Fine

Saturday Letters

Doh! I missed Friday again ... but because we had the unfortunate reason to attend the funeral of our friend, Jeff Powell. Collin, Laura, Barbara and Annalee are all shell shocked, and dealing with grief, and I really wanted to be there to support them, both at the visitation on Thursday night and at the funeral on Friday. I love you sweet friends, and I'm so glad Jeff is with Jesus, and completely pain-free, although I know you miss him so very much.

Dear weather,

I love you. I love you. I love you. Please stay a while!

Dear doc,

Thank you for taking me seriously.

Dear Clara,

Your giggles rock my world.

Dear Aggies,

An easy game this weekend, let's play it up :)

Sears Halloween Photoshoot

Today I took my favorite 4 month old to get her picture taken with her Halloween costumes. Yes, costumes. I couldn't decide between a moose and fish .... and really, who can?!

Anyway, she did great! Although she may have had a few moments.

Thanks to Nona and Mr. Monster Mirror we got several smiles :)

Enjoy the previews!!

 

I don't wanna be a fishy!!

I give up.

Well, maybe ...

Fish out of water

My favorite fish photo!!

Love this baby girl and her grin!

I'm a mooooooose!!

Typical Clara: holding on to her foot & sucking on something in her mouth :)

I don't get it. What are we doing?

Okay, I'll smile!

Holding onto Momma's hands

This is fun!

Ooopsies, fell over! Which I thought was really funny, bad mommy

Surprise! Watch me roll over!!!

See what I did there? I'm a rollin' moose.

Wishful thinking?

Oh wait ....

:)

Attitude is everything

Clara is a miserable fuss pot.

I'm not ready for school on Monday.

The house is a mess.

I feel lousy.

The dogs need exercise. 

And yet ...

We have a beautiful daughter.

I have a job with people I respect and enjoy.

I have a comfortable home with a loving husband.

I'm not struggling through many of the illnesses or health concerns several I know are going through.

My dogs love me anyway.

Philippians 4:6: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

A&M didn't BTHO LSU

Oh well. We weren't favored to win, but we could have. One missed extra point, two missed field goals and 4 turnovers make it very hard to maintain a lead.

We had fun watching the game with Duncan, Leah & Waylon Even if we did lose. Thanks for opening your home to us and feeding us lunch!
(And letting the puppies play!)

You may notice Clara is wearing 3 different outfits in these pictures. I think pooping all over 2 Aggie onesies was her way of expressing her displeasure with the game.

Family Times

This post is tardy, but on Sunday Mom invited Bryan & I over after church to have lunch with them and Grady & Marissa! They are in town because Grady has a class and a friend of theirs was getting married. Getting to see them is a bonus for all of us! I do love that he has these classes based in Houston and Marissa & Murphy decide to tag along.

Clara is still too tiny for walkers and she can't sit on her own, but she enjoys "sitting" in them and playing. Our solution? Too stuff blankets between her and the tray so she can stay upright :)

The cute frog walker Mom got for Clara

Marissa spending some quality snuggle time with her niece:

 

Grady playing with the puppy cousins:

 

Dad making Clara smile in the mirror. I would love to look at myself if I was that cute too!!

I love this picture!!

"I'm so cute PawPaw!! And oh my goodness - so are you!!"

 

Snuggles and kisses for everyone:

 

Mom & my dog with entitlement issues:

 

Was PawPaw being silly? Yessss!

 

Nom, nom, nom.

 

Disclaimer: She is not really drinking. Although I'm sure she licked an ice cube or two :)

 

Super baby!

 

Oh! oh! pet me, pet me!!

And Bryan's asleep :)

 

The ever-so-patient Murphster.

 

Thank you for inviting us to join you guys! It was fun to see all 3 of you!

Dinner with Auntie M & Uncle G

Clara is one blessed niece to have Auntie M & Uncle G (As I tend to refer to them when talking to CB). They so clearly love her, and I know she's going to adore getting to know them as she grows up.

They met us for dinner at Saltgrass tonight (so good) and Uncle G was even nice enough to share a few bites of his avocado with Clara :) Too fun.

You two are so precious to me - I'm so glad you're moving to Houston soon!

Clara Beth 2012

Because that debate was ridiculous, I decided to play with some images.

Who WOULDN'T vote for this sweet girl?! She's got charisma in spades :)

Los Cucos Avocado

Tonight Nona, Bryan, CB & I went to eat at Los Cucos, one of my favorite places (especially their margaritas, mmmm).

Nona ordered an avocado and since it was fresh and not mixed with anything, we used a little bit of it to feed Miss Clara.

To say she "likes" avocado would be an understatement. She is all over that stuff!! haha

Another video because who doesn't wanna watch a 4 month old try to eat solid foods!? It's messy and fun and hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eljA4gHwBbs&feature=youtu.be

Open wiiiiiide:

 

Lick, lick, lick:

 

LOVE this expression:

 

"Where did the spoon go? Who are all of these people watching me?"

(several waitstaff waved and smiled and rooted her on, it was too funny)

 

Phew! I can have some more.

 

More, more, more

 

A little left over for later:

 

This solid food stuff is fun!

Sleepy Faces

The many faces of Clara as she wakes up from a nap, I think it's so hilarious I tried to capture it :)

These were all taken in under 2 minutes - just to show you the variety of her facial expressions as she wakes up!

On the day she turned 4 months!

First Solid Food! Avocado, yumm :)

Yesterday we tried Clara on her first solid food - avocado! 

Bryan put together the high chair while Mom and I mashed up a fresh avocado.

{The video of the occasion is below} 

I'm not sure what that is....

Fun family picture!

Post food - I'm not sure what just happened....

 

Is it weird that I took a picture of the avocado? Yes.

Am I okay with that? Yes :)

 

To celebrate this occasion, I made a collage for the scrapbook:

 

It turned out cute!!

Annnnnd if you'd like to watch the experience, we (of course) got it on video!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHST1l4rzz8&feature=youtu.be

Enjoy!