Merry Christmas 2015

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. With so many things to be thankful for, it was hard to not have a great time. We were able to spend a few family days together making Christmas cookies, visiting Santa, and checking out the presents under the tree to try to guess what they were. Claire was so excited about the holiday this year. I think she is really beginning to understand the meaning of Christmas which warms my heart! We had a blast with our naughty elf this year too! Christmas Eve was spent making a birthday cake for Jesus, going to church, spreading food on the lawn for Santa's reindeer, and opening presents from Mom and Dad. Christmas morning we woke early to have cinnamon rolls while we read Luke 2 from the Bible. Then Claire got to open her presents from Santa and we loaded up the van for our weekend trip to Frisco, TX. On our way we got to stop in Grapevine to visit with Jeff's cousin Jon, his wife Barbara, and their 8 month old son Hudson. Claire had a blast playing with Hudson! Then we continued on to Frisco to spend the weekend at my cousin's house. We got to be with Grandma Rachel, Roxi, Roger, Jill and Jim and their kids, and Todd. It was a very fun weekend with lots of laughter and excitement. On Sunday we headed back to our house with Grandma! We are so excited to have Grandma Rachel come to stay with us for a month! Claire is attached to her at the hip I think! When we got home, we opened the last of the presents and have been playing ever since! So very thankful for a wonderful Christmas!

Missing our Snugglebunny

Here we are at the second Christmas since my Dad has passed away and it hasn't gotten any easier. We talk about him almost every single day around our house and relive so many fun memories. My dad was so involved with the grandchildren and after spending a good year at our house for treatments, he developed such a special bond with Claire. For that I am forever grateful. I will never forget the strength and positive attitude he displayed every single day, no matter how sick he felt or how bad the news was. As he always said "It can always be worse". I put together only some of the many pictures which show just how awesome Snugglebunny and Claire were together. Dad could always be found to make others laugh and loved to be a kid, as you can tell in the video. Always alive in our hearts Daddy! Until we meet again...

Making Christmas cookies and the amazing "chore chart"!

This is one of my favorite pictures lately! We had a blast the other evening playing twister. As you can see, it got a little hot and Claire decided to take her pants off to play!

 We spent the afternoon making more Christmas cookies. What other time of year can you eat cookies everyday without someone asking questions?! Claire has become such a wonderful baker. She began learning how to bake before she was one year old from Grandpa Larry. He would be so proud of how far she has come, especially with cracking her own eggs and not getting any shells in the bowl!

 Claire measured all of the ingredients by herself and even mixed the dough. Pretty soon Jeff and I are going to get kicked out of the kitchen!

 After some attempts on her own to roll the dough into balls, she decided to delegate that task to Dad while she rolled the balls in the sugar.

 Finally, no one can place the Hershey kisses on the cookies as good as she can so this was her job alone!

 Ahh, the amazing "chore chart"! Claire decided today that she wanted to have more money. So we discussed options and came up with a chore chart. We have one side of things that are expected and she does not earn money for, in fact if she doesn't do these things, she has to pay us $0.10 for each thing she doesn't do daily. These include things like putting your shoes away when we come home, hanging up your coat, putting your dishes in the sink after eating, etc. Then, on the other side we have chores that she can do extra to earn money. These include things like sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming, doing the dishes, doing laundry, leading prayer at night, feeding Belle each evening, etc. This evening she kept asking if she could sweep, mop, and vacuum! Of course I said yes!

 If only her desire to do these things could continue...I would be one happy Mommy! We will see how it goes but day 1 was a huge success!

Christmas with Me-Maw and Paw-Paw

On Tuesday evening we were able to go out to dinner with Me-Maw and Paw-Paw. Of course, they spoiled Claire rotten again with gifts and attention! It amazes me that God brought these two wonderful people into our lives. They have been such a great influence on Claire and have become like family to us.

 

 Claire got a glow and grow terrarium. We made her wait until Saturday to put it together and plant the seeds. That was pure torture for her!

She also got a craft set of the nativity scene. She had a blast putting it together herself and is very proud of her finished project. Thank you so much Me-Maw and Paw-Paw for making Claire feel so welcomed and loved by you both!

First grade holiday party

All decked out in her holiday attire!

 This was Claire's elf application. She applied to be a gift wrapper who is willing to work long hours!

 Claire and her two besties, Addisyn and Karsen. I pray these three remain friends for a long, long time. I love all of these girls!

 Claire with her teacher, Mrs. Kissamis. We got very lucky again this year to have an amazing teacher!

Our crazy elf Eddie

Our elf Eddie has returned once again this year. He has been quite naughty so far!

 Looks like he got into a confrontation with Elsa and she turned him into ice! Claire told me "you know Mom that Elsa is just a doll and she cannot make ice. I bet Eddie got stuck too long in the freezer". I just love this kid!

 One night Eddie found Claire's paints and had some fun with her baby dolls. He even painted a bit on Claire's nose while she was sleeping! Claire looked at the dolls when she woke up and said "well, at least it is washable"!

 Eddie kept busy one night doing laundry.

 And then he got into Claire's google eyes and had some fun!

 Tonight it looks like he wanted to try out Claire's Christmas cookies! Yummy!

Making Christmas cookies

We had such a fun time making Christmas cookies this afternoon. Claire started by making sure the cookie dough was just perfect. She tossed it into the air a few times before rolling it out...a trick she learned from Grandpa Larry!

After we got it all rolled out, Claire made sure we all knew what our specific jobs were with cutting out the cookies!

 While the cookies were cooling, we moved on to making our frosting.

 Then we set up stations with the 4 different colors of frosting and a station at the end with many different types of sprinkles. 

 Claire's favorite one she decorated. I think it has all 4 colors of frosting and every type of sprinkle we own on it! I am just soaking up how excited Claire is this year for Christmas! Our next baking project will be making a birthday cake for baby Jesus in a few more days!

It's time to visit Santa!

Claire spent almost an hour writing her letter to Santa to let him know what she would like for Christmas! She took her time and wrote as neatly as she could. This year she has asked for a butterfly garden, shopkins, an Our Generation doll dog walker and horse, oragami kit, minion slippers, and a few other things she found in catalogs.

 Today we took her to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop in Katy. We have come here every year since she was born and Santa has always been amazing! Claire was so excited to mail her letter to Santa because they have a special mailbox for the letters that goes directly to the North Pole!

 Thankfully they have lots of activities for the kids because we had to wait in line for over an hour.

Crazy what we do for a Santa picture!

Another great picture with Santa! It was worth the wait. 

The best cupcake makers in town!

Claire had her best friend Karsen over to play. We had a blast making cupcakes. I only got to observe because these two girls wanted to do it all by themselves. They first added all of the ingredients and hand mixed the batter until there was no powder left.

 Then it was time to beat the batter...

 and scoop it into the cupcake pan.

 As all good bakers know, you have to save a little batter to lick at the end!

Grandpa Larry taught Claire that trick!

 After baking and letting the cupcakes cool, the girls had fun frosting them and adding sprinkles (lots and lots of sprinkles) to the top.

 Finally, the best part: tasting their hard work! 

Disney Wonder Cruise Part 3

This concludes our pictures from our cruise. We had such an amazing time and would definitely recommend this trip to everyone! We made so many great memories that will last our lifetime (hopefully!).

Disney Wonder Cruise Part 2 (Castaway Cay)

This was our first stop on our cruise. We loved it here! Too bad we couldn't stay for a few more days! They even have an adult only beach so of course Jeff and I had to check it out. We were able to check Claire into the kid zone on the island and spend about an hour at the adult only beach while she played in the kid zone...it was a win-win for all of us! Part 3 will be coming another day so stay tuned!

Disney Wonder Cruise Part 1

We had such an amazing time on our 7 night cruise with the Disney Wonder. We went to Castaway Cay, Nassau, and Key West. Unfortunately we had some rough waters the first two days and Jeff ended up spending most of that time in bed. By day 3 he was feeling better and was able to go out and about with Claire and I. The entire experience was amazing, from the food to the shows to the port visits. Claire loved the Oceaneer Club where she could be checked in for special activities. She got to go to Mousketeer training with Mickey Mouse, learn how to be a rescue ranger with Chip and Dale, and go on a magic carpet ride with Aladdin. At the show "The Golden Mickeys", Claire was one of 6 children chosen to help Snow White by being one of the dwarfs! She did a great job and was pretty proud she got chosen! I hope you enjoy the video of our trip! The second half of our pictures will come as soon as I am able to get them put together!

Pancreatic cancer walk

We took on the rain and went downtown yesterday for the Pancreatic Cancer 5K walk. It is a hard day for us because it brings back so many memories of Dad and his battle with this nasty disease. However, it also is a wonderful way to honor his fight and share his story with those who are going through a similar journey. Thank you to everyone who donated to support this walk and we can only pray that a cure will be found soon.

 I remember talking with Dad before he died and he said that he will toss us pennies from Heaven. Well, I have to believe this because about 1/4 of the way into our walk, I found this shiny penny laying on the path. Can it be mere coincidence?  I choose to believe it is a sign from Dad. Rest in Peace Daddy. We miss you every single day.

Claire's 5 picture cool fun

Seriously  Mom, hit  the ball already!

 Here comes the characters!

 Swan...smile for the camera!

 It is very wavy out here. I may sleep here because it is very comfy!

 I am finally on stage but Dopey isn't looking!

 I am taking a picture with Donald but he is hugging me too tight and I 

can barely breathe! Oh Donald you're crazy!