Those bowling shoes

Here is a picture of Claire in her shoes related to this post.

It's ELMO!!!

Ahhh... Elmo. Claire enjoys Sesame Street books and characters, Elmo's World DVDs and from time to time will sit through an episode of the show. Over time we have built up a good pile of Sesame Street stuffed animals for her use and she loves them all. Grover, Elmo and Abby are her favorites as of late. However, Ernie, Big Bird and Cookie hold special places in her heart.

This afternoon we attended a Sesame Street Live show and she had a blast. Her face lit up when the curtain went up and all the characters came out on stage. It was very neat to see her so happy. She was glued to the stage and wanted very much to touch one, however we were too high up.

Video of Claire dancing. Sorry it's sideways. I still cannot figure out how to get the video that I take in portrait to 'flip' to landscape when I pull them off. (Frustrating.)

Whoo-whoo!

For those of you who know my dad, know we grew up around train layouts. His grandkids are growing up with the same benefit. Claire inherited the Thomas set my nephews had built over the years. She loves herself some trains and her favorite shirt is the Thomas the train shirt her cousin Ryan used to wear all the time (another interesting thing about those two sharing a birthday). Pete and Claire recently visited the trains at Bandana Square and Claire had a great time.

Apparently I carry too much stuff to work with me (usually my gym bag, purse and laptop bag - yes, it is too much). Claire has noticed. She carried two lunch bags and my purse and suddenly announced she was going to work. Hmmm...

If only she would USE the potty

We need humidity!

Claire and I had a girls weekend while Pete was off on his annual ice-fishing trip. Of course, the weather decided to throw us a curve and we barely reached above 0 for most of the weekend. Needless to say, Claire may have wanted some time by herself (or least with someone else) by the end of the weekend as we didn't get outside unless it involved getting into or out of the car.

On Saturday we headed up to Wyoming to spend some time out of the house with friends Robin and Logan, who lost their husband/father to the same set of ice holes and shack as Claire and I. We met at the local bowling alley and had a blast. Claire first went bowling at Jordan's 16th birthday party last year but wasn't an active participant in the actual bowling activity. This time she got to wear her own shoes - who knew they made BOWLING shoes this small!!! Robin took a picture of it and I'll post if she sends me a copy. She would talk about what was happening every time someone threw the ball and really enjoyed conversing with Logan and Robin. It was fun to see her get into the game and the social aspect. When I put her to sleep that evening she was rambling on about the 'crashing' that took place that day. She described the ball 'crashing' into the bowling (pins) and how the one's that didn't fall were 'sticky'.

Sunday we headed to her first youth hockey game to see Alex play (and score!!!!). I was clearly more interested in watching the game but an impression was made as she spoke of Alex's skating and working up a sweat when I put her to bed last night.

Bed time is clearly the time when she begins to process all of the new things entering her life. It's fun to listen to her tell me about the things she is thinking of and how she interprets all things new.

Christmas Review

Round 1 of holiday related picture posts and activities.

I was lucky to have 4 days off this year and we had mild enough weather to allow Claire and I to get outside and play a couple of days. No snowman built yet (we missed the time between the great wet snow and the wonderful rain (sarcasm here) that made everything crusty.

Saturday the 19th we had our first Christmas with the McMahon clan. Fun, fun was had by the cousins as Claire enjoyed playing around with Hazel, Ryan & Alex. But more important was her chance to cling to Grandma Joanne and eat cookies, cookies, cookies!!!

Thursday we headed to Amery to enjoy the Eve of Christmas with the Whitcombs. This year we did a traditional English plan to celebrate their English heritage. I tried to sneak in some Guinness but was banned from the house. No, I'm kidding. I played nice with the English and we learned that their family tree has a Bohemian element. Ahh... now I know why those Whitcombs are cool people.

Talking with Jordan about the crackers we opened.

Claire had a blast playing with her cousins and trying to stay the focus of Grandma Jackie's attention. (What is it with this girl and her grandmothers??) She held up pretty well for most of the day but just couldn't make it to the church without falling asleep. She and I stayed in the car for a while and headed in later. That was all it took for her to make it through the rest of the festivities (including gift opening) and all the way home.

Christmas morning she slept in a bit. We expect this will be the last year she allows us to do that until she reaches her teen years. Jordan was heading to her mom's so we just opened our stockings and had some breakfast. Claire thought it was the best that she was able to eat snack, while NOT sitting in her booster. We have learned that she simply loves Nutter Butters as they were in her stocking.

Later she opened her presents from the family and Santa. This year Claire received her very own camera. I'm going to turn her into a photographer yet.

The afternoon we headed for the short drive to Lake Elmo to one of Pete's uncles. Thanks much to Al and Donna for letting Claire tap into the wine cellar (that's where they keep their stash of toys, silly folks - I'm not gonna start her on wine yet!). It was fun to see Claire warm up to the extended Whitcomb clan. As we drove away she said she wanted to go back to 'that house'. We're not sure if it was the birds, the wine cellar or the attention she was getting that she missed the most.

Our last gathering was at one of her favorite places - Aunt Karey and Uncle Mikes. Claire and Pete are there on Fridays so she feels right at home. She had a wonderful time playing with the Dufresnes again and 'sharing' with Hazel. Me thinks those two may be more like Karey and I were than we initially thought.

Hazel is practicing her lovely smile. We're gonna save this one for her graduation party :)

Claire and Hazel with Grandma Joanne. And yes, those two really DO eat broccoli willingly.

More pictures from the other camera coming soon!!

Baby hair & Christmas songs

Claire had her first official haircut last week. It didn't go as well as I would have thought, she had a bit of a challenge listening to directions from the stylist. At least I know it's not just us she doesn't listen too... We'll be working on fixing a couple of spots if we can find the right scissors.




And her favorite thing to sing of late is Jingle Bells. She even makes up songs to the tune about her toys. Quite funny.



I was able to attend her last class at ECFE last week. It was fun to be a part of that with her. She has also been using her imagination and playing solo quite a bit more of late. She likes to take her Little People to the 'park' (read blocks we set up with 'steps' and 'slides'). Her favorite companions include Grover, Elmo and Curious George.

She surprised us last week by reciting one of the books we've been reading. Word for word. It was quite funny to hear.

We're looking forward to the upcoming holiday festivities. Claire really enjoys seeing her extended family and it will be a whole new ballgame this year as she finally gets the idea of presents.