Halloween Fun

For Halloween, our playgroup had a super fun potluck lunch and play time. We had fun Halloween food - like Halloweenie pockets, banana ghosts, mummy wraps, mummy drinks, pumpkin cookies, orange-caramel popcorn balls, and much more! And the kids got to wear their costumes, of course! Claire had a blast in this little car.

Then, for the evening, we had dinner with some friends and went trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. Oh, and maybe I should mention that Claire is a little Korean girl, (since she's wearing the Korean dress we got her in San Francisco). I was going to spray her hair black, but I got afraid because the black hair spray said it might be permanent on children under 7 and on people with very fine, very light-colored hair. Since Claire fits in both of those categories, I decided not to risk it!

Claire and Jackson - I'm glad we could go trick-or-treating together!

At first, Claire was running ahead of us and was full of energy. After a while, though, she asked me to hold her pumpkin "because it's too heavy."

There's a see-saw in this yard with two skeletons going up and down; when Claire saw it, she said she wanted a turn. Love it!

We also got to see our former neighbors who moved into this neighborhood earlier this year. I loved seeing them again!

Happy Halloween! I'm glad we had such a fun time with so many friends today!

Trunk or Treat

Saturday night we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat at church, (and Jordan gracefully recorded the important football games going on that evening so that we could all go together). After we ate, I took Claire to the booths to play some games, and she absolutely loved it! She especially loved her pink balloon cat, (which came partway undone by the end of the evening).

I sat in the trunk and passed out candy with a friend, and Jordan took Claire trick-or-treating. 

When I got her pink pumpkin down from the attic earlier this month, I told her that on Halloween she could say "trick or treat," and people would give her candy. When she relayed this fun and exciting fact to me a day or two later, she said, "I'll say trick or treat and they'll give me candy and then I'll say THANK YOU!" That's right, Claire! Way to go!

Class: Halloween

Claire and I have been having fun with Halloween classes lately.

Acting like a ghost!

Boo!

New Bed

Claire has a new bed - kind of, at least! Jordan took her crib down, and now she's using her crib mattress on the ground as a new bed. She loves it! Sometimes when I peek at her while she's asleep I see that she's half on and half off the mattress. But she doesn't seem to mind!

Milestones

At the beginning of the year, I wasn't quite sure how we'd make it through the next 10 months. For 8 of those 10 months, Jordan was working away each Monday through Thursday. That means he left either Sunday night or early Monday morning, and he didn't usually come home until Thursday afternoon. His various clinical sites gave him lots of experience, and they also gave Claire and me a lot of alone time. I tried to fill at least some of my time with friends so that I could have some adult conversation between Monday and Thursday, and I tried to stay active with some hobbies.

On our way home from Dallas earlier this month, we stopped by one of Jordan's clinical sites to visit him. We saw the house where he stayed sometimes, we ate dinner together, and we visited the Mississippi River. We loved seeing him on a day in the middle of the week - instead of having to wait for a Thursday so he could come home!

Jordan's clinical site is in the background of this picture.  He had an awesome view!

I'm happy to report that we have made it through those weeks and months with Jordan away! That part of his schooling is finished! We are looking forward to the next milestones: being completely finished with clinicals, getting a job, graduating, planning for our move, (since right now we don't know where we're going!), and taking the national board test to get certified as a CRNA. We both can't wait! I'm just happy that one of these major milestones is complete. When we're faced with something hard, it can seem daunting at first; but if we just keep trucking along, we eventually get through it. As weird as it seems for me to be saying this, I feel like the past 10 months have gone by rather quickly! I'm so happy to have Jordan home each day after work again! And I can't wait for the next milestones we get to achieve!

Soccer Time

Claire and I went to Taylor's soccer game in Dallas earlier this month. He played goalie during the first half and saved a lot of would-be goals.

Claire ate snacks, ran around, played with a soccer ball, and acted crazy. 

And here's Taylor's shot that he scored on! 

Carmonica

While Jordan was gone quite a bit during the last month, it seemed that Claire missed him more and more. She would ask for him all the time, and she was sad when he had to leave. That got hard for both Claire and Jordan, so he promised her a present one time before he left. He found a harmonica for her collection of instruments. She calls it her carmonica, and it seems that she's happy with her new toy!

Lessons: Circus

We had one little class on the circus a while back. Claire loved pulling around her circus train. She colored a few circus animals and a clown, and those pictures were in the train.

circus

Laura's Houston Shower

Aunt Debbie and Aunt Carol gave Laura a baby shower in Houston. It was lovely!

Claire got some new shades.

The cake

The food

Aunt Carol, Laura, Aunt Debbie

We ate, we played a few games, and then it was present time. 

I love this picture of Aunt Carol and Grandmom! 

Crystal and Debbie

Good times!

Aunt Carol, Grandmom, Ashley

Me, Laura, Mom

He'll be so cute in this on Thanksgiving!

Ashley and Crystal

Brekka made it, too! It was so nice to see her. We had a great time catching up!

Circle of Toys

The toys in these pictures have been through the circle of life! They have been well-loved and well-used by many generations. I know my grandparents had them when I was little, and I wonder if my mom and her siblings played with them, too. I'm not sure. I am sure that I played with them, but I doubt that I ever used them like this!

Matt made some animal costumes out of them for Claire. First, we have the elephant (big ears, trunk), and she is holding a baby elephant.

Claire's trunk in action

Then Uncle Matt put it on, too.

Then, Matt made her an owl (big eyes, pointy ears). 

He's such a cool uncle! 

Claire loves the book Sam and the Firefly. In the book, Sam is an owl, so it was quite natural for her to ask Matt for a firefly next. (You know, harness and a headband).

 And this is my favorite part. - The light!