Christmas Morning

It was so nice this year to wake up in our house and discover that Santa came! It was even more fun now that Clara knows all about Santa. She loved opening all the packages under the tree and then was even more surprised that Santa left more goodies in her stocking! Clara got lots of accessories for her kitchen and an alphabet game that she quickly turned into alphabet soup :) Santa also brought a potty seat and lots of potty books.

Unfortunately, my camera was not charged and ran out of juice pretty quickly so we don't have a lot of pictures. I will sort through the video we have and post more soon along with our pictures from the weekend with Adam's family!

Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve with my family. It was a fun-filled day with family, presents and food. What more could you ask for? It was the first of three celebrations that we were going to have so Clara was a little rusty in the present opening department but she remembered really quickly what she was supposed to do: rip, tear, squeal.

My parents got her an adorable kitchen along with pots and pans that she has been ready for, for a long time. She plays with it non-stop. Both Aunt Susan and Uncle Mark got her play food for the kitchen, so needless to say we have been having lots of strange, pretend meals - my personal favorite has been onion juice and steak and bread soup. I know you are cringing but that it pretty creative for a 21 month old! It was fun to see what everybody received and how they enjoyed what we gave them. Ella insisted on playing Twister and Clara loved every bit of it since she knew the colors Mark and Zane were calling out. Enjoy the video and slideshow below!

Shelly's Visit

One of my dearest friends from college came to visit before Christmas. She is expecting a little girl in April and we had such a great time running around town looking at baby stuff and registering. I think I learned more from watching and helping Shelly register than when Adam and I registered! The night before she left, Shelly and her sister, Heather, and Crystal, Jeff and Kayla came over for dinner. Here are some pictures from that night.

Lazy Mom, Ambitious Kid

Clara is attempting to potty train me. No, thank you very much, I, myself, am potty-trained. She is teaching me to potty train HER! I know she is only 21 months and, no, I am NOT ready for this. I repeat - I AM NOT READY! I am content changing diapers. I am content with not having to put her on those nasty public toilets. I am content with not knowing where every toilet is in a twenty foot radius. I am content with being able to be stuck in a traffic jam without having to worry about an accident INSIDE the car. I am content with dry sheets every morning.

Since Clara was six months old and crawling around the house, she has followed me into the bathroom. I have not had privacy in quite a while. Apparently, when it comes to me, the bathroom has an open door policy. Only Adam gets his privacy.


She has tinkled on the potty several times this month. But, last night and again this morning we had "part deux" (if you know what I mean). I guess I should start looking for tiny, little underwear and stocking up on laundry detergent.


By the way, Clara will be getting a new toilet seat under the Christmas tree.

No-fake! No-fake!

No-fake! No-fake! That is Clara's way of saying Snowflake. Snow is such a rarity here and when we get it, it is usually a dusting. That is exactly what we got today. A very light dusting. But I was so excited for Clara to see it. We have been singing Frosty the Snowman for a while now and although we didn't make a snowman, she saw it snow!

Santa's Village

Last night, we visited Santa's Village in Richardson along with the Bartletts. It was a quick visit - neither one of the kids didn't last long - and it was extremely crowded but we were happy we went. Although, we didn't actually visit with Santa, the line was VERY long, we let Clara peek at him and she enjoyed seeing him. This was Clara's first trip out of the house in nearly a week and she was just so excited to be out and about. They are still too young to understand all the happenings of Christmas or the excitement of what is connected with it so all they really wanted to do was run. I can't wait for next year - hopefully the weather will cooperate like it did last night - nothing like running around in December when it is 75 degrees! We grabbed jackets just in case but we definitely didn't need them!

Frosty!

Smile for the Camera!
A Sad Attempt at a Family Portrait

I am Free!

My Two Loves

My neighbor teaches a Sign Choir at her school and they were performing last night. Clara thought it was pretty neat and was imitating the kids on stage as they signed Patriotic Songs and Christmas Carols. Here is a video of Clara "singing" with her hands:

Short, Sweet but Much Appreciated

Granny and Papa came into town Friday to babysit while we attended Adam's company's Christmas Party. It was a quick trip but we greatly appreciate it and we know that Clara had a blast because she is still talking about Papa and Ganny! We didn't take many pictures since Clara was still feeling a bit yucky but here are a couple - notice we got a break in the reading department - thanks for taking over Papa!

Recovery

I thought I would share a few shots of Clara in recovery mode. I think I took these pictures last Wednesday. I believe we read every book at least three hundred times we own minus the college textbooks we still have. My friend Shelly sent Clara a couple of books for Christmas and they couldn't have come at a better time - Thanks Shell! Here is Clara kicking back reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Here We Go Again...

I think Clara has an ambitious goal: catch and conquer every virus possible. Yes, she is sick again. Maybe this is payback for having only being sick twice her first year of life. Just three weeks ago she had an upper respiratory infection and an ear infection. Now, she is fighting croup. It is nasty and the steroids she is taking make her very goofy. She wants to lay and watch television but she can't sit still. She found the solution though yesterday. She kept rolling off the couch so she made a bed.

She did this all herself. I had a box in the living room from a delivery I received.

She put a blanket in the box.

Laid down.

Got up.

Got a pillow.

Laid down.

Got up.

Got another blanket.

Laid down.

Watched TV.

Rudolph

My mom treated Susan, Ella, Zane, Clara, Adam and me to the play Rudolph in Fort Worth today. It was so cute and so much fun. It was both Clara's and Zane's first play so we weren't sure how they would do but everyone did great. We were armed with lollipops just in case though :) I posted a few pictures below in the slide show. You can see how we all took a turn with Zane's souvenir blinking red nose. Afterwards, we had the opportunity to meet Santa. Clara wasn't too sure so Adam and I popped in the picture just to have one for this year. Look closely, Santa looks to be a not too distant cousin of Paul Giamatti.

What a Difference Two Months Make

Can I just brag? Okay, so that is pretty much all blogs are - a place for parents to brag about their awesome kids right? Well, here I go.

Clara sat down to color a special someone's Christmas present this morning. I was sitting there watching her color and glanced up to notice a picture she colored two months ago when she was 19 months old hanging on the wall. You can see it behind her. Clara coloring at 19 months:

Clara coloring at 21 months:

You can humor me but I think she is a pretty good artist.

Oh, by the way, if you happen to receive this awesome one of a kind piece from Clara this Christmas, act surprised and pretend that you have never ever seen it!

You would think I never fed her...

Spaghetti was on the menu tonight. Clara devoured her food like it was her first meal in days. Three big meatballs later and four servings (yes, you read it right) of pasta later, she finally declared herself done. Adam and I were trying hard not to laugh as she gobbled up her food at dinner tonight. By the way, that is not a pickle on her plate - it is zucchini - at least she tried it, that's more than her mother did.

Clara's Goal in Life: Make Me Smile

Clara never fails to amaze me.

My little laundry lover was helping me fold the clothes this morning and this is what Clara decided to put on for me.

After wrestling her out of her devine outfit and pajamas, she would only tolerate pants and her Santa hat. Nothing like doing a little topless coloring. A little while later she decided to pull out her chair from the table, push it over to the bookshelf and climb up to read a few books. Look closely, she has a purse on, too.

Hopefully she has made you smile today, too.

I Promise, There Really is a Santa

Crystal and I met today at the mall to have the girls see Santa and get their pictures taken. It did not go according to plan. Apparently, Santa was late because he was "feeding the reindeer" - whatever. After waiting in line for almost an hour, yes, you read right, an HOUR! We gave up because he still didn't arrive. We let the girls play at the play area where they had fun anyway. We decided to go again next week. I got a few shots of the girls playing and waiting in line.

Clara's idea of heaven - a play area WITH books!

It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas...

Last Friday, we began to decorate for Christmas. Clara and I sat on the stoop in the garage watching Adam go up and down the ladder to the attic bringing box after box down. Clara thought it was so neat that her Daddy was bringing all the big boxes down but she thought it was even more neat that there were things inside! We put up the Christmas tree and Clara helped decorate it. We cut back on the ornaments this year and only put up non-breakable ones and we added Candy Canes. Clara has been so good so far. She just goes up to it and stares and points; the cats are not so good. Each morning, Clara wakes up and we walk up to the switch and she get to turn it on. She loves it! Adam and I also put lights on the outside of the house and beside a slight malfunctioning short, they look good but, unfortunately don't work. I guess that's what we get for buying lights at Wal-Mart. They will be coming down and we will put more up this weekend.

"Dad-ick and Geen"

That is how Clara refers to her Uncle Derek and Aunt Jenn. They came over on Monday night for dinner along with Adam's Uncle Robert and Aunt Kathy. Kathy and Robert were in town from Virginia and we treated them to a homemade Tex-Mex meal. It was great catching up with them but unfortunately there are no pictures of them! Before they arrived though, Clara and Derek played dress up. I couldn't help but share these pictures (sorry Derek!)

Thanksgiving Part Two

On Sunday, we celebrated Thanksgiving with Adam's parents and Grandma, Derek and Jenn, and the Fenzels. There were twelve of us total and it made for a busy and fun day. Adam's parents made a GORGEOUS turkey and it was probably the best we have had. It literally looked like it came out of a magazine! Clara's favorite part of both of the Thanksgiving celebrations was the cranberries. She just gobbled (pardon the pun) it up! Clara was able to play with her cousins Robert and Jessica and get in some more much needed reading time with everyone :) Enjoy the pictures below!

Thanksgiving Part Two