Met an online friend today... in person!

Yup, that's right! Turns out that an online friend lives not too far from me, so we met in a town halfway between us. We both had such great fun that we've agreed to do it again... soon!

Our children played so well together. Of course, she and I didn't fight either. (wink) I felt very relaxed with her. She and I have lots in common, and she is just so sweet.

We met at a McDonald's so the kids could play while we talked and tended to our wee babes. Would you believe that we were there for FIVE HOURS? There was no shortage of conversation, obviously. (smile)

I can't wait to do it again!

On the subject of prayer

I've been wanting to find a way to build my children's faith as they grow, to show them how God works in our lives. I heard a pastor say once that his family prays together over absolutely everything, and in that way, his children see God provide for their family firsthand. Well, I want to do that, but at the ages of my children, I am concerned about too much information causing fear. I do not want worrying children. So I was praying over it and asking God for wisdom.

A couple weeks ago, a friend and I were talking on the phone, and I believe God gave me the answer through her. Her family has a prayer journal. Now I have one for myself, but I never thought of doing one for the family!

Now the children and I have a prayer journal. We've been putting all sorts of stuff in - protection over friends and family as they travel, car issues (like my blinkers are on the fritz, so we're praying they'll work until I have the money to take it in), colds that Sweetheart and Shortcake had, etc. Then we go back once a week and look over our list. Those prayers that were answered, we use a marker to indicate it was answered. Already, my daughters can see that God is answering our prayers. They are also seeing that some prayers take longer to see God's answer.

I also made a homemade pocket inside the notebook. (I used construction paper, gluing it to the inside of the cover.) We slide our missionary prayer cards in there. I really love this set-up!

Sunshine can write her name in cursive!

She can write her first and last name! And it looks so good, too. Now all we have to do is teach her the middle name and she is good to go! Her middle name only has one letter she doesn't know how to form, so that will take no time at all to teach her. She already knows how to spell it, just not how to form the first letter.

Also, she counted to 100 yesterday for the first time, and get this - she did it alone. Wow, just leaps and bounds here.

Good job, sweet love! I'm proud of you! (And I saved the paper she wrote her name on... hehe!)

So pleased with Sunshine's progress!

Sunshine is learning to read, and she is doing great. Today we made our first book during school. We stapled a few pages together; Mommy wrote the words to the story; Sunshine then read the story with Mommy, and Sunshine added the illustrations. It was great fun for both of us. Mommy's inspiring story? "Sam the Pig" - ha!

We also met a college friend of my sister's, who is a cop. So Sunshine showed off her knowledge of her home information to him, and she loved it. He was appropriately impressed with her. It was really too cute.

Some praise for Sugar-n-Spice

I'll be honest. She is my difficult kid, so far. She is stubborn, wants it her way or nothing, and she is not easily deterred. Consequences of any sort send her into major anger.

But last week, she was wonderful. Truly wonderful. When I said it was time to clean up toys, she didn't even pause. She immediately stopped what she was doing and began cleaning up! She didn't ask what particular group of toys was her job; she just began on her own. In other things around the house, she didn't argue or try to hide. She just obeyed.

I am so proud of her! We bragged to Daddy on the phone, gave lots of extra praise and rewards, and even let her have a special treat last night before bed that no one else got to have. She beamed! I love seeing her pride in her own accomplishment!

Oh, and something else! We've been struggling with her going backwards in toilet issues. She just stopped caring and was pottying in her underwear multiple times a day, rarely making it to the toilet at all. I was doing so much laundry! Underwear was hard to find. I even got so fed up that I put her back in diapers, at age 3! But I changed my mind because I knew, that with her personality, she would not want to get out of them. So we went back to underwear again very quickly... and last week was a good week in that area, too. No accidents, no extra laundry!

Way to go, girlie! Mommy is proud of you!

A bit of sickness here

We've got this odd bug here - no fever, no diarrhea, just throwing up. It seems to pass quickly, too. I had it Saturday, Shortcake had it Sunday, now Sweetheart has it today. I'm thankful that it is a short-lived thing. Less laundry that way. "Sick" laundry grosses me out. Bleck!

So we're taking it easy today. Gonna sit and cuddle a lot. Read lots of books, watch some movies. School will look a bit different today for my oldest. Perhaps I'll spend today planning the next few weeks... hmmm, yes I like that idea.

Busy... and yet not?

Ever have those weeks where you feel like you are just so busy... but you turn around and try to put your finger on what exactly you did... only to realize nothing much happened? Yup, that is this week for me.

Today my grandma came for a visit. She insisted that I take a nap. Who was I to argue? *wink* I didn't want to disappoint her, so I obeyed. No, really, I was wilting, and I'm not sure exactly why. Just felt so wiped out and it was showing. And the baby actually slept long enough for me to feel rested. Wow! We all know that doesn't happen every day, true?

Tomorrow I'm off to my sister's house. We haven't been there in months, and it will be a lovely visit, I'm sure. And it gets me out of making lunch. ;) LOL

Oh, and a bonus? Today I got my oil change for free at Jiffy Lube. I had filled out a comment card at my last visit, which entered me into a drawing. I won! I never win anything, but this I won! It was so lovely to get that maintenance out of the way and not pay a red cent for it.