June is blooming!

I know it's been a while since I've posted and there are a lot of reasons why most of which I won't get into here. I will say however that we had a fabulous time at Walt Disney World and Claire loved it. Pictures will be posted at a later date. We had a wonderful vacation and enjoyed the relaxing time together as a family. We also got to see my sister for a day and although we'd wished it was longer, we still enjoyed the visit!

When we got back, summer school began. Justin and I began playing raquetball together before our classes. It is a great workout and even though we're both competitive people it is working out really well. No pun intended. =)

Claire had a hard transition back into day care when we got back since she'd had Mommy and Daddy together for a whole week nonstop. It's been a week though and we're getting into our summer routines.

Speaking of summer classes, I'd forgotten how boring some of my biology classes are. It's been over 2 years since I've taken a college science class and boy I sure don't miss the hiatus. Thankfully, I'm only taking 2 this summer and I'll be done. Perhaps it's the type of biology courses I've chosen. Ecology of Polluted Water and Medical Entomology. I'm in the pollution one now and I can only hope the bug one will be better.

What I am looking forward to in the next few weeks is 2 weeks back "home" in Michigan with Claire and lots of family and hopefully lots of friends. Justin can't take off the time for work, so it will be just Claire and I, but we'll be in the Detroit area from July 4-16. Woohoo! So if you read this, send me a message/comment/email and we'll get together!

Claire surprised us this morning by climbing out of her crib totally unassisted and silent. Justin and I are going to have to figure something out about the sleeping situation since now the crib cannot contain Claire!

Hopefully no more surprises tomorrow!

Summertime is here!!!!
It

I am so excited that the school year is over. Yesterday was the last day for the students and today is just a faculty meeting and then I'm finished! It has been a very stressful year, but it went well and the most important thing is it's completed!

Today, after the faculty meeting Justin and I are driving to Kissimmee for a Disney World vacation. I'm very excited about that as well. Claire left this morning with Meemaw and Papa and Matty who are flying there. We'll meet them there late tonight.

Just a few updates on Claire's new things. We have taught her how to jump. The first day it was pretty rough. She would only lift up one leg and think she had done it. We still praised her because she was trying. On the second day, though, she got it, and then we couldn't stop her. She jumps all over the house now. Perhaps we shouldn't have taught her how to jump.

We've also been teaching her to pray before we eat. We've been doing this for a while, and she knows to put her hands together and wait for us to pray before touching the food on her plate. This week however, she put her hands together and said, "Dear Jesus." I swear my heart melted like butter in the microwave. I had to hold back the tears. This is truly what parenting is all about. Showing Claire the way to Jesus and praying the whole way that she's receptive to it and that we don't become obstacles in the path to Him.

Hope y'all have a good Memorial Day weekend. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post anything while I'm in Florida, but if I can and have time, I will!

Happy Mother's Day

My, where has the time gone? Claire truly is growing up before my very eyes. Well, a little catch up. She had her 18 month check up at 19 months. Oops! She weighed 25 lbs 3oz and was 32" tall. Right on schedule! She is still in the 50th percentile for her age in both categories. She is also talking so much more. By talking, I mean "jabbering" in her own language. She is very adamant about what she wants and what she is saying, it's just that no one else understands any of it. However, she is communicating through speaking. I'm sure it will come soon enough. She sure does have enough to say. She says "Dye, Dye" to absolutely everything and anything she thinks that she needs to say bye to. She says it to every room we leave, to every person, vehicle, and animal that we may see. She's so funny about it too. Yesterday, we were in Wal-Mart and I was pushing her in the cart. An employee was walking the opposite way toward us. Claire saw him coming and was quiet. As soon as he got right beside her, she screams "Dye, Dye" as loud as she can and waves at him. She was just trying to be nice, but I truly thought he was going to jump out of his skin. All I could do was encourage her to be nice to everyone. hehe =)

For Mother's Day, Justin surprised me and got me an iPod! I couldn't believe it! He had gotten me a nice mp3 player for Christmas, but I couldn't get it to work in the car and I refuse to wear headphones while driving. So, even though he'd spent lots of hours putting my favorite music on the mp3 player, it wasn't getting used. For Mother's Day I simply asked him to get an attachment so that I could play it in the car. He went way out of his way and got me an iPod, put ALL of my cd collection on it, AND got me a docking station to go into the cigarette lighter of the car so I can listen to it on my way to work and back. He's the BEST! Thanks sweetie!

We did have lunch with his mom today for Mother's day and it was her Birthday too! So she had an extra special day!

Only two more weeks of school left and then we leave for vacation. I haven't decided yet if i'm more excited about the vacation or the fact that I'll be done with the school year at that point. Either way, it's a motivating factor to make it these last two weeks.

One more thing, today in Sunday School the take home point was to either start a Bible study on your own (devotions) or to give it a wake up call. The lesson was taken out of II Peter 1:12-21. Anyway, I pass the same challenge onto you. Either get in the habit of spending time with God daily and studying His Word or STEP IT UP! Make it better!

I'll leave you with some pictures of the cutie pie!





This is taken Sunday morning right after I put her hair in cute little pigtails. I don't even know why I bother anymore.



She's a computer geek already!




I was spinning her around in the computer chair when this great photo got taken! See the joy?