Auntie is Coming!

Turkey Chain continued! Claire has surprised me with some interesting things that she is grateful for!  

Day 11: Lights 

This girls is obsessed with lights. She has this night light that has to be by her face! But she also loves it completely dark with things glowing too!

 

Day 12: Friends 

Claire's found a couple of friends that she really enjoys playing with! They are sweet and we enjoying having play dates with them! 

 

Day 13: Drawers 

This girls loves things to be organized! Often she will try and reload the dishwasher to her liking. Who does that? This picture is of our current master bathroom...under construction. 

 

Day 14: Turkey Chain 

We've had fun making this grateful chain 

 Day 15: Our kitchen table 
Shaun's co-worker stripped down our kitchen table and we just got it back! We swapped him for our portable dishwasher...best swap ever. Now it's time to get it finished! 

 Day 16: Decorations
This is of our house last year, but Claire loves decorations. We haven't decorated much since it's been under construction but Christmas decor is going up Monday!

 Day 17: My pink Cups
Lately Claire is OBSESSED with pink. Shaun got these cups from work and when they get cold it turns purple!

 Day 18: cute socks
Another fad at our house is wearing crazy socks. Often the socks don't match and they combined with leg warmers and tights. Silly girl!

 Day 19: "I'm grateful for mom finding stuff." 
Isn't true that the mom usually knows where everything is located. Well, these tiny wood pieces were an exception. These are the little pieces that finish the feet of our table and they were lost. Honestly, I thought Kate had thrown them away because she has been trying to throw everything away lately. But after praying and much searching they finally turned up. Claire said, "I'm grateful you found these because you have been looking for them forever!" 

 We kind of need them for our table to look normal. So grateful we don't have to pay someone to make new pieces.

 Day 20: My new bathroom counter top
We just got our bathrooms put in... when we bought our granite we had to buy the entire slab. After the kitchen was put in we had just enough to do the master bathroom and Claire's bathroom. However, when they were fabricating Claire's bathroom it cracked. They will guarantee as long as the stone doesn't sit outside through the winter. So they sent Shaun a picture of a different stone that they would use. After they installed it I was not pleased! It was not anything I had expected and the black part of the top looked like a birthmark to me. In the past the company usually emails you a digital view of what it will look like before they install. So it was miscommunication on all of our parts. To make a long story short, this was the only piece of the stone that they could use from the other slab, hence the black mark. To make a long story short, since were were so unsatisfied they offered to cut off the cost of this bathroom. We decided it was worth the discount and we would work the rest of the bathroom around it to make it look good. Claire loves it, and having the facet in and plant on there helps. Hopefully by the time we are finished it will look cohesive. But we are also grateful for a good company that was willing to work with us!

 

AUNTIE COMES TOMORROW! Our countdown to fun has gone really fast! We can't wait! 

In preparation we have been baking cinnamon rolls...

 Enjoying sunshine and the park

Don't mind Claire's carpet burn she gave to herself when rolling around here room. :( 

Shaun said the other night..."I'm so excited I get to cook the entire week!!" ummm, I'm pretty stoked about that too! He's taking a couple days off to join in the fun!

 Enjoying our swing

Looking at life through "rose colored containers." haha

Thanksgiving Count Down

My sister and her family are coming to our house for Thanksgiving! We are SOOOOOOOO excited! We decided to make a thanksgiving count down to help us keep tabs on just ow many days are left.

I had the girls color the turkeys and each day I ask Claire something she is grateful for. It has been really fun to hear from her perspective what she thinks about.

Here's Claire's list:
Day 1:
Auntie is coming to see us!

 We love our Auntie Seleta! She truly is so much fun to be around! We were spoiled in spending thanksgiving with her every year while we were in Ohio! This will be so fun to have them in the 'Sip!

Day 2: Dad!

 We couldn't be more blessed to have such an amazing dad in our lives! He is so awesome with the girls and loves having them work by his side in the kitchen or on projects.


Day 3: Mom

 

I Feel so blessed to be a mommy to such sweet girls! This is Claire when she was just a few months old for her first christmas! 

Day 4: Sun glasses 

 This girl loves her sun glasses! She wears them all the time and sometimes even to church! 

Day 5: House

We are ALL so grateful for our house that we found. It's still under construction so someday you will see the before and after shots. Claire loves her room too! It brings in lots of natural sunlight and we will often play all together in there. 

Day 6: Kate 

Yes, we have days where Claire is frustrated with Kate but they are slowly learning to love each other. 

Day 7: Toys

Claire loves to play with her toys! She has been so spoiled to receive so many hand me down toys that are in awesome condition!

 Day 8: Grandparents

Seriously! Where would we be without these amazing people in our lives! We just wish we could spend more time in Idaho and Utah! LOVE these people so much!

Day 9: Fans

 

Claire has a fan in her room she uses every night. She hates being HOT so that's probably why she is grateful for her fan.  The other night when I was tucking her in she said, "I can't feel the wind on my face, please turn my fan." Our house stays pretty cool- she just loves to pile all the blankets on top of herself. :) 

Day 10: clocks

 I asked her why she's thankful for clocks. She said, "So we know what time it is." This cracks me up because she doesn't even know how to tell time yet. I refer to the clock a lot so I'm sure that has something to do with it. I'm also grateful for clocks! They keep me on a good schedule and on time for things.

Stay tuned for more gratitude from Claire.

HaLlOwEen!

Halloween was pretty much a week long celebration at our house! 
It started Monday with a free carnival at the library. We rushed home from dance and got the girls in their costumes. Shaun ended up working from home that day because of the crazy flash flooding. There were so many accidents he would've been stuck in traffic. 

The girls had a great time and Kate learned quickly how much she likes treats in her pumpkin! 

 One of the games at the carnival. Squirt the candle out.

 Kate loves suckers! She would open one and start sucking on it, but if she got another sucker she would hand the licked one to Shaun and start into the new one. silly girl!

 We had some major costume identity issues. The girls kept changing their minds. So they would choose another costume from the box. 

Ward Trunk or Treat! With their friend Alice!

Our friend's trunk! Clarie Loved the eyes!

Kate was a pumpkin for a halloween birthday party.

Friday: We were supposed to get a ton of rain on Saturday so we hit up a few places on Friday night. 
sadly, they all turned out to be lame. Kroger was advertising trick or treating...2 people handing out tootsie rolls. :(

So Saturday came and sure enough so did the rain. We took the girls to the nursing home to trick or treat, which only had 5 residents. Claire was crushed and so disappointed. When we got home it was only misting so I took them around our neighborhood and they had a blast.

Claire wanted to be the pumpkin tonight. Well, after she put it on Kate thought SHE had to be the pumpkin and was trying to rip it off of her. Kate was so mad she wouldn't wear anything but her pjs. So we called her Pajama girl. ;)

Our neighborhood apparently, is THE place to trick or treat. This year since it was bad weather we didn't get the normal crowd. But our neighbors warned us that they spend over $300 each year on halloween candy and that's just fun sized stuff. There are people that come from out of town to trick or treat here. Sometimes even bus loads of people...Our neighborhood is pretty well lit and has great side walks, so that may be the reason. It's gotten to the point where they have 4 policemen directing traffic all night.
It was still very busy for it being rainy but it will be fun to be part of the "action" next year. 

We had a great holiday! It's fun the girls are getting a little bigger and getting so excited about holidays!

October

I'm slowly getting caught up on the blog! We have been so busy but having so much fun! 
We love living in our new house! It is still under construction but we are making progress. When we are all finished we will post before and after pictures. 

I was also called as the YW secretary. I LOVE serving in YW, but boy is it busy! We have over 20 YW currently in the ward and several that need reactivating. The presidency is so awesome to work with, I'm really having fun getting out of the house by myself on Wednesday nights for activities. 

I also started teaching piano. I have 5 piano students and a I pay a friend from church to watch the girls at my house while I teach. She has a 2 year old girl, they they just play for 2 hours. It's a great break for everyone. We just finished the music room, so it's perfect for lessons! 

Shaun just got called to be the ward mission leader...again. This is his third time in a row in this calling. I told him, he can move but he can't hide from the Lord. :) 
He's excited, though. I think our lives are going to get busier as we get more acquainted with our town and all it has to offer. We are really feeling right at home in our new ward. Lots of kids, couples are stage of life, and also older families, too. Our bishop is a very humble, kind man who serves so well! 

October has brought some fun things for us! 

First, We love Mississippi weather! We spend A LOT of time outside! The girls love the park and are getting more comfortable playing there. ONe day last week we played hide and seek. Claire would kid in the toys and Kate and I would find her. Then we would switch. We could've played for hours, it was so fun! Often, Kate would give me away by giggling or pointing, but we still had fun!

 For FHE we made Pumpkin faces to send to Our family! Love Claire's faces!

 I didn't get a picture but Claire had her first trip to the dentist! She did awesome! I swapped babysitting with another girl in the ward. She watched Kate during the appointment so I could give Claire my full attention. Then, the next day, I watched her two girls so she could do a field trip with her oldest son. So, for 3.5 hours I had 1,2,3&4 year old girls. It was quite the adventure.

 Daddy teaching Claire a little about the violin. 

THEN....Grandma & Grandpa Broderick came to visit! They came to see Shaun's annual Fall Flower & Garden Festival at the station. It was so fun having them here! Roy also had his birthday while here so we made a yummy carrot cake! 

 We had our neighbors over one night for dinner! We love them!

 The festival! It's a two day event. We went for a little while on Friday and then came home for naps. Saturday, though, we stayed almost the entire time. It was so fun seeing the flowers, vegetables, going on the tractor ride, seeing old friends on the station, and enjoying the beautiful weather!

 Claire was not cold, just obsessed with wearing mittens. HAHA!

 Kate though the doll stroller looked like fun...

 Until she couldn't get out!

 Shaun had to wear his uniform AKA the hat and vest. Ever since then Kate is always telling him to put his hat back on.

 Getting ready to give his presentation!

 DeWitt...our buddy!

 Ms Emily and her kids came to visit us there! They were from our old branch.

 A little foot ball for the Saturday night

 Claire posed everyone for a picture. I took a picture with my phone so she could see it.

 Claire had so much fun doing things with grandma! She especially liked her long fingernails. :)

 One afternoon we went to the Clinton Nature center. Fun walking paths and fall leaves!

 Roy and Charlotte recently got a new phone so they were looking at pictures. Shaun and I were on the other couch texting them more pics!

 Time flies way too fast! We got so much done while they were here. Roy helped take off a bunch of wall paper in the girls' bathroom. I got to clean out the gutters, clean, run errands while Charlotte played with the girls. Kate was a little hesitant and wanted me to carry her around everywhere. I think she thought I was leaving her. But we had a great visit and were so glad they got to come!

Watching them drive away. :(