Happy Thanksgiving!

Ever since I was at Calvin College in Michigan, Thanksgiving has been a difficult holiday for me because 9 times out of 10 I haven't lived close enough to family to celebrate with them. Therefore, knowing my parents would be here with us this Thanksgiving thrilled me. I've been particularly reflective this year on how much I appreciate the food, traditions, and genuineness of this holiday as compared to the commercialization of so many others. I enjoyed finding and preparing some new recipes as well as making the meal together as a family.

We've had a great long weekend with lots of down time around the house for reading, taking walks, playing games, doing crafts, eating, hunting (for Nate), and letting Claire be the center of attention (a place she loves to inhabit!). Thanks for making the trip Mom and Dad, loved spending the holiday together!
Some snuggle time with Grandpa

Thanksgiving Day hike at Headwaters State Park (Nate, Claire, my Mom)

Claire amusing herself and us with hide and seek

Craft time--making an Advent Calendar for Claire

Snuggles with Grandma after church

That's a Wrap

Nate spent five days this past week in Eastern Montana hunting for deer with a friend. He did shoot a decent buck.

He's been wanting to do his own processing of game meat for years (instead of bringing it somewhere else to have it done), and this year he decided to make the investment in a grinder and other equipment.
Here's about 1/2 the deer finished. He's been at it about five hours and still isn't done. Despite some strong hints about it being a "great family project," I'm staying well clear of this one.

Snow Fun

We had our first big snowstorm of the winter this week with enough snow to actually make a snowman. Our house is actually located in a zone of the valley referred to as "the banana belt," so while other areas get a lot of snow, we often only have an inch or so. Rarely do we have enough for playing in the yard. Claire loved stomping around in the snow, making snow angels, brushing snow off the trees, and now checking on her snowman several times a day through the window. (Hem was longing to eat the carrot nose, so I'm waiting for that to disappear.)

Closer to the real deal...

Thanks to a special package in the mail from her older cousin Jessica, Claire now has two new princess outfits (just in time to go with the paper plate wings and tinfoil crown--see previous post).

Ribbit

Claire was a cute frog this year, thanks to a hand-me-down from cousin Elly.

She got into the act, hopping around the house yelling "Ribbit."

We did our treat-or-treating on Friday afternoon. Downtown Bozeman hosts a trick-or-treating for kids, and we met some friends there. Claire started figuring out this meant FREE CANDY, and lots of it! She loved saying, "Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat, Give me something good to eat."

Last weekend, she and Nate carved the pumpkin while I attended a conference in Salt Lake City. It was my first night ever away from Claire, and she and Nate had a fun two days together going to the museum, shopping, building towers, painting, and watching movies.

Fairy Princess Girl

Claire is fascinated by all things princess right now, especially Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Ariel, and Jasmine. (Thanks to Disney's clever marketing they seem to be EVERYWHERE.) She saw an advertisement for a fairy costume on Sunday and wanted one; of course, I gamely suggested we could make it ourselves. A little cardboard, tinfoil, paper plates and paint....thank goodness she's not really old enough to know the difference between "homemade" and "store bought."

Rocky Creek Farm

I had Thursday and Friday off from school this week, so I was thrilled to be able to meet some friends Friday morning at Rocky Creek Farm. We had mild weather, as opposed to the 5 degree temps of last week, and this allowed us to enjoy all the farm had to offer: hay rides, hay forts, pumpkin getting, swings, and face painting. Every year I take about 30 pictures of Claire and the pumpkins hoping for the perfect shot, so this is only a few of those!