Megan Nelson visits

Our friend Megan came for a visit last night. We always have fun when she comes over. We exchanged Christmas presents, had dinner and visited. Molly was sick, so Megan spent most her time with Clare. What a fun night!

Christmas Program Time

On Friday we went to the girls' Christmas program at school. It was very fun and very cute. Each class sang two songs and then the group songs of "Rudolph" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" Clare knew all the words and the signs and Molly did great. Check out the video.

Decorating for Christmas

Tad and the girls have been working hard on getting the Christmas decorations up....let me rephrase, Tad has been working hard at getting the decorations up and the girls have been "helping" by playing with, walking away with, and breaking the decorations. Tad has made a few adjustments to tree decorating and put all of our ornaments just out of Molly's reach. Not too worry though, we are all still in the Christmas spirit.

This year's BIG news!!! Tad put up the lights on the front of our house. They look great! It was a bit dangerous given the slope of our driveway, but he did it. I think he has caught the bug because he is already talking about next year's lighting plan.

Thanksgiving was a great time. We stayed home to celebrate and Papa Steve came over for the week to join us. The girls had their annual Thanksgiving feast at school on Wednesday and it was fun. The kids all sang songs and then we ate a good meal of turkey, corn, and stuffing. Molly is the youngest one at school and was so cute during the singing. She stood up and twirled and even rocked a bit with all the other kids during the "Gobble, Gobble, Gobble Song." Clare did a great job with the singing and the eating. On Thursday we had dinner at our house and our friends Joel, Crystal, Connor, and Calla came over and brought their Grammy. We had a great meal and played games. When I was a kid Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday and I think it still might be.

Clare turns 4!

Clare turned 4 on November 19th! We had a chef party and had some friends over to top their own pizzas and eat cake and ice cream. Nana came over from Spokane and was a HUGE help. She did most of the cooking and the dishes and helped watch over Molly...who is a menace in her cast. Tad, Nana, Clare and I all helped with the cake which was a giant cupcake (we had a special pan to bake it in). It turned out great. With two birthdays this month it feels like we have already had Christmas. Tad has already begun to bargain which toys we can get rid of now that we have a whole new batch and some more on the way from the North Pole.

Molly's first trip to the ER

As I shared below, I fell down the stairs while holding Molly. We were at my mom's and she has hard wood stairs. I am still not quite sure what happened...I just slipped. My sister was right behind us and also isn't sure what happened. I was/am traumatized by the whole event and so is she as she could see us falling, but we were just out of her reach. Anyway, Molly had a bloody nose and wouldn't stop crying so we took her to the ER. They said her nose wasn't broken (mostly because it is all cartilage still) but they did find an ear infection. A few days later she was still walking a bit gingerly so we took her to her doctor at home. He ordered an x-ray of her foot and found a cracked bone. The next day we headed to the orthopedist who put a cast on her foot. I chose purple for the color and now that I am almost over the trauma I can admit that her cast really is quite cute. It hasn't slowed her down at all and she really hasn't complained. She gets it off on Wednesday and we are all looking forward to her having a really good bath.

Molly's 1st Birthday

Molly turned 1 on November 7th! We headed to Spokane to celebrate with a Polka Dot party at Nana's house. Clare, Tad and I made the cake...it was a 3 tiered cake with polka dots (of course). Everyone came over for dinner and a celebration. We got started a little later than we planned however because as I was coming downstairs with Molly I slipped and fell. Which prompted another first...Molly's first visit to the ER...see later post. Even with all the excitement she enjoyed her cake and her presents.

A busy November and a broken computer....

We have certainly had a busy November, but I haven't been able to post any of it to the blog because our computer was broken. Lucky for us it was under warranty and Dell had a service guy come to our house and install a new motherboard and "viola!" our computer works just like brand new. Anyway I will post a few items about our November including Molly's 1st birthday and 1st trip to the ER, Clare's 4th birthday, and Thanksgiving!

Halloween

To celebrate the holiday of costumes and candy we went to a party at our friend's Joel and Crystal's. There were lots of kids there...at least as many kids as adults. We tried to take a group picture, but only some of the little ones cooperated. We ate pizza, went trick-or-treating and ate candy. It was a fun night. Clare was a bride (although she ditched her veil after a few houses). Molly was a Halloween girl, essentially she wore her Halloween shirt and tights. I thought they were both so cute. Thankfully after some morning rain it was dry and almost warm once trick-or-treat time came around. Clare got the hang of trick-or-treating and I think will be ready to go next year!

A trip to Spokane

Last Saturday, Clare, Molly and I went to Spokane for a long weekend. I went to conference on Monday and Tuesday, so we went early to visit with everyone. We played at the Brooks' house and surprised Grandma for dessert on her birthday.

My Birthday!

I turned the big 3-5 on October 15th and it was one of my best birthdays ever. To surprise me my mom came over! She was here when I got home from work and had dinner all made...what a great gift. Clare helped put the candles on the cake and everyone sang.

The Pumpkin Patch with Grandma Marge

Tad's mom is here for the weekend and today we packed everyone into our car (Tad sat in the back between the car seats) and headed off to the pumpkin patch. It is a gorgeous fall day....5o and sunny and perfect for picking out pumpkins. This is one of our favorite fall activities and today did not disappoint.

Weekend in Yakima

A couple of weeks ago we headed over the mountains to spend the weekend at Grandpa Ed's. My mom brought Chloe and Isaih and met us there, and we had a great time. Saturday night Grandpa took us to pick corn at the neighbors. Clare and Isaih loved it. Then they got to throw the husks over the fence to feed the cows. Molly played and played and played. The weather was beautiful and it was a wonderful trip.

A trip to the Puyallup Fair

Today we headed off to "Do the Puyallup." We had a great time. The weather was beautiful and the food extra delicious. We started with corn on the cob and lemonade, moved on to Elephant Ears, and finished off with a Nanimo Bar (chocolate cheesecake cookie). It was fabulous!

In between our eating we squeezed in a tour of a fire truck, a ride on the motorcycles, walks through lots of smelly, but cool, animal barns, and a viewing of a 2 clown circus act. Molly took in the sights from her stroller and watched all of the people very carefully. During the stage show she was smiling, dancing and shaking her head to the music. It was a fun "stay-at-home-day" as Clare calls all the days we don't go to school.

A Fort of Cushions....

Last weekend Clare and Molly played with Daddy. They took all of the cushions of the couches and built a fort in the Living Room. It provided hours of entertainment and plenty of chances for Clare to become exasperated with Molly when she knocked down the cushion walls. It sure is amazing to think that with a house full of toys the cushions can capture their attention for a long time.