Happy birthday Jesus!

Claire and I had a wonderful day yesterday baking. We started right away in the morning, and as you can see in the slideshow, Claire didn't make it out of her pj's until getting ready for church! We made some Christmas cookies and cupcakes for Jesus. It was so much fun spending the day together baking and playing. I wish we could have more days just like that. Last night after church we came home to open presents and this morning we got to watch Claire open her gifts from Santa. She was so excited to get the things she asked Santa for. Good thing our elf Eddie paid attention while he was causing so much trouble at our house!
This Christmas is our first without Dad. Of course that makes it difficult but I am so very thankful that because of this special day, we will soon be able to be together with Dad again in Heaven. Thank you God for sending your son to take away our sins and allow us to spend eternity with You! The entire concept is so overwhelming to me.

The meaning behind the candy cane

Getting ready for Christmas!

As you know, Claire loves to bake. Here she is putting her skills

to work and mixing the batter. I look forward to Dec 24 when we

both will be home and plan to bake some Christmas cookies!

 Being crafty working on some Christmas cards to send out!

 We were blessed to have MeMaw and PawPaw join us for

a puppet Christmas program earlier this week. It was such

a special treat to get to spend the evening together!

 We went to the Really, Really Big Christmas Show on Friday evening.

We got there early and were able to enjoy checking out the big model train display they

had set up. It was another fun evening.

We have had some fun times getting ready to celebrate Jesus' birthday.

We are looking forward to making His birthday cake, baking, and of course heading

north to Dallas to pick up G-Ma in only a few more days! So looking forward to having her

visit us for a while. Claire counts down every morning how many more days until we can go

to get her! I have a feeling Claire might get a little more spoiled when G-Ma arrives (if

that is possible!).

Claire's Christmas party at school

The school put on a cute little party for the kids before their break.

First Claire got to build a snowman out of marshmallows,

pretzel sticks, raisins, and a carrot. We had a tough time making

all the pieces stick...

 but we got creative and it turned out really cute!

 Claire with her good friend Aniya

 Then it was time to eat her creation!

 After her snack, Claire got to create a snowflake

ornament with her picture on it.

 Before I left we got Claire and Cameron (her neighbor)

to take a picture together. Hopefully these two kids will

remain good friends!

Naughty little elf...

Our elf Eddie returned the beginning of this month. He has

proven to be quite the trouble maker this year! He returned by

getting into the fruit loops and spelling out a message to

Claire.

Then he thought it would be a good idea to hang upside down

using pipe cleaners!

 One night he got into a tape ball fight with the little animals and

ended up losing the fight!

 He got into Jeff's shaving cream and decided to

try out the shaving for himself. Clearly he

didn't do very well at this task!

 He had a run in with Claire's doll Allison and ended up finding

himself dressed in one of her dresses and taped to the bathroom door

with a note that says "caution, naughty elf".

Needless to say, we have had a fun time with Eddie this year! We just never

know what he is going to get into next!

Christmas time with Snugglebunny though the years

Our first Christmas without Snugglebunny...I wanted to put together a short video of Dad with Claire throughout the years around the holiday season. There are so many good memories and I couldn't be more grateful. Dad was so amazing with Claire and I miss watching them together. Even though we miss Dad every single day, knowing that he doesn't have to suffer any longer gives peace. He said before he passed away "I will always be alive if you keep me in your heart". Dad...you will always be alive in our hearts! Thanks to Jesus coming on Christmas day, we will one day get to be with Dad again in Heaven! Praise God that Christmas changes everything! Merry Christmas!

Our visit to see Santa!

Today we got to see Santa Claus! Claire was super excited and

gave us a practice smile before we left home.

 We got to play some games when we arrived. Dad and Claire

had fun racing cars around the track.

 I guess we teach 'em young in Texas! Dad is showing

Claire how to properly hold a gun and shoot a target...

 Notice the slippers...Claire can tolerate dress shoes and tights

only so long!

 Claire got to write a letter to Santa and they had a mail box right in the

store so it could get sent to the North Pole without any postage.

 While waiting in line, Claire needed a better view so of course

Mommy gave her a boost to see Santa better!

 One last practice smile before the real deal

 Our beautiful little girl with Santa! I think this is our best picture

of the two of them together!

Beautiful sidewalk chalk art!

We had to take advantage of the beautiful weather God gave us today so we spent the late afternoon outside being artists in the driveway.

 Claire is displaying her talents...

 Mom drew the outline of the tree and the rest is created by Claire.

Santa has earphones on to listen to music while he delivers gifts!

 This one is hard to see but she drew Jesus in a cradle and wrote

Happy Birthday Jesus. It was perfect. Just what we have been

teaching her all along and so great to know that she is

starting to understand the meaning behind Christmas.

Warms a mother's heart...!

A great 3 days together

With life being busy now that Claire is in kindergarten, I forgot how much fun my daughter and I have when we are together. I have been blessed to be able to spend these past three days with Claire and we had such a wonderful time! Here are some of the things we got to do...

Claire wrote her letter to Santa letting him know the things she would like (including Little Live Pets bird in a cage, paint, Barbies-even though she never plays with her Barbies she does have, coloring books, Blokus, dolls, Frozen pillow, slippers, and Pez candy. After this we went to lunch with friends and enjoyed the afternoon visiting with MeMaw and PawPaw.

 We spent one day cleaning house and putting out our Christmas decorations.

Claire put all of the colored bulbs into Nanny Nadine's tree.

 After hard work in the morning, we went to the library and Jump On In

to wear off some energy.

 We got to play store in the pantry...

 and enjoy the beautiful weather today by playing in the park for almost 2 hours.

 This afternoon we made banana bread. Well, actually Claire made banana bread

with not much help from Mom!

 She even cracked the eggs all by herself. Grandpa would have been so

proud!

 Finally, she has the mix all ready to pour into the pan. By this time she is

tired of Mom taking so many pictures as you can see by her facial expression!

I hadn't realized just how much I miss my little girl now that she is in school every day until I got to spend these three days with her. I am thankful for so many things in my life, but she tops the cake! I cannot imagine my life without this amazing, strong-willed, intelligent, creative, loving child that God has chosen me to raise. I am so very lucky!

Santa's Wonderland

We were able to spend an evening at Santa's Wonderland last weekend.

Claire's friend, Elliot, came with us to join in the fun. Unfortunately it rained off and on,

but we managed to have a good time anyway.

 The kids are waiting patiently in the long line to get in...

 Doing poses by the lit up Texas flag...

 They had fun on the lit up train ride just for kids...

 and then enjoyed the petting zoo where they got to feed goats, llamas, a miniature

pig, and even...

 a camel! Claire was too scared to feed the camel but Daddy had lots of fun with it!

It was a fun evening together doing many different activities.

A good way to start the holiday season!

My tabata girl!

Since it was chilly and windy outside today, I decided to do my workout at home. Of course, Claire wanted to join me so we did a tabata workout together. Here is Claire showing you some of the exercises we did today.

Lunges...

 Sit-ups...

 Squats or plié...

dead lifts or bicep curls...

 and side planks.

Claire was a trooper and made it through all 6 rounds with even a few more exercises added.

So fun to see her so interested in exercise!

Pancreatic cancer walk 2014- In loving memory of our Snuggle Bunny

This year the Pancreatic Cancer walk was bitter sweet. It was a hard day but we tried to make the best of it and have fun because we know that is what Dad would have wanted.

We are all smiles when we arrive and ready to go with our purple gear on!

 Claire got to throw some balls and get a picture with the Skeeters mascot.

 Claire and I both wrote a note in honor and memory of Dad (our Snuggle Bunny)

 We had to get our family pic in front of the cancer ribbon made out of balloons.

 So, 3.2 miles is quite a long way for a 5 year old to walk but Claire was determined.

She started out wanting to run...

 had to pause for a couple rests...

 then took it down to a walk...

 until her legs became too tired and she decided it was best to hop on our backs

 and take it easy the rest of the way!

This was a great event and a wonderful way for us to honor Dad. Thank you so much to everyone who donated and supported our walk. We are praying that a cure is found for this nasty disease soon.