Silly Claire

Just a few videos of Claire dancing, singing, and being silly!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Christmas, Round 4

The day after Christmas we headed to the farm to celebrate with Ganny, Billie, Dude, the Rozakis family, Jake, Matt, Alison, and Katie! I think it was the most people I've ever seen gathered around Ganny's table. We had a wonderful lunch together, visited, and opened more presents.

Claire got this cool train with animals from Uncle Matt, Aunt Alison, and Katie!

This was the best I could do for a picture of the cousins together. (Claire was giving Katie a kiss.) How could you not kiss that baby - look at those cheeks!!

Here Claire is playing with her "10 year twin" as we call them. Anne Cole shares a birthday with Claire 10 years apart. Claire was so drawn to Anne and watched everything she did. Thanks so much Anne for being so sweet to her!

The Rozakis family brought Claire gifts too - a cute outfit and Christmas weebles from Anne!

Before we headed home, Claire found some toys that have been left by grandkids along the way.

She especially liked the rocking horse upstairs!

Thanks to everyone for making it such a great Christmas! You'd think after 4 family gatherings Christmas would be over.....but we actually have one more to go in Norfolk with the Southards on Saturday!!

It's Christmas!

We woke up Christmas morning and Santa had come! We opened stockings first...

Santa knows how much Claire loves animals! She got a deer, a moose, a bear, and several other woodland animals in her stocking.

After a nice breakfast (including ziplock omelets and the Christmas must-have sausage balls) it was time for presents!

Santa brought the other 2 Wonder Pets, Tuck and Winnie, and a book to go with them!

And a box full of MORE animals! They were a hit!

That evening we headed over to the Hulchers to celebrate with them. It brought back so many memories of pizza at my grandfather's house on Christmas night. We always laugh about the pizza - how he would leave it on the counter for who knows how long and the one year that he forgot to buy it. There wasn't any pizza place open on Christmas Day so if I remember correctly we had pizza (and hot dogs?) from 7-11 that year!

We tried to get a family shot by their Christmas tree....this was the best we could do. I think Claire is roaring like a lion or something??

Claire and Mimi....Mimi is wearing Grandpa's Christmas vest!

It was a very special Christmas and we all had so much fun. I love to experience the holidays through Claire - all the excitement and wonder. I can't wait til next year when she really "gets" it all!

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

We started out Christma Eve with PoPa, Abu, and Uncle Jake.

Here's Claire with her new tricycle! We are working on learning how to ride it, but she loves pushing the buttons and hearing the horn - it even has turn signals!

We gave Claire a helmet for Christmas to go with the new bike and she calls it a "motorcycle hat."

After Christmas Round 1, we went home for a rest and then headed to the Masons to spend the night. At the Maison du Mason, menus were posted for the evening meal...

After a delicious dinner, Claire got to open a couple presents. First up was a light projector from Andy and Tara that shows butterflies, dolphins, or the solar system. It's pretty cool! They set it up so we could have a little light show before bed.

Claire showing her "suprised face"

She got to open one more present to take to bed with her - Ming Ming from the Wonder Pets! After I read the Night Before Christmas, we tucked her and Ming Ming in and said goodnight. Sometime around 1:30am she woke up and was having a little party in her crib. I had to think of future Christmases that she really might wake up that early and be ready for Christmas! Luckily this year she went back to sleep!

Oh My Gosh!

Last night we met up with Uncle Andy and Mimi and drove around to see some tacky lights! Claire loves to see them and isn't afraid to tell you if you're driving too fast and she can't see them enough! (My little back-seat-driver will also tell you if the driving is "too bumpy." Wonder where she gets that from?)

We started off our tour in Northside and ended at one of the best tacky light houses in Richmond. They've been doing this for years and I remember driving to see this when I was a kid. There were buses and limos and TONS of people there to see it.When we got there Claire said "Oh my gosh!" about 20 times. It was so cute and even had the people around us laughing.

Here's my favorite picture of the night...

Claire's got her penguin socks on from Mere! We call them stockings since they're just a little big and go up past her knees.

She was super late getting to bed, but it was worth it! We had so much fun - thanks Uncle Andy for driving us around!

Counting down...

We're on the countdown to Christmas! Claire has been enjoying her "special treats" from her advent calendar - thanks Mary Lynn!!

Yesterday, Meredith came over to celebrate with us and exchange gifts. After admiring the "nice paper" and giving the box a little shake, she opened it up....

Rain boots!! They are so cute....thanks Aunt Mere!

She put them on, along with her penguin socks, MY new purple fleece, and her "motorcycle hat" (early present from Mommy and Daddy)! What a look...

I gave Mere a snowman mistletoe holder so we taught Claire what to do...

Bah Humbug!

Today we took Claire to see the Legendary Santa, the Snow Queen, and the Elf at the Children's museum! When he first came down the chimney, she smiled and said "Santa!" - so I had a good feeling. But as we got closer to the stage, she got more and more concerned. Here was our conversation just a couple moments before going up to talk to the Snow Queen...
"Do you want to go sit on Santa's lap?!"
"NO! Wanna go back out there!"
"But don't you want to say hi to Santa?"
"Hi Santa. Now wanna go back out there."

So then I knew it was going to be one of "those" Santa visits! Oh well! Santa called Claire's name and I handed her off. I thanked Santa, told him that we loved him (although Claire has a funny way of showing it!) and we went to pay our $20 for this.....


When we got home she talked about hugging Santa and giving him a kiss??!! Maybe next year!

Snowed In!

Friday night the snow started coming down and by the morning.....

almost 11 inches! And we thought our storm last March was good?! When Claire got up Saturday morning she was so excited to see the snow and she told me we needed a sleigh. While we don't have a sleigh, we were happy to have hand-me-down boots, ski pants that we picked up last Spring, and last-year's coat that still fits.

"Can we go outside now PLEASE??"


Since it was so deep, she could only walk in the shoveled path and the tire tracks on the road! She loved the snow and I was surprised how long she wanted to hang out in it. We went for a walk to search for snowmen, watch the kids sled, and chase the neighbor's cat.


As beautiful as it is, I am getting a little stir-crazy and am ready to get out of here! I still have Christmas shopping and errands to do, cookies to bake, etc. etc. but I have enjoyed my snow days with my girl!

Photo Shoot Bloopers

Just thought I'd share some of the funny pics from today's Christmas photo shoot! Trying to keep a 2 year old still AND get her to smile is a little harder than I thought it would be! We ended up with a good picture, but you'll just have to wait to get your Christmas card in the mail to see it! :-)
I call this the "pilgrim dress" - it's one that was mine when I was about Claire's age. By the time I got her changed into this outfit, she was getting really goofy and cracking me up with all her silly faces! (Not to mention some especially crazy hair!!)

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Our house has been decked out and transformed for the holiday season! Claire has really been enjoying all the fun new things to look at and play with. She helped me decorate the tree - and by helped I mean she played while I decorated. Once I was done, I said "Look Claire!" and she said "We did it!" Then she immediately wanted to know if she could climb the tree.

She especially loves her Little People nativity set. She calls them "her boys" and most every morning when I get her up, she says she wants to go see her boys and the jungles (the trees which come with the nativity scene).

This is our friend, the elf. He keeps an eye out on things here and every night, he goes to report to Santa if Claire has been a good girl or not. In the morning we search for him and he's always in a different spot! She knows we can't touch him, but we can talk to him. My favorite conversation with the elf so far - "Hey there, hi elf! How ya doin' elf? Did you have a good nap?"