world records & new structure

(yard sale @ mom's) 

Saturday's yard sale was awesome. Maddy made $400! I'm so grateful for friends who donated things & especially grateful for my mom, dad & brother... they put in a lot of work. My aunt came in to help too.
It was the hottest day known to man kind... but it was good. 

Madison leaves a week from this Saturday. 

----

Olivia is trying to break the world's longest gum chewing record. She has been going at it since yesterday afternoon. After she tried to stick it behind her ear at bed time I had to make a "no gum IN the bed" rule. I guess that's why she thought it was ok to put gum ON her bed... not IN it. She thought the head board was a nice resting place last night for her wad. Madison tried to convince her that this goal was not possible because surely the record has to be longer than a few months and once school starts back she won't be allowed to chew gum during school hours. I encouraged her to follow her dreams... and she is determined. Same piece, going strong... except for this morning when she dropped it in the floor and asked for another piece. I slipped her another one & told her that we'll just let that one slide. 

(olivia- a self portrait) 

----

Our family went to a going away dinner at our friends house Saturday. One of our favorite families is moving away next week. Very sad, but God has given them instructions to start a church across the country... so they are. I'm excited for them, just sad because I will miss them. At the dinner I got the opportunity to have an awesome... (answer to my prayers)... conversation with 3 friends. 1 who has a very successful college student, 1 who is an elementary school teacher, and another who is having some of the same mom struggles that I am. We picked their brains a bit & out of that conversation our new "family schedule" was birthed. 

(super-nanny style) 

We had a family meeting on Sunday, established some rules & presented a new schedule. Today is Day 1 & it went so awesome. Some of the things that my friends brought to my attention is how important structure is for kids (& mom's) and also how important rewards are instead of just punishments. When I got home, before our family meeting, I searched a bit online & found this star rewards system. I tweaked it a bit & made is a sticker system instead. Obviously with the age difference the rewards are pretty different... They are both happy about it though. The schedule was met with a little frustration & concerns, but today has been great. 

I'm so happy to have awesome women in my life who I can learn from. That Saturday night conversation was really good & much needed. 

I'm sure I'll be blogging about our progress soon... I'm really excited about this. Today flowed so great.

The day started with a kiss on the cheek from my honey as he let me know that he thinks I get prettier & prettier everyday... how could it not be a good day? I just love that guy.