Christmas with The Merritts

Oh boy, an Elmo Potty DVD, I'm up for trying anything!
My new Kissing Elmo from Grandpa

My new ride straight out of the box (minus the wheels and handle)

My new big girl booster seat

Reading a little Curious George, thanks Aunt Amy

Best Hog Dogs on Earth

Roanoke Wiener Stand Hot Dogs and Fries!!
And of course a smoothie from The Little Dipper

One of my favorite things

Christmas with The Lucados

Checking out my new pink scooter
Of course all the gifts needed a little Claire help to get them open!

Playing with my new mega blocks

Little Miss Busy

Busy First day in Roanoke

After making a quick trip to find snow boots, we gave our new snow suit a try...and we loved the sled!
Daddy made me an awesome snowman!

Racing Uncle Tyler (yes, he's in short sleeves in the snow!)

Even got Nana on the sled

Eskimo kisses

WHOO HOO!!

My little snow bunny

First ride in a sled

OK, I'm hot let's go outside!

Having Christmas with Nana & Pops

Sneaking some Auntie Jess love

At Camp Bethel, meeting my new baby cousin Audrey

First Stop on the Holiday Express

Christmas at Grandma and Poppa's
Love my new kitchen

Telling Great Grandpa all about it

Snuggies...don't knock em until you've snuggled in one!!

Merry Christmas, Santa found us!

Claire left her "ba-ba's" for Santa this year, along with his cookies. We wrote a note instructing him to give them to babies who needed them and she hasn't asked for them since! Ok, that wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be!
Santa definitely found his way to our house!

21 Months

So this Claire update is way late and we're practically to her 22 month point, but for future reference, I wanted a post! So here we go....

A lot happened between 20 and 21 months around our house, the first and for most being the month of December and all the excitement it holds.

She had such a fun time picking out a Christmas tree, figuring out why we got to bring it inside and the concept of hanging things on it! She loved helping me decorate, bake cookies, wrap presents and of course talking about Santa! She really seemed to understand all the details every time we talked about him and loved to hear Santa stories at bedtime.

Then came the nativity, Bethlehem and baby Jesus....she is completely obsessed with the whole idea and all the "characters." She is still carrying around Mama Mary and Baby Jesus, her 2 favorite! They go everywhere with us and sleep with her every night.

The biggest and best event was deciding to leave Santa (along with his cookies and milk) all of her ba-ba's (pacifiers). We talked about it for several days before and then on Christmas Eve we got them and she laid them out for him to take. We told her that she was a big girl and that Santa was going to give them to babies who needed one and didn't have any. She did surprisingly well with it all and hasn't asked for them one time since that night. She does remind us every once in a while what she did and of course we praise her for being brave and such a big girl!

She is a total toddler now with imitating everything we do....words, phrases, tones, emotions, gestures, pretty much anything! One of her favorite things to do is the name game...pointing to and naming everyone in the room, especially at meal time. Her second favorite thing to do is talk on the phone...to anyone who is willing to listen. She will pick up the phone, real or pretend, dial a number and tell whoever she is talking to what she's doing. It's very cute to watch and listening to her conversations can be quite entertaining!

Well those are the major highlights for now and I'm sure in a few weeks there will be much more to report! Life is never dull around here!!

Merry and Bright

Uncle Tyler's Christmas Party
Just wanted to take a second to say a big thank you to Tyler for everything he has done for us lately....he is the best babysitter in the world and Claire couldn't ask for anyone better to show up when we leave! Every time I ask him, he is willing to step up to help us out! He has kept her for me to do Christmas shopping, go to the grocery store, church and stayed with her last Sat night for us to go to Chris' holiday party. He takes on feeding, changing (lots of poop), nap time and bed time without blinking an eye. We can't say thank you enough and Claire is so lucky to have him in her life! She loves him so much and with all the practice he will make one heck of a dad one day! Thanks, you're the best "big" little brother in the world :) XOXO!

Over the River & Through the Woods

A little pre-Christmas visit to Grandma & Poppa's

Making cookies (or just enjoying the sugar before bed!)
Ready for round 2!

A girls shopping day with Grandma, Auntie Jess & Nana

Buying some Minnie's with Nana

We went to see Claire's first movie in the theater, The Princess & the Frog. Although if you ask her what she saw, it was the "frog princess!"

Loved the singing and dancing!

Playing with a FEW toys & grandma

Getting some good Auntie Jess and Claire time