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.

Pictures Galore & Good-Bye for a Bit....

We savored every moment with the girls this past week because we are going on a vacation for a couple of weeks. I'm anxious for the new experiences, but am already missing the precious little faces that bring such joy to our lives. Above, the girls are seen after they both pulled themselves up to the ottoman. Such big girls!

Here Claire is playing the musical drums while Chloe looks on.

Below Chloe is in her new high chair checking out her first experience with Cheerios.

Claire, likewise, is trying out her new chair and her Cheerios,

Below the girls are standing at their "busy table". They are all over the place and pulling themselves up to anything they can get near. The busy table provides lots of fun time for both of them, it has lights, music, and moving parts.

Here is a particularly sweet picture of Chloe. Her little rosy cheeks matched the flowers on her shirt.

And finally, Claire is so totally delighted with something on the busy table. She was having a ball!

We had a great time together today at the Olive Garden celebrating Aunt Suzie's birthday a little early. Claire and Chloe tasted many new things and were as "good as gold".
I know when we return from our trip there will be many new skills that they have developed to share with you. Until then....see your later!

New Food and Toys

Claire and Chloe received two very cute and entertaining new toys this past week from their Noni. She is very good at picking out toys that keep them interested. The first one is a little "Dora the Explorer" car that makes lots of noise, has music, has flashing lights, and has little dancing animals and people figures on the very front. Besides all of that, it says words both in English and Spanish. Mike told us to run it lots while he was at work and wear the batteries down. :) Here is Claire on the car. She absolutely loves it.


The other toy was a cute rocking horse that they both also enjoy very much. Papa wanted them to ride it with one arm in the air but I encouraged them to hold on with both hands. Here is Chloe enjoying the horse.

One new food this week is poi. Mike did some research on the nutritional values of poi and Paula and Mike decided to give it a try. They buy the poi (in a root type form) and cook it and mash it. It looks very much like what you would have at a luau in Hawaii, and the babies seem to enjoy it . What little reading that I did, indicated that babies lives have been saved by poi when they had digestion and/or allergy problems and nothing else could be tolerated. Quite interesting, but I can't imagine having it on a regular basis after having tried it once in Hawaii.

Another new food the girls tasted this past weekend is refried beans. Uncle Jon, Aunt Suzie, Claire, Chloe, Papa and Grandma ventured out to LaComida for lunch. Paula told us we could let them taste the beans and they both loved them. They had a great time looking around the restaurant and playing with the silverware and little dishes. Hope we can go again soon.

Here are our little precious girls sitting while Grandma takes another picture.

Fun in the Kitchen

This past week was so fun. The girls are so entertaining and interesting. We walked, read books, and played and played and played. Below you see Chloe behind the glider where some of the toys are stashed. She spent lots of time there sorting and playing with various toys. Claire and I had been reading books when this picture was taken.

Below, I am going to upload several short movies because I can't decide which to leave out. The sequence was that Chloe was asleep on a blanket in the living room and Claire and I went in to the kitchen. The kitchen floor had a new feel for crawling, and Claire, and eventually Chloe, had lots of fun. The first two movies are Claire just enjoying herself. Then, Chloe woke up and heard us having fun and ventured out. Then the two of them interacted for some time. All in all, I think we were on that floor nearly 45 minutes.