A Year of Thankfulness

What an incredible year our family has experienced! I believe we are all "brimming over" with thankfulness. We did not spend Thanksgiving Day all together this year, but even so, we did celebrate in smaller ways. Papa Norm and I had dear friends, Susan and Bill, with us as well as our son Jon. The day was quiet but very enjoyable.

Yesterday Papa and I spent a few hours with Claire and Chloe. What a treat! It was their 10th month birthday and we took a few pictures, of course. Chloe decided to snooze in Papa's arms and stayed there for over an hour. In this picture, it is actually her second position. She sat up once and we thought she was going to wake up but she snuggled up again and fell back asleep.

Claire, however, was a busy little bee for most of the morning. She chattered constantly, most of the day, as this little film will show. Until she, too, fell asleep in Papa's arms.

The girls had some more play time before we took a walk in the neighborhood. What a beautiful day it was, leaves were falling and the temperature was perfect.

After our walk, we paused for a while to enjoy the outside air and listen to Claire's speech, or maybe her song (?). Chloe enjoyed the pleasure of a leaf in her hands and also the fun of removing her sock for about the fifth time that day. :):):) All in all, it has been a wonderful long weekend. We continue to give thanks for the many, many blessings we have.

Great Grandpa Turns 90!!!

The highlight of our week has been the celebration of Claire and Chloe's Great Grandpa Ove's 90th birthday, (Papa's step-dad). We all attended a big party at Aunt Jen and Uncle Mark's house where there was wonderful food and lots of friends and family. Claire and Chloe dressed up in matching jumpers and had a good time with the guests. Above, they are checking out one of their favorite type toys, an empty plastic soda bottle.

Here is Great Grandpa Ove with two family friends, Kathryn on the left, in pink, and Ellie on the right. Ellie is aka "GG" to her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Below is Great Grandpa with his children, including Claire and Chloe's Papa.

The next picture is Great Grandpa with all but three of his grandchildren and great grandchildren. Jon was fighting fires in So. California, sweet Becky lives in Chicago, and her brother Tim who lives in San Diego was unable to attend as well.

Chloe is seen here with Papa's cousin, Sara, and Claire is being held by Papa's cousin Melody.

After a busy day of travel and fun yesterday Claire and Chloe had a quiet day at home with Grandma. Here they are as they played. Also, below are two film clips of Chloe putting balls into the "laughing giraffe". She learned this skill a few months ago but today she dragged out the giraffe and played with it for some time. Not to be outdone, Claire also decided to use her dexterity.

Correction!!!!

Last week when posting, I made reference to Chloe's "4 teeth". This week I discovered that she is really working on 6 teeth which is evidenced by the following photo. What a smile she can flash. Grandma will count more carefully from now on.

Here also, are two other photos of Chloe one with Papa and his hat and one with her sweet little face enjoying the picture taking session, almost as if she is posing.

Claire and Chloe had their 9 month checkup this week. They are progressing beautifully, as we knew already, and had to have a couple more shots. They did very well, considering the trauma of needles, and we were glad to get that over with.

Grandma and Papa were at the house for bath time one day and we took these pictures. Claire had the first bath and wasn't too thrilled to have it end. Chloe followed with her bath and pretty much felt the same way...they love the water!

The girls have to be watched nearly every minute. Paula related today that while she was changing a diaper on Chloe that Claire quickly managed to go down one little stair into the laundry room and Paula found her standing up against the washing machine looking at the kitty. Claire was very delighted with herself when she climbed up onto the ottoman today, once again, while I was changing Chloe's diaper. Fortunately, I was right there with my camera handy.

Claire was making sure all ten toes were still there....she was counting with her 5 incoming teeth.

We wait with wonder and amazement to see what next week holds for us as we watch Claire and Chloe grow and change. Stay tuned!

We're Back!!!

We experienced an amazing trip to the Mediterranean area, visiting Italy, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, France, and Spain. The weather was perfect until the last 2 days, and our 14 nights on the cruise ship very enjoyable. Our great travel companions were Norm's sister and brother-in -law, Dode and Roger seen here at our first dinner in Milan at a small outdoor cafe.

We can recall many highlights of the trip, and here we are after climbing to the top of the Acropolis. That was quite a feat considering Norm's use of a cane and mobility issues. It was a beautiful site as well as an incredible view of Athens.
One of the highlights for me was walking through ancient Ephesus and seeing where Paul "attempted" (as our guide said repeatedly) to preach to the Ephesians. The ampitheater was amazing. We also enjoyed our time on the ship as we are seen here before dinner one evening.
As wonderful as our trip was, even better was coming home to the precious faces of our Claire and Chloe. They didn't forget us during that 19 days and we have been enjoying them as much as possible since returning.

Here they are during a full morning of play with their books. Chloe insisted on taking every book out of the basket. Also below, they are ready for lunch in their "Ciao Bella" (Hello Beautiful)
t-shirts from Florence.

Can't resist these two photos. Chloe is really showing her four teeth and Claire is showing her one in process!

The girls had make great strides in getting around while we were gone. They both climb on the ottoman and walk around everything. They also jabber continually which is very entertaining. Here are two little movies showing Chloe with the car and Claire making her rocking horse go, go, go. It is a very busy world in their house these days with constant movement and activity.