Thanksgiving Prep

 Claire

I definitely shouldn't have waited so long to teach her how to go to the bathroom on the toilet because she caught on really fast and throughout the week we only had 3 or 4 accidents. The sanitation issue of her trying to touch and clean herself worries me and we are going to go through a lot more soap but it is worth it. She likes to tell daddy when she poops so we can all jump up and down and be excited together still. I have noticed how creative she is becoming with the games she wants to play  from hide and seek, to reading a book to my pet hand (inspired from Bluey). She has been taking a nap again almost every day this week but I can't tell if it is because she is going through a growth spurt or Shay is waking her up too early. She does get grumpy and tantrums really bad when she wakes up or isn't able to rest so we've decided to let her take her naps. 

Shay

Now that it is colder, we have to force her to wear cloths so she can stay warm especially in the mornings instead of just when we are going to play outside. We are able to keep her warm at night with a heater because she doesn't stay under her blanket, or stay on her bed. She always asks to read our books and even though she will look at them herself she likes cuddling in our lap when we read to her much better. This week at the park was her first time trying the bumpy slide and she ended up loving it and went down with Claire over and over! Sometimes she doesn't something so random that cracks me up and this week she started growling at theses blocks when they would fall over as she was stacking them. At first I didn't know it was her but she did it enough that I was able to find the source and get it on camera! The other time was when she came into our room going "mom, mom, mom"  because I had gone in to get something and her show had ended. She might have been saying more but I'm going to continue to think she was saying mom. 

Chris

There is only a month left of this quarter and Chris has found great ways to study the content from the courses and it seems like I'm always catching him using his spare time to go over his flash cards or take the practice test on his phone. We are really excited to get this Christmas break and get to see family, but he is so good at continuing to focus and do what needs to get done. He also takes time to watch movies with me, spend time with the girls in the morning so I can work out, and play with his brothers. We have a great balanced life right now and I'm grateful we have time for everything we want to do because he does what needs to get done when it needs. I was able to finish some of my crafts and get a lot organized and ready for the snow globe ornaments for family to have for their Christmas trees.

Feeling Thankful

Claire

Big news for Claire is that we officially started potty training even though she said no we did it anyway and she goes, "fine" like she has when I tell her to do something. Her first success was telling me she needed to poop and we went to the bathroom really fast then it didn't happen but 5 minutes later she said it again and this time she pooped in the potty! We made a big deal about it, jumping and dancing around and gave her two of the reward peanut butter M&Ms as a reward. She had about 5 accidents throughout the first day and never got pee in the potty but I am determined to not give up just because cleaning up is unfortunate and I know she will get better. I have to now figure out how to leave the house with her and be able to go to the potty...like when we went to the park and just did a diaper because I know the toilets are closed at the park. She did find a walking stick on the way home from the park and looked cute walking with it so I thought it was fun to get a picture especially since the shirt she is wearing is so big on her.

Shay

It is so weird to think she will be two in 3 months! While we were at the park we saw a dad with his little 18 month girl and thought they looked so similar but then on our walk home started talking that she is closer to 2 than we realized. She is learning so fast and seems to be trying out words when we read books and practice sounds with her when she wants something. When ever we come into the living room from the garage or our bedroom doors she runs at either of us and wants us to pick her up. It is a constant reaction and sometimes really nice even though I have to remember to catch my breath before coming in if I just finished a run because she will want to sit in my lap and cuddle. 

Crafts

This week someone in the ward brought me some unused patterns she had that makes stuffed animals and I was able to make one within a couple of days. I've never realized how much I enjoy sewing until I got my own sewing room and time to read and figure out the instructions for different sewing things. Claire immediately claimed it as her own and whenever Shay tried to take it there was an argument and I've had to hide it away since the plan was to give it as a Christmas present. The other project I started was laminated snow globe ornaments that will also be presents with each person's picture in it. I did the painting of the snow in the circle that will be cut out and once I collect all the pictures and get the printed I can add them and then its an easy laminating and cutting to finish. I can't wait!

Thanking November

 Claire

Something I've noticed about my crazy 3 year old is how distracted she can get with things she doesn't want to do and how she won't forget something no matter what if she really wants it. We have clean up time every night before bed, and since having Halloween candy, that is the reward for helping but if we don't clean with her she will forget that she is cleaning and start playing. She is also getting to read on her own! She isn't reading the words but she remembers the stories from when we read together and uses the pictures to remember what to say as she reads to Shay. We got our Halloween cards from Nana and Grandpa in the mail this week and there were some stickers that the girls got to play with. It makes me happy they like them but a little sad they don't even last a day since they just continuously play with them until they are crumpled up on the floor. Claire can now been able to identify the look of some of the letters and numbers and just while I was writing this she was trying to "help" by pressing the numbers and letters she knows.

Shay

The main fun thing about Shay right now is her learning and playing she is now doing! She was having trouble walking in her PJs and decided she was going to scoot around instead and acted like it was no big deal. She also plays the same game a million times when it is just as simple as dumping a collection of pens out on the floor and putting them back in the cup. It seems she has been able to come up with her own games and ideas more often, and most of the involve us lifting her up and spinning her around or carrying her places. Then there are the games she wants to play with Claire, and the ones that Claire doesn't want to share...just so much playing going on in this house. They have almost gone all week without removing all my cushions then yesterday Shay started it again and Claire helped.

Sewing

I did some crafts again! It began when it started getting chilly and we were worried about the girls being cold at night and wanting to buy more warm PJs for them. At first I was going to hit up the thrift store but then thought it would be easier to just make them from my fabric stash. I don't have a big stash but I did have some fleece that wasn't being used and enough for about 5 pairs even if they would be mismatched. I matched the colors I could and the first two turned out to be pretty cute that way! Claire was excited to be my model and try them on to make sure I had them right and then they wore them that night! I've done 3 so far between finishing up the pillow cases for the service project in our Relief Society.

Happy Halloween!

 Claire

She has been excited all week to go collect candy and when I bought the bag that we were going to use to give to others, she asked for candy all day! It was hard to say no when she was trying to be cute and looking back I should have given her more since all of ours was stolen along with the bowl that it was in while we were out trick or treating. She was really excited that I "painted" her face when we were getting ready to trick or treat after I had done mine and I was a monster. She has fun singing songs with me now and we have some crazy fun games sometimes that she comes up with and plays over and over.

Shay

She likes copying her sister so she would ask for candy too with the "eh" sound if Claire got a piece of candy and liked dressing up and getting her face painted. She wouldn't wear her hat when the time came to leave the house so I'm glad she did get the face paint so people could tell she was Pikachu. As good as she is at walking, she didn't last very long because it was hard to get her to be steady on the sidewalks we have around here but she rode on daddy's shoulders for most of our trick or treating. There was a house that gave her out dolls for little kids and she held on to it the whole time after getting it and we kept checking to make sure but she wouldn't let go until we got home and she realized it wasn't the doll that sings. Now she throws it on the floor when we offer it to her. Something not Halloween related, she likes to tap on me to get my attention so I will look at her and she can show me what she wants.

Pumpkin Decorating

Claire and Shay had a lot of fun painting their pumpkins this year and getting paint all over themselves in the process. I painted mine as well because it was easier and less messy. Chris decided to carve the Jack Skeleton so I painted mine as Sally to match and Claire watched us work after hers was done and drying. Shay used her fingers and we had to work hard to get her to not eat it or put it in her hair but she loved it and was really excited to finger paint. They would have done it for a lot longer and made more of a mess if I would have let them, but after mixing all the colors and putting 10 layers of paint on a pumpkin, there isn't much more to do.