Summertime, and the living's easy...

YUM!

Don't just laugh Tyler, save her! Claire was acting really silly this day, kept jumping up and down on the steps, going under, and then coming up laughing! That's why Tyler was just laughing at her.


It's Saturday, and OF COURSE Claire wakes up earlier than she has all week: 7:15! I know for many moms, this is actually late, but Claire usually wakes up around 7:45-8:00. And OF COURSE I decided to stay up late reading because she had gone to sleep fairly late, around 9:30. No such luck with the whole sleeping-in-on-Saturday thing. Oh well! Every day is a blessing, so might as well get up and enjoy it, right? So far today, we've read our new library books (I already finished mine!), watched cartoons, taken a joint shower, and baked cookies. Claire already knows it's her job to stir, unwrap the butter, and of course, lick a beater and spoon (I still reserve the right to one beater!).

Jay rolled out of bed pretty soon after Claire came in our room, and got a phone call from Nana, asking if he was at the job site yet! Ha! It's so funny to me that he got that call. Last night, Jay arranged for Nana and Grandad to come look at his homes in Calera to get some ideas for the kind of home they want Jay and Grant to build for them. So at 7:20, Nana called to tell him they were already in Durant! I guess they were excited to get going on the house! We're all excited about Nana and Grandad's new house; we hope to start on it this summer!

So Claire and I have had a great summer week, with shopping, a play date at the park, a trip to the library and farmers market, and an afternoon at Mom's pool! It doesn't get much better than that! Play time's over for me for a while though; this week I also got two story assignments, both due in two weeks! Actually, it really won't affect our schedule that much. I usually just make phone calls and write in the afternoons during Claire's nap and post-nap milk and TV, and then get a babysitter whenever I have to make a trip and also just before my deadline. I love my part-time job! I just sometimes wish it was a little more regular. It seems like when it rains, it pours! I'm sort of trying right now to find some sort of monthly paid writing assignment.

Anyway, we're both looking forward to this afternoon, when Claire will go four-wheeling and fishing with Daddy, and I'm going to go see Up with Mom and Ty (and maybe a few other fam members, not sure yet). Hope you're having a GREAT summer, too!

Claire's favorite things to say right now, some stinker and some adorable:

• "No! By self!"
• "Happy birthday to Kerrigan!"
• "HIJKLMNOP" (She usually sings this and Kerrigan's birthday song together! Have tried to get this on video several times, and she has yet to cooperate, although she has been singing this on and off all day for a week!)
• "What you doing, Mama?"
• "What's that?"
• "Don't want to...[anything I want her to do]"
  
• And of course, the perennial two-year-old favorite: "MINE!"