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2010-01-03 - 8:56 p.m.

I am so happy right now. We had just such a fabulous weekend at home! It was just a delight to be home with the girls playing games, cooking, cleaning up the house and then going to church together.

Yesterday was a fun day of baking, and more baking. Katie had a blast "experimenting" and coming up with a creation in the kitchen that resulted in the most amazing cookies.

Not to be outdone, later her big sister Sadie was immensely proud of the batch of peanut butter cookies that she made without so much as one bit of assistance from me.

The girls grow so fast!

We enjoyed pizza for dinner for a change which the girls were excited about.

This morning started off with YOGA SUNDAY. Unity has the loveliest New Years traditions which I found so wonderful the past few years. Since it was Yoga Sunday I just had to bring the girls to participate while I enjoyed the New Years celebration service of writing letters to God.

I found such joy and solace when I received that forgotten prayer in the mail this year. So it was delightful to sit there with Katie, who I think secretly enjoys her time sitting with me one on one during the service while her sisters are off in the Yoga class. I think it was SO GOOD for her to write her letter to God as well. She seemed to be happy.

After a fun afternoon in which the girls enjoyed decorating gingerbread cookies and playing a round of a new game Santa brought, the girls then watched SNOW BUDDIES. I love those Redbox $1.00 rentals! Can't beat them!

The girls were so happy with the lovely gifts Santa and his helpers brought! The helpers were lucky to find games at the local thrift store and kind offering of a friend who brought a big bag of stuffed animals that filled each pile.

* The helpers were happy to go back to Borders and return $76 worth of gifts after finding just as nice ones for a grand total of $7.00 at the thrift store for the little ones a few days after Christmas! The benefit of the little ones being with Dad and coming here with me days after!

The elves did however convince Santa to keep the MAGIC KIT which was a HUGE hit with Sadie. The week was filled with her putting on magic shows for all who came by. My friends were troopers as they also enjoyed impromptu "dinner theater" one night this week which was hilarious! The funniest part of that was that the littlest one knew every line to participate in the re-enactment of the songs from the recent elementary school play "Be Bop with Aesop"

I decided to wait until the NEXT night to reinforce that it is not generally polite manners to sing at the table, but that was an EXCEPTION for the special occasion of company!

The girls had bounded up and started preforming in between courses and it really was just so hilarious.

I mean, I laughed thinking of all those old movies where the parents prepare the kids for some hideous performance that the adults suffer through. Sound of Music is the exception to that standard scene! More the norm comes to mind scenes such as the one in the beginning of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof * without the ornery response, but rather polite smiles!

The best part of the weekend delight was that the girls then were SO HAPPY during Mass tonight! They really had the best behavior without ONE MOMENT of irritating each other, nudging or bickering. I don't think that has EVER happened before during a whole MASS!

For ALL FOUR to remain well behaved during Mass feels like a miracle to me!

Then to top it off, as if in a dream, the transition tonight was ALSO peaceful for a change! Not one jibe or dig or nasty comment or put down from their Father toward me for a pleasant change! He didn't even get out of his car or look at me, but that was a nice change from being put down with derogatory comments such as "You don't know how to parent" which is what he said at the last transition!

So nice to not have the girls be upset with negative messages !I am sure they will be much happier and healthier if the transition regularly was done respectfully. Perhaps then they would not feel so torn and pulled and led to believe they have to CHOOSE which parent to love!

I am encouraged as I think the past few days demonstrate that damage CAN be undone!I think it just takes TIME. Perhaps over time the girls won't need as LONG to decompress and work through their transition issues when they come to me, and this peaceful state will be achieved in a shorter time frame. I HOPE SO! It encourages me as the girls seemed so HAPPY and self actualized and then were so much better behaved. The home was PEACEFUL the past few days with more quiet times of reading and baking and the girls doing their own thing and LETTING Each other do their own thing than typical. It was SUCH a nice change!

Fabulous start to a New Year!

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