Grateful Friday

- Last weekend. We took bike rides all weekend (in addition to my 3 hour walk with the girls on last Thursday and 2 hours of yoga on Friday) and ended up only a little sore. We also went to not one but TWO festivals. Yeah, we're festival people (where else can you spend time outside amusing kids and enjoying the art and food yourself?) It was Inman Park Festival on Saturday, followed by the Spring Jonquil Festival on Sunday. By Sunday night we were worn out and the kids went to bed without any fuss.

- Getting together with two of my very close friends this week. Carolyn came over for lunch on Wednesday and Angel met me at the park on Thursday. Our kids love playing together too, which makes it even more fun to meet up.

- Thursday with the girls. I had one of those "I'm an awesome mom" days. They don't come often, but I felt really cool and the girls and I had a really great time. First, they stayed at MMO for a few hours while I had a doctor's appt. Then, off to Burger King for lunch. They got to play in the kids area when they were done eating. Then, off to the library for story time. After the readings they got a chance to make some crafts with the other kids. We had so much fun that I signed them up for the summer reading club (you have to register to attend story time during the summer.) Then, a long walk around the duck pond. We saw baby ducks as well as a mama duck in her nest. The nest was right near the walking path, which seemed odd, but we tried not to disturb her as we passed. Sadly, I saw an egg just a few inches away from the nest with flies surrounding it. Hopefully the others are faring better. After the duck pond, we walked to the Village Green to splash our hands in the fountain (it was a hot day!) THEN, we went to Dairy Queen for ice cream cones. Finally we headed home for a break before picking up Bill from work and going out to dinner. We had fun, but I was completely exhausted by the end of dinner. Having so much fun had worn me out.

- Watching the girls' skills develop over time. Even their drawing skills are a wonder to see. Blobs are turning into actual people and animals with eyes, noses, and other details. It seems like it happened overnight. Also, Maddie is doing really well at writing her name as well as other words. She's starting to phonetically sound out words and gets so happy when she has spelled something. Now she'll hear words and inform us that they start with the letter _ and end with the letter _. Josie too knows all of her colors and is trying (so hard!) to draw the letter "J". She loves to narrate what she's doing: "Line, then... Monkey Tail!" I know that everyone thinks their kid is a genius, but I'm just saying that I really love their zest for learning right now.

- Baking a quiche that worked out so well that I made it for company again a couple of days later. (No less than a miracle!)

- The Tudors. I love this show. It's one of those things that you don't think you'll care about, that you'll think is boring, and then you're completely captivated. I love Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and the rest of the cast is just as great. My only complaint is the inaccurate portrayal of history. I've noticed a couple of errors so far, but I guess certain artistic license has to be taken to make the story entertaining for a TV audience. Showtime has done so well with its other historical dramas (Bill loves Deadwood), and this one is no exception. There's a certain level of cheesiness about the show, but I'm also a sucker for Anglican history ever since a friend gave me The Other Boleyn Girl.

- Haagen Daz. We got a buy one, get one free coupon in the mail, so of course we had to use it!

- Summer dresses. It's one of the things I love about summer, and one of the things that makes summer in Atlanta bearable (or wearable, haha).

- Okay, I know I'm going to regret this (knocks on wood) but I am grateful for the fact that the girls are becoming more independent when it comes to bedtime. Only in the last week or two have Bill and I actually been able to kiss them goodnight and leave the room. For almost three years we've had to either fight to get them into bed or stay in their room with them until they fall asleep (which was awful because I would ALWAYS fall asleep too and Bill would have to come and wake me up to go to bed.) We used to lie in bed with them, but then progressed to just sitting on the floor near them. It is such a sigh of relief to be able to put them to bed so easily. Honestly, I used to dread bedtime for them. Bill and I would rather let them stay up until they were really sleepy rather than fight them for 45 minutes to get in their beds and stay there. All of this despite an elaborate bedtime routine. NOW I understand how other parents have time to do things in the evenings after the kids are in bed.