livingroom tent

too cold to go outside today, so we were trying to be creative...wyatt LOVES a "tent"!!

"rocker" claire!

it's funny how crazy her hair looks in this picture, i can't even remember what she did to get it this way! but isn't she the cutest lil' "rocker" girl you've seen! i also love her outfit! oh, and the reason i was taking the picture...because she just stood up from the middle of the living room!! not holding on to anything! she still doesn't take more than 2 steps at a time, the few times that she has felt brave enough
to try.

rear view of the cute standing girl!

cute claire

new deck

like many BIG projects, this has been one of those we just haven't had time to do yet. it's been a here-and-there kind of project (also, a project type we are very familiar with!). our deck HAS a great foundation, but it HAD lots of rungs, nails, splinters and life (aka: mold...eew!) popping out of the railing and floor. matt tore the rails and floor up/out mid december, so it's been a while since we've been out the back door! BIG thanks to vati (my dad), mark (our neighbor) and dustin (matt's friend/co-worker) who helped matt finish the deck! they all did a great job! the kids and i can't wait to be out on it...when the weather warms up.

wyatt...doing inspections!

lucy is so glad she'll be able to stare in the window again,
with her sweet "sad puppy dog" face!!

"everything looks good here."

kids and the laundry basket

seriously, they are like magnets to this thing...whether empty or full of clothes they have got to get in it! (and then of course they want me to push and pull them around in it! what's fun for them is exercise for me.)

larry boy, go to sleep!

we were out shopping with wyatt's grandma the other day, and the two of them found a really good deal on a "larry boy" toy (from veggie tales). today he had to take a nap with him. the thing about larry boy is that he has a button that you push and once pushed you have to listen to his full 30 seconds or so spill. not so bad until that's who wyatt wants to sleep with. i had to go in a couple of time to tell the two of them to keep it down! finally, i told them that they had better be a sleep when i came back to check on them. this is what i found when i came back!

not long later, this is what i found...i know that wyatt was asleep the first time, but larry boy must have been playing opossum!!

Claire's 1st steps!!

that's right, claire took her first steps today! of course, i am with her all day long but she does it while i'm cooking dinner! but how fun for daddy to be the witness of one of her firsts! :) maybe i'll see it tomorrow!! way to go claire bear!!

Claire's 1st Birthday Party!

since claire's birthday is right in the midst of all the holiday hustle and bustle we decided to wait to have her party once things had slowed down for everyone. we are so glad that we did, because she had a full house of family and friend to celebrate her! as you can tell, she had a "ladybug" themed party. it was a lot of fun!

auntie ashley's super fun artwork lead claire's guests to the front door...

..with the ladybug trail!!

special thanks to the ladybug cupcake designer/creators: nana (matt's mom) and auntie ashley! we LOVED them!! esp. their big googly eyes!! awesome! the cake came from a cute little bakery in garner. all i told them was that the theme was red ladybugs and this is the amazingly cute cake they created for us. will definitely be getting cakes from there in the future, not only was it so cute, it was sooooo yummy too!

birthday girl claire, decked out in her ladybug attire, eating her birthday cupcake!!
happy belated birthday sweet girl!! we love you!

the house full of wonderful family and friends! thank you sooo much for coming, we had a great time and hope you did too!

sweet lil auntie ree!
she also took a lot of great pictures from the party, click here to see them!

we had lots to eat! it was so good: pork bbq, brunswick stew, mini corn muffins, coleslaw (thank you ben and carmen)...

...potato salad, lots of yummy fruit (thank you claire's grandma!) and veggies (thank you claire's nana!)!! hopefully no one left hungry, we had lots of leftovers!

can't leave out a picture of big brother, at the lil kid's table!! cute guy!

marshmallow creme

Tastefully Simple (one of my side jobs) has this yummy blueberry fruit dip that calls for marshmallow creme. it's great because it doesn't call for a full jar of marshmallow creme, which means you have left over marshmallow creme! we made some "fluffer nutter" crackers!! yum! (if you are wondering what in the world "fluffer nutter" is (and it IS highly likely i'm spelling it wrong), it's the combination of marshmallow creme and peanut butter.) they both like it, but only claire asked for more...as you can see, it may have been because only half of it actually made it into her mouth!! :)

"this is sooo good!"

pulling up!

claire has started pulling up on things! it's so fun to see her standing by herself! i feel like babies get a whole new look to themselves once they hit this stage. our little girl is growing up so fast!

"watch tractors"

whenever wyatt sees that daddy is on the computer, he immediately says "uh watch tractors". i'm not sure who's more hooked on tractors...wyatt or his daddy!

the kids' first snow!

i can't believe it but we actually got a few inches of snow!! how fun! it's the first snow for both wyatt and claire! it was so fun to see them see it. wyatt loved it, regardless of if he could feel his feet or not...we don't really have proper snow attire!

claire had had enough of sitting that close to wyatt! the snow was a bit deep for crawling...esp. for someone that close to the ground...and poor baby got a face full of snow when she looked down. needless to say, she and i weren't out in the snow for long, snow in the face doesn't feel too good.

wyatt and lucy among the many snow covered farm implements!

pretty lucy. :)

the face says it all!

quarantined

when you have the chicken pox (or maybe it's better to say "once you KNOW you have the chicken pox"!) you can't go anywhere until they are all dried up! so, here are a couple pictures of things we did to pass the time!

pretend to be santa claus!
he did this a couple of days...still definitely has christmas on the brain.
the couch is the sleigh!

eat breakfast...

...and lunch...and dinner...

call the ducks and geese...ALL of them!

snuggle with daddy and a watch a little tv.
(two must-do things when you are under the weather!)

take a nap...in your tent!

(cute guy inside his tent, fast asleep!)

wake up from naps! :)

put christmas decorations away!

chicken pox...bad

a few pictures of little claire with the pox all over. she has a pretty bad case of them (according to the doc). they are everywhere...and when i say everywhere, i mean EVERYWHERE! corners of her eyes, in her ears, throat, private areas, all over her scalp, ...etc! poor babe. she really has been great about the whole thing. not as active as usual, but still pretty chipper. good thing about having the chicken pox at one is that she doesn't really know how to scratch...bad thing – definitely knows how to rub her face and doesn't understand why we keep trying to stop her. we sadly foresee a good chance that she will have a couple of scars on her face. :( sweet baby get better soon!!

taking an colloidal (sp?) oatmeal bath

chicken pox and mashed potatoes

yes, poor sweet little claire somehow caught the chicken pox. we haven't heard of anyone having the chicken pox, so we didn't know what to think of the tiny little blisters popping up all over her cute little body. she had just gone to the doc for her 1 year visit a couple days before the first sighting, so we thought at first it was a reaction to one of the shots she received that day. i am sure that the people a the grocery store thought i was nuts to bring my child covered in sores there, but i honestly had NO idea that we could be spreading anything. i pray that no one else got them from her.

mmm spaghetti

(and later we will find out that the tiny little red bump on the top of her nose near her left eyebrow is a chicken pock!!!!! :( )

get the baby

claire is the monkey in our house. wyatt didn't start climbing on things until MONTHS after he started walking. claire on the other hand has taken to climbing on things and it seems that walking is not a top priority for her (which that is something she has in common with her brother!)! i have to watch her like a hawk. she's mastered getting in of this chair that is in the video, out of it is a little bit different story, but she's getting better. the standing is what has to be stopped though. here's a video of our little climber standing, sitting, getting out of the chair and finally...getting the baby! (also, listen to wyatt in the background...he just reacts and replies!)



not wanting to be left out of the camera fun, a sweet smile from wyatt!

Renfrow-Renfrow-Pollock Christmas :)

we went to the VA Renfrows for new years and to celebrate christmas with them. we had a great time and we are once again lacking in pictures from this visit!!! we got a new camera for christmas, so hopefully we can get a little better at this!

wyatt with a santa ornament that was attached to one of his presents.

nana has this cute little wagon to store all of the toys in, wyatt would pull claire around in it, but in this picture i am taking her for a ride.

now here's a little video of cutie wyatt! he's experienced being put to "nigh nigh" many a time, but he was playing with his auntie "ashee" right before bed time and i barely caught the end on camera of him putting her "nigh nigh"... :)