Playing Catch-Up Part 2

October

By October, the cold weather was starting to set in and harvest time was finally over. Claire helped Joe and I dig up the garden. It was pretty chilly outside but as usual, Claire was just happy to be outside!

Taking a break to ride in the swing! 

Daddy's helper.

Finally done with the garden and had a little time to spare before heading to the library for homework.

Love this little girl!

Joe decided to help coach the Madison High School Football Team again this year. He loved it and was so excited when they won the State Championship! (It was the first time they had won the State Championship since the 80's! Cool huh?!) Adam marched with the band again this year so it was nice to attend a few games with my mom.

Adam is the third trumpet player on the left.
And if you look closely you can see Joe in his red Coaching shirt in the bottom left corner. 

During the show, Adam is the second on the right in the front row.

My handsome coaching husband looking all serious during the game.
 He's the one with the white baseball cap and gray, striped jacket.

We got our first snow of the season. Claire got to play in the snow for the first time and LOVED it! And when I say she loved it, I mean she cried for a good 20 minutes when we finally brought her inside to warm up. :)

Claire was a witch for Halloween this year and absolutely loved trick-or-treating! She held on tight to her little bucket and held it out for people to put candy in it. It was so fun to watch how excited she would get about all the candy.

My little witch! I didn't think she would actually wear the hat but she loved it and didn't want to take it off! I think she was the cutest little witch that I have ever seen! (Of course I might be slightly biased. :))

 Trick-or-Treating at Grandma's house!

More Trick-or-Treating

Sammy and Savannah stopped by Grandma's too. 
And boy do these two kiddos just love getting together to play! 
They were so excited to see each other!

November

In the first week of November we finally became paci free! I was terrified to take the beloved pacifier away but our dentist recommended that it be gone by 18 months. She didn't have any problems with her teeth but I was a little worried about how little she talked. Plus, we knew the longer you wait, the harder it will be (and it's really annoying when you lose them all and can't find them at bedtime). So I finally just took one of her pacifier's, cut a slit in it, handed it to her, and told her it was "broken". But of course, she was stubborn and sucked on it like there was no problem with it. I waited until she set it down and just snipped the whole nipple off and put it back where she left it. Once she discovered the now VERY broken paci she came to me crying, "Pa pa! Pa pa!" It broke my heart but I just repeated that it was broken. She had a hard time falling asleep at bedtime and nap time for a few days but once she learned how to put herself to sleep without it, it was smooth sailing and we haven't looked back since!

We got professional family pictures taken for the first time since our wedding. I was bound and determined to do holiday cards this year and I was so excited that we got quite a few good pictures!

And just a few little things from the month:

Still in love with her baby dolls. She loves taking care of them!

 From tucking her in, to kisses. She's got the mommy thing down!

 Still loving the snow! Right when I took this picture she turned to me and said, "Snowball!" 
Floored me that she actually knew how to say that!

For Thanksgiving I decided to start a new tradition. I decided to make a Thankful Tree on the first Monday of the month for FHE and to write out what we were thankful for on leaves. At first I wanted each of us to write something we were thankful for every day throughout the month of November but once we got started during our little FHE activity we couldn't seem to stop! Haha so we filled it out in one day but it was a nice reminder throughout the month. I hung it on the fridge where we could see it frequently throughout the day and I loved having the constant reminder of things we were blessed with.
We are thankful for so many things this year. We have been truly blessed with so much!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! It was small but relaxing and enjoyable. My mom, Adam, and a student that works with my mom all came to dinner at our house. Joe invited his cousin Stephanie over too. Dinner was delicious and Joe was so excited to cook the turkey this year ( it was an amazing turkey!) So with there only being six of us there were a lot of leftovers which is in my opinion, the best part of Thanksgiving dinner!

This is the only picture I got of the day but I just can't resist her adorable little face! My little Claire Bear is definitely at the top of my thankful list, right up there with her handsome dad. :)

She loves olives! Putting the olives on her fingers before 
she eats them is a little trick Uncle Adam taught her. 

Playing Catch-Up Part 1

I hate it when I get behind in my blog, especially when it has been MONTHS since I last posted! I have a million pictures that I want to share and I have little stories to go with each of them but for times sake I think I will just summarize from July-November.

July

We took Claire to Rigby Lake for the first time! She loved the sand and water!

Eating the sand...

...didn't taste too good though! lol

Sandy Bum!

Claire discovered her love for dolls.

Feeding her baby doll some crackers. :)

She also started walking! 

I remember thinking how big she was getting, but looking at these pictures she looks so little!

Uncle Levi came to visit and we celebrated Allie's 3rd birthday!

Wearing ALL of her presents!

Walking brought on a whole new level of mischief. She loves "helping" with the laundry.

Our landlords let us use the corner of their garden plot. Come July, it was booming! There were so many tomatoes and squash I didn't know what to do with it all!

Daddy's little helper.

And of course a summer day is not complete without a good nap.

Love these two! She loves her daddy!

August

Joe's cousin, Stephanie, came to live with us for a few weeks while she looked for a job and apartment. Joe attended boys camp and I taught a water color class at girls camp. That same day we took Claire to the ER and found out she had severe tonsillitis. Poor baby was miserable! Thankfully it only lasted a few days once we got her started on antibiotics. 

Claire's little personality continued to shine at 14 months. She loved playing "mommy".

So stinkin' cute! My little mommy in the making.

Stroller? Check! Baby? Check! Diaper bag? Check! Bottle in diaper bag? Check!

We tried to soak up as much sun as possible before winter set in. Claire loved blowing bubbles, eating snacks on a blanket in the grass, and drawing with chalk.

We took Claire to the splash park for the first time (she HATED it!), she rode on the carousel for the first time, and we played on the playground at the park as often as we could!

Claire turned 15 months!

September

Joe started a new semester of school and we celebrated his 25th birthday! 

Still in love with her baby dolls and turned 16 months.

I started walking every morning with a couple of friends just down the street from me. Claire loved the extra time outside as did her baby doll.

My friend Lisa and I would trade off babysitting for each other so we could attend the temple. Claire had a lot of fun playing with baby Claire. 

Please excuse no make-up me.

She kissed her over and over and over. I think she will make a great big sister someday!

To be continued...