Thanksgiving Week

My brother came into town this week, so on Monday, I unpacked all the rest of the toys and organized the toy room.  (I didn't have any toys unpacked that 7 and 9 year old boys would want to play with.)

We then spent everyday doing something fun.  Tuesday we went to the dinosaur museum and Cabela's.

Wednesday we went to a huge park in PG and were there for 4+ hours!

Thursday was Thanksgiving, so we spent the day at my sister's eating!  I made little penguins out of olives, carrots, and cream cheese.  The girls were so excited to help me.

For desert we made turkeys out of oreos, frosting, candy corn, whoppers, brown (plain) m&ms and red (mini) m&ms.

Clara even ate Thanksgiving Dinner, which is something that I was not expecting.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving week was listening to all the cousins play so well together!

Friday we had to say good-bye to my brother and his cute family.  We had so much fun with them!    After they left we still hung out with my family since my sister was here visiting from school.  We went to a bike part that the kids loved playing on rather than actually riding their bikes on. 

It was so windy that we left earlier than we wanted to because of how cold we all were.  Clara was so happy to have me carry her while she cuddled inside my coat with me.

Then when we got back, I had the kids dog-pile on my sister just to "warm" her  up, and make her feel oh so loved!

Saturday was a nice day to just relax after having such a fun weekend.  I did put up the Christmas decorations though and Clara has been asking if it's Christmas ever since.

• Overheard Clara say to Jeremy: Dad I'm crazy every day just like you!

• We had the missionaries over for dinner this week.  Clara asked who the missionaries were and I explained that they were young men who told people about Jesus.  Clara was so excited to get the door with Jeremy when they knocked.  But she came running in before any of them, sobbing.  When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "They aren't with Jesus!"

• We got out a Little People nativity set for Clara to play with.  All day long I can hear her pretending to be the angel and say (very loudly): "Hey everyone come and see!  Jesus is born today!"

First REAL Snow

So we've had a few days of snow, but it never stuck to the ground.  So when Clara and I woke up Saturday morning, the first thing we did was go outside and play in it!

Clara asked me to show her how to make a snow ball.  I did, and then gave it to her.  She then threw it at me!

Next we built a snowman.  It ended up being a little bit taller than Clara.

Clara decided that she wanted the snowman to have hair, so she covered it's head in dirt.

After the snowman was done, but shoes were soaked.  So I came inside and watched Clara play by herself in the snow.  I was amazed that she already knew just want to do: make a snow angel and eat snow!

By the end of the day, all the snow was gone and our poor snow man was on it's side.  (But his remains are still in our yard!)

New Hair Cut

I am so sorry that I'm writing this post so late in the week.  I've found that I don't spend nearly the amount of time on the computer as I used to.  I personally think this is a great improvment, but it does mean that when I have time to sit down at the computer, I'm checking emails and things rather than taking the time to write my blog.

I got a new hair cut this week.  It was a spur of the moment thing.  I was at my neighbor's house, who was having a mutual friend cut her hair.  They talked me into getting mine cut.  (I had been thinking about it for a while, but hadn't made any decisions yet.)
Before:

After:

Since I was getting my hair cut, Clara wanted hers done too.  She loves her long hair, so I had my friend give her just a trim.  And of course, Clara needed before and after pictures too.
Before:

During (I love how excited she looks):

After:

Instead of doing funny Clara sayings (because I forgot to write any down and have thus forgotten everything,) I'll do funny Clara moments caught on camera.

A friend showed Clara how to "slide" down the stairs and now that's the only way she'll go down the stairs.

Clara was looking in the mirror and asked me to look in it with her.  She then wanted me to take our picture, so this is a mirror shot!  Not bad huh!

Clara said, "Look Mom, this 'Y' is upside down!  That is so crazy!"  And then she laughed and laughed about that.

Clara just looked funny to me here....

Random

This was the weather the day after Halloween.  I was amazed that this came after a night of trick-or-treating without needing to wear jackets!

I went to a meeting where we talked about traditions.  I saw this and took a picture in hopes to make it myself one day.  We'll see if I ever get around to it though.

Clara walked out of her cousin's bedroom and said, "Look at me, I'm a cowboy!"

I thought it was funny that Clara would rather turn around to get a crayon each time rather than just pulling the box out of the drawer and setting it on the table.

• Clara cries a lot when I tell her no.  Because of that, I frequently find myself asking her to find a smile.  One day this week she responded by saying, "My smile is not working."

• Clara went to use her toilet and found that a friend of hers had not flushed from when she used it early on in the day.  After a small melt down from Clara, I flushed the toilet and then told her she could now use it.  She started crying and said, "But I want a lot of water!"  (Since the toilet was just flushed, it was in the process of filling back up.)  So I said, "It's getting more water now."  Clara: "I don't see it."  Me: "Well, it's filling up, that's what happens when you flush a toilet.  First all the water leaves the toilet, and then it slowly fills back up so you can use it again."  Clara: "I didn't know toilets did that.  That's interesting!"

Happy Halloween!

Clara got to go to 3 different Halloween parties this year.  The first one was for preschool.  I didn't get a picture of all the kids because (even though I showed up early to be able to do just that,) one had left early because he wasn't feeling well, another one took his costume off, and the others just didn't want to stand for a picture.  So here is a picture of Clara and her cousin right before I dropped them off.

Next came Jeremy's work party.  The employee's families are invited to dress up and come trick or treating.  People decorate their cubicles and some go all out!

My favorite was the row of cubicles made to look like the Wizard of Oz!

Here's Jeremy's cubicle, along with our entire family in our costumes.

I loved getting to visit Jeremy's work.  I rarely get to see things he does.  However, as we walked around the building, it seemed like every sign that was hanging up was something he designed.  It was great to see so much of his work.

Jeremy brought home his decorations from work and we used them on our house.

And finally, the big night itself.  We went trick-or-treating with my sister and her 5 kids.  Clara was so excited to show off her costume to everyone.  The person answering the door would say a general comment about all the costumes and Clara would come running back to me and say, "They loved my costume!"  One or two people didn't comment on the costumes so Clara piped up and asked, "Do you love my costume?"  She would then become ecstatic when they said yes.

Left to right: Cinderella (Clara,) Winnie the Poo (Kaycee,) Cowgirl (Adanya,) Bear (Hyrum,) Yoda (Jeffrey,) Ghost (Jed.)

Also notice how far away the girls were from the boys.  Kaycee didn't like her brother's faces all pained and would freak out if they even looked at her, so we had to make sure she didn't know they were close by....