The fairy princess that lives next door received a

pink tricycle for Christmas.
You know how it is when a child is learning to peddle one of those things.
Sometimes it goes forward…sometimes it goes backward…and sometimes it just doesn’t go anywhere.

So it was with Josie last week. Finally she got off of the tricycle, looked at Nikki and said, “This thing don’t work! See if it has batteries!”

Early last Thursday morning, I received this text,

which was very similar to one that I had gotten two and a half months earlier.
Josh’s three had spent the night with us, so we loaded them in the car to drop them off at a prearranged location. This was all a part of the day’s mission, which, to quote Josie, was, “for the doctor to

get that baby out of Mommy’s tummy”.
Not long after we arrived at the hospital, the lullaby that announces a new birth, began to play. I looked at Joel and said, “That’s our baby”.
Mr. Payton

weighed 9 pounds, 1 ounce.
But this little sister

tipped the scales at 9 pounds, 9.6 ounces. It was about time they got her out, don’t cha think?
By the time that they

got Nikki back in room 276, her sister had arrived with Denton, Hudson and Josie…wearing their ‘Big Bro’ and ‘Big Sis’ shirts.
As a matter of fact, they were the first to go in

and meet ‘little’ Ellie Jane.
The night before, when we were trying to get Josie to go to sleep, I said, “Just think, tomorrow you’ll be a big sister”. With tears in her eyes, (she wanted her mommy) she said, I not a big sister. I just a little girl”.

But, I think she changed her mind.