More November Pictures

November Pictures

The December Remarkables

Here are some things in no particular order that I've meant to post to the blog:
CLAIRE

• Ask Claire how old she is and she will tell you "Martha Claire Peel." Her name is "two" (or three depending on her mood).
• Claire counts to 10 and tries to go up from 10 to 100 by tens after that. She's almost got that down too and she knows some of the numbers between 10 and 20. She LOVES to learn.
• Claire has taken to praying "help me not throw up" at the end of prayer time every night. I'm not sure where she got this idea, but I guess it's because of the one time during a croup episode that she threw up in her bed from coughing. These interesting prayers come from asking a 2 year old what she would like to ask or thank God for. One night she thanked God for tissues.
• Claire asked Santa for a reindeer for Christmas. Not a toy reindeer or anything, she wants a real one. We explained to her that Santa had to keep his reindeer to fly the sleigh and that reindeer had to live in a snowy place and would be unhappy at our house because it's too hot.
• Claire has had two blankies and two stuffed animals -black bear and moo cow - that are her loveys. Recently she added one more stuffed animal to the mix, "teeny tiny pooh bear." She holds the new addition in high esteem and greatly values his opinion. I asked her, since Santa couldn't give her a reindeer for Christmas what she would like. She thought a moment and replied, "um, toys. Teeny tiny pooh bear likes toys."
• Claire has written her name and is doing an incredible job for being only 2 years old.
• Claire has memorized well over 2 dozen stories and recites them with us as we read.
• Claire stood on her head for the first time.
• Claire can whistle - not to brag, but that is not something I have ever heard of a kid her age doing!

EVIE JANE

• Evelynn is trying to be the world's youngest mountain climber. She seriously scales any and every thing she can - which includes a lot of things she shoudn't be able to climb. She scares Geoff quite a bit with her feats of climbing. I think I've just gotten used to it because I spend about 50% of her waking hours pulling her down from precarious perches.
• Evelynn babbles constantly. Her favorite sounds are babababa, mamamama, and dadadadada. She is very communicative and likes to copy sounds that others make whenever she can.
• Evelynn is walking. She is still mostly a crawler, but every day she is taking more and more steps like a tiny frankenstein.
• Evelynn is 21 and a half pounds! For perspective, Claire is only 24 lbs and was only 18lbs at 1 year of age. Evie is a GREAT eater and there is nothing so far that she doesn't like. She only has 3 teeth, though, so this limits her diet a bit.

November Sick Days

 "Play Doughy Mommy!" - we try to do fun things during our "school time" (e.g., Evie's morning naptime).

 She found her hat that Nani made last year - and it still fits! And yes, that is an apple core from an apple that she ate.

 With cousin Wyatt on the porch swing

Ready for our morning walk with Aunt Gini and company - this was a COLD morning! 

 Isn't she cool? She's wearing "dark eyes" (her name for sunglasses)

 Precious baby with her favorite book - 10 Little Ladybugs

 One of her favorite spots - Mommy's old rocking chair

 Who knew a puzzle mat could make a Claire-sized box?

 Evelynn LOVES to play with fridge magnets. (Can't you tell?)

Poor sick baby.

Better Late Than Never, Right?

Well, how about an October wrap-up before November ends? We have not exactly been busy in the sense of doing a ton of stuff. We have been sick. Constantly sick! Due to this constant illness, Cle is no longer attending preschool. She is no worse for this decision since she was still crying about me dropping her off most days. We are hoping to be done with illnesses soon. Both girls have had croup, and Claire is on her second round of antibiotics for a double ear infection.

Also in the news for those who might not know yet, we are expecting baby #3 at the end of May. Yep, we're crazy. Three babies under three years old. All I can say is, life is an adventure.

Anyway, I haven't taken as many pictures over the last few weeks as I would have liked, but here are those from the end of October at least...

 Working a puzzle

 Cousin Mercy at the pumpkin patch

 Sisters in the corn trough at the pumpkin patch

 Hi there little farm girl

 Cousins checking out the chickens at the pumpkin patch

 It's so fun to play together

 Tub crayons are one of life's greatest joys - the picture on the right side is a "teeny tiny bee" flying toward a flower - do you see it?

 Halloween smiles - no we didn't dress up or trick-or-treat - we'll delay that insanity for as long as we can...

 Claire's picture of night and day. Not bad, huh? (Yes, this was her idea and all her own design).

 My little doll in one of  favorite places - the play kitchen.

 Claire on a mosaic bench at Tiger Town

 Preschool Halloween party - Claire's last day of school

 Our newly re-done laundry room is a new favorite hangout. Whenever I start a load in the front-loading washing machine, Claire says, "spin and spin and spin!" and sits down to watch.

 Seriously love this little smiler! Of course this is a rare moment of catching her SITTING in her high chair. Even though I have her "straight-jacketed" to the chair (as Nani says), she still manages to stand up and even work her way out of the full body harness that holds her in place. Aunt Gini calls her Houdini, we call her Evie Knevie.

Aunt Gini, Mercy, and Tessa at the pumpkin patch picking sunflowers