Gettin' in the spirit...

Sunday was a big day for Claire. We packed up and headed for LeRoy while daddy was at Sunday school. We went to the craft show, Christmas tree walk and had lunch with Grandma and Great Grandma Builta. Then we took lunch to the field for Aunt Kathi, Uncle Kenneht and Grandpa.

When we got home, Claire got to try some babyfood for the first time. She's been eating cereal for a couple of months. We let her try stuff off of our plate anytime we have a baby friendly food. But this was her first taste of greenbeans! This morning she tried some pears for breakfast.

After dinner we headed to watch Gammy perform in the Night of Carols that the Onarga United Methodist Choir puts on. Claire was the star of the show sitting on Gammy's lap while she sung.


Today we were suppose to leave for a roadtrip to Iowa. But we decided to stay home since there is a Blizzard warning for the area that we were headed to. Hopefully Claire's friends Jeremiah & Andrew stay warm and get to build a BIG snowman!

BFFs

Today was the last home football game for our alma mater but only a very small portion of our group braved the temperatures to see it in person! The rest of us hung out at the Rademaker's to crawl around, snuggle, and enjoy the company. The best part was that we got to meet the newest member of our "family"!

Jeremiah, Claire & Andrew hanging out on the floor! Jeremiah was a big help and gave lots of kisses to Claire and his little brother. Claire thought it was cool that she wasn't the little baby and tried to touch his face and head a little too much!

It was great to meet Andrew and hang out with everyone this afternoon. We've got to get together again soon!

Turkey & dressing on the table!

Sweet pumpkin pie is mighty fine! Brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles. Thanksgiving is a family time!

Yes, my niece was tickled by the fact that I knew a Thanksgiving song. But, anyone who took part in the Bellflower Thanksgiving Feast knew there were Thanksgiving songs! Thanks to facebook, there are a few of us that have reminisced about the Thanksgiving Feasts at Bellflower Elementary. I remember the gym FULL of people, pictures of either me or Kirk dressed up like Indians, and watching ET in the band room the afternoon before Thankgiving break.

Anyhow, the moral of the story is, we got to take part in all of the things that the song mentioned this past week!

We started the festivities Wednesday evening when Kevin and Nicole came over for dinner on their way toward Gilman to visit their family. We had fajitas and margaritas and Claire worked on training "Uncle" Kevin and "Aunt" Nikki on how much fun babies can be!

Thursday morning we got to sleep in just a little before we headed to Greg & Kathy's for lunch with Trever's side of the family. We hung out with Caisey and Maddi until all of the others got there. This was the first Thanksgiving meal we got to spend with the Kuipers/Ficklin side and it was nice to be a part of it.

Of course when there are such adorable girls involved, the camera comes out. Check out these super cute cousins! Can you believe Caisey will be 13 in just 3 short days!

And a group shot of the DeOrnellas family! You'll have to wait for Christmas cards until you see our family shot!

We left Greg & Kathy's and headed toward LeRoy. We made a pit stop to introduce Claire to "Aunt" Barb, "Uncle" Lary and Jessie as well as a handful of other Swigarts hanging out at their house for the holiday.

After out pit stop we headed to the Builta Thanksgiving. This year we celebrated Turkey Day since Kirk celebrated his GOLDEN birthday on Thanksgiving. Claire wasn't sure what to think about the fire in front of them!

Friday Claire and I had the day off and we were lucky enough to have some special visitors. Ria, Graysen & Graham came and hung out with us while I cooked and baked. It was so much more fun to have company than to do it by myself! Plus, I had someone to help entertain Claire while I made a mess of the kitchen!

Friday night we headed back to Greg & Kathy's to bake Christmas cookies. And, of course we had to have a photo shoot or two to go with the cookies.

Claire & Santa....Maddison was long gone.

Gammy and her little girls. I'm working really hard to get Caisey to wear a matching outfit with Claire & Maddison but she refused!

Someone also thought it would be fun for the girls to try on their Christmas dresses and have a photo shoot. I think this pictures shows how successful it was!

And Claire finally got an opportunity to pick on the bigger cousin!
Saturday we headed to our traditional post Thanksgiving cattle sale and then did a little Christmas shopping. Sunday, Trever did more Christmas shopping and we added Reese (Trueline Queen 822) to our cow herd. She's suppose to have a baby in February. Then we headed to Champaign for one final Thanksgiving with the Reads. It sure was rough going back to work on Monday!

Girls weekend 2009

Last weekend Claire and I took a little roadtrip to visit Kyla and Maddison in Ohio. Claire was a pretty good rider the majority of the trip but was definately ready to be out of her carseat by the time we got to their house.



This is a terrible picture of me, but there are so few of Claire and I together that I wanted to post it anyway.

Claire still isn't sure what to think about Maddi. There isn't a huge size difference between the two girls, but Maddison is 4 1/2 months older and quite a bit more active. Maddison is sitting up and crawling like a pro. Claire is just starting to try those activities out and can't quite keep up with her older cousin. Overall, the girls played well together. But Maddi did try to beat Claire up and let her know who was boss!

Saturday Kyla, Maddi, Claire and I headed to Columbus to do a little shopping. We had a car full of strollers, carseats and a few good purchases. By the time we got to Target things were starting to get a little crazy. The girls decided to share a cart. But it wasn't long until one started crying and before we knew it neither one of them was very happy. Needless to say this was our last stop of the day!
When we got back to Kyla and Maddi's house it was time for dinner. Maddison was nice enough to share her fingers with Claire.

I didn't really take many pictures this weekend, but here is an ok picture of the two girls Sunday before we headed home. Maddison looks like a monster next to Claire in this picture, but there really isn't a huge difference in size.

Thank you, Kyla and Maddison, for your hospitality this weekend! We hope we can do it again soon!

And, for an added bonus....

Monday morning I left Claire on the floor in our bedroom while I ran to the bathroom. When I came back I found her talking to the baby in the mirror. It went on for quite a while before I started the video but you get the idea! You can also see her working on those crawling skills!

Go Illini!

Claire attended her 3rd football game today. She was very well behaved and even took a nap on "Aunt" Amy's lap. We didn't' see an Illini win, but we enjoyed our company. We sure miss having Jeremiah and his mommy & daddy there to tailgate with us though.

5 months

Our little girl is 5 months old already! She continues to do new things everyday. She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth and drools like crazy. She get's up on all fours and scoots everywhere she wants to go. She's eating rice cereal twice a day now and likes to taste anything you let her.

Last night Claire stayed with Great Aunt Kathi while Grandma Marge and I shopped for a whole new wardrobe at One Week Boutique. Tomorrow she'll be taking in her 3rd Illini game.

In case anyone cares, Trever and I are still around too. Trever has been busy getting Carley Calf ready to go to the Spotlight sale in a couple of weeks. We finished up harvest at work last weekend so things have started to slow down there.

And the picture you've all been waiting for....

Fall Fotos!

We've had a lot of fun the last few weeks. My picture taking has subsided a little bit but that just means I can my scrapbook up to date faster!

The last Sunday of October was Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF. Claire got to wear her halloween costume but I didn't get any full body shots. Here is a close-up (not sure why it's so small).


The fall colors were beautiful that day so while we waited on kids to show up I snapped a couple of shots. Here is a picture of Claire the pumpkin with her handsome daddy.

Last Friday we went to a Halloween party where Claire got to wear her costume again. All of the kids had their faces painted so I didn't want Claire to feel left out!


Saturday morning we learned that Claire had a new little boyfriend to play with. Andrew Jesse Todd is the son of our good friends Marla and John. His super cool big brother, Jeremiah, is one of Claire's favorite friends.

Saturday Claire stayed with Gammy and Papa so that Trever and I could go to the football game. She went shopping and played like crazy! No trick-or-treating this year though. We definately enjoyed ourselves at the football game and finally got to see Illinois win again!

Sunday was a beautiful day so we used it to take a few pictures of our beautiful little girl. Here daddy is determined to make a cowgirl out of her!


She really gave this pumpkin a complete inspection!

And this one is my favorite! Claire is such a happy girl!