Christmas Card Photo Shoot

So I was unsure how the Christmas visit with Santa would go this year, since Claire had been telling me for about a week prior to our scheduled visit that she was not going to sit on his lap.  Plus Brynn has stranger anxiety now and loves Mommy and Daddy, a lot.  So I concocted this plan to get pictures for the Christmas card.  I got the idea from some web site. I wrapped a box and put B in it.  I gave Claire the lid and told her to look surprised.  They are pretty hilarious.  This is what we came up with:

Then we decided to get some solo shots of the girls.  Marty decided to join in the fun.  I've learned it is hard to get a three year old to look at the camera and to capture an almost 9 month old on film.

I think that's enough guys!

Claire and the Playmobil Nativity set.

Why buy toys?  A box will do.

Thanks for reading,

Katie

Claire's Christmas Concert

I really should be sleeping but I am up, researching Christmas party ideas for my students and now writing a blog post.  Claire's concert went really well.  They had four classes that night, two preschool junior classes (3 year olds) and two preschool seniors (4 year olds).  It was jammed packed and very hard to see anything. I had to sneak up to the front side to take pictures.  Claire sang very loudly, Mark could hear her from the back, and she did all the hand motions she was supposed to. 

 Go Tell it on the Mountain!

 Jingle Bells

 Daddy, Nana and Claire

 Brynn, me, Papa, Gaga, Claire and Ms. Meg.

Family Picture

After the concert we went to Mass since it was a Holy Day of Obligation.  I was thinking so many people would be going to mass from the concert since the school kept reminding us it was a Holy Day. ( Catholic School-UCS doesn't remind kids of Holy Days:) Nope it was just us and one other family from Claire's class.  We stuck it out and went to church.  It was a very nice actually.  The priest had a good homily and even worked Brynn into the homily.  He asked her name and when I said "Brynn" he commented on how he doesn't know names now a days.  I realize I have to enunciate Brynn's name really well when telling them her name to someone new.  You won't believe how many Brynn's I've seen in the last 9 months, at least 3 or 4.  I think that's a lot.

All in all we were very proud of our singing Christmas girl.  Claire did a very nice job.

Thanks for reading,

Katie

Our little Christmas Elf

Halloween

Claire was very excited about the idea of Halloween but when it came down to it she was more excited to pass out the candy then go trick or treating.  Claire and Mark went out to about 14 houses before she decided she wanted to go home.  It was a chilly night and she was fighting the sniffles (we still seem to be fighting it).  Before she went out we made a giant Halloween cupcake together.  It worked out really well since she could really only eat about three pieces of candy from her haul due to her lovely peanut/tree nut allergy.  

Brynn hung out with me and handed out candy dressed as a little chick (or possibly a duck you can make the final call.)  She did pretty well in her costume.  It worked nicely to keep her warm the Saturday before Halloween.  Our subdivision always has a great Halloween parade.  They get a contingent of Royal Oak's High School band who leads the kid and parents through the streets in our subdivision.  Claire loved it she was a witch this year. (She wore the costume my mom made for me as a kid.)  She rode her broom through the streets of our sub and waved at no one in particular but she loved it.  The duck costume and a few blankets kept the Brynnsinator warm.

Chick or

 Duck?

 Sisters

 The parade before we joined

Clairsie witch

"Daddy pick Mickey Mouse up from the TV..."

Claire called Mark yesterday on the phone while he was doing bottle returns.  She was talking about how she wanted Mickey Mouse to come play at her house. She was going to show him all her toys and they could "play all day!"  She told me to ask daddy to pick up Mickey.  The girl loves Mickey Mouse!  We called Mark and put it on speaker phone so I could hear his response.   She babbled on for about two minutes and this is how the conversation went:
Ring Ring
"HI Claire."
"Hi Daddy I need you to go to the TV and get Mickey and drive him here because I can't go to the TV and I need him to come here so I need you to drive to the TV and get Mickey and bring him here to play with me.  So get Mickey okay."
PAUSE
"Oh well I'm not sure what to say--I don't know if I can drive to the TV."
"Yep Daddy drive to the tv and get Mickey and bring him here"
"Well that is a really cool idea Claire.  Mommy what do you think about that?"


Then I told Claire about how Mickey lives in Florida and California and he is very busy because so many boys and girls go see him he probably can't come see us. 

"No Mommy he CAN come see us."

"Well lets right him a note and we'll mail it to him."

"Okay."  And that is what we did.  She even kissed the letter twice.  Although when Mark got home she asked him:

"DADDY!  Did you bring Mickey home?"

She really loves that Mouse!!

Here is are some pics of Claire's visit to Disney at 16 months old.

 Meeting Daisy Duck

 Playing in Winne the Pooh's house

 Daddy and Claire

 Entranced on It's a Small World.

 She was so excited to see them. 

I think Mickey Mouse may be her first crush!

Thanks for reading,

Katie

Just For Fun

Hanging at the mall.  Checking things out.

I think she looks like a pro at this!

Mahna Mahna

Claire is in love with the Muppets mostly the Mahna Mahna bit.  It calms her down, which worked today since she slipped on the wet tile at Olga's and chipped her tooth.  She was so very upset, but she calmed down, and then get upset again.  Thankfully - Gaga, Papa (this is what Claire calls my mom and dad) and Ms Meg (Claire and Brynn's babysitter and family friend) were there to help distract her when her teeth hurt.  Mahna Mahna helped too.  I do believe Claire may be seeing the Muppet movie that comes out this fall.  She wants to but we'll see.

Completely unrelated but a cute picture (in my eyes) nonetheless.

Speaking of The Muppets--The Muppet theme song calms down a crying Brynn.  It worked for Claire too.  Especially when Mark would act it out.  It cracks me up!  Miss B does not enjoy the car so Claire, Mark and I are usually singing it to her, or the other song Mark came up with to calm her down.  Soon I do believe our twenty pound little miss will be switching carseats.  She's still within the weight and length limits but not for much longer! 

Brynn is scooting/ crawling all around now too!  She made it up the step yesterday actually all by herself. She's a baby on the go!  She loves the toy organizer too.  I have to have eagle eyes because everything goes in her mouth.  Claire is not a big fan of Brynn putting her toys in her mouth.  We are trying to teach her how to trade a toy for Brynn, so she doesn't leave a crying baby behind in her wake when she catches B chomping on a book or play kitchen food.  She's starting to get it. 

Look what I can do!

Thanks for reading,

Katie