Eye See You!

Peaceful Mornings

I'm listening to Claire "read" to our cat, Ray. At least I think that's what is going on judging by the animal sounds (Dear Zoo, again?) . For the past few mornings Ray has woken Claire up and all I hear from the living room is "HII-EEE Ray Ray!" She's enjoying her time with the kitty and I'm enjoying some time roaming around the Internet and organizing some digital photos, here's one of Claire posing with favorite species, ROAR!

Potato Head Snowmen

I’m sharing a nice hot cup of tea this morning with Claire (dried spearmint mixed with green tea if you were wondering) and we’re sitting at the kitchen table looking through pictures from last week’s snowstorm. Of course the snow is gone now and with the wind howling outside and freezing temperatures threatening frostbite, this is as close to the outdoors as we’re getting today! Claire is pointing out the “trees wit ‘da snow” in all the pictures and I’m enjoying having a little blogging partner. I think if this blog continues for the next couple of years, Claire might do some official posting!

The first part of this snowfall produced this awesome packing snow. We made the tiniest little snowball and pushed it along the ground and it gathered up all the snow, it was really cool. Of course Claire is 2 and not into the whole (long) process of proper snowman building so I set her up with smaller versions on the bench. We brought out a box of her potato head pieces and she had a great time pushing the parts into the snow and creating miniature snow people. Remember him?

Mittens are tough to work with, and tougher still if your mother can’t figure out how to get your thumbs aligned properly. Building those snowfolk was quite laborious, but Claire really loved it.

Perhaps today we’ll get this mitten thing figured out and brave the cold to chase down some seagulls at the grocery store. Claire does a mean gull impression while riding in the shopping cart…even if her call manages to sound more like a crow going through puberty!

Santa

The Santa Claus(e) -

I want you to bring me toys mister, but if come much closer to me strange man and I’ll get you with my candy cane!

You know, we might have to nix this Santa visit every year. The first time she met the man, Claire pooped herself. This year it took Claire about 20 minutes to even enter the gymnasium and then (even after quite the cookie bribe from an eight grader) she wouldn’t go NEAR Santa. We had to stage this candy cane exchange to capture some images of Claire near the jolly red guy.

The Couch is Saved!

Remember this post: White Hand Prints on Brown Leather Couch ?

Problem solved. A little bit of elbow grease, water, a soft sponge and we were good to go (I LOVE leather's wipe off anything your toddler can dish out reputation, it's so true!)

How did it happen? Well, I didn't expect Claire to use her crazy monkey skills to climb into a cabinet, help herself to the paint and pour it into her little container at the easel. But when this girl wants to paint...I guess there is no stopping her.

Where was I? Ice-skating in our driveway trying to get the garbage out without killing myself.

And I've decided not to email Santa and tell him about Claire's trangressions. Most of the paint stayed right on the easel (she created a beautiful snowscape on paper) but then she decided to check out what Mommy was doing in the driveway and climbed on the couch to do so.

Secretly I'm proud that instead of painting my walls (as a Facebook friend pointed out HER son did) Claire went right to work on her easel and then forgot to wash her hands. Hey, she's 2...what do you expect?

I will be mellow...

I will take a deep breath
I will be mellow
I will be calm
I will be patient
I will react quietly and gently

.........

I will learn to love the new white painted hand prints all over my leather sofa

Smiles, It's Snowing!

Just waving hello from my snowy yard today! I think it will be a day of cold toes and hot cocoa! Enjoy the snow!

Snowfall Reaction

I was outside trying to get a photo of Claire to put on the Christmas card and just had to share her reaction to the snowflakes that were falling:


sorry to the folks on Facebook who are seeing this twice, but I can never remember who is on FB and who reads the blog - you'll just have to settle for a double dose of cuteness - and I'll throw in a view from another angle. It's funny how a quick camera rotation (or photographer body contortion in this case) makes all the difference, I like the top picture much better, Claire's eyes are lit up so nicely- what about you, a favorite?

Peanut, Peanut Butter – And Birdseed!

Today’s messy project with Claire was for the birds – literally. Every year (see here, here, and here!) we put out feeders for our feathered friends and watch as they feast from our own warm perch indoors. There’s usually a nice assortment of species: downy woodpeckers, nuthatches, tufted titmice, chickadees, black capped chickadees, bluejays, mourning doves, cardinals and the occasional (and very cool) piliated woodpecker. Claire is really into the “tweets” this year. She helps fill the feeders and pours water into their little saucer to watch them “take baffs in my wawer.”

‘

Tis the season for lots of cardboard boxed deliveries so I decided to put one to use and make our own silly feeder with peanut butter and birdseed. I got the idea from a website that advised rolling toilet paper rolls in peanut butter then birdseed, but thought this would look cuter hanging from our feeding station.

Want to know how we did it? Well………………

First you take the word and you spell it, you spell it!

Then you take the peanuts and you spread ‘em, you spread ‘em!

Then you take the birdseed and you sprinkle it, you sprinkle it!

The you take your sign and you hang it, you hang it!

(sorry, I just couldn’t resist breaking into song on this one!)

Things I learned from this project? Butter knives don’t spread the gooey stuff as well as spatulas and bare hands work best of all. Getting dirty is part of the fun, kids (and kitchen tables) are quite washable! It’s a good idea to poke holes in your letters BEFORE smearing sticky peanut butter all over the cardboard. Better yet, string them before even starting!

And the final turnout? The birds loved it? If you can’t see the “tweet” in the photo above, look a little closer below. Here’s a link to the full album in all it’s gooey goodness: all the pics.

I'm Owed Two Bits!

The tangles in Claire's baby fine hair finally got the best of me today. I've been contemplating cutting it for sometime now - spurred on by our Boston visit with Alice who assured us she's be just as cute! Seriously though, Claire's hair is so fine that within seconds of taking it out of a ponytail it increases in volume about threefold! And lets not talk about the struggle to comb it once the knots have made themselves at home... ack! I was even thinking about putting it up to a vote on the blog, but like I said, today was the last straw.

Things were so bad that I took matters into my own hands. I just chopped about 2 inches off (much to the horror of my mother who was on the phone listening and cringing with every snip of my kitchen shears).

What do you think? Anyone care to let me try my haircutting skills on their head? I think Claire looks awfully cute, but then again I'm biased as both her mother and beautician!

Operation Deck the Halls!

"Operation Deck the Halls" has begun, which will hopefully be followed by "Operation Cabinet Doors." Maybe a little elf will come along and screw all my doors back on while I sleep...

one can dream.