By: Madeline Kathleen Johnson
View all Madeline Kathleen Johnson's works
9/3/2016
Dear Diary,
I will start by introducing myself. I’m Azalea Kathleen Parker-Smith, and I’m 12 years old. I know, it’s a mouthful. My name, Azalea, is a type of pointed flower that grows on a bush. I know because we have them in our garden. We have more flowers that I’ll talk about later. I had to get that over with because people are always asking about that. People also always ask about my siblings, because they’re all twins!
My older siblings, Alder and Lily, are not identical. Lily has straight brown hair and brown eyes, while Alder has straight blond hair and green eyes. Alder is bookish, he likes school and his room in our large-ish house is covered with bookshelves and posters of famous authors I’ve never heard of. Lily is a typical teenage girl. She likes boys, makeup, and nails. Her room is bright pink with posters of famous singers, and a canopy bed that she spent a long time begging for, before our parents (more on them later) finally gave in. Most of her stuff is either pink or purple.
After they had me, my parents wanted even more kids (Who knows why? I still wish they had stopped with me) hoping for another boy to even things out, but instead got more twins. They are Daffodil and Iris. Seven year old identical twins with bright blond (And slightly curly – like mine!) hair and blue eyes. Yes, none of this family looks anything alike. They can be told apart because (yes, you can ask them) but Iris has a small birthmark behind her ear. After knowing them for a while, you can just tell though. Daffodil is happy and energetic! She can be weird and fun. (Don’t tell the rest of my sisters, but Daffodil’s my favorite!) Iris likes science and math. She likes to read, but not quite as much as Alder. She’s on a soccer team and loves to play. Iris is the older one by 2 minutes. Daffodil and Iris’s room is a dandelion yellow. Daffodil’s side is messy – the kind of messy where you know where everything is, but no one else does. Iris’s side is neat and she has shelves for everything. Daffodil doesn’t bother asking for shelves.
Now, finally, (I promise these are the last of them) my even younger sisters. Hyacinth and Lilac, two year old identical twins. Lilac is older by 2 ½ minutes. They’re redheads, and their hair is light, straight, and wispy, and a little below their shoulders now. They’ve got bangs that frame their bright blue eyes perfectly. The only way you can tell them apart is that Hyacinth has a dimple in her right cheek, and Lilac in her left. They know this because when Hyacinth was born, she smiled instead of crying like Lilac, and they noticed her dimple. Hyacinth is very energetic – she did everything like walking and sitting up and rolling over earlier than normal babies. She loves to cause trouble! She gets under everyone’s feet. Lilac is a good baby- she walked and sat up right on time. She spends her time playing quietly with her stuffed animals. Hyacinth’s first word was “happy” and Lilac’s was “mommy.” You can tell a lot about a person from their first words! Their room is lavender colored with both the cribs white with matching lavender bedspreads. They have self portraits and an elephant toy chest – filled with stuffed animals of all colors. Their room is the second smallest of all of the rooms, because we didn’t have a room when they were born. My parents had to expand into our side yard.
Now, my parents. I have two moms. Kathleen Parker and Alison Smith. And, here comes the inevitable question. What do I call them? I call Kathleen (it feels so weird to call her that) Momileen, and Alison (again, so weird) Momison. Momileen has straight and thick auburn hair and brown eyes, and Momison has curly brown hair like me, and blue eyes. The other inevitable question is, Who is your biological mom? Well, long story short, they have been taking turns. Momileen is Daffodil, Iris, Lily and Alder’s mom, while Momison is mine and the redheads’. They had some sort of procedure – they told me about it when Momileen was pregnant with Daffodil and Iris, but I wasn’t paying attention – I was only five – and I’m not curious enough to ask again. They both work from home so they can take care of the babies. And, the reason they have had so many twins is because the chance of twins is slightly higher when you are or are related to twins. Momileen and Momison are twins. Momileen has a twin brother – Uncle Kai. Momison has an identical twin sister — it made for a really funny April Fools day one year — Auntie Caitlyn.
My hair is curly, the kind you can brush to look like you curled it with an iron. I also have bangs like Hyacinth and Lilac. That’s the only interesting part though, because my hair is just a normal, boring, brown. I have amber eyes, but everyone thinks that they’re brown. I don’t bother correcting them because I thought they were brown, too, until a few years ago when Momileen told me they were amber. My room is dark green, with a bookshelf and loft bed. I have the smallest room, but at least I don’t have to share.
Finally, I’ll go back to our backyard. We not only have azaleas, we also have an old alder tree, lilies, hyacinths, lilacs, daffodils, and irises. Flowers for each kid. The yard came with the tree and the lilies, which is what inspired Alder and Lily’s names. Then they started to plant the flowers as we were born. Each flower (or shrub) has a rock next to it, with painted handprints from each year we’ve been alive. They are pretty big rocks, but Alder and Lily have two rocks now since they’re 15.
Now, just when you thought introductions were over, we have to introduce Evelyn Emerson, the one and only! Let’s back up a bit. Evelyn (We call her Evie, pronounced Eh-vee) is my best friend. I felt left out, not being a twin twin and all, until I met her! We met when we were five, on November 19th, 2008, when Daffodil and Iris were born. Evie was exploring while her parents visited her little brother Benji, who had been born three months premature a week ago. We were both five. Once we asked the basic questions, like What’s your name? How old are you? Why are you here? When’s your birthday, etcetera. When we discovered we had both been born on May 5th, 2004, we were astonished. We live in a smalltown in Iowa called Maple Valley. Our town is home to 219 people, 104 dogs, 126 cats, and 52 hamsters. This is why we were so surprised. With so few people, each person usually has a different birthday.
FINALLY introductions are OVER. Now I can tell you about my day – whoops. Momison is calling us for dinner. Bye!
From Azalea K. P.S.
9/4/2016
Dear Diary,
It’s me, Azalea again. Today is Sunday. Thankfully, my family isn’t religious (Momileen is Jewish and Momison is Christian) so we don’t go to church. I am sitting in my room at my desk by the window. I’m really bored, so Momileen ordered me up here. Well, not exactly ordered, but what she said was, “Azalea, if you’re so bored, why don’t you go write in that diary I bought you LAST weekend when you were bored?” So I came and am writing, but I have no idea what to write since nothing much has happened today. Maybe I’ll write about yesterday, since I didn’t get to then. Yesterday was Saturday. It was a good Saturday, as far as Saturdays go. Evie came over and we did some work on our school project, the first of the year! Since we’re in seventh grade, we have to make a chart on decimals and fractions, and about how they’re connected and stuff like that. It’s super boring, but if we do well on it, it means my average would be bumped up to 100– after that unfortunate incident with that math quiz (I got a 99!) I got a 99). Evie says that I need to stop trying to be perfect all the time, but Evie’s the one with only an 80 average in math – soon to be 85 – so apparently her own advice isn’t working out for her! Anyway, after she left, I wrote the introduction in you, then it was dinner. We had salmon, rice, and broccoli. It was okay, but I prefer green beans over broccoli. Anyway, I have nothing more to say!
Azalea K. P.S.
9/5/2016
Dear Diary,
Today is Monday. Weekends are way too short. I woke up at precisely 6:47 AM. I know because I pay attention to it for a science experiment I’m doing for school. We have to do a year-long experiment and turn it in at the end of the year. Mine is based on if the day of the week or what happens on that day affects how much you sleep. My hypothesis is that if you like what’s happening that day, you fall asleep quickly and wake up earlier. If you don’t, then you go to bed late and wake up later. Well, anyway, after waking up I headed down the steps to eat breakfast. Momileen was already awake and had made a nice breakfast. She gets up at dawn every day, which might have something to do with the fact that she grew up on a farm. With a rooster. The kind that ALSO wakes up at dawn. “PANCAKES!!” I suddenly hear Daffodil running down the stairs from her room on the second floor, right next to mine. Iris comes down more slowly, still rubbing her eyes. “Azalea!” Momison calls from across the room. She’s at the doorway of Hyacinth and Lilac’s room holding a screaming Lilac. “Can you get Hyacinth?” I nodded, then ran over and found Hyacinth quietly sleeping next to Rose, our Australian shepherd dog (who also has roses and paw prints in our garden). Rose somehow climbed into Hyacinth’s crib using the changing table. Well, I picked up Hyacinth quietly. She stays sound asleep until Rose wakes up and starts barking all over the place. I pet her with one of my hands as I put down Hyacinth on the floor. Hyacinth doesn’t seem at all jarred but all the noise. She’s quietly sitting on the floor playing with the teddy bear she threw on the floor before falling asleep last night. That’s when Lavender, our fluffy white cat, decides to make an appearance. Hyacinth immediately starts meowing. She does that because she spends way too much time watching the National Geographic channel. They have a kids channel that she loves. Lavender’s purple eyes stare quietly at Rose, ignoring Hyacinth. I quickly realize what’s about to happen and grab Lavender and take her into the backyard. Rose runs after and tries to go out, but I shut the door before she can get out. I heard crying and realized that I left Hyacinth in her room! I ran back and grabbed her. She calms down enough for me to take her and put her in her high chair. It’s now 6:59 AM. I have to leave in a half hour! I scarfed down the now cold pancakes and ran upstairs to get dressed. I grab the clothes from my dresser under my loft, and throw them on. I am now wearing a white long sleeved shirt that says Wildwood Schoolon it in light blue letters, and gray sweatpants. Then, I go to the bathroom and put on deodorant. I grab a comb and I carefully comb my bangs and hair, gently brushing it into curls. I grab my blue backpack and shove the book I was reading last night in, along with my finished math and ELA homework. Evie has our project. I throw on a thick light gray sweater and run out the door. School was normal. My class, 7-406, had Science first. Evie is carrying our project in a separate bag. Science and ELA go normally, and our science teacher Ms Santos doesn’t give us any homework, and Mr Goran from ELA only gives us a page. In math, we have to present our project to the class. Finally, after Art, we have lunch! Me and Evie run to our normal lunch table. Isabel (Caramel hair and blue eyes) and Ida (brown hair and light brown eyes) are already there. We talk about the upcoming auditions for the school show! We’re going to do Cinderella. Me and Ida are auditioning for roles, while Evie and Isabel are going to work on the set and costumes. Me and Ida are both hoping to be Cinderella, but I hope I get it. Ida has a good singing voice, but she isn’t a super good actress. The auditions are next week, so I’m practicing constantly singing and acting. I hope I’m a good enough singer! Evie says I am. After lunch, we went to our last class. It was my least favorite, history. But FINALLY school was over and I came home. Then I started this entry. It’s been an hour and Momison is asking if I finished my homework.
Azalea K. P.S.
9/10/2016
Dear Diary,
It’s finally Saturday. We had a lot of homework this week, so I couldn’t write. It was a pretty normal week. Lots of practicing for Cinderella. But. Today was the worst. Day. Ever. You’ll never guess what happened. Momileen is pregnant. AGAIN. Please please pleaseeee tell me this is a dream. They went on and on about how lucky we are since she’s older now, around 40 or 45 I think. She’s going to have it in three months. Momison and Momileen checked to make sure it’s okay and everything, too. Like that it doesn’t have Down syndrome or anything. It doesn’t. They don’t want to do a gender reveal, though. They’re big believers in being surprised. We all know what they want though. A boy. But they have lists of names for both. My favorite is Sage for a boy and Violet for a girl, but I also like Rosemary and Ivy for girls too. They are adding another room to the house, of course. It’ll be added above Hyacinth and Lilac’s room. They said I could help decorate it, since they know it’s going to be hardest on me. Lily and Alder didn’t care, Daffodil and Iris are excited because they’re old enough to carry a baby now, and Hyacinth said, “Baby?” And Lilac said, “like me?” I wonder what the record is for the largest family ever. Okay. I checked. It’s apparently got one husband, 38 wives, 89 kids, and I didn’t bother to check in-laws or grandkids. I wonder if they all live together. Well, we’re going to be an even bigger legend in Maple Valley now I guess!
Azalea K. P.S.
9/11/2016
Dear Diary,
THEY’RE GOING TO LET ME NAME IT!! Okay, now I’m excited. I’ve been researching and reading about plants everywhere. Well, the ones that can grow in this climate anyway, since it’s an important tradition to have the plant in the yard. They also said that they’re not having anymore kids after this one. In other news, tomorrow is auditions! I’m really excited. I practiced my singing ten times, acting 15 times, and I worked on dancing 5 times. So far. Breakfast this morning was filled with talk about the baby. Apparently Alder wants it to be a boy. The rest of us girls want it to be a girl, but I don’t mind either. I have great name ideas for both. I’ll try to write tomorrow diary!
Azalea K. P.S.
9/12/2016
Dear Diary,
I’m not Cinderella. Ida is. I never thought I could be more sad , but I can. Today surpasses all the worst days in history. I can’t believe this! After all of that! I even memorized all Cinderella’s lines. And songs. They haven’t taught the dances yet but I would have memorized those too. I’m going to be Drizella, one of the stepsisters. I have a couple lines, and I get to share a song with Penny Parkinson, who’s playing the other stepsister, Anastasia. It’s a good song, but Ida gets to sing all of the best songs! Like “In My Own Little Corner ” and “Impossible” I LOVE Impossible!!! This is SO unfair!!! I need to think about something else now. It does feel good to confide in someone sometimes. Momison and Momileen understand. I have no idea what to write about, so I guess I’ll tell you my name list. For a boy, I like Thyme, Sage, Cypress, and Sorrel. There are better options for girls, but I narrowed girls down to just five. Heather, Primrose, Amaryllis, Petunia, and Aster. That didn’t work. I still feel so sad. It’s late now, so guess you got another pretty short entry today. Bye!
Azalea K. P. c
9/13/2016
Dear Diary,
I think I’ll try to make a longer entry today. They sent out the rehearsal days for Cinderella! It’s going to be right after school at 2:30, until 4:00 on Tuesday and Thursday, starting next week. I’ve decided to make the best of being Drizella, but It’s hard. Ida knows I’m upset, but it’s all she talks about, so lunch today was really hard. This morning was funny though! I’ll try to remember all I can. First, I woke up and I saw a glittery blue cover on my face. I looked in the mirror after taking you off my face, and my face was covered with glitter! I also noticed I must have fallen asleep while writing, because my S for Smith looks more like a C. I didn’t bother to wipe it off or get dressed and I went downstairs. As soon as I got downstairs, Momison saw me and burst out laughing. I must have been quite a spectacle in my red and green striped pajamas (never too early for Christmas or Hanukkah!) with the glitter on my face. My hair was also a mess, glitter everywhere!!! Lily laughed too, and when Alder came out of his room, right next to Lily’s (they split a large room in half with a thin wall so she and Alder could have their own rooms)and unfortunately right by the dining room, while I was washing my hair, he took one look and went back into his room. When I was done washing my hair, I waited for it to dry by getting dressed. Today I wore a cute white shirt with gold lettering that said ,”Best Friend” on it. Evie has the same one. I also wore jeans. Well, that’s the funny part of today. Other than that, today was boring. We got our grades back for our projects, and me and Evie got an 100!!! Now my grade is right where it should be. Perfect 100, yet again. Good job, me!
Azalea K. P.S.
9/24/2016
Dear Diary,
I just finally found you!!! I really need to yell at Iris for this. She hid it under Lilac’s bed. I know it was her because she left a note. It said “IRIS WAS HERE.” It was very obvious, but she’s only seven, so… Anyway, we had our first rehearsals yesterday and Tuesday. Tomorrow is FINALLY another beautiful Saturday. We’re going to the Maple Valley theater to watch a new movie, Storks!!! I’m pretty excited because commercials for Storks have been on our TV for ages, and since there are so many of us, tickets are super expensive. We only really go once or twice a year, so I hope it’s as good as it looks in the commercials! Oh, and something really funny happened at lunch today. So, me, Evie, and Isabel were sitting and laughing at our lunch table (Ida was sick today) when Evie pulled out her phone suddenly. Ida had sent her a funny video. Evie showed it to us and guess what it was? It was of Ida’s older sister dancing by herself in her room – to “Who Let the Dogs Out?” She was really funny, but Ida made us make sure not to tell anyone, because her sister can get really mean if Ida does anything to hurt her. Then after that, when I got home, it was CRAZY. Hyacinth had gotten to the toilet paper in the bathroom, and not just the one roll. The whole CABINET of them. We had two extra packs in there! Thirty-six toilet paper rolls had been spread all over the house, and around Lilac, who was crying as Momileen untangled her. Momison came in from the office in the other room after her meeting just then, and found the spectacle. She immediately started cleaning up and put Hyacinth in her playpen in the living room. I put down my bag in my room and quickly started to help. Don’t worry, we recycled everything. While we were cleaning up, Lily and Alder came home with Daffodil and Iris (It’s their job to pick them up from school on Fridays, Thursday, and Tuesday. I used to be Tuesday and Thursday, but because of rehearsals I now pick up Daffodil and Iris on Wednesday and Monday) and Daffodil and Iris promptly left the room and went outside to the backyard. They never want to get involved in anything since they usually mess up in some way. Like that time a month ago when Hyacinth ripped up some of the flowers in the garden (we have a lot of flowers in our garden) and they thought that they should plant them back, and then a week later they started wilting and Momison and Momileen realized what happened and bought flowers to replace them. And that time… Well anyway, after that Momison and Momileen made a new house rule that you shouldn’t clean up after the babies unless you are at least ten. So Lily and Alder are recruited and finally we clean up the whole house. There was toilet paper EVERYWHERE, in every single room but the bathroom. Hyacinth looked very smug after that, I must say. My hand is starting to hurt now (imagine how much it hurt after writing that introduction) so I’ll write about the movie tomorrow.
Azalea K. P.S.
9/25/2016
Dear Diary,
I am super bored, so you’re getting a full account of today. Every. Detail. So, I woke up this morning and forgot where I was, because my room is being repainted white since the dark green was getting to be a little much. I was sleeping in Lily’s room on the floor. I rolled under her bed by accident overnight. I’m used to having the bars on my loft bed to stop me from rolling off the bed. I woke up and bonked my head on the bottom of the bed and it was really painful. Then I turned over and saw where I was, so I rolled back onto the rug. Then I had to take a shower, even though it’s Saturday since I was so dusty. Then I brushed my hair and pulled it back into a ponytail, and changed into fresh pajamas, the blue ones with the white owls. Then I ran out from my room, which is dry now, downstairs to eat the pancakes that I really was hungry for since going past the dining room on my way upstairs to the bathroom to shower twenty minutes ago. I was starving by then, so I ate like 3 pancakes before Daffodil and Iris even came down the stairs, then I ate another before Hyacinth started crying, then ten seconds later Lilac (Hyacinth’s crying woke her up). Then I picked them up and fed them some pancakes one tiny piece at a time. Saturday mornings are my turn, Lily has Saturday lunch, lucky her since we’re going to be at the movies for lunch and one of the moms will do it. Alder has dinner today. It changes every week. We have a complicated chart for it. Anyway, so then we watched some cartoons. I love Mickey Mouse, especially the old ones, even though I’m “too old” for it now according to my ex-friend Christine. Daffodil and Iris like it too, and they played with Hyacinth and Lilac while we watched. At 11:00, we started to get ready. I did my hair into braids, threw on some clothes and got in the van at 11:30, and started to read Into the Wild, my favorite book again. (So that’s where it was! I was looking for it for so long!) Ten minutes later, Daffodil and Iris made me sit in the middle of the back. I hate the back but I have to because Lily and Alder had taken the second row of seats and Hyacinth and Lilac’s car seats were in the first row. (Yes we have a huge van that can seat nine). We got to the movie theater at 11:50 and bought our tickets, making it to the movie just on time. The Parker-Smith family can definitely be controlled when a movie is at stake. Also popcorn and candy. The movie was really good and funny, my favorite character was the baby Diamond Destiny, who was sooo cute! Closely second was the pigeon (I forgot its name already) and Tulip the girl, who had such a happy ending! Then we ate lunch out at a closeby diner. I got a hamburger, and Lily ended up having to feed Hyacinth and Lilac anyway. I ran to the car and sat in the third row of the van with Daffodil. Iris, Alder, and Lily had to go in the back. We got home and played a family game of Monopoly. We play it timed since it would take AGES for all of us to go bankrupt. Alder won, as usual after a two hour game. Then I was bored and helped Momison and Momileen make our special homemade pizza for dinner! We each get a normal cheese pizza and go down an assembly line to make our own special pizza, at the end we all pop the pizzas in the oven for an extra five minutes to melt the toppings in the pizza. Today I really felt like a Hawaiian pizza and chose pineapple and ham. I don’t usually like ham but sometimes a person just needs to have some Hawaiian pizza, right? After dinner I watered the azaleas (It’s each kids job to take care of the flowers) since there hasn’t been rain in a while. After all of that, it was 8:00 so I took my weekly Saturday night bath (obviously after everyone else already did their baths and showers so no one would yell at me to get out) and then I started to write in you. It’s now 9:45 so I should try to sleep. Good night!
Azalea K. P.S.
9/27/2016
Dear Diary,
Today I’m going to sleep over with Evie since there isn’t school tomorrow. I have to bring everything to school, though, since we want to spend as much time together as possible. I’ll walk home with her from school. So I have to bring you with me! Luckily, I have a locker and I can keep most of my stuff in there. See you later, I just really needed to share that since I’m SO EXCITED!
Azalea K. P.S.
11/4/2016
Dear Diary,
OH MY GOSH. I CANNOT BELIEVE I LEFT YOU AT SCHOOL. I have so much to fill you in on! Cinderella’s going great, and I went as jelly this year. (Evie was peanut butter. We always do matching costumes). The baby is due in a month and a half, and it’s starting to show so we have to help out more around here now. Ida has been really nice to me about Cinderella thank goodness. I’m all over the place right now. Well, what happened was that I left you in my locker, and I couldn’t find you. I searched my locker all over! I thought you probably fell out of my bag after checking everywhere around Evie’s house and inside the bag all over. Finally today I found you when the person who has the locker below me (she’s in the other class so I have no idea of her name) cleaned out her locker! Luckily, she had known to look for you since everyone around my locker saw me frantically searching for it when I lost you. I was there so she didn’t even try to read you, thank gosh. You slipped through the crack in the back of my locker and dropped down. At the time, the locker was super full and the owner didn’t feel like cleaning out and didn’t want to bother. I didn’t want to get a new diary because nothing could replace you! On more recent news, Daffodil and Iris are turning eight in only 15 days! (They have been talking about it nonstop since November 1st). And Hyacinth and Iris are officially two and a half today, since their birthday is April 4th. Well, thank goodness I’ll see you tomorrow, diary!
Azalea K. P.S.
11/5/2016
Dear Diary,
Today is FINALLY Friday! AND GUESS WHAT? It’s the first snow day of the year! I get to do WHATEVER I want!!! This is so exciting! I was just getting up when I heard Iris screaming and running from room to room in the house “SNOWWWW DAYYY!!” That is definitely enough to wake everyone up in the house, but somehow Hyacinth and Lilac slept through it. Then I just HAD to tell you so I wrote this down. Well, I’m going to enjoy my snow day and eat my breakfast oatmeal, bye!
Azalea (I gave up on the initials, it’s just annoying me now)
11/9/2016
Dear Diary,
It’s Tuesday and I’m home from rehearsals. Rehearsals weren’t the best since today we worked on “Impossible” . I was really upset and almost burst into tears, but I was able to keep going and learn the dancing. (Since Drizella is such a small part I’m part of the ensemble in some of the numbers). It was really sad but I think I’m calmed down now.. Anyway, Evie and I are having another sleepover on Friday, but this time we’ll stop home first. I’m not going to lose you again, diary. Nothing super interesting happened today apart from those. Daffodil and Iris are growing extremely excited about their birthday, so that’s pretty much all they’ve been talking about. Hyacinth and Lilac are starting to talk now (they were pretty late in talking) and started to talk in full sentences. I think they could be considered toddlers now. They’re also starting to be closer to each other and doing things together. I think Daffodil and Iris were too different to get closer. Yesterday Hyacinth and Lilac figured out how to open toothpaste and squirted it all over their room. I was talking with Evie on the phone while I was supposed to be watching them, so I was the one who had to clean it up. It took such a long time. I was so tired after that I didn’t get a chance to write in you. I’ve also been thinking about maybe writing a story, but I don’t know what to write about. Well, I’ll tell you if I figure something out. Bye, diary! See you soon!
Azalea
11/16/2016
Dear Diary,
I’ve been brainstorming and I think I’m going to write a fictional story, maybe about an animal? WAIT. I should write about my life from the perspective of one of my pets! I’ve been brainstorming all week, but I think I’ll start the story with Rose, and include them all. I wonder how Rose feels about Lavender? I think I’ll try to write the story once I get a new notebook, probably for Christmas. I’ve been working on my Christmas list since the start of November, so I’ll write it here to keep track.
Azalea’s Christmas List
New notebooks for my story
A new phone case, one with a dog on it
That board game I saw in the store last week
A new fish tank for the fishies
Oh, and yeah we have fish. They’re named Dahlia and Fred. Hyacinth named Fred, so it’s not a flower. I don’t think Hyacinth has quite understood our “family of flowers” yet. Oh, a couple of days ago the cutest thing happened. I was doing my homework from Friday and Lilac and Rose came in – but that wasn’t the funny part. The funny part was how LILAC WAS ON ROSE. Like riding her! Rose is strong, and a pretty big dog for her breed (Australian shepherd) so she ran by the room with Lilac on her back, no problem. And – get this – Lilac was screaming, “YEE HAW!” I guess she must have seen it on some show that she watched with Iris, who’s been into western cartoons lately.
Azalea
11/17/2016
Dear Diary,
Today I stayed home sick with the moms. I feel horrible and I have a fever. At least it was now my turn to send Ida, Isabel, and Evie a funny video. I sent them one of Hyacinth attempting to ride on Lavender. It was adorable! I had soup for lunch and Momileen gave me an extra dessert. I’m feeling a little better after that, and I hope I can go to school tomorrow!
Azalea
11/19/2016
Dear Diary,
Today is Daffodil and Iris’s birthday! It’s Friday, but since today is a special day we all got to be home from school. It’s a three day weekend anyway because of a teacher meeting, so lots of people aren’t going to be there, like they’re going on vacation and stuff. In the morning, they both did the annual handprint, this year Daffodil managed to find yet another shade of yellow, and Iris did a nice shade of lavender. Then they had birthday breakfast, and finally, gifts. They opened up our moms gifts first and they each got a bike!!! Bright yellow and happy bike for Daffodil, and a nice blue one for Iris. Lily gave them each a new pen, the kind with all of those colors. Alder gave them each a new book- typical Alder. I put a lot of thought into my gifts. Daffodil got another new book that she hadn’t read yet, and Iris got a new hamper. The kind that you put on the door and throw laundry in, like basketball. Hyacinth and Iris are too young to give gifts, so they opened our grandparents’ joint gift next. They got a new dollhouse, which Iris was bored about but Daffodil was excited about. Our grandparents are old timey and probably assumed they’d both like it since they’re girls. Then Uncle Kai and Aunt Caitlyn conspired and gave Daffodil furniture and dolls for the house, and Iris a little electric soccer field for them. All in all, I think Daffodil was super excited and Iris, too (she really loved the soccer field). They picked to have pizza for dinner and watch their favorite movie, which just happens to be Storks. So we watched that and then did a soccer game in the backyard until it was time for bed. Well, it was a great day for them I guess. I think they really liked my gifts.
Azalea
11/20/2016
Dear Diary,
Today is Saturday. Nothing much happened today. We had a pancake breakfast and then finished the soccer game from yesterday. We watched some TV and mostly just lounged around. This week will be an easy week, with Monday being off school and everything. I don’t have much to write about so I’ll probably see you on Tuesday.
Azalea
11/23/2016
Dear Diary,
It’s Tuesday, and as promised, here’s something interesting that happened today. In Math, right before lunch, Charlie Castor got caught eating in class! I can’t believe they haven’t caught him until now. He eats snacks right before lunch because he’s hungry all the time. He also eats in almost every single class. Everyone gets annoyed because we have a really late lunch, so we get super hungry. But, if we try to eat in class like Charlie, we get in trouble even though he does it all the time. I guess because he’s always doing it he developed techniques to hide it. Well anyway he got caught and now he’s lost lunch privileges for two weeks! That means he won’t be allowed to eat lunch anymore! He’s never gotten told on either because his dad is the owner of the candy shop and so he might not let us buy candy anymore. But WE ALL want candy so we’re definitely not taking THAT risk. Also, now all of our teachers know to watch for Charlie to make sure he doesn’t break the rules again. We were all happy about that. Me and Evie laughed about it over lunch. Ida and Isabel are in a different class (7-304), but we told them all about it. They don’t understand why we thought it was so funny. It’s the kind of thing you have to be there for to laugh about.
Azalea
11/24/2016
Dear Diary,
Only a month and a day until Christmas! And, the new baby’s due date is on the 26th! I’ve decided that for twin girls, it will be Amaryllis and Violet, for twin boys Sage and Cedar, for a girl, Amaryllis with the middle name Violet. And for a boy, it would be Sage with the middle name Cedar. We’ve run out of family names to use for middle names after all of the kids. Lily Alison, Alder Jason, Azalea Kathleen (me!) Daffodil Everyst, Iris Winter, Hyacinth Briar, and Lilac Blair. That’s all of our grandparents (only one grandpa though) and parents, and our great grandparents too. I just didn’t feel like doing the unimportant family names like Grandpa John Parker, since we’ve never met him, and our uncles and aunts don’t care as much. Their kids will definitely use their names for their kids. Anyway diary, we’re going on vacation for thanksgiving so I’ll see you when I get back! We’re going to Utah! It’s going to be amazing and I’m super excited. We’ll be back in a week!
Azalea
12/1/2016
Dear Diary,
Utah was sooo awesome! We had so much fun playing in the snow! There was even more snow than here! And we get SOOOO much snow!! Sadly, we aren’t going on vacation for Christmas because of how much it costs to ship gifts. We don’t celebrate Hanukkah much since the Jewish side of our family isn’t really religious. We get enough gifts at Christmas to make up for it though. Anyway, back to Utah! It was a small cabin with four bedrooms, and a pool in the back, that we couldn’t swim in though because it was too cold. I shared the room with Daffodil and Iris. Thanksgiving dinner was big but we couldn’t get a turkey. I loved the cornbread and pie best. Obviously, pumpkin pie. We basically spent the vacation at the cabin or going on walks, but it was the kind of relaxing vacation that’s fun and happy.
Azalea
12/3/2016
Dear Diary,
Yesterday was my first day back at school. It was a Thursday so since it was close to the weekend, it was a good day to be back. We spent today doing winter decorations and Christmas decorations to replace the thanksgiving ones. It was easy. Today it’s back to a normal Friday schedule, so that’s kind of annoying. But there’s only two weeks until winter break, and everyone knows it. I’m super excited now, because of the new baby, but I still annoyingly have to go to school. It’s really boring and I have to catch up because I missed so much. I already know a lot of it because it was mostly review. I wish we were back in Utah. That was so fun! No school, playing in the snow all day with my siblings. We were all so happy, none of us fought even once. Plus, did I mention WE DIDN’T HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL??? Ugh. Home seems to pale in comparison and we aren’t going on vacation again for SUCH a long time.
Azalea
12/6/2016
Dear Diary,
Yet ANOTHER Monday. How many Mondays are there? Mondays are THE WORST. It’s only this week and another week until winter break! Two and a half whole weeks of freedom! Over the weekend, we did a super fun scavenger hunt through the house. Alder set it up for me, Daffodil, and Iris. It was really fun and even though the prize was terrible, we all enjoyed it. It was really long and took most of the Saturday. Some of the clues were around the block, but most of them were inside. On Sunday, it was just another day to relax. Hopefully something interesting happens again soon or else I’ll be so bored I won’t be able to write about anything in here anymore!
Azalea
12/8/2016
Dear Diary,
It’s Wednesday. Two days closer to next week! Next week will go pretty quickly because of winter break. No teachers want to give kids papers that they’ll have to grade over break. Plus, no rehearsals, (but we’re working extra this week so I’m so tired I can barely eat before I go to bed. Which is why I didn’t write yesterday.) And, the teachers have promised no winter homework. Winter break sounds like heaven. Also, I added something else to my Christmas list. More pens. I’ve been writing in you so much that I’ve gone through most of my pens, the one I’m holding is the last one I could find in the whole house. I probably won’t write next week because there won’t be too much interesting stuff going on.
Azalea
12/10/2016
Dear Diary,
Today is the worst day of my life. Yes, I know I’ve said that before but this time it’s definitely and absolutely positively TRUE, EVIE IS MOVING AWAY! I can’t believe it! Her dad got a new job in New York City and they have to move there! Evie is going to have a beautiful and wonderful life there and I’m going to live in this tiny town forever. She’s moving at the end of the school year and it’s the worst thing to EVER HAPPEN TO ME.
Azalea
12/11/2016
Dear Diary,
SATURDAY IS HERE! One more week until Winter break! This is going to be such an easy week. I’m probably going to spend this morning working on my lines for Cinderella. This morning wasn’t as hectic as usual. No crying from Hyacinth and Lilac, no yelling from Daffodil and Iris. Lily and Alder are usually silent, so nothing different there. But it was pretty quiet. I think everyone’s really excited about winter break, and Christmas. And the new baby! But, then there’s Evie. I’m going to miss her soooo much. I’m trying not to think about it and focus on the positive! She’ll visit a ton, and she’s still here for six more months! Well, I’ll see you when winter break starts!!!
Azalea
12/18/2022
Dear Diary,
It’s the first day of my break! This week thankfully went by quickly. I’m super happy and Christmas is in a week! I bought gifts today for my siblings with Momison. She’s taking us all one at a time to go Christmas shopping. Luckily, I was first. First, we went to the toy shop to get stuff for Daffodil, Hyacinth, and Lilac. I bought Hyacinth and Lilac each a new bunny! One is pink for Hyacinth, and one purple for Lilac. I bought an absolutely ADORABLE teddy bear for Daffodil. Then to the book shop to buy books for Iris and Alder. For Iris there was a new copy of my favorite book, Into the Wild, and for Alder there was a random book that was recommended for his age by the bookstore workers. Finally, we went to the makeup store to buy some new makeup for Lily. I got some eyeliner in all shades. It was an expensive kit, but I have a ton of money from cleaning gutters this summer. It was disgusting, but I did it so I could get good gifts this year. Not like last year, when I just got them all the first thing that came to mind. They each ended up with a brand-new cat plastic cup… . I’ll get something for the moms by ordering on amazon rather than going shopping, because I already know what I want to get them. I’m also going to buy a new blanket for the new baby when it comes. Each of us is buying one thing. Alder is doing a big thing and contributing the crib. Lily bought some pretty leaf-patterned wallpaper for the room that they just finished building. Well, bye diary!
Azalea
12/20/2016
Dear Diary,
Today is Monday – the first good Monday for ages since there’s no school. Today Lily came home from her turn shopping with an absolutely HUGE box. Alder came home with a package that looked like books. I hope it’s the new book of Warriors (Into the Wild, a.k.a. The best book ever, is the first book) that I’ve been asking for. Well, I’ll probably see you at Christmas since there isn’t much going on this week.
Azalea
12/25/2016
Dear Diary,
So, today was the BEST DAY of my whole entire 12-year-long life. I’ll tell you about it. So, we woke up and headed downstairs, into the basement. The basement has another door to our backyard, since our backyard is on the bottom of the hill. Rose and Lavender came barking away at the door. The Christmas tree had been put up overnight – the way it always is, and our ornaments were all on the tree. Before opening gifts, because the moms weren’t here yet, we all found our favorite ornaments. Iris eventually got bored and ran to the moms room to get them. As soon as she had left, I looked out the back door to see what Rose and Lavender were looking at. It was Momison!!! She was in sneakers and pajamas, AND SHE WAS HOLDING A PUPPY!!!! I started screaming and ran outside in bare feet. The puppy – who was a golden retriever – ran and jumped on me, knocking me over and covering me in licks. Lily, Alder, and Daffodil were running behind me – not looking surprised at all! They were smiling. Then Lily told me this was their joint gift to me – Evie had been keeping her in their house! I decided to name her Violet. Then we opened the rest of our gifts. I got the new warriors book, and some old ones I didn’t have yet. I also got some candy, the notebooks I asked for, and a cool art paint set. And then there was stuff for Violet – a bed, toys, an adorable light blue collar. Momison would take me later today to have Violet’s name carved in it on the other side of the silver bone on it. The side already carved said that it belonged to me – Azalea Parker-Smith – with my phone number on it too. Then, GUESS WHAT. Momileen’s water broke!! Momison rushed her to the hospital and made us promise to be super careful while they were gone. We all played with our toys and got along until lunch – it wasn’t even us fighting!!! Daffodil was holding out a sandwich to the dogs, but they both fought over it. I eventually took the sandwich and split it in half so they could each have a piece. After that, I put away all my gifts, and cleared a corner of my room for Violet’s stuff. Her bed, and her toys. Her water and food bowls would stay in the kitchen. That night, we had to stay with Evie and her parents, and by morning, the new babies were born! Notice how I said BABIES. Evie’s mom and dad drove us to the hospital to see them. There was a girl – and a boy. They weren’t identical, but they were adorable. I named the boy Sage Thyme Parker-Smith. The girl was Amaryllis Violet Parker-Smith. Her middle name was the name of my dog – ha! Amaryllis looked like she would have blond hair, and Sage looked like he would have lighter brown hair. Momison filled out paperwork and we hugged Momileen. We eventually had to say goodbye, but Momileen would be home with the new babies in two days.
Azalea
12/26/2016
Dear Diary,
Today we decorated Sage and Amaryllis’s new room. We had to buy another crib and more of everything we had already gotten. For some reason, after three pairs of twins we expected not to have any more! We should have learned from Hyacinth and Lilac. The same thing happened with them. But, it’s also better to have one than two – what if we had only gotten one baby? Well, we bought more and put them in the room. We situated the cribs so that the head of the cribs are each at one of the windows – there are two. To the right of the door there’s a bookshelf with all of our old baby books and new baby books that Hyacinth and Lilac weren’t interested in anymore. There was a circular table in between the cribs with a lamp on it. After lunch, we went to the gardening shop. They had sage but no amaryllises! We also got some violets for Violet. Then, we went to the flower shop in the next town over, and luckily they did have amaryllises. We planted them in our garden and found rocks for the babies to hand print.
Azalea
12/28/2016
Dear Diary,
Today Sage and Amaryllis came home!!! We were able to give them edible paint so they would be okay and had them do their handprints. Then we used light green paint and light pink paint to paint their names on the other end of the cribs (the one not against the wall) and added small cut out and laminated pictures of the plants in the garden. We can’t really play with them yet, since they’re so young, but we will in a couple of weeks. All the talk today was about Sage and Amaryllis. Then I started the new warriors book that I got for Christmas.
Azalea