Happy Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving is such a special time of year. It really gives us time to relax and think about how amazingly blessed we are. It is so hard to believe that God chooses to shower us with so much. Sure there are struggles but they only make us stronger in Him! It also makes me appreciate the blessings that much more.

We headed up to Scottsboro for some family time on Thanksgiving morning. When we walked in the door the smell of a delicious meal hit us smack in the face. Mawmaw does a fabulous job cooking for all of us. Aunt Janet does too. You can always count on her from some yummy desserts. After our meal and some little catnaps Shane, Tyler and Hannah Claire put together HC's new big girl bed. They were extremely focused.

Once it was together, Hannah Claire had to test it out.

Our Happy Thanksgiving picture.

I love this little girl and she loves her mommy!

No worries though, she has plenty of kisses for everybody special in her life.

Shane and I headed back home that evening, leaving HC to spend some quality time with Mawmaw & Pawpaw (and to give her big girl bed a try). On our way home we decided to go ahead and head down to Tuscaloosa for the Iron Bowl. We got to spend some time Friday night with our great friends Wayne and Tanya. Saturday was cold rainy miserable day. Jennifer and Janet came to tailgate with us before the big game. We spent most of the day inside the motorhome because it was so cold but we had a good time anyways. Sadly the game didn't end as we had hoped.

Hannah Claire's School Thanksgiving Party

On Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Hannah Claire's class at school had a huge Thanksgiving feast. The kids were set up in Kosmic with tables and their very own place setting. There was also a food table with a spread that would feed a ginormous family.

They even had Capri Suns for their drink, which would have been all HC needed for a good lunch.

They also had yummy desserts. How cute are these pilgrim hats.

Hannah Claire was pumped because Ms. Misty was there for the fun!

She loves Ms. Misty but Mom still gets lots of love too!

All the little Indians headed back to their classroom with full tummies for nap time.

A Little Decorating

We were a little excited about Christmas so we thought we go ahead and get our Hannah Claire's tree and get it decorated before Thanksgiving. HC even got an early present, a pair of pink princess house shoes.

Now, if she would only wear them. This kid prefers not to wear socks, shoes (or even pants for that matter). Once we got the tree up Hannah Claire went to decorating.

She was very proud of her pretty tree. We ended up getting a few more ornaments for her tree and she hung them as well. She is an excellent decorator! You know some branches need three ornaments on them and some just don't. We had lots of fun with HC's tree and she loved to go to sleep with it on. I think she will be very sad to see it taken down. Let the Christmas fun begin!

Bama vs. Mississippi State

Once we arrived in Tuscaloosa for the Bama vs. MSU game, Hannah Claire had her mind on one thing. She, Nana and myself headed straight over. We took the stroller for HC. Instead, Minnie Mouse got to ride and get pushed by Hannah Claire. This is a girl on a mission.

We had to get to the practice field to see the Million Dollar Band practice. HC has become a huge fan of the band. When we pulled into town and saw the band practicing, a certain little girl started begging to go see the band!

We had fun watching the band practice and even got a sneak peek at the new halftime show.

Game time finally arrived. Our little devoted Alabama fan was intensely watching the game.

She also cut up with Nana. Silly girls!

Christmas Card

O Mod Tannenbaum Christmas

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Two and a Half Years Old

November 9, 2010 - Hannah Claire turned 2 1/2 years old. Really? Where is my baby girl? She is growing up. She is daytime potty trained, sleeping in a big girl bed and will talk your ears off. Yes, my baby girl is growing up. Each day I am more and more impressed with how smart Hannah Claire is. I'm sure most moms say that but I am serious, this kid scares me sometimes. She can even spell, when I spelled p.i.z.z.a the other night she yelled "I want pizza". Seriously kid I should get to spell for way longer than this to continue to speak in front of you! She loves all things Minnie & Mickey Mouse. She has also learned how to ride her tricycle. HC loves to give super tight hugs and big kisses. She still gives equal love to Mommy & Daddy overall but on any given day she could easily prefer one or the other. She gave us a sweet smile for her red chair pictures.

She is such a ham. I wanted to get a picture of Ms. Stylish in her fashionable jeggins. She will strike a pose in a second.

She also loves to talk on the phone. Well, when she is in the mood to talk. She prefers to hold the phone herself and walk around while chatting. I love that kid!

Weekend trip to Nana & Pappy's

Daddy made the trip to Baton Rouge to watch the Tide play. He had always wanted to go so he and some buddies made the trip. Hannah Claire and Mommy made a trek up to Nana & Pappy's to celebrate Nana's birthday. We had lots of fun relaxing and seeing family (Granny Sue, Pawpaw John and Aunt Lorie). After some Saturday morning shopping we headed home to watch the game. Sadly it didn't go as we had hoped. The good news a sweet two year old can always put things into perspective. She loves Nelson, Nana's dog. As you can see, he loves her too.

After the game, Pappy grilled us some yummy steaks. We went outside to play with Nelson a little. Nana has this really cool game of throwing a tennis ball on the roof and then Nelson jumps around like crazy until he catches it. Hannah Claire thought this was the best game EVER!

She loved on him after he tracked the ball down but he was keeping his eye on her.

HC couldn't wait until Nana threw the ball again. Oh the little things that bring such joy.

Hannah Claire helped Pappy with some grilling. Whoever was responsible for the steaks did a great job because they were melt-in-your-mouth good! I think they make a good team.

Moo-ley (or Mullet)

Our neighbor borrowed a wig Shane has used when dressing up on previous Halloweens. He returned it and guess who found it.

Girly Girl

This kid is 100% girl. She loves all things girl: pink, high heels, shopping, purses, jewelry and makeup. She loves to get into Mommy's makeup. Notice all the gray eyeshadow on her right cheek.

Happy Halloween 2010

This Halloween was so much fun. Hannah Claire (and Mommy & Daddy) had a blast! We left on Saturday morning and headed up to the pumpkin patch. We had never done this but had been wanting to. We went to the one in Hayden and it was so much fun. There was about two kids there other than HC so we pretty much had our run of the place. We loaded up on the covered wagon and headed out to the patch first thing. Hannah Claire was pretty excited.

We were the only people in the patch and as soon as we got out of the wagon HC took off.

She did slow down long enough to shed her coat and then she took off again.

She finally turned around for a quick picture. Apparently there is a memo that goes out to kids that says the best pumpkin is at the far corner. She went as far as she could go and picked out that pumpkin.

Sweet smiles for good times.

On our journey back through the patch Hannah Claire took her time to smell the roses, or the rotten pumpkins. She was very concerned about the smashed ones.

Poor Dad had to carry the pumpkin all the way through the patch. I must say Hannah Claire has great taste, she picked out a pretty pumpkin.

She was very excited about her selection on the way back to the barn.

We also did the "train" ride. All this was was a Gator pulling some wooden boxes around the grounds. We got to see the animals in the petting zoo and the horses. The covered wagon was was more cool.

We also checked out the old country store. It definitely has some old country stuff. Hannah Claire was not too sure about the scarecrow.

We enjoyed the cutouts for our photo ops before we were leaving.

Now this place had two dogs hanging around. We thought it was the family dogs. They were super sweet and very loving. One particular dog took a liking to HC. She loved him too.

After we were petting and playing with the "family" dog, they were getting shooed off by the workers. Whoops. Guess we shouldn't have been loving on the random dogs. Oh well. We also took advantage of the tractor sitting by the exit. I'm not so sure this was part of the experience but it was for us. I think Hannah Claire has a little country girl in her. She looks like a natural on that John Deere.

After a trip to meet Mawmaw & Pawpaw for lunch we headed home for some rest before our big night of trick-or-treating. Hannah Claire was very opinionated about who she wanted to dress up as. Since she was loving her some Minnie Mouse, that is what we went with. I must say she is an adorable Minnie.

HC had no qualms about heading up to the door and asking for some candy. Her standard was "trick-or-treat me". I'm not sure where the me came from but she stuck with it all night. She did get a little scared at one door. They had a mummy and a cat. She was not scared of their weimaraner but freaked out by their little cat. I guess having big dogs can result in this. No worries, she overcame her fear for the sake of some candy.

She was very adamant about putting the candy in her pumpkin herself. This poor guy kept trying to put in the pumpkin himself. She would turn her whole body to block it and take it from his hand. I have no idea where this kid got her stubborn independence. HA!

No pictures but she did get freaked out by a ghoulish skeleton. The scream I heard from my child was hilarious. She saw him at the last house we were at. We went home after that so that we could have some dinner and hand out some candy too. The first time the doorbell rang HC rand to the front door and guess who was there. She screamed and broke out in a dead sprint. She then leapt into my arms. Poor girl. I thought we might have trouble at bedtime but she got over it and was fine. She did love handing out the candy too.

On Sunday we went to Hannah Claire's school's trunk-or-treat. She was a little unsure of all the loudness at first but we found her friend Samantha from school (who was also dressed up as Minnie) and they had a blast. I wish I had pictures but we forgot our camera. They were so sweet going to all the cars holding hands. They also got to jump in the bouncy together. It ended up being a lot of fun.