Gourmet Sandwich

This picture doesn't have anything to do with the story I'm going to tell, however, I wanted to post it anyway. I'm trying to combine some posts since I'm wanting to still post pictures from December, but at the same time, I don't want to get behind with what is currently happening either.

This is Clarissa and Clayton with my sister Sharon, when we went to Utah in December. We sure wish we lived closer to all of our aunts and uncles, it's no fun to only see them once a year, and some even less often.

Today at church I had to sit in Clarissa's primary class with her for a few minutes. The teacher was asking the kids what their favorite kind of sandwich was. One kid answered tuna fish, and then it was Clarissa's turn. Without any hesitation, her answer was "peanut butter and lettuce". I couldn't help but laugh, and of course the teacher questioned it, and she confirmed it. I'm not sure how she came up with that combination, but I promise I have never given her a peanut butter sandwich with lettuce on it.

Cousins

Another example of Clarissa not holding still for pictures. For our trip to Utah in December, Clarissa's cousin, Amelia, was also able to visit. They had so much fun playing together. We were spoiled this year that we were able to see my brother Jeff, and Amelia, 3 times this year. Prior to this, the last time we saw them was the summer of 2007.

Even though Amelia is 3 years older than Clarissa, she still likes to play with Clarissa, and is so sweet to her. Clarissa loves playing with her, however we did miss seeing Amelia's sister Sadie who couldn't come.

Last week Amelia sent Clarissa a letter in the mail, it was for a project her kindergarten class is doing. They are reading a book called Flat Stanley, it's about a boy who got flattened when his bulletin board fell on him. (We still need to read the book) One of the advantages for being flat was that he could fit inside an envelope and visit far away places. We are so happy he decided to visit us. We are supposed to take a picture with him of something special about where we live. I told Clarissa this, and immediately she was excited, and wanted to take a picture of him next to the stroller. She took about 20+ pictures of Stanley, and a bunch of other ones. I just won't bore you with all of the closeups of him. We did take Stanley on an outing with us last weekend, which I still need to put the pictures on my computer of. Hopefully we will be able to get that done soon, and mail Stanley back to Amelia.

Besides just take pictures of Stanley, Clarissa loved taking pictures of everything in our living room. She did a decent job, she also took some of me and Clayton and she even got us all in the frame, they just aren't the cutest pictures since I wasn't paying attention, so I'm not posting them. It was fun to watch her be so entertained with taking pictures of Stanley, and everything else.

Playing in the Snow

These pictures are from our visit to Utah in December. This was Clarissa's first time playing in the snow this season, she loved it.


She was so excited to get outside, that she would not stand still while I was trying to take her picture, so her hat fell down. I love this picture of her.


Clayton loved watching Clarissa play out there, he was probably wishing he could go out.


She played out there while my dad shoveled the driveway. He was happy to have some company, and he was very nice to play with her.


He also taught her how to shovel. She kept asking for her own shovel, however, he didn't have one, so he found a dustpan, which was perfect.


She would pick up some snow in her shovel...

...and carry it over to the other side of the driveway.

She was following Grandpa's great example, they had a fun time working together. Again, she would not hold still for the picture. This is a common thing I am experiencing with her lately, she won't hold still for any pictures. It just shows how much energy she always has.

Grandpa also took the time to take Clarissa for a ride on the sled around the neighborhood.

She insisted on having jingle bells. This past Christmas, Jingle Bells was her favorite song.

I'm glad they had such a fun day playing in the snow together.

Christmas Morning

The traditional picture on the stairs. This was the best one we got, Clayton didn't want to sit there for a picture, and he especially didn't want Clarissa forcing him to.


They loved opening presents together, they both really enjoyed helping each other.

Clarissa had been asking Santa Clause for an Alligator game, and was so excited when she opened Crocodile Dentist. Unfortunately Santa didn't know that it would scare her when it chomped down when his tooth was pushed. I finally got her to play with it when I gave her a popsicle stick to use to push down the teeth. She says it's her favorite present, except that she still doesn't like it, and doesn't want anyone else to push it either.

We made a little fort for them to play in that goes over the card table. Clarissa loved to make forts with a blanket and the table and watch movies. So we thought this would be perfect, we didn't put a door in it, just the one side of it rolls up so she can watch movies. Clayton even loves to play in it. He always crawls right under the walls, and loves to have pillows in there, and roll all around. It's been a fun thing for them to do together.

Why is it that no matter how many toys a kid has, they love playing with things that aren't toys? While we were making breakfast, just after opening presents, we caught Clarissa running around the house playing with our swiffer.

I guess we know what Santa should bring her next year!!!

"But Mom, the sign says..."

Today I had to go pick up some new contacts from the eye doctor. We got back out to the car after picking them up, and I was putting the kids in their car seats. I was trying to hurry since it is really cold and windy today. As I was putting Clarissa in, she tells me "I have to go potty." I didn't want to go back in because it was really cold, Clayton was already in his car seat, and we were headed home anyway. So, this was our conversation:

Me: "We'll go potty when we get home."
Clarissa: "no, I want to go here."
Me: "They don't have a potty here that we can use." (so I probably fibbed, I'm sure they did, I just didn't want to hassle with taking them both back in and asking to use the restroom, and take coats off, etc.)
Clarissa: "But Mom, they do have a potty, the sign says they have one, and that we can use it!"
Me: "oh, that blue sign, that's not a potty sign."

We then had a conversation about the sign, and explained the meaning of it. I know we had never talked about it, I had just never thought about it. I'm glad that she is becoming more aware of the things around her, and it provides me with good teaching opportunities.

Surprise Visitors for Clarissa

A week ago our good friends Heidi and Matt came to visit us. They lived here for 3 years, but recently moved to Nashville. They have known Clarissa since she was 6 weeks old, and have been great buddies ever since.


We met them for lunch at a restaurant, and Clarissa didn't know they were coming to visit us. As soon as she walked into the restaurant she saw them, and went running to give them hugs. As you can tell by the pictures, she was so excited to see them.



She loved eating lunch with them, and talked non-stop. (Heidi, sorry that it isn't the greatest picture and your eyes are closed, but it's the only one I took.)


After lunch, Quinn had to go back to work, but the rest of us went back to our house to visit. Clarissa LOVES playing with Matt, and he give her lots of attention, which she also loves. Almost the entire time they were here, Clarissa pretended that Matt was her horsey, Matt's a great sport, I know she wore him out. Of course, as they were getting ready to leave, Clarissa begged Matt to be her horsey one more time. She has such a sweet face, who can say no to special requests?!?!?

I know that Clarissa always remembers them, she is often pretending to be their kitties, and that I am Heidi and Quinn is Matt. She says that she is playing the "Heidi game."

Thanks for coming to visit us, we had lots of fun!

Clarissa Explains it all!!!

One day Clarissa opened the bench that we store shoes in, and was pretending that it was her bathtub. Of course Clayton followed, he loves to climb, and to play with his sister.

Here are a few conversations that went on at our house this week.

Tiffany: "Clarissa, can you make an elephant noise?"
Clarissa: "No, my noise is stuck."

***
Clarissa and I had been talking about Grandma's and Grandpa's earlier this week. I was telling her that when she grows up, I will be her kids Grandma. She kept telling me that I wouldn't, she didn't want me to be their grandma, but didn't say why. I think she just probably doesn't understand how it works, and thought that meant I wouldn't be her mommy anymore. Today we were just making some crafts together, not talking about this at all, and randomly she told me:

"Kentucky Fried Chicken can be my kids Grandma."

Then of course she just smiled and laughed because she knew that sounded funny.


***

Clarissa was asking for a granola bar, I had a tupperware full of some homemade ones. I asked her to bring it to me in the living room, (where food isn't allowed, so I should have known better.) I told her I would open it and then she needed to take it into the kitchen to eat one. The second I handed it to her, she dropped it and they dumped everywhere.

Clarissa: "Uh oh, a big mess! You clean it up!!!

Tiffany: (thinking to myself, I am not your maid!) "No, you need to clean it up, and I can help you."

As you can see by the picture, she helped, and so did Clayton!

Santa Claus

These first two pictures are of our visit to the library this Christmas, it was the first time we saw him. Clarissa remembered seeing pictures of her with Santa the previous years, and that she was scared. When I told her we were going to see him she said "I'm going to see Santa, and sit on his lap, and not be scared." When we saw him, she did just that, although, the best part was when she sat on his lap and he started talking to her.

Santa: "Hi, what's your name"

Clarissa: (With a smirk on her face, looking at me and Quinn, and then at Santa, she answers) "Michael"
Santa: "That's not your name, that's probably your brother's name, what's your name"
Clarissa: "Michael" (again with a smirk on her face)


For those of you who aren't around Clarissa that much, you won't know that she loves to play pretend, and she is never Clarissa. I will do another post soon about this, but this night she was pretending to be Michael from Peter Pan, he's the youngest kid, and he has a teddy bear. That's the only reason I can figure out why she likes to be him.



The following pictures are from our visit to Utah just before Christmas.


We had a special visitor come to our house to visit the kids. For as long as I can remember, my Dad has been one of Santa Clauses special helpers.

Clarissa wasn't as brave this time, and would not sit on Santa's lap, but at least she gave him a hug. When Santa asked her if she had been good this year, her reply was "I've been a little bit good."

Clarissa and her cousin Amelia.

Clayton wouldn't get near Santa, but he loved the candy cane that he brought to him.


Clarissa sitting by Grandma Connie enjoying her candy cane.

Halloween Pictures

I know this is way late, but I'm still trying to catch up, just for my own records. For Halloween Clarissa was Tinkerbell. She was so excited to be Tinkerbell, and had talked about it for weeks before. I got this costume when she was a year old at a garage sale, and it finally fit her.

I thought it would be fun to have Clayton be Peter Pan, but I didn't have green tights, and I think he looks more like Robin Hood, oh well.

As you can tell, he was not happy to have his picture taken, and he hated the hat.

I love this picture, his little glare just says to me "are you done torturing me yet?" Happy or not, we at least have pictures so we can remember what they were.

Clarissa got to dress up a couple of times, her first time was for Preschool. This was my first time doing a bun in her hair, for being my first time, it stayed in pretty good. I think with her blond hair and the bun, she was the perfect little Tinkerbell.

Clarissa's First Haircut

After 3 1/2 years, Clarissa finally got a haircut. Clarissa's hair has a slight curl at the end, and I was really afraid to cut it, I thought she would lose all the curl. It has gotten really long, and probably really scraggly looking, so I finally gave in, and we got it cut over the break. Luckily, it still has a slight curl to it, and is a lot easier to brush.

I didn't take a good after picture, but I found this one. She got about 3 inches cut off, and it's a lot more even now. She really enjoyed getting her haircut, and keeps talking about going back sometime.

These two pictures with her face painted are from Ikea. We went there just after New Years, and they had someone painting faces that day. Clarissa was very excited to get her face painted. On New Year's Eve we went to a family night out in Quinn's hometown at a school where they had Radio Disney doing some things for the kids. They had dancing and crafts for the kids, and Clarissa made a caterpillar out of pompoms. Clarissa saw a couple of kids with there faces painted and was begging to get hers painted. However, we didn't know where they got it done since it wasn't at this school, so we didn't do it, and Clarissa was pretty disappointed. So when we saw the face painting at Ikea, we knew she would just love it. As soon as the lady asked Clarissa what she wanted painted, Clarissa started explaining in detail "I want a pompom caterpillar like the one from New Year's Eve." Clarissa was so excited with how it turned out, and was sad when it got washed off. She often talks about going back to Ikea and getting her face painted again with a caterpillar.