A Galloping Beanpole

Claire has had a serious growth spurt in the last couple of weeks. She is eating practically non-stop, and none of her clothes fit anymore. She has a pair of jeans that were touching the ground when she wore them 2 weeks ago, and now they're above her ankles. It's amazing. She's up to a 3T in shirts and 2T in pants (all for length--she's still 12-18 months for waist).

She's also recently figured out how to gallop. She and Honey gallop around the house yelling "Yeeeeee-haw!". It's hilarious. It seems she is no longer capable of walking. Into the kitchen to get some juice, off to the car, even down all the aisles of Home Depot--she only gallops.

Valentine's Weekend

We went out to the ranch last weekend, and Claire had a great time hiking around in the cool weather.







Her present from us was a little 4-wheeler. She has a blast driving it around Honey and H's driveway and patio.

We have a HOUSE!!!!!!

Fourth time was a charm--our offer was accepted today! They even accepted it as we wrote it, with one change--a closing date a week sooner, which is no problem at all. We're set to close on March 27!!! Hopefully we'll be able to move in shortly after that, but we first need to take care of some hideous paint and carpeting issues. The family that lived there before evidently had no sense of decorating--who thinks purple striped walls and turquoise carpet looks good????

Here's a shot of the outside, and I'll take some of the inside the next time we're back:

Let's Rodeo San Antonio!

Claire went on an exciting field trip last week with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jamey and (almost) Uncle Jeff to the rodeo. She got to "drive" a tractor, pet all sorts of animals in the petting zoo, watch baby chicks, and eat a gigantic corn dog! What fun! And the best part about it was that Mommy got some time to herself!!! Yay for a great day!

Here are some shots of the adventure:

Stay tuned....

I'm hoping to post tomorrow all about Claire's fun trip to the rodeo and (fingers crossed) good news on the house offer we put in last week.....

A Budding Imagination

As I wrote earlier, Claire has recently become friends with some imaginary characters. We had lunch at my grandmother's house last week, and while we were there, Claire discovered a stash of teddy bears. She had the best time making up stories with them, and deciding which ones were the mommies who were cooking in the kitchen, which ones were the babies who needed a nap, and which ones were the daddies who left for work. Well, she hasn't stopped talking about these bears. They "go" with her just about everywhere, including needing to be buckled up in the car, and she's even started setting a place for them at her little table when she eats breakfast and lunch. It's really cute watching her little imagination taking off.

We also had our first encounter with monsters the other day. We were all having a fun picnic dinner on the patio, and Claire was playing nicely in the yard. Once it got dark, though, she ran over and started saying "I'm scared! I'm scared!" We asked her what she was scared of, and she said "MONSTERS!!!" and ran inside. Luckily, Mommy was prepared with special anti-monster powder that kept the monsters away and we were safe again. She hasn't mentioned monsters again, thank goodness, but I can't figure out where she learned about them in the first place.

A New Look

Isn't this new layout so cute?? I found it on LeeLou Blogs. Look for another new theme after Valentine's Day!

Little Lady

Claire and I had a wonderful day of shopping and lunch out yesterday. We hit the mall in search of end-of-winter sales for our South African odyssey this summer (it'll be winter there when it's summer here.) It was pretty hard to believe that I needed to get her size 3T! When did she grow up?? Claire had such a fun time walking through the mall, looking in all the windows and telling strangers walking by that she was getting new BROWN shoes. We never found the shoes, but that just means we'll have to go back. We had a nice lunch at ChickfilA, and she did an amazing job of sitting the whole time, eating her chicken and telling me all about her new imaginary friends. (I'll fill you in on those little guys in another post soon.) What a lovely day with my litte lady!