Great "MOM" Moment

The kids and I have a really great evening/bedtime rhythm and routine when Kevin isn't home. (Tonight he's up at Brighton Camp with all our fabulous Beehives and their leaders.) After dinner, the kids ride their bikes around the block a few times so they'll get nice and worn out while I clean up the dinner dishes. When they're finally parched and exhausted, we begin the "get-ready-for-bed" portion of our day. Why this has to take HOURS to accomplish is beyond me, but it does. I start the bath water for Max and put Mia in her jumper thing in the doorway of the boys bedroom. I call Jackson and Kacie upstairs and have them start their "personal reading time" in their respective bedrooms. I get Maxwell's pj's and unders and ask him to sing the ABC Song. He always obliges and then yells for me to sing with him. Jackson's new book interest is a series called "The Bailey School Kids" and he LOVES to sit on his bunkbed and read. Kacie always complains that she doesn't know how to read and why is she so picked on anyway. I always reply that she can in fact, say the names and sounds of all the letters and she'll never learn how to read if she doesn't try. We continue on in this fashion until finally, everyone is clean, has their teeth brushed and has read for at least 20 minutes. Well, tonight I was putting away some laundry while all of this was going on, and I heard Kacie reading "Hop On Pop." At first I didn't think much of it and chalked it up to a great memory. BUT THEN......I heard her sounding out some of the words. SURE ENOUGH my little preschool girl was READING!!!! I quickly showered her with praise and kisses and walked out into the hall to see Mia's perfect grin and hear her say "MAMA." First books and first words......life just doesn't get any sweeter!!