Halloween 2011

Can you tell someone is EXCITED to go trick-or-treating?! She was pretty keyed up all day I think. After I got home from work, we ate dinner with Mimi and got ready for the big night. Boo for rain on Halloween!! We first went out to a couple houses with Mimi and I tried to let her go without rain gear.


Love this picture of Claire with our wonderful neighbor Maggie!

Then we headed to Aidan's house. Unfortunately Aidan was terrified by the first trick-or-treater that came to his door (someone with a SUPER scary mask). I was scared of it too and luckily shoved Claire out of the way before she saw it. Aidan refused to put his costume on or trick or treat after that. I can't say I blame him!

After a couple houses, we headed back to put on the rain gear. We switched off and Mimi stayed at the house to hand out candy while Rob and I took Claire trick-or-treating. She had the BEST time! I wish I had a video of her - I don't think she stopped talking the whole time. She was constantly running commentary on every decoration/pumpkin/costume/dog that she saw. She said hi to everyone and mostly remembered to say "trick or treat!" and "thank you!" A couple times she said "Mommy, this is awesome!"

We called it quits after a couple streets and came home to check out the loot :-) Of course, I've separated the Claire-friendly candy from the choking hazards and a few that happen to be Mommy or Daddy's favorite! Don't tell!

All in all, a really fun night! I'm glad the rain didn't stop Claire from having lots of fun.

My Pumpkin Princess

I forgot to mention what Claire's costume is......she's a Pumpkin Princess. (She started out as a pumpkin, but I had too much fun bedazzling and we changed it to a princess!)

Halloween day Claire was HYPER!!! I think this is the first year she's really been excited about Halloween. She couldn't wait to go to school and see how her friends were dressed. I got her to pose next to her depressed pumpkin before we went to school.

They do a parade for the parents each year and I just love it. It cracks me up how some of the kids are waving and parading around and other kids are walking like zombies and looking at you like you're crazy. Claire was strutting her stuff this year!

They do the "Hookie Spooky" song too - Claire got to go in the middle twice and even did the little dance (like the Hokie Pokie). So cute!

October Fun

We've been enjoying some fun Halloween activities the past couple weeks! Claire got to attend the annual golf cart parade in Mimi & Papa's neighborhood and Mimi got some cute pictures! Looks like she had a lot of fun.


We finally made it to Grandma's Pumpkin Patch after our failed attempt last Friday. Popa and Abu joined us this time and with the exception of the meltdown when it was time to leave, we had a very nice time!

When we got home from Grandma's we headed over to our neighbor's house to carve our pumpkin. Rob helped for about 2 minutes (picking out the seeds) until he decided it was just too gross.

Claire and Aidan "helped" carve and scoop out the guts. (You can see who is really doing all the work!)


After many attempts at talking Claire into a happy pumpkin, I went with the design of her choice. She INSISTED that the pumpkin be "sad with a tear." So that's what she got.

That just cracks me up every time I look at it!

Katie & Claire

All last week the weather was great and Alison and I made our plans for the annual trip to Grandma's Pumpkin patch. Friday evening comes along and not only is it freezing cold and raining, but there is HAIL coming down! So much for Grandma's! We opted for pizza and a little photo shoot on our fireplace. This was the best we could do since we hadn't gotten any pumpkins yet except for this little one from preschool. As usual it was almost impossible to get a good picture of the girls together :-) We love our time to play with Katie!!! Their favorite game is to "bounce" on Claire's bed - or hide and seek. Thanks for coming over and maybe next year we'll try again? :-)

Big Sister 101

Claire and I went to a special class together at the hospital that was all about being a big sister (or brother). They watched a cute little video and got to practice holding a baby doll. They also took us to the maternity floor to see a real baby (we saw a 20 minute old!) and check out what the room will look like when Mommy comes to have our little brother. At the end all the kids got a certificate and special stickers.

Claire is getting excited I think about having her baby brother here. (Although she really has no clue what we're in for!) I asked her tonight when she would like her brother to get here and she said "8 days." So I guess her money is on October 28. I'm hoping he'll hold out a little bit longer than that - I'll place my bets on November 7. Anyone else want to take a guess?

Go Jake!

Uncle Jake came to U of R to play in a frisbee tournament this past weekend and we got the chance to come cheer for him. Wahoowa, Go Jake!

Here's a typical Katie & Claire picture - cute, but never possible to get both girls smiling and looking at the camera at the same time! They were having a little picnic while they watched Jake play.

So cute, the girls sitting with Popa on the hill.

It doesn't look like it, but this was a really steep little hill that we were sitting on to get some shade. The girls gave their Daddies a workout going up and down, up and down.....I think they would have done that all day!

Great to see you Jake!

1st visit to the dentist

Last week Claire had her first appointment with the dentist. And that's pretty much all I want to say about that.

She looks happy in the chair doesn't she? Well, that was before anyone tried to touch her! She wanted no part of opening her mouth, brushing teeth, or any of that stuff. Everyone was so nice there and Dr. Liz assured me that this happens all the time. We held the screaming child down long enough that Dr. Liz could see she had all her teeth and no cavities. We'll try again in 6 months!

Funny though - if you ask Claire about the dentist, she'll tell you that it was fun!!