Thursday, December 31, 2009

Goodbye 2009

Here are a few of the last pictures I took in 2009 of my two little cuties.





Clara's hair looked especially curly and cute today so I took a pic of the back of her head. I hope her curls stay around for a long time!! She has never had her hair cut so I'm not sure if they will last for long or not.

Christmas Recap

We had a great Christmas - filled with lots of family and friends and fun times.

We got to do something none of us have never done before on Christmas Eve. Since William was born in late October, that made him the perfect age to be Baby Jesus in the Christmas Eve service at church. Which means Tom was Joseph and I was Mary. I have always enjoyed the Christmas Eve service at church, especially singing "Silent Night" by candlelight. William was the perfect baby Jesus - happy and content and so precious.

Tom's parents, sister and her family were with us for Christmas. We had a great time baking cookies and candies together. Clara really got into this, with the help of her cousins, Heidi and Katherine.





Heidi also taught Clara the basics of texting...


It was fun playing Santa this year. We set out cookies and milk for Santa and Clara was ready to tear into her presents bright and early Christmas morning.

Her big gifts were a bike, scooter and a couple helmets. She also got a play kitchen.


We even had a little bit of snow early Christmas morning. Tom took the older kids on a sledding adventure behind our Polaris ranger...unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of this event, but everyone had a lot of fun being towed all over our land at 20 mph. Luckily they were wearing helmets.


My parents and sister and her hubby came a couple days after Christmas. We did a lot more eating and hanging out. My parents surprised us with the news that their house in Houston SOLD! We were so excited to hear this because this means they can finally move to Arkansas and start building their new home. Yea! This also means they will only be two hours away from us and we can easily drive there to see them for visits or they can come up here to see us.


Monday, December 21, 2009

Two's

William turned two months old yesterday and Clara turned exactly two and a half today. These cuties have been doing well lately. Clara is eagerly anticipating Santa Claus's arrival and likes to pretend to visit Santa throughout the day with Tom or I playing Santa. She also likes to pretend she is Santa and have Tom and I visit her.

Sometimes Clara is in the mood to have her picture made and tonight was one of those somewhat rare moments. Yea!!




Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Sweet Smiles

I finally snapped a few pictures of William's sweet smile. Enjoy!




Monday, December 14, 2009

Santa Success

After waiting for an hour and a half in line and lots of coaxing (and a bribe for chocolate)to get Clara to cooperate, we were able to get a terrific picture of Clara and William with Santa.




Bass Pro Shop has a really, really good Santa. He has a full beard and long white silky hair, good build, and is gentle and soft spoken with the kiddos. Clara told him what she wanted (a bike, a scooter and a helmet) and then, when asked by Santa what William wants, she said a baby bottle. (Hmmm...maybe she wants Daddy to feed baby William every now and then?).

Anyways, Tom and I were both very relieved that all our waiting was worth it and that Clara didn't have a melt down with St. Nick. Here are some pictures of the event

Hanging out with Daddy during the long wait.


William slept the entire time in line.


Going down the ice slide at Bass Pro.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Clara and William Update - new video added :)

Yea, I'm still alive and kicking!! Baby William and Clara have been keeping me really busy, so I haven't had as much time to devote to the computer lately. Here's what's been going on around here the past few weeks.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Tom's parents, my parents and my grandparents visiting us at our house. It was my first time hosting family for a big holiday and I think things went really well.



The next day we started decorating for Christmas. Tom, Clara, my dad and Tom's dad went out looking for a tree and came back with a beautiful Frasier Fir. It's around 9 or 10 feet and looks great in the living room.







Clara and William are both doing well. Clara is a few days shy of being two and a half now and is just as talkative and full of energy as ever. Recently she has been telling me, Tom, William and Chelsea 'You are my best friend ever'. It's cute and sweet and funny at the same time when you hear her say it.

Clara started singing in the car today after church and was willing to sing her song again so I could get it on video. I didn't have the patience to edit out the extra footage on the video so bear with us for about 15 or 20 seconds at the beginning and end.




William is doing so well. He is getting so big!! I am hoping I can use all the size 1 diapers I have bought before having to step it up to size 2. He is still pretty mello and laid back. He began smiling a couple weeks ago and seeing his cute little grin in priceless. He continues to eat well and sleep for longer stretches at night.