We had a low-key Thanksgiving up at the ranch with lots of good food and good company. As tradition holds, we had perfect weather, so we spent lots of time walking off the calories and playing outside.
Here are some links to entries from Claire's birthday:
Birthday Girl, Part I
Birthday Girl, Part II
We had quite an adventure with our special friends from Houston, Brady, Cash, Nathan, and Nolan. In the mommies' attempt at getting some time to actually see each other and have a conversation, we decided to rent a really old farm house in the middle of nowhere so the kids could play outside and run free. The fact that a really old farm house could potentially be super creepy never occurred to me until we got there and went inside. The place gave me the serious creeps. I put on a brave face, but I will now admit that I was thisclose to packing up the entire household each night and driving us all back to our house to camp in the backyard. Kellie and Kelley, I suspect, felt the same way, because none of us was particularly interested in going to bed either night. And when we finally did, I stayed awake all night waiting for the ghost I was sure would be walking across my bedroom.
Other than one little girl's voice calling for mommy from upstairs (when my little girls were fast asleep DOWNSTAIRS), we didn't have any mysterious visitors. Instead, we probably scared them with all the running amok that went on. It was pretty cold, so our attempts at getting everyone outside failed a lot of the time, but Kelley saved the day with lots and lots of great crafts to keep the kids busy. Even though I was utterly exhausted by the end of the weekend, we had a wonderful time with our wonderful friends. Claire is still talking about living in the house with Nathan and Brady and wonders when we can do it again. Next time, however, I think I'll be voting for a resort with child care.
Thanks to Miss Magoo's mandatory monthly updates, we're back on the blogging train. Be expecting lots of pictures (as well as a status update on our move) soon.....
But, in the meantime, happy eleven months, Miss Madeleine! You are becoming quite a big girl!
You:
*are all leg - 9 month shirts and 12 month pants are your current sizes.
*still fit into a size 3 diaper.
*crawl at super-sonic speeds.
*stand for a good bit of time all on your own.
*have taken single steps here and there for the last couple of weeks, and yesterday, you took two!
*started a Little Gym class and love it.
*can say "Hi, Daddy" and wave.
*call Claire "Claaaaaah", and Mommy "mamamam".
*still say "num num" for food.
*love to clap and say "yaaaaaah!" when things get exciting.
*use a separate, sing-songy voice when you talk to the pets.
*are very curious. Nothing can be left undiscovered and put together nicely.
*can go up stairs very well, but going down is another story. You're slowly figuring it out, and at least you've stopped taking headers.
*have figured out that certain things are off-limits, like the electrical outlets. When you get close to one, and I tell you to stop, you turn around and flash me the most ridiculously cute smile. And then you proceed to keep going.
*definitely have opinions, and this face is one we see a lot now:
*are really not that into your happy (our word for pacifiers). You will use one only if you are really tired, but otherwise, you'd rather be eating.
*have discovered that Yoplait Greek yogurt is delicious. As well as Chick fil A (oh, how standards change for second-borns!)
*are so sweet and love to put on a show for an audience.
And, now the reason you visited in the first place - pictures!
We checked off another item of our "Bucket List" this weekend - taking the girls to College Station for a game day. We headed out Saturday morning and arrived in town just in time for lunch at CJ's BBQ in Bryan, which was surprisingly empty. Then we headed to campus. We walked all over, showing the girls all things Aggie:
Finding Great! Grandpa Scott's name on the wall at the Association of Former Students:
Watching the Cav parading around. Claire got lots of practice at Gig Em-ing.
Playing under the Century Tree:
Posing with Sully:
And strolling the halls of Zachry:
By the time our tour of campus was complete, we were ready for step-off on the Quad. We found some of J's buddies and caught up with them while watching the spectacle. Neither girl was crazy about cannon booming, but Claire was tickled with her chance at petting Reveille. We walked with the Corps to Kyle, petting Reveille every chance possible, then continued on to dinner at Mi Cocina. (Either they've gone way downhill, or my standards are much higher now....) We got back to our car right at kick-off. I can't think of a better ending to our fun day than the sound of 90,000 Aggies yelling in the background.
Oh, and for the record, the Aggies beat OU 33-19. Whoop!
