Claire's Preschool Bday Celebration and a Holiday Visitor...

Today Claire got to celebrate her birthday with her friends at preschool.

 She got to wear her crown all day long.
She was the line leader.
And she got to share pink sprinkled doughnuts and apple juice with her friends too.

 I felt bad that her school celebration day felt a little rushed.  We didn't have much time since her class had to go practice their lines for the upcoming Christmas program this Friday night.  And I had to take her out a little early in time to go pick up Hannah from school at 11:30.  But to be honest Claire probably didn't realize all that and she still felt very special. 
While the kids ate their doughnuts her teachers played a birthday song that everyone sang along to.

 I tried to get a picture before we left and this is the best I could get.  She got to pick out a book to keep from her sweet teacher too.

We left to pick up Hannah, and when we walked in the door at home Hannah yelled out "Our elf!!!! Our elf is back!!!!!"

 And he most certainly was.

 Oscar our elf brought all kinds of treats.
Oreos and cuties for an after school snack.
He left both girls a new Christmas cup.
And on their snack plates was a teeny tiny elf box filled with red and green m&ms and gold chocolate coins.

 I tried to snap a few pics with my phone as they discovered their goodies from Oscar...

I think they are pretty excited.

I've already set out our Christmas decorations.
Mr. H hung our outdoor lights on Thanksgiving morning.
I guess now all we need is our tree.
Is it really December already?????

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving morning started out nice,
we got to sleep in until close to 7am! 
And the girls really enjoyed lounging and watching the parade with us.

The night before I had made a batch of Pioneer Woman's creamy mashed potatoes, and her butternut squash puree.  I also made another batch of potatoes on the Tuesday night before because I wasn't sure how much we'd eat, and everyone loves leftover mashed potatoes.

We had plans to go to my Mom and Dad's house about 2pm, so at 11am  I made some stuffing, and then at noon I sent Mr. H to the store because I realized I didn't have a baster for my turkey.

He found one.
And he came back and said it was all men out and they were all buying one thing.  Probably all needed basters.  ;)
This was my first year cooking a turkey and I totally cheated and bought a whole roasted turkey from Trader Joe's.
All I had to do was baste it every 15 minutes for an hour and a half.
I was still pretty proud that I managed to do that well enough.
I felt a little like this afterwards...

(thanks for those coasters Holly!!!! I used mine all day on Thanksgiving.) 

Once the turkey was done we headed over to my parents house.

I told my Mom since it's just us, not to work too hard and do a fancy table and everything.  Well, she still worked pretty hard, her table was beautiful, but at least she did listen to me and use paper plates.  And they were very cute paper plates I might add.

It was such a gorgeous day and we wound up spending that last hour of sunlight in my parents beautiful front yard watching the kids play.

I tried to get my family to pose for one quick shot.
And Hannah has a cheesy smile and a bat between her legs, and Claire is sticking her tongue out.  Ah well.  There we are.

Our friend Brian showed up and the kids tackled him.  I think that means they like him.

Me and my blue eyed girl on the swing.

As we started to lose daylight, dinner was ready.
And man was it good.

After dinner we left the dishes as they were and hopped up to go for a slight after dinner turkey trot.

We were all so stuffed and it felt good to walk around in the cool evening air.

I'm very thankful for these people of mine.
Very thankful indeed.

The girls birthday party

So Hannah and Claire had both been looking so forward to their birthday party at the bowling alley.

 Now that I look at these pictures I can tell that Hannah was sick, but we didn't realize it until about 20 minutes into their party.

 The Thursday before Hannah's party was when she had slammed her thumb in the car door.  She really did a number on it and we had been giving her ibuprofen for the swelling and pain of that.  But looking back, I realize that when she was complaining about having "shivers" on Thursday and Friday, she was probably coming down with this bug then and the ibuprofen we had been giving her was masking her fever that we did not know about until the night of her party.

 I felt so bad for her and she really started to feel crummy.
I was worried because at that point I didn't know what she had, and I didn't want our guests to be worried about their kids catching what she had, and so the whole party was sort of a blurred whirlwind for Mr. Hass and I.

 And if it wasn't for my friend Kaylen picking up my camera and taking most of these pictures, I probably wouldn't have had much to blog from the day.

For most of the party Hannah was sitting down feeling crummy, but Claire was having herself a blast.

 We served pizza, cut the cake, finished bowling, and then the kids all got to go spend a few tokens in the arcade at the end of the party.

 After we got home the girls opened up their nice presents from everybody and then got jammied up and just laid around to rest.

 They both got bowling pins with everybody's signatures.

 That was a rough night for poor Hannah.
She had a fever and chills all night long.
I took her to Urgent Care first thing in the morning and the dr said it was just viral and told us to go home and do saltwater gurgling.
I wasn't satisfied with that result, and Sunday night she ran a high fever of 103 all night, so I took her to our pediatrician on Monday morning, and he said it was probably viral tonsilitis.

He said if she wasn't better by Wednesday to come back in for antibiotics.

Luckily the fever did not come back after Monday, but she is still really congested and now dealing with the head cold part of whatever this bug was.

And Claire woke up at 4:30am this morning saying she was plugged up, and I took a nap today and just felt plugged up and crummy and not sure if mine is allergies or a cold or what.

So, I feel bad that this wasn't really a party to remember.

Hopefully everyone in my house is 100% healthy soon.

I'm off to go watch a movie with Mr. Hass.

Peace out.

Dear Claire

My crazy Claire.
My little Claire Bear.
Or as we call you most often, Clairey.
On November 17th you were so happy to be turning Four.

 Like I did for Hannah the night before her birthday, your Daddy and I hung balloons outside your bedroom door and you walked out of your room bright eyed at 5:45am and announced, "It's my birthday!!!!!  I'm four cause it's my birthday!!!"

 Hannah picked out a toy for you when we were out spending her birthday money and I thought it was so sweet.  She knows you well and she was right, you loved your Tangled boat with Rapunzel and Flynn Rider in it.

 I love this picture of you because it shows that although we call you crazy and you can be so loud and outgoing, you can be so shy at the same time too.  

All you would say you want for your birthday is a Tangled doll.
So Dad and I bought you the biggest Tangled doll we could find.
You screamed with happiness and delight when you opened it.

I love that you are such a cuddler Claire.
You are constantly telling your family that you love them.
You are also quite the mama's girl.
Up until recently, if Dad said to you "I love you Claire" , you would cop a little attitude and say to him "I love Mom."
Even though he knows you love him, I think he is awfully happy now that you will say I love you back to Dad.

 I've never known a four year old who had more swagger than you Claire.

You love all Disney Princesses.
Your favorite is Belle and Rapunzel.
You are also a big fan of Merida from Brave.
You hate wearing shoes and almost every time we get in the car to go somewhere you rip your shoes and socks off.
You are also not much a fan of having your hair done.  
You let me fix it for the day, but the first chance that you get you are always ripping it out so that it is down and flying free.

 You and Hananah both love anything that sparkles, so I knew you would love the outfits I bought you both to wear to your bowling birthday party.

You had so much fun at your party.  (thanks for that picture Kaylen!!!!)
You were bowling up a storm.
Recently it seems you and Hannah have received lots of goodie bags from different events and things, and you pronounce it "oogie" bag.
It makes me and your Dad smile every time we hear you say it and I almost wish you'd always say oogie bag instead of goodie.
You are really coming along in speech therapy.
We now go on Tuesday mornings for a half hour, and on Thursday mornings for two half hour sessions.
Right before we went to Big Bear your speech teacher told Dad that you told her you were going to go boating with your family up in Big Bear.
We were very impressed that she could understand you and we also smiled because Geeps no longer has his boat in the water but you didn't know that so it made sense that you thought we were going boating.  
It was pretty cute.

You love to be outside and you are always up for an adventure.

 You are so smart Claire.
Everyday you surprise me with the things you say and do.
As I type this letter to you your Dad just came downstairs with a huge handful of the play money that Gamma just got you for your birthday.
He told me that he found your money hidden all over your bedroom and he picked it up and asked you why it was all over the place.
You said to him "Because I needed to put it all in a safe spot.  Why do I have so much money Dad?"
I am giggling as I type this because how would you know that it isn't real money.

My sweet Clairey Beary.
I can't believe you are four.
You are bright Claire.
You are funny, and colorful.
You are kind and fearless, sassy, and always so very determined.
You will do great things in your life Claire.
I just know it.
I love you so much,

Mom