Mother's Day Tea with Emma

Today was the Mother's Day Tea at Emma's preschool! She has been planning and looking forward to it for weeks. She wouldn't tell me any of the "secrets", but a week ago she did give me a sneak preview of the songs that they were working on. On Monday she got her play teapot out and filled it with water and put it in the fridge... she was making tea for the two of us to take to school today. We didn't take it with us, but we did enjoy some "tea" as soon as we got home- 2 pink cups for us and a blue cup (actually it was the creamer) for Daddy. She was SO excited to serve that pretend tea to us. Back to the day at school..... All the moms came in and sat at a place made especially for them. There was a portrait of me drawn by Emma and a little questionaire that she filled out w/ her teacher's help. She said I was 20 (thanks sweetheart- another mom's kid said she was 50), that I said "I love you" alot (sure glad she didn't decide to say some of the more impatient things I say alot), I like to make pasta salad (she said this b/c it is her favorite thing to eat), and that I look pretty when I come to a tea party (mostly I look like a mom of 2 who did good to get a shower that day). They sang lots of cute mom songs and she was all smiles!! They came to sit with us and gave us presents they made: a framed photo of her made of puzzle pieces and in the photo she was holding a sign that said, " I love you to pieces". A colorful, rainbow necklace made of little, plastic tubes, a flower that she made and put real perfume on, a cute tulip card, and a sunflower plant that she planted herself. Of course I immediately put on my beautiful neclace... tonight when we were driving to church she reminded me that I had forgotten it at home, but that maybe it was a good thing b/cI wouln't want to accidentally lose it at church.

She is such a great kid and I love her so much! We've been really struggling w/ her behavior lately. Monday was a nightmare, but yesterday I wasn't lazy, I was diligent in diciplinining her immediately (before I got angry and frustrated). She responded so well yesterday, but it was an all day process. Then today I had to dicipline her once about something ALL day! Amazing! I commented to Andy tonight that it's a huge lesson to me that all it takes is a little effort on my part to be consistent and she will respond almost immediately. Praise God for some good books I'm reading about training my girls: Raising Godly Tomatoes, Train Up A Child, and Shepherding a Child's Heart.... YES I'm reading them all at the same time b/c I have felt desperate for some help and I have seen things getting out of control w/ her behavior and I want to learn some effective strategies before it's too late and she's developed a character that isn't very pretty. Some of this I've read before, but never really been faitful to put it into practice b/c things were going smoothly. Oh how I wish I'd have been diligent earlier on... it wouldn't be so tough now. Praise God for His mercies that are new every morning and that I can start now.

Tomorrow I will purpose to be faithful in my training and discipline- because it's good for us both and also because the fruit is glorious.... a day that we can truly enjoy one another! She was a joy to be around today and she was also excited that we wore matching aqua shirts to church. Being twins was SO fun for her and to top it off our pastor's wife sat w/ us at dinner and she had aqua on too... then we were triplets. Lots of people noticed and Emma has fun w/ all the comments- knowing that it was her idea.

I'm dead out tired tonight and my allergies have been a nightmare today, so I'm off to bed.