Another Project

Jeremy had 3 job interviews this last week. We are still feeling blessed that he gets so many job interviews when most people we know who are out of work are getting about 1 interview a month. But of course we would feel even more blessed if he were to be offered a job.

The good thing about Jeremy being home so much is watching Clara's relationship with him grow. Daddy is so great right now in her eyes. She snuggles with him all the time and I LOVE it. She even gets him to dance with her, which melts my heart. If you know Jeremy at all, you would know he is NOT a dancer. I can't even get him to dance with me. But since he'll do anything for his little girl, he dances with her whenever she asks him to. I love it.So here's a small confession. I'm addicted to sewing. I live less than a block from a fabric store. Whenever I see their big 1/2 off sale sign out front, I go for a walk. I usually spend more than I tell myself I'm going to. But when patterns are only $0.99, I can't pass it up. Or when denim was only $1.50/yd, I got 8 yards. Anyway, I'm always looking for good deals. I especially love making Clara dresses. I think it's because she is starting to really love getting dressed up and "twirling." So this week, I used some material that I've had for a while and made Clara another dress. I have a friend who is wanting to learn how to sew, so she is in the process of using other material I had to make Clara a dress. I have enough material to make Clara 4 more dresses, but I think I'll wait until she's in the next size before I make those. These pictures show both the dress I made this week and Clara's obvious approval.More Clara stories:

Yesterday, Clara and I were walking home from church. I had dropped some cards on the sidewalk and said, "Oh no." Clara said, "Don't worry Mom, I get it." She then picked up my cards for me. I was so proud of her for being so willing to help. I also laughed when she said, "Don't worry." Boy do I love that little girl of mine.

Clara was playing outside with a girl named Christine, who is just a month older than Clara. At one point, Christine pushed Clara with both hands on Clara's chest. It was hard enough that Clara lost her balance and fell down, but not hard enough to hurt Clara. Clara got up and said, "No tickles Christine." It made me laugh that she thought Christine was trying to tickle her instead of being mean to hear. It also made me wonder if we tickle Clara too hard.

Clara talks all the time now and she tries so hard to talk correctly, but it just doesn't come out grammatically correct. However, I'm so impressed with her ability to put words together, that I don't seem to mind the bad grammar. Tonight she was running towards me and said, "I be hurry, Mom!"

One night this week, right before bed, I made the comment so that Clara could hear me: "When this is over (meaning a TV show) it's time to clean up the toys." She turned to me and said, "Clean up toys, what?" She said it exactly like Jeremy does. It made me laugh so hard that I couldn't get mad at her. I simply said my statement again and she happily cleaned up her toys when it was time.

Clara has learned to say "ooooo" when something is cool to her. The funny thing though is that anything is cool to her right now. So she'll say "ooooo a leaf, Mom!" The other day Jeremy brought home a brown paper sack and Clara said, "Ooooooo, a bag!" I'm so glad that she thinks the simplest things are so neat.