Christmas preparations

We put up our Christmas tree a few weeks ago; we all love looking at all of our special ornaments.

A baby gate has been a necessary addition, as Clara loves to get into things.

Lucy is as silly and creative as ever.

Clara is quite the walker now, and usually is carrying at least one or two things in her hands.

Some photos from a recent family walk.

We've been enjoying advent time each night, when we light the advent candles, sing a hymn, read a bible story and pray. Lucy loves learning the Christmas hymns- here she is singing Angels We Have Heard on High.

Clara is increasingly independent, with her own mind about where she wants to go!

The girls have a blast playing with each other. Clara often falls in the midst of the roughhousing, but she has a good attitude about it and just keeps going.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a fun day playing, cooking, and going for a little walk. Then we hosted my grandparents and some good friends and their 2 girls for Thanksgiving dinner.

We are deeply thankful for our two little ones.

Big sister pushing little sister in the stroller.

Lucy is really into racing, and ran almost the whole time.

Midway through a game of Pooh Sticks.

I love this look.

 It was a great day, sunny and crisp.

Clara walking and talking.

I had some fun with the place settings this year, thanks to some ribbon, chocolates, and flora from the backyard that Lucy and I gathered.

Lucy set the table for the kids, and made placecards. She and her two friends (3 and 5) got along so well. It was a bit noisy, but they played on their own wonderfully, letting the adults have some relaxing time at the dinner table.

Walking, All Done, Sisters

How's that for a prosaic post title? Here are a few videos for your viewing pleasure:

Clara has been walking more and more, though she can still be pretty wobbly sometimes.

Clara has started communicating with us, which is so fun. She often shakes her head yes or no, and has learned the "all done" sign as well (patting the tray with both hands, though she usually just uses one hand). Unfortunately, more recently she's been deciding that throwing food off of her tray is a better way to communicate that she's done (with a grin, too).

And Clara and Lucy together. They are getting along so well these days. They often make each other laugh while we're in the car, and love playing games together like chase or imitating silly noises- it is so sweet.

Superlatives

I thought it would be fun to do a superlatives post, to spice things up.

Most acrobatic: Lucy walking on the walls. She needed a little help to get up there, but I was amazed at how she stayed up!



Most mixed-up weather: Snow the day before Halloween! Lucy sure loved it, though. We shoveled, made snow angels, built a snowman, had a snowball fight, and did a few sled runs down the mini snow mountain (which finally melted today!).

Most creative use of younger sister's clothes. It's amazing what Lucy can fit into (the jacket, gloves and hat are Clara's).



Sweetest grin.



Biggest age gap: 88 years apart!

Happiest cruiser. Clara is moving around quite adeptly now- and see below for some more exciting news.

Most creative dance outfit.

Best use of a utensil. Clara loves holding spoons, and usually has one in her hand as she cruises around the house. If I try to take it out of her hands at bedtime, she starts sobbing, so now I wait until she's nursing, when she doesn't notice as much.

Most likely to touch the ceiling.

And now onto the video category.

Most exciting development- Clara has taken a few steps on her own! She started taking one or two steps between the couch and a chair on Thursday, and yesterday and today she's kept on going, adding more and more steps. This afternoon, while I was sitting on the couch she walked from the couch to the middle of the room- about 5 or 6 feet. Totally amazing! I captured a few of her steps on camera.

Most balanced- Clara also has started standing on her own for long periods.

Most contagious laughter. The girls at lunch today, cracking each other up. The blue stuff on Clara's face is blueberry juice (she's totally into self-feeding now, and loves all kinds of food- squash, brussel sprouts, beets, cheese, bread, peas, corn, rice, yogurt, blueberries, bananas, etc).

The princess and the bunny

We had a fun halloween. We trick-or-treated at the few houses in our neighborhood, which was just the right amount, and then had some of our neighbors over for apple crisp and hot apple cider. Lucy was so excited about the trick-or-treating and the party- it was quite a night for her!

Our little bunny- isn't she adorable?

Here comes Clara cottontail...

Our beaming princess.

Isn't she lovely?

The 3 of us before we headed out trick-or-treating. I was a lounge singer. ;)

We made a special stop to trick-or-treat at Grandma and Grandpa's.

A new favorite activity for the girls is pushing each other on the fire truck.

The princess and the bunny (who really wanted to munch on those toys).

Pumpkin carving- Lucy loved scooping them out and designing the faces.

And here's a video of Clara pushing Lucy on the fire truck. So cute!

Clara "talking" and Lucy counting

Here are a few longish videos, for those who have the patience/passion. ;) The first two are of Clara playing with magnetic letters. I love all the little exclamations and noises she makes.

I came down one morning and found Lucy counting her cheerios in spanish (thanks to Dora the Explorer). Here she's re-enacting it for me.

Picture feast

The girls are enjoying each other more and more these days. Lucy still loves making Clara laugh, and her new game is crawling around and getting Clara to follow after her.

Clara and I went to my cousin's wedding in San Francisco a few weekend's ago. We both came down with colds, but we still had a great time seeing my aunts and uncles, cousins and their kids, and a good college friend.

Clara is now cruising around on furniture, and can even balance while standing for a few seconds.

Rub-a-dub-dub, 2 girls in a tub! (well, a basket)

Clara is so beautiful, and full of life and joy.

I love this series of Lucy decorating a cake for Great-Grandpa- it reflects her amazing emotional range.

Afternoon at the park

We headed to the park on Sunday. The playground is being renovated, but we had fun just soaking up the sun and watching the dogs and airplanes. I also got to take some nice pictures of the girls.

My two little sweeties.



She's my brown-eyed girl...



Lovely Lucy

Bright-eyed Clara

Our good friend Alainie made her the super-cute hat!

Lucy is uniquely gifted at getting Clara to crack up!

And here's a video of the two of them laughing together.