Halloween 2010

Just like last year, Grace doesn't get the fact that she doesn't have to eat all her candy right then.

While we were visiting with some neighbors, she blared out "Come on Mommy, let's go get some more candy!" Nice!

She was very good at saying thank you though. When one house opened door, she just stood there. So I said "what do you say?"...meaning to say "Trick or Treat". Instead she responded with "Thank you!".

Our little duck was happy riding in the wagon and eating a dum dum...or two.

"We Love Our 50 States"

Grace's theme at school this year for their Fall Festival was "We Love Our 50 States". All the kids' costumes were so cute. Grace, as an Native American, represented Oklahoma. I saw other Native Americans, Cowboys and girls, an orange, disk jockey, Statue of Liberty, Big Apple, horse, and so much more.


Any kind of deviation from routine sends Grace off the edge, so she was full of tears.

She also wasn't fond of standing on stage to present her costume and state.

My friend who stayed in the class to help, sent me this picture and assured me she was fine after Claire and I bolted.

Happy Birthday, Claire! You are ONE today!

This day has come WAY too fast! Some of the past year has been a blur, admittedly. She has been a pure treasure and the "ying" to Grace's "yang".

• She is a great sleeper...most of the time. She goes to bed before 7 pm and I go get her from her room around 7:30 am. I say "most of the time" because if there is anything wrong or different, she is a horrible sleeper. New place, horrible. Teething, horrible. Sick, even worse. These things would give Grace a slight blip, but Claire doesn't tolerate them as well.


• She is a HORRIBLE eater. Table food, that is. She'll eat purees til her heart's delight. I am a big proponent of after 1 year, no bottle and no baby food. That is not going to be the case with the food and Claire. She spits out anything with texture. Even banana? She will eat puffs and MumMums though. She has done great getting off the bottle. She is only taking one before bed and isn't finishing that one.


• Because of her eating preferences, she has really slimmed down. At her 1 year dr appointment, she weighed 20 pounds 10 ounces. At 9 mos, she was 20 pounds 14 ounces! So her weight puts her at 45%, but her height (30.5 in) and head circumference are still 90%.


• She says bye bye and hi. She also makes a 2 syllable sound that sounds like Ginger.



• She waves bye bye and gives kisses. She also loves clapping. We went to the dolphin show at the Aquarium last week and she was clapping with everyone else.



• She lights up when she sees Grace and loves for Grace to rub the top of her head in her belly.


• She is just about walking. She can walk beside you holding one hand and takes 2 steps alone between furniture pieces.


• She still loves putting everything in her mouth.


• She loves terrorizing Grace when she is doing puzzles.


• She is in music class once a week right now and we are going to add in another music/play type class in a few weeks.

C is for Claire Birthday Party

We had Claire's first birthday party Saturday featuring all things starting with the letter C. C is an easy letter for a party and you can get carried away.....

I made a C shaped wreath out of a styrofoam wreath and covered it with orange, deflated balloons.


Party favors were C shaped cookies (C is for Cookies) and C shaped crayons (C is for Crayons)




Smash cake and cupcakes (C is for Cupcakes) featured the letter C made out of fondant.


For food, there was C is for Chips, C is for Carrots and Celery, C is for Cheese Balls (had to include these since they went with my party color of Orange), C is for Crackers, and C is for Candy Corn. There was real food too that didn't start with the letter C - hamburgers and hot dogs. For drinks, I had Orange Crush since C is for Crush.





A jumping house (luckily they had a Castle...C is for Castle) and a C shaped pinata provided entertainment for the little ones.




Claire loved her cake, but was eating it very slowly.


So Grace finally tried to help her out a little.

We've been a family of 4 for a year now and we still haven't mastered getting everyone to look at the camera!


Pinata found on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/MommyDo
Crayons found on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/GaddyNipperCrayons
Fondant found on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/EdibleDetails
Labels for cookies found on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/LittlebeaneBoutique
Cookies, Cupcakes and Smash Cake local Corpus bakers (Sue B Sweets and Janet's Cakery)
Invitations and menu cards courtesy of Steve who did them in Photoshop

Halloween Sneak Peek

I am NOT a Halloween person. I heard Kellie Rasberry on Kidd Kraddick say the same thing yesterday on the radio. She summed up my feelings saying "there is too much pressure to come up with something creative". And now with a party to plan for Claire at the same time, I'm doomed!

For Grace, I do whatever the school's theme for the Fall Festival is. Last year, it was Circus theme.

This year, the theme is "WE LOVE OUR 50 STATES".

My dream costume would have been cheese and let Claire be a mouse. But after searching the internet, I couldn't figure out how to make a cheese costume easily.

We went through several animals (alligator from Florida, whale from Washington, crab from Maryland), but all that would require an internet purchase and some of the sizing reviews were unfavorable.

I was afraid Cowgirl(Texas) and Hula Girl (Hawaii) would be overdone. I also wanted it to be a costume she can get out of to be able to go to the bathroom, if needed.

So, after going into a Halloween store, I decided she's going to be a Native American and represent Oklahoma.

And Claire? Yeah, I couldn't come up with anything to go with a Native American so she's going to wear Grace's duck costume. Lame, I know.

I'll make it up to her this weekend at her "C is for Claire" party....all things "C".

Pummeled by a Pumpkin

See this little girl sitting on top of the hay with a pumpkin next to her?

And see this little girl sitting just below her, nice and safe on the ground?


You guessed it...before we could react, the pumpkin fell and hit poor Claire, luckily, on the shoulder and not square on the head. But it was enough to knock her over.

And she didn't skip a beat!
Terrible 2s or the beginning of sibling rivalry??

Promotion Day

Since the beginning of the school year, Grace has been visiting the Children's House several times a week all in preparation for today - the day she is promoted.

The Children's House is made of about 20 children ranging in age from 3 (or 2 1/2 in Grace's case) through kindergarten. Since it is Montessori, the older children guide the younger children.

I spent the weekend getting together all the things she'll need for her new class. Including putting a cloth napkin in her lunch every day.

This morning, on the way to school, we picked up Daddy from work so he could be there for her first day in the new class.

We started by going to her old class and getting all her things. Then she was responsible for carrying them to the new class. Seeing her hug her teachers made me start to tear up but I tried not to let her see. She was excited and took all her things to her new class where her new teacher greeted us. She looked up and said "Bye Mommy" and off she went.

She has ballet after school today so I won't get to talk to her teachers about how she did. She is ready and I am sure will do fine. Another step in life.

I did not bring my camera to document her first day because I was so flustered. While I was changing Claire to get ready to leave, Grace pulled a stool over to where I keep the spices. Unscrewed (she now knows how to unscrew) a jar of little, bitty dot sprinkles and poured them onto the counter and floor. She came to me and said "Look what I did!". Not a way to start a Monday. And unfortunately, not even Ginger can help me clean up these little things! Ughh

Why Cassette Tapes Are Now Obsolete

Candy Shop

On a recent trip to Galveston, we took the girls to La King's Confectionery and indulged in way too much candy.

too many choices!

Never Too Early for a Birthday Present

Claire loves climbing in Grace's chair so we decided Claire had to have one of her own. We couldn't help but give it to her as soon as it arrived on our doorstep.

And just like Grace's, she loves climbing in hers too.