Bored!

Raya Hendrickson had a closet full of toys. She had a case full of books. She had shelves full of CDs, computer games and DVDs. She had a garage full of outdoor toys. She even had a swingset  in her backyard. Yet, despite all of this Raya was always bored.

"I have nothing to do!" she whined constantly.

"Why don't you play with your Barbies?" suggested Mommy.

"I'm bored of that!" exclaimed Raya.

"How about reading a book?" Daddy suggested.

"Bored!" said Raya.

"You haven't colored in your coloring books for a while." said Mommy.

"Boring!" said Raya.

"Go outside, and ride your bike." suggested Daddy."It's a beautiful day."

"BOR -- ING." said Raya dragging out the word.

Mommy and Daddy kept offering suggestions. Every time they made a suggestion, Raya would shake her head "Bored of that. Bored of that. Bored of that." Raya repeated again and again and again until Mommy and Daddy thought they would never get those words out of their heads.

The next morning was sunny and bright. Raya bounced out of bed excitedly. She thought that it was unusal that she didn't hear any sound coming from the kitchen. She didn't smell any food either. That was really odd.

She went downstairs, but the kitchen was empty. "Mommy! Daddy!" Raya called. She was  getting a little bit scared. She went in the other room still calling out to her parents and found them sitting on the couch in their pajamas. That was unusual, but it was Saturday. Maybe, they were going to have a pajama day. Raya loved pajama days. They still ate breakfast on pajama days though so Raya didn't know what was going on.

Raya smiled and sat down on the couch between Mommy and Daddy. "Good morning." she said cheerfully glad to have found them."When is breakfast?" she asked. "I am really hungry." She looked eagerly at her mother.

"Oh." said Mommy. "I'm not making breakfast today."

"You're not?" asked Raya in surprise.

"Oh no." replied Mommy. "I'm bored with that."

Raya turned to her father. At least he was still being reasonable she told herself. "Daddy!",  she said smiling at him.  "Are you making breakast?" she asked hopefully. 

Daddy shook his head, "No." he said. "I'm bored with that too. " he replied

"But you can't get bored with breakfast. " Raya insisted to both her parents. "We have to eat!"

"But we ate yesterday." said Daddy.

"And the day before." said Mommy.

"We're bored with that." they said together.

"But you can't get bored of breakfast." insisted Raya. "Besides," she reminded them "It's not like we eat the same thing for breakfast every day."

"If you can be bored with a closet of full of toys, a case full of books, shelves full of CDs and computer games and videos, as well as a garage full of outdoor toys and a swing set so many things that you cannot possibly use of all of them in one day, we can certainly be bored of breakfast. I mean we eat it every day." they replied.

"Oh." said Raya finally understanding what this was all about. "Your're not really bored of breakfast, are you?" she asked both of her parents.

"We are only bored when we choose to be bored." said Mommy. It was something that Raya had heard her say a million times before, but never really listened to.

 "And what is really boring is hearing you say a hundred times a day how bored you are." added  Daddy.

"I'm sorry, Mommy. I'm sorry Daddy." said Raya and at that moment she genuinely was. However, she didn't think that it was possible for her to not ever be bored again. 

"We are not saying that you are never going to be bored again." said Mommy as if reading Raya's mind.

"But you need to try harder not to be bored so much." said Daddy, "Frankly, your being bored is boring us." said Daddy.

"Okay, Daddy." agreed Raya. "Can we eat breakfast now? Please!"

Mommy nodded. "We're hungry too." she said heading into the kitchen, Raya and Daddy followed.

Raya sat down at the table. Mommy started making breakfast. Daddy was looking at the newspaper. Before, she knew it Raya was bored again, but this time she decided to keep it to herself.

Bye-bye baby

Today's Story is by Melia!

    Melinda Macintosh was six years old. She had a Mommy, a Daddy, and a two week old baby sister named Layla. They also had a puppy named Pepper. Melinda couldn't stand Layla. Mommy and Daddy always played with Layla. And talked to Layla. And gave Layla hugs and kisses and attention. Ever since Layla was born Melinda was treated as if she were invisible. Melinda wished Layla would go back to the hospital.

  It was  September fourth and Melinda was getting ready for school. She wore a bright  pink dress with ruffles and little black high heels. Her long shiny blond hair was hanging down her back in a braid. "Melinda, time for your first day of  first grade. And hurry up, Layla is getting restless." called Mommy.
       
When Melinda came home she wanted to tell Mommy all about her day.  She excitedly rushed into the house and found Mommy in the room that belonged to Layla. Mommy hushed her and explained, "The baby is napping. You have to be quiet!"

So Melinda wandered off to find Daddy. He was in his home office painting something. Melinda opened her mouth to start telling him about her day but he covered her mouth with his hand and exclaimed,"I am painting a rocking chair for Layla when she gets older. I need to concentrate." 
  
 Melinda still wasn't discouraged.She set off to find Pepper. He was a good listener. But Melinda found him curled up with Layla in her bassinet. Now Melinda was sad. Nobody cared about her. Then Melinda had an idea. She lifted up her baby sister and put her on the soft carpet. Then she got a cardboard box from the garage. She also took some packing tape from Mommy's desk and she found some safety scissors and a small blanket. She carefully spread the blanket in the box. Then she gently lifted in the sleeping baby. Then she closed the box and cut some air holes in so Layla could breathe. She taped the box together and put on a stamp. She planned on mailing her away the next morning when the mailman came. The Mommy walked in and found the box. She opened it up and lifted out Layla. "Oh my sweet little angel. Melinda you are in big trouble. You can not mail away your baby sister!" Mommy declared


She burst into tears. "You don't care about me. You only care about Layla. And Daddy too." sobbed  Melinda.

Mommy said, "Honey, that is not true. We have enough love to go around. Layla is just a baby so she needs more attention. You get to be the one she looks up to. You can be my special little helper." And she pulled Melinda in for a big hug

Melinda looked up at the baby who opened her eyes and smiled at Melinda. Melinda smiled back. Then Layla went back to sleep. Melinda decided having a little sister wasn't so bad and Layla was really cute.

 Epilogue

As the girls grew they got closer and closer. Now Melinda is 12 and in middle school. Layla is 6 and starting first grade. They have a new baby sister named Rosy and she is loved very much by her sisters and parents. Layla gets jealous of Rosy sometimes and still sometimes fights with Melinda. But everyone gets along pretty well most of the time.


 This is a fiction story. 

Billie Jean The Big Girl

Billie Jean Barrett did not feel like a big girl, but everybody said she was one. "My what a big girl you are, Billie Jean!" Grandma told her patting her head on her way to see Billie Jean's new baby sister, Bonnie. Grandma scooped up Bonnie in her arms and cooed over her. "My what a cute little baby you are." She sat down on the couch with baby Bonnie still in her arms.

Billie Jean wanted to be Grandma's cute little baby too. When she tried to sit down on the couch and crawl into Grandma's arms too, Grandma pushed her away. "Not now, Billie Jean." she said. "Your too big. You'll hurt the baby."

Billie Jean pouted and sat down on the floor angrily. She didn't want to be a big girl. Nobody cared about big girls. She wanted to be a baby again. She stuck her thumb in her mouth. She hadn't done that since she was a baby.

"Billie Jean!" said Mommy entering the room and spying Billie Jean's thumb in her mouth. "Why are you sucking your thumb? You're a big girl! Big girls don't suck their thumbs"

"I don't want to be a big girl!" cried Billie Jean unhappily, but Mommy didn't hear her. Billie Jean stomped her feet angrily on the ground, but Mommy didn't see her. Baby Bonnie had started crying and Mommy had gone off to feed her. Billie Jean went chasing after Mommy. "I'm your baby too, Mommy." she said tugging on her mother's skirt and trying to get her attention.

Mommy turned and gave Billie Jean a look. Billie Jean knew that look. It was not a happy look. "Billie Jean." she said angrily, "Not now." She turned away from Billie Jean. Grandma handed baby Bonnie to Mommy and Mommy took the baby to feed her.

Billie Jean stormed out of the room. It was not fair! She was Mommy's baby too! She was! She was not a big girl. Why couldn't Mommy take care of her too? Why did everything always have to be about Bonnie?

For a while, things were quiet. Then, baby Bonnie started crying again. She cried and cried and didn't stop. Billie Jean peeked in the other room. Mommy was practically in tears too. She tried feeding Bonnie some more but Bonnie wasn't hungry. Bonnie just kept crying. She tried changing Bonnie's diaper, but Bonnie still kept crying. Mommy and Grandma took turns holding her and trying to comfort her and get her to stop crying, but nothing worked. Bonnie just cried and cried.

Finally, Billie Jean couldn't stand it anymore.Someone had to stop that crying. If Mommy and Grandma couldn't do it, it was up to her, Billie Jean. She went running into the other room. "Mommy," she asked, "Can I hold the baby?"

"Not now." said Mommy, but Grandma said it couldn't hurt and that they'd tried everything else. Billie Jean sat down on the couch and Mommy settled the baby in her arms. Bonnie looked up at her big sister and stop crying. Billie Jean smiled at her. Bonnie kept looking at her. She almost seemed to be smiling back.

"Mommy." said Billie Jean proudly but quietly so as not to upset her sister. "I am a big girl."

Mommy smiled at Billie Jean. "Yes you are Billie Jean, but your still my baby too."

Billie Jean smiled back. "Yes," she said. "I'm a baby and a big girl too."

Wendy Asks Why

Wendy Wilkins was six years old. She was very curious and she wanted to know everything. She was always asking why. Why this and why that. Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green? Why? Why? Why?

One day Wendy and her mother were in the car. They were on their way to Grandma's house. The ride was long and boring. Wendy looked out the window. The sky was gray and dark.  Big noisy raindrops banged against the window. "Why does it rain?" Wendy asked her mother as she stared out of the car window at the pouring rain.

"Rain helps the flowers and plants grow." explained Mommy.

Wendy shook her head  as if her mother ought to know that wasn't really the answer. "No, mommy, she said knowingly, "It rains because the fairies are crying. " Wendy informed her mother.

Mommy smiled to herself. She knew better than to argue with Wendy. Wendy was stubborn as a grass stain on a pair of white pants. Once she got an idea in her head, there was no getting it out.

Another day, Wendy and her father were at the park. Afters a few hours of running around, sliding on slides,  and swinging on swings, Wendy was tired and needed a rest. She lay down on the grass beside her father and looked up at the sky. A flock of noisy birds flew across. "Why can't I fly?" she asked her father as she watched the birds fly effortlessly across the sky.

"Because we don't have wings." her father replied. He started to explain to her exactly how the birds were able to fly and people weren't.

Wendy stopped listening before he even finished. "It's because if we could fly, the bird's would be jealous." she cut in. "People can do so many things that birds can't. Flying is birds special thing. If they didn't have that they would be sad because they would have nothing to make them special."

Her father didn't even bother trying to point out that no matter what every living creature is special in its own way. He knew that it was no use wasting his breathe. Wendy wouldn't listen. She had decided that birds needed to be able to fly and humans needed not to be able to fly for birds to feel special and nothing he said would make her change her mind about it.

"At night when Mommy put her to bed, Wendy stared out the window at the dark sky. "Why does it get dark at night?" she asked as she crawled into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin.

"Because the earth revolves around the sun ..." Mommy started to explain, but Wendy wasn't really listening.

"It gets dark at night because the sun gets tired." Wendy told her.

Life went on. Wendy remained curious about everything. She continued to ask questions. Why? Why? Why? Why this, why that, why the other thing. She wanted to know everything and yet she never accepted any of the answers anybody gave her about anything. After all, she already knew all the right answers.

Finally, one day Wendy lost her first tooth. She put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy to come and take. She was explaining that the reason that people lost teeth was because the tooth fairy needed teeth to make jewelry with and not to make room for bigger teeth that were going to grow in  as her father had suggested.

Her father looked at her and smiled.This time it was his turn to ask Wendy a question. It was his turn to be curious.  "Why do you ask questions if you already have all the answers?" he asked. He didn't ask it in a mean way though. He kept smiling at Wendy.

She smiled brightly back at him. "Oh Daddy." she said throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him. "I ask questions because I want to make sure other people know things too . Like I do."

"Oh, so you do it out of kindness?" asked Daddy.

Wendy nodded her head up and down. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" she said excitedly. She was so happy that Daddy understood how nice and thoughtful and helpful she was being to other people teaching them things. "I wouldn't want other people to be confused about things Daddy." she said.

"No. We wouldn't want that." agreed Daddy as he smiled again and kissed her.

Too Much Macaroni

 Xyla Mayberry loved macaroni. It was her favorite. She could eat it all the time or so she thought.

One sunny Saturday, Xyla's family had a big party. All Xyla's aunts, uncles and cousin's came. Her grandparents came too. Her mother made several big huge pots of macaroni to feed everybody. She made more than enough food to feed one family. She made enough food to feed a whole army. Xyla was happy. She would be able to eat a little more macaroni the next day.

The next morning, Xyla woke up. There was a delicious smell coming from the kitchen. She came downstairs and sat down at the kitchen table. "Yum!" she said soaking in the wonderful smell. ""What is for breakfast?" she asked eagerly.

"Bacon and macaroni frittata." replied her mother.

Xyla had never had of that before. It was good though and she ate her whole plate full.

At lunch time,they had macaroni soup. Xyla ate all her food, but not as eagerly as before. She was beginning to get her fill of macaroni.

At dinner time, Mommy served macaroni casserole. Xyla sighed unhappily. She was getting tired of macaroni. She barely ate but just picked at her food.

The next morning, Xyla woke up and excitedly headed to the kitchen to have breakfast. She was eager to see what her mother had cooked up. Surely, by now, the macaroni must all be gone.

"We're having macaroni omelets." her mother said cheerfully as Xyla slid into her seat. Xyla put her face in her hands and shook her head. She was beginning to hate macaroni.

For lunch, Mommy served macaroni soup. Xyla pretended to have a stomach ache so she didn't have to eat it. It was worth it not to have to eat another meal of macaroni even though it meant her mother made her spend the afternoon in her room resting.

For dinner, there were macaroni tacos. Xyla couldn't stand it anymore. "No more macaroni!" she screamed.

"But Xyla," said her mother in surprise at her daughter's outburst. "I thought macaroni was your favorite food.

"It is." replied Xyla, "But not, every day  for every meal."

The next morning, Xyla came slowly down the stairs to breakfast. The food smelled good, but she didn't want to get too excited about it. It was probably just more macaroni. She eased herself into her chair. "What's for breakfast?" she asked her mother.

"Pancakes." replied her mother.

"Macaroni pancakes?" asked Xyla worriedly.

Her mother looked at her strangely. "No. Just regular pancakes." she replied. "Did you want me to put macaroni in your pancakes?"

"No!" exclaimed Xyla. She jumped up and hugged her mother. "I love you!." she said "and I love pancakes without macaroni!"

Too Many Turkeys

It was the week before Thanksgiving. Nicolette Bradshaw's mother had just had baby Hope, and she wasn't up to a cooking a big Thanksgiving dinner. "Are we going to have turkey?" asked Nicolette worriedly. It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without turkey. 

"Of course." Mommy assured her. "But, it is just going to be you and me and Daddy this year for dinner." she explained.

"Oh." replied Nicolette quietly. She was used to big gatherings of twenty or thirty people with her grandparents, and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins. She was sad that she wouldn't get to see her cousins but she was happy to have Mommy and Daddy and her new baby sister all to herself.

On Sunday, Daddy went out to the supermarket. He brought back a big turkey. It looked really tasty. Nicolette couldn't until  waited until it was cooked and ready to eat.

On Monday, Grandma came over  to drop off some food. She brought potatoes and Cranberry sauce and Pumpkin Pie and another turkey. "I knew your Daddy would be too busy to get a turkey so I got this with my grocery rewards." she told Nicolette as Nicolette helped her put the food away until it needed to be heated up for Thanksgiving dinner.

"But Grandma." Nicolette said. "Daddy got a turkey."

"Well this one was free." explained Grandma as if that would make it taste better.

Nicolette knew better than to try arguing with Grandma. She didn't know what they were going to do with two turkeys though. Two whole turkeys was way to much for four people especially when one of them was baby, Hope who couldn't even eat turkey.

On Tuesday, Uncle Bill and Aunt Betty stopped by on their way out of town. They were going to their daughter's house  for Thanksgiving, and she lived in another state. They dropped off another turkey. "We got this turkey fresh from Tom's Turkey farm." explained Aunt Betty handing Nicolette another turkey. "We have been going there for years, and their turkeys are absolutely the freshest most tasty turkeys around." she added.

Nicolette sighed. They now had three turkeys. What were they supposed to do with three turkeys? They would surely be eating leftover turkey for a long long time. Just the thought of it was making Nicolette lose her appetite for turkey at all.

On Wednesday, some of the neighbor's came by. They greeted Nicolette warmly and handed her yet another turkey. "We knew your Mom would be busy with the new baby so we brought you this." they said cheerfully.

Nicolette could not believe they now had four turkeys. She was truly beginning to hate the sight of turkey, and she did not care if she ever saw, smelled or tasted another turkey as long as she lived.

"What's the matter, Princess?" Daddy asked her cheerfully when he arrived home from work that day. He hated to see her looking so sad.

"What are we going to do with four turkeys?" asked Nicolette worriedly. "I don't want to be eating turkey for the rest of my life."

"Four turkeys?" said Daddy in surprise. "How did we get four turkeys?" He didn't sound the least bit upset about it though. After Nicolette explained how they came to have four turkeys, he still didn't seem the least bit upset. "I'll take care of it." he told her, "and I promise you won't have to eat turkey every day for the rest of your life." He took three of the turkeys and left the house.

Nicolette couldn't imagine where he went with them. "Where did you go, Daddy?" she asked eagerly when he returned.

"I took the extra turkeys to the food bank to be donated to people who don't have any turkeys." explained Daddy. "There are a lot of hungry people out there. We can share with them like our friends and family shared with us."

"Oh Daddy." said Nicolette proudly. "That is so nice." Suddenly four turkeys didn't seem like too many at all.  It seemed like too few. She wished they had enough turkeys to feed all the hungry people in the world. Well, at least they had been able to give turkeys to three families. It might not be the whole world, but it was a start.

Mommy and Daddy Love You More!

Lacy and Jacy Edwards were twins. They loved each other and they hated each other. They were each other's best friends and each others worst enemies. More than  anything, they were incredibly jealous of each other. They were each convinced that Mommy and Daddy loved the other one more.

"You like her better than me!" Lacy accused Mommy when she saw Mommy sitting on the couch and laughing with Jacy.

Mommy smiled brightly at Lacy. "Don't be silly," she said calmly. "Of course, I love you too."

Now, it was Jacy's turn to get upset. "You like her better than me." she pouted.

Mommy sighed tiredly. "I love you both the same."

This did not make Lacy or Jacy happier. Neither of them smiled. Neither of them felt better.

Another time, Lacy took a ride to the store with Daddy. When they got back, Jacy was standing by the door waiting for them. She did not look happy. "I knew she was your favorite!" she said angrily pointing her finger at Daddy.

"I have two favorite daughters." replied Daddy scooping Jacy up into his arms and kissing her. Jacy smiled happily.

Lacy frowned angrily. "Pick me up, Daddy." she said tugging on his arm as he set Jacy down again. Daddy smiled and kissed her, but he didn't pick her up. "I knew you were his favorite." she said to Jacy angrily as Daddy went into the house.

Finally, Mommy and Daddy had enough. They sat Lacy and Jacy down on the couch one afternoon and had a talk with them. "We do not love either of you better than the other." they said "We love you both exactly the same."

To prove it, they had a Mommy and Lacy and Jacy day. Mommy fixed both their hair exactly the same way and did their nails exactly the same way. Then, they had tea (well really milk and cookies). They each had the same amount of cookies and the same amount of milk, and Mommy sat right in the middle of the them.

They had a Daddy and Lacy and Jacy night. They sat on the couch and ate popcorn each in a little individual bowl of the same size. Daddy sat right in the middle of them and held one arm around each of them.

That night, in their room, as they got ready for bed, Lacy said to Jacy "I'm sorry I was jealous of you. I know that Mommy and Daddy love us the same."

"I'm sorry too." replied Jacy. "I know they love us the same too." she replied.

They ran down the stairs excitedly to say goodnight to Mommy and Daddy and tell them that they were done being jealous of each other.  Mommy and Daddy were sitting on the couch with their arms around each other. They looked really happy.

Jacy and Lacy looked at Mommy and Daddy. Then, they looked at each other. They looked back at Mommy and Daddy. "You love Daddy better than us!" said Lacy angrily pointing at Daddy.

"You love Mommy better than us." added Jacy pointing at Mommy.