Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Jeff ordered an electric potato peeler and we got it just in time for Thanksgiving. Claire was so excited and had to tell me many times that Daddy got it just for her since her and Dad have a tradition of making the mashed potatoes.

I have to admit, it did work very well and saved lots of time. Good thing we can use it for fruits too! 

 Claire was the official taste tester of the potatoes and she gave a thumbs up!

Even though we cannot be with our extended family, we had our traditional meal and began by sharing what we are thankful for!

 It just wouldn't be Jeff and Claire if we didn't have silly picture!

 I just love this picure!

 Claire and Jeff learning how to make bracelets in our little bit of downtime while the other kids are taking a nap!

Our first batch of Christmas cookies!

Claire and I were lucky enough to have the day off together yesterday. We spent the day putting out Christmas decorations, playing school, and doing a little bit of shopping, The best part of the day was making our traditional first batch of Christmas cookies! Claire did most of it all by herself! She first rolled out the dough.

Then she picked her cutouts.

 She placed them ever so carefully on the pan to bake.

 She made sure to not mess up any of her cutouts!

 It was finally time for her favorite part...frosting the cookies! Of course she enjoyed licking her fingers the most I think! She got very creative with mixing colors and using a variety of sprinkles to make some super cute and delicious cookies! I have a feeling we will be making many batches this year!

Claire meets with Santa

Today Santa decided to make a stop at Methodist Willowbrook Hospital! We got to go so Claire could meet with him and let him know what she is wanting for Christmas. First she met with Mrs. Claus..

 Then she got a little lecture from Santa himself! She told him she would like a basketball for Christmas.

Finally, we got a picture with both Mr and Mrs Claus! A fun way to start the holiday season!

Sleepover with Addisyn

                                     

Claire had such a fun sleepover with her good friend Addisyn. Of course they wanted to make something sweet. They picked out brownies with frosting and then had to have cookie dough ice cream to go with it. We had fun watching the girls prepare the brownies all by themselves.

 After baking them and letting them cool, it was time to frost them with bright yellow frosting! Both girls wanted to just eat the frosting from the container!

Then it was time for some "Go Noodle" dancing on the computer...

 and some reading in their fort before going to bed.

This morning we went for a walk. The girls did some jogging and then took some baby dolls for a stroll with us.

We had gotten Claire this electric scooter for Christmas last year and she had never been brave enough to try it out. Well, you have to be brave in front of your friends right? So Jeff brought it out and both girls had a blast riding it. I have a feeling we won't be able to keep Claire off of it from now on!

Claire's 2nd grade picture

Our beautiful daughter...if only we could freeze time and stop you from growing up so fast. What a lovely little lady you are becoming and we couldn't be more proud to be called your Mom and Dad. God has great plans for you and we cannot wait to see how they play out. We love you so much and feel so very blessed to have you as our daughter!

A little magic and a game of Headbanz

 Claire has been interested in doing magic tricks lately. So on our last visit to see MeMaw and PawPaw, she had to bring some magic. She had a blast showing them how she could make a cloth appear from two empty boxes!

 Then she had to use her trick cookie to show them how she could take a bite and then "magically" make it reappear!

After some magic tricks, we played the game of Headbanz! We are so overly blessed to have these two amazing people in our lives since the day we moved to Texas. They have been with us through my pregnancy and were the very first people to visit us in the hospital after Claire was born. They have taken us in as a part of their family and I couldn't be more honored. We consider them two of Claire's grandparents and have cherished every moment we have gotten to spend together. What a true blessing from God!

Pancreatic cancer walk

We had signed up to do the pancreatic cancer walk that was taking place this morning, but were unable to go due to kiddos recovering from sickness. So Claire and I decided to get all decked out (like we do every year for the walk) and walk around the neighborhood instead. We wanted to still honor the memory of Dad/Snugglebunny even though we couldn't be at the actual even this year. Team Snugglebunny will return next year! We love you Dad and we think about you and talk about memories of you every single day. "Always alive in our heart!"

Happy Halloween from the Jelly Belly girl!

Claire had so much fun trick or treating this year! We got to meet up with many of the neighbors for some fun pictures! Here is Claire with Cameron...

 Briley and Claire...

 and Lillian, Claire, and Elliot.

Of course, I had to get a crazy pic with my little Jelly Belly!

 One house had this dinosaur running up and down the driveway so we stopped him and asked for a picture!

 Hmm...which should we choose!

Claire was a trooper! She made it about 40 minutes before becoming too hot in her plastic bag. Thankfully her bucket was full by that time and she was ready to call it a night. What a wonderful neighborhood we live in!