The next Olympian …...

Claire really enjoyed watching the Olympic figure skating. She was twirling and jumping in the living room pretending to be a figure skater. Dave was able to catch some of it on camera.

Be sure to turn up your volume….

Laureli's boo boo

It was bound to happen. Stitches! It was a Saturday morning everyone had just gotten up and Dave was bringing Laureli down the stairs. His feet slipped out in front of him and he landed flat on his tailbone (bruised it pretty good). Unfortunately, he dropped her and she hit her head on the molding. I scooped her up right away and she calmed a little but as soon as I handed her off to Dave (so I could get out of my pjs and he changed her diaper) she was upset again. Since her bag is always ready, it was easy to get  out the door. Grab a quick banana and Laureli and I headed off to the emergency room. Luckily its only 10 minutes away. Once there the nurse put a bandage on it and gave her a mild numbing medicine.   

A hour later we left with four stitches, a black eye and a mild concussion. It was a little traumatic for all of us. Thankfully she won't remember any of it. Wish I could say the same for us parents. 

Eating a banana at the emergency room, waiting to see the dr

Napping after we got home. 

The next morning, the eye looked even worse

Day 2

Day 4

5 days later after the stitches came out

Day 5

12 days later. Isn't it amazing how fast they heal!?!

Christmas Morning

Nice and quiet, just the way we like it. Claire got a huge playhouse from Santa. He must have been thinking of me when he brought it because its collapsible and folds away for easy storage. Laureli's present from Santa was a water table. But both girls have been playing with it. Now if it would just warm up so we could play with it outside. 

Notice the matching pajamas.

Happy!

Our first house

Gingerbread house that is. It was messy and fun. The candy and icing tasted terrible. We had to be careful not to put too much icing as it would cause the candy to droop. 

taste testing the candy

droopy candy

Christmas Tree

Sooo…. I hadn't forgotten to upload pictures from my real camera (not my phone). Oops. Here is our Christmas tree outing.

We ventured to a tree farm close to home. It was a small farm and had very little choices in the sparse noble firs that we like. One of these days I'll find the perfect farm. Not too far from home, great selection and reasonably priced trees. It was FREEZING!! but the sun was shinning and it was beautiful out. We bundled up (with multiple layers) and off we went.

It is the fastest we EVER picked out a tree. It was so cold and not a lot to choose from. Ta da!

The one

Claire wanted to help cut it down

Us girls

They did have these cool pulley things. Made it super easy to get it to the truck

Claire took this one

Dave and Claire

Sorry no pictures of it all decorate. Claire helped this year. It was fun but frustrating as she liked to clump the ornaments all in one spot.

Weekend at Grandma's

The girls and I took a long weekend at the cabin to visit Grandma Dee and Dan. 

It was beautiful!

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus

Making birthday cupcakes. Claire picked out chocolate for our birthday celebration. Although she wouldn't look at the camera and smile at the same time we had a good time. 

Then on to the cookies for Santa. Daddy and Grammy got into the fun this year.