Clara's new look

A few months ago Tony and I noticed Clara crossing her eyes...a lot. At first I thought maybe she was doing it on purpose, but she's a little young for that. Since it was Gracie's eye crossing that lead me to an eye doctor with her (at age 16 months) I decided to take Clara in. And sure enough, she has the same thing Gracie does. It's called accommodative esotropia--which means she's far-sighted and crosses her eyes to see clearly. Now she has glasses and won't need to cross her eyes to see. Luckily I kept the only pair of Gracie's glasses that survived toddlerhood, so I got Clara's prescription put in them. I also got another pair through insurance so now we have the luxury of 2 pairs--something I never had with Gracie. It's taken her a few weeks, but now she'll keep them on for long stretches of time. She looks adorable and when she looks at books she looks like a little baby genius.

I also gave her her first official hair cut. Now it sits right at her shoulders and slightly curls under all on it's own. Pair the hair cut with the glasses and I think she looks doubly adorable.

Another new thing for Clara is to climb up as high as she can. We have a "mountain" of boxes in the front room and anytime we leave the door open she climbs up the boxes as high as she can get. She also discovered how to climb to the top of the computer desk. We usually have some paper and a few Books of Mormon up there, so of course, she has to clear those off before she climbs up. She also can climb up William's toy shelves in his room. So far she's never fallen off, but there's a first for everything.

See, she looks like she can actually read that book!
One last new thing for Clara is her love for our front room closet. I keep most of our food storage in there. But since I've packed most of it up Tony thought it would be fun to stick Clara in there--he thought she might like it. He set her in there and closed the door. It was pitch black so you might have expected an immediate cry, but Tony opened it to find her playing with a box of noodles and saying "bye, see ya later" over and over again. So he got her a light and left her for a minute. Still, she was fine. After a while he forced her out and she threw a huge fit. The next day she wanted in again and when I wouldn't let her she threw another fit. It's really cute, I just don't have time to sit by the closet door waiting her to to want out.

More news...

...are you ready for more! Most of you already know this, but I'm expecting baby #5! I'm due in the middle of December, right around Gracie's birthday. That puts me at 13 weeks now and feeling much better. We don't know what we're having yet and won't find out until we move in August. William wants me to have twin boys so then we'll have equal boys and girls. I'm not so sure about that idea. But I do at least want one boy!

Everyone here is super excited about the new baby--except maybe Clara. She doesn't realize what's coming, but I do know she doesn't like it when I pay attention to other babies. So it will be interesting. She'll be so happy, though, once he can walk and talk and she has someone to play with all day while the kids are at school.

Here's a cute picture just for fun!

Our favorite tree in Tallahassee...the big one at Lake Ella. William actually was having a good time, but I had just told him it was time to go home. It was so hot I was melting.

ASU here we come!

No, not Arizona State (although that would be awesome!). Tony has accepted a position at Athens State University (and no, it's not in Georgia, it's in Alabama). He'll be directing the writing center there as well as implementing their quality enhancement plan to improve writing across the university. It's a really great job and the university seems like a perfect fit for him.

So, as of August we'll be Alabamans(?). Tony's going to finish up his dissertation in the next 6 weeks, then he'll come back to Tallahassee to defend in September and be set to graduate in December. While Tony is finishing his dissertation the kids and I will be packing, cleaning, and organizing. It's going to be a busy summer with lots of changes but we are all super excited. We will miss Tallahassee, though. I've never met people quite as awesome as the people here and I really don't know if anywhere can top this. But leave we must. I know this is where the Lord wants us to go. Everything has been working together so Tony could get this job at this time and it is the best place for our family to be. So look out Alabama...because once we get there, you'll never be the same!

Atlanta

Last week Tony went to a conference in Atlanta. He left Wednesday night. About 2 hours before he left I found out the Atlanta Temple was having their open house starting that Saturday. Since Atlanta is only 5 hours from here and Tony already had a hotel room paid for, we decided that I'd drive up with the kids Friday night so we could tour the temple on Saturday. Then we'd drive home and be back Saturday night.

While I was driving up Friday afternoon Tony got a call from his best friend from high school that lives an hour outside of Atlanta. They invited us to stay Saturday night. Since we already had our Sunday clothes to go to the temple we decided to stay. So it turned out to be a crazy weekend but we had a lot of fun.

Saturday morning Tony went to his conference so I took the kids to the Atlanta Children's Museum. Then we met Tony at the temple. The tour lasted about an hour and was great! The kids loved how beautiful everything was. I showed the girls the brides room and explained how when they get married we could go in there and I would help them get ready. Gracie thought she was getting married right then. It took some time to explain that I meant when she was older! I also showed them the mirrors in the sealing room and how the reflection goes on forever just like our family. Hallie especially loved that!

After the temple we went to our friend's house. They were so nice to have us stay when they had just walked in the door from a vacation. We went to church with them the next day and left that afternoon after lunch. So although the trip was quick it was definitely worth it. I didn't get any pictures at the temple because there were so many people around and they kept us moving pretty much the whole time, but I did get lots at the museum. Here are a few...

The museum has this giant contraption that moves plastic balls all over the place. There are about 15 different places you can pull levers or turn cranks to make the balls go different places. Will spent most of his time here.

They had an African exhibit. Hallie must have been really tired after a long camel ride.

Clara took Gracie on a really long tractor ride.

They had 2 big tables with moon sand. Gracie spent most of here time here.

Clara watching herself in the mirror. I love that little hat!

There was a little play area for kids under 2. They had this little piano which Clara LOVED! She could fit right on the bench and play. When she plays our piano she always falls off.

Hallie and Gracie painted. You paint on the wall then when you're done they clean it off for other kids.

There's a big shipping truck with boxes and a conveyor belt. Will loaded up boxes and sent them down for someone else to unload. They also had a little grocery store with shopping carts and baskets. You can fill your cart up from the shelves and check out at a little register. So cute!

Hallie learns about Mexico

Last week Hallie's class did a little play about Mexico (they've been studying Mexico for the last few weeks). It was pretty cute--mostly because it's fun to watch the little kids--and at the end Hallie was part of a group that did a Mexican Hat Dance. She's the girl in the front right wearing the white shirt and green skirt.

Camping

Last week was spring break for the kids so we took them camping--but only for one night. I'm not much of a camper. It seems to be way to much work for only a little fun, but I will always be overruled in that area, so we took the kids to Torreya State Park. Since this was our first family camping trip I thought it would be best to keep it short.

The minute we arrived at our campsite the kids set out to explore and quickly found a swing made from a branch that hung in a "U" shape. It was the perfect way for the 3 older kids to entertain themselves while Tony and I set up. Clara, however, just wanted to wander. Especially over to the neighboring campsite--they had a trailer with about 3 steps up (she LOVES steps!). So every 30 seconds we had to pull her away from their trailer and get her busy doing something else. At least the people were really nice and said they didn't mind at all.

We hiked a small trail, which turned out to be just the right length. We played games and roasted marshmallows. But most of all we spent a lot of time together. So even though I forgot a few things and we didn't stay too long, I'd count this trip as a success. Maybe next time I'll be brave enough to stay for 2 nights!

Hiking to "weeping ridge". We saw a dead armadillo carcass on the way back that was not there when we hiked in. It kind of creeped us out.

Gracie and Hallie on the natural swing.

Roasting giant marshmallows. Those would have made really good smores. Oh well, maybe next time!

Best Jedi Master Racer

For the past month or so William has been really into Star Wars. Really into Star Wars. He has watched all the movies (multiple times) and keeps getting Star Wars books from the library. So as his first pinewood derby approached Tony asked him what he wanted his car to be. The automatic answer...a light saber. So that's what they made (see picture below). That night he raced his heart out and came out with an honorable mention. But each car got an award and Will's was the "best jedi master racer". So even though he only won maybe 2 races he was ecstatic! They could not have given him a better award!

Does it look like he's been crying in this picture? That's because on the way home we tried playing the quiet game (it was way past bedtime). The loser would not get a treat the next day (deemed to be some root beer--awesome, right?). Well, Will lost. So he threw a fit about not getting any root beer. Then Hallie started crying because she felt sorry for Will for not getting any root beer (it turned out to be a really loud ride home instead). I'd like to say that I stuck to my guns and didn't give him any root beer, but for the sake of getting them to bed, I caved. Then I made him smile for the picture I told grandma I would take.

Behold, the mighty light saber!