A Little Bit of an Update

Life is good.  Luckily we've been punctuating our not-so-good moments with trips to parks, the pool, the beach, etc.  I am really working on my patience right now, and it's been an up-hill battle, but something about being outside enjoying the nice weather seems to cheer me up.  

Audrey's mess-making capabilities have truly reached epic proportions, and we've almost banned cold cereal and watermelon from our house.  She LOVES taking care of her "babies," and we had to give the ones with the hardest body parts to the nursery at church because of all the bloody-noses she was giving herself at nap-time and bedtime.   I can only assume she was rolling over onto them or something; I'm not sure.  All I know is, the bloodiness has stopped, thank goodness.  She loves being outside, and we have to keep the doors locked so that she can't escape.  I'm just hoping she doesn't figure out the locks anytime soon.  I am having a really good time watching her grow and learn, doing girly stuff, but still being tough enough to hold her own against her older brother and her best bud, Jackson.  

I realized that I haven't been writing down Luke's funny sayings lately.  The only ones I can remember off the top of my head are:  (1) the dust in the air you see in a ray of sunlight he calls "sun-flakes" and (2) when I explained to him that Sally on the movie Cars was called a sports-car, he asked, "What sports does she play?"  Speaking of Cars, he loves that movie.  Luckily I like it a lot, too, because we watch it a lot.  A friend of his loaned him a Lightning McQueen racing car that revs its engine and says a few phrases, and I don't know how I'm going to get him to give it back.  He even got some Cars bed-sheets from a friend's garage sale, and you should see his excitement every time he jumps into bed.  He is a great helper, and he has an endless need to be busy (read: entertained).  Besides Cars, he also loves Legos and swimming at the pool.   Audrey and I will be shivering with blue-lips, and Luke will beg not to go home yet.  I'm having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that he's growing up, so I'm trying hard to enjoy the little moments while also trying to recognize and understand his growing and changing attitudes and needs.  You can be sure I'm going to be a blubbering baby when I send him off to school for the first time.  Luckily we still have a few years to prepare for that.

Clayton is studying hard, working hard, and sleeping hard.  Residency is passing like a dream, while the days often seem ridiculously long.  As I've pointed out many times, it's difficult for him to juggle all his responsibilities with his work-schedule, but I think he's doing a great job.  The kids adore him, and they jump up and down, screaming, whenever he comes home.  For that matter, so do I!  He scored really well on his Boards last month, so we were very proud of him for that.  It was fun to watch Roger Federer win the French Open today, as Clay and I have been Fed fans for a while.  Hopefully he and I will get to play tennis together again one of these days.

As for me, I'm just trying every day to better translate my love for my kids and husband into how I act.  My fuse has been short lately, and I'm trying to fix that.  I've been hanging out with my good friend, Arika, a lot, and our husbands are starting to make fun of us for being connected at the hip.  I'm just glad that I haven't run her off yet with my quick-fire tongue and grouchy moods.  I'm lucky to have a lot of good friends here, which makes being far from family so much easier.  I've been trying lots of new recipes, few of which are keepers, and I think it's fun to go to garage sales on Friday mornings.  

That's us, for now.  Life is good.