Zoolight Safari

We loaded up the Saturday night before Christmas and headed to the zoo for Zoolight Safari. I have always wanted to go but never really thought I had a reason until now. Thanks Hannah Claire! It was so very cold that night. We layered up and headed out. It really was super cool and we had lots of fun. HC had the most cozy spot for the evening (however she doesn't like cover so she was constantly trying to throw off the blanket).

Hannah Claire and Daddy rode the carosel. She loved it!

We had to wait in line for ride on the choo-choo. HC did pretty well even though we had some not so friendly folks in front of us.

Hannah Claire and Mommy on the train ride.

After our train ride we decided to wrap it up and head back to the car since it was getting late and way past HC's bedtime.

After we got in the car and removed some layers we realized it was not that late at all. Oh well, we had seen it all and we were ready to head to the house.

Santa 2009

We made the annual trip to visit Santa. Hannah Claire was enjoying a little t.v. before we left. Poor unsuspecting girl. Yes, that is my watch she is wearing on her elbow.

She was a little unsure when we arrived. There was only one family ahead of us. Santa waved when we walked up and HC just stared at him.

Then it was our turn.

Maybe mom will help.

Nope! Poor Santa, he smiled through it all. I'm thinking HC might like the big guy when she is my age.

Just Being HC

Okay, she is definitely my child. It takes Hannah Claire a while to wake up. This is the look we get in the mornings.

HC is also big on helping out around the house. She has loved sweeping and folding clothes for awhile now but we have a new chore, dusting. Hannah Claire is a great help around the house!

19 Months

Hannah Claire is constantly doing new things. She is so much fun these days. She can say anything if she chooses. Some of her favorites:

-Mewrry cwistas (Merry Christmas)

-Da (Daddy)

-Haaaaay (Hey in her best southern drawl)

-Woll tiii (Roll Tide)

-Biscit (Biscuit)

-Nigh Night (Night Night which is what we say for bedtime)

-Ahmen (amen)

-Pappy bwirthway JeJe (Happy Birthday Jesus)

She also said her first non-family member name. Our sweet friend Emily came over to help with some Christmas decorations and HC ran up to her and said "Emee".

Hannah Claire can now officially take off her socks and shoes and put them back on. She does this all the time. She can also put her legs in her pants. She loves to color. She also gets her books out and reads them to us. I think we have a little chatter box on our hands. HC loves dogs. Really any dog but she especially loves Allie & Junior. She loves to give them treats and then get their ears when they are eating. They are so good with her. She also loves to pray. We pray for our meals and at the end she says amen. Usually she will not let go of our hands so she can mumble something and say amen too. She has also learned to turn on the t.v. in our room and bring us the remote so she can watch Baby First (cartoons all the time). She has also learned to open the drawer under our t.v. in the living room to get out Baby Einstein videos and bring them to us. She will hand them over and say "peas". We have had to start limiting t.v. because she has really started taking an interest in it. One day I tried to watch Praise Baby instead of Baby Einstein. She was so upset. I mean seriously kid, it is a video! She also can climb up on the furniture.

I have to say we are so blessed to have such a good little girl. She does test us often but overall she is pretty good. She doesn't want her diaper changed, she wants to hit and she has started telling us "no". Pray for our patience and ability to handle these new obstacles properly. Now for red chair pictures. She has really grown over the last month. She is up to 23.5 lbs.

So grown!

Dinnertime became such a battle because HC decided she hated the highchair. After over a month of battles every meal time we bought a booster. She digs it and life is so much better. I blame daycare because they sit at mini-tables and chairs with no straps. (I'm not real sure why she has 3 sippies in this picture. Go figure!)

The BamaDome

We have frequented Atlanta the last two years for Bama football. We were there for the Clemson game, last year's SEC championship game and earlier this year for the Virginia Tech game. We were so excited to make the trip up I-20 once again for the SEC championship game. Thankfully this year was much more exciting for Bama fans than last year. We got over to the ATL early so we could visit Fan Fare. It really was not that exciting but Shane did get to see the Chick-fil-A cow (which he loves!) and we also saw Texas Pete. I'm guessing he is a Bama fan too since he was in red and white! Roll Tide Texas Pete!

We didn't stay long because, well we are not 7. Most things to do were geared towards kids. So we got a quick shot & headed out into the cold. Did I mention when we left home that morning the ground was white from snow. Crazy!

After Fan Fare we headed over to the Westin to see some great friends of ours, Aaron, JC and Aaron James. They made the drive down from West Virginia for the game and we were so excited to see them. Plus we got to see some of my friends from college that I haven't seen in a long time. It was lots of fun but before we knew it, it was time to head over to the dome for some football.

My friend Jama, me and JC. On a side note, I'm a little sad. With all of the excitement of the game I lost my hat. This is officially the last picture of it.

This was us at our seats before kickoff.

I always thought the mascots got to be on the sidelines. The gator & Big Al were on our row. They had to be HOT! The gator is behind Big Al to the left, he is hard to see. He also had on jeans whereas Big Al was in the full costume. Maybe a sign of the gators attitude approaching this game?

The game was fantastic! This was a shot of where the Bama section met up with the UF section.

As soon as the game was over I started working on our reservations for Pasadena.

This was us after the game. We are so blessed to be able to go to these games. We have so much fun together and can't wait until our vacation to sunny California to take on the Texas Longhorns. We are hoping for another National Championship! Roll Tide!!!

Mayfield's French Onion Dip

Shane LOVES Mayfield's French Onion Dip. The problem...you can't find it anywhere around here. His Mom always has some for him when we got to visit. We came back from Thanksgiving with two tubs of the stuff. It's a good thing because Daddy now has help eating it up. They are two peas-in-a-pod and I love them!!!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Things were very hectic around the Miller house between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We had lots of fun though. Hannah Claire was very involved this year with our festivities. Well, once she woke up from her nap. The kid was snoozing one day when we got home from church.

After her nap and a clean diaper HC was up and ready to help start with the Christmas decorations. We have a small tree in our living room that we hang all of our picture Christmas cards on. One of my favorite things of the Christmas season is checking the mail every day to see what beautiful pictures we receive. Shane is so sweet to save them for me to open because he knows how much I love it. The tree would be bare up until right before Christmas if we didn't put anything on it so we put some traditional balls and strings of silver beads. Enter Hannah Claire for assistance.

She was very helpful until the strings got wrapped around her ankle.

She recovered nicely and proceeded to ponder where to put them.

We also got out our bell tree. Hannah Claire loved it.

She loved it so much she felt it necessary to lick each and every bell on the tree. I guess it is clean now.

After lots of decorating a girl has to look through the sale ads for any toy ideas to tell Santa.

18 Months

1 year and a half! Where is the time going? Each day gets more and more exciting, challenging, event filled. Hannah Claire has really developed into her own little independent self. She does not want you to even try to feed her, she has to do it herself. Her vocabulary continues to grow. She will attempt just about anything you ask her to say. It may not even be close but she gives it a shot. HC has also been going through a defiant stage (we will call it a stage anyways). The worst is changing diapers or getting dressed. She flips that little body over and sits up and flashes that big beautiful grin at you. It is so hard to be mad at her but it is so hard not to be frustrated with her behavior. This will be something we will have to work on. HC weighed in at 22lbs 8ozs and 32 1/4 inches long. She has really hit a growing spurt. Now time for the red chair pictures!

As you can see Hannah Claire is not always the most cooperative, especially when she has you man-on-man. Daddy had to handle red chair pictures by himself so he did what all good parents do and provide a distraction...the cell phone.

I think it started ringing or probably even more likely, daddy got a text

Destin in November

Waaay back at the beginning of November we took a trip to the beach. Nana had a big birthday (we won't put the acutal number up in honor of Nana) so we met them there for the celebration. Can I just say that this was the absolute best time EVER to go to the beach. The weather was perfect, there were very few people there, no lines at dinner and the rates are actually very resonable. Now Hannah Claire did take a trip to the beach last year just before I went back to work but she was too little to even realize it. This year was much differnt and lots of fun! Now you see her Nana and her Mommy LOVE the beach. We were all anxious to see what HC thought. She was taking it all in at first.

Still a little unsure. It was a little breezy in the mornings so we had to wear our jackets but those quickly came off for some of the most perfect weather ever, warm (not miserable) with low humidity!

Daddy gave HC a little tour to warm her up to it.

Nana let HC put her feet in to test the waters.

And she LOVED it!!!

Hannah Claire had lots of fun playing with Nana & Pappy. I'm pretty sure they had lots of fun too!

Well, I know Pappy did. He tried his best to teach HC to jump the waves. I just don't think her motor skills are quite that developed yet. Maybe next year.

How sweet!!!!!

I think HC will be following in her Mommy footsteps and begging for a beach trip all the time.

She even got to check out a military helicopter that flew right overhead. She was not real sure about it.

The only family shot we got.

We also took some Christmas card pictures before sunset. It was getting a little cool so most every picture has Hannah Claire with her hands in her mouth. Oh well, they still turned out great!

Sadly we had to pack up and leave (we had a huge football game to get to the next day, LSU). Daddy took HC to get the card to load up the gazillion things you have when you travel with a little one. They returned like this...

We had a great time. Sadly, Nana & Pappy's motor home broke down so they had to stay and wait for it to be repaired, missing the Bama/Lsu game. While they stayed over Nana broke her ankle in four places and had to come home and have surgery. So to Nana, I know it didn't go exactly as planned but we had so much fun with you and Pappy. Happy Birthday and we wish you ___ more!