More Chocolate

Grandma bought the girls an advent calendar house to count down the days until Christmas. My sister-in-law told us that Costco sells the Lindor truffle balls in bulk (50 in a bag!) and we hid a chocolate behind each door. It didn't take Hannah long to learn where the chocolate was coming from each morning, and she was soon trying to pull herself up onto the table and screaming for "ock, ock" (chocolate). Clara understands that we already had our chocolate for the day, and we have to wait until tomorrow for more, but Hannah seems to tirelessly and persistently hang on the table and scream for more. I'm sure it has nothing to do with all the times I have given in and shared a second treat with her! (We have actually almost made it through our second bag of truffles this month....I'm really hoping it is just a seasonal item, so I won't be tempted to buy a third bag!)

Hannah put her first two words together the other day......"Mo" "Ock"!

Introducing......

We're never quite sure who Clara is going to "be" these days! She often comes out of her room dressed up in a crazy outfit of some sort-usually just before we are leaving the house to run errands. We get quite a few "how cute, she must dress herself" smiles at the grocery store! She has an amazing imagination, and finds new uses for many things around the house.

Clara decided that the stockings hanging on her friend Gracie's mantle looked like they might be cozier on her feet!

Jingle bell ornament earrings.....do you think Clara might start a new fashion trend?

Our ballerina cowgirl. This ballet skirt shows up over many different outfits. Clara wears it like an accessory!

For some reason, Clara decided she needed her face painted like a clown for our trip to the grocery store.

I guess with the outfit she had picked out to wear, the face paint sort of just made sense!

Each ornament was hung on the Christmas tree with care...

Clara loved hanging ornaments on the tree this year. We waited until Hannah was asleep in bed because we weren't sure how much progress we would make-she tends to like taking things "off" more than putting "on". Clara has become very fond of a few of the ornaments, taking them off to play with them each day, and a few lucky ornaments have even had a turn napping in bed with her!
Hot cocoa with whipped cream and Christmas carols made it a joyful celebration of the Christmas season. Clara danced and sang along to the carols she has learned.

Two angels up in the air

I love my Christmas tree!
(The ornaments on the bottom third of the tree have all been moved up just above Hannah's little fingers when she is on her tiptoes:) )

"La, la, la, la, Elmo's world"

Finally, Hannah was able to enjoy her first birthday cake! You can see in the corner that Clara actually took the opportunity to enjoy the cake before dinner...I thought the cake was out-of-reach, but forgot about Clara's step stool! Elmo is a favorite of Hannah's and she will sing along with the "la, la, la".

First taste....
I think she enjoyed it!
All done eating, but this stuff is fun to squish!

Bath time!

First Snow

The first smiles from Clara today, and she was able to eat the snow and keep it down! The stomach flu wasn't enough to keep her from making a snowman this afternoon:)

Looking back.....

I love looking back through the first year of photos and seeing how much a tiny new one can change in 12 months. Hannah has been such a wonderful addition to our family with her feisty spirit, and happy smiles. She makes us all laugh!















Clara woke up at 5 am this morning with the stomach flu that Hannah shared with her....so still no birthday cake, but we're hoping to all be healthy and ready to eat Elmo cake soon! I did not know it was possible to watch TV while throwing up, but Clara managed to keep her eyes on her movie this morning (all 8 times!).....maybe it was a good distraction.

Happy First Birthday Hannah!

Hannah celebrated her birthday in Bend last weekend with her cousins, aunts, uncles, Nana and Boppa. She seems to have really "grown up" in the last few weeks. She has been practicing her walking and now surprises us daily by walking into a room to find us or heading down the hallway after Clara with her hands held up high in the air for balance. Clara likes to hold her hand while she walks, which usually lasts a few steps before they both fall down! Hannah's vocabulary is expanding weekly and some of her favorite words are "go", "up", "more", "all done", "abba" (for her pacifier, or any pacifier she sees in the house), "cup", "wawa", "ow"(usually said after bonking her head on something for attention), "whoa" (when she almost falls over), and of course "mama, dada, and Clara". She likes to call for "mama" when she wakes up in the morning, and if I don't respond quickly enough, she then starts calling for "dada" who jumps to rescue her from the crib! The poor little thing came down with the flu yesterday, so the pictures are from her party last weekend, and I think we will wait until tomorrow to celebrate her first year with her Elmo cake. Hopefully we will get some good pictures of our 1-year-old with cake all over her face when she can enjoy food again!

Thankful for Cousins!

We traveled to Bend for Thanksgiving, and the five cousins (all girls!) had a great time jumping in the "bouncy house", playing with dolls, making gingerbread houses, and baking with Nana.

Clara's cousin Chloe is just 5 weeks younger, and they were two peas in a pod running around together. If one needed to go to the bathroom, off they both would run, taking turns on the Dora potty! The two of them went shopping with Nana, Aunt Julie, and me one afternoon, and I got to experience what it would be like with twins.....they move so fast, and always in opposite directions! Here is a picture of the girls in their new clothes.

Joe is ready to start the Christmas cheer as soon as the last bite of turkey has been eaten. He made sure the girls got their requests to Santa early this year. We were able to visit the same one who held Hannah last year when she was just 3 weeks old! Clara cried last year and Joe had to hold her next to Santa, but this year she climbed right up and had a long conversation with him. She gets so excited for anything that has to do with Christmas.....she is her daddy's girl!

Ships and Trampolines

Clara has such an imagination, and Hannah is always willing to play along with the games that Clara comes up with (although she doesn't always play the "right way" according to Clara!). I brought out the suitcases to start packing for Thanksgiving in Bend, and they quickly became boat, or "ships" as Clara later renamed them. You can see in the first picture that Hannah is finally smiling for the camera!! Clara smiled in the second picture, but only for the promise of chocolate chips!

My pile of leaves was soon a trampoline for Clara to jump "way, way up to the high sky". She was "Shackelford" (for those of you who don't watch Clifford's Really Big Movie weekly, he is the dog in the circus who flies through the sky) and Hannah was content to swing away and watch, calling out "go, go" any time the swing stopped.