Trip to Panama City

The only horse Claire can get on

Mr. and Mrs. Harkins, Walker and Kelly Davidsons, and Bucky and Claire

At the field trial

Riding in Kate's Barbie Jeep

This video is of Claire playing the other morning. It is not the one I meant to upload, but it took like 10 minutes so I left it. She had pulled all the toys out of her basket. You can see the little spot she was sitting. I put her in the basket, however, I have no doubt she could get in it herself!

Well, we have had a great time since I last updated. I worked Wednesday and Thursday of last week. Then the three of us headed down to Florida. Every year on this weekend is a big Field Trial in Ebro, FL. It is about 45 minutes from my sister's house. We haven't been in a couple of years, so we decided to go. Claire did great in the car. She watched her new DVD player most of the way down there. She couldn't take her eyes off of it! She doesn't watch much TV when I am with her, so this was a nice distraction from the long car ride. We stopped and ate in Dothan and Claire was fired up at the resturant. Claire and I dropped Bucky off at the field trial. I was really tired but did manage to drive the rest of the way to my sisters'. Once we got there, it took me a little while to get Claire to bed, but she was definately tired. Thankfully, my sister let us stay in Kate's room so Claire was able to sleep in a crib. She doesn't do well in pack-n-plays.

Saturday, we got up early. Will and Kate enjoy the early mornings like Claire. She was excited to have someone up to play with. Claire really enjoyed playing with her cousins and especially all their toys. Amanda and I cleaned out her closet. She got rid of a ton of clothes that she doesn't wear anymore. Amanda went to school. She is going back to get her teaching certificate. She already has her Bachelors from Auburn and MBA from Florida State. She is definitely the most educated person in our family. Jason and I hung out with the kids around the house. Once Amanda got home from school, we all headed to the field trial for dinner. The kids had a great time. Everyone really needed to get out of the house. We saw some friends and Bucky got to show Claire off to his buddies. They didn't believe Claire and I exist because we don't go with him ever. Kate had a big time dancing to the band.

Sunday, Amanda and I ran some errands while Claire took a nap. Then Claire and I left a little after lunch to go get Bucky. We took our time getting home. We came home and unpacked the car and all the animals.

I worked M,T,W. I am tired but done until Monday. Claire and I are going to BabyGym tomorrow and probably to run a few errands. I am trying to post a video so hopefully it works!

HELP!

I am trying to download a video of Claire crawling. I can't figure it out. It is on my regular, Kodak camera. I can't get it from my camera to my computer. Any suggestions? It is really cute and exciting. I think if I can get it on my computer, I could figure out how to post it. Normally, I am really good with technology....

Claire is getting brave...

Claire in her headband.

Claire likes to pull up on her toy basket.

Claire and I have had a lot of fun the past couple of days. She is really starting to have a cute personality. I wouldn't say she is crawling, but she is mobile. She can go from her stomach back to a seated position which I think is pretty impressive. She really likes to pull up on things to her knees. This has caused a few falls and tears, but that is part of it.

We had a great weekend with the Street's. I have been very productive recently. I organized all of Claire's clothes. I put all of her pictures in albums. And I have a clean house with food in the refrigerator. I am feeling good about my accomplishments this week!

I am working today and tomorrow. We are going to try to go to Panama City this weekend if everything works out. Hope you all have a great week!

Happy New Year!

Ringing in the New Year
One of my best friends, Baylee

Michelle, Me, Laura, Elyse, and Baylee

Bucky and I had a great New Year's with some of our friends. I have the best Bunco group. It is made of Phi Mu's, work friends, and some that have joined along the way. These people mean so much to Bucky and me. We always have fun together. I was kind of excited because we NEVER do anything for New Year's Eve. We went to Arricia at the Auburn Conference Center. They had delicious appetizers and a 5 course meal. We had so much fun. None of us made it until midnight though.

I had called to check on Claire around 9:00 and my Mom said she went to bed with no problems. We got home around 11:30 and I went to check on her like I always do. My Mom was rocking her and said she had been up for about an hour. Poor Mom and Claire! I don't know if her teeth woke her up or if she got stuck in her crib. She was awake so I got her back to sleep after about 30 minutes. I was getting ready for bed and the power went out. It is pitch black. Our monitors didn't work and I was afraid Claire would get cold, so I went and got her. Of course, she was confused and it took her a little while to go back to sleep in our bed. She slept pretty good until about 4:30am. I think when she woke up and couldn't see anything, she got upset. Bucky turned the flashlight on and that calmed her down but she didn't go back to sleep. So, we all got up and went to the den. We lit some candles and sat by the fire. As soon as I had gotten her back to sleep, the power came on. Thank goodness! I put her back in her crib and Bucky and I went back to bed. We got up a few hours later. My sweet Mom played with Claire all morning while I tried to get moving. She went to sleep around 10 and has been asleep for almost 3 hours. Bless her! She is going to be off her schedule today.

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year. We are excited to see what 2009 brings for the Street family!

Bucky's Deer

I know some of you will appreciate this, so I wanted to brag on Bucky's deer a little bit. My parents and I came home yesterday afternoon around 5:00 to a very excited Bucky. He was out of breath and could barely talk. When he got home from work, he decided to go sit in a tree stand about 50 yards from our barn. He wasn't even out there 20 minutes and shot this HUGE buck. Now, I don't get too excited over stuff like this. I went down to the barn to take the camera and saw the deer. It was the biggest deer I have ever seen. It was as big as Bucky. He is an 8 point which is pretty impressive. Thankfully, my Dad was here to help Bucky get him up to the house. I think it was a great way for Bucky to start 2009.

Tagged

Julie Malone tagged me to look in the fourth folder of where my pictures are stored and get the fourth picture, explain it and then tag four more people to do the same. This is a picture from our trip to Tallahassee, FL at the end of October. Claire is dressed up in her Halloween costume with our best friends children, Larson and Smith Harkins.

Now I tag:

~Mindy Basquin

~Laura Anglea

~Emily Peden

~Tracie Wilson

Happy Holidays!

8 Months Old 12-21-08

Christmas Eve


Caroline decided to sit on Claire since it was her chair!

Gran, Caroline, and Claire

Matt, Caroline, Claire, and Daniel

Christmas Morning

Claire's older cousins, Caroline (1) and Kate (2)

Daniel (4)

Will (4)

Opening presents with my family Christmas Day

My Dad (PePaw)

My Mom (Gran)

Let me start out with saying what a wonderful Christmas we had thanks to our great family. My preacher talked last Sunday about the use of the word 'wonder'. I can honestly say that he would agree in my use of it to describe our family gathering. I am blessed to have the best husband in the world. We celebrated our 5 year anniversary on 12-20. He is a true rock in my life. I know I take him for granted, but the truth is I couldn't make it one day without him. He loves me and Claire more than I could ever imagine. He is a WONDERful father who I thank God for everyday. Not only do I have a great family to share my day-to-day life with, but I also have the best parents, brother, and sister and all their families to be thankful for.

That being said, it has been a while since I blogged so I will summarize what we have been doing the past 2 weeks. As I said, Bucky and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. My in-laws came down Friday (12-19) after work to keep Claire. We ate pizza and hung out at the house. Saturday morning, Bucky and his dad went hunting. I went to Wal-Mart (in the rain) to get some groceries for baking. When we all got home and got ready, Bucky and I left do some shopping. My sweet husband went with me to pick out my gift. We went to several local jewelry stores before we found what we were looking for. He got me a gorgeous pair of diamond hoops. They are so pretty and I know I will wear them everyday. We also did some Christmas shopping at Academy. We went to eat and stayed the night at the Robert Trent Jones in Opelika. This was a BIG deal for me because I have not left Claire over night since she has been born. She did pretty well for the Streets and Bucky and I got some much needed rest. We got up and ate breakfast. We were pretty ready to come home to see Claire. We all went to church. We spent the afternoon baking and wrapping our last minute gifts. We also celebrated Claire's 8 month birthday (not really). Every time her month marker comes around, I always think back to the day I went into labor. The time has gone SO fast and I am amazed at how much she has grown and developed.

I had to work Monday, which wasn't too bad. Tuesday I took Claire in because she hasn't been eating that well. I thought it might have to do with pressure in her ears because of the positions she nurses. She has never had any problems with her ears (or any illness), but I wanted to make sure before we went out of town. Everything was clear and they told me it is probably due to her teething. She has 2 teeth coming through on the bottom. Claire and I packed some when we got home. Then we went to Burger King with the Harkins, came home and napped, and went to Good Ol' Boys for dinner. Larson and Smith Harkins came over and exchanged gifts with Claire. They are so sweet to her. Claire gave Larson the biggest hug. So cute!

Wednesday, we packed up and went to Bham pretty early. We got to my parents house and ate lunch. We hung out and got ready for church at 3:00. We took Claire into the service because it was a children's service. She actually did great considering she had only had a 30 minute afternoon nap. We went over to my brother's house after church. We played with the kids and ate dinner.

Thursday, we got up and opened Claire's few little gifts from Santa. We decided not to get her much because both her grandmothers got her EVERYTHING she needed. Instead, we bought her the PACT plan so we don't have to worry about college tuition anymore. I went back to sleep with Claire which was a nice Christmas gift. We got ready and the Street's came over to see Claire. We snacked and waited on everyone to get there. My sister and her family came from Panama City. My brother and his family came over and we ate a late lunch. We opened gifts from each other and all the kids enjoyed playing together.

Friday, my aunt & uncle from Mississippi came over. The men (except Bucky) played golf and we all stayed at the house and let the kids play. Bucky and I ended up leaving about 3:00 to come home. Claire has so much fun with her cousins, but she was tired. We have been unpacking and getting settled. I hope to get some of the Christmas stuff down tomorrow. I am NOT excited about that. It is so much more fun to put it up. Hopefully Claire will cooperate and not make me hold her all day, like she did today. We'll see!