6.years.old

...already.

Happy Birthday Claire!

At 6 years old, Claire has completed her first year of kindergarten, learned how to read, and learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. She caught onto that bike thing really fast, too....I was shocked!

Favorites (just for today, of course)...

book: Stinky Clothes and Abby's Asthma and the Big Race

show: Clifford

color: light blue/light yellow

food: chicken nuggets

thing about Mom: you're my teacher (thank goodness she likes this!)

thing about Dad: wrestling

thing about Meredith: she gave me sunglasses

thing about Amelia: I get to hold her

toy: new duck (that she bought with her birthday $$)

If you could change your name, what would you change it to? Sally.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Astronaut.

What are you excited about for this summer? Swimming.

From Claire: I love my new wallet that Aunt Jill gave me for my birthday. I can't wait to go birthday shopping. I can't wait to have mom make me a strawberry cake for my birthday!!

Claire is such a great kid! She was such an unexpected surprise when she came, but we just can't imagine our lives without her. She is a natural leader in her world. She's extremely athletic, competitive, and great at math. As of now, she isn't a lover of reading, but she does love to be read to. She also enjoys writing, drawing, and coloring.

Claire, we're so blessed to have you in our lives, and our family just wouldn't be the same without you! We love you so much. Happy 6th birthday, sweet girl.

busy.busy.busy

Goodness, we've been busy. Here's what we've been up to:

I had poison ivy and finally went to the doctor at the end of last week after it was beginning to spread to areas that it just shouldn't spread. Sweet relief.

We celebrated Claire and Josh's birthdays at the lake over the weekend (even though neither of them have hit their big days yet).

We had our last day of kindergarten last Friday...yay!

We hit the zoo for the first time of the year last Wednesday!

And today, I'm remembering what I was doing exactly 6 years ago....I taught my last day of 5th grade, went to my last doctor's appointment, was told that I was barely dilated, and had dinner with Josh and my parents. I woke up the next morning at 5:45 to my water breaking at the same time as the alarm was ringing. It was a bit of a rude (yet exciting!) awakening.

And the rest (as they say) is history.

prayers.for.meredith

Our little Meredith needs some prayer. She came out to me this evening just in tears about having to go to sleep.

She's mentioned that she's had dreams about monsters before, but she hasn't gone into any detail. Tonight, she told me that she didn't want to go to sleep because of all of the monsters in her dreams.

I asked her what the monsters were doing, and she said that they were chasing her and trying to kill her. My heart is just broken. I'm teary-eyed just typing this. (kind of makes my last post about my luggage seem not so important, huh?)

I mean, honestly, we don't watch scary things in our house or anything. I'm even afraid of scary movies, and I refuse to watch them. Always have. Even if the t.v. is on in our house for a sporting event or something and an intense commercial comes on, we either change the channel or make our kids not look at the t.v.

I prayed with her this evening right after she told me (and she was calmed down by then), and her little lip was quivering and she was starting to cry again as I was praying about it. So, guess who else was crying....yep, you guessed it...me. I just feel so helpless about the whole situation.

I remember having bad nightmares as a kid, and I'm pretty sure it's something that all kids go though, but I'm just asking for some prayers for her as you're reminded. Thank you.

seriously.may.12

Meredith was picking her nose and eating it the other day while we were sitting on the couch.

I said, "Meredith, please stop picking your nose and eating your boogers. That's gross."

She responds, "I'm not eating my boogers, I'm eating my snot!"

....well, then, on with it...that's not nearly as disgusting.

Seriously.

I can't make this stuff up.

can't.sit.still

Little Miss cannot sit still to save her life! This picture pretty much sums up TWO attempts to take her 1 year pictures (and we're a month behind already!).

AND, if I can get her to sit for two seconds, she doesn't smile. We'll try again soon! :)

 

my.mom.totally.embarrasses.me

...that is what Claire is going to say when she's 14 and she reads this post.

This was our conversation from this afternoon...

Setup: Claire is in the playroom and I am in the kitchen.

Claire: Don't come in here, Mom!

Me: Ok.

Claire: Do you know why?

Me: No. (and she didn't look like she was up to anything too sneaky, so I wasn't concerned)

Claire: Well, don't come in here.

Me: Ok.

Claire: Do you know what I did?

Me: (Now I'm just going to amuse her so that she quits asking.) Ummm...did you bake me a cake?

Claire: Nooooo.

Me: Did you.....(I'm trying to think of something silly)...fart?

Claire: YEEESSSS! Did you smell it?

Me: No.

Claire: Well, don't come in here because it's really stinky!! It kind of smells like Daddy's toots! His are a little stinkier though. (rather matter-of-factly)

Me: (Totally laughing at this point) Daddy would be proud.

...now Josh might be embarrassed as well. Probably not though...I mean, really, who's toots don't stink?

 

boston.wednesday

Let's just say that this day was one that needed patience.

Before you read this post...if you have 4 minutes...watch this clip. I was trying to keep it all in perspective as my day was unfolding.

1. We woke up at 5:40 a.m. to leave for the airport by 6:00 a.m. for Julie's 8:00 flight.

2. Right before we left, I had to hit that bathroom. Rachel graciously loaded my bag. She, thoughtfully left my purse out so that I could have it with me in the car.

3. I, absentmindedly, didn't ask for my purse when I got in the car. I guess I thought it was in the trunk.

4. We drove to the airport...1 hour away.

5. About 5 minutes before we arrived at the airport, Rachel said, "Where's your purse?" I said, "I thought you put it in the trunk." She said, "&*#%!!! I'm sure I set it on the garage floor thinking that you'd walk right by it."

6. Good news....my flight isn't until 10:15. Bad news....now we have to drive 1 hour back to Rae's house and another hour back to the airport. Stink.

7. Rachel feels really bad....I feel really bad. Double stink.

8. Drive back to Rae's...drive back to the airport.

9. Check in and learn that my flight is delayed until 11:30.

10. Hear my name called..."Ma'am, yes, we don't think you are going to make your connecting flight at 12:30, so we've bumped you back to the 1:50 flight." Stink.

11. Board the plane. Head to the runway. Stop. Announcement: "We've been delayed yet again. Please sit tight. We'll be on our way in about 35 minutes." Stink.

12. Make it on the next flight. Didn't have much time to eat...so I didn't. And should have.

13. Starving Jackie. I do get a teeny-tiny bag of pretzels and a sprite on the plane. I think there were 6 pretzels in the bag...maybe 7.

14. There was a lady sitting one row back with 2 small children (obviously travelling alone). I say, "If you need help with anything while we're on this flight, let me know. I have 3 small children, and I've travelled with them before. It can be crazy sometimes!"

15. She is so sweet, and we start talking. Her little girl (Jassie...not sure if that's how she spells it) is 6, and her little boy (Jason) is 5 months. So adorable.

16. She is on her way from Germany (where her husband plays professional basketball) to come back to the US for a few months while he's off. Wow.

17. So, I ask if her daughter is in kindergarten in Germany. She says, "We home school." Us too!!!

18. Then, I say to the little girl..."Your name is Jassie? My name is Jackie, and it kind of sounds like Jassie!" Mom says, "Your name is Jackie? My name is Jackie!" Now this is just getting crazy!!

19. I make a new best friend....and I get to hold baby Jason while Jackie and Jassie were in the bathroom. He was soooooo adorable. He even giggled once.

20. We finally land. I'm starving.

21. I go to the McDonald's in the airport to eat because I think that I'm about to pass out from lack of food.

22. I order a value meal and eat the whole thing...something I never do.

23. I go to get my luggage which I assumed came in on the earlier flight.

24. The man says, "I've been paging you." Uh-oh.

25. Local time 5:15....he says, "Your luggage got put on the wrong flight, and it won't be here until 6:30." I still have 2 hours to drive home from the airport.

26. I feel tears welling up in my eyes because I've been travelling for about 12 hours straight at this point. I am so tired. Deep breath....composure....no tears.

27. The man says that once the luggage arrives, they'll get it to my house by the following day.

28. Ok, I can live without my luggage for a night. I drive 2 1/2 hours home.

29. The following morning, a man comes to my house with my bag.

30. My coat is falling out of the bag....this doesn't look good.

31. My zipper is destroyed and the back of my bag is torn open.

32. I called the airline right away, and they're still working on it. I guess. That was last Thursday. I got a call yesterday afternoon, and they said they are still trying to figure out what to do.

33. Is it that difficult? I really just want a new bag.

So, on the bright side....Rachel and I got a little extra chat-time in, I made a new best friend on my second flight, and I think I might get a new piece of luggage. Not bad for one day.