The Lord's Prayer

I've always said the "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayer with Claire and Natalie. Recently, I also started teaching them the other two prayers my dad said with me and my sisters at bedtime: "Dear Father in heaven" and The Lord's Prayer. Claire's doing really well at saying them all, with a few mispronunciations...

"Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be my name.
By kingdom come,
I will be done..."

I haven't corrected her. Her mispronunciations are charming and cute, and I'm more pleased that she is learning the prayers, rather than pronouncing everything perfectly.

Happy Family

We ate supper at the Pizza Ranch last night and got a few groceries at Wal-Mart. On our way home I was telling the girls all the stuff we had to do before bedtime. We needed to let Brinkley out and feed her, make the beds since I washed all the sheets that morning, have a bath, and read stories. I told Claire and Natalie that I would really need their help in order to get everything done.
"Because it will get things done faster," I told them.
Claire then said, "And it will make us more friends and happy."
I said, "Yes, that's right. Did you learn that at day care?" (All of the kids at the day care are expected to help out with cleanup and things like that.)
"No, I just...God let me know that. God put that in my mind."
I told her, "Well, let's thank God for letting you know such smart things."
We said a little prayer.
Then Claire said, "And it will make us a family."
"Well," I said, "we're already a family. That's not going to change. All of us helping will make us a happier family."
We got home and Claire fed Brinkley (one of her favorite special jobs) and then we all made the beds. Claire and Natalie were more of a hindrance than a help with making my bed, but we had baths, a snack, and stories, and we were a happy family last night.

Heaven

Last night Claire commented that "one day, everybody will be in heaven." She has been fascinated by heaven for a long time, and especially since our dog Freya died in July. I've told her that no one is ever sick or sad in heaven, and that we will always be happy there.
I told her, yes, one day we all will be.
"When do you think it will be?" she asked.
"Well, no one really knows. Probably not for awhile."
"Maybe it will be in 100 days." This is Claire-speak for "a really, really long time."
"That could be."
Then she suddenly gets tearful, and I asked her what was wrong.
"Who will be with me in heaven?" she asked with tears running down her face.
"Oh, Claire," I said, "everyone will be with you. And remember, Jesus will be with you too."
"And you'll be with me?"
"Yes. And no one's ever sad in heaven. You don't ever have to worry about being in heaven."
Claire nodded and needed a hug, and we continued eating our supper.

This Old Man

Claire this morning: "Knick-knack, paddy whack, give the dog an old man bone."

Oh, how I love this kid! Always singing, trying to get the words right, and ever so adorable when she gets them wrong!

Deer

This morning on the way to day care, I was surprised to see five deer standing on the road as we came over a hill. They saw us and ran off. I pointed them out to Claire and Natalie, and told them how unusual it was to see deer at that time of day, especially at this time of year.
Claire responded with, "yeah, usually they're stuck to Santa's sleigh."