And So It Begins......

Well, the madness has started! Let me just start by saying I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! I am one of "those people". My house transforms to Christmas Central and every decoration has a "meaning" or "memory" behind it. So the day after Thanksgiving every year, it begins! This year was a little tricky, I had to take a few breaks :( But Mark (formerly known as the Grinch) was excellent!!! I think after ten years my ridiculous love of this holiday has finally rubbed off on him!


Santa's little helper. This year is awesome! Claire really understands the whole Christmas concept and WOW is she excited!!


This year I went to the pottery place and recreated the old school Christmas Tree. I believe most Moms made them in the late 70's - early 80's. Since our family's tree is MIA I just made my own! Claire loved helping put on all the lights. I can totally remember playing with the lights on my mother's tree and every year her yelling "Stop playing with the lights, you are gonna lose them!!" and sure enough all the lights are gone!




Claire loved putting all of "Claire's Ornaments" (AKA non breakable ornaments) on the tree. She would put one on and then stand back with her hands on her hips and say "You like dat Mama? Dat hornament look good?" I think she totally gets this whole Christmas thing :)






Claire couldn't wait to get her hands on our second christmas tree (I told you I was serious about this)!

PS Be on the look out for a new Christmasy background (they are not easy to find!!!)!

PPS DISCLAIMER: While I love Christmas I would like to point out that I am not one of those people who covers every square inch of lawn with large inflatable Santas, Snowmen, Baby Jesuses, Etc. I do feel there is such a thing as too much!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Oh so many things to be thankful for. Where do I start?

I will start here. I am thankful for these two goofballs. They make each day perfect (even when it doesn't seem so perfect). Mark is my best friend and thank god I have him. Claire is my angel. She makes everyday special.

I am thankful for this lug. Even though he makes my house a mess and he sometimes smells like the zoo. I am thankful that he protects our family and that he is so great (and tolerant) with Claire.



I am thankful for the women in my life. These women have taught me how to be a strong independent woman and mother. I love these women very much.

I am thankful for such an elegant and cultured family.

I am thankful for my family. Not only my family but my in-laws as well. My family is there for anything that I need and we all lean on each other when we need to. My in-laws are amazing and I could not have asked for a better addition to my family. I love them all so much and I truly do not know what I would do without them.

I am thankful for my friends. I have always said that my girlfriends are more like sisters to me than friends. And no matter who old we get that holds true. I don't know what I would do without you girls. They are always there to help me when I need it, listen to me when I need it, and ignore me when I am being bossy :) I LOVE YOU LADIES!!!!!


I am thankful for my job! I work with great children everyday and I work with AWESOME people as well. I love the people I work with, they make everyday a blast!!!

I am thankful for this old guy and the fact that he is constantly making me take pictures of him because I know that someday I will cherish them.



I am thankful for this crazy hair (even if my daughter does resemble Gene Wilder).

I am thankful that my family keeps all of our old toys. They seem to be Claire's favorites :)

And finally, I am thankful for this new baby. I am so thankful to be having another baby. I cannot wait until this baby joins our family!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations Bob and Colleen!
This weekend two of Mark and I's best friends got engaged (TO EACH OTHER...DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THAT!!). We are so thrilled and happy for them both!!!!!!! Best of Luck guys, its such an exciting and wonderful time! Enjoy every second of it! You guys are so perfect together and we love you both!!!

A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

High: Today was a beautiful day :)
Low: I am still feeling a little yucky :(

Today the weather was perfect! It was 65 and sunny! PERFECT! So after nap we headed outside to enjoy what will probably be the last nice day until May.

The first thing Claire wanted to do was play in her sandbox. So, while she played in her sand I practiced my photography. And I must say, I did pretty well today :)

I think Claire forgot how fun her sandbox is. She just kept saying "Mama this is SUPER fun!"



I swear I could bite her little nose!


Don't mind her hair, we didn't "style" it today. I love this kid's hair :)


I had to put this one because she just looks so old!


And what would a trip oustide in the fall be without runnin in some leaves!

This is a quick shot of Claire at swimming on Saturday. It was Safety day. The kids had to practice swimming with a life vest on. It was pretty tough too. Claire is so small (she only weighs 23 pounds) and she kept flipping over because of the head piece. But she was determined to swim with that thing on! Here she is swimming, look at that look of determination on her face! She is gonna be just like her daddy. If she was anything like me, she would be relaxing and floating around on her back :)

I promise in about three weeks I should be feeling better and there will be bigger, better, and more posts !!!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

This was a busy Halloween! We had a ton of great Halloweeny stuff to do so, I figured I would just take the best pics and share those!

At dance class we had our Halloween Party. It was really cute, they learned a spooky dance, wore their costumes and shared some tasty treats. I bought Claire an extra costume to wear to this party because her original costume would have been too warm. So for this party, she was an angel. How cute does Bella look as Diego (no not a park ranger or a mailman).

Poppy made an adorable Doggy.

This year carving pumpkins was super fun. Claire was really into it and she really helped me draw the face for her pumpkin. She told me which shapes to use, it was really cute!


Claire loved pulling the guts out but every now and then she got a little grossed out.


Wouldn't be carving pumpkins if we didn't try to put the pumpkin on her head :)

TA-DA!!!


Mark did the music for my school's Halloween Bash. Claire loved helping Daddy.


Then we went Trick or Treating with some friends. Claire had a BLAST!


Here is the back of Claire's costume. Isn't she the cutest butterfly ever?! Claire loved trick or treating this year. Last year she didn't really get the whole point but this year she was super into it! She loved filling up her pumpkin!

We hope that everyone had a great Halloween!