Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone and a week later I'm finally getting around to loading pictures. We enjoyed spending time with both sides of our family and had such a great long weekend!

Maddison spent a few extra days in Illinois and Gammy & Papa brought her over for a play date.

The girls had so much fun playing together! They even played ring around the rosey with Gammy!

And then they put on matching pjs and shared a banana.

Thanksgiving morning we headed to Greg & Kathy's so the girls could get some play time in. Maddison wasn't too sure what to think about Great Papa Kuipers, but Claire knows who to keep on her good side!

Of course there were lots of attempts to get agood picture for a Christmas card.

Claire thinks the Great-Grandma Ficklin's cane is pretty cool.

And attempts to get good pictures of the girls. This is the only picture where bothe girls are smiling and almost looking at the camera. So what if they have their fingers up their nose!

After lunch we head to LeRoy. There wasn't a lot of excitement with the Builta side of the family. We just hung out and ate some more!

On Friday, we worked around the house. Trever put up the Christmas tree and waited for Claire to get up from her nap to check it out. She thought it was pretty cool and has been pretty good about leaving it alone. However, I did catch her driving a choo choo train ornament across the kitchen floor.

Friday night we went to Champaign and met the Read side of the family for dinner. Claire really wanted to take Congo with us, but we left him home. That's pretty much the extent of our holiday weekend. We have a big weekend ahead of us. Claire will be spending a lot of quality time with Papa Wayne while Trever and I take 2 heifers to a sale in Chillicothe. Keep your fingers crossed that we sell the heifers for big bucks and that Claire doesn't need very many diaper changes!

17 months

This past week we went to Maroa and watched our niece, Caisey, play basketball. It was her 8th grade night and she and her parents were introduced before the game.

We didn't get very many good pictures since we were trying not to use the flash. Caisey started the game and played the majority of it.

This week Claire also turned 17 months old. We are a few days late with pictures, but at least we got one with a smile.

And one proving that the terrible twos aren't very far away.

At 17 months Claire...

• Loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the Hotdog song
• Talks about babies and carries her doll around the house. She's also been seen trying to feed her baby cherios and her sippy cup.
• Climbs in the bathtub.
• Likes to sit on her potty chair but that's all she does.
• Reads lots of books. She likes to say "what's that?" and have us tell her. Or she will point to the characters when we name them.
• Grandma Marge has taught her what to say in response to "I-L-L" and it sounds a little like "I-I-I"
• She pulls the kitchen chair up to the counter to help make supper
• Pretends to talk on the phone but refuses to talk on the phone for real
• Pretends lots of things are telephones and holds them up to her ear.
• Holds things up to her eyes (phones, books, sunglasses) and says "CHEESE"

Trick-or-Treat

Claire had her first Trick-or-Treat experience this past weekend. She was the cutest little lion in town! She held daddy's hand as we walked from Ms. Mary's house, to Ms. Roberta's to Ms. Sandy's.

She didn't care too much about the candy but liked to walk right in the door and make herself at home! She really enjoyed her cheetos from Ms. Sandy's house!

After a couple of stops in Piper City we headed to Great Papa's house in Gilman. He was so excited that Claire stopped by to play! And Claire helped pass out some candy and fruit while we were there.

Claire had her first taste of smarties and now she's in love!

After Great Papa's house we headed to visit Uncle Russ & Aunt Janet & Kelly. They had kitties and horses so Claire was in heaven. She even gave the horse a kiss!

We made a stop at Great Grandma Ficklin's house and got a TON of goodies before heading to Gammy & Papa's house for some trick-or-treating and pizza.

We've had a big week since Halloween too! Trever was gone Monday-Thursday for work so Monday night Grandma Marge came home with me and played with Claire while I packed up some stuff and did a little cleaning. On Tuesday we got up really early so that I could go vote and then we all headed toward Farmer City. Claire spent the day with Grandma and then we went trick-or-treating in LeRoy. We went to Great Grandma's house, "Aunt" Barb's house and JP & Linsay's house. At Aunt Barb's she had her first experience with pop rocks which was pretty entertaining. We came home Wednesday night but not until we took Shelbie out for dinner and did some trick-or-treating at the Voelkers. Thursday night we hung out at home, took a bath and hit the sack waiting for daddy to come home. Trever got home about midnight and then came home early tonight so we could have a normal evening as a family. And, he is in charge of dinner. It looks like we are having pork burgers and cornbread stuffing from a box. Yummo!

Happy Halloween!

Last night we carved Claire's first pumpkin! She wasn't real sure what to think about the goop inside.

But she sure enjoyed scooping it up once it was outside of the pumpkin.

Then, daddy decided he wanted to carve something special in the pumpkin for Claire.

Claire is OBSESSED with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse thanks to her daddy so he fueled the obsession a little more.

Claire thought it was pretty cool but refused to look at the camera to prove it. She would much rather giggle at the candle inside and say "hot hot"

The best picture we could get of Claire with her Mickey Mouse pumpkin!

Tonight we'll get more pictures of Claire's first trick or treating experience!

P is for...a weekend in review

Peanut

This one is now a little over a week old but I still wanted to share it! This was taken Saturday, October 9th when I got to meet baby Hunter for the very first time!

Puppy Pajamas

Claire loves her jamjams with the "pupuhs" on them. And she loves to say CHEEEEEEEESE!

Pretty in Pink

All bundled up and chewing on that lip with her brand new teeth!

Pads

I can tell which one is Graham out on the field because his hip pads stick out of his pants! He's the one looking at me!

POMS

Shelbie cheers for Grahams football team. She does a really nice job!

Points

Graham scored a touchdown for his team! It was pretty exciting to watch!

Photo Op

We took our first trip to Rader Family Farms. Claire woke up after the drive down and wasn't sure what to think of all of the people!

Petting Zoo

Claire is a huge animal lover. She really enjoyed the goats and the baby pigs.

Poultry

Rader Family Farms had a few chickens running around. Claire really enjoyed chasing them and following them under the trees.

Playing

They Pumpkin Patch had a couple of big tubs of corn to play in. Claire LOVED it and wanted to go back!

Proof

A family picture to prove that all three of us were there together. Grandma Marge went too, but I didn't get any pictures with her in them.

PUMPKINS!!!

The whole point of the trip! Claire got to pick out her very own pumpkin. She thought this one was a little heavy.

Pointing

Claire has started pointing and counting things. She will repeat numbers after us and she enjoyed counting some pumpkins with Grandma at the Pumpkin Patch.

Pitchin'

Yes, she got her way and went back to play in the corn some more! She liked to pitch the corn around the tub.

Play house

There was a little village of play houses at Rader Family Farms. Claire got right in there and played with the big kids!

Princess

Claire & daddy climbed up on the straw bale castle. Claire sure wanted to do what the big kids were doing.

Presents

A special thank you to Aunt Jeanie & Uncle Steve for sending Claire the shirt she is wearing in the pictures at the Pumpkin Patch

Potty

And, the biggest news is that Claire went potty on the big girl potty this morning! I'm pretty sure she didn't know what was going on but she woke up dry and we sat her on the potty and she did her business! Here's to hoping this becomes a trend!

16 months

I think the theme for the past month would have to be babies! We have been able to meet lots of new little friends in the last few weeks, celebrate babies on the way and even worry a little about babies wanting to come too early or one that really wasn't sure he wanted to come at all!

The first weekend in October we had some very special house guests. The Todd family came to stay with us on Friday night and we all got to tailgate together before the football game on Saturday. I didn't get Andrew in the picture, but here is Claire with her friend, and one of my favorite little boys, Jeremiah.

We also got to meet Baby Abby at the tailgate. Abby's mommy & Claire's mommy use to show pigs together and then were in the same dorm & sorority in college. We were very excited to finally meet her!

After a big day of football on Saturday we headed to Grandma & Grandpa Builta's house to celebrate Great Grandma Builta's birthday. Claire wasn't sure what to think about the singing and fire on the cake. Great Grandma made Claire the bib she was wearing and a really cute little jacket. They are two of our favorite items right now.
Claire LOVES her kitty. She tends to be a little rough with him as you can see here.

Saturday morning I got to meet one of the newest members of our "family". I don't have a picture of little Hunter but I hope to beg his mommy & daddy for one soon.

Saturday evening we got to meet Mr. Caleb. Caleb's mommy & Claire's daddy have been friends for a long time. He was an awfully good boy during his visit and Claire thought he was ok. I'm afraid he might have gotten a little roughed-up by Claire if he'd been here much longer!

And on Sunday I helped host a baby shower for our good friends Nicole & Kevin. They are expecting their first baby in December! They've had a rough couple of weeks and Nicole was really excited to be out of the house for a while...and doesn't she look great!?!

And today Claire turned 16 months old. She is becoming quite a big girl! If only we could get her potty trained! :) So, here is what Claire is up to at 16 months....

• Cottage Cheese! This kid would never eat anything else if we didn't make her!
• She pets the heifers on the nose and tongue and then squeels and puts her hands up to her face like she thinks it's the coolest thing ever!
• She says "shhh" when she sees a baby.
• She amazes me with how well she can follow directions. When she wants to follow directions that is. For example, I just asked her to push the chair under the table and she did!
• She likes for us to pour water in to her little toy cups and then spills most of it down her front.
• She says lots of words that we understand.
• She likes Elmo and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She says "hotdog" and dances just like Mickey does.
• She climbs up and down out of her high chair.
• She can count to 3 without much prompting and Ms. Mary & Ms. Cierra are working with her on her colors and shapes.
• She says "cheese" when she sees a camera or cell phone.
• She likes to watch tv and mommy likes that she will sit quietly while the tv is on.

I've been trying to catch more simple daily activities with her on camera. Hopefully I'll do better than I have. Here are her 16 month pictures with the incredible shrinking bear!!!