One spot left!!

Claire doesn't eat anything. I've tried every approach and things just kept getting worse, until finally she was eating only a few plain noodles a day. I know, I know... "They'll eat when they are hungry" and all that jazz. It didn't work and I respectfully disagree. Claire would simply wait for the next opportunity to eat plain noodles or pancakes, even if that meant starving for days. So in the interest of her health and my sanity, I created the sticker chart. I told her she was missing out on a lot of fun things and for every new meal she ate she would put a sticker on the chart. When it's full, she gets the Cinderella Lego set she's been eyeing since we moved here. She is now only one sticker away.

This method has led to her trying (or giving another chance to) the following:
Pork snitchzel
Mashed potatoes
Green beans
Happy meal apples
Chicken nuggets
Bacon cheese fries (yes! This is a victory! Everyone should know the pleasures of Texas bacon cheese fries!)
Whataburger plain hamburger
Italian dressing chicken
Corn
Black cherries
Cheesecake Factory nacho chip with cheese
Cheesecake brown bread
Peanut butter and honey sandwiches
Turkey sandwiches
Grilled cheese
Marinara cheese ravioli
Crab wonton
Mongolian chicken
Wonton soup with wonton
Ground beef taco in corn tortilla
Lots of broccoli

Okay so it's not the HEALTHIEST list ever, but it's a LIST. There is variety. There is flavor! There is protein!

90% of those were foods Claire had never even tried, and while a few earned a "Not my favorite..." critique, several won her over. I'm calling Operation: Claire's Eatin' Dinner Stickers a success.

Do you think she'll notice if I steal her quarters to buy the set?

In a week, I should be leaving Albuquerque, halfway through my drive halfway across the country. Chris got back from Texas last night. In his short 24 hours there he managed to find and lease a house a few minutes from his new job. We pick up the moving van on Sunday and then we work 24/7 until we start the 1,223 miles drive to McKinney.

I am starting to think this isn't just an elaborate April Fool's Day joke! 

home.

I guess I took the risk when I first fell in love with a Texan boy. There's nothing quite like Texas pride. I never dreamed I'd actually live there, but at the same time I always knew I would. I guess when I imagined a future there, I envisioned retiring on a nice big ranch, with picturesque cows (tended to by someone else, of course) and a nice red barn with bunks for my grandchildren. Texas would be where we settled after a lifetime of living elsewhere. I didn't exactly picture this... moving with two kids to a rental home in a Dallas suburb, just the four of us, completely out of our element and alone.
But here we go.. quickly.
Chris was informed of the job a week and a half ago, "interviewed" over the phone on Tuesday, and was offered the position on Friday. He will give his two weeks first thing in the morning.We will start the long drive down to McKinney two weeks from Wednesday.
The opportunity is fantastic, and it is something that we have both agreed we just can't pass up on. But it is also the hardest thing I've ever done. My whole life, minus my years at BYU, had been lived within a ten mile radius of our current home. We leave behind my parents, who have filled the first years (and months) of my children's lives with so much love and attention. I have cried it out, and then cried it out again, and I am sure I will cry it out many, many times again. But tonight will be the last night I mourn for a while, cause I've got a house to move.

And if anyone wants to rent it, that would be nice too. :)