Look who's walking

Eden is getting around pretty well these days! She loves to walk behind any kind of push toy, cruise around furniture and hold onto fingers. I love to watch babies learn how to walk. Like a new baby deer with wobbly legs =) (I'm writing this on December 18th, pic and video taken on Nov. 30th. She just took three steps by herself this week!)
She's so proud of herself!

Big weekend! Sea World & The Nutcracker

What a fun weekend for Claire and I! We spent a lot of time together while Neil spent some one on one time with sicky, Eden. First it was off to Sea World to catch the Christmas shows. The Christmas music was pumping, the decorations were beautiful and it was COLD at first but turned into a beautiful day. The Shamu show was a usual hit but Claire was too excited to stay for the whole thing because she wanted to get to the Sesame Street show as soon as possible. So... we got there 30 minutes early but got a great seat! Ironically, we sat right behind Kate's sister's family and soon Kate and Abbey showed up too! Claire was so excited to see SS with her friend and she was so brave. She went right up to the stage with all the other crazy kiddos. It was a SS mosh pit! The story was cute and the best part was the falling "snow" at the end.

Claire's in the middle looking back at me

Abbey, Claire and Abbey's cousin, Emily. Claire LOVED having an older girl around =) This picture is SOO darn cute.
The next day it was off to The Nutcracker with Grandma and Mimi. I can't even describe how incredible it was to take Claire to The Nutcracker. This was something that my mom would take me to when I was little all the way into my college years. To share it with MY little girl... it was a priceless memory. I had gotten the DVD a while ago to see if she would like the ballet and she was more than hooked. Her favorite was the "magician" or Clara's uncle. Isn't that funny?! Anyway, we pretended ballet everyday, all day so she was more than ready when the day finally arrived!

The day of, she loved getting dressed up and had to bring her little Cinderella purse for the special occasion. We had decent seats but she sat on my lap the whole time being as still and quiet as a mouse, clapping in all the right places (of course, the lollipop Mimi brought helped when we got to the second half!) She already can't wait to go back next year!

Mimi, Claire and Grandma
What a big girl going to the ballet!
I had to get on one too!
I bought this little nutcracker as a momento. It's sitting up by her stocking!
Afterwards, we went to eat on the riverwalk. It was Claire's first time and she was mesmerized by the river boats and ducks. She stayed looking over the railing any time she wasn't eating her bean and cheese taco. We were there long enough to see the lights come on which made Grandma's evening!

Love this girl!
Wow! What a great time! Claire's discovery stage is so overwhelming at times. It makes me experience things all over with her and everything is just so magical. There is so much pleasure in the simple, small things. What a blessing it is to be a mommy!

Finally....Thanksgiving!

I can't believe I'm so behind! We celebrated my families tday the Sat. before since we had family in for Eden's birthday party. We had the usual yumminess with my favorites - broccoli with cheese sauce, sweet potato casserole, the 18 lb. turkey and my all time favorite, my dad's A-MAZING stuffing that cooks in the bird for hours on end. Everything at my house is from scratch so it's an all day affair in the kitchen. That's one of the traditions for us - to cook all day together and then eat late on beautiful china =) I love it.... Can't believe we were all together!

Dad's working hard on the turkey!

Everyone except mom but you gotta see Miss Maggie in the corner eyeing that turkey! What a cutie
Mom had to get in a pic too! Love this one

Our biggest blessings!
On the actual tday, we spent the afternoon with Neil's mom, dad, grandma and their close family friends, the Ingram's. Debbie and Mike were in from Colorado and Kyle was in from London so we had a great time catching up with them. Claire was head over heels with "Big" Kyle (not to be confused with cousin Kyle). Glad he was there since the cousins were off on a cruise this year. He kept her entertained! Another great meal and great time together with family and friends. I think Thanksgiving is one of my favorites!

Eden had to support daddy's alma matar on the big game day


Love this one with MawMaw
Elaine is so sweet to always let Claire take some flowers home with her after she walks along the rocks with Mimi.

My mom couldn't go without seeing us on the actual holiday so we went over there for some pumpkin casserole and a really nice time visiting. So glad we did! Claire got to decorate a pumpkin and we all enjoyed a real fire to warm up. What a great end to a great day!
Proud grandparents

Spurs Game

On Nov. 23rd, Neil and I joined a big group of singers from our church to sing the National Anthem for a Spurs Game. We combined with a handful of singers from a group in Austin called One Voice. I ended up conducting which was a really neat experience and we had a great time! My parents came to see it and enjoy the game with us. Pretty cool feeling to have an entire arena be silent to listen and watch you in the spotlight. I had a number of people say "Hey, I saw you conduct at the Spurs game!" and later found out it was even on TV. The group sounded great especially for that being the first time every single singer was present! Looking forward to doing it again =)

Neil snapped this quick shot of David Robinson and Sean Elliott from behind the scenes. He was quickly told no cameras back there!

Me and a Chile Pepper - Neil couldn't resist

Eden's 1st Birthday Party!

Last Saturday we had Eden's Ladybug birthday party at home with family, pseudo aunts and Eden's sweet friend, Jed. I only posted a handful of pictures and if anyone wants to see the rest you can check them out at: http://neilkathrynclaire.shutterfly.com/ We had a great time celebrating the big one and Eden couldn't have been in a better mood. She was such a doll smiling with everyone there to give her hugs. I also posted some videos of Eden loving her cupcake. She kind of nursed it but ended up eating almost the whole thing!
I made a banner with her monthly pics to show how much she's grown this year.

SUGAR!

I love this picture - Eden with all four of her grandparents. So special!
Here are the videos. Each one is precious! Seriously - I watched them 4 or 5 times each and I see the kiddo everyday. Enjoy!

One Year Old

Well, had to take the last round of monthly pics today with Mr. Bear after a big almost two hour nap (ends up you had a fever tonight so hopefully you'll be ok tomorrow). Here are some cute ones of her in her new outfit from Grandma:

The next few are my favorite!

Not sure what got her to make this face but it's kind of cute =) Claire was trying to comfort her. What a good sister!
She looks old in this one
SO what did we do to celebrate the big one?! All four of us went to a nice lunch at Ruby Tuesdays. Eden had her favorite - cantaloupe, bread and cheese! Claire was wonderful and the food was really good.
After a long nap for Eden and no nap for Claire, we dropped Claire off to play with "the girls" Maddie and Mikaela so we could have some time with Eden by herself. Thanks Dianna and Kay for helping us out!

We took Eden to La Cantera. Her Great Grandma Ann sent Eden a little mola so we decided GG was going to treat Eden to her first taste of ice cream! Thanks Grandma Ann! She loved it and maybe she'll have a sweet tooth like you (and her mommy!)

She wasn't too sure about the cold but warmed up to it fast enough to whine for more even before she was done with her bite!

I think she's convinced! Look at that face!
Daddy's girl
So this post has gotten long but here are some things I want to remember about this month.

- You moved up to size 4 diapers.

- You are pulling up on everything and cruising everywhere! You're even walking with only one adult hand to help you. I wouldn't be surprised if you take off next week.

- Your favorite foods are cantaloupe, cheese, yogurt, dried apples, bread, pumpkin, broccoli, cupcakes and ice cream =)

- You gave us about three nights of sleeping through the night this month. It was wonderful and we're hoping for more to come.

- You go CRAZY for cats and dogs! When you see them anywhere I think you're going to fly away with all that arm flapping you do! When you see Rollo, you act like you've never seen her before.

- You are babbling a lot but you aren't making a lot of consonant sounds. Mama is your token word =) You ARE a mama's girl!

- You are such a fast mover. You crawl like lightening and nothing stops you as you climb the stairs. It's hilarious - when you want to go extra fast, you put your head down and tuck your chin under. I guess you're more aerodynamic that way. What a smart girl!

- You get so excited you knock yourself over when mom or dad come home from work. It makes our day every time we see it!

- You love knocking over block buildings, all your toys with music, and balls.

- You are more strong willed than any child I have known at this age. You know what you want, when you want it and you're not afraid to let me know. Your shrill screaming is reserved for night time so no one believes me when you are so pleasant and easy going during the day =)

Happy Birthday Eden

Eden~

I can't believe you're one year old today. At this time one year ago I wasn't allowed to hold you or feed you. It was one of the hardest things for me as a mama not to be able to touch you. Tonight as I fed you before bed and held you extra long as you slept, I tried to savor the moment and remember how blessed I have been by you. It was a miracle to bring you home after 8 days in the NICU. A joy on the day you were born, you have brought so much more joy to our family this year and we thank God for you every day. Your bright smile, sweet disposition and strong will amazes me. We love you so much

love
Mom

Chili Cook-off

Well, I should be getting things done for Eden's party on Saturday but it's been a couple of long, tough days so I need to decompress! Eden's second tooth is taking forever and causing her a lot of discomfort. Well, at least when mommy's around. She's an angel for Stefany!

Anyway, we had our annual chili cook-off on Sunday. The theme was Texas so we our life group did a play on words and did Texas "Chilly". We had a melted snowman and wore hats, scarves, etc. with short sleeves, shorts. I did the letters on the background, Billy did the thermometer and Jayme got the funny headlines printed. There were so many that contributed and it came together really well. We had a great time except for Claire's nose dive into the industrial carpet. She got a terrible carpet burn and her eye swelled up pretty good.



Lezlee and Lily Kate - what a cute pic!
The guys - Jeremy, Neil, Vu and Josh
Jacin loving the chili
Marci and Emily
Josh and Kristin
Claire and Leyna eating chili - Claire actually mixed her cheese and chips in her chili. She usually has to have everything separate. Silly girl!
Jayme, me sportin the "Blossom" look and Kristin
The best group shot we could get and we were missing three families (Nguyen's, Gibbin's and Torres') Can't believe how much our group has grown! We've actually gotten a number of new members just the past couple of months. What a blessing our group is to our family! They've really become our second family and wonderful friends!

Till next year!