So, a list of why I am enjoying parenting a 7 and 9 year old.

* Conversations. We have some really cool back-and forth conversations these days.  The girls have lots of questions about life.
* Not as much "all about me". Oh, it still shows up sometimes. But they are learning give-and-take, listening, and considering another's perspective.  And filters!! They are *finally* developing "filters" and sometimes use them.  For example, I was checking out at CVS one day last week and  had Hannah with me.  The lady checking me out said I looked familiar and after we talked a minute, I realized I knew her from Kairos (prison ministry). We chatted a couple minutes and then left.  As soon as we got outside Hannah asked "so is she a VOLUNTEER or someone you met IN PRISON?".  And she had been thinking that the whole time we were talking, but she didn't say it until we left. That is huge!  Because Hannah a year or two ago sure would have looked right at check-out lady and asked "were you in prison? What did you do?'. Filters are a lovely thing..think whatever, then filter what you actually *say* in public.
* Games with Sadie -  She loves playing games. And now that we are way past Chutes-and-Ladders and Candyland, I enjoy playing with her. Some of our favorites are Sorry-Sprin, Uno, and Monopoly.  She and I played monopoly for 3 hours on a recent weekend (broken up into 2 days).  She's quite good at the games too. (Hannah's not so much into games).
* Books - I still read to the girls a good bit.  Hannah's of course a very independent reader, and Sadie's learning. But we enjoy sharing books together. And now we are sharing more advanced story themes and I'm really enjoying that!
* Movies - okay, so they still like some barbie princess movies, BUT sometimes get interested in non-cartoon movies that I can enjoy with them.
* Chores. Sadie still LIKES chores, and Hannah realizes it useless to complain too much. They are much more capable now than when they were younger. In fact, they often do all the laundry except the folding. Neither likes to fold clothes. I don't mind that part, so it works out great.  And they can both load the dishwasher and start it, put dishes away, take out trash, and make their beds.  Hannah can vacume. (Sadie still finds this a little difficult). They can sweep.
* Food.  They can do a lot in the kitchen. They don't really use the stove without close supervision. But pretty much anything else in the kitchen they do. And they do scramble eggs and flip pancakes and other such things with some supervision. And Sadie LOVES to help cook.