Tickle Bug!

Oh when the tickle bug arrives at our house...let the laughter begin. Why is is that children love to be tickled... they love the torture of not being able to breathe from laughter and every fiber of your body hurting. But those giggles are sometimes the sweetest sound you will ever here. Lately, Claire has been laughing more and in fact she has found that she has a funny bone in her body. Today I discovered that she is ticklish above her knee in the vulnerable area for what we call, "Horse Eating Cabbage." (In honor of Grandaddy, I can still remember that feeling like it is happening now. And of course he has the most hilarious look on his face and sound from his mouth) And oh the giggles she made. She had Hope and myself so tickled over her laughter we couldn't stop. What precious moments. May I be blessed with many more giggles, smiles and laughter from all my girls.

Priceless

We have waited a long time to see this from Clairebear... and Aunt Shanae was finally able to capture it for all time!

As Shanae said... this is officially the best picture ever!

Just Because

Just Because....

We love being silly... Hope sporting her Daddy's russian hat

Hope loves her kitten, Sprinkles

We celebrated Daddy's Birthday!

Just Because....

I love my girls all snuggled up in their pajamas....

Mom kept asking me to post new pictures of the girls....

Fun at the Zoo

A week ago last Thursday, I got to take all 3 girls and some friends of ours to the Fort Worth Zoo for Homeschool Day. We had the best time as you can see....





Hope even got to ask the zookeeper for the jaguars a question. I was so proud of her for actually doing it. Most of the animals were out and about for us to view and observe. Hope chose the zebra to do an additional study on at home.

When Italy becomes Holland

I was listening to the radio the other day for a fundraiser for families with children with terminal illness or chronic disease etc. And one mom was on and she said she is often asked what it is like having a special child and this is how she summed it up ( I wished I had thought of this)

All your life you have wanted to go to Italy. So you finally plan a trip. You are ready to see the gondolas, the Michael Angelos, the Sistene Chapel. You buy a Italian phrase book. You pack your bags--you are so excited. The day of your trip arrives. You board the plane and after the flight ends, you are ready to land... only to hear the stewardess say, "Welcome to Holland". "What?" you say. "But what about Italy? I wanted to go to Italy?"

After you have been in Holland awhile, you realize it isn't too bad either. After all they have windmills, and tulips, and Rembrandts. And you have met a whole slew of people you never would have met before if you had gone to Italy. Now you are still sad that the dream of Italy is over, afterall, all of your friends are getting to go to Italy. And that dream is hard to let go of. But Holland has beauty if you stay awhile. It is slower pace than the flashy Italy. But it really isn't so bad. And look at all of the new things you have learned, and seen, and experienced. You are a better person for having gotten to go to Holland.

Boy that mom truly did express what living with a "special" child is all about. Although we are still in the midst of our experience in Holland. I can reflect and say I am glad we are here. I do miss Italy occassionally. (OK a lot some days) But then I am so glad that God blessed us not only with Claire and "Holland" but also with Hope and Molly in "Italy". Maybe we get the best of both worlds!

Sad Day--Happy Day

Saturday was a sad day! After much family discussion, we decided it would be best if we returned Perdy. We decided that in our small house and no fence yard, that Perdy just didn't fit well. We could not adequately provide for her "big" needs. Plus Hope was scared to death of her every time she jumped up for some lovings. So Hope and the girls went to play with friends, so I could make the 2 hour trek to return Perdy so another family could adopt her. Of course this wasn't done without much tears on my part. Good thing Hope wasn't there or we might have had to float home in a boat.

Now to the good news, with the discussion about returning Perdy, we asked Hope why she did like Perdy and she said she liked it when she laid by her and when she slept in her room, so we determined that a kitten might be the better choice. So we found an ad for some kittens in Wichita Falls, so off the girls and I headed Monday and got us a cute female kitty--Sprinkles. And boy does she love Hope, she snuggles up to her all the time, lays on her bed. Just exactly what Hope wanted!