Merry Christmas to all!

 Claire and Mommy baking cookies again!

Just getting ready to open presents 

 Claire wrapped some of her toys to give to G-Ma and Snuggle

Bunny for Christmas. G-Ma got some crayons and Snuggle

Bunny got a little lunch box!

 Claire seemed to like this crayon maker. It will come in handy

when we recycle all of her broken crayons.

 Claire being a goof ball like usual!

 Claire was so thoughtful this year. After each present she said

"thank you" and gave Mommy and Daddy hugs. Nice to see the good

behavior!

I think Claire had more fun popping the bubble wrap than actually playing with her

new toys! Guess we should have bought a box of bubble wrap instead!

Meeting Santa at the YMCA

 Santa came to visit the YMCA the other night. They had activities for the kids to do also. First Claire made an elf with candy canes.

 Then she made an ornament using her thumb print.

 She had to stop for a picture by the Christmas tree.

 Even though it was only 45 degrees out and windy, Claire wanted to do the hayride. Good thing we had the blanket along! Not sure how we are going to survive MN for Christmas since 45 degrees was freezing for us!

We finally got to see Santa. Claire wrote him a letter to tell him what she wanted for Christmas and also brought along some cookies she made for him. It was fun to watch her interact with Santa and carry on a conversation. Big change from the past few years meeting the big guy!

Bowling fun

Snuggle time!

                                                

Happy Birthday Jesus program

Today Claire had a Happy Birthday Jesus program at her preschool. Her class got to be angels and they had one line to say. She had been practicing the line all week and was right on when it was her turn to speak! It is so fun watching her participate.

Love having G-Ma and Snuggle bunny here!

 On our way to church

 Frosting Christmas cookies with G-Ma

 Getting a yummy treat at Orange Leaf

Working hard to get the brownie mix ready to bake!

Crazy kid on the slide!

Fun times with G-Ma and Snuggle Bunny

The time has gone fast this past week with G-Ma and Snuggle Bunny. Thankfully Grandpa was feeling well enough to go with us to Moody Gardens yesterday. It was lots of walking but we all had a great time. Today we got to decorate the Christmas tree and then Claire went to her very first movie at the movie theater. We saw the movie "Frozen" with G-Ma and Snuggle Bunny. I think we all enjoyed the movie. Claire did better than we all expected by sitting through the entire movie and only needing one potty break!

Our budding artist

 Claire concentrating hard on her masterpieces.

 This is Claire's bird,

 her clown with a rainbow,

and her butterfly (Daddy helped draw the outline on this one!).

It is very fun watching the creativity flow out of our little girl!

Little soccer player

Claire wanted to try soccer so we enrolled her through the YMCA. After one practice and game, we quickly found out that soccer was not for her. She told us by the end of the season that all she liked to do was go to practice, she did not like the games! Ms Claire is not aggressive at all and would often times just watch the ball go in front of her and then follow the other kids across the field. She was super excited when the season ended! It was a challenge to get her to go to each game, but she was a good sport and finished off the season. I think we will try something different next time!

Purple Stride Houston

It was a cold day in Houston (43 degrees) but we braved the wind and rain and headed out for the pancreatic cancer walk this morning. With winter coats under our Purple Stride shirts, we did the 5K walk to support pancreatic cancer research. Thank you to everyone who donated and supported us on this walk. It means more than you know to have so many wonderful and supportive people in our lives. With more research, we pray a cure is in sight for this terrible disease.

Great Wolf Lodge

Welcome to Claire's full body massage parlor

Enjoying the great outdoors!

 On last Saturday we met with a bunch of friends at the park for a grill-out. We got to go to the pond and feed the ducks which was a highlight for all of the kiddos.

 Pipe cleaners are amazing! Claire decided she wanted to be a cat so we made her a long tail and some ears off of her pigtails!

 She loved being a cat so much that she wore her "ears" to Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt!

 Today we stopped at the park after preschool. We are definitely enjoying the cooler weather lately.