Thanksgiving, Part 1

We had such a good time over the Thanksgiving holiday, we'll definitely have to do this post in two installments! We spent the first half of the holiday with Gran, PawPaw, and the gang! The weekend started with haircuts for everyone (thanks Gran!) Everyone....including Claire!!!

Here Claire is having second thoughts about getting her very first haircut. She looks like she wants to escape.

Still not too sure about it...

But she did great, and her bangs are now all trimmed up!

Here are the great-grandmas...

Looking for some trouble to get into in Grankay's shop!

Back at the house, Claire enjoyed playing on Gran's horse...

And spending time with Papa and Nanny Faye.

On Thanksgiving day we went to Gran's sister Joyce's house. Here are the four sisters!

Claire loved playing with the triplets...

...picking up pecans...

...and looking at the horses!

Here are a few family pictures...

Claire just adored the big Santa Bear that Sasa got her!

Claire with Sasa, PawPaw, and her new bear...

And here she is on the way back to Gran's house, all tired out from a day full of fun!

We have so much to be thankful for! Among our greatest blessings is the wonderful family that God has given us, and we were so glad to be able to take a few days and spend time with them. And we celebrate the greatest blessing of all...that God became flesh and took our sins upon Himself on the cross, so that we can be restored to a relationship with Him and truly "enter His gates with thanksgiving in our hearts!!!"

More to come from the second half of the weekend... :)

Life Lately

We ate vegetable soup last night. It was good. Claire liked it too. I think she actually got some of it in her mouth. I think.

Claire is enjoying her new mobility. She is getting around on two feet better every day.

When Claire was probably five months old or so, our sweet friend Amber got us a "Baby Signing Time" dvd. Claire loves this dvd. She has picked up on several signs, "more" being her favorite :) Well, the sign for "dog" is to pat your leg, like you're motioning for a dog to come. Claire loves dogs and gets excited whenever we see one in real life, or a picture of one in a book, or if a dog is on tv. When we were reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See" the other day, we got to the white dog and Claire, in a moment of excitement, reached over and started patting my leg! You're supposed to pat your own leg, Claire!!!

We are trying to teach Claire how to pick up after herself. I really don't mind if she pulls things off shelves and out of drawers, as long as she understands the concept of putting them back! She is really good about handing things to me to put back, which is great for now. She hasn't really figured out how to put books on the shelf, but she will bring them to me to put up if I ask her to. Last night she pulled all the clothes out of her pajama drawer, and then she put them back herself when we showed her how.

She then proceeded to try and put herself up in her pajama drawer as well. I didn't get a picture of that, but it was really cute. To curb your disappointment, here is another cute picture.

Claire loves to brush her teeth. She has three and a half now, two on the bottom and almost two on the top. Here she is after her bath, scrubbing away.

She really got into it.

And here she is after I finally took her toothbrush away.

Gazing longingly after her toothbrush...

Signing "more"!!!

Trying to convince her Daddy to rescue her toothbrush...

There's a new game that Claire loves to play, called "Don't get Mommy's toes!" She will randomly get a big grin on her face and then go after my toes. I really can't stand it - I really hate for anyone to touch my feet - except that she squeals and laughs every time. It's a good thing she's so cute.

One Year Olds Can Walk!

Claire started walking tonight...

Here are some memories from her first birthday party...

Happy Birthday!

Happy first birthday Claire!!! We had a great time celebrating Claire's birthday with family and friends this weekend. Yesterday we had a small party at the church. Claire had such fun being the center of attention!

Here are all the kiddos that came to help Claire celebrate...Claire looks like she is about to take off and run here!

We had a "decorate-your-own-cupcake" party!

Here is the birthday girl getting ready to dive in to her no-sugar-added banana cupcake!

I think she liked it!

And of course, she had a blast opening presents!

Claire loved the baby that Gran got her!!! She would hardly put it down for the rest of the party!

It's so hard to believe that our little girl is one year old! God has blessed us with such a wonderful gift. He has entrusted us with a precious little girl, and our prayer is that we would shepherd her heart toward loving and trusting in Jesus. I can't wait to see what year number two holds for us!!!