Visit to Dayton

Claire and I went to visit our good friends in Dayton, OH. We had tons of fun while the kids played and the girls talked! Here are some pictures of Claire and Luke in the tub, us at the AF museum and Claire in the cockpit of a F-4 airplane.

Big Girl

Claire has figured out how to climb out of her crib. She actually hurt her leg and I had to take her to get x-rays! Nothing is broken, but she still can't walk normal. So we decided it was time to make the transition to a big girl bed. I was putting it all together and couldn't help but think it was like a prison with the rail and the gate on her door. But I guess it is better than a crib! She only got out a few times last night. I was really surprised. With the gate on the door she couldn't get my attention when she escaped so I guess it got boring very fast! She was asleep within 10 minutes. I was so thankful :) She thinks it is pretty cool that ALL of her stuffed animals get to sleep with her instead of just one or two. I mean, there's room so why not!

I can't figure out why the pictures are sideways. They look correct until I upload them and then they are sideways. Oh well!

Somebody is excited

I have been trying to post for weeks now and Blogger was boycotting me!! I am finally in and wanted to share these pictures with you. I am 16 weeks now and still sick! Hoping and Praying this won't last much longer.

Hats

We are in Houston and Claire is continuosly entertained by her grandparents. Here she is playing Hats with my Dad. Happy New Year.

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.