Wordless Wednesday :: Super Hero Family

On Monday night, our family transformed into superheros as we battled bad guys.  We had a riot!

Christmas Tree Hunting

We have the annual tradition of cutting down a tree.  It is a riot!  I grew up with an artificial tree since my sister has terrible allergies to real ones, but after I started dating Ryan (over 13 Christmases ago, gulp) I was able to go and cut down a tree with his family.  I absolutely love the Christmas season and this is a tradition that has formed so many great memories.  We start the day by getting breakfast as a family.  Ryan's mom and step-dad, his sister, her husband and their son along with us and our two girls.  We have gone to Big Boy for the past four years and always stop for a photo out front.

This year the weather was a little less than desirable, there was unexpected rain that settled over us as we ate breakfast.  Determined to get our tree, we pushed on, praying that the rain would stop. It wasn't looking good at all, the rain was coming down hard.  We pulled into the tree farm and the rain stopped!!  We then proceeded to bundle up and head into the barn so we could wait for the next wagon.  While we were waiting, Santa walked in the door.  Claire is a very loud and outgoing girl, around those she knows.  Around strangers, she is typically the exact opposite.  Apparently, Santa is not a stranger as she told him exactly what she wanted and sat on his lap for a picture.  Victory!

I didn't want to attempt to get Natalie out and back in, so she didn't sit with Santa - bad mom ;)

This tree farm we visit is awesome, they have horse drawn covered wagons that take you out to the acres of trees. They also have a wonderful selection of well pruned trees, which we were very thankful for since we were fighting the clock with the rain.  We were able to select trees in record time.  All Fraser Firs - our typical tree of choice.   

Claire liked this one best and we agreed!

Grandpa & Grandma

Uncle Justin, Aunt Jessica & Cameron

Then we headed back to the barn on the wagons and soon we were on our way home with our Christmas tree!  The worst part of getting a real tree is the prep work after you get it home.  I get so excited to decorate that I become impatient.  Both girls went down for naps, Ryan brought the tree inside and we were able to get the lights on it before they woke up.  

Claire was excited to hang a few ornaments, but got bored rather quickly.  We decided to finish the decorating after bedtime.  We had Christmas music playing in the background and a wonderful time together while we finished up the tree.

Natalie was intrigued the first day, but has since left the tree alone.  However, I am in no hurry to get any gifts under the tree since I know she's going to LOVE the sound of the paper.  For now, this is how it sits.  I love the nights were we are able to just let the light of the tree illuminate the house. 

Top 5 Saturday Laughs

It's still officially Saturday and it's been a wonderful weekend so far!  We just got the rest of our house decorated for Christmas, I love this decor so much!!

My girls get funnier by the day, but I am not doing such a great job writing everything down!  Here are some of the stand out laughs of our week.

5.  Natalie is quite the climber these days - over everything that is in her way.  The other day, she got 'high-centered' on Ryan's legs and got angry that she couldn't get over them.  We just sat there laughing at her tantrum.   Yet another tantrum throwing girl for our family - ha!

4.  For the longest time, Claire would repeat whatever she was saying until you acknowledged her.  You couldn't get away with 'that sounds good' or 'yes honey'.  It was a 'yes Claire, I see that game, we can play it'.  Basically repeating whatever she said back to her.  I think she's finally over that phase!  The other day, she told me, "stop saying the same thing as me mommy."  Music to my ears!

3.  Claire found an old pair of 2T footie jammies in her drawer (she's in 3 or 4T) and insisted that she must wear them on the spot.  Somehow we managed to get her in them, but she basically looked like a bobsledder, they were SO tight.

2.  As some of you know, we are big Detroit Tigers fans.  We have a Tigers board book that Claire loves to read.  She calls Ryan in her room after reading it and turns it to the page with Comerica Park.  She then screams while jumping up and down, "That's Co-Erica Park, when I grow up, I'm going to play baseball there.  I will be the. FASTEST. RUNNER. EVER"   That's our girl, super competitive at 2 years old.

1.  Natalie has taken to shaking her head 'no'.  She started this at daycare and I hadn't seen it yet. The next day, I went to lay her down for her nap and told her it was time for night night.  She responded with the most vigorous head shake to date. I seriously cracked up over it.  

Enjoy your week!  I am looking forward to finishing up my shopping (three stores to visit, hopefully all the same day since two are for giftcards), mailing my Christmas cards and getting started on the wrapping.  I also hope to be holding a squishy newborn since my little sister is due anyday with my newest nephew/niece.

Happy 8 Months Natalie Sue!

I'm sort of in denial that Natalie is eight months old!  Seriously, where has the time gone?!  As fast as the time has gone, it seems like Natalie continues to move even faster!

Here are some of the months' milestones:

• Natalie has officially mastered crawling, in every aspect.  She can go from flat on her belly to sitting to crawling and everything in between. If she's going somewhere quickly, she does prefer to army crawl still though.
• She LOVES to stand, always pulling up on things and is so proud when she accomplishes it.  Every day she starts to stand more and more.

• Natalie has started shaking her head 'no'. She especially thinks its funny when we laugh at the head shaking and does it even more.
• Whenever music comes on, she begins to bounce up and down (if she's sitting or kneeling).  It really is super adorable!
• Her favorite things to play with are not toys.  I think she has realized that her sister takes all the toys she plays with so she has started finding non-toys to play with.  Paper, stickers, shoes, her own socks, Tupperware, cups and milk storage bottles top the list.

• She has begun exploring the house.  Among favorite things to find:  Dog dishes food or water, no preference as long as something is in them and the doggy door.  
• Natalie enjoys drinking from a cup, she's starting to get the hang of sippy-cups but much prefers a real cup.

• She's eating everything that we do and loves it.  We can even get to her eat some baby food purees now, typically mixed flavors.
• We took Natalie out of the infant carrier and moved her to the convertible carseat.  She did not like being laid down in the infant carrier and car rides are much more pleasant for everyone.

She took one sock off on the ride!

I feel somewhat like a broken record, but we are still waiting for the following milestones:

• Sleeping through the night.  We are improving and have found a schedule that somewhat works.  We have had 5-6 hours of consecutive sleep about 75% of the time.  I have been researching different sleep training methods, so if you have a good one, let me know.
• Those bottom teeth are bulging big time and hopefully they will pop through at any point.  I never anticipated still waiting on those little things by eight months!!

She is developing quite the personality is becoming more interactive by the day.  

Wordless Wednesday :: Thankful

I am thankful for many blessings in my life and here are two of my favorites!!

Top 5 Saturday Laughs

What a long week!  I only had to work two days last week, so I didn't think this weekend would ever get here!! We are going to get our Christmas tree tomorrow which makes me SO excited.  I love when the house is decorated for Christmas, I really wish it would stay that way for longer than a month!

5.  Claire is the queen of slow moving if she doesn't want to do something.  It seems to be especially true when I am trying to get us ready to leave on time.  For the record, we are NEVER on time, but if I'm there within 10 minutes of supposed to be there time, that's close enough, right?.  One day, she was doing a million other things besides putting on her coat and boots to leave.  I was asking her repeatedly, "Claire, please put on your coat and boots." The last time, I busted out the "Claire - put on your coat and boots NOW!" She responded by stopping whatever she was doing, looked straight at me and said, "Please be patient."  Oh my, now she is using my lines against me!!

4.  Natalie is cruising around the house these days.  Literally, you turn your head and she's across the room.  She does not like it when Claire leaves the room that they are playing in.  She tries so hard to keep up with big sis and Claire normally squeals in delight since her sissy is chasing her.  It brings a smile to my face to see them interact in such a fun way.

3. Claire likes to check if our dogs like whatever food she's eating by dropping it on the floor and seeing if they will eat it.  We had gone out to eat with my family and Claire noticed the mess under her seat after dinner was done.  In her loudest, matter-of-fact voice, she exclaimed that "I made a mess! They need dogs here, then their floor wouldn't be so messy."  She loves to have an audience that's for sure!

2.  Natalie has learned how to blow out this week.  Her new 'trick' is to blow her pacifier across the room.  I have no idea how this came about, but it cracks me up every time!

1.  I took the girls with me to my cousin's house this week for a jewelry party.  Claire didn't want to wear the shirt that she had worn to daycare that day, because she didn't think it was pretty enough for the party.  We didn't have time to change her clothes, so I disregarded the request.  She then asks if she could wash her hands.  I told her it was fine and I was going to get Natalie ready to go.  When I came in the bathroom, she had soaked both sleeves of the aforementioned 'un-pretty' shirt.  "I need a new shirt, this one is wet," was her response.  At the time this made me quite upset since we were already late.  I have since told this story a couple times which has made me realize how funny it really is!

Wordless Wednesday :: My Sister's Baby Shower

I am a little embarrassed that I don't have more photos from the baby shower!  I should have handed my camera off to someone else, because you really can't take photos during the shower when you're throwing it.

I know this is wordless Wednesday, but I'm going to break the rules since I have so many people to thank for helping make this shower for my sister such an awesome experience.  Words cannot thank you enough, but I have to try!  Thank you to my awesome mom who coordinated all the cooking, my cousin Jenny who helped with every last detail, my niece Dakota for helping set up, my mother in law for watching my girls so I could be helpful and my aunts, cousins and mother in law who so willingly jumped in to clean up!!  I have truly been blessed with an awesome family!!

The Candy Buffet (w/favor boxes)- Andria LOVES candy

Cakes that match the crib bedding, custom made by Lisa Suttorp

Claire enjoyed the candy before brunch :)

The loot :)

The beautiful mom to be opening gifts

The awesome book for Baby Boots that Jenny made (thanks Pinterest)

I am so excited for Baby Boots (not his/her real name!!  They don't know if they're having a boy or a girl, so Claire named the baby Boots) to arrive!  Only a couple weeks to go!!