Firsts

I've been writing this post for weeks in my head, but never seem to have the time to actually write it out and post the pictures. I uploaded the pictures several days ago, but having the time to sit down and type isn't easy to come by. So here goes....

The last several weeks have been ones of many firsts. That's one of the best parts about kids..is all the little firsts. Of course, when they're over I tend to be sad that they'll never be another "first time" to do whatever it happens to be. The great thing is that another first is right on its heels, at least for now.

A few weeks ago, Grant attended his 1st Vanderbilt basketball games. We always had season tickets growing up so I went all of the time. Then later, Pookie and I got our own tickets. We had them up until the year after Grant was born. I quickly realized that it was not easy to leave your baby at home on a week night after not seeing him all day to go watch college basketball. I'm a huge fan of college basketball, and I miss it greatly so we enjoy a game here and there when we can. This, however, is the first time we've been brave enough to include Grant. I was really worried about his attention span not lasting very long, but he ended up doing great. He was ready to go 1/2 way through the 2nd half, but I was pretty impressed with that.

I think I already posted a similar picture of claire on here, but this is her eating her 1st Thanksgiving meal! Good thing she went to all table food a week or so before. That girl chowed down on turkey, green beans, corn, etc. etc. She always manages to save room for dessert too!
This first was actually one for me. My 1st black eye. A few weeks ago in church, Grant was making lots of noise rustling around in some paper bag. He'd made it through the entire service, and we were down to just announcements, so I picked him up and was trying to talk him into just sitting in my lap until the end. He was not happy about that and arched his back, thus throwing his head directly into the bone just below my eye (whatever that's called). I went down immediately and it brought tears to my eyes. I could tell by the time Sunday school started, my eye would be black. It was swollen and blue. I iced it all through class, but it still turned black. This picture is actually at the tail end of the bruise, hence all of the yellowing. I kept telling Pookie he needed to take a picture of it, but he never did, so you get this scary self portrait....I love that you get a close up of my mole (beauty mark..right?!).

Grant's 1st tree of his own! We didn't even put up our usual tree in the den / kitchen area. I was so scared Claire would turn it over multiple times that it just wasn't worth it. Surprisingly, she's done really well with this one. She loves to look at it, but usually stops her forward progress when she hears the word, "no."
This is actually a 2nd, but it's the blog's 1st picture of Santa. Grant has now seen Santa 3 times, and had his picture made 2x's. Claire did plop a squat in his lap once, but she wasn't too sure about the old guy, so I didn't force it this time.

Is this not the cutest thing??! I painted this little plate at Clay Treasures here in town and had both kids feet put on it. Then we made them look like reindeer (kind of). I just think it's the cutest thing. Claire was hilarious getting her foot painted. She seemed to really enjoy the feeling of it.
1st matching Christmas PJ's. Last year at this time, I was sooo pregnant w/Claire & just hoping she would hang in there until after the Holidays. This year, I have two kiddos into every thing and ALL OVER the place! But, they sure are cute in their matching pajamas! This is last Thursday night and if you look at the grill behind them outside, you can see it is covered in snow. They were looking out the window watching the snow come down when I got them to turn around to snap this. I can never get a good pic of the two of them so I didn't even attempt it for Christmas cards...then I get one. Figures!

I just love picture. claire is smiling now like there's no tomorrow! Every time I whip out the camera, she gets sooo tickled.
This is the 1st snow of the year! Friday morning, we woke to all of this white! Love it. Grant was making snow angels in the driveway of all places. It melted really quickly every where but our yard. I guess because of the way our house faces, we had a snowy yard through most of Saturday.

Awkward angle, but gotta love these cheeks and those sweet toofers!
Claire's obsession...balmex. Every time I lay her on her changing table, she screams and this is what she wants. She loves to bite open the cap. I have to be very vigilant to make sure she's not squeezing it into her mouth. She cries every time I take it awayThere you have it! Things are crazy at our house right now. We've been super busy with work, parties, trying to shop and trying not to go crazy! The kids have exchanged a virus this week which consists of nothing but a high fever and feeling lousy AND I need a day off! I can't wait till Christmas! It's going to be so fun with these two this year!