Clara and Claus

I was able to get Clara doing her 'ho, ho, ho'...

Ho, ho, ho

Today in the car on our way to school I was trying to get Clara to say "Santa Clause" becuase he was going to be at her school for their special Christmas luncheon.

Me: Say 'Santa Clause'
Clara: Ho, Ho, Ho

So she may not want to say his name, but she certainly knew who I was talking about. Too, cute! She kept on 'ho, ho, ho'ing all the way to school. I never did get her to say Santa Clause though...

Santa Hat

Inspired by the professional photo collages I've seen around town, Clara and I had a photo shoot at home with the 'ol digital camera and our Santa hat. I'm pretty happy how they turned out. I'm going to get a collage frame to put them all together.











P.S. - Kelly hooked me up with a photo editing tool that allowed me to make my collage. Awesome!

Getting Ready for Santa

Now that we are back in town it is time to decorate the Christmas tree. We didn't want to leave Mary on her own to defend the tree from Clara and George (the cat) during our trip. So we are doing our decorating a little late this year. I never realized how challenging it would be to keep all of the glass and delicate ornaments out of Clara's reach. Really, trees should be inverted so you have more limbs to decorate at the top where kids can't reach and fewer at the bottom (it would also leave more room for presents ;)
Clara is actually putting an ornament on the tree. Odd since she spent most of the time pulling them off. I think I'll be finding ornaments scattered around the house now til Independence day.

Even though Clara doesn't remember Christmas from last year, she is still starting to feel the excitement of the season.

Back from Vacation

Patrick and I just got back from celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. We took a 5 day cruise out of Miami on the Carnival Imagination Nov. 30-Dec.5th. It was great! And, it was our first vacation without Clara. Grandma Mary came down and stayed with Clara while we were gone.

Our ship went to Key West, Florida and Cozumel, Mexico, and had a day at sea. We spent our day in Cozumel on the ship enjoying all of the ammenities while the other cruisers were off ship. We when on the water slide, played putt-putt, and had the pool and hot tub pretty much all to ourselves.

On the last day at sea, we played Back Gammon, ate, ate and ate some more, enjoyed complementary drinks at the farewell party. We also won a Slogan Trivia game and got a Solid 24k (plastic) Gold Trophy.

The last day at sea was also our anniversary. It was a fun and romantic trip. Just what we needed.

November in Pictures

November went by in a blur. We had a lot of fun, but I didn't seem to find much time to blog... so here is a photo recap:

Clara learned the wonders of the Ipod. Mom and Dad learned how to upload Curious George and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Now Clara is techno-savvy.

We went to Disney World and had some of the best weather all year. It was a last minute trip, but turned out to be one of our best.




Opps, we forgot to bring her booster seat to the condo we rented. So Dad helped Clara eat her macaroni and cheese in the bathtub. Necessity is the mother of invention!

Clara learned to say 'cake' and she said it so much that I couldn't deny her. She helped me whip up a for-no-reason-at-all cake. And boy did she enjoy the frosting.

Dad and Clara still are best friends. She loves him almost as much as the goggles she found. She wouldn't take them off for anything.

This month we introduced play-dough. What a mess, but she does enjoy it.

We went back to the beach, but Clara is old enough now to be scared of the waves. She was ok as long as Dad didn't set her down.

We also found time to visit our favorite park.






And finally, Clara must have some New Orleans blood in her because this little girl LOVES her beads!

Pumpkin Carving

Clara has really started to try to talk more lately. Today she said a pretty passable version of "pumpkin" and "trick-or-treat".
After her Halloween party at school, we came home and carved our pumpkin to welcome the Trick-or-Treaters. Clara was lots of help, of course.

"Whatcha got there, Mom"

Clara helps me transfer the pattern onto our pumpkin.

Dad works on the carving.

Clara shows off the family Jack-o-Lantern.

I think he looked pretty good!

Ghoulish Gathering

Clara's Montessori School had a Ghoulish Gathering Halloween party today. There was lots of fun with face painting, hay rides, a miniature pumpkin patch, bouncy houses, and games.

Clara found a chick-and-pumpkin water squirter in the haystack game. It turned out to be a favorite toy today. I would squeeze it so that it blew air at her and she howled with laughter.

It was almost 90 degrees out today so the mouse nose and whiskers sweated and smeared away, but she was awfully cute for a little it lasted.

Clara made a little pumpkin decoration which she carried around as a purse all afternoon.

They also served pizza at the party. I couldn't believe it... Clara ate 1.5 slices. Great big adult size slices. What flavor for our little mouse? Why, Cheese of course!

Disney With the Hess Family

We stayed at Fort Wilderness Campgroung at Walt Disney World. The kids enjoyed watching the wildlife...and being a little wild themselves.

Clara had dinner at Chef Mickey's. Here is one of her photos just before she had a major meltdown from too much vacation.

The things I have to do to get a family photo...

Mom and Clara at Epcot

Patrick with Aidan and Clara