Fall Leaves

Helping Daddy rake a million leaves

Doesn't everyone work in the yard in a pink hat and striped tights?

The jumper she has on is size 12 months...so tiny

Frolicking in the leaves

What a fun day!

Big Girl Bed

Last weekend while my parents were visiting they bought Claire her big girl bedroom furniture! We got the mattress today (who knew how fun a mattress store is for a toddler?) She LOVES her new bed. I think I will start with naps in it then eventually move to night time as well. No rush, we still have a few months before we need the crib for baby #2. I put the sheets on the bed and we are putting up a guard rail but the bedding and curtains and stuff don't come until Monday, so I'm sure I'll take more pictures once the room is all set up and the crib is moved into the baby's room!

My Little Witch

I can't believe this is Claire's second Halloween! She is going to be a witch this year...appropriate since her attitude has been pretty witchy this past week. I can see some more teeth coming in so maybe that explains it. As you can tell from the pictures, she was not having much fun carving the pumpkin (neither was Daddy...I am a fun forcer). She got to wear her costume on Tuesday to Little Gym and we will wear it again on Friday for the Stroller Strides party. I am shocked that she didn't pick off all of the feathers on the sleeves. My parents are coming in for the weekend so they will get to spend Halloween with us! Trick or Treat!

Weekend in Lubbock

This weekend Brad, Claire and I made the long drive up to Lubbock for the Tech/ATM game. Brad was able to take a half day on Friday so we left around two. We stopped in Abeline to let Claire run around Walmart, then we had dinner at Cracker Barrel. The best part about the trip was when we were about an hour outside of Lubbock and Claire says from the back seat "It's stinky." She was smelling the oil wells and the cattle...we laughed so hard. On Sat. we went to Brad's dad's girlfriends house (Tommy) and Claire and her dog Shammy became best friends! Then we met my college friends Lauren and Lauren for lunch near campus. So great to catch up with my girls! We then got really brave and took Claire to tailgate. We walked from lunch, through campus and to the tailgate...remind me never to wear boots again! She did pretty good, but eventually Brad's Dad came to pick her up so Brad and I could enjoy the game alone! Unfortunately the game was horrible. We lost. Oh well, it was a fun weekend!

The Dallas Arboretum

On Sunday Brad and I took Claire to the Dallas Arboretum. It was the most gorgeous day...high of 70...so perfect. We have never been and I'm so glad we went to check it out. They had a million pumpkins, a maze made out of hay and a ton of space for Claire to run around. Next time I'll pack a picnic so we can spend more time there! We brought her stroller but she ended up walking the whole time and exploring. Just one of those perfect days...

Fall Fun

We've had a busy week! I took Claire to the petting zoo with the Stroller Stride Mom's on Wednsday. It was SO muddy and hot...after a quick look at some farm animals and grabbing a pumpkin we were done! On Thursday we took Claire to my Dr. appt to find out we are having another girl! I am so excited that Claire gets a sister...I know I love having one! Brad is excited too...but I think we will try once more sometime in the not so near future for a boy! Grandad and Tommy came to visit on Thursday so we were able to tell the big news to them in person. On Friday we went to a pumpkin patch then lunch at Chick-fil-A.

Anyone want to buy my pumpkin?
Claire, Sam and Morgan

Mom this face is for you!

Chick-Fil-A play area

Claire and Grandad

Another successful trip!

Claire, Gracie and Liberty

Our Little Model

We took Claire to the Dallas Child model search this morning at the North Park mall. I was watching PBS earlier this week and saw an ad mentioned about it and thought...what the heck...if anything it will be funny to see how she handles herself! So I registered her online and paid the $35 fee. We got there at 10:00am and waited in a long line full of beautiful children ages 1-12 who seemed to be able to pose and smile on command.... hhmmm. We had to get a number for her to hold as she walked down the runway and I had to answer some questions about her (What does she want to be when she grows up ?: I put a princess. And If she could live anywhere in the world where would it be?: I put...home). Look, I'm new at this thing...not a pro like some of the stage Mom's that were there. At this point I'm thinking, yeah right, there is no way I'm getting a 20 month old to walk by herself down a runway in front of a large crowd. But we drove all the way there and Brad was waiting with the camera so I figured, lets go make a memory. When it was her turn she did her thing! Just marched down the runway like we had practiced it 100 times. We were so proud of her and the judges smiled and laughed. It was a fun experience...we won't do it again though. It's a lot of work...not a ton of fun for the kids and I'm just not sure this is what Claire is destined to do ;)