Convenience??

Tonight my husband and I had to go to the dreaded Wal-Mart. Now, we have a new shiny, happy Wal-Mart but we were already on the very busy road the old location was on so for convenience reasons we went to the old store. I'm telling you it wasn't worth it. It was over crowded, had undesirable people there, and worst of all was that after being in line for a few minutes the cashier suddenly said "oh, I'm closed - this is the last transaction" three carts ahead of us. Nice! Not only was the store ridiculous but I was with Dustin. I love my husband a lot but he has this incredible ability to take any process and make it take 40 minutes longer than it needs to. I mean it, he slows everything down. Take right now for instance, I need to bake two loaves of zucchini bread to give Claire's teachers tomorrow and instead I am blogging because he has taken over my whole kitchen making chili that is so stinking spicy that none of his coworkers will even be able to eat it tomorrow. Joy.

I have pictures of the cooking mess but can't find my camera cord. Check back soon!

It really IS the most wonderful time of the year!

I LOVE Christmas. Really, I love Halloween through New Years but I especially love Christmas. Not only is it a time for praise and family, but just the whole holiday season is more magical than the rest of the year. Luckily I have a husband that agrees with me so when I start listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving there are no complaints. We are both big kids when it comes to Christmas and we can't wait to celebrate Claire's very first one.

Every year we go to Helping Hands nursery and buy a tree that was cut down in the mountains and brought to the shop. I love the whole process of picking a tree, bringing it home, putting lights on, and putting on all of the decorations. I really enjoy decorations that tell a story. In fact, the story of our family is told through ornaments on our tree.

We met in 2005

Got engaged in 2006

We got married in 2007

Pregnant in 2008

And now in 2009, we are celebrating Claire's first Christmas!

Our Tree :)

If you could see the bottom of the tree in this picture you would notice a lack of presents. That is due to another tradition: Christmas Eve shopping. Who's with me?!?

Time Keeps on Slipping Into the Future

Can you believe that my sweet little girl will be 6 months old on Monday?!? Isn't that the most ridiculous thing you've heard lately. I just can't believe it! We have hit a couple of milestones to mark the occasion both good and bad. The first good thing is that she has a tooth and a half. The half is because the second one is just barely poking through the gum but it's definitely there. Another good milestone is that she has spoken her first "words." I know you expect it to be "dada" like most babies but I have worked super hard on her and she has started with "mama!" That's right, she is saying mama!! Well she is actually saying mamamama... but you get the idea. I'm trying to make her connect the words to me now. She is so stinking cute. Now for the bad milestone, Claire officially has her first ear ache. Sweet baby. It hurts my heart to see her so sad. She has been on meds for three days now so she is feeling better but it's still so sad. I was told I don't include enough pictures of her on my blog so here ya go! (notice a theme with the chair?)