Have yourself a...

What's a Christmas Season

without some Temple Square lights?



Claire was "freezing and tired."


Luke was happy.


And so were we!


I love Christmas traditions!

Testing out some new studio lighting

and guess who my test subjects were?

Heart them.

Once there was a snowman...

Claire and Nate decided to build a snowman and lucky for us, we had been given a "Snowman Kit" a few years back (thanks again Langlois!). We busted it out (and the camera of course) and they went to work...well, after I made them pose for a picture.



Then Claire tackled Nate.




Then they went to work.


She's built!


Claire named her "Jilly."

Love us some snow.

The first big snowfall was in mid-November and Claire was loving it.





Then she thought it'd be fun to "sneak up" on Nate's truck (he was still at church) and throw a snowball at it. Here she is "sneaking up."


She's not much of a thrower. More like a presser.


"Ha ha ha! Got it!" So proud of herself.

happy thanksgiving!

I realize that I haven't blogged about September yet, but it seems too daunting to go back...I'm going to try to do it next week though!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving planned. I asked Claire what she was grateful for and this was her list...keep in mind that this is verbatim:
~Mommy (I'll take that!)
~My buddy, Luke
~Boo (her stuffed animal from Monsters Inc)
~Movies
~God (I love that she said God, not Heavenly Father)
~That she can make Luke smile
~Cousins
~Daddy
~Pictures (so proud this made her list)

Ahhh...the simple joys.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Luke is six months!

I can't believe how much faster time flies with your second child. The Lukey-man is officially six months old. He's been sitting like a champ for a few weeks and he smiles every time you look at him, which means his pictures super easy.



Some of his favorite things to do are:
-Sit by himself
-Smile, especially when Claire comes to get him from his nap
-Eat anything we feed him
-Sleep - he still sleeps 18-19 hours a day
-Smile
-Take baths with his sister, although he doesn't like water dumped on his head
-Smile :)



Stats:
Weight: 16.5 lbs 48th percentile
Height: 28 inches 85th percentile





Love that bum. :)

Teeth!

Luke's first two teeth came in within five days of each other. The only reason I knew was when he was opening his mouth for a bite and I saw it. Then the next one came in. He's such a chill little dude. Must take after his dad. :)

Happy Halloween!

Claire really wanted to be Snow White for Halloween, and I really wanted the kids to match. Claire said, "How about Luke is the seven dwarfs?" So we decided to choose the dwarf who Luke is most like: Sleepy. That boy loves his sleep.


Claire all ready to go!




Luke was more than ready to go trick or treating for his first time!

Trick or treatin

Claire and Luke went trick or treating a total of 6 times this year. I captured a few of those occasions:

At a preschool party


At the rest home with Pirate Corgan and Skeleton Dylan


And at Nate's work


I love this time of year!

Pumpkin Patch!

Claire had a preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch. It was freezing. Literally freezing.


Claire was the Line Leader for the day. Her words, "Being the line leader is great."


We started off listening to some Halloween stories from the owner.


Then they were off to choose their pumpkin! Claire wanted a "baby pumpkin." I think she found it.


We ran around the corn maze.


And took a ride with the Carter-man in the pumpkin cart.


Group shot. Claire said, "I think these kids are nice."

Scary Hill

We ventured up to Cherry Scary Hill this year. It took two tries (this first time it was a blizzard), but it was actually a lot of fun.


We did a little mini-golf...


Got lost in the ball pit...


Took a nap and then woke up happy...


And conquered the rock wall.


We'll be putting this on our list to fall activities to do next year. :)

Fall Family Photos

Another edition of "set the timer up and run around!" I'm actually very happy with how some of these turned out. I love these three.