four

My baby turned 4. Where has the time gone??? I had all these plans for a photo shoot. I bought an adorable outfit, had visions of an outdoor tea party and then it got cold. REALLY cold and I bagged it. I also remembered who my daughter is and realized that she probably wouldn't really cooperate anyway, so the above picture will have to do for her Birthday Photo. If you know our Clara Jane, you know this photo says is all.

Clara is a dream. I love her so much. She is funny, feisty and so entertaining. Currently she is obsessed with princesses, cats, ponies, and unicorns. She loves to do her own hair and pick out her own clothes.

We had her first friend birthday party. She invited the little girls in her primary class for a princess tea party. We painted nails, painted faces and played a game. It was perfect.

She was a little afraid of the candles so she wouldn't get any closer than this to blow them out.

After a little bit, her friend finally stepped in to help her out.

What I'm Thankful For

1. My Family

2. Finding this picture on PhotoBooth

No Shave November

Steve participated in No Shave November this year with the other guys from his clinic.

I think he should have won. They were supposed to end the contest the day before Thanksgiving but the other guys in the clinic decided to extend it. Lucky for me Steve was just as fed up with it as I was and shaved it off on Wednesday night.

It's about time!!!

One of the things Steve and I have talked about is how messed up our childrens' teeth are going to be. The orthodontist we eventually pick is going to love us! Thomas hasn't had any loose teeth until recently. I thought it was kind of strange that most of his other friends have all lost many teeth and he hadn't lost any. A couple of weeks ago he told me that his tooth was loose. I was thrilled. I told him to "work on it" and to wiggle it whenever he thought about it. Weeks passed and the tooth wasn't making any progress. Him and I were at lunch a couple of weeks ago and I happened to catch a glimpse of his mouth. His permanent tooth was already grown in, right behind his baby tooth. His baby tooth was still loose, but I could tell it was going to take some effort to pull it out because nothing was pushing it up and out. I thought for sure we were going to end up at the dentist to have his baby teeth pulled ( I had to have almost all my baby teeth pulled because they wouldn't come out on their own).

Monday night we were at Costco and the tooth worked itself out! Now we just have to work on all the rest.

October 30, 2011

We spent 2 days at the beach. The first day we were there the weather was perfect. There wasn't any wind and the water wasn't too cold. Thomas spent about 3 hours learning how to boogie board. I watched him wipe-out countless times, but each time he would climb back on and try it again.

Clara didn't want too much to do with the water. She was happy hanging out and playing in the sand.

The second day at the beach was more of what you would expect for fall weather. It was cold and the wind was blowing sand everywhere. Thomas was the only one who wanted to be in the water. We lasted about and hour before we packed up and headed back to the house.

Snail hunting at Sunset

One of our favorite things to do while we are at my Aunt's house is to sit on the front porch during the sunset. There is nothing quite like it.

see...

I also introduced the kids to snail hunting. I used to do it at my Grandma's house all the time when I was their age. They were kind of creeped out by them at first, but as soon as I showed Clara a baby snail she was smitten.

October 28, 2011 - Legoland

This year we continued with the Tradition of heading down to Encinitas, California to stay in my Aunt's beach house.

Our first stop on Friday was Legoland. Thomas has finally hit the lego obsession ago. Everything he does revolves around legos. We didn't tell the kids we were going. We just woke them up on Friday and said we were going to go have some family time. We drove into the parking lot waiting for one of them to catch on. When they finally did, both of them were thrilled.

Legoland is right up our alley. The kids are not fans of Disneyland and all the hype that goes with it. They LOVED this place! It was very calm, not a lot of people and the rides we went on were perfect for them. To be honest, they would have been happy just walking around looking at all the models.

Thomas was picked to be the special helper in the little skit they had.

Probably because he was the only one willing to sit on the front row and risk getting wet.

It was a great day and we can't wait to go back.

Halloween 2011

Okay - so technically it's not Halloween yet, but it can't come soon enough over here. Almost every house in this neighborhood is decorated. Think Christmas, but substitute orange and black for red and green. The kids have already started their sugar IV drips, and everyday I get the same question from Clara, "Is it Halloween?"

Yesterday night was the Annual Fall Festival. So that meant yesterday was the day I spent running back and forth to WalMart trying to finish the costumes for the kids. I love it. I work best under pressure. To tell you the truth, yesterday while I was pulling apart $.94 rose bushes for Clara's hairpiece I was secretly wishing I could go on Project Runway.

Thomas is a the Lego Ninjago Guy. If you don't know anything about Ninjago, then you don't have a boy under the age of 12 living in your home. I bought the face paint for Clara, but he really wanted to wear it, too. Painting his face yellow like a lego guy was his idea. He couldn't wear a mask to school, so instead of wearing his headpiece that covers his mouth, he wanted me to paint the white. He's so clever.

Clara's costume was forever evolving. She wanted to be a cat, then a witch, then a fairy. We went to buy her fairy wings and she saw a really cool witch broom she had to have. We bought the matching witch hat, came home and went to work on her costume. The next day she decided she wanted to be a fairy again. I tried to talk her into staying a witch, but she really wanted to be a fairy. I really wanted to make a fairy costume instead of witch, so it didn't take much for her to convince me to return the witch stuff.

Thomas' costume was easy. I bought a Karate uniform and added a grey belt and some rope. He made his medallion and we spray painted it gold.

The festival was so much fun and the kids had a great time. Can't wait until next year!