little updates, and clara's 18 months!

North Dakota sunrise... amazing!!

This last week I have been working. Yep, working. This is probably the most legit job I have ever had. I feel like being a cheer/gymnastics/dance/tumbling coach doesn't really count.... 

but anyway. As many of you know, Tyler is running a Temp agency up here and  a company was looking for some girls to come down to help with invoicing, etc... So I went down last week Wed, Thurs, Fri, and this week on Friday. It's in New Town on the Indian Reservation, so it's like an hour and 15 minutes from Minot, which isn't that awesome. But it's been good- I'm hopefully going to start doing some stuff for them from home to make a little extra $$. Which hopefully will all go towards savings for some fabulous vacation, because we'll pretty much be rich now. (A girl can dream right, it will really probably end up going toward things like new tires, and next years new shoes for Lucy... etc...) But anyway. 

Clara Mae is 18 months! and she is a crazy little thing! If you only knew...

 It's hard to describe her in words... huh... She is hilarious. She is FIESTY. She is loud, she knows what she wants, and she doesn't mess around. She learns from observing extremely well! She follows Lucy around and wants to do whatever she is doing... whatever. She wants to be way bigger than she is! I find her quite often sitting on top of a stool, or has climbed from the stool to the counter, table, etc... She can now climb on top of a stool, and then climb into her high chair. It's super safe! High-fives all around! She loves loves loves her binky, blanky, and bottle. She has a mouth full of CHOMPERS! I'm pretty sure she has every tooth there is to have.... it's ridiculous.

 She loves to dance, try to jump, climb on things, play games, and talk.

She says everything from her best, "I WANT MORE!!!!" to: Bow, Binky, Blanky, Ba-ba, Georgia (her friend), Mom, Dad, Please, Cheese, Eyes, Nose, Ears, I want down, Up, Thank you, Night-Night, Shoes, Tissue, Cracker, Pretzel, etc... etc... etc... She repeats everything she hears. And almost everything she says is in some type of sentence/phrase. Ever since she was very little she has been an excellent communicator, and never fails to get her message across! ;-) She will not be ignored!
She also told me "Bless You!" after I sneezed tonight. She's brilliant!

She stresses Tyler out to no end... mainly because she is a little dare-devil and is SO busy. She is not destructive, but is just constantly on the go and needs attention.

 Clara and Lucy are so cute together and are each others best friends. When they aren't fighting or hitting each other of course. Lucy refers to Clara has 'her baby'. And everyone knows that Clara is 'her baby' at daycare, at church, etc... I am told that at nursery she comes over every so often to give 'her baby' hugs and tell everyone that Clara is 'my baby'. 

 Clara is now in nursery with Lucy, and thank the heavens she LOVES it! Church is so much more relaxing now without our little Terrorizer running around! 

Clara's mullet is pretty much out of control so I have to 'do' her hair everyday now or she looks like a complete hooligan. So pretty much every other day she looks like an orphan, because it doesn't get done 90% of the time. But when it does she rocks those pig-tails!

She loves swords. Both my kids do. Weird? I should probably get them some for Christmas.

 

Lucy and her cute friend Ruby this last week! We love playing at the Noel's house!

 also, Clara is 100 billion times more coordinated than Lucy. (Don't worry Lu, I'm sure you've grown out of it by now!) But Clara can already ride Lucy's bike, among a a million other things. She just wants to be big!

She's also wishing she is getting one of these bikes for christmas! Her and Lucy wish! 

 But really.... She is the cutest baby in the whole universe!

Everytime I look at her she makes me so so so so happy, and I could just eat her little cheeks! Ah! She is so funny, and has SO much personality. I wouldn't want her any other way. She is so much fun, and I love her SO so so so very much. She is my sweet Clara Mae!

 I love her saying 'CHEEESSEEE'!

in other unrelated news....

Winter has struck in full force! There was a high of 15 last weekend with 30mph winds, and about 8 inches of snow! yay! Snow makes me extremely happy.

 Lucy spent her dollar at the store on a plastic football. It's now her most prized possession! Seriously.

and I have the cutest friends! Celeste and I had a little girls night last weekend in the middle of the snow storm that was so needed! Thank goodness for good friends and cute boots!

I am so excited for Thanksgiving this week! We have SO much to be thankful for this year. We have such a wonderful family, great friends, and an amazing home to live in. 

We're having Thanksgiving at the church with 13 other families! Around 70 people... it should be awesome!