Claire's Creations

Claire loves to organize and make patterns, and she is getting pretty creative.

A little over a year ago, her creations usually looked something like this:



Then a few months later, she graduated to things like this:


And this:


She really liked sorting my shoes:


In the last couple of weeks, I've realized that I need to start recording these.  This was a little over a week ago. She started changing this one, but shortly before I took the photo, she had made lots of little pyramids out of her legos and arranged them in a circle.


In the playroom, books lined up on the window sill, each with a piece of her letter puzzle on top.


She put this one together with things she gathered from our bedroom and her toys.  It may be her most creative yet.


I think someday I'll have to make a photo book comprised of her special projects!

Catching up

I've had several projects going lately that have been filling time I could otherwise use for blogging, like:

• Working with a lender to refinance our mortgage (taking advantage of these low rates!)
• Cleaning out our office (we got a new desk that doesn't have a lot of drawers - time to reorganize!)
• Reading a book for Book Club
• Keeping up with a couple of studies with church
• Working on our 2011 blog book
• Figuring out what we're going to do for Claire's 4th birthday

Before I get any further behind, I finally sat down and went through all of the photos I've taken so far this year and hadn't blogged already - you can scroll through January and February or use these links to see what you've missed!

The First Day
A Night Away
Train Fail
January Random
January Random - Food Edition
Our personal playground
Visiting the Children's Museum
Feburary Random

Claire-isms

It's funny now to think that I used to be worried about whether Claire would talk - she is such a little chatterbox now, and her speech has just continued to improve.

Today Will slept in (hallelujah!) and we had a little more time together with just the two of us than usual.  She takes a computer class at her school and gets to play games sometimes during free play and has gotten pretty knowledgeable about computers (especially for a not quite 4 year old!).  She doesn't get much time on our computer at home, usually because Will is underfoot, but today was a good chance for her to play.  I was already getting ready to type in the site she likes when she said very matter-of-factly said "Mommy - go to PBS Kids dot org."  Her enunciation was so precise, and I loved that she got the "dot org" in there - it was all I could do not to crack up.

Crawford House comes to town - Part Two

Team McCormick invited us all over for a play date Friday morning.  Jill, Lindsay, and I have all been friends since college, and it was so nice to be able to get together and enjoy spending time with each other and all of our children.

Future golfer?


Chalk fun!






Always up to something...


We were sad to see the Crawfords go - hopefully it won't be as long until we're able to see each other again!

Crawford House comes to town - Part One

Lindsay's eldest son had a winter break this past week, so 3/4 of Crawford House came to San Antonio for a couple of days.  They arrived on Wednesday night, and Claire was so excited to see the boys!  She ran through the house squealing and giggling - it took awhile before she was able to calm down enough to even say hello to them.  Will wasn't sure what was going on, but since Claire seemed to think it was so exciting, he just joined in.

On Thursday I took Will to school and kept Claire home so we could have some fun with just the bigger kids.  While Lindsay and I got ready to go, Claire, JTC, and AJC bonded over some game time.





We spent most of the morning at Kiddie Park, a local old fashioned amusement park with rides for younger kids.  They day was slightly drizzly and overcast, so there weren't many people there.  It was perfect - the kids were able to ride every ride at least once without standing in line.  The park is small enough that we could let them run from ride to ride and easily follow them around, allowing us to actually visit.  We all had a great time!













After burgers and fries at Cheesy Jane's, we went home and Claire, AJC, Lindsay, and I all got naps while JTC watched a movie.  I picked up Will, and the kids had fun in the playroom until dinner.

February Random

February 5 - Claire is usually up from nap/rest time before Will, and today I finally broke out the watercolors I'd bought a few months ago.  Not sure why I waited so long - she had so much fun and I got a nice piece of art out of it.  :)


Feburary 10 - Will working hard on Mr. Potato Head.  I'm continually impressed by his fine motor skills.


Feburary 17 - Today we had a play date with Almudena, Isabella, and Lucia at an indoor play area.  We tried to get a photo of the older girls, but I couldn't get one of both almost 4 year olds standing still with my iPhone camera.  Maybe if I was better at Photoshop...  ;)




Feburary 20 - Paying close attention at Little Gym


Feburary 27 - My sweet babies!  Will loves to lay on the couch pillows, usually just for a few seconds.  Today he started playing "Night, Night!", and Claire would cover him up with a blanket and pat his back.  It was so precious.

Visiting the Children's Museum

One of the things I put on Claire & Will's Christmas lists was a membership to the children's museum in New Braunfels.  My parents got it for them, and it has already gotten a lot of use!  We go probably at least 3 times a month (in addition to visits for a couple of recent birthday parties).  It only takes about half an hour to get there, and they love the change of scenery and being able to run around.







Will usually grabs the same things in the grocery store - bread, chicken, apples, pizza, and a fish.




He has a great checkout person!


It also usually results in good naps.  Although I try to keep them awake until they get home, it doesn't always work.  :)

Our personal playground

Our church has a small playground that is geared for small children (5 and under), and it has become a regular go to spot for us when the weather is nice.  It's great for Claire and Will - fenced in and all the equipment is suitable for their ages, so I don't have to constantly hover.  There's never anyone else there during the random times we go, so it feels like our personal playground.







The only downside is that Will seems to cover himself in mulch every time, so I've started bringing a change of pants.  Boys!

"Balentime's Day" 2012

Claire was really excited about Valentine's Day (or "Balentime's Day", as she likes to call it) this year.  Her teachers asked for the kids to bring a box from home for their cards and treats.  Claire, Will and I made a special trip to Target to buy supplies, and she picked out blue paper and some stickers for her box.  I got the box ready and covered during her nap one day, and she had a fabulous time covering it with stickers.


It was so hard for her to leave the box alone until the party next week - I ended up hiding it and her valentines so that they would still be intact by the 14th.  I was able to go to the party - she wasn't too interested in the food when there were cards and treats to pass out!


She passed out her valentines and then waited so nicely while her box was filled.


The boxes were put away to open at home, and Claire was so, so happy and excited to see all of her valentines from her friends.  So nice to get a photo of her real smile!


I've been letting her have a couple of pieces of candy each day, and she still loves sorting her cards and examining all of the treats every day.  She also loves carrying around several of her leftover Dora cards.  They are ragged, but she has so much fun arranging and counting them that I think I'll let them stick around a little longer.

January Random - Food Edition!

Since I seem to take so many food-related photos, they may deserve their own post.

January 11 - Homemade pizza night!  (Well, the crust was purchased, but we topped it ourselves!)  Spinach, mushroom, and cheese - my favorite.


January 13 - I eat at least one salad almost every day at home, and it rarely wavers from the following - baby greens, celery, heart of palm, feta cheese, and dressing.  Claire likes feta and heart of palm, so she usually asks for a few bites.  Tonight she asked for her own salad, and I gleefully made her one.  She ate most of it!


January 20 - Will feeding himself his yogurt - messy, but he has fun and needs to figure it out.  He did really well!


January 29  - Smoothies have become a favorite snack.  I've been making a lot of green smoothies - adding something green and leafy to get in a few more vegetables.  You can't taste it, and we all love drinking them.  I usually do spinach but tried kale today - I just had to have photos of my kids happily "eating" kale.

January Random

Last year I had my Project Life posts to catch all the random photos I took during the month; this year, I think I'll just do a post at the end of the month to capture anything I missed.

January 4 - Claire is entering the phase where she primarily wants to wear skirts, dresses, and/or leggings.  One of her favorite looks is a skirt with a pair of Baby Legs (little legwarmers that she used to wear with onesies - they are really stretchy, so she'll be able to wear them for a long time).  She accentuated her look with her new pink sparkle shoes.


January 11 - Now Will has graduated from just pulling things out of the drawer to putting himself in it.


January 16 - Today was Claire's first Little Gym class.  Afterwards she showed me her forward roll.  She loved it!


January 20 - So proud of himself for figuring out how to crawl into the drawer again.


January 23 - One of their favorite activities - rides in the wagon.  Will can almost push Claire.  It probably won't be much longer until he's really good at it.


January 30 - The kids were playing independently while I cleaned up the kitchen.  I had turned on a show I'd recorded on the Food Network (probably Pioneer Woman), and I had to laugh when Claire sat on the coffee table wearing her horns headband and intently watched along.