Another Great Date Night

Mike and I had the opportunity on Friday to participate in another Power of Moms Couples Workshop. I just can't say enough about what a wonderful experience it is to mingle with so many like-minded parents. There was so much enthusiasm, optimism and energy in our group Friday night.

Between all the attendees, we had 78 children represented!! Those are some lucky 78 children! One couple who is expecting their first came, on up to a couple with their oldest child being 19. It was fabulous to see and hear about the range of experiences.

(the attendees were filling out a paper-they weren't all taking notes at the exact same time!)

No matter how much I present this stuff-I am always amazed at how much I learn from others. This time I came away committed to work better with my two youngest rather than gear most systems to the older ones. And borrowing an idea from another attendee, I may or may not add a wooden spoon to my church bag.

Oh! And good news for Megan--I am going to relax on my "clean room" expectations of her during the week, and not allow a clean room to become more important than our relationship. (Easier said than done-I may be using my "new friend" Kristen as a support group when I'm ready to "lose it.")

Speaking of Kristen--she was our gracious host at her home in Orem. She attended the November workshop at my house and afterwards, kindly opened her home for a Power of Moms event. I wish I could have visited with her more.

One of my very favorite things about Power of Moms is the friendships I have gained with women scattered around the country. Two of my favorite POM ladies were there last night, Lindsay and Koni. Love them.

I wish I had a photo of another one of our Power of Moms trainers, Danielle. Who I obviously didn't make a great impression on the first time we met two years ago, because she said in an email the other day she was "excited to meet me." Oh well. I think we evened out after she and her husband did a fabulous job singing their "family jingle" on Friday night, and I followed it by a poor choice of words that  "insulted" their performance. Everyone laughed. I could feel the heat as my face grew redder and redder by the second.

I also wish I had a photo of me and Mike. He is such a good sport with these events. He even voluntarily sang our family rule song. Not to mention he repeated it again with a private performance afterwards for someone who wanted to write it down. I love hearing his comments, ideas and support. He's a great guy to be navigating through this parenting journey with.

I am thrilled to be a part of The Power of Moms. Truly, a wonderful organization.

If you're in the Provo area--check out the workshop that will be held this next Saturday HERE.
If you're anywhere close to Las Vegas (or want a mini-vacation) in April--check out the Retreat that will be happening there, HERE.

As for how our children did home alone under Megan's charge for 4+ hours Friday night?
Put it this way-cleaning hour lasted longer than an hour on Saturday morning. Not to mention I made Luke stop mid-way through his story when telling me about tying rope to a door to lock a particular sibling in their bedroom because no one wanted them to be around.

Mike and I only go to these workshops to facilitate the discussions.
We are no experts.