Amazing Week!

We have had the most amazing week...I have had so many "Aha" moments that I don't know if I can even remember them all!  It started with me giving the kids a "vacation" day on Monday..."just because".  It was so fun...we all slept in...no school work...and we played all day, including major water fights with the hose.  It was a fabulous day and a much needed break for all of us!

On Tuesday, I took a Homeschooling Seminar on "Managing the Multi-level Family" and "Teaching the "Difficult" Child"...during the seminar I kept thinking, this is common sense.  However, the following days, I found some of the ideas presented have really stuck with me...deeply.  One, in particular, was when she said, "I love you more!"  This was meaningful because my little Abbey, who has a speech delay, quite often says..."I uv ou mer!"  However, the speaker wasn't referring to "I love you more than you love me..."  She was actually referring to..."I love you more than an uninterrupted cup of coffee...I love you more than a full nights sleep...I love you more than going to the bathroom with the door closed"...OK, I added that last one.  But you get the idea.  Everytime the kids are interrupting your phone conversation, your favorite TV show, you moment of peace and quiet, she said remember..."I love you more!"  Then she teared up as she explained when she was getting up all night with one of her many babies that a friend of hers lost her five year old to cancer.  And she had no doubt that her friend would stay up each and every night and do anything else to have her baby back again.  So choose to say, "I love you more!"  My patience has increased by 300% with this internal dialogue.  Give it a try and let me know how it goes!!!

On Wednesday when the ice cream truck came (even though it was five minutes before dinner, grrr) I got all the kids ice cream in their favorite action hero shapes :-).  This was their favorite gift for the week!  On Thursday, Tim and I went on our date and we searched high and low for a video game Dakota had been saving up for.  We found it used and by saving him shipping, he was thrilled!

Desiree