Christmas Time

We had another fun Christmas with the Coxes here in AZ. We did our 2nd annual Christmas Eve at our house complete with church service and chicken pot pies after. Christmas day was over at Tom and Carla's again and we had a wonderful meal. Claire got lots and lots of goodies from everyone in her family. We couldn't pull it off without all her "santas".

I love how serious Claire's face was during the church service. It was almost like she wanted to cry. Not sure if it was overwhelming or what. The Coxes take the whole back row up! It's so nice to be outside in case Claire wants to run around. It's super casual!
Christmas day Claire had on her pretty dress...I promise....but then she spilled an entire cup of cranberry juice on her, her dress, the couch, and the carpet. YIKES! Next thing ya know she is naked and has on her Unkie G's reading glasses. NICE!

Going to see Santa

We went to see Santa today. Stood in line 1.5 hours and then Claire decided that she in fact did NOT like Santa after all. Ah well, we actually had fun waiting in line, playing, eating candy canes, and freezing our tails off. This mall is outdoors therefore so is Santa. Brrrr! She was so excited to see Santa and she saw him walk up (to start his shift!) and her eyes were all lit up. For a brief moment she thought Santa was so cool!

Merry Christmas!

PEE PEE IN THE POTTY!!!

Claire has been "playing" with her potty seat for several months now. Nothing serious but we wanted to introduce it to her and let her sit on it here and there and see what happened. Well, nothing happened but lots of toilet paper being flushed. We weren't going to push it but this past week the signs were becoming more evident. Tonight my friends she peed in the potty for the first time. Who knew this kind of excitement could emerge from bodily functions!!! WOOHOO! We even called Grandma on webcam and Claire told her all about it. "GRANDMA, I went potty!! WOOHOO!"
Here's to hopeful new beginnings for 2010!

*nope, this is not my potty in the pic! ha! we do have this seat though.

Jingle Bell Drama

I was expecting to post the cutest video ever today and some pics of Claire's school class singing jingle bells. Sadly, all the people freaked Claire out and she ended up crying before the show even started and never stopped until it was over. The kids gathered around in their classroom while we stood and watched them sing real quick then it was off to decorate cookies. Uncle Tom and Tia even came to watch the singing. It was all just too much for Claire. She clung to me and held her arms around my neck and cried big silent tears. Even her teacher was shocked and saddened because she said Claire was the hit of the show when they practiced. They have practiced for 3 weeks. Poor little sweetie. She is only 2 and these things happen. She just wasn't feeling it today. After the singing was over we left the room for a breather and she finally came around. She just looked up at Tom, Carla, and I said..."I'M HAPPY!!!" with her arms in the air. I swear it was like she hadn't even seen them there until that point. A little switch went off and she was our happy girl giving us all hugs. We managed to decorate a cookie at least! Ah...the drama....sigh.

Random thoughts and favorites

I did a "status cloud" which takes the most used words in your Facebook statuses and makes a collage of your most used words. Pretty funny. Claire of course was my #1 most used word.

We aren't big holiday shoppers which is honestly really nice. We try to just shop for the kiddos in the family. I do stumble out to shop in the craziness once in awhile (or shop online!) and I found a few treats for mama!! =) These are my 3 favorite things right now...

A friend of mine told me about this shampoo. She claimed it smells just like Strawberry Shortcake! She was right! In. Love.

















I love love these skinny jeans from Downeast Basics and you can't beat the price!





















My soon-to-be on my feet Steve Madden boots (via UPS on Thursday!). I have been eyeballing these for several weeks and scored them for 50% off and free shipping at AMAZON! Although they aren't at that price in black anymore so I got pretty lucky. This was my "gift" from Eric. We each bought a pair of shoes for ourselves instead of buying gifts for each other.

And this is what I have to chose from...

Gotta love trying to get a good family pic of everyone with a 2 year old who won't stay still for more than a minute and has the cheesiest smile! We never do anything fancy for the Christmas card pic. Just throw up the tripod, use the self timer, and snap away in front of the tree. Deluxe!

So these are my options for our family photo because heaven help me if we have to try this again!

Cox Christmas

I was horrible with taking pictures but I got a few. We spent 6 days together with the fam and we had a great time. Saturday night was our big family dinner and as usual Tom and Carla made a fabulous meal! Unkie G and Uncle Bill got Claire 2 basketball hoops. One for our house and one for Unkie G's house. What do you get when 2 uncles have beers and time on their hands? A taped off basketball court! I think they want me to bring over the hoop set at our house to make a full court! HA! Claire played with the train at Unkie G's house while we watched the Cardinal's game Sunday. Unlce Gordon is officially an AZ resident and it was awesome to have 3 houses to play at this weekend! We wrapped up our weekend with "Cookie Monday" at our house. Claire loved adding the kisses to the cookies! It was a wonderful Christmas with the Coxes.

Happy Birthday

Cy Douglas Welker!!

7lbs 30z
19.5 inches
1:19pm

He made it!! He is finally here. I am so excited to be an aunt again. The family is doing good. Mom is recovering. Dad sounds like he is beaming with pride. Abby is excited and wearing her big sister t-shirt! I must say though she looks a little put off with this whole baby thing already in this pic with Grandma. =) We are all thrilled to have a healthy baby in the family.

Class pics

Claire's first school pics!! The class photo is hilarious. I guess it's what I would expect from a bunch of 2 yr olds!