Family Update

I thought I'd give everyone an update on what's going on with the Lauries.

John: Got a promotion a few weeks ago to Lead Mechanic. This comes with a lot more responsibility, but also a pay raise so that is nice. He's enjoying it, but often comes home mentally and physically exhausted. He loves spending time with Jude and will always try to make time in the evenings to play with him. Jude get's so excited when daddy comes home to play with him. John is a very good father and Jude adores him. John is also the leader of our small group from church. We meet every Thursday, shuffling among the members homes. We really enjoy our small group. We are like a family. Right now we're going through Hebrews.

Beth: I'm still at home with the kids. I love it so much. Don't get me wrong, some days I want to give them away, but then they go and do something that reminds me why I do what I do. The other day Claire was fussing so Jude asked to hold her. I put her on his lap and he started to comfort her by rubbing her cheek and saying "it's ok Claire, shhh, it's ok" just like he sees his mommy do. It melted my heart. I've also started spending a couple hours a day making phone calls for Joann (mom's old cleaning lady). She and her husband own an auto repair shop and I call to thank the customers for coming in and to make sure they were satisfied. It's nice to make some extra money, but it's definitely hard to find 2 hours of peace and quiet around here.

Jude: Or should I say Mr. Personality. He's so much fun! He's constantly making us laugh. He's really into cars and trucks. He also loves to be outside and plays in his sandbox a lot. I'm glad that we have a fenced in yard. He's getting so independent and one day I couldn't find him and realized he had gone out back to play without telling me. He's all boy and always comes back dirty from head to toe. His favorite TV programs right now are Max & Ruby and Team Umizoomi. Luckily, Dora has moved down the list of favorites:) He also like's Franklin a lot, but we don't get that channel anymore so we got him the movie "Franklin and the Green Knight". He now goes around the house using the wand attachment to the vacuum as a sword and saying "green knight to the rescue" or he pretends to be a pirate in search of treasure (learned that from his Dora movie).

Claire: What a sweet baby she is! She started out so fussy and high maintenance, but now she is such a good, happy baby. She's very content most of the time and smiles every time you look at her. I love her smile with those dimples. She's getting up on her elbows and knees and rocking back and forth. She can roll onto her back, but still can't get back onto her belly. She can't seem to figure out how to get her arm out of the way. Actually, I think it's that she wont take it out of her mouth long enough to move it. She always has her hands in her mouth. She enjoys sucking two fingers. She sucks her thumb occasionally, but seems to prefer the fingers. It's usually the middle two, but sometime she sticks all four in there:) She's fascinated with John and will just stare at him whenever he's near her. John thinks it's because he's so good lookin':)

Well, that's our family and now you're up to date:)