Putting up the Christmas Tree November 25, 2011

We put up the Christmas tree today, and in what will be an official tradition if we manage it one more year, I made a timelapse video of the process…

My highlights:

• The toy cabinets are this year being pressed into service as blockades to prevent a certain nine-month-old from interfering.
• Lizzie helped out a lot this year!
• Claire decided to demonstrate on video her new skill of the day: Pushing up to a sitting position from her belly.
• Really, it’s worth watching the whole thing an extra time just to follow Claire’s activities through the whole process…
• Toward the end, Claire lost interest in the tree, found a book, and spent close to ten minutes entertaining herself with it before we noticed…

Morning Playtime November 11, 2011

We had nothing on the calendar today and the girls and I enjoyed a relaxed morning at home. I got out the camera to take a couple pictures of Lizzie playing with her train and Claire got interested. She already loves to ham it up for the camera. What followed is a great series of photos that show off Claire’s rapid tummy crawl. She is only army crawling at this point, but she is fast!!

These were all taken within a minute. She really is that fast!

First Snow! November 11, 2011

We got our first snowfall of the season on Wednesday. It was a gorgeous snowfall with big fluffy white flakes that stuck on the grass and not on the roads! We went out to play on Thursday morning in what was left. There wasn’t a lot of snow, but Lizzie still managed to make several snowballs and a couple of snow angels! Claire loved watching snow from inside, she is still deciding about what she thinks of it on the ground. She liked playing in it and wanted to touch it, but then did not like touching it at all.

Testing out the new snowsuits!

Testing out this pretty white stuff.

Showing off a "snow apple" she found.

Happy Halloween November 11, 2011

We enjoyed a great Halloween and Lizzie is still enjoying the candy. Here are the pictures:

Getting our Jack-O-Latern ready. Lizzie drew on the face. I did the carving.

Lizzie and her three-tooth Jack-O-Lantern!

The full effect!

Rapunzel is all ready to go! Many thanks to Grandma for the costume!!

Showing off her treats!