The Sky is Falling

Five year old, Charisse Littleton was sitting in her backyard playing with her dolls one afternoon. Out of nowhere, she felt something drop out of the sky and hit her in the head. "Hey!" she exclaimed jumping up and rubbing the sore spot on her head. She looked around to see what had hit her, but she didn't see anything or anyone. 'Oh no!' she thought worriedly. 'The sky must be falling!"

She left her dolls on the law and ran into the house to warn her family. She looked upstairs, downstairs, all around the house but she couldn't find her parents anywhere. Her little sister, Hatty.  was curled up on the couch under a big blue wool blanket watching TV. "Hatty!" exclaimed.  Charisse. Hatty didn't even pay attention. She just kept staring at the TV.  "Hatty!" Charisse said again stepping in front of the TV.

Hattiy sat up and looked as though she were going to burst into tears. She didn't like when anyone got between her and her favorite show Dora the Explorer. She opened her mouth, but before she could get a word out ...

Charisse shouted. "Hatty the sky is falling!"

Hatty looked up. It didn't look like the sky was falling, but Charisse was older and maybe she knew something Hatty didn't know. She looked at Charisse but didn't say a word.

"In the backyard, a piece of sky fell down and hid me in the head." Charise explained.

Hatty's eye's and mouth both opened wide, and she ran and hit behind the couch.

"You are not going to be safe there." declared Charisse pulling her little sister out from behind the couch and dragging her along. They trudged off in search of their parents.

Their parents were still nowhere to be found, but they did find their older sister, Deija. "What's the matter with you two wackadoodles?" asked Deija briefly looking up from her phone were she was scrolling through pictures of her latest crushes on Instagram.

"Where are Mom and Dad?" Charisse asked worriedly.

"They're out shopping." Deija told her "and that means I'm in charge so whatever it is the answer is no." she said with a smile going back to her phone.

"But the sky is falling!" Charisse exclaimed fearfully.

"Sky falling." added Hatty pointing up before worriedly going and hiding under Deija's bed.

"The sky is falling?" repeated Deija. She shook her head in disbelief. "What makes you think that?" she asked as she dragged Hatty out from under the bed. The little girl grabbed onto her older sister and clung to her.

"A piece of sky fell and hit me in the head when I was outside playing with my best dolls, Madeline and Zoey." Charisse explained.

Deija still looked doubtful. "Come on. Let's go find out what is really going on." she said as they headed downstairs with Hatty in her arms and Charisse following closely behind.

"What is going on is that the sky is falling!" insisted Charisse as they headed out to the backyard.

"Sky falling." repeated Hatty.

When they got to the backyard, Deija put Hatty down and she ran into the house. Deija started to look around, but she didn't see anything.

"Ouch." exclaimed Charisse as she felt something hit her in the head again. "The sky is falling! It's falling I tell you." she shouted as she began rubbing her sore head."We have to get out of here!"

Deija had her back to Charisse and was kneeling on the ground and hadn't seen anything. She stood up and turned around to calm her little sister down, but the minute she she opened her mouth to speak, she felt something hit her in the head. "Ouch!" she exclaimed rubbing her head.

"You see!" exclaimed Charisse with a mixture of excitement at being proved right and worry about what was going to happen next. "The sky is falling!"

Deija still wasn't convinced. She continued looking around on the ground. "Aha!" she exclaimed picking something off the ground.

"What is it?" asked Charisse worriedly ready to sprint for the house at any moment.  She didn't know whether to look  or hide her eyes. She wondered if it was possible to be blinded by a piece of sky.

"It's a peanut shell." announced Deija triumphantly shoving it under Charisse's nose. Then, she dropped it on the ground and looked up.

"There are peanut's in the sky?" asked Charisse in confusion.

"No. there are not." declared Deija continuing to look up. "Aha!" she said again pointing up.

Charisse looked up. There was their brother Foster sitting in a tree eating peanuts and dropping the shells on the ground.

Just then another peanut shell fell between the two girls narrowly missing hit one of them in the head again. "Foster!" shouted Deija angrily pointing up.

Charisse said nothing. She was just too relieved that the sky wasn't falling to be angry.

Wylie Wants to Be a Boy

Waverly Pinkerton was a girly girl. Her little sister, Wylie not so much. It wasn't just that Wylie was a tomboy. It was almost like she wanted to be a boy. Waverly was horrified.

When Mommy took them to get haircuts, Waverly just got a trim. Wylie wanted her haircut extremely boyishly short. "Are you sure that's what you really want?" asked Mommy. Wylie nodded confidentally.

"Wylie!" exclaimed Waverly in horror. "All the other girls in your grade have long hair. Do you want to look like a boy?" Wylie shrugged and didn't seem to care. "Mom," cried Waverly turning to their mother. "Don't you care that she's acting like a boy?"

Mom just smiled. "She'll grow out of it." she said confidentally.

As the stylist took her scissors to Wylie's hair, Waverly looked away. She couldn't stand to see all that pretty hair being cut away.

When it was picture day at school. Waverly wore a pretty pink dress. Wylie wanted to wear a pants. "Don't you want to wear a nice dress?" urged Waverly. "I'll help you pick out one." She went into Wylie's closet but there were't any a dresses. She went back and forth through the closet several times but still couldn't find one. "What happened to your dresses?" she finally asked her sister worriedly .

"I don't wear dressed anymore." declared Wylie. She happily picked out a pair of pants and a shirt to wear to picture day. They were both kind of plain. She showed them to their mother who nodded in approval.

"Mom!" exclaimed Waverly. "Don't you care that Wylie is acting like a boy?"

Mom just smiled. "She'll grow out it." Mom assured her.

Wylie continued to act in ways that set her apart from the other girls. If all the girls were sitting quietly on the playground while the boys were running around, Wylie would be running around with the boys. If all the girls, were talking about hair and makeup and whatever girls talk about. Wylie would be talking with the boys about sports and cars and whatever boys talk about.

"Really, Mom," declared Waverly worriedly one day "What will you do if she doesn't grow out of it?" By now,  it was very clear to Waverly if not to their mother that maybe Wylie would not grow out it.

Mom just smiled, looked Waverly right in the eye and simply replied. "I will just love her the way she is just like I do now."

The Spelling Bee

"Mom, Mom!" Daya Myers excitedly burst through the front door after school one day.  When she couldn't find her mother, she went bounding up the stairs looking for her.

"What's going on?" inquired her mother as she heard Daya's loud footsteps clattering up the stairs.

"I'm going to be in the school spelling bee!" announced Daya excitely.

"Oh, honey!, That's great!" enthused her mother throwing her arms around her daughter and hugging her.

"Wait, there's more!" declared Daya wrenching out of her mother's grasp. "Kinley is going to be in the spelling bee too." Kinley Ingram was Daya's best friend. She had been since they sat next to each other on the school bus on the first day of first grade.

"That's great." replied Mom.

"Yeah, the winner goes on to the state spelling bee and the winner of that goes on to the national spelling bee in Washington DC. Can you imagine me winning the National Spelling Bee?" said Daya dreamily closing her eyes.

"Whoa, slow down. Don't count your chickens and all that. Just take it one bee at a time."

"Oh  I can win it. I know I can." replied Daya confidentally. "Besides, they gave these pages of spelling words to study which should help us. If I master these I should have a good shot of winning."

Daya decided to do her homework and then relax a little. She would start studying the words after dinner. After dinner, she was tired though so she figured she would get a fresh start the next day after school.

The next day after school, Kinley came home with Daya. "Hello, Kinley." greeted Daya's mother. "Congratulations on making it into the Spelling Bee."

"Thanks, Mrs. Myers." replied Kinley.

The two girls had a snack then sat down at the kitchen table to do their homework.

"Did you start studying the spelling words yet?" Kinley asked.

Daya shook her head. "Nah. Not yet. " she admitted. "It shouldn't be too hard anyway. I'm pretty good at spelling."

"You're lucky." replied Kinley. "I have to work really hard at it. I still can't even believe I made into the Spelling Bee at all."

"Don't put yourself down. I'm sure your not that bad." Daya assured her friend.

After homework, Kinley had to leave. "Can't you stay for a little while even?" begged Daya.

"No, sorry. It'll be dinner time soon, and I want to have time to look over the Spelling Bee words."

Daya shrugged. She couldn't believe Kinley was being so obssessive about studying for the stupid Spelling Bee. It couldn't be that hard. She wasn't even planning to look over the words until after dinner.

After dinner, Daya got caught up in watching TV. Then, she took a shower. By the time she finished drying her long hair, she was too tired too look over the spelling words. "I'll do it tomorrow." she promised herself.

Tomorrow came and went and so did the next day and the next. Daya never managed to sit down and look over the spelling words. Suddenly, the day of the Spelling Bee which had seemed so far away was here.

Daya and Kinley and twenty of their classmates stood on the stage with their familes and other school mates sitting out in the audience watching them.

After the ground rules were explained, Kinley was the first speller.

"Favorite." intoned the moderator.

"Can you use it in a sentence?" asked Kinley nervously.

'Come on, Kinley.' Daya thought. 'That's any easy one.'

"Pink was her favorite color." stated the moderator in a monotone

"F *A*V*O*R*I*T*E." spelled Kinley slowly and carefully.

Daya silently cheered her.  Her turn was next.

"Surprise." intoned the moderator.

"S*U**P*R*I*S*E."

"No, I'm sorry that's incorrect." replied the moderator. "You may sit down."

Daya's mouth flew open and she fell into her seat in stunned silence. She couldn't believe she got knocked out in the first round when so many kids that she knew were not nearly as smart made it through to the next round including Kinley.

The rest of the match went by mostly in a blur. She just barely heard Kinley get knocked out in the final round on the word "spectator." That was an easy one. Everybody knew spectator is spelled with an o and not an e.

After the match, Daya was really upset but Kinley didn't seem bothered at all. "We gave it our best shot." Kinley assured her friend with a smile as they exited the stage and went to find their parents in the audience.

Daya wasn't assured at all. She was  really angry at herself, but she decided to take it out on her friend instead. "How could you miss 'spectator'"? she hissed at her Kinley. "Everybody knows 'spectator is spelled with an o and not an e."

"Well, at least I made it through more than the first round." Kinley hissed back. "Surprise?" she said, "You got out on surprise?  Everyone knows that there are two R's in surprise. Besides, it was on that sheet of words they gave us to look over when we made it into the spelling bee. Did you ever even look at that?"

Daya turned bright red and suddenly felt really ashamed. "You're right." she admitted. "I never even looke at that paper. I deserved too get knocked out in the first round,  and you should have won. I'm sorry you didn't. Can you ever forgive me for being so horrible?"

Kinley shrugged, smiled, and hugged her friend. "Don't worry about it." she said. "I was so nervous standing up their in front of just our school, I would never be able to handle being in the state spelling bee. Anyway, I think just being in the school spelling bee, should be good enough to get our parents to take us out for ice cream, don't you?"

Daya nodded. "Sure," she agreed putting her arm around her best friend's shoulder. "Let's go find them."

Millie the Magnificent

Today's story is not only for my daughter but by my daughter.


Millie Foster wanted to be a magician. She got magic kits. She  practiced all the time. No matter what Millie did, she could not get a trick right. Once, she did a magic show for her whole family including her aunts cousins and grandparents. She performed a trick with an egg in a hat, It was a disaster. At the end of the trick, she  put the hat on her head. The egg cracked and went all over. To make matters worse, her mom just cleaned everything. Plus, Millie had just showered that morning.

"Millie good news I am taking you to a magic show. Maybe it will help you improve your magic if you watch carefully." mommy said with a smile.

"Thanks mommy, but I don't think anything can help my magic. You remember the egg and the hat? I ruined the carpet. It still has stains all over, but I do still like watching magic. I will go to the magic show." Millie replied.

Later that week, they went to the magic show. Millie was so happy to see the show.

"So what did you think about the show?" mommy asked as they got up from their  seats when it ended.

"Mommy, that show made me realize I should never give up my dream of magic. I just have to keep practicing. Someday I will get it right." announced Millie proudly.

When they got home, Millie went straight to her room. She stayed there all day watching magic trick videos and practicing tricks. She even tried making up some of her tricks, but nothing worked. Maybe Millie just wasn't fit to be a magician. Millie didn't give up. She kept doing all she could think of to help her learn a trick.

Suddenly, Millie's dog Trixie jumped up on Millie's lap. A couple minutes later, Trixie jumped down. In place of Trixie, a bone had been placed in Millie's lap.

"I've got it." Millie thought to herself. "Magic has to be hidden. So people can't tell what is really happening. Millie burst out of her room. She got mommy and asked her to take her to the toy store down the street. There were some good magic kits there. After tons of begging, mommy finally agreed.

Millie picked out all kinds of magic kits. She found a kit just like what she had done with an egg a couple months ago. She knew to really know how magic works she had to be able to complete that trick. When she was done picking magic kits, Mommy paid, and they went home.

Once they got home, Millie went right to work. She decided which tricks to do for her magic show. Next, she wrote a script. After that was done, she practiced all the tricks and studied the script making sure she learned it by heart. When she was sure she had memorized her script word for word, she tested each trick one more time. She was just about ready to ask mommy to invite the family over for dinner  when she remember the one thing she had forgotten. She needed an assistant, every good magican had one. She picked up the phone and dialed the number of her best friend. "Hey Kayla, want to be a part of my magic show?" she asked into the phone.

"Of course!" Kayla replid excitedly

"Great, be over in ten minutes." Millie said and hung up without waiting for a responce. When Kayla got there, Millie taught her what she needed to do and helped her to learn her lines. By the time they were finished, it was time for the show. Millie's whole family was waiting in the living room.

Millie and Kayla stepped out of the room and ran downstairs. They stepped into the living room and the show began. At the end of the show, everyone clapped for Millie and Kayla.

"Millie, how did you do that?" asked her cousin Mark.

"A magician never reveals their secrets." replied Millie.

Mandy Loves Makeup Too

Mandy Brewster  was five years old. She had two older sisters. Mattie was 15. Marie was 16. They both loved makeup. Mandy loved make up too. She adored pretty eyeshadows especially in shades of purple and blue. She was crazy about lipsticks especially in bright colors, the brighter the better. Her favorite color was cherry red. She thought rosy rouged cheeks were just beautiful.

Mattie and Marie were allowed to wear makeup because they were older. Mandy was not because she was younger. "Please, mommy!" she begged. "I want to wear make up too."

Mommy smiled and patted her on the head "Your too little, honey." she replied."Wait until you get older." Mommy would paint Mandy's fingernails and toenails in pretty colors but that was it.

Mandy liked to sit in her sister's room and watch them get made up at least when they would let her. "You're so lucky. You get to wear make up." she declared enviously from her perch on Mattie's bed  as her sisters got ready to go out one day. She watched them paint their lids with eyeshadow and smooth rouge on their cheeks and line their lips with lipstick.  They look so pretty. Mandy sighed  She couldn't wait until she could be that pretty too.

Mommy didn't seem to appreciate make up as much as her girls. When she saw Mattie and Marie, she frowned. "March right back up there and take some of that off." she commanded. "When it comes to makeup, less is more." she declared.

Mattie and Marie sighed. They didn't seem to think so. They unhappily and went up and took some of the make up off even though they didn't want to. They knew better then to argue with their mother if they wanted to go out at all.

After Mattie and Marie left, Mandy wandered back up to their room. She knew she wasn't supposed to be in there when they weren't home, but she just couldn't help herself. She just wanted to peek at the pretty make up that's all. She tiptoed into the room and wandered over to Mattie's make up case. She took out the eyeshadow and looked at all the pretty colors. "Ooh." she sighed over a particularly lovely shade of purple eyeshadow. "I bet this would look pretty on me." she said to herself out loud. Maybe, she could just try a little bit  and then wash it off and noone would know.

After she smudged the eyeshadow all over her eye lids and around them, she looked in the mirror and smiled. It looked so pretty. All it needed was a little color on her cheeks to go with it. She went in Marie's make up case and found a gorgeous shade of pink. That would be perfect! She smeared it all over her face from her eyes to her chin.  She looked in the mirror again. She looked even prettier!

Then, she sighed. Something was definitely missing. She thought about it for a minute and then she smiled happily as she figured out what it was -  lipstick. Lipstick would be just the finishing touch she needed. Then, she would really be beautiful.

Mandy scrounged around in both her sisters' make up cases and tried all the lipsticks until she found a shade she liked - the perfect cherry red. She managed to completely cover her lips and all around them as well. Then, she looked in the mirror and admired herself. "Pretty, pretty." she smiled at her reflection.

Just then, Mommy came in startling Mandy so much that she managed to knock all the make up on to the floor. "Look how pretty I look." Mandy said to Mommy smiling brightly but Mommy didn't smile back. "Too much makeup?" asked Mandy pointing to her face.

Mommy nodded frowning. "Too much makeup."

Mandy smiled. She felt just like a big girl.

Rayli's Resolutions

Brooke Sanford was sitting at the kitchen table doing her homework. Her little sister, Rayli wandered over to where she was sitting. "What are you doin'?" she asked curiously.

"My homework." groaned Brooke unhappily. "We have to write a New Year's Resolution."

"What's that?" asked Rayli

"It's something that you want to change or do better in the New Year." replied her sister.

"Oh!" declared Rayli enthusiastically. That sounded like fun. She wanted to make a New Year's Resolution too. "Can you only make one New Year's Resolution?" she asked.It sounded like so much fun that she wanted to make lots of them.

"You can make as many as you want." replied her sister.

"I am going to make lots of New Year's Resolutions!" announced Rayli. "I will not eat vegetables! I will not go to school! I will get a dog!"

Brooke shook her head at her sister. "It can't be things you don't want to do anyway and that you have no control over. It has to be things you can control and that will make your life better not just things that you want. Why don't you start with something like I will not annoy my sister when she's doing her homework."

"Okay." replied Rayli disappointedly. It wasn't going to be a fun as she thought but she still want to try. New Year's Resolutions were for big girls, and Rayli wanted to be a big girl like Brooke. Rayli got a piece of paper and a pencil and went looking for her mother.

"Mommy, can you help me write my New Year's Resolutions?" she asked when she found her mother in her room sorting the laundry.

"Sure sweetie." replied her mother. "Just as soon as I finish sorting."

Rayli sighed. She sat down on her mother's bed impatiently. She did not like waiting. As soon as Mommy was done, Rayli excitedly handed her the paper and pencil. "Now, you write what I say." she commanded. Mommy gave her a look. "Please!" added Rayli.  Rayli's Mommy put the pencil to the paper ready to write.

"Number one, I will not bother my sister when she is doing her homework." declared Rayli. "Number two, I will clean my room. Number three, I will eat my vegetables. Number four, I will go to bed when I am told." When she finished stating her resolutions, Rayli sat back and smiled proudly as Mommy read them back.

That night at dinner, she shared her resolutions with the rest of the family. After dinner, the night went quickly and before long it was 8PM, Rayli's bedtime. "Time for bed, sweetie." announced Mommy.

Rayli frowned unhappily. "Just five more minutes. Please!" she begged.

Now, it was Mommy's turn to frown. "I thought going to bed when you're told was one of your New Year's Resolutions."

Rayli shrugged. "Maybe, I'll just have three New Year's Resolution's." she said.

The next day after school, Brooke was sitting at the table doing her homework again when Rayli hurried over. "What are you doing?" she inquired nosily.

"Wasn't one of your New Year's Resolutions to not bother me when I'm doing my homework?" asked Brooke with annoyance.

Rayli shrugged. "I still have two other resolutions." she said. "I am definitely going to keep those." She ran off to her room to play with her toys. After a while, she got bored and came downstairs to watch TV. She had only been watching for a few minutes when she heard her mother calling from upstairs.

"Rayli!" she was yelling in an angry voice. Rayli slowly and worriedly went back upstairs.

"What's the matter, Mommy?" she asked upon finding her mother in Rayli's own room.

"Wasn't one of your New Year's Resolutions to clean your room?" asked Mommy. "This room is a mess!" She pointed around the room. There were toys and books scattered everywhere.

Rayli sighed. "I still have one more resolution. I know I can keep that one!"

That night, Mommy served asparagus with dinner. As soon as Rayli saw it, she made a disgusted face and pushed it to the end of her plate. Asparagus was her absolute least favorite vegetable.

"Rayli," Mommy reminded her. "Don't forget your New Year's Resolutions."

Rayli slowly picked up her fork and moved it toward the aparagus. Then, she quickly moved it away again. "Maybe, I'll make New Year's Resolutions next year instead." she declared.

Adorable Adela

Octavia Wyatt had a new baby sister, and she wasn't happy about it. Nobody had asked her before the baby was born if she would mind having a younger sibling - she did, in fact, mind.  She minded very much.

Before the baby came, Octavia was the cute little one. She was the one everyone came to see and fussed over. Now, it was Adela, her baby sister. 

"Oh, she's so adorable." gushed the latest visitor to arrive at their house and peek into the sleeping baby Adela's crib. 

Octavia put her finger in her mouth as if she were about to gag. Adorable? What was so adorable about a tiny baby who could hardly do anything but sleep and go to the bathroom. Meanwhile, she, Octavia could do all sorts of exciting things like count and spell and do both a front and a back somersault.

"Do you want to hear me count to ten?" she asked her mother. 

"Later." Mommy said with a smile. "I have to feed Adela."

"Do you want to hear me spell my name?" she asked her father.

"I can't right now." he replied. "I have to go to the store to  get Adela more diapers. Do you want to come?"

Octavia frowned and shook her head no. She didn't want to do anything for that stupid sister of hers. 

Grandma arrived and Octavia immediately brightened. Surely, Grandma would want to spend time with Octavia. She and Grandma had always been close. "Hi Grandma." she greeted her grandmother warmly. "Do you want to see me do a front or a back somersault?"

Grandma smiled. "I have to see baby Adela first."  she replied.  She hurried off into Adela's room, 

Octavia slumped to the ground dejectedly. She closed her eyes for a minute and opened them to see a figure looming over her. It was her older cousin, Marie. "Hi." said Marie sitting down beside her.

"Aren't you looking for Adela's room?" asked Octavia pointing towards it. 

Marie shook her head no.

"Don't you want to see adorable Adela?" asked Octavia wrinkling up her nose at the mere mention of her baby sister's name.

Marie shook her head no again. "I came to see you." she replied. "I wanted to tell you I know how you feel."

Octavia didn't think so. She just rolled her eyes at her cousin.

"I really do." replied Marie sincerely. "You see I'm an older sister too. Only in my case, it was adorable Essie. It was Essie everyone came to see and Essie everyone fussed over. I felt really left out."

Octavia nodded vigorously. She knew just how Marie felt, lonely and sad and like she didn't matter. "What did you do?" she asked eagerly. 

"Nothing." replied Marie. "What could I do? I was just a kid."

Octavia frowned again. She thought Marie's advice was going to be helpful but she guessed not. She started to turn away from her cousin.

However, Marie continued talking. "Do you know what happened?" she asked. "Essie got older." she continued after Octavia shook her head no. "After a while, she wasn't so adorable and so new anymore. She was just another kid like me. After all, you can't be a new baby forever."

Octavia smiled. It was her first genuine smile in a long time. She thanked her cousin and went off to see her baby sister.

"Can I see the baby?" she asked entering her Mom's room. 

Grandma was about to say no because the baby was sleeping in her bassinet but Mom was so happy that Octavia finally wanted to see her baby sister that she practically had tears in eyes. "Sure, you can see your baby sister. " she replied. "Just be really quiet though. Adela's sleeping." 

Octavia quietly tiptoed over to the baby's bassinet and peeked in. Then, when Mommy and Grandma looked away for a minute. She leaned in and whispered. "Don't get used to it. You're not going to be adorable forever. You know."