in the swing of things

We've been working on getting back into a good routine this week. It has taken the whole week, but we are doing good. We've had school every week (Lara is on Lesson 99 out of 100! The reading curriculum is almost done!). We've figured out chores, and have put chore charts on the wall. Dustin and I started an exercise routine last night, and I have been working on a very crucial step to my overall health and happiness: going to bed early. In order to work on these things, I have committed to staying home every morning for the entire week (except Therapy Tuesday). We stayed home from MOPS (which was so sad. Lara was SO disappointed when I told her we weren't going that she cried and cried and explained that she picked out her outfit just for MOPS that morning :( ). My mom asked me to watch Christian this morning, but I told her not until we finished our morning routine (which worked out great, and now Christian and Claire are running in circles around the dining room table as I type this). It feels so good to have some (okay, let's be honest) CONTROL over things again. The girls' attitudes are improving.

This is not a result of New Years' resolutions. It's just trying to get back into the swing of things after the busy holiday season. Here is a great article I read about No-guilt resolutions. http://www.azcentral.com/news/azliving/articles/2012/01/03/20120103no-guilt-better-new-years-resolutions.html

This past week was Dustin's 31st birthday!! Dustin isn't big on birthdays, so we just had a supper at home with Dustin's parents. Happy Birthday, Daddy! You are the best!

Earlier this week, we accomplished a nearly impossible feat these days, and my family got together for bowling and dinner. With the kids being out of school, and many adults taking Monday off from work in honor of New Year's, most people in my family were available for a family night out. It was the girls' first time bowling, and they like it, but really it wasn't as much fun with so many people-then you have to wait such a long time for your turn.

So here is my family. Starting at the far end of the table and going clockwise: Kellie, Allison, Jill, Sarah, Lara, Jesse, Karee, Mom, Me & Claire, Seth, Dustin, Christian, Nikki, David, Dad. We are missing Jill's husband, Curt. But otherwise we are all here, and now that's 17 people!

Lara's new favorite thing is playing one of Dustin's computer games (Skyrim). Dustin will set it up so it transfers to the television. Lara doesn't actually play, but she likes to walk around and gather plants. And buckets. And cups. So eventually she carries around over 1000 lbs of items, and gets mad because her character is walking so slow. So one day I dropped everything off her character, including her armor and clothes, and she was naked. And I didn't know where I left her clothes. And she was still walking slow. Dustin informed me later that the character was walking slow because she was in stealth mode and not because of the quantity of items she was carrying. ;)

Claire is talking better and is learning her colors and numbers and certain songs. She likes to play with the puzzles while I do school with Lara. I am pretty certain I did not include this in the blog yet. This picture was taken a couple months ago. This was Claire's first trip to the dentist. Her teeth are in great shape and her bite is good. She also did just fine letting the staff look in her mouth and clean her teeth.

Here is Claire showing the first teeth she got.

That's all for now! Have a happy 2012!!