i love this picture. as i mentioned in my last 'real' post, claire and i went shopping a few weeks ago because she was in desperate need of new shoes. her feet might be the thickest things you've ever seen. they are as tall as they are wide, so she's hard to fit to say the least. grant lived in pedipeds until he was 2 1/2, and i absolutely love them. they are cute, plus i feel like they're pretty comfortable. so of course, claire has her fair share of thsoe. she was starting to outgrow her first ones so we were on the hunt for some transitional shoes. the above is what we came home with. the 4th pair was actually sophie's, but we're borrowing them for those outfits that you must have brown for since we outgrew our brown ones. a girl can never have too many shoes right?! 
everyone has already done all of the circus posts, but just for memory's sake we did attend the circus this year. grant has never wanted to go until this year because he says he's scared of clowns. this time when i asked, he said he wasn't scared anymore. thankfully, none of the clowns got too terribly close to us. we had a great time. the elephants and the motorcyclists were my favorite. claire was really into the whole thing too. she watched all of the people so intently, danced to the music, etc.
we really haven't done much else these past few weeks...just hanging out. we're always busy, i'm just not sure with what exactly. claire is my one woman wrecking crew and may put me over the edge very very soon. the kitchen we got her for her birthday may have been a mistake. i don't know how many times per day i can pick up the same fake food. she doesn't play with anything! she just pulls EVERYTHING out and moves on to something else. it's exhausting, but she is in her own little world and has no idea she's putting anyone else out.
i was getting ready to type that grant and claire are really getting along well, playing well, etc. then i heard a myriad of things flying into the hallway just now. when i asked grant what he was doing, he replied throwing things at claire. so maybe it's not as good as i thought. they are getting a little bit easier to manage. i even took them both to home depot & kroger with me today ON PURPOSE and they were good.
claire won't say anything still except for ball, dada, dog, and the occasional mama. she says ball over and over and over again! she also grunts and makes little noises to indicate what she wants all of the time. there's no question that she knows exactly what she wants, and usually it's independence. i am already picturing teenage struggles :-)! it's going to be a wild ride!
Since Claire turned 1, and met the weight requirement a few months ago, I turned her carseat around when I moved it into the van. I think she enjoys it, but it's like she now realizes I'm in the car with her. She yells at me ALOT driving down the road. I took both of these pictures while driving so they're not the best.
She still doesn't sleep like I'd hope that a 1 year old would, but I know that surely that will get better at some point. She's walking (running) like a champ and starting to babble a little bit more. She doesn't say many words though, mainly just "ball, ball" over and over again. I really need to get that on video, huh?! She has no trouble getting her point across with her grunts and pointing. I've nicknamed her the mighty destructor over the past few months. Her favorite thing to do is go into Grant's room & pull each and every toy out and then go onto something else. She loves to dump everything out! I actually just heard something topple over in the background....more to do all the time! Grant and Claire are really starting to play together well. Although it probably isn't safe, I do find myself leaving them alone in one room or another for minutes at a time, and no one has been seriously injured as of yet. 
This is the table with the cookies all wrapped up and tied with a bow for everyone to take home with them, and the precious cupcakes on the servers. My friend Elisabeth made them & did an absolutely wonderful job. I found some similar on a website & emailed her the picture. They turned out EXACTLY like I wanted them too, and they tasted good too!
A close up of the cupcakes...
Claire cracked me up looking at her gifts. She got mostly toys for Christmas, and mostly clothes for her birthday - perfect! She actually hugged some of the clothes as she opened them. I'm teaching her well :-)!
Claire wasn't very into her cupcake which was a bit surprising. She loves sweets, but I think there was just too much going on for her to concentrate on eating. She was actually asleep when the majority of the partygoers arrived. She woke up to a crowd & lots of balloons, and I think she may have been a little overwhelmed by the whole thing.
All of their Santa stuff laid out and ready for action! That tent took up the majority of the living room. It was pretty impossible to walk in there, but it was worth it. And, yes, that's a TV on the ground next to the tent...for Grant's room, but don't freak out. It's just so he can watch movies. I'm not hooking it up to cable, or he would never come out of there. It's been a good thing so far. Since we don't have a bonus room or play room, there really is no where else to put one for him.
Grant & Daddy checking out the tent.
Claire and her new stroller & baby. I love the way she's carrying the doll. No, I did not teach her this!
We only wrapped a few presents from us this year. They could care less about the paper, and get so much every where else, that ours are just the icing. 
One of the most popular presents of the day from my dad. The Batcave! Grant hasn't seen Batman or anything, but at an adult Halloween party that he was at for a little while, a guy was dressed like The Joker. Ever since then, he's had this interest in the whole Batman thing. He has really played with this a bunch, and Claire enjoys it too believe it or not.
My Three Brothers. It's rare that we're all together any more. I see all of them, but not usually at the same time. They're all good sports and wait all day to open their presents so my children can have their fun first. It will be interesting when (if) they all get married and have kids of their own to all get together.
The mandatory family shot. We took like 8, but this one was the best. Grant is always doing something goofy these days when the camera comes out, but Claire smiles like it's her job.
And this...this is what Claire was pressed up against in the last picture. The Dora Ballpit that she was given the weekend after Christmas. I can't even begin to express the love baby girl had for this. Ball is by far her favorite word, and she L0VES all balls! This was a little slice of heaven for her, however it was irreparably damaged after 5 days. Secretly, I'm kind of glad, but it was pretty sad to see her face as we pressed every last bit of air out of it. Maybe one day, she'll have another one. I kept all 50 balls just in case.
There's a snapshot of all we did. It by no means does any of it justice! We had so much fun with two kiddos this year. 11 1/2 months is a great age for a first Christmas. She was sooo into everything. It's so hard to plan a birthday right after, but I guess I should just be thankful they're not on the same day, huh?! Next year, the birthday planning will take place in October though! I can't believe we'll be celebrating 1 year with her in just a few short days. It's been such a quick year for all 4 of us. Grant has grown up so much, and amazes me with all he's remembering, saying, absorbing, etc. these days! 