Wonderful Week with Nema

We've been into the full swing of things around here, enjoying a festive week with Nate's mom, "Nema," visiting from Massachusetts. Claire loved every minute and all the spoiling. While I was at school each morning she had one-on-one time with Nema that included trips to museums in Bozeman, reading lots of books, and singing Christmas songs. We also took a weekend trip to West Yellowstone which included some cross-country skiing, a visit to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, a night out "on the town" for Nate and I (meaning choosing between one of two open bars in town), and a trip to the Imax Theater for Nate and Nema. Thanks for coming out and ALL the spoiling Nema!

Here's our group shot on early Christmas.
Claire showing off her beautiful Christmas dress, a gift from a family friend, Dot O'Connor.
It didn't take long for Claire to get into the spirit of ripping open the presents. Here she's in awe of her new princess castle.
Susan gave Claire her own tent; one of the things we love about her is that she really gets down to Claire's level to play. Of course Claire darted out of this picture right before I snapped it!
Claire skied with us the first day, but on the second day she was pretty frazzled. Nema kindly stayed with her while Nate and I skied again. For Nate, that meant being free of 30+ pounds on his back.
Claire watching some of the wolves at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. These are all animals that would have to be euthanized without this sanctuary, and they will never be reintroduced to the wild. Notice the wolf checking out the raven in the background. It's quite amazing to watch the wolves as the run, play, dig, and eat.

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

With cold, wintry weather around here (it's supposed to be a HIGH of zero degrees on Monday), it's been easy to get into the Christmas spirit. We've done some baking, are listening to Christmas CDs, doing our advent calendar, made a countdown chain and ornaments, wrapped most of our gifts, put up the tree, and even visited Santa yesterday at the Three Forks Christmas Stroll. I'm hoping this means we can enjoy some quality time with Nema (Nate's mom--who arrives Monday for a week-long visit) as well as focus on creating some memories with baking, books, music, and movies instead of frantically shopping and wrapping in the next few weeks.

Claire likes to wear the bows more than putting them on the gifts.
The end result of Claire's decorating means many ornaments on one or two bottom branches. Unfortunately, she seems to notice if I try to rearrange any.
A visit with Santa, first one ever actually, we "suggested" some things she might tell him she wants for Christmas which just happen to correspond exactly to what we got her. I'll be curious if she figures that one out on Christmas morning.

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.