JOY

That's such a great word for this picture! This is the sweetest little girl I know! Her smile can light up a room! And check out those shiny new teeth!

Clara was such a happy girl tonight! Reece was playing football and running around the living room. Clara was in her Johnny Jump Up and I think she thought she was running and playing right along with him!

We had our Christmas party at school today. I let Reece be a kindergartener for the day and come to work with me. He had such a great time! He is just getting so big! He was as tall or taller than all the kids in my class! He is going to be a tall boy! He is sleeping good tonight! Kindergarten is hard work!

Santa's Message for Reece

Santa sent Reece a message today! Click on the link to watch what Santa sent! It was so cute watching Reece see this video! You should have seen his face! His eyes got so big! I love seeing such amazement in him. I'm pretty sure I believed in Santa until I was about 18 so it is so much fun to get to "believe" all over again with my kids.

http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/d68735c3abc492164dce9df62493eba9

Christmas 2009 Ornaments

Each year I get and new ornament for our family and a new ornament for Reece and now an ornament for Clara. Some day a VVVEEERRRYYY long time from now when they have thier own tree I want to give them all of the ornaments I collected for them through the years. So far, I have tried to get ornaments that make me think of Reece for that particular year. For example, one year he got a bear ornament because I always called him my little bear. One year he got a big buck ornament because that was the year he really got into hunting. Last year he got a snow globe ornament because he loved snow globes. This year he got a cute little Santa. He is so excited about Santa this year and has lots of questions about him. I even told him about the time the REAL Santa came to my house when I was a little girl, and I got to watch him put presents under my tree. Did you know I remembered that, momma?

Isn't this little Santa cute!

and here is Clara's ornament for this year:

My Date with Reece

Today was such a great day! I had a date with my 2 favorite boys! I took a 1/2 day off today to spend some one-on-one time with my Reece and to take Clara to the dr. (the dr. appointment was cancelled because I took her earlier in the week instead).

So, Reece and I went to the post office, met Daddy for lunch, went to Lowe's to pick out a Christmas present for Uncle Kent and to Walmart to pick out a Christmas present for him to give to Clara. He was so proud of the things he picked out! I think he did a great job! This "date" was long overdue! Reece doesn't get much one-on-one time, especially with me. He is such a great big brother and is so sweet and thoughtful about sharing his time and things with Clara. Today was all about him. This morning when he woke up he asked what day it was and I told him it was Friday. He said, "This is my special day!"

When we were at Sean's (his pick for the restaurant) he said this was the "best date he had ever been on." Just as long as he understands I am the only girl he is EVER allowed to go on a date with! :)

While we were waiting in the car for Aaron, we took some pictures. Not great pictures (I was taking them myself with my arms out in front of me), but GREAT memories!

Thanks for such a great date, Reece! You are momma's special little boy! I love you so much and had such a great day shopping and eating with you! I can't wait until our next date!

I always love looking back through our pictures. Lots of times at night after the kids go to bed, Aaron and I watch TV and I go through the pictures on my computer. I like cropping them, turning them to black and white, etc. I ran across this one and had to post it. These 3 people just melt me. Clara was 6 days old in this picture.

I took these two pictures the other evening. Reece was watching Animal Planet on TV while I was cooking supper. Such a sweet picture of a sweet boy!

10 months old!

Our sweet baby girl is 10 months old today!


Clara, what are you up to at 10 months?

• You are crawling everywhere!


• You are pulling up and can stand up by yourself! You usually hold on to something while you are standing, but just today you have started letting go for several seconds! You're getting brave!
  


• You don't eat ANY baby food! You eat veggies, hamburger, crackers, bananas, cheerios, puffs, and you love your carrot/apple juice.


• You have 5 teeth.


• You love your brother. He can make you laugh like no one else can. I know you can't wait to run right along with him.


• You say momma, dada, buba, nana, no, more, and just the other day, we heard something that sounded a whole lot like thank you!
  

You turned 10 months old on a Saturday. Usually I put you in one of your cute little outfits for your monthly pictures. But today you have been in your PJ's all day. These are my favorite days! In PJ's all day, doing nothing but hanging around the house.

Oh my! You sure have grown!