Clarissa’s Helpfulness: Clarissa did the most amazing thing today. Of her own accord, she decided to clean her room, Ammon’s room, her bathroom and my and Lily’s room. Lily got this video of Clarissa showing her work, and when I got home from work, Clarissa also gave me a tour of all she had done. In both cases, she was absolutely glowing. She explained to me that she was thinking of ways that we would be proud of her. She said, “first I thought, maybe I could turn on all the lights in the house to show you they all worked, and then I thought, that is a very silly idea. Then I thought I could maybe make a really nice picture. But then I decided I could do some cleaning.” Lily and I gushed, as did Ammon. Clairissa was ten feet tall. She is so adorable and we were so touched by her helping and loviong instincts. Here is the video and the pictures that Lily captured. I love my kiddos!
Yoga with Lily: This morning Lily and I tried a hot yoga studio that is right next to my office. We loved it and the teacher, Arielle was so friendly and cheerful that she brightened our day. Afterwards, we went to the adorable and ecclectic coffee shop/grocery store called Rebus works and Lily grabbed a coffee. She took this picture there:
Carolina Pride: Lily and I have been noticing that people in Raleigh really care about being born in Raleigh. People often reference how many generations they go back in Raleigh, and there is a clear preference for people who are Raleigh stock and not new move-ins from out of state (oops!). That said, overall, everyone has been very lovely to us. It has mostly just been endearling how much Raleigh folk and Carolinean’s generally identify with their place, and how much they care about their identity as Carolinians. I’m assuming that is why Lily took this picture at a restaurant (I think this was the same restaurant where Lily overheard someone tell a waiter he lived out of state, but he was born in North Carolina, so he had to love him, haha).
