It's been a while

It's been over a month now since I updated last, so I though I'd leave at least a little note. Bob did get the secretary job permanently, so we are very excited about that! He has year-round work now and we are finding that there are several changes that will happen because that change, in a good way. It's funny how you get used to your way of living and just do things accordingly, then things change and you realize that your habits have to change too. Most of our changes make things less complicated. We don't have to save up money for winter expenses since he will have a solid paycheck for the whole year, which is a relief.
Bob still really enjoys his job. Every day he comes home and says, "I love my job." And everyone at work loves him. It's a wonderful thing for a man to be respected and appreciated in his work, and it's a wonderful thing for a wife to see that he is.
Odessa made her first two-word sentence two days ago; "Bye Dad." so cute. We've finally gotten her to stop playing in the toilet. HEY! Did I even mention she's walking now!!! She's been walking beautifully since mid-August. She's quite balanced, too. I think all that extra waiting was so that she would be ready to pop right up and not have any hard falls--because she hasn't.
Lily gave us a laugh the other day. We have been trying to get her to stop sucking her fingers (at least when she's not in bed). We were driving home in the dark and we could hear the little sucking noises so Bob said, "Lily, fingers!" There was a big smacking noise as she pulled them out of her mouth and said, "You can't see, Dad! It's too dark!"
We've had a couple of birthdays in the house. Lily's five now and Ella's four (she can have gum!) We had some great birthdays. For Lily's birthday, we made a special "pool" cake and rode a little kid-sized train at the park and went to the library, amidst opening lots of presents. For Ella's birthday, we opened lots of presents, had a cake and had special visitors from MT. Grandma and Grandpa Wolf and Uncle LeRoy and Ethan came to celebrate. One present the girls got was the each "found a little lost pet" outside in the yard to care for. Unfortunately, mom got pets that weren't as tough as she thought. Dad had to glue them a few times until finally Ella's poor kitty got sat on by Dad "like a mother hen" as Lily says.
In between birthdays, we went to our church's family camp, which was really fun. The girls were in their element. The big girls came and took them out to play constantly so Lily and Ella had more freedom than they are used to. Dessa is also quite a favorite among the big girls in our church, so she had someone walking her all day.
The girls started choir last week. Ella is loving it, Lily wasn't so excited last week, but this week the teacher brought treats and Lily knew she wouldn't get any if she didn't participate, so she did everything well and was rewarded. She even enjoyed it once she decided to.
Our current big project is working on erecting a shed some friends gave us. The Madsons are demolishing their cute, unusable back yard and creating a usable play space for their children, and in the process they needed to get rid of a shed. We needed a shed, so they just gave it to us. It's such a nice shed, too. Bob is building a floor for it, and we're hoping to get the shed up this coming weekend.
Well, that's all for now.