Getting ready for Christmas

 This last year my little munchkin has turned into a crafting, decorating, and baking girl.  That being said, there was now way we were going to get out of making gingerbread houses.   She planned them out, had me write down a list of all the candy she thought we needed, made me read the list back to her several times to make sure I didn't leave anything out, and at the last minute the jammie-wearing girl jumped in the van with me because she could stand the thought of me picking out the candy without her. 
Lucky for me, she wasn't too particular about how we made them so we tried making them out of rice crispies and sticking the graham crakers on the outside.  It didn't work out as planned but Claire didn't seem to care at all.  She had a blast!! 

 

 

Randomness

This last weekend I realized that I hadn't really taken pictures in awhile of all the little things.  The little things that you don't want to forget but you know you will if you don't write it down or take a picture.  So here is a little randomness from our weekend.

 

Claire loves taping her mouth shut.  She thinks it is just hilarious. So hilarious that she has gone through about six things of scotch tape in the last couple months.  Well I can't say that all of it went over her mouth.  She did have a "great idea" a while ago that she would be able to keep Crue out of all the drawers and cupboards if she just taped them closed and since she was so excited about her great idea, I just didn't have the heart to tell her that it wouldn't work.  I guess I can't forget about the week earlier this year when she decided that the chairs would look more beautiful if they had tape all over them.  Hmmm, maybe by daughter just has a tape fetish.  Anyway, Claire came over to me with tape over her mouth and Crue thinks he needs to do everything his sister does so pretty soon this is how they looked.  

Crue is all about the markers these days and since Claire is always busy with one project or another he usually has plenty of access to them.    He is also all about getting his picture taken these days and the second he sees a cell phone or camera he starts yelling "cheese".

 

Claire burned  out the motor on our last vacuum and it looks like Crue might do it to this one.  He loves to vacuum and can get quite mad if he is not given his fair share of vacuum time.   Look at that cheeser too.  He cracks me up.  I seriously love Claire's retro carpet.

 

Another fun game at our house is getting buried in the ever growing collection of stuffed animals. 

 

 

Claire trying to not get bucked off the horse.

Claire and Luke trying to get away from the lion.

 

Claire got an early Christmas present from our great neighbors which she immediately exclaimed was the "most amazing present in the world ever".  They gave her a childrens baking set.  My little girl loves to bake.  At 8:00 the next morning she had her dad out of bed and helping her put the baking set to good use. 

They made cupcakes and this gingerbread man. 

My Little Dancin' Girl

Claire had her first dance recital last weekend.  She practiced and practiced and all her hard work paid off...she did a great job.  It was so fun to watch her up on stage dancing her little heart out. 

Her dance recital was all she could talk about all day long.  And her excitement doubled when she realized that she would get to wear a little bit of makeup.  Several hours before her recital she was bouncing off the walls with excitement.  "Is it time to go yet?  Mom, I think it is time to go?  Does my makeup still look good mom?  Dad, how do I look?  Dad, come look at my hair and see how beautiful it looks.  Mom, Dad says like I look like I am six years old!!  It's dark outside so I think its time to go.  Mom, I don't want them to start without me."....and on and on it went.   We finally decided to get out of the house for awhile and go out to dinner just hoping to get her mind of the recital.



 

 

 

Several days later she told me that she needed to sleep on couch that night with her tap shoes on because the next day was going to be a big day.  I love how her "Big Day" consisted of dancing at an assisted living center and then going to the ward Christmas party.  She was so excited about her "big day" that we couldn't tell her no. 

My not so little anymore little guy

Over the last month my little baby boy has turned into a just a little boy. It makes me so sad in some ways but excited in other ways.

His speech has totally picked up and not only is he talking a ton, but we can actually understand him.

He has picked the terrible two's right up.

He has learned how to climb out of the crib in no time at all so he is officially in a toddler bed. I can't say he actually sleeps in it but he starts out there at least.

 

When we go check on him he is usually on the floor somewhere in his room.  Two little legs sticking out from under a blanket.   

Or sometimes he is found in the rocking chair.

I just had to include this.  Here is Claire sitting in our time out spot. It just kills Crue to see his sis in trouble and will try to sneak over and sit on her lap until she gets out.  On this day she ended up with two babies feeling sorry for her and keeping her company while she did her time. 

He really wants to just hang out with the big kids but it makes me happy that he still wants his mommy to rock him at night and sing him primary songs. 

He loves to sing popcorn popping.  He also thinks he should have complete control over the radio while we are in the car and gets mad if we don't listen to his songs.  This boy will have the primary songs all memorized long before he is ever a sunbeam.  

He loves to dance.

He still thinks his sister is the funniest person in the world. 

He torments his sister just as much as she torments him but they love each other so much.  When she is sad he runs over to give her hugs and comfort her and Claire instantly comes to his defense if she thinks another little kid is picking on him or if he is wronged in anyway. 

He is still a total mommy's boy but gets so excited when his daddy walks in the door after work and runs into his arms.

He tends to throw things if he doesn't get his way or else he will go over to the table and try to lift it up when he is mad.   

He loves to sweep and vacuum.

He gets into my make-up more than Claire ever has.

He has the best smile. 

We love you so much Crue. 

Thanksgiving

I love that our family is close enough that we get to spend all the holidays with them.  This year we started out our Thanksgiving weekend like we normally do...baking, baking, and then more baking.  This year we met at my house to make pies and we had so much fun.  I took tons of pictures and then realized that I never put the SD card in.  I'm brilliant!!  I had some great pictures of Crue too because he was totally into the whole pie making thing this year.  Anyway, we really did have a great time with my mom, sis, bro, and the kiddos. 

 

Thanksgiving morning was spent down at Thanksgiving Poing since Luke was running a half marathon there. He did a great job. We are proud of you babe!!

 

 
We had Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws and then went to my dad's for pies later that night.  It was a great day.