Too lazy to finish

I'm sure you're tired too after scrolling through all these pics. I'll update with text tomorrow! And movies! Chris will be home from school due to the 20+ inches of snow, so there should be time.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

I suck at updating my blog....

Check back with us on Thursday.

Or Friday, since I just realized today was Wednesday.

Clare: 1 vs. Mommy 1

This is what Chris makes Clare for breakfast:








I, do not.

Clare has realized that I am not a morning person. Breakfast in our house is not the best meal of the day. Clare seems aware of this and has accepted it. In part because she doesn't know if there is an alternative. Chris should lay off the cuteness or Clare might wise up.

Lunch? I (sometimes) rock at lunch! It's usually the meal I make her something yummy. This morning after I put her down for nap, I decided to have her try hard boiled eggs. I find them to be disgusting, but they would be a great source of protein and could be cut into finger foods. So, I made her hard boiled eggs, little cubes of cheese, peas and I had homemade cookie chunks for dessert.

She woke up from nap a little cranky. But I felt confident she would l.o.v.e. her lunch. So, I put it on a little plate with dividers and put it on her tray. She picked the cheese out and threw it on the floor to Serena. She took the peas and smushed them one by one with her index finger. The eggs? Well, she liked the texture of them as she grinded them into the tray and her hair.

I was not happy. But, I had made 3 other eggs, so I was going to show Clare! I whipped out the go-to food (Spaghetti O's). She loves them (and now they have a full serving of vegetables! how great is that!). So, I cut up the whites of another egg and mixed them in a serving of Spaghetti O's. She ate the entire thing. She even picked the whites out of the ones I put on her tray, eating every bite!

HA! One point for Mommy! I totally tricked her into eating eggs.

Wanna know where Clare got her point in the score?

It's lovely.

Yesterday, after I got her up from nap, Clare said one of her adorable sentences. Not "What is that" or "Who is that". No.

She said, "OOOHHHHH CHIT".

Yeah. One point for Clare.

She said a curse word. I about fell over. I said, "WHAT?!?!". She repeated about 20 times in case I didn't catch it the first time. She started with "chit" and moved to "sit". Not sure which one I can pass off as another word. Thankfully we ignored it and she hasn't shown us again today her great vocabulary.

We are going to Chris's work for a swim meet today. I'm a little nervous Clare will gain some extra points by repeating that darling phrase to Chris's boss. She's tricky like that.

Pictures...MMMKAYTHAX

So.

Today was picture day. We had our appt. to get Clare's Christmas pics.

I'm over pictures.

This morning I received our Christmas Cards. Thanks to an awesome coupon code, our Christmas cards (before $30 in stamps) were reasonable. For a reason. They are kinda sucky. The main pic of my adorable kid...kinda tan/red in the face. I would totally call the company and complain, but I scammed 2 sets of 50 free prints by ordering one in Chris's name and one in mine. So, I'm too afraid to call and be THAT person. The alternative is to re-order pics from Shutterfly or Snapfish, which is where we got our pics last year. But it was such a good deal....

So, when you open your card, you'll see what I mean:)

Fast forward to last night. Clare's Christmas dress arrived on Monday from Grandmama. My back was out, to a wild extreme, so based on the fuzzy labels on the bottles from the Dr., I wasn't driving anywhere all week. Plus, Chris was working really, really long days. I needed shoes to match the dress. Now, the dress? It's navy on top, silver on the bottom with white flowers across the chest. What color shoes would you buy for this dress?

Navy?

White?

Silver (matte)?

Well good F'ing luck!

Let me tell you who doesn't sell shoes that meet that criteria in her size: Kmart, Walmart, Target, Children's Place, Ross, Marshalls, Famous Footwear, JC Penny, Macy's, Sears and Dillards.

Why would I know this? Because I visited most of those stores on Thursday night.

So, what would you do? Pictures are the next day. I went with the Wizard of Oz, glitter silver shoes. I mean, what can you do?

Today arrives, with bells on. An early wake up call from the fat kid made me extra excited. Almost as much as the "homemade Suzy homemaker" hair clip to match the dress I made last night.

We arrived for our pics ten minutes early. They were running behind by 10 mins, so we killed time by me chasing Clare with my bad back all around the store. Delightful.

Now, we've done pro pics 4 times. Each time it has gotten progressively worse. At the 2nd session (her 6 month tutu pics) we had 20 of the 40 shots as our favorites. Today...we had to pick which 6 shots sucked the least.

Clare needed the camera and the lights. Not she wanted them. No, she NEEDED them. She needed to touch them. Sitting? Thanks, but I'll pass, she said. Standing by the fake tree? FU. She destroyed the set. She cried. She flipped out on me and Chris. She was awesome! So, when I post the pics soon, don't be overwhelmed with their sheer awesomeness.

By the time I got home, Clare and I were both tired, stabby and loving Christmas.

Hope everyone is in the "Christmas Spirit"....

PS-The best part of the day? When I realized you can't even see the shoes in a single shot....

Early Christmas presents

Clare is one lucky little girl!

Both sets of grandparents sent/brought Clare some early Christmas presents! Grandmama sent Clare her Christmas dress! It's arrived from Macy's this morning! I'll be sure to post her pro Christmas pics as soon as we get them back. Her pics are scheduled for Friday afternoon!

Nana's brought her the Advent Calendar pictured above. Nana asked Clare's great-great Uncle Chick to make it for her. He made the calendar by hand. He even painted all of the figures on the front himself! He made lots of personalized ones too! The stocking has her name, the train has the year she was born and the mug has her initials. It's a beautiful piece. Uncle Chick does amazing work.

If this is just the start of Clare's Christmas, I can guess she is going to be one spoiled little girl! :)

Thanksgiving

Nana and PopPop were in for Thanksgiving. It was tons of fun and Clare had a good time. Just a few pictures today! The cookies are what Clare and I made for Christmas pictures. My back is out, so I'm pretty worn out. I'll be sure to update more soon. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Trip

Clare and her favorite little Piggy! Clare loved this little piggy who counted coins. It was so cute. She understood after Nana showed her one time how to work the toy:)
This was Clare's face after she discovered the very best thing the entire world. Like, EVER. Clare was at Nana and PopPop's for a few hours before one of the cats came out to investigate. Clare made this face, every single time she saw a cat. The cat below (poor thing) didn't seem to understand how imperative it was for her to hide, so Clare spent a big portion of the visit catching Sherodyn. She would start off petting her nicely. Then she would do something evil, like try to pick up the cat by her fur or clap her front and back paws together.

Clare climbing the couch to get closer to the cat that she just had to have!
Watching tv and playin' with her belly button ....
Story time with Nana


Clare climbing around my bed
Her favorite "camera" face, the snorty pig
"Hey Mom, whatchaya doin?"

Outside with Nana and Missy

Showing Grandma how to "un" baby proof a house
Checking out Grandma's earrings

Playing with Aunt Lisa and Aunt Erin
Climbing, again.

Small adult, giant child.
Clare's new favorite baby
Playing with Great Grandpa
Teaching Dylan that boys should be listeners, not talkers.
Clare had a chair like this. She didn't really love it. Of course, she loved it when it wasn't hers.
Post shower at Aunt Heathers.
Talking to Chief.
Looking out the window at Fake Thanksgiving


Bucket head!
Trying to steal Uncle Seth's cell phone
Hiding under Grandmama's table
Playing in the toy basket.
Showing Aunt Erin what you do with a bucket.
Showing Aunt Heather what to do with the bucket.

Clare sneezing with her very first cold
unflattering sumo picture
Yikes!
What she will likely look like after her 21st birthday?
Grandpa and Clare having bath time.
The yummy cupcakes we made to take over to Beth's house...:(



We had a great time on the trip. Clare did great as a veteran flyer, sleeping on the way to and from Ohio (she may have had a 1/2 a dose of Benedryll). She received lots of compliements from the other Mom's on the plane for sleeping so well.

She is talking up a storm and hands down her favorite thing to say was "DADADADAD" all trip. I'm not sure whether she was looking for him to play or to save her. She also loves "no", but then, what kid doesn't? Aunt Heather taught her some great hand gestures to go with "No", which makes her look like she has an attitude problem. Shocking, huh? Clare also says "What is this" and "Whatsthat?" (yes, all one word) all the time. Over and over again. I usually answer her once, but she discovered Aunt Erin was willing to play along for hours.

Grandmama taught Clare to flush the toilet, which Clare loved. She also showed Grandmama how to give her baby dolls a bath, in said toilet. If she was left unattended for even a second and the bathroom door was open, she would be on a mission to drop her dolls in the toilet. Thankfully, she didn't quite get the flush in before Grandmama arrived.

Fake Thanksgiving was yummy and a success, per usual.

The only down side was Clare got her very first cold:( She woke up Sunday morning all snotty and gross. She has never been sick before, so I was a little unsure. She sneezed on the germaphobe, which was funny. She was pretty sick on Sunday and looked pretty bad Monday too. She still has a cough and such, but no fever. Sadly, her cold kept us from seeing the Webb's new addition, which we baked cupcakes for and everything. So, I still haven't gotten my hands on a very cute little boy named Zach:(

I'll be sure to update more over the weekend.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!