Thanksgiving to Christmas

Wednesday we celebrated Auntie Christel's birthday by eating out and with cheesecake. Happy birthday, Auntie! Brynn made a custom birthday hat for her.

Discussing the boyfriend who surfaced with the last remaining candle.

Thursday we hosted Thanksgiving as we traditionally do at our house. We were missing my sister's family this year, but were grateful for those who were able to attend.

Brynn, Granny Annie and Grandma Laurie playing a mean game of Monopoly. 

Master Carver and me with Tillie the Turkey. She was a big gal.

Dana hard at work

Brynn's best friend, Rosha, and her family were able to join us again this year. I'd like to say we all had a nice visit with them, but more accurately we grilled them on life and customs in Iran. :-)

Brynn reading one of Clara's favorite books to her. (It's a book that goes through the song and actions of "If You're Happy and You Know It." Clara has really been getting into all the actions lately. And she likes to point out the animals in the book, too. I think she said 'kitty' today.

Stair climber. She goes up the stairs very well and is also doing well learning to turn and around and slide down backwards.

Friday we did a little Black Friday shopping, but it was still pretty busy in the late afternoon, so we went for an early supper at Village Inn. Brynn chose as a reward for her recent good report at parent-teacher conferences. After we got back, we got busy putting up the tree. You will notice Clara is absent from all the tree photos. She started out helping a bit and then it was quickly time for her to head to bed. She seems pretty enamored with the tree and lights and so far has only removed one ornament. It was a polar bear and she tried to scare me with it by having it roar in my face. She has already pulled the manger scene halfway off the coffee table twice, carried around one of the three wise men (and then threw it on the floor when I asked her to set it down) and fed the cow her baby's bottle.

Dad thinks that it will naturally work out that by the time Clara wants to be able to put the angel on the tree, Brynn will be too heavy for him to lift her up anyway.  I guess we got that all figured out then!

Saturday just Brynnie and I headed to Carrington for Christmas baking at Grandpa and Grandma's with Grandma Laurie, Auntie Tessa and the cousins. The kids were in and out of the kitchen helping, but had a fun time playing together, too.

Brynn and Reagan working on peanut butter blossoms. Next time they may need adult intervention, as none of them really turned out.

Mom giving me some advice on my ribbon cookies.

Me taking direction well, as usual. :-)

We put Brynn and Reagan in charge of taking some photos of the three of us ladies. That was pretty hilarious.

Baking jazz hands!

 Since there was no Sunday School today due to Thanksgiving break, we all were in the church service together. Clara is usually quite well-behaved in church, but she is an adventurer and really social, so by the end, she had found herself underneath the pew, peeking at the guys sitting behind us. They men told us just to leave her that they'd 'watch her for us.' ;-) We were able to wrangle her back into our area, though. At the end of the service, the two men were visiting with us, asking her and Brynn's names and ages and the one guy commented that she has a wonderful disposition and the other guy noted she must be half monkey. Hahaha. I agree with both comments. Especially after Clara's little stunt she pulled at Daddy's computer desk. She loves to type on the keyboard and use the mouse. And it is amazing to me that she knows how to hold the mouse and click it and all that. So, she was going to town, working away and I turned around from my desk chair to find her crouching on top of the desk, next to the keyboard there. Half monkey, indeed!