this week's accomplishments

Monday was my last final, so I am done. I checked my grades a couple of days later and I actually did quite well. A month ago I felt so intimidated by all that I had to do. I could hardly believe I would accomplish it all. But I took it one thing at a time and in the end all of it got done.

Heidi peed in the Froggy Potty three times this week and was so excited she couldn't stop giggling. This was probably the first time since before her second birthday (almost a year ago), so I am thrilled. She is very familiar with the entire process and just needs to figure out her body signals, so all I am doing is letting her wear underwear if she wants to and giving her encouragement and help if she asks for it. With the baby coming soon, I'm not planning to put any pressure on her, but if she is interested and decides to potty train herself, I won't complain. I keep saying that I've never potty trained a child because both of my kids have done it themselves when they decided they wanted to (my attempts at potty training them before then were unsuccessful).

I helped clean the temple on Thursday. I told the brother in charge that I would be fine as long as I didn't have to bend down a lot (he didn't want to put me to work), so I got to vacuum both sealing rooms, the celestial room, the baptistry, and the waiting room area. I got really tired after vacuuming the big rugs in front, so I went home after that, but I was happy to get to help.

Ryan and I went on a real date. It was like a miracle. The Young Women did a babysitting night at the church as a fundraiser for Girl's Camp, so we dropped off both of the kids and then went out for dinner. After driving around trying to find a parking space near Franklin Street, we decided to just go to Ruby Tuesdays. They took us straight to a table and our food was ready pretty quickly. The interesting thing was that the waiter kept apologizing that it was taking so long. We both got bacon cheeseburgers and fries, plus the waiter brought us an extra plate of the complimentary biscuits because our food was "taking so long." It's been way too long since we went on a date, so it was really nice to be able to get away and just sit and talk. Kevin and Heidi apparently had a blast at the church with the Young Women.

Today Kevin did an entire reading lesson (Lesson 17). This is a big accomplishment because usually he will only sit through two or three of the tasks per day. I can tell he's getting more excited about being able to read words and stories. I'm amazed at how much he has already learned to do. He had his last day of preschool this week and is really excited to go to kindergarten. He also really, really wants to take apart Ryan's old computer and use it to build a memory scanner.

a nice birthday

On Thursday I had a nice birthday. I am twenty-four. I never thought I would be so old. I'm not sure I really am this old. Then again, I'm definitely not sixteen or even twenty anymore--nor would I want to be.

The day got off to a rough start when Kevin woke us up earlier than we are accustomed to, and then at breakfast time he threw soggy bran flakes across the room. It was an awful mess. Ryan was feeling really dizzy, so I put Kevin and his dirty chair into the shower and told Kevin he had to clean up his chair. Then I had to scrub the carpet. Next place we live will have hardwood floors.

But it got better. Kevin and I spent the morning reading books, and then my friend Melissa babysat the kids so that Ryan and I could go out for lunch. It was so nice to get to go out on a date! We don't do that very often. We rode the bus to Franklin Street and went to Spanky's. It was good food. I had a chicken burger and a fruit smoothie, Ryan had a cheeseburger, and we also both had fries. Our straws were made from plants, by the way. When we finished, we were thinking about getting some ice cream or a doughnut, but I wasn't sure. Then our bus home pulled out just before we reached it, so it was decided. We had fifteen minutes to kill, so we went to Coldstone. I tried their new raspberry frozen yogurt, and it was awesome!

In the afternoon everybody got a nap (which doesn't happen very often), and then we had Hawaiian haystacks for dinner. Ryan made an apple pie.

My mom gave me a hot glue gun, which is something I've been wanting for a while so I can try out some of the things I've pinned on Pinterest. I think I'm going to get the piano tuned for my birthday too. It is very much in need of it.