seventh anniversary

January 19th was our 7th anniversary! Wow! Time has flown! It's really fun to look back at pictures of when we met, dated, and our wedding day. 

This was one of our first times really chatting. Love at first sight! 

 Such fun memories! We seriously had the best wedding day/ receptions! So grateful for our parents-especially my mom-for making it so incredible.  

 So I called the secretary that works in Shaun's building. Sometimes we go on walks around the station in the afternoons. She is married but was never able to have kids. She's in her 50s now. Anyway, I talked her into babysitting for us on a saturday afternoon. Kate was napping so mostly just playing with Claire. She agreed so we hit up our own tiny town to check things out. 

We ate at this run down Chinese restaurant. Not bad for such a small town. 

 Then we went walking around all the small shops in our downtown. It's pretty run down but there are several places that are trying to re-establish our town. Anyway, we happened upon this quaint store and found these earrings. They are called Mississippi cotton balls. I LOVE them! 

We also found a couple other really fun stores. We stopped in this one and saw this fun table. We have been looking for a new kitchen table for awhile. Shaun has been looking online too. Anyway, it was a great deal and it came with two leaves. we just outgrew our table long ago. Shaun didn't even want us to bring it to Mississippi. Haha. I told him we needed a table until we found one we loved. 
This table is solid maple wood so in the future we can sand it down and do whatever we want with it! We also loved the character in the chairs too. :) 
It was a great anniversary! The other awesome part was Shaun didn't have much going on so he was asking me all day what he could do to help! 
To many more years to come! 

my girls!

January has brought some fun new things for us. Claire started taking ballet class. She was really nervous and wasn't sure she even wanted to go. To get her there the first day I had to let her wear her rain boots. :) Her dance teacher is so so sweet and took her right into class. 

 She came out of class with a smile so I think we are good! We are excited to help her have some social opportunities. 

Kate is now standing and pulling herself up everywhere she can! She can now reach the piano keys and loves to hear herself playing! 

  Kate is just the cutest thing! She is seriously so happy all of the time. She has this cheesy smile and is always smiling! 

 She's now 13 months old! She still scoots around faster than lightening! 

 Cute sisters! 

 Claire likes babies but she LOVES her mickey mouse clubhouse friends. Goofy has been the favorite lately. She's been taking such good care of goofy! She wraps him her blanket so he doesn't get "chilly," and then puts Kate's pacifier in his mouth. After he's all tucked in Goofy gets stories and songs from Claire. So cute! 

 When goofy doesn't have his pacifier Claire is holding his "milk cup" to his mouth because he is thirsty. Such a little care giver! 

 I never knew when I bought these friends a long time ago that they would be the coveted toy! Kate and Claire both LOVE these two friends. When Kate gets them she has this little laugh she does, almost like saying, "I got them!!!!" 

 My little artist! 

 Kate wants to do everything that Claire does. Claire's a great sport to let her join in! 

Potty Training!!! 

The last two weeks we have been working on potty training Claire. I read a few articles about how to potty train your child in 3 days! I definitely had unrealistic expectations...

The first few days were rough, and I really wondered if I had made the right choice in starting. I had felt that I needed to so I stuck it out! And one day it all started clicking. The last few days she has been going on her own without me having to put on the potty. Hooray!! Having hardwood floors definitely helped me keep my sanity!  

There were a few incentives that seemed to help. Minnie mouse undies, a Mickey Mouse movie (she could watch if she went at least 2 times in the potty) skittles (for trying) and now we have a sticker chart. oh, and when we first started I had to make up a new mickey mouse song while she was "trying" to go. The first week I was exhausted...but it paid off and now we are doing great!  

 Celebrating at the Mexican restaurant! 

I sure love these girls of mine! 

going home

We headed out Saturday morning for Cleveland.

We stopped and stayed with the Bills...Boyd and Allison! They are amazing and we are so glad we got to see them! 

Right down from their house was some really cool christmas lights! 

 The white gazebo behind allison was this fun snow house! This is a picture of Claire on the inside!  

 It was a little cold but we enjoyed walking around and seeing the fun lights. 

 Let's not forget about Mrs & Mr Clause! 

 Kate (at 5 am the next morning) 
The girls and I were pretty under the weather by this point. It was a rough night's sleep. Claire was sleep walking, talking, rolling all over. She was in the living room with us. Kate was in the bedroom and she was so stuffy she couldn't suck on her pacifier and breathe so she was up almost every hour. :( 

After loading up we headed out. Our GPS said 13.5 hours to go...predicting a 10:45 pm arrival. We weren't set on driving through or stopping...just playing it by ear.  

Well, about 30 mins after starting our journey back Claire starts throwing up AGAIN! Multiple times! Seriously, girl?! So as soon as we could stop we did. They only thing they had were windex wipes. I changed her, cleaned her up with baby wipes and then used the windex wipes to clean her carseat. I also went into the gas station looking for a bowl or something in case she needed to throw up again. They didn't have anything of the sorts. So I grabbed a big cup. I told the worker the situation and asked if I could have the cup. So Claire held the cup. She turned pretty green, too. So we watched lots of MIckey Mouse on the way home. Kate was pretty much tired of being in the car and not being able to stretch out. 

We pushed through and arrived at 1 am. Shaun did most of the driving! Definitely grateful for that! 

When we got home our heat would not turn on. It was barely 60 degrees in our house so we plugged in the little heater in Kate's room, loaded Claire with blankets and warmed up the rice bag for our bed. About 3:30 Shaun and I made it to bed. Phew! 

I'm so glad we got to go to the graduation, to the Talbots, and see all of our friends along the way. We were so blessed with good roads, a smooth ride and lots of great family time. It may take awhile before I'm ready to go road tripping again, though. ;) 

Christmas with the Talbots

We had an absolute blast with the Talbots!

It was such a fun time! Seleta was amazing! She had prepped quite a bit of the food beforehand and each meal seemed to run like clock work. The kids had an amazing time together, too! 

Dec 24th AM Kate's birthday celebration! 

Frosting cupcakes! Collin had to taste the frosting first! 

claire's masterpiece 

Cute Daphne 

Kate did awesome with her cake! She tried the frosting but mostly just wanted the cake. 

Can't believe this girl is really 1!! 

Christmas Eve was really nice. Despite All of us being sick with nasty colds. 

Getting ready for the Christmas program 

Claire was Mary, Collin- Joseph & Daphne an Angel 

It was so sweet. At the end of the program Claire leaned down and gave baby Jesus a sweet kiss on the forehead! The kids were great and enjoyed ringing the bells with the songs, too! 

We spiced things up on the table for our dinners! 

Brett and Shaun getting things ready for Christmas 

Christmas Morning! Kate found some sweet sunglasses! 

Enjoying Christmas breakfast together 

 I went to check on Claire at nap time and she had climbed into Daphne's bed. Silly girl! 

Sister Fun! 

We took the kids to the church gym a couple of the afternoons so they could get some wiggles out. I only got some videos, not pictures, but they had a great time riding bikes, scooters, and chasing each other around. 

Kate LOVED the beanbag. She was always trying to climb up it and stand by it. 

A trip to Wegmans is an absolute must when visiting Rochester! 

The boys went to see The Hobbit movie so Seleta and I took the kids out for some fresh air. Collin loved pushing Kate in the stroller. 

Cousin love! Funny story: Collin was holding onto Kate's hands while she was standing up. Then he says, "Kate's first time walking..." and proceeds to let go of her hands thinking that she will just start walking. Of course she face planted but seemed to be just fine. We couldn't help and chuckle at Collin's innocence. 

Goodbyes are so hard..especially when you know you need to drive 20+ hours home. :( But we are SO SO SO SO glad we got to spend Christmas together! 

Wooster Visit

We stopped and stayed with our friends, The Ellers. They are renting a big house that has two empty bedrooms. It was awesome to have the kids spread out. Not to mention some awesome catch up time. 

 We stayed Sunday and Monday night. Monday night we had a big get together with a lot of members from our Wooster ward. It was so much fun seeing everyone again! 
I wasn't sure how I would feel coming back to Wooster but both Shaun and I felt as if we were coming home to visit family. It was great! 

Seth & Claire 

 We also got to stop by and see our good friends Amelia & Abbie & Soren! 

 Seriously, so good being with friends again! 

We also enjoyed a lunch with some of Shaun's former co-workers. Sadly, didn't get any pictures of the lunch or the party...too busy having fun!