Merry Christmas Everyone

Here is a pic with Claire and all her presents! Thanks everyone :) She opened them all by herself and had so much fun getting every last scrap of paper of the packages!

Toddler Christmas

When we decorated our Christmas tree we didn't put any breakable ornaments on the bottom so Claire wouldn't get hurt. Well, soon all the non-breakable ornaments on the bottom had to be removed. One day I noticed that Claire had decided to decorate the tree toddler style. She had taken a bunch of her toys and tried to hang them on the tree. Wiffleballs, teethers, books, animals...everything goes when you are almost 2! Ha. Way to go Claire... She thought it looked a little empty. Notice the fish mouth in one pic. She does this when she is concentrating :) So cute.

Popsicle

Claire has a bit of a cold so I have been trying to get her to drink her fluids! I gave her a popsicle yesterday and she ate the whole thing. She loved it! It made a mess but the girls cleaned it up. I know you are jealous that we are eatting popsicles, outside, on our porch, in December.

Christmas Cards

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to add a little disclaimer to those that view our blog. There is no letter in our christmas cards! But that doesn't mean we haven't done anything in 2006. Keep posted for an update around x-mas time :) Thanks. I have been a horrible blogger lately. I have new pictures but they are on the camera in the car. Here is one from a few weeks ago. I don't think we were supposed to be up there! This is right outside the USS Yorktown that we kind of toured when Nate's family was in town.

New Hair Do's

Nate was watching Claire one morning while I slept in and this is what they did! He said she wanted them ALL in there. I guess she did because when I tried to take them out she got upset! The other is me experimenting with pigtails. What do you think? And I cut off all my hair and dyed it back to brown after a really bad haircut/highlight experience in Altus, OK. Why did I get my hair done in Altus again? Anyways. All better :)

Turkey Day

We had a great Thanksgiving with Nate's family coming to visit. Claire loved all the attention :) Here are a few pictures

Colors

One of Claire's favorite activities right now is coloring. When I worked at Southwest Paper in Wichita I bought this huge roll of butcher paper for wrapping presents at cost. Well it was too thin for that but I saved it for when I had kids. It works perfect for Claire. She loves it when I draw things and she recoginizes what the object is. I have to admit that I only know about 10 things to draw but I am learning to be an artist. It stinks when I draw a dog and she thinks it is an elephant :( Oh well...Have a good week!

Nate's Plane

When my Dad was here to visit we went on a tour of the C-17. This plane is so amazing and HUGE. I couldn't believe how big it was inside. You could have thrown a football in there. Anyways. So, that is why we are so small. Claire just loved it and kept making the airplane noise. Update on Nate and flying...Still waiting for his waiver. They won't do anything until after his follow-up appointment with the ENT which I think is next Tuesday.

Daddy Survived!

Nate has been catching up on some training requirements lately. He has been to water survival where they threw him in the real ocean and then he got sent out in the woods with a compass and had to paint his face with camo. We thought it was pretty funny! We are so glad he passed :)

More Halloween Fun

Claire's Aunt Kay sent her a Halloween book (Thanks Aunt Kay!) and I gave it to her at breakfast. What a mistake...She wouldn't eat breakfast unless the card and the book were propped up and looking at her. If they fell down she freaked until I put them back up. Then she proceeded to feed the cat (on the card) and the bunny (on the book) her yogurt. It was pretty cute.

Happy Flying

Claire was a pilot for Halloween. We just went to a few houses but she really enjoyed getting candy. Her favorite was the suckers and she knew they were in her bag. You can also see in one of the pictures, Claire in the middle of a fit. How fun she is lately :)

Outlets

Well, we can stay. Because I found an outlet mall right by my house!!!! How cool is that? They have all my favorite stores: Carters, Gymboree, Gap, Gap Kids, Stride Rite, Children's Place, OshKosh, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor Loft, Old Navy to name a few. Poor Claire...I drug her out here to get some play clothes for her at Carters and then realized how amazing it was and had to look around. I thought it would be one of those drive up ones but it was a walk around one. I didn't bring a stroller but Claire did really well. That is until we passed the airplane!! She seriously has an obsession with them. When we were unpacking the house she discovered Nate's models and we would pretend fly them around and then I started flying her around and back in Altus there were A LOT of loud planes and Nate taught her to look up and see them and she would point. Even in the car... Anyways. These stupid merry go round things that cost a dollar are everywhere these days. When she was little we thought it was cute and would gladly pay the money. She could have cared less then. But now she wants to ride every single one of them. Throws major fits if we walk right by one. It is pretty funny and Nate and I find ourselves laughing as we walk by and she is screaming so loud and everyone is looking at us like we are beating her. So I gave in and let her ride it because she did so well trying on shoes. Usually this is another MELTDOWN. Doesn't she look cute. Wow long story for one picture. The other one is her new shoes and dress I got at the outlet mall. I think this is the cutest she has ever looked. I was singing the ABC song and she was twirling!

Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend we attempted to go to a pumpkin patch. It wasn't really a pumpkin patch. We were kind of disapointed. Oh well. I guess they can't grow pumpkins in South Carolina so they only had a big pile of pumpkins that they had brought in. They were really expensive so we didn't even buy one! But we got the whole farm experience. They had a hay bale maze, farm animals, and scarecrows (which Claire loves) so we had a good time anyways.

Rough Stuff Real Stuff Texas A&M

Saw Varsity's Horns off...

Okay if you aren't an aggie, you won't understand. But apparently Claire gets it. How about that win today Ags. WHOOP!

--UPDATE--
My husband just told me this was the worst blog ever. He declared it Blasphemy! I asked him why and he proceeded to tell me that the fact that we let our daughter wear an aggie cheerleader outfit when in fact there are no aggie cheerleaders (Just guy YELL leaders) was very bad. I think she looks adorable and who cares!

Then he said admitting that we even own a stuffed animal that looks like BEVO (University of Texas, our HUGE rival's mascot-He is a Bull) Was ridiculous. But how else is Claire going to learn to say Moooooo.

Ha Ha. I thought it was a pretty funny conversation. He's not going to like that I posted the conversation :) He He

I think I see FINS

My little girl is a fish. I think her Daddy may have taught this game to her. He always comes up with the silliest things. When she takes her bath she dives on to her belly and then pushes with her feet against the front of the tub to make waves then she eats the water as it splashes in her face. It was the funniest thing. She had me laughing so hard. I called for Nate to bring me the camera and when he came in he told me he taught it to her. It was almost as if she was swimming. Sometimes she would swallow too much water and sit up to cough for a minute but then right back to business.

Major Nathan Howard

Exciting News! My husband is officially a MAJOR :) I am so proud of him, can you tell? We weren't sure of the date so when he checked in with his squadron they mentioned that they had gotten notification that he indeed did get promoted. If you know Nate, then you know he isn't one for being the center of attention. So we had our very own pin on ceremony in the living room. Then, we went to the Waffle House for dinner. Oh my gosh..I have never eatten there and it was sooooooo good. You have to try their waffles.

We live near the Beach!!!!

We have gone to the beach twice now. It helps Nate relax so we will go every day if he wants! It is only about 30 minutes away and the weather has been great. These pictures are from the first time we went. We were not prepared for the water and all got a bit wet. We were walking in the water and Claire lost her balance and fell. She was very sad! You can see that Nate could tell this was going to happen. While I was trying to snap a picture, he was running towards her! Ya'll should come visit it is beautiful!