Christmas

I'm on a roll! Time to churn out the blogs before the calendar flips to 2009! I have so many updates to do, but when is there ever enough time!

Christmas came and went... We enjoyed the relaxing days and spent a lot of time with Uncle Casey and Chika as well as the pups. It was wonderful to have Scott around (even if he was working from home) for a bulk of the holiday. We tackled some home projects-- we painted our bedroom!!! Yeah!!!

Backing up... We spent Christmas Eve day over at Uncle Casey's house. He cooked a delicious pulled pork meal, friend plantains, and some other sides. Claire loves climbing up and down on his hearth of this fireplace! Scott sang at midnight mass as Claire and I slept soundly in our beds, waiting for Santa.

We went to church on Christmas day, Claire napped, we opened a few presents, and then Scott created his master piece-- prime rib roast. Casey and Chika joined us. We ate, opened more presents and then played outside since the weather was strangely warm.

Mima and Papa C Visit

Claire's Mima and Papa C drove out from Miami right before Christmas. They were here for a week, and we had a nice time spending the days together. Papa C did help Uncle Casey build a workbench for his house, so he kept busy with that. Mima had plenty of free time to spend with Claire and even baby-sat on 2 occasions.

We went to the neighborhood park one day and brought Carly too. She enjoyed making giant pits for the kids to fall into. One of the days we had light snow and frost-- Claire was more than willing to venture out into the cold weather and even sit in her swing.

We celebrated an early Christmas with the Morrisons. Claire's favorite thing from Mima and Papa C is this magnetic fish puzzle that has a little pole. You dangle the pole over the puzzle pieces and it picks up the fish with the magnet. She has such fun!

We blew it for Santa!

Ugh! I'm going to make a list of things that every new parent needs to know. At the top...

#1. Go see Santa early in the season. Do not wait until 2-3 days before Christmas.

We didn't think too much of it, only knowing that Santa's Village here in Richardson was probably out because of Claire's early bedtime and the long lines. (That's where we went last year, and it worked out well.) So we missed that opportunity.

We decided to go yesterday, down to NorthPark Mall in Dallas. I had a store to hit there, they have pretty decorations. OML!!! Another mistake! Exiting the highway was awful, finding parking, maneuvering through the crowds (and I mean crowds!!!), finding the location, getting there and learning you had to have a number. They were on 125. We were number 300+. It was 4 pm. We learned that we could've stood in line at 8 am and gotten a ticket for that day and come back, but with all the traffic, goodness gracious!

I know there is still today and tomorrow, but with all the crowds and other things that need to be done, plus simply anticipating Claire's reaction ("WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!") I think we will wait until next year. : )

Pearls and Mac n Cheese

After a lunch of mac n cheese and tofu, I needed to get myself ready to go out and run a few errands. Claire amused herself with my jewelry armoire. Fortunately, she is only attracted to one drawer right now-- the one with my pearls-- so she took them all out and proceeded to drape them around her neck. Never mind the fact that we hadn't cleaned up from lunch. My little girl is playing dress up-- with very strict supervision, of course!

Play Time

The older Claire gets, the more interactive with her environment she becomes. Besides being obsessed with reading, she does really enjoy being outside. The weather doesn't seem to phase her. She loves it when her dogs can be with her and is always quick to notice dogs in public places with a "woof, woof." When the weather breaks for us, we take advantage and spend as much time in our backyard or at the parks with friends.

A Thanksgiving Visit

I am late in posting this, but at least it's getting done! (Scott is playing piano with Claire and the pups are rough-housing in the living room-- all is well!)

Gran and Grandad came out for a nice Thanksgiving visit right after our trip to Beaver's Bend. It worked out perefectly from a logistic standpoint and it was great to have them out here. Claire really enjoyed her time with Gran, reading, playing, and just being spoiled! ("No, Gran, she can't have another cookie!")

Even though I had a list of things to do-- go see King Tut, the Zoo, Dickens Christmas-- we really just stayed on the homefront and relaxed. We did get our Christmas tree and decorated it in one weekend-- well, the top half is decorated. Between the dogs and Claire, we have to strategize and consider placement of the ornaments. We also got Claire's tree up the following day and the rest of the house decorated.

But I am getting ahead of myself-- Thanksgiving!

What a great meal with friends and family! Scott outdid himself with the 18 lb. bird. We had our friends, Laura and Alej and Rafi join us before their departure as well as Mom and Dad. Unfortunately, Claire was not interested in trying anything new to eat due to her cough/cold, so mac n cheese it was.

With high hopes, we watched the FSU/UF game, but alas, my poor Noles couldn't defend their own turf and it was a loss for them. Claire donned her FSU cheerleading outfit for the 1st half and then had a wardrobe change for the 2nd half.

Sunday we went to the Dallas Zoo, and it was the emptiest I had ever seen! It was a bit cool, but I suppose most folks were traveling or shopping. Not us! ; ) There were quite a few animals out and about, which was good to see. Claire watched the kangaroos and the rhinos intently. Patrick, the gorilla, was a little overwhelming for her, despite being behind glass.

Gran and Grandad left Monday afternoon, so the morning was filled with packing and errands. The time together was too short, of course, but filled with lots of special memories.

Puppy Love

Beavers Bend, OK

At the beginning of Thanksgiving week, we took a few days and headed up to Beavers Bend State Park in OK. "We" included Scott, Claire, Carly, Reese, and myself-- the whole family. We put that pet barrier to use, only to discover that 30 minutes into our trip that Carly, The Brains, figured out how to slide the gate over. Reese, The Braun, fortunately stayed in place and watched the whole eppisode unfold. It was a pretty easy drive, although once we turned off the highway, there was NOTHING for 45 miles. Short on space, we decided to buy all of our food there, including a stop for lunch. One of the first things we found was a MacDonald's. It was there that Claire discovered the art of dipping. She dipped her fingers and fries into ketchup and sucked it right off!

When we got to the park, our cabin was not ready, so we got to hike around a bit and adjust ourselves to the layout of the park. We missed prime-time fall, but it was still gorgeous to see all the remaining reds, yellows, and oranges as well as all the leaves on the ground.

Our cabin was a basic little abode-- 1 bedrm, 2 twin beds, small kitchen, and living room-- but it worked well for us. We made ourselves comfortable and spent the evenings relaxing, playing games, and reading. The first night I tried to let Reese sleep in my twin bed with me but ended up having to uninvite the poor boy-- it was like sleeping with a small adult!!! (Reese is a healthy 100 lbs.!)

We spent our days hiking and exploring the trails. Claire hung out in her backpack, and even took a nap in it one day! Carly and Reese loved trailblazing-- all the new scents! We had purchased for Carly a backpack to help her burn more energy and give her a job, which worked out quite well. (I'm even using it here in the city on our walks and it has really slowed her down!) Claire loved playing on the cabin floor with her doggies.

4 days/3 nights went quickly, but we returned home to begin the second part of our celebration.

Pet Barrier

Why didn't we get one of these earlier??? What a great invention! It keeps the pups safely in the back and allows us pretty good visibility. Easy to assemble, no drilling into the car, etc. Carly was a little peeved that her co-pilot license was revoked! This should give us a pretty comfy ride to OK this wknd...

A Walk in the Woods

In Dallas? No way! We stumbled across this little nature preserve, right in the middle of the city. Well, I shouldn't say stumbled-- I drive by it at least once a week, but it always looked so sketchy, and I wasn't sure what it was. Anyway, we went out for a hike today and took just the girls (Carly and Claire) to enjoy this beautiful weather we had. Claire enjoyed herself from the backpack (Thanks, Aunt T!) as Scott tried to teach the poor thing, "Go Gators." Carly was a horrible trailblazer and continually lost the path-- thank goodness we did not have to rely on her! We saw nothing more than a few little birds, but it was a wonderful break from city life.

The Morrison Girls and Shoes

Shoes, shoes, shoes! Seems like it's a commonality among us-- we love our shoes! I just recently purchased a pair of sneakers for Claire (when she starts walking) and a pair of black dress shoes (to go with her Christmas dress), and she is in love with them. Yesterday morning, she spent 15 minutes opening and closing the Velcro and asking me to put them on her little feet.







Then there's Carly who loves shoes too, but unfortunately, in a destructive way. After numerous offenses, Carly was hauled off to the Doggie Dentention Center and booked for destruction of private property.

Mima Visits Texas

Shelly came out for a Fall Visit this past week. She was here for Claire's second Halloween and got into the spirit of the holiday with a fabulous she-devil costume. Since I was terribly out-numbered and the Gator game was televised (but poor FSU did not get coverage!), Claire got dressed up in her UF cheerleading outfit-- don't worry, my fellow FSU alumni-- she has a Nole one too. (Gotta love grandmas... Mom and Shelly were both out shopping, different times, different days, and picked out for Claire their own child's alma mater-- same sizes, too!) We did some shopping, went out for lunch, and had a nice time playing around the house. Shelly was here for the Election Party and got to see Scott's solo in the Requiem concert at church last night. "Scott did a wonderful job!" says the proud wife. I did video-tape it, so hopefully I will soon learn how to download digital footage.

Claire has really been on the go! She loves playing in her new sandbox, in which she was making cakes with her mima. She has also started to climb on things-- chairs, Reese, the dishwasher. I am on my toes now more than ever!

Happy Halloween!

Claire was a princess for Halloween-- it's so weird to think that this is her second round at the holiday, but our year of "1sts" is over! We went to the little Halloween festival put on by the city, rushed home to nap, and was all set to go pick up Claire's Mima at the airport until her nap ran long-- never wake a sleeping baby! ; ) Fortunately, Scott was able to get his mother and brought her back. We did walk around the block in costume-- all of us-- and stopped by houses of our friends to say hello. We usually do an after-dinner-stroll, so we stayed in our routine for baby and dogs' sakes.

Owen's Farm

We made our first trip today to Owen's Farm here in Richardson today. The experience included a pumpkin patch, hay ride, petting zoo, and time to play in the hay. Rafi and Laura joined us for this fun excursion, and it was the perfect afternoon-- cool, blue sky, a few clouds, and sunshine. Claire did pretty well with the goats at the petting zoo. They were so cute with their little tongues, licking up all the food you placed on your hand. Claire fed them once and was then content to let me feed them. Towards the end, she was confident enough to reach and touch the horns on one goat and stroke his ears. ("They're big and floppy just like your doggies," I kept telling her.) Claire and Rafi played with the stem of a pumpkin-- so sweet-- before finally choosing their own pumkins.

Another Gorgeous Day

We went to the Dallas Arboretum this week with our friends, Amy and William. We have been really enjoying these wonderful fall days that Texas has given us! Claire and William posed in the pumpkin patch together and played in the hay-bale maze. William is walking, so Claire got lots of photo time as Amy had to chase down William. All the mums were blooming, and with Dallas being in the flight path of the Monarch butterfly, there were some great photo ops.

Mmm... Ravioli!

Every baby has a picture of them eating/wearing spaghetti... spaghetti=ravioli for us. Claire ate ravioli for the first time and definitely enjoyed the process! I cut the pillows into 4 squares and let her eat it as finger-food. She insisted on separating the different pieces of pasta and fishing out the meat. It's another "adult" food we can add to her list of favorites. So far, her menu includes: mac 'n cheese, tuna, salmon, chicken, tomato soup, grilled cheese, yogurt, waffles, pancakes, and whatever Scott and I are eating.

Claire is 13 months old!

Well, here we go! I am going to take my friend's advice (thanks, Erika!) and try to do this blog thing, rather than send out the monthly emails.

Claire is 13 months old today. She has become quite the "physical" baby. For ex., right now she is lifting up my shirt and giving me a raspberry on my tummy. Ever so innocently, I can feel those little baracuda teeth! (She has 9 of them, including 1 molar!) She has moved on from raspberries and currently has the remote control, trying to turn on the TV (which she successfully did a week ago!) and watch The Price is Right. Remote control time is over and she is currently "patting" Reese. He continues to be so good and patient with her!

Another "physical" example of little Claire would be her eating habits. She loves to squish berries (raspberries, blueberries, etc.) between her fingers and then throw them down to the dogs. My big Hoovers love this development.

Sitting still and playing is a thing of the past. (I can hear Lindsey laughing...) She actively moves everywhere. We were over at her friend's house, William, playing in his sandbox. After a while, Claire realized she could fling sand about and enjoyed dumping it outside the box. I took it as a cue that we were done. What fun!

In the beginning...

Genesis 1:1: In the beginning... there were phone calls, emails, and then blogs. Yes, we are finally catching up to the rest of the technology community and beginning a sk8morrison blog. My friend swears that it is the easiest thing in the world to do, so for those of us who are technilogically challenged, I sure hope she's right! (Otherwise, this will quickly become a project for honey!)