Thursday, January 19, 2012

Home for Insomniac Children

Last night Claire and Natalie fell asleep pretty easily and were tucked in their beds between 8-8:30 like normal. Natalie woke and called for me some time later, so we cuddled on the sofa and we both fell asleep there. I woke up at 1am and carried her back to bed. She woke a little, fussed a little, I got her to sleep again, but then she woke up at a little after 2am. I tried to get her to fall back asleep by telling her I'd come back in 5 minutes, 10 minutes, etc. But around 2:40, I heard her get out of bed (no small feat for her, since she has a full-length bed rail on her bed) and she informed me it was time to get up. Claire was also awake by this point. Since I was exhausted, I tucked them both in with me. But it took them SO long to fall back asleep. Neither was particularly impressed when I got them out of bed at 6:15 this morning.
Claire is learning the verse with the fruits of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22, 23. This one is challenging to remember all of the said fruits.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against such things there is no law.
Natalie is learning 1Thessalonians 5:16, 17. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.
Now that we know where Claire is going to attend school next year, I've started telling her more about it. Right now, the part that excites her is riding the bus with Alair. I'll be driving her to school in the morning, since I'll be dropping Natalie off at day care the same as always, and I drive past North Morristown on my way to work. But Claire will take the bus home to Dama and Bapa's house in the afternoons with Alair. "And I'll do that every day, right? Except for Saturday and Sunday?" Otherwise, "school" is still a fairly abstract concept for her.
Claire does enjoy watching Alair do her worksheets in the afternoons, and we have a couple of little workbooks for her, and she gets a real kick out of doing them. She is very eager to learn to read, and is constantly asking me "what does this letter say?" "What's this word?" Claire's writing is also coming along by leaps and bounds. She is able to write almost all her letters, and they are quite legible.
It will really be a new experience when Claire starts kindergarten for all of us. Claire, obviously, will be in her new environment and learning all kinds of new things. But Natalie will be on her own at day care, and that might take some getting used to for her. Natalie has always had Claire around, and to have that change will probably be difficult at first. I know they'll adjust, since they've adjusted to everything else, but it will take some time and undoubtedly try my patience for a few weeks!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

I am so glad that regular TV is back. No more re-runs or boring filler shows. Castle (my favorite TV show. Ever.) is back tonight. American Idol starts sometime this month, and then "Dancin' And The Stars" (as Claire calls it) comes back in the spring. I've finished watching season 7 of Grey's Anatomy from Netflix and will be catching up on all the season 8 episodes I've recorded on the DVR.
Claire memorized the entire 23rd Psalm in December, and now we're working on Luke 11:9 Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.
Natalie is now insisting on having her memory work, too, so last night we learned Psalm 100:1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
The discussion has been had, financial compromises have been made, and Claire is going to be enrolled at Trinity Lutheran School at North Morristown! I am so excited. This was a long-dreaded discussion, and it was really heated at times, but we've got it sorted out. I am thrilled that Claire will get to go to school with Alair (they are BFFs after all) and they will do just great there.
Life is pretty good :)

Monday, January 2, 2012

Just a Couple of Resolutions

So apart from the obvious, cliched resolutions to exercise, lose weight, and save more money (all of which I do hope to accomplish this year), here are my resolutions for 2012:
* Read all the books on my TBR (to be read) shelf. I have about 48 books on this shelf. This is just books in paper edition. I don't really want to think about all the books that are TBR that are on my Nook. That will be a resolution for another year.
* Make at least one new recipe each week. Once upon a time in my former life, this would not have been a resolution. Because it was a rare week that I didn't use several new recipes. But now, that I'm cooking for just myself and the girls, I tend to go with tried-and-true. I will still have much that is tried-and-true this year, but maybe I can try out all the new recipes I've been printing off, and all the cookbooks to be tested.
* I would also like to stay more on top of my housekeeping tasks, like getting laundry folded and put away more quickly, and not letting dishes stack up too often. But if these fall by the wayside, so be it.