Thanksgiving 2010

Well, Thanksgiving marked my due date according to our first ultrasound. I tried to tell my OB that it was too early and he wouldn't be making his appearance just yet. Looks like I was right, but at least it allowed us to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner outside of a hospital.

Dinner preparations went pretty smoothly. Patrick and I made turkey, stuffing, mac&cheese, and iced tea. Mom and Dad brought cheese carrots, mashed potatoes, and ham. Mary and Pat brought deviled eggs, salad, crescent rolls, bread, ambrosia, pumpkin pie and seven layer bars. So we had a huge spread!


Our new dining room held it's first big dinner. We all fit comfortably... the white carpet made it through unblemished...but the day after Thanksgiving Patrick ripped down all of the wallpaper. He said he couldn't stand another meal with all those vines on the walls.

Me and my little ones resting after our big meal... and no, that belly is not all turkey and stuffing ;)

A belly profile as of my due date.

Clara helping out

Now that we are back in Georgia we have had to start dealing with leaves again. Clara has enjoyed this since falling leaves are all new to our little Floridian. We don't have a rake her size, but she enjoys helping out with her broom.


After an afternoon of hard work, we couldn't help but give Clara a little treat - her very own ballet tutu. She loves it. Now the only problem is figuring out how to get it off of her ;)

Halloween 2010

Clara began her Halloween celebration by some tummy painting. She helped paint her own tummy and mine (containing baby brother).


For trick-or-treating Clara dressed as a fairy princess and visited our new neighbors for plenty of treats. Clara also went Trunk-or-treating at our church where she got a spider ring, glow-in-the-dark bracelet, and s'mores treat in addition to a stash of candy.



While Clara and I painted tummies, Patrick headed up the carving of the family pumpkin... but Clara got the winning vote on the pumpkin subject matter - Mickey Mouse of course.

Clara's 'Tea' Party

So today Clara came to the kitchen and asked for a 'butter sandwich' AKA a peanut butter sandwich with no crusts if you please. I made one for her and expected her to take it into the family room to watch Curious George which was playing on the TV. Instead I saw her head with the plate in hand toward her bedroom. She has never had any food in her room before so I was curious what she was planning.

After a few minutes I went after her and found her hosting her own little 'tea' party. She had pulled a doll table and chair set off of her chest of drawers and set it up to share her sandwich with one of her Little People. I loved the look of everything being completely out of scale, and how pleased she obviously was with herself.

Fairy Clara

Look what Grandma Dayna and Pawpaw brought back from Las Vegas... Fairy wings, crown, and wand!





And of course, no fairy costume would be complete without sparkly shoes... actually, Clara is on a kick where no outfit period is complete without sparkly shoes, or as she calls them 'my my slippers'. I guess maybe I've let her watch Cinderella one too many times.

Clara's Thoughts on Friendship

Today Clara came up to me to discuss her relationship with Aidan and Marian (May-may) Hess, the children of my best friend, Kelly.

Clara: Aidan, May-may my my friends.
Me: Yes they are your friends. And their Mommy, Kelly, is my friend.
Clara: Yes, Keh-wee your your friend. (then to my Mom's dog) Big dogs your your friends puppy.

We (Clara, me and the dog) visited Kelly and family last week. And while Kelly, the kids and I are all definitely friends, I think that Clara was stretching the comparison a bit when she included the dogs. Kaylee, my mom's Pomeranian spent most of our visit yapping and growling at Kelly's indifferent, but much larger dogs... not exactly friendly. But I still thought it was cute that Clara is drawing these comparisons and humanizing the dogs' relationship.

Other Clara interests of late:
*Sweeping Booty (aka Sleeping Beauty). She wants to watch it at least 3-4 times a day, but covers her eyes when Maleficent is acting particularly scary. She also runs around the house yelling "pink, blue, pink, blue" from the dress changing scene.
*Fashion. Clara wants to change her cloths and shoes multiple times a day. Currently she is wearing a Tinker Bell costume and pink polka dotted house slippers, but soon she will take me by the hand and lead me to her closet saying "Closet light on, pweese".
*Playing keep away from my mom's dog. We have been dog sitting Kaylee this week. Clara has enjoyed having the dog around, but hasn't mastered the ins-and-outs of playing fetch... particularly the throwing part The dog prances around with its ball, Clara snatches it then runs through the house with the dog trailing behind her yelling "I got da ball, I got da ball. No puppy, my ball". Kaylee waits for Clara to throw it, but usually only gets a chance at the ball when Clara gets dizzy from running in circles and falls down, dropping the ball in her fall.

Clara in July

I feel a little bad that I am letting such a precious part of Clara's life go by so fast, and with so little documentation, but considering we bought a new house this month, moved our stuff from our GA apartment and FL house, had a broken water heater for almost 2 weeks while we went in circles with our home warranty company I'd say it is impressive that I caught any shots of her this month.