The Halls are Decked!

As soon as Thanksgiving is over....it's time for the Christmas decorations!! (Trying to keep it simple this year with a 14 month old to chase after!)

I was excited to get a few things up while Claire was napping today. Mostly I wanted to see her reaction to the tree and the lights. I'm trying to teach her "look, but don't touch" - we'll see how well that works out. For now, she doesn't seem too excited by the tree. She was especially interested in her "Little People" Nativity set. (Thanks Grammy!) Sarah - we're definitely copying your idea next year with the traveling wise men! (or "wise guys")

A Not-So-Good Sports Weekend

Here's a funny video of Claire giving the Hoos a piece of her mind during the big game on Saturday. I thought it was so funny how she came in the room and copied the way her Daddy was yelling at the TV! Daddy's little girl!! It was a sad day in our house....I've been avoiding Rob ever since!

And here's another, just because I think it's so funny!

Three Turkeys and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Can you guess what Rob and I are most thankful for??

We had a great Thanksgiving with the Masons this year. After an extra-short nap, Claire got really tired and was in bed and asleep by 6:30. That meant she missed our Thanksgiving dinner, but it kind of worked out nicely for us so we could enjoy a long dinner with the family.

Uncle Andy and Aunt Tara brought gifts! Uncle Andy is reading "Jingle Cats" - Claire's first Christmas book! Our "Thanksgiving dance party!" Andy and Tara found an awesome light-show-disco-ball-thing for Claire and thought she would love it after she was so mesmerized by the lights at Clay and Patti's wedding! Here she is shakin her groove thing to Alvin and the Chipmunks' Christmas carols!After all that dancing, here's Claire doing a little light reading. (the dictionary)
We loved hanging out with the family, good times at Grammy and Papa Jim's house, and LOTS of great food! (No shortage on turkey this year!!)

Ganny and Claire

Ganny enticing Claire with some goldfish!

Claire with her great-grandmother!! Love you Ganny, thanks for coming to visit tonight!

Thinking of you...

These are the pictures of Grandma Barnes that we keep on Claire's bookshelf. I always want to make sure we tell Claire about her and what a wonderful woman she was. We are always thinking of her, but especially today.I wanted a picture of Claire holding this frame. As soon as I handed it to her she gave her Grandma a kiss!

A Fall Afternoon

After a busy weekend with all the wedding festivities, today was a stay-at-home day. We all needed a little fresh air so we figured before Daddy has to rake up all the leaves, Claire could play in them a little! We tested out her new winter coat on this cold afternoon and let her run around.

She may look like the abominable snowgirl, but the coat worked great! She was nice and toasty warm :-)

Clay and Patti's Wedding

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Clay Hulcher!

My little cousin that used to pick the rocks out of my "jelly shoes," dress up in my dance costumes, and sing the Grandpa song with our $1 yard sale guitar.....he's now a married man! Welcome to the family Patti, you were the most beautiful bride! Claire and the Bride!

Claire wore her dress that Grammy made and hand-smocked. At the Rehearsal Dinner, they had pictures out of Clay and Patti throughout the years. We noticed a picture of Patti wearing a dress when she was a little girl that looked almost EXACTLY the same! Here's Claire on the dance floor! Everyone was dancing in a circle around her, but she was pretty much in a trance from all the lights.

Giving kisses to Daddy. She likes to put her forehead to our forehead and then go in for the kiss. It melts me.

Three generations of Claires...Auntie Claire, Betty Claire (aka Grammy), and Claire Kathleen!Claire with the beautiful McMullan women. It is always fun to see you all - we need to get together more often and not just for weddings/funerals! And thanks for helping out with Claire at the reception!!A tired little girl before Daddy took her home. She did great the whole day, but got so tired around her normal bedtime. Daddy took her home and put her to bed while I stayed for the rest of the reception.Thank you Clay and Patti for letting us be a part of your special day. We had so much fun and can't wait to hear about the honeymoon! (SO jealous!)

Future Gymnast?

Today we joined our friends from the neighborhood at Romp N Roll for some fun playtime. I was surprised at how much Claire seemed to enjoy it. She was a little too young for the group activities, but she got a kick out of watching the other kids and just running around.

Here she is in the ball pit....she wanted in, but once she was in there she didn't quite know what to do with herself.

She loved these hula hoops. They were supposed to be on the ground so the kids could jump in them, but she kept picking them up and carrying them off.

Trying out climbing...this is a new thing. Maybe a little "new trick" she learned from her boyfriends at playgroup??

For the History Books...

Proud to be an American!

Claire and I watching Obama's acceptance speech. I had tears in my eyes!

Claire was with Grammy and Papa Jim yesterday so they took her with them to the polls. What an exciting and historic day! I look forward to telling Claire when she is older about the first presidential election in her lifetime and about our nation's first African-American president. I am so hopeful about how we can change this country with Obama as our president. White, Black, Democrat, or Republican I think we can all say that we made history yesterday!

Claire had so much fun with Grammy and Papa Jim the past couple days! Here's a picture of her in my dress that I wore on my 1st birthday. I love this picture and how happy she looks!

When Grammy dropped her off today, we were standing by the door waving and I was saying "bye-bye Grammy, bye-bye!" All of a sudden Claire said "ba-ba ba-ba!" AND she now says "dada" when I point to Rob or a picture of Rob and ask "who is this?"

Cute as Can BEE!

Happy Halloween!We had a busy day today with all the Halloween festivities. We started out with playgroup in the morning. Remember these guys? Here they all are in their costumes. We missed you Theo!

Pebbles and the Dragon in the middle were not too happy, but everyone else sat on the couch and posed for the picture :-)

Claire and Owen, the 2 bumble bees!


After playgroup and a nap, we had a crazy afternoon of playing on the St. Marks playground with Grammy, visits from Aunt Alison, Aunt Meredith, and Uncle Jake. Finally, here we are ready to go trick-or-treating!

We only went to our neighbors houses to say hello and Happy Halloween! Next year the REAL trick-or-treating will begin!!



Everyone likes a nice cold beer after a long, busy day!

I assure you the bottle was empty! I don't know why she wanted to hold the bottle so badly...when we took it away she cried!

By the end of it all, our busy little bee was so tired. She barely made it through her dinner and bath before falling asleep.