Katy's growing up!

Katy is growing and maturing so much already this year. I have watched my little girl turn into a responsible young woman over the last few weeks and I am just amazed at what she can do.

Monday after a long day at school and a long fun hike with her grandparents that night in which she did not get home until after 9:00 she set in and did her homework. I had even written her an excuse note stating I had to work overtime and she was sent on a hike with her grandparents straight from school and did not get home until after 9 and had to go to bed. I said she would get to do that homework the next night and turn it in.

Katy saw the note and said, "Thanks mom but I need to do it." and do it she did. She finished it all in just a few minutes, brushed her teeth and went to bed.

Every morning since school has started Katy gets up, gets dressed and gets her hair brushed. She then eats breakfast. It is only after all that she is allowed to watch TV. She then watches TV until Lyse and I get up. She turns off the TV helps Lyse get ready (without me even asking) and then we get out the door to school. I am not asking Katy to do these things. She is doing them on her own!

Tonight I told her to unload the dishwasher. A couple months ago I would have had to ask several times. Nope - she did it after the first time of asking. Katy got out her homework and completed it all.

After dinner was over seriously I was spent. I have worked so many hours lately I can't even tell you. I filled my schedule completely full for the next few weeks cause we need the money and I need the hours. I filled it so I was completely booked while the kids were in school. Then Hurricane Irene came and ruined my life :) Seriously it has taken its toll on me. My already completely booked schedule got mandatory overtime added onto it. Each day I had to add at least 2 more hours of work in.

Tonight when I got off work at 700, Ben had dinner on the table so we sat down and ate. We talked about our day. Katy and Lyse have really wanted school lunch but we just don't have the money to pay for school lunch, it is much cheaper to make a meal at home. While eating dinner Katy talked about how her friend let her have a mini corndog cause those are her favorite and what she really wanted. She then asked if she could take an extra pudding cup tomorrow to share. What a sweet thing I have! We got some pudding cups on sale super cheap at Winco so mid week (aka Wednesday) each week they are each allowed to take one to add to their lunch as a treat. Katy even said if she couldn't take an extra she would just give hers to her friend that shared with her. :)

Lyse started to complain about wanting to eat hot lunch and I watched as Katy did this and that to settle her down and convince her that a home lunch really is better (even though I KNOW that she really wants school lunch too!) My sweet sweet Katy. My heart breaks that her and Lyse have to struggle with this! It broke my heart a little when Lyse and Katy informed me it was ok that I didn't have the quarters for their milk at lunches because "the lunch lady gives us all the free water we can drink and she is really nice about it!" (that was Lyse's words) and Katy responded - "Yup and it tastes perfect with our lunch!"

Anyway back on topic! After dinner getting up from the table was torture and seriously I had no drive or energy for anything. I cleaned the plates off and walked into the living room to have my first moment of freedom all day (well other than the 15 minutes I had in the car driving home from their school). I sat down on the couch only to hear Katy say, "Mom we need to get our lunches for tomorrow ready." I wanted to cry. I have not had 2 minutes to do anything that I wanted. I had taken my hour of free time earlier that day to clean the house so that it was once again clean and presentable. If I take time it is taking it away from my children, husband or sleep. I have been mainly electing to take away sleep!

So I went to get up and my sweet little Katy that is growing up way to fast came in and said, "Hey never mind, I am going to make lunch for Lyse and me. Don't worry mom." She did just that too! She brought me in sandwiches in the sandwich baggies that she wanted the air suctioned out of and that was the extent of my lunch making for the evening. It was such a simple thing but it meant so much to me. I have had to worry about making lunches every night for the last 2 weeks, making sure they had just enough so they wouldn't go hungry but not too much so that it would go to waste. It's a tricky balance trying not to be wasteful but also not wanting my kids to be the starving child.

When I walked into the kitchen to take the sandwiches to put in the lunch sack, I told Lyse to make sure to grab her apple to share with the class the next day. Lyse said, "Don't worry Katy already got it for me!" And she had. Katy remembered from dinner Lyse talking about how she had to take an apple to school the next day and she made sure to put that apple in Lyse's lunch pale. Seriously...she is just too good!

Both of the girls had a perfect lunch with carrots, applesauce, a sandwich and then tomorrow is their treat and they get their pudding cups. Katy did it all. She made the sandwiches, put the carrots in snack baggies. She is growing up.

I don't want to overwhelm her but I want to keep encouraging her in responsibilities. I am seeing she is growing and I love seeing it. She is an amazing soul! I could not have asked for my prayers to be answered any better than they have been with the great, amazing teacher Katy got this year. She was EXACTLY what Katy needed. As Katy is growing and thriving at school, I see the same things happening at home. Now I just have to watch the balance and not allow her to grow herself up to fast or overwhelm herself. Teach her balance. That is the hard part!!

Ok on another side note:

I need to share this so I don't forget. About 3 weeks ago, I was sitting on my couch and got the most distinct strong feeling, "GO complete your Disability Recurrency for Work" I hee hawed and kinda left it alone. I had almost a month, why was I so worried about it? Anyway the feeling came again. I didn't do it that night but the next night the feeling came again. I am sad to say I didn't listen the first night. the second night, well that night I listened and was like, "Ok I will do it". So after work and getting the girls in bed, I started the training about 9 at night. I finished it up and thought, "hmm that wasn't bad" and went on my merry little way. I thought about that a lot and wondered why I had felt so inspired to get that done. I had wanted to do it once the girls started back to school but with the promptings I decided to just get it done.

When I got my paycheck with the extra 1.5 hours on it from the thing that took me about 40 minutes I smiled and went on my merry way. I was grateful I didn't have to worry about forgetting the assignment and getting in trouble at work.

Thursday came around and a full blown war zone broke out at work due to Hurricane Irene. We went into irregular operations. I was working a full shift (having planned that with the girls school schedules). Work then added at least 2 hours a day onto my already full shifts. I was so stressed. Between Thursday night at 9 and Saturday night at 9 I worked a total of 24 hours! Ya and it didn't lighten up from there! Sunday I was toast. Monday when they sent out a new email that they were staying in code red and more mandatory over time was going to be required, I literally started to cry on the phone! I bawled and was grateful it was a reservations agent on the other end, not the customer!

This morning it hit me. Remember 3 weeks ago that quick little 40 minutes I had to do that video? Well you see, the due date for that is tomorrow by 10 pm. I have been working OT and non-stop for the last week and I still have 10 more days before I even have a full day off work! The thought came to me so strongly it would have knocked me over if I were standing, "That prompting wasn't just a little thing, it was a HUGE blessing you Father in Heaven sent you because He KNEW you would not be able to take any more. He loves you and does not want you so overwhelmed. He will carry you through, just remember to follow the promptings"

What I thought was a simple, "Oh He knew I would keep that in the back of my mind and constantly worry about it for the few weeks so he just sent the prompting for you to do it" changed. What was small and simple at the time is something of HUGE worth now. I could not give anymore. I have maxed out. He knew what was coming and he LITERALLY prepared me for the storm.

This also made me think. How often do I get a simple, "I should do that" and it seems so small that I just ignore it? Sometimes those things that seem so small are actually quite big to the others around us. I am going to try harder to not ignore those feelings of "small and simple acts" because I really have realized that it is by small and simple things that great things can come to pass!!