Merry Christmas Eve!

It's been a very white Christmas here in Dubuqueland, with snow coming down all day and probably putting us at nearly 25 inches of snow for December. After lots of time spent playing inside and out, Claire and Lise are nestled, all snug in their beds, with visions of sugarplums (or not!) dancing in their heads. Before Kate and I settle down for our long winter nap, we figured we'd share some pictures from last week's Christmas celebrations and today.

Lise, advertising for LL Bean water bottles, a great gift from Nana!

Claire, demonstrating her dance moves in her new pink skirt, courtesy of Pa and Grandma Fran.

Lise, entranced by Claire's princess wand.

The girls, celebrating Christmas Eve.

A surprise visit from the color-coordinated uncles and their funny shoes.

Claire, Lise and Will shovel, for the third time today.

The merry shovelers

Lise enjoys a Christmas cookie.

Fall Songs and Stories Video

We had a very good Thanksgiving up north in the snow with Will's family! Unfortunately, we forgot to take any pictures. To make up for poor blog posting and no Thanksgiving pictures, we have a rare video to bring you. Claire (and Lise) do all sorts of fun songs and poems they learn at Amy's house (day care). We've been trying for weeks to get Claire to do them for the camera, but she usually clams up as soon as she sees it. For whatever reason, Sunday night she was all for singing and talking for the camera and she kept thinking of more and more songs/stories she wanted to do while I took video of her (and then she wanted to watch it after that.) So here is a video of some of her favorite fall songs/stories! Enjoy - because chances are good you'll never see these in person - she's too shy! (sorry about the sound quality)

Jun 22, 2009 and Oct 24, 2010

4 years old!

Claire is now 4 years old! (on Nov. 3) Time flies when you're having fun; I can't believe it's been that long since we brought her home (it's been nearly as long since we updated the blog - sorry about that!)

Here are some pictures (thanks to Pop) of the birthday girl about to eat her requested blueberry cake, and of her and Lise before the present opening began.


Hopefully some more recent pictures will be posted sometime before... next year.

The Flower Girls

We were too busy to take many pictures last weekend at E's wedding. Here are a couple we have. "Ma" made the flower girl dresses!

Father-daughter hike in the Mines of Spain

Claire and I got out for a little hike while the rest of the family was sleeping on a beautiful fall Saturday morning. They missed out on some fun!

Sisters!

Here are some gems from this weekend! I think they're pretty lucky to have each other as sisters!

Happy cleaning!

You know how some people love to clean... but only when they are procrastinating doing something more important? (taxes, writing their thesis or a paper, etc.) Well, Claire it seems is no different. We've gotten into the routine that after her bath on Sunday evening, we put Lise to bed, then Claire and I clean the bathrooms. She is always super excited to help (and is getting to be an actual help!), of course mostly I think she likes it because she gets to stay up 'late' with Mama doing something!

Matching pjs and a favorite toy

Circle time

Claire has been running 'Circle Time' at our house most everyday, just like they do at Amy's daycare. Claire, of course, is Amy. Lise doesn't mind sitting and listening to a story, or playing with a toy. But one day last week when Claire wasn't around, Lise came over to the 'circle time' spot in the kitchen and patted the ground where she wanted Will to sit (just like her sister does with her). Then she sat in Amy's spot and picked up a book!

Racing

I ran a 5K earlier in the month for the first time in a while. I had a great crew that enjoyed themselves while I was running by eating, cheering for other runners, and dancing. Here are a few pictures of the day:

September I

Can you tell September has been a busy month?
Here's a few pictures from the end of August and beginning of September:


Lise likes ice cream (here rainbow sherbet mixed up a bit) but she does have a difficult time getting over the coldness of the treat.



Both Lise and Claire love fresh tomatoes. Lise was 'helping' me pick some from the back deck and the next thing I knew she was eating this one like an apple. I added the bib and put her in her chair so she wouldn't get the seeds all over the house!

August

We are terrible bloggers but occasionally somebody reminds us that we haven't posted pics in a while so here goes...

Colorado part 3

This is what Iowa had to offer when we returned.

A cardboard box is truly the best gift 2 girls can get.

Lise perfected her wave on the trip.

Sometimes when it was raining in the mountains the girls decided to cook at the outdoor kitchen the nearby school yard offered.

Lise tests the waters of Turquoise Lake.