The girls were battling while playing Wii ski. This seemed to have carried over from the school parking lot where while they appeared to be happy while walking with friends out of their classrooms, they jumped at the chance to pout and complain about one another the second my jacket was in view. I asked them to save up all of their tattling while walking in silence to the car so we could have a fabulous drive home, dissecting each and every bone they wanted to pick with each other.

Finally I suggested during our video game they each tell the other three encouraging things while racing down the electronic hill side by side.

Ellie: My three enverging things are: 1) I would die if you weren’t my sister. 2) I love you more than life itself. 3) You mean more to me than anything.

I suspect Ellie’s words of “envergement” may have come from song lyrics. Nonetheless, I was pretty floored at the depth with which she could almost instantly recall three rather meaningful phrases and apply them to her relationship with her older sister.

Hanna’s turn.

Hanna: Okay, okay, okay, um. 1) Your birthday is soon. 2) Your hair in real life isn’t very nice but your Wii avatar has really good hair. 3) Your wand is out of batteries.

Bliss.