The Crafts

It has not been the easiest October on record. Kate had a couple of hospital visits to Rochester but she is somewhat better at the moment. She continues with chemotherapy and has not been back to school for quite some time but she is doing her best to set aside time for online school work between naps, loving on cats, and hanging out with her family. I was able to get the girls to visit their great grandma in western Iowa a few weeks back. Here's Claudia shortly after arriving at great grandma's house. She is very into jewelry and lots of it. Grandma had several questions for her about the number of bracelets and thankfully Claudia loves talking about them. Many she has made, some were gifted to her...it's a lovely hodgepodge of middle school girl goodies. Clearly the girls and I were blessed with height genes from relatives not named great grandma. We spent time relaxing, taking four wheeler rides, eating candy and we also received a visit from my aunt and uncle. Aunt Deb ...

I am incredibly behind on a birthday post for our best ever second daughter. Claudia turned FOURTEEN on August 30th. She is branching out from the Claudia of younger years. She has discovered rock music (hence the German rock band t-shirt below) and she has updated her style to include a little more edge. Although she is still our bubbly, bouncy, loveable, curly-haired CJ but with a twist.  14 reasons Claudia rocks on her 14th birthday... 1. She is incredibly confident and loves herself. 2. Claudia is a whiz at jewelry making. 3. She is super creative and is always designing, crafting or engineering. 4. If there's something she wants, Claudia will often try to make it herself rather than buy i.e. candles, lip balm, various beauty products, hair wraps, and the list goes on... 5. She loves competitive swimming like her mom! 6. Claudia is an excellent consumer of fruits. Fruit is her go-to snack on most occasions. It's always a positive when you don't have to beg your kids to ...

We have had more than our fair share of ups and downs over here. A week ago Kate went to homecoming with a date and had a wonderful time. I loved her sparkly, emerald green dress and while the grandmothers pointed out just how terribly short the dress was (and they're not wrong) every single girl wears a shorty, short dress. I saw a funny meme the other day that said something to the affect of; I wonder if women in the 40s knew they're bathing suits would become this generations homecoming dress. Google it and you will understand. My favorite photo of the night. Kate looks so happy here. Kate and her date went to dinner with friends at Texas Roadhouse and, with time to spare before the dance, they played video games at Chuck E Cheese. Kate said they had a lot of laughs and that alone makes my heart so happy. A couple of days after homecoming Kate and I drove up to Rochester for pre-scheduled MRIs on her brain and spine. Images looked stable and we came home happy and surprised,...