Fall Fun!!

Well, here we go!! It's been a year that Gracie has been cancer free!! She has an appointment later this month and then we'll see if all is still well!! She competed this year in gymnastics and and did amazing! Her coach is moving her up 2 levels! She's really excited.

Jane has many exciting things going on right now. The last couple of weeks she's been campaigning for Student Body Treasurer. She gave her speech today--it was a rapping poem. She said her legs were really shaking and to make the shaking worse she had to stand on her tippy toes to be able to reach the microphone! (Her slogan was Jane may be small but she has it all!!) We could barely see her eyes and the top of her head over the podium! But she held on to the podium and kept the beat! Jane is now the newest elementary school treasurer!! She is so excited! She's in the middle of her science project, and she entered the GAP casting call. She continues to LOVE school.

Jessica is loving middle school. She is definitely in her element! She had her first choir concert and it was fabulous! She loves her classes, especially: Mythology, Dance and Choir. She not only got A's in those classes but 100 or above in them! How do you get more than 100--weird! They don't give traditional A, B's and C's, etc. they simply give the percentage. Anyway, she and her friend read about how the whales are having a difficult time right now and co-founded the 'Whale Club' at their school. They found a teacher to be their advisor and signed several kids up in the club and have even had a few meetings. Did we mention that she LOVES middle school?

Life here is going well. Hope it continues--you never know what is awaiting you just around the corner!

I Love School!

The girls started school yesterday and I (Melissa) was so excited I could hardly wait!! Yesterday I made bread and listened to my favorite sound--the sound of silence!!! It was AWESOME!

We had a great summer. We hosted the Zimmerman Family Reunion and had lots of cousins and lots of fun. Summer flew by--We honestly can't believe it went so fast.

Jessica started middle school--she came downstairs yesterday morning and actually looked like she was a middle school student! When did she get so ladylike? She is so excited about middle school. We hope it lives up to her expectations. She got all of the classes she was hoping for, so that's a great start.

Jane's in 4th grade and she has the same teacher Jessica had in 4th grade. She loves school and during the summer convinced us to put her into Math Camp and she vying for Science and Math Camp next year--She asked us if she could do a Science Camp after school year-round. As long as she's learning she's happy.

Gracie is in 2nd grade. She really got a great teacher! She had her first gymnastics competition this last weekend and she did fabulous!! On the way home she said, "I did so great but when I'm in the Olympics I'll be the best!" She is definitely always making us laugh.

Hope all is well with you! 'Til next time.

Fun and Sun

We are so excited for summer! We've been spending every extra minute at the pool. Last year Gracie wasn't able to swim and we told her this year we could swim everyday!! She has been absolutely giddy about swimming and Jessica and Jane have loved having her swimming with them.

Jessica wants to start piano lessons this summer, so we are on the hunt for a great teacher!! She loves everything that has anything to do with music and dancing and singing! She starts middle school in the fall and we can not believe it! She's really coming into her own.

Jane decided gymnastics would add spice to her karate routines and is taking gymnastics and really liking it! She still has petite-itis and is in the 3rd percentile for her age--last year at her well care visit the doctor kept referring to Jane as petite. Jane's eyes got bigger and bigger, she thought she had some disease called petite and finally she ask, "What is petite??" The doctor said, "Petite means small in French." After the doctor left the room Jane turned to Melissa and said, "Why is the doctor speaking French and not English!!" Oh, we laughed and laughed about that and it still makes us chuckle! Jane and Melissa did a cheer when the doctor said Jane was in the 3rd percentile--the doctor tried to explain that the 3rd percentile was low and not high and Melissa said, "Well, we were aiming for the 3rd percentile because last year Jane was only in the 2nd percentile!" We are glad she holding steady but we think she finally realizes that Gracie even though she's younger will probably be taller than her!

Gracie is getting stronger and stronger and amazing her gymnastics coaches everyday! She'll begin competing in the fall. She is so into gymnastics that she wishes she was there all the time! She has no doubt that she'll be just like those "gymnastics girls on TV" (she watched the Olympics avidly). Every time we look at Gracie we are grateful for eternal families and are so happy we have more time with her now.

We hope your summer is filled with fun and sun!

Cruisin' with the Cluffs

We love Make-a-Wish!!! We were able to go on a Disney Cruise in February. They granted Gracie's wish and our whole family got to enjoy it. It was totally awesome! It was nice to spend time together as a family in a fun environment rather than a hospital room. We were able to go snorkeling in Nassau, Bahamas!!!! It was beautiful. We had no idea the water of the ocean could be so clear and beautiful and the fish were so colorful and beautiful. Disney has their very own island called Castaway Cay! We went bike riding and snorkeling there also! There were 'sunken ship' parts just off the beach and Mickey Mouse was the prow of the sunken ship!! It was fun to find Mickey under the sea! There was so much to do on board and the food was amazing! We are so grateful for our blessings and all the many volunteers and organizations and friends and family that helped us this past year! We feel so lucky to have Gracie's wish granted--it was the perfect way to celebrate her recovery.

The New Year is here along with the freezing rain!! We woke up to tiny little icicles on everything!! It's pretty but cold! The girls (all 3) are in school and Melissa is getting back to normal and loving it!! Gracie is right up with her class and especially glad for recess and P.E. She really missed the social aspect of school. Jane is just plugging along--the district thought they would have to cancel school because of the "freezing rain" and when we found out school was NOT cancelled Jane yells, "Hooray!! I did not want to miss school!!" We wish we could bottle her enthusiasm for school and sell it, we'd be millionaires! Jessica loves her friends at school but it is no longer "cool" to love school. She has her nose in a book constantly and even got caught in Math class with it on her lap reading and not paying attention to the lesson. As long as she can balance a check book, she can read all she wants!! (don't tell her that, we had a very serious talk about the importance of all subjects and the respect you should show your teachers by listening and she is now not allowed to take books to school)

We have also been looking for swimming suits to go on the Disney Cruise in February. The Make-A-Wish Foundation is sending us on the cruise and there are no swimsuits to be found and everyone has grown out of their swimsuits from last year. Rod actually shrank out of his but that's a whole other topic. We finally find one for Grace and the total with the suit and cover-up is over $70 so we go over to Target and Rod tells Grace if she can find one here she can have any one she wants--Well, famous last words as Gracie finds an itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny, yellow polka-dot bikini--she proceeds to try it on and runs out of the dressing room to Rod shaking her booty and saying, "OOOOH!! The boys will think I'm sexy!!" Rod will probably qualify everything he says from now on!! Jessica and Jane and even Melissa found a swimming suit! Who knew they had suck-um in and push-um up swimsuits!!! Sweet!

Have a frosty and fun day!