Updates and Thankfulness

We have had a fun week so far, and it's only Wednesday, AND just about to get even better!

We had friends over Sunday night, and laughed and talked the evening away. Monday, Dustin and I dropped the girls off at my parents' house and went to a nice restaurant for a Date Night. Yesterday, after Lara's therapy session, my grandparents came over for a visit at lunch time. Today, we got great news! Dustin's stepsister Molly had her baby this evening. Olivia Jean was born at 5lbs 11oz. We can't wait to meet her! The girls have a new cousin! Yay!! Welcome to the world, baby Olivia!

The girls are doing well. Claire has a cold again, and it's just that time of year when she has one pretty much all the time. The rest of us are not affected, thankfully. Claire is doing pretty well on the potty-training front, but still has accidents sometimes. We keep her in a pull-up whenever we go out, though almost always she comes home dry. Lately, she has been waking up at night. Not every night, and sometimes she will go back to sleep on her own, but sometimes she is worked up and she's very hard to console back to sleep. I have to take her out of the room so she will not disturb Lara. We never, not one time, had any issues with Claire sleeping in her big girl bed. I thought we would for sure, but she proved me wrong. At night, before bed, Claire insists on reading our story-time book by herself after I read it. We used to incorporate "quiet time," in which the girls would read quietly by themselves, but we got away from it. I think I will try to start it back up again. It's a great way for the girls to calm down for bed. Claire does wonderfully at identifying all of her letters, but anything else still needs work. Of course, I don't work with her on things as much I could, so a lot of it is my fault. Sorry, Claire. Claire enjoys playing "Angry Birds," and her FAVORITE thing ever is "Monsters Inc"-the movie, a book, a toy, anything. She is just obsessed right now. We borrowed "Monsters Inc" books from the library, and both girls just carried them around constantly and read them for days. Other cute things about Claire:
1. She doesn't run, she prances.
2. She gets very excited when she sees a train: "shoo-shoos!"
3. She likes to color all over herself. Then she goes to wash her hands, and when she is done, the bathroom has turned into the Atlantic.
4. All day long, she will grab things out of the fridge and the pantry, asking me to open something because she is hungry.
5. She loves sweet tea!

Lara is doing great. I mentioned before that she has new braces. These braces have hinges on them. I'm a little confused exactly as to how these hinges work, but I think the idea is that they work to keep the foot at a 90 degree angle to the leg, helping to keep the toes from dragging on the ground. The orthotist and specialist disagree on the effectiveness of this, so we will see.
Here are some sweet things Lara has said to me recently.
1. Lara: When I grow up, I am going to move inSIDE Homer. Will that be good? Will you miss me when I move away?
Me: Yes!
Lara: I will visit you every day. And you can come to my house too. Even if I am not home, I will just leave the door unlocked, you can just come in..........If you spend the night, I will not get mad if you throw up in my house. That's okay. I will get you a towel and take care of you. That will be fine, I will not be mad.

2. Lara: I see God in the trees.
Me: What do you mean?
Lara: Because He made everything. He is under the ground? He is in the Bible. He is in my heart. He is in the whole world...I just teach this to myself.

3. Me: How are you are doing? Do you feel happy about your life?
Lara: Yes, I feel happy about allllllll my life....mmmm.....except my socks, though. I am not happy about my socks, because they stink.

I hope you all have a great thanksgiving!! Have fun with whoever you are with!! I've been drilling my girls lately about pilgrims, Indians, turkeys, and their thankful thoughts. I will leave you with some of my thankful thoughts:

1. A husband who is involved, caring, and nurturing. (He and the girls just got through a Star Wars marathon. Claire runs away if she feels it is getting scary.)

2. Two wonderful, sweet, happy, good little daughters.

3. New friends who are fun and sweet and honest.

4. Parents (both mine and Dustin's) who have extended themselves so greatly for us in so many ways.

5. A warm (compared to the outside, ;)), lovely house in the country.

6. Old friends who tell me what I need to hear.

7. Interesting things to do-I am thankful for great books to read, fun places to visit, fun games to play.

8. Holidays that spruce up life and get the families together.

9. New babies being born!

10. A life that is full, healthy, complete and lovely!