No ice cream for you...

Ok, so Meme and Pop (Matt's parents) are in town. Yay!! We love when we have people visit. Tonight is their last night here and the plan was to have an early dinner at home and then head out to get some ice cream... everybody thought this was a fabulous idea so I got to cooking. When dinnertime rolled around, I called everybody to the table. After Julia got in the room, I went over to her to put her hair up LIKE ALWAYS and here came the fit. I just knew that after a few minutes on the spot, she'd calm down and come eat (with her hair back of course... i mean i can't give in or she'll think fits get her what she wants.) Well, a few minutes later, she's still freaking out on us, so before the rest of us get indigestion from it, I sent her to her room while we finished eating.

After the rest of us had eaten, Julia had calmed down a little so I wound up going in to see her. Things went pretty well and I convinced her to come eat. She didn't know it, but I was also at this point willing to go to bat for her when it came to going to get ice cream... Matt had mentioned to me previously that all hope of this was gone for her. Anyway, so I get her to the table and am putting the hairband in and...well... she'd been rolling around all over the floor during her fit, and her hair was tangled, and I did the unthinkable and pulled it (a tiny bit i promise) Well, that started the entire freak out again. So without continuing on with too much more detail, let's just say that it is 6:45 pm. Meme, Pop, Audrey, and Matt are out getting ice cream; Julia is in the bed; and I am blogging.

I hope they bring back some white turtle.

The Boss

Our 3 year old, Julia, is bossy. Perhaps it's because she's the first born. Perhaps it's because she's the oldest among her close group of friends. Perhaps it's because she's been spoiled by me and Matt. Most likely it's a combination of these and more... Either way, the result is now the same. Julia thinks she is in charge, and that we live so as to respond to her orders. Lately, all we seem to hear is: "Get me more drink. Put in my DVD. Make me lunch. Play this game. " Perhaps this seemingly incessant barking of commands is why today I was so excited about a single sentence that she said. We were in my bedroom, and I was finishing up her 2nd foot when I hear a simple and sweet, "Thank you for painting my toenails, Mommy." Now, I know that this isn't a huge breakthrough, but it certainly made me look up at her with a great big smile on my face and say, "You're welcome sweet girl."

Saying Good-bye

Matt's resigned his ministerial position in PC and although I am fully supportive of this change in our lives, I must admit that leaving this church and these people is at times near heartbreaking. I'm not going to pretend that everything here has been perfect, and to be honest there are a few people here that I will not miss whatsoever... in fact I might jump for joy the last time I am forced to exchange pleasantries with them. However, there are many, many more people in PC that I will miss.

When we moved to PC, it was just me and Matt. PC is where we went from a couple to a family. These are the people that I cried with, laughed with, and exchanged stories with while I was beginning this tricky role called motherhood. Perhaps I'm just a little extra emotional during this very big month in my family's life, but leaving these people is at times just tearing at me. No where else that we move will we have a church family that was there the day my girls entered the world. Our next church won't remember what my children looked like as infants. It's almost like I'm having to leave behind a part of the girls' histories.