What a Week

The week after Thanksgiving was rough. Not because we were in holiday mode, but because Claire figured out how to climb out of her crib. Right when Greg and I think we have a handle on her, she goes and proves us wrong. Here is a glimpse at what we experienced.

Greg and I had put the girls to bed and were sitting in the front room when we heard a thud in Claire's room. Then we heard her doorknob twisting. We looked at each other in shock and what had just happened registered with both of us as Claire strolled into the room and says "Hi!" in the sweetest little voice. Not only had she figured out how to climb out of her crib, but she had also figured out how to open doors. What a night. she was up for another 1.5 hours.

The quote of the night came from Greg, "She can climb out of her crib but can't climb up onto the couch." What a loving father.

Here she is blissfully reading books instead of sleeping. At least she had taken the time to pull her hair out of her tiny elastics, which she then puts on her wrists. That girl!

She was supposed to be sleeping in her bed, but instead was out of her crib trying to turn on her lamp.

I was in the kitchen one day and turned around to see Claire standing on our garbage can. I'm telling you, that girlfriend is crazy!

I had just barely put Claire down for a nap and had made it downstairs in time for Claire to follow me in the room. That girl climbs out of her crib FAST!

It took a couple of tries, but I finally caught of this on video.

And to make matters worse, our washer also decided to stop working this week. 

A Thanksgiving to Remember

The Thanksgiving Break had arrived and we frantically packed the car Wednesday just as the snow started to fly. We left and it was a slow go the whole way north. We have learned that our van is very light, so it's not very good in the snow. We were safe for the most part, except for one scary part where we almost slid off the road, but luckily the tires started gripping again before we were too far to the right. Luckily for everyone, the weather got better around Snowville and continued to improve the further we got into Idaho.

We made it to Boise just in time to jump out of the car and run to the movie theatre to watch Frozen 2 with the Borups'. It was absolutely AMAZING and Claire was content to wander around the theater the whole time. It wasn't super packed, so we weren't too worried about her. After, we walked a block to see these amazing Christmas lights.

Who knew grapevines could be so pretty?

Afterwards, we ate dinner at Costa Vida. It was a fun night!

Greg had arranged for us to stay at his Aunt Gail and Uncle Dean's house, and they were as hospitable as they come! Sof kept calling Gail "Grandma" and it made my heart happy to see my girls so readily loved and welcome.

Uncle Dean built this Snow White cottage and it was absolutely adorable!!

I was very impressed with all of the little details!

Oh Claire, her range of emotion is pretty impressive. She went from shrieking on the swing ...

to having the time of her life on the trampoline.

Sof and Abby are the cutest little buddies. Abby stayed the night and the girls had so much fun playing together! It's cute little cousins like this that make me wish we lived closer together. It just means we will need to plan a trip up this summer.

Claire didn't sleep very well our first night, so she took a great nap on Thanksgiving Day. 

Greg's sweet Grandma turned 90 over Thanksgiving, which is why we were in Boise in the first place. Just about everyone was there, so the festivities were held in a church, which ended up being a lot of fun! Here is Claire cruising around the stage and inspecting all of the Balloons while Mark welcomes and introduces everyone.

The sweetest lady ever! We love her.

The kids were running around like crazy, and it was so fun to watch them run around the play together.

We bathed the girls in the awesome jetted tub at Gail and Dean's. We turned on the jets and I couldn't figure out where all of the bubbles were coming from. Turns out there was a bar of soap stuck on the filter. It was hilarious.

All the bubbles.

A giant Spjute family photo was scheduled to be taken the day after Thanksgiving at the Capitol. We made it there in time for me to attempt to take cute pictures of my girls. Sof is good at not cooperating. Claire isn't any better.

We went back to the church after to have some lunch. 

What would we do without Uncle Toby?

Someone was very smart to set up a coloring station for the kids.

After lunch, we had a few hours to ourselves. Greg went Christmas shopping on Black Friday while Claire attempted to nap and Sof and I watched some shows. Afterwards, we went swimming at the hotel where Greg's family was staying.

Afterwards we went back to the church for a devotional. Claire ran around like her crazy self in the back. It was manifest destiny to have the gathering in a church.

This was our last night in Boise, and Claire finally slept well.

Saturday, we packed and we drove to see Greg's Uncle Brian and Aunt Ann's new house in the middle of a mountain. It was a beautiful house and the girls had fun playing with the toys and spending some last minute time playing with their cousins they don't see often enough. Greg had bought some clay pigeons and I went out quickly to hit one - we both need to practice our shot. After, we inspected Brian's firetruck, then climbed in the car for the trip home.

I am not lying when I say we had a lot of fun and really enjoyed Thanksgiving this year. Greg has an amazing extended family and it is always fun to get together with them. I just wish we could do it more often.

A bit of our November

We had a fun November, and we were able to do some fun things. The weather slowed down a bit, so we were inside more. But, there was still some fun time spent enjoying the good 'ole outdoors!

The girls played in the dryer one night and this was the result. I still laugh whenever I see this!

My mom gave her married daughters tickets to Time Out For Women in St. George for Mother's Day, and the weekend finally came for us to enjoy them. We had a lot of fun together! We stayed in my aunt's townhouse and ate yummy food. It was fun to be together to be a sister/daughter instead of a mom. Time off like that is good for the soul, even if it was only for 1.5 days.

Here are Greg and Claire while I'm soaking up the TOFW awesomeness.

I got home around Midnight Saturday night just in time to take Greg to the airport the following day right after church. He went on his first work travel trip to Joplin, MO and left me solo with the girls for a week. A few things happened, but we survived. I am lucky to live in a neighborhood full of willing, helpful people. They saved my bacon more than once.

As Greg goes out of town, our terrible faucet decided to leak, and it leaked a ton! I'm not saying I would have had him change it, let's be honest :), but it seemed like one more thing to do. Claire was a trooper that day as we frantically went to Home Depot to pick out a faucet and she actually napped so I could install it. She cut her two 2 molars and was not feeling well at all. Poor girl! But, it was beneficial for me. I mean, how amazing is our new faucet?!!

The plan all along was to change the sink because I hated it. But, sinks are expensive. Little did I know all we needed to do was change the faucet.

And I absolutely love it!

Sofi found a Christmas present ... so we had fun playing with it.

Claire was still napping like a champ, so all in one afternoon I was able to go to the Eye Doctor and get my prescription fixed, then Sof and I went and got lunch at Cafe Rio. I know, worst mom ever, but I have a camera in Claire's room and was within a mile or so the whole time. We saw these adorable puppies for sale right outside the Cafe Rio and here is Sof holding a the only female puppy who was going for $1600. It is sick that people pay that much for a dog. But, she was adorable, so we had fun holding her for a minute. I tried to convince Greg that we bought her, and I think he believed me for a min.

I love it when Claire let's Sofi hold her hand.

Enjoying a Nielsen's Custard after going through the Quick Quack Car Wash 3 times. I was thrilled to learn that the flavor of the day was Lemon, my favorite!

After 2+ years, we finally got glass in our shower. It is beautiful!

Friday FINALLY came and I picked Greg up from the airport. He had fun in Joplin, but it was good to have him home!

We walked the Lagoon Trail one day. I love my new camera - Claire is so pretty!

Here is Claire happily pulling Greg's hairs out one by one.

Sofi loved this stick.

Greg spared no time in putting up the Christmas lights. Sof felt like a big kid up there on the roof.

Claire alternated between this Anna dress and the Belle dress every day since Halloween. It was a phase that I quickly ended by hiding both dresses.

Sofi was so excited to wake up to snow, and she was even more excited to be able to shovel it. That makes one of us.