Happy 2010!

Happy New Year Everyone! We hope you all had a great Holiday! We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed spending time with family and friends. We celebrated with family in Birmingham the weekend before Christmas and then traveled to Baton Rouge on the 24th to stay for the week. Claire had a great time but still wasn't too interested in opening presents. She was more excited to play with the first thing she opened and then watch what her cool cousins were doing.

A family picture before James' work party. This was the night Claire had her first babysitter (non-family) and she did great! We were so excited the Selbys stopped by one Sunday for lunch while they were in town. We had never met their precious kids, Ava Grace & Will....and all had a great time. We hope to get together again soon! Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures until they were about to leave, but here is one of Ava Grace & Claire playing with the aquadoodle.

Aunt Cara, Claire & Blue at the Creel Christmas Rib Party

Ready to open presents at Laura & Lester'sClaire being silly on our way to see Santa ClausTrying out her new Auburn tri-cycle from Aunt Cara.Uncle CD helps Claire open her gifts.Thanks Aunt Ostelle for the fun toys! CHRISTMAS EVE

Everyone's ready to open presents after bath time....and Claire decides to use a gift as a chair....nice! Me & James

Aunt Debbie & Uncle Chad Claire's favorite present - her art easel from Aunt Debbie, Uncle Chad, Abby & Walter.

The birthday boys get ready to blow out their candles...Uncle Chad's birthday is the 22nd, Walter's the 23rd and Grandpa's the 24th!

The kids got many art presents....so Uncle James helps with their masterpieces.

Walter wanted Daisy to play too...so he brought her two of his dinosaurs...doesn't she look excited?

CHRISTMAS DAY

Grandpa plays with the kids and their new Santa toys.

More playing while waiting for Christmas dinner.

We attempt to get a family picture....better luck next time we hope!

The Day AFTER CHRISTMAS

The day after Christmas we went to my Aunt & Uncle's house to celebrate with my mom's side of the family. We had sandwiches, appetizers, and desserts which was a nice change from a huge meal. It was a lot of fun!

Aunt Debbie & Walter are tired of pictures.

Claire is ready to eat.....

but has more fun eating Maw Bessie's food....or rather just potato chips!

Back in Birmingham, we had a holiday party with our friends the weekend after New Year's! Everyone brought a dish, and we had plenty of delicious food. It was a great time, and the little ones enjoyed playing together. Maybe this will be the year we can plan a gathering every few months!

Everyone's family picture:

Unfortunately, the Mote's didn't get a family pic before they left...here's one of Jodie & Hudson and there's another w/ Hudson & Farrah below!

James enjoying dinner!

We had a full house.

Hey Santa!

Claire and I finally made it to see Santa Clause yesterday......the real Santa Clause! We had stopped by a few different times and the line was either outrageous or Claire had a meltdown before we even made it to the building.....but third time was a charm. We got to the mall around 4:30 and there was only ONE person in line to see Santa.....wow! Claire was definitely a little scared, but didn't cry and was excited to get a candy cane at the end. She can't wait to see what Santa brings her on Christmas Eve. We're looking forward to spending the holidays with our family and hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

Everyone at our house is definitely getting excited about the holidays. I personally love Christmas and all of the decorations. We finished our decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving and have enjoyed seeing the lights every day when we come home. This year we went with James' family to Beaver Tree Farm to chop down our own tree.....it was a lot of fun. Claire wanted to get a tree her size - about 3 feet tall - but we finally settled on a 7 foot one for our living room. Of course Claire didn't come home empty handed.........we ended up chopping down a small "baby" cedar tree from Granny & Paw Paw's backyard and decorated it with popcorn garland! Now if I can finish up our Christmas shopping, we'll be ready to sit back and enjoy the holiday season!

Off to find the perfect tree.....James already knew this would take a while!

Notice Claire likes to hang out with the trees her size.

This is it!

Our front door.

And our decorated tree!

Lots of updates

WOW...it's been way too long since I've posted to the blog. I think this one will almost get us completely up to date....get ready...it's a long one!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year at home and have many things to be thankful for - especially our family and friends and being able to all spend time together. This year my family came to our house. I wish I could take credit for the thanksgiving meal, but Grandma did most of the preparations while I was at work. My parents (Grandma & Grandpa) came in town the Monday before and Debbie arrived with Abigayle & Walter on Wednesday. Uncle Chad had a boys weekend with his son Landon, and we missed them. We had a big Thanksgiving feast on Thursday for lunch and spent the afternoon making turkey sugar cookies. We started this tradition last year, and always have lots of fun decorating and making a mess. We can't wait to see everyone again in a few weeks for Christmas!

Claire posing with her adorable Gobble Gobble Turkey shirt from Aunt Peggy & Karen.

Notice everyone has a stuffed animal in this picture...Claire has an animal with her at all times now, and wanted to share!

Aunt Debbie & Claire cheese it up for the camera.

Time to decorate turkey cookies...each made with our own individual hand print.

This is very serious.

Grandma's won best decorated....

...and Abby's won MOST decorated!

After all that food, Walter & Daisy passed out!

The Park with Hayes & Tanner

Claire and I recently had an off day from work and school for Veteran's Day. We met our friends Whitney, Hayes & Tanner at chick-fil-a for lunch and then went to Wald Park near our house to play. The kids had a great time playing together....and Hayes and Claire were so cute. Hayes would hold Claire's hand to help her over the bridge, and they even gave each other a hug when it was time to go....sweet little ones! We miss getting to hang out with Whitney, Joey, Hayes & Tanner...but now that everyone is working and on different schedules it's more difficult. Hopefully we can get together again soon to play!

"Hayes....I need help!"

Fearless Hayes to the rescue!

Look....no hands!

Tanner & Claire enjoying the swings.

Tanner can't wait until he's old enough to run around and play with his big brother.

The best picture we could get of all 3!

"But mom...we're not ready to leave!"

Big Hugs...I love it!

Claire's 1st Football Game

Claire went to her first Auburn football game for AU's Homecoming. The weather was perfect, Claire did great, and Auburn WON! We couldn't have asked for a better day. We were a little worried how she would do in the stadium - especially since it was around nap time, but she had fun and we made it through the 1st half. She took her Aubie stuffed animal with her into the game and wanted to show everyone around us what Aubie says....War Eagle of course!! Claire can't wait to be an Auburn Tiger herself one day.

Claire says "War Eagle....Let's Go"On our way to Jordan-Hare.
Clapping for the tigers!

It's Fall - and leaves are everywhere!

Claire helped Daddy rake leaves one afternoon....she used her small yellow cup to dump them into the trash can...needless to stay - it took a while!

Halloween

So, I realize Halloween was over a month ago, but I have to include a few pictures of our little ballerina. I loved dressing Claire up in her pink leotard and tutu and can't wait until she starts taking dance classes one day. I'm sure she's going to love it! :-) Claire had a lot of fun playing with her classmates at the Halloween school party and trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. She still didn't say "trick or treat" at the door (even though she would say it at home), but enjoyed getting candy - looks like she's going to have her mommy's sweet tooth.

Stickers from the witches brew.

Claire is ready for some snacks!

Claire and Daddy in her witch hats from school!

Ready to go trick or treating....

On our way to the first house....Claire rides in style.

Trick or Treat
Pink Laffy Taffy's were her favorite!