fits in Bible Class

Wednesday night Katie pitched the biggest fit when I took her to Bible Class. Seriously, it was bad. She sat down on the floor and was just screaming! I told her teacher, Miss Jane, that I thought she would be fine once she got settled because usually she is. I was teaching across the hall and Chris ended up getting "drafted" to teach another class at the last minute. I felt bad because the 2 teachers in Katie's class seemed uncomfortable with the way she was acting so I took her into class with me where I was teaching the babies. She got mad at me because I wouldn't let her play with the baby toys. Another teacher who helps in Katie's class came to check on what was going on and offered to take her. She was reaching for me and saying, "No Mommy, no! No Mommy, no!" as Miss Suzie carried her out. I wanted to cry! However, I really wanted her to take Katie because I know me "rescuing" her isn't going to really teach her what she needs to learn right now and that's that Bible Class is a safe place for her to be. I've witnessed parents who never leave their child and are still having to stay with them in class when they're quite old and I've witnessed parents who leave them crying and eventually they learn that Bible Class is an okay place to be. Katie hasn't always been like this so I guess it's just a phase. Gracie has never acted like this towards any kind of class!!!!!

In a way, it makes me feel better about Mother's Day Out. She had acted exactly like that the last time I tried to take her to MDO in May. I thought maybe someone there had upset her and had/have seriously thought about changing MDO places (still might.) Now that I've seen her act this way with Miss Jane, Miss Sue & Miss Suzie (all 3 of whom are grandmothers whom I completely trust!) I know that maybe it's just something Katie is going through and not really indicative of anything bad someone at MDO did.
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Thursday night I had my first PTA board meeting for this next school year. We needed to plan some dates and things like that. The President, Lecia, was secretary last year so she kind of walked me through how to take the minutes and all that kind of stuff. The meeting lasted about 3 hours and I would sometimes find my thoughts drifting off, especially during the budget part. I don't understand 3/4 of that part! Something would bring me back and I'd wonder frantically what I had missed that I was supposed to write down! I suppose that's why one of the first things they do at the meetings is approve the minutes of the previous meeting. If I missed something I'm sure someone will catch it!

I was happy to meet a lady whose son will be in 1st grade next year. She was very outgoing and introduced herself to me almost as soon as I walked in. I assumed she was just someone I hadn't met yet but who was already associated with the school. Her son went to private Kindergarten last year but will be coming to our school this year. One of her friends is very active in PTA and had "drafted" her into being in charge of birthday cupcakes this year so she showed up to the meeting. I think it's so great that she is already jumping into being involved this way. She seemed really nice and I hope to get to know her better.

I was hoping to find out who Gracie's teacher will be but I didn't. The teacher that I think I want her to have is one of the PTA teacher reps who was at the meeting. She was telling me how they all loved to see Gracie in her bows. The other teacher rep is one of the 2nd grade teachers whose class Gracie read to a couple of times last year and she was agreed that she loved her. The lady who helped organize the student pictures said when she saw her she said, "Matilda!" Of course my face was beaming as they spoke so highly of my child! The teacher that I think I want said, "Yeah, I said I wouldn't get her because I get all the boys!" I almost said something about hoping Gracie does get her but I didn't feel comfortable enough yet to be so bold. I'm also trying to trust God to choose the teacher who is best for her. He did a fantastic job last year, so why should I expect anything less this year, right?!?!
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We ate with some friends last night who we haven't seen in quite awhile so that was nice. Chris & I watched "Big Momma's House 2." Funny.
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Yesterday Gracie displayed an uncharacteristic show of attitude! She does this from time to time but for some reason yesterday's attitude seemed worse than usual. We've spent the large majority of our days up at the church building working on VBS~Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. She's had fun those days. She's always had friends there to play with whose moms are also working on VBS. They've had a blast doing all the things they're not usually allowed to do in the church building.......you know, running in the foyer, playing hide 'n seek in the bathrooms, playing on the cushions on the floor, etc. She'd been fine yesterday but for some reason when they started cleaning up, she had some kind of little "run in" with Daddy.

Apparently he told her to start cleaning instead of something else she was doing. The other thing she was doing wasn't something bad other than the fact that it wasn't cleaning up. Instead of complying with his wishes to clean, she felt the need to "explain." She's been doing that alot lately. "But Daddy, I was just........." "But Mommy, I wasn't................" When we correct her on her attitude and ask her to say, "Yes Maam" or "Yes Sir," she'll say it but it's the tone with which it's said. Such attitude!

I wish I could somehow tape the other little sound she makes when she's mad. It kind of sounds like a groan and usually involves something like brows furrowing and shoulders slumping. Anyway........she displayed this attitude more than once during the clean-up phase of the afternoon so she got "disciplined" in a corporal kind of way. (I think that's how you would describe spanking! LOL) She also got some "take aways." I told her she couldn't watch videos, play her computer games or draw for the rest of yesterday or today. The girl loves to draw so I was kind of proud of myself for thinking to take that away. Today at the store, Chris was getting onto her & Katie for touching a bunch of stuff and she did it again! "But Daddy, I was just......." So I told her she couldn't read for the rest of the day! My mom used to punish me that way and it would really hit home! Sure enough, as we walked to the van she was upset about it. As soon as she got buckled in she picked up her Magic Tree House book and started reading......just out of habit. Chris pointed out to her what she was doing so she put it down. It had really hit home at that point and she started crying.

She is such a sweet girl! I hope this attitude doesn't last long!!!!!! Seeing as how she's a dramatic little girl, I guess I'm probably dreaming, but I pray that God will help us to parent in such a way as to cut down on it anyway!
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Today Chris worked on the yard and did a little VBS preparation from home. After that we headed over to a local park that was hosting the Vietnam War Memorial traveling wall. I tried to explain to Gracie what it was but I'm sure the whole significance went right over her head. I've seen the "real" wall in D.C. but Chris never has so he was very interested in seeing it. Even though I wasn't directly affected by all of the death in the Vietnam War, it is still moving & touching to see all the names and see all of the little notes & pictures people left at the wall.
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We headed to a nearby bigger town to look for a bicycle for Gracie's birthday. We ended up looking at 6 different places, some of them the same store just in different towns and ended up gettting one at Wal Mart! We got it at a different one than we usually go to though. There was a really pretty Strawberry Shortcake one that she really liked at Toys R Us, but there were a few things I didn't like. For one, it was way more expensive than some we'd seen. Two, I wanted this to last awhile and I was afraid she'd outgrow the SS theme. The one we got is "generic" I guess you'd say. It's not Barbie or Princess or anything like that. We got a great deal on it.

We were originally looking at the 16" size for her but decided we'd really like to get the 18" size so it'd last longer. It was already a pretty good price but the "floor model" that she was trying out was kind of "floor model looking." You know, the wheels looked they had been ridden alot and it just looked a little more "used" than what I liked to pay full price for. Chris went to find someone to ask if we could have another one that was a display that was higher up that didn't look like it'd been tried out alot. The guy came and looked at the one we had down and said, "I can give you this one for 35% off if you want to do that." Well, I'm a bargain lover through & through so I jumped at that! The bike is fine; I just didn't like the thought of paying the full "new' price for one that looked like a hundred kids had already ridden on it. (It doesn't have the tassels either for some reason. Maybe someone even returned it at some point???) Anyway, we got it and I'm pretty excited. Of course, it has training wheels at this point but she did really well on it the little bit she got to ride it up the Wal Mart aisle! We picked out a Barbie helmet but it's not glaringly Barbie, so I like that.

Gracie said she would try to forget about the bike since we told her she couldn't have it until her birthday which isn't until the 28th! funny!
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We ended up buying some groceries while at Wal Mart and tried to think of easy things to fix for dinner this week since we'll be at VBS every night from before 6 until after 8:30. I don't want to be unprepared and end up eating out every night.

When we got home, Chris started filling up the pool and let the girls play for a little bit. This is the first time we've used our pool this summer. Hopefully they'll still get quite a bit of good use out of it. We ate a simple dinner since we'd had Dairy Queen around 3:00. Yum!
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I worked on balancing the checkbook. Yuck!
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Dear Lord,
Thank you for this day with family. Please help Chris & I to parent the way You want us to. Please be with Katie tomorrow and all this week as she goes to Bible Class. Help her to feel comfortable and not to throw a fit. Help Chris & I handle her in an appropriate way that teaches her the right way to behave. Please be with VBS. Help it to be what You want it to be. Please be with Gracie as she starts school soon. Help her to have a wonderful year filled with learning and Godly maturity. Please choose the teacher that You want her to have. Please protect both of my babies spiritually, mentally, emotionally & physically. Help me to trust in You! Help me to be a good example to all I come into contact with. Help me to serve others as You want me to. Please be with Micheal and heal his body and bring him close to You. Be with Jenny as she tries to be a support to him. Thank you for your son! Thank you for baby Ella Kate's safe arrival. Please be with Kate & Holly as their new babies will be here soon. Help them to have safe deliveries & healthy babies!
In Jesus' Name,
Amen